27. Assassins
"I didn’t finish yet."
Lily stared at the woman, her eyes resembling a ferocious beast.
The two women were baffled by the sight in front of them. A young silver-haired girl, that by all accounts should be the vampire princess, was laying on her bed covered in body fluids while panting heavily.
This "princess" was also being straddled by a seemingly dark-skinned wolf slave, who seemed to dominate the girl. For a moment, the women contemplated whether they should make some recording of this spectacle. After all, the idea that the vampire princess liked being submissive to the slave would be a nice scandal and a heavy blow to the reputation of the great Leranpe clan.
They shook their heads to clear their thoughts, snapping back from their previous bafflement. As nice as humiliating the vampire princess would be, they didn’t have any means by which to record this spectacle. So, they begrudgingly let go of the idea.
"Yes, the target has a guard dog. …once finished, regroup at Ber point, understood."
A faint buzzing sound came from one of the cloaked women’s earrings. A moment later, the woman began whispering to herself as if she was having a conversation with someone. Once she was done, she ignored Lily’s hateful, ferocious stare and addressed the other woman.
"The others are proceeding better than planned. We need to hurry."
The other woman nodded and turned towards Lily... or more specifically, towards Julia, who seemed to be departing on the last-minute train to Slumberland.
One of the women pulled out a dagger and slowly approached Julia. The second one carefully readied a needle and, with a wicked smile, turned towards Lily. However, she was no longer sitting on top of Julia like before.
As the woman registered Lily’s sudden disappearance, a metallic clank followed by a dull thud caught her attention.
When she turned to where the sound came from, she saw her companion crunching on the ground in pain, a deep cut on her stomach. The dagger, that she held just a moment ago, was now lying on the ground, right next to Lily’s feet.
Lily kicked the dagger away while staring the woman down with an angry expression, her sharp canine teeth partly visible between her lips.
"Do you want to die? If so, then I will gladly oblige."
Lily raised her hand slightly, blood running down her fingers. Her nails, doted in a light blue light, had seemed to transform into sharp claws that were reflecting moonlight.
Don’t get cocky, you little bitch! The woman clenched her teeth in anger and threw a needle at Lily. Smirking to herself, the woman had already begun treating Lily as "disposed of" in her mind. That, however, only lasted a split second.
Her face twisted in shock as she watched the impossible. The needle that was supposed to take Lily off guard and hit her in the side was caught by Lily as if it was nothing.
"I won’t let you harm my mistress."
Lily turned to her assailant with a cold expression, all the while holding the needle in her clenched hand. The pale moonlight reflecting from her "claws", combined with her cold and brave demeanor as she indented to protect the girl behind her despite the odds being against her, almost made her look cool. The key word was almost, as it suffered heavily from the translucent liquid dripping down her thighs.
How is that possible!? No one could have caught that! Just what kind of monster is this girl?! She began panicking internally. They weren’t told anything about this freak. All they had to do was hurt Queen Loriam where it would hurt her the most. And taking the life of her beloved daughter and sole heir to the throne, should do the trick. Everything went according to the plan, but now the plan was falling apart because of this freak of nature appeared.
There is a distance between us... If I were to cast a lighting spell, then... wait what? As she was contemplating her next course of action, she spotted that Lily’s legs were growing unsteady.
"Stupid dog."
Muttered the other woman, who was now done with healing, as she tripped Lily’s feet. As Lily fell to the ground, a silver needle stabbed in her side was clearly visible, as was Lily’s empty hand. The previously injured woman got up and angrily kicked Lily in the side.
"Of course, she faked it…. I am an idiot."
A self-deprecating murmur could be heard from one of the women as she stared at the collapsed Lily.
"From those talks, I expected more. How disappointing. Oh, well. On to the main course."
Once, she was satisfied with the number of kicks she delivered to Lily. The assassin walked to the wall near where her dagger lay and picked it up with a smile. Her smile suggested she just wanted to be done with it, take the money, and go home. But their task was still not done, and so she, with a dagger in hand, walked towards the bed. only to be flung full force into the wall by a wind spell.
"What do you think you are doing to Lily!?"
Tsk, the other weirdo is awake. Commented the still-standing woman as she saw the vampire princess sit on her bed, not bothering to cover her exposed breasts. Not like she has much to cover. She smirked.
She prepared another needle and aimed it at the angry vampire brat that was staring at her. Her companion may be out cold by the wall, and the special dagger they got for this mission may be on the other side of the room. However, her opponent is just a single spoiled princess. Even if she is able to use magic, it doesn’t change the fact that she was sheltered. There is simply no way she would be able to fight an assassin head-on.
The assassin took a deep breath to steady herself, then she cast a lightning spell she initially intended to use on Lily. A streak of electricity runs out of her outstretched hand towards Julia. She, however, managed to evade it at the last second. Julia rolled out of bed, immediately searching for anything that she could use as a weapon.
The assassin, not planning on giving her any breathing space, threw a few needles at Julia as well as a fireball, forcing Julia to evade again. All the attacks just narrowly missed her, and the fireball harmlessly died out once it touched the wall. The assassin didn’t panic, it was in accordance with her plan. The needles with their sedatives and the fireball wouldn’t have much effect on the vampire princess regardless.
just a bit more. The assassin measured the distance between herself and the dagger. It was almost within her reach. The assassin briefly glanced at her companion, who was carefully healing herself once again. Luckily for her, it appeared that the princess had forgotten about her existence.
"whoa!?!
As the assassin was briefly not looking at her opponent, Julia used that brief second to cast a wind blade against her opponent. The assassin let out a surprised shout as the ill-aimed wind blade flew past her head, forcing her attention back to Julia.
Quickly casting three fire spears and sending them towards Julia as a distraction, the assassin quickly rolled to the side and grabbed the dagger. A triumphant smile appeared on her face when her companion finished her healing and began silently casting a spell.
"What the hell!? Are they dead?"
"You imbeciles, don’t just stand there! Her highness is in danger!"
A series of shouts could be heard from the halls, immediately followed by approaching fast-paced footsteps.
"Tsk, die bitch!"
Getting short on time, the two assassins attack Julia in sync. An ice lance flew towards Julia, unable to evade the attack in time, and she got hit in the shoulder. The other woman launched at her with the dagger. Julia jumped back, as the wound on her shoulder quickly healed, barely avoiding the dagger’s blade.
Where the hell are the guards!? Julia was frustrated, doing her best to avoid her assassin’s attacks, unable to focus on her own casting. The duo of assassins, with their coordinated attacks, were growing more frustrated as well.
"ugh."
"Just die already!"
The woman with the dagger yelled out as she managed to slash Julia’s arm. Julia let out a painful groan but continued to evade without paying attention to her injury.
A wind blade flew right in front of her face, while another managed to slash Julia’s side. As the assassins scored their third hit, their faces showed smug smiles. The sight of their grins gave Julia a weird feeling. Huh? Is that blood?
Julia was confused. The wounds she received should be already healed, but they weren’t.In her confusion, Julia failed to notice where she was evading and tripped over Lily’s collapsed body, based on her painful groan, she was still alive.
"Hahaha, what’s wrong, parasite? Your body isn’t healing? That’s too bad."
One of the assassins snickered with a fake pity in her voice. Moonlight reflected off the blade of her dagger, as the assassin got closer to Julia. Julia focused and decided to cast a wind blade to stop the assassin. However, no matter how much she tried, the spell simply failed, as if the mana she poured into it disintegrated.
"It really can seal mana. How terrific."
The other women commented in awe, looking at the dagger. The first one merely shrugged.
"Once we are done here, we can as well sell it to her majesty. It looks like it will be super effective against these parasites."
The woman laughed to herself and lifted the dagger, aiming it at Julia’s heart. Julia closed her eyes out of fear. She braced herself for the cold blade about to pierce her chest. She shuddered as she heard a dagger piercing through flesh, followed by warm blood dripping onto her legs.
But to her surprise, the pain didn’t come. She opened her eyes slightly, expecting to see a triumphant assassin looking at her. Instead, she saw a woman covered in a black cloak with a mask on her face. The dagger that was supposed to kill Julia was firmly pierced through the body of the masked woman.
"Are you all right, your highness?"
The woman said with worry in her voice. As if the bleeding wound on her chest didn’t exist, she checked Julia’s condition. She turned toward the assassins with anger once she spotted Julia’s still bleeding wounds.
"The Royal Guard?!"
"Tsk."
The assassins took a step back when they realized who the woman that suddenly appeared was. Before they could react to this new development, the footsteps in the hall intensified, and a group of women in black armor barged into the room, pointing their weapons at the assassins.
"Tsk, time up."
The assassins moved from the soldiers. The soldier’s expressions were filled with hate once they noticed the state Julia was in. As they started to close towards the assassins, a flame orb appeared in the hands of the assassins and threw it into the room before jumping out the window.
"Quickly protect Her Highness!"
The fire started spreading in the room, as the guards panicked and began to evacuate Julia and Lily out the room. while some of the guards started casting water magic trying to put the fire out. As Julia began to lose consciousness from the blood loss, sending the guards into a panic.
"Your Highness? Your Highness!"
…
"Do you think she is dead?"
The assassin asked as she looked at the window from where they jumped.
"I think so. We sealed her mana. The vampires are useless without their self-healing."
The other one shrugged as she observed the vampires panicking. She smiled as she imagined the reaction of the vampire queen to her daughter’s death.
"Ugh."
"Wha-"
A groan from her companion caught her attention. She hurriedly turned around only to see a black-wolf woman covered in burn marks, wearing a black cape over her grey uniform, an ancient looking blood-soaked curved sword in her hand.
"How troublesome to think there are traitors hiring silenen scums such yourself."
The unknown woman said in annoyance as she stepped over the dead assassin’s body. The last assassin attempted to make a run for it, but when she tried to get up she collapsed back, it was like her leg was attached to the ground. When she glanced at her leg, it was placed within a glowing magic circle.
"By the divine name of Leranpe, the daughter of the heavens. Ave Imperatrix."
The wolf woman grabbed her sword in both hands and, with all of her strength, slashed at the stuck assassin, separating her head from her body in a single slash. Disappearing as suddenly as she appeared, leaving behind the head of a young elven assassin rolling on the ground.