SSS-Rank Engineer: Only I Can Create Legendary Weapons

The market square erupted into chaos. Traders abandoned their shops as the ten assassins dropped from the roofs, brandishing jade daggers.

Outside the market, Percy could hear roars and the clangs of steel. They were holding back the soldiers so their buddies could finish him off.

He couldn't lie and say he didn't appreciate the amount of effort Baron Nokis was putting into killing him. It was better planned than the first attempt at the fortress.

Percy would make sure to return the favor soon. But now he was preparing to kill these unlucky souls.

The assassins was a spread of seven men and three women, all cloaked in black garments that covered every inch of skin. They wore what seemed like biker helmets over their heads.

The helmets were blood red and glassy in front so the assassins could see. Each of them held a dagger that seemed like it was made fully from jade, and Percy had no doubt that they were poisoned.

One of the assassins stepped forward; he was a tall man with broad shoulders under his black clothes.

"Leave, old woman. Take the girl with you, all we want is the Viscount's bastard. No one has to die other than him."

Sirena stood carelessly in front of Percy and Terra. Her brown dress fluttered in the wind of the empty square. Her face was shrouded in shadows by her wide hat.

"You shameless curs weren't taught to respect your elders."

"Shame only matters to people that aren't hungry," the man explained. "What we do have is patience, and you're wearing