Assassin God: Rise of the Strongest Player

Nash had pretended to fall prey to the strange poison attack while, in reality, he was trying to draw the attacker out.

Knowing that Eileen was observing him clearly, he signalled her to lay low too.

It was difficult to find the person or what attacked him and so Nash remained in that position, hoping to give the attacker the false impression that it was a successful hit.

He already resisted the effect of the poison with [Strength of Mind] and subsequently followed up with [Stealth] rendering himself invisible.

After waiting for a while and detecting no further action from his target, the attacker smirked, taking great pride in the success of his attack.

He then stepped out of his hiding, dashing to the place where Nash had supposedly fallen, only to meet an empty ground.

"Huh? No drops?"

His pupils shrunk instantly. He was disappointed.

"Offering 200,000 copper coins for someone who can't even give a decent drop is wasteful. But who cares?"

he was about to react to the situation of things, Eileen's voice stopped him.

"Why did you attack him?!" she yelled at the attacker, pretending to be in mourning for her partner.

Seeing how riled up Eileen was, the attacker believed that maybe his attack was indeed successful and now he could get his second kill as well.

"Well, there's no bounty on your head but killing you won't hurt. Maybe you will give me some good items."

Eileen clutched her legs together in fear and began taking slow steps backward.

"Wh-Who sent you?!" Eileen stammered, finally making a stand as though she was ready to fight even when fear was glaring in her eyes.

The attacker clicked his tongue and tilted his head to one side while staring at Eileen like she was stupid.

"Really?" he said. "Like I'd answer that. Why don't you think of who you offended enough to put a bounty on your partner?"

Eileen trying to think back to someone who would be capable of doing that and only Stone and Hawkeye came to her mind.

It was clear that Stone had learned his lesson and would probably not bother them anymore.

"Hawk—" her speech broke as the attacker immediately charged towards at an abnormal speed.

Eileen froze on the spot, unable to react. After all, she was more of a supportive player than a combat type.

*Slash*

"Wh-What!" the attacker blurted out as the message of him taking damage appeared in front of his eyes.

He couldn't understand it.

He was attacked and took heavy damage from it, yet he couldn't even see his attacker.

The attacker instinctively jumped back five steps.

He didn't bother to start searching who attacked him that very second, showing he was an experienced player.

His priority was to create some distance from the female target first and restrategise.

He couldn't believe he had been caught off guard and immediately, he considered the possibility of Nash still being alive.

'Could it be…?' the player wondered. 'He has stea—'

His eyes suddenly grew wide again.

Before he could come to the conclusion of what Nash was used, another round of [Stun Strike] was successfully delivered, and another after that.

The player who had come for the bounty did not have the chance to come to a conclusion, because at this moment, he was dead.

******

"That guy was from Hawkeye. It's obvious," Eileen said, looking very worried for their safety.

She knew Hawkeye was the type to hold grudges for the littlest of matters and couldn't put it past him to have offered a huge sum for Nash.

After all, he was rich in real life.

Nash nodded, agreeing with Eileen's line of thought.

"Without a doubt, I can see it was him as well. He placed a bounty on my head and for a player to risk getting red flagged for killing another player, the price on my head must be huge."

"That means you are not safe anymore."

Nash shook his head at Eileen and smiled.

"That's not exactly how it works," Nash said. "I may have a huge sum on my head but at this stage, many players in game wouldn't want to be red flagged, especially if they are not strong enough to protect themself."

Eileen was confused. "What do you mean?"

"There's not point killing me and get red flagged, only to kill the next minute and lose everything while still being red flagged, all just because you were weak," Nash said with a shrug.

"That's why, the only players who would take this are player killers or those who have a thing for bounty hunting," he added.

Nash was not stupid to believe that only the player who attacked him had taken up Hawkeye's offer.

There were certainly others and it was clear as day that the situation was dangerous no matter how lightly he tried to make it seem in front of Eileen.

"We should stay in a dungeon then," Eileen suggested. "Should be safer there than out here."

"For how long?" Nash asked with a bit of sarcastic undertone. "Unlike when it's from the gaming system, Hawkeye can decide to keep the bounty up forever. I won't stay in a dungeon forever, you know."

Eileen massaged her chin. "Yeah. That's true."

"Don't think too much about that for now," Nash advised her. "I still need to make those potions and I don't have enough wolf liver. Let's separate for now and buy from other players. That way it's easier and less risky."

Eileen nodded and they parted ways for now.

Other than their need for more wolf liver, Nash also suggested that they split up in different directions to protect Eileen, at least till he can figure something out with their current situation.

Sticking with him at a time like this, when players he did not even know nor could he recognise were after his life, was a dangerous one for the both of them.

She stood the chance of being killed in a fight and also making the fight difficulty for Nash as she would be a liability that would be used against him.