Chapter 502: Unemployment Comes with Job Placement

"Yo, divine possession? Let's see how many of my swords your god can take!" A voice rang out. Radiad felt his whole body shudder violently, his defenses shattering layer by layer like bubbles, the tremendous impact sending him plummeting downward.

Along with the sword-light rushing up came a human brimming with battle qi—none other than that fellow who had been chewing on dried fruit and watching him with curiosity.

This human condensed sword-gleam in both hands, his battle qi forming a sword that hacked down ferociously, cleaving into his shield like a great axe.

Radiad's shield broke through three layers in a row, and the opponent had recognized his divine possession at a glance, yet still had the nerve to spout something like "let's see how many swords your god can take"—sounding utterly confident.

The next instant, the sword-light blazed brilliantly!

Why is it said that once a high-rank Sword Saint closes in, an ordinary mage is a lamb awaiting slaughter? Because the Sword Saint is too fast—before the mage can react, the Sword Saint can hack out dozens of strikes and destroy every defense.

The Sword Saints who had originally been standing with Luther were the quickest to react, shouting as they lunged over, but it was already too late.

Luther pinned Radiad down and hacked out over thirty strikes on his body in one breath. The first ten had already shattered all his defenses; the remaining few were purely a contest with the descended god.

ahzww.

But no matter what god had descended, the power projected across ultimately could not withstand a Sword of Truth's wild hacking. Radiad was sent flying out of the body by Luther's final strike, the phantom exploding apart.

Luther sheathed his sword, lunged forward, clamped a hand around Radiad's throat, and channeled battle qi in, swiftly restraining his whole body. At the same time he seized his wrist and twisted it back. In pain, Radiad's entire face contorted.

Luther spun his body, using Radiad as a shield in front, and together they fell toward the ground.

From the moment Luther burst forth to now, only three seconds had passed. Lainashi only just reacted now, roaring: "Dalat! What are you doing!?"

Luther's arrogant voice carried from afar: "Hahaha, my name isn't Dalat, you fool—I'm called Piero! If you want him alive, don't do anything rash!"

The sudden turn of events also startled Seeing Ange and the others on the ground. Anthony's eyes blazed as he pulled the distant image closer, and after seeing clearly, he immediately cried out: "It's Luther!"

"Luther? How is that possible? How did he get mixed in beside Lainashi? He's an unregistered nobody with no identity at all—how could he have gotten in? Don't the Sorcerers vet people they recruit? Could he have been captured? Feti, get ready to rescue him!" Lord Nai Ge Li Si shouted in shock.

"Uh, seems like we don't need to—he's taken control of the field, he's broken out, he's broken through, good, he's subdued that god-crafting sorcerer, and he's falling toward the ground. Feti, get ready to receive him." Anthony described rapidly, then began cursing with a laugh:

"That bastard—he's using my name! He says he's not Dalat but Piero, that son of a bitch!"

Grey was greatly alarmed: "Dalat? The swordsman from our Society? Why is he impersonating Dalat?"

Feti, wrapped all over in vines like a "vine-man," leapt out and gave Luther quite a fright.

"It's me, Feti." Feti hurriedly said.

"Oh, it's Lord Feti—you scared me. Why are you tied up like that? Are you injured?" Luther asked with concern.

Feti gave him a boost, cushioning his high-speed plummeting form, and they slowly descended to the ground together. At the same time he said: "No, this is a new fashion style. Does it look good?"

Luther rolled his eyes: "Good-looking, my ass."

Everyone crowded around. Lord Nai Ge Li Si asked with even greater concern: "Luther, how did you end up with them? Are you all right? You're not hurt, are you?"

Speaking of this, Luther was full of grievances: "Lord Nai Ge, you've got the nerve to ask? You're the ones who left me behind in Magic Star City."

Lord Nai Ge Li Si awkwardly hemmed and hawed: "Well… you see…"

Anthony quickly smoothed things over, saying without changing expression: "We noticed as soon as we teleported back, but too much had happened—there was no time to go find you. Besides, we trusted your strength; we were sure you'd be fine."

Grey, Duroken, and so on—everyone who had overheard their conversation just now—couldn't help turning their heads away for fear of bursting out laughing. What do you mean, "noticed as soon as we teleported back"? It was obviously only just now, when they wanted to send Luther off on an errand, that they noticed.

