Assassin God: Rise of the Strongest Player

The sound of Mash slapping the living hell out of King Crimson resonated through the atmosphere.

Everybody watching was stunned speechless, especially the members of Vain Scarlet who stood by.

Was Nash really that audacious, with balls of steel?

He dared to attack King Crimson in public, without fear of the NPC guards arriving.

Catching a glance at the faces of the onlookers, Nash laughed inside of him as they could never tell the difference.

In truth, Nash had not touched King Crimson himself.

The one who really slapped him was Null.

The shadow was able to both act dependent on its master's commands and independently to match the current situation of things.

The attack was not counted against Nash by the game's AI, even though onlookers would swear by everything they held sacred that Nash truly slapped him.

It was not their fault since they did not know what truly transpired.

King Crimson recollected himself and held his cheek, intermittently checking his palm to be certain that he wasn't bleeding.

King Crimson was quite furious about such a public embarrassment after being struck by Nash but he was not a fool.

He was not quick to react as he was bidding time, waiting for the guards to arrive but nothing happened.

Despite being hitting him, the guards were not alerted of what Nash did by the system.

Reading it as his cue to retaliate, King Crimson charged toward Nash and landed a blow squarely into his gut.

"Fuc—" Nash spat out along with saliva as the red-haired player's hand buried even deeper into his belly.

King Crimson pushed Nash away, dealing a worrying blow to his HP as it dropped by one-third of normal.

*Clank* *Clank*

King Crimson jammed his metal gauntlets together and tilted his head proudly, smirking at Nash as if saying "I told you so".

"Tha—"

Just as King Crimson was about to make a boastful claim, the entrance of some people stopped him.

He felt an icy cold sweat trickle down his spine as he noticed this small group of people.

"Who is making trouble in our village?" one of these people asked.

He was the leader, and this group were the NPC guards for Novice Village #21.

King Crimson immediately withdrew his hands behind his back and unsummoned his gauntlets out of fear that they would sell him out.

These guards commanded respect and invoked fear in players seeing as other onlookers began to step away from the scene like they were never there.

*Shing*

The guards sharply drew out their swords, readying to cut down whoever dared to stop them.

At this stage, even the strongest players would not dare try to defile a guard.

It was instant death.

King Crimson swallowed out of fear.

"This guy hit me first! They saw it!" the Vain Scarlet player blurted out, right hand on his cheek as he pointed a finger at Nash, who was simply standing without saying a single word.

King Crimson looked around, hoping that others would join him as his eyes started to water.

"He hit me first, I swear to you!"

"Is that so?" the head of the guards retorted, coming closer and casting a dominant presence over King Crimson.

He crossed his huge arms over his large chest while playing with the thin straw in his mouth.

"I didn't see him hit you," the guard added. "I don't see any injuries, but I did see you strike him with your gauntlet."

King Crimson threw his hands over his face. "No! That's not—"

"Come with us silently," the guard interrupted his plea. "You will be in prison for the next half day, so you can reflect on your actions. Is that clear?"

Nash giggled in his heart as he watched this unfold.

He didn't even need to lift a finger again to deal with the pompous guild master.

King Crimson was going to be taken away quietly, not as though he had any other option but to comply and for the next 12 hours he would be a prisoner.

Imprisonment involved locking a defaulting player away in a guard room—an empty, dark room that has no connection with the world outside.

Inside the guardroom or during the time a player is serving a sentence, the player is denied all functions of the game.

It was a frustrating situation to be in!

There was no escaping the punishment.

Even if the player logs off, the time of sentence is automatically paused and when they eventually log back on, it starts from where it stopped.

For red flagged players, their imprisonment time is determined by their crime score or points. For every point, an hour of imprisonment is earned.

With this kind of rules set in place in the Novice Village, players had no choice but to comply as stubbornness or default to the laws were severely punished.

Other members of Vain Scarlet watched in silence as the guards took King Crimson away with them.

They were certainly surprised and, at the same time, confused on how Nash was able to escape but King Crimson did not.

"He's probably cheating," one said to another, "I'm telling you."

"That's the only way it makes sense."

"Yeah. I'm sure he is cheating somehow."

"What are you looking at?" Nash suddenly snapped at them while they gossiped about him.

Nash arrogantly taunted them. "You want your pound of flesh. Then come and get it or get out of here."

The members of Vain Scarlet were furious.

As much as they wanted to tear Nash apart, they couldn't do it because of the NPC guards, especially since they also witnessed how Nash mysteriously evaded imprisonment.

"This is not over. Vain Scarlet will remember you one day. I advise you to watch your back."

Nash rolled his eyes and sighed. "Yeah, right."

"Tch!"

As a group, the Vain Scarlet guild left the scene.

While Nash was busy handling his issues in the game world, the real world matters proceeded with him.

As classes went on, Nash's chair in class was empty.

It was neither the first nor the second time.

However, this time around, it was the longest he had been absent.

'I wonder what's going on with him these days,' Bella thought, a shade of worry revealed on her face as she glanced at Nash's empty chair in class.