"Aahhh!" Leon fell to the ground, dying. His familiars looked devastated, but there was nothing they could do as their bodies gradually disappeared.
"Ha… Ha…" Flora panted heavily.
"This is the end, I guess," Nathan muttered.
"There are still the thugs." Flora raised her finger but soon put it down, realizing that Nathan should have taken care of them as well.
"Don't worry. Jinwu and Nidhogg are there. I have sent Anubis as well to deal with the rest." Nathan nodded before letting out a long sigh. "Still, this is much harder than I originally thought."
"Yeah. They're really strong. We barely defeated them." Flora nodded.
"It seems you have finally understood what I told you previously." Fenrir came to Nathan with a smile.
Nathan scratched the back of his head embarrassedly. "Yeah. I have finally understood it. I'm going to perfect my own style and techniques so that they will be unique only to me from now on. This is the step I need to take before becoming a grandmaster."
"Grandmaster, huh?" Flora looked at him mysteriously.
Nathan sighed before turning around. "Anyway, instead of helping the soldiers, we should prepare to get away from here. Let's go to their base. I wonder how the kids are doing."
Flora crossed her arms. There was indeed no more threat around, so she agreed. "Fair enough. I'm a bit worried about them, considering…" Flora glanced at Nathan's waist, specifically his pistol. "She actually refused to use the pistol, huh?"
"Yeah. After knowing that the enemies are using everything they have, she returned it to me." Nathan nodded. And with those people running away like that, they wouldn't really return to the base."
"That kid, Iris, is bolder than I expected. Besides, she is quite a talent herself. I mean, she must have made that decision after that maniac hit you and almost killed you. She probably knows that you might not be able to win or at least have a hard time against him without your weapon.
"To be able to calculate all that at her age… I can say she is a rare talent. Are you planning to take her as your student?" Flora asked.
"Student?" Nathan shook his head without hesitation. "No way. I have my hands full with everything around me while doing my best to get stronger. I don't have spare time to take care of a student."
Flora smiled wryly. "Fair enough. I guess bringing her back should be enough."
Nathan nodded. "Anyway, I don't really want to handle miscellaneous stuff . If it's just the main direction whatsoever, I can handle it, but these small, menial tasks… someone can take care of it for me."
"Is that so? Let's go to their base then."
The moment they reached their base, the two of them couldn't help but feel astonished with what they saw.
Iris and the kids were actually waiting for them. Iris had refused to take his gun, but it didn't mean she would go empty-handed. In fact, each kid was holding a weapon, either it was a knife or a pipe.
"My lord." Iris lowered her head. "I have gathered everything they have here."
In front of them were piles of treasures. Some were in the form of money and some were in the form of jewelry.
"Wow. This many?" Flora covered her mouth in surprise.
Iris nodded. "Yes. We have searched every nook and corner. This is all we can find. If we have more time, we would like to search for hidden rooms, but…"
"It doesn't matter." Nathan shook his head. "It's night, so we'll get some rest today and head back tomorrow."
Nathan turned around while saying, "Anyway, you can deal with it. Fenrir will be here to help you bring all that stuff back. Also, leave some for the city. They can use it to compensate the fallen soldiers or pay some of the damage here."
Meanwhile, Anubis had completely taken over the matter.
Nidhogg and Jinwu managed to take care of their unrest. Unlike normal familiars, the divine beasts' instincts were much sharper, allowing them to find their targets easily.
As a result, the enemies couldn't really hide inside the buildings.
Nidhogg and Jinwu routed them pretty quickly. Of course, some thugs ended up reaching the soldiers, and some clashes happened here and there. Even the soldiers didn't expect that Nathan could handle all of them without the help of the soldiers.
However, it all changed the moment Anubis came to their side. With him healing the soldiers, these soldiers became fearless. They annihilated the thugs as quickly as possible, knowing that they would be healed after they were done.
It took them a total of two hours to completely annihilate the Crimson Skeleton.
"Thank you." As the captain, the middle-aged man came to Anubis and personally thanked him.
Jinwu and Nidhogg remained on the roof, considering this middle-aged man was as strong as Alan. So, they couldn't let their guard down, even if this person was affiliated with the city. After all, he was frustrated because the situation went out of control earlier.
Besides, Jinwu still had to deactivate his domain, which would turn this place back to dark.
Anubis nodded his head. "It's nothing. I'm merely accomplishing what my summoner wants me to do. It doesn't seem there are many casualties among the soldiers as well."
The middle-aged man nodded. "Indeed. We don't know how many, but it should be around ten."
Anubis continued, "In that case, I will relay the message from my summoner. Considering the domain is hard to maintain, we'll be retracting them once the battle is over.
"It's better for the soldiers to wait until tomorrow to clean up. Also, we'd like to ask the mayor to report the completion of the mission to the Pope directly, which has been stated in the letter.
"If you don't have any qualms, we'll return to our summoner and end today's skirmish. What do you think?"
The middle-aged man agreed without hesitation. "I understand. I've received the message. I don't have any objection, and I will guarantee you that I'll supervise the cleaning-up process myself and make sure the Crimson Skeleton is no more."
"All right. In that case, we'll retreat." Anubis nodded and turned to Jinwu and Nidhogg to get ready to return.