"Right, right, right—we trusted your strength. Look, aren't you back safe and sound now? And you've even captured an enemy big shot. What a great feat—Luther, you're really amazing." Lord Nai Ge Li Si praised lavishly, then swiftly changed the subject: "How did you get in? Doesn't the Sorcerer Alliance vet identities when recruiting?"

"They did. My name's Dalat." Luther said: "Remember the magic crystal card Grey gave me? After you all left, Magic Star City was immediately put under lockdown. Those mages were patrolling everywhere, and it became hard for me to leave. So I went to one of the True Research Society's outposts and hid there."

The True Research Society's personnel had basically scattered, and only a handful remained at the outpost, but the basic amenities were still maintained—things like the cafeteria, baths, and laundry.

After Luther had hidden there for a few days, he found that the people here weren't very closely connected—many of them didn't know each other, especially in the current situation, where people from various other powers had also been mixed in, making them even less familiar with one another.

Luther immediately grew bold, swaggering in and out of the cafeteria and baths, swiping the magic crystal card Grey had given him, eating and drinking for free, and even picking out an empty room to move into.

A few days later, someone came knocking: "Unemployment registration. Name, age, profession, rank, job preference. Do you want job placement? If you choose placement, we'll provide corresponding vocational training based on your job preference. Do you accept?"

"Unemployment and they even place you? There's such a good thing? Oh, my name's Dalat." Luther glanced at the card on the bedside—this empty room belonged to Dalat, but when he moved in, the bed was already covered in dust.

The registrar said irritably: "Of course—otherwise we'd let you eat and drink for free? Hiss—a swordsman, an initial-stage Sword Saint? You can project battle qi externally? Demonstrate it. If it's real, there'll be a suitable job opportunity for you right away."

Luther very cooperatively demonstrated the initial-stage Sword Saint's external battle qi projection, but concealed the high-rank Sword Saint's battle-qi-into-sword.

The registrar immediately fetched the roster, flipped to Dalat's name, and said in puzzlement: "It clearly says here 'senior swordsman'?"

Luther said unhurriedly: "That was how many years ago? I've broken through."

"Then your breakthrough speed is quite fast—you've got real talent." the registrar said in surprise.

It happened to be mealtime, so they went to the cafeteria and had a meal. Seeing Luther chatting familiarly with the cafeteria auntie and swiping a True Research Society magic crystal card to pay, the registrar didn't press further.

This kind of magic crystal card is hard to forge because it's authenticated by magic. To make gathering intelligence easier, Grey had gotten one authenticated for him in advance.

"Right now there's a job opportunity. A my lord from the Sorcerer Alliance is recruiting guards. Normally when these big shots recruit guards, the requirements are very strict—ordinary people can't get in. But this my lord seems a bit spooked right now and is in a desperate hurry to recruit a batch of Sword Saints to handle his outer perimeter guards. The pay is good. Do you want it?"

Luther curled his lip disdainfully: "Isn't that just being a meat shield and expendable? And outer perimeter guards? What's the pay?"

"Ten magic crystals a day."

"Serving my lord is my honor as Dalat. I love being a guard—leave it to me." Luther immediately thumped his chest and agreed.

And so Luther wormed his way into Lainashi's guard detail. However, Lainashi was wary of these temporarily hired guards and assigned them to the outer airships, so they couldn't normally get close to him.

Having no choice, Luther shifted his target to the clearly harder-to-handle Radiad, and even started chewing on sweet beet dried fruit to briefly boost his battle qi to the edge of Truth.

When a Sword of Truth goes all out, even if it's only for a few short seconds, it's enough to change the entire situation.

"Luther, you're amazing. We were still racking our brains over how to capture enemy high-level figures, and you did it all by yourself. Well done." Anthony praised, then turned to the God of Life: "Lord God of Life, please lift them up so the other side can see, then warn them."

"People of the Sorcerer Alliance, listen up—one of your Twelve Seats is in our hands. Drop your… ahem. If you don't want anything to happen to him, leave this place immediately, then bring the ransom and come negotiate with us, or we'll tear up the ticket."

------ Digression ------

Thank you to One in a Billion Light for the tip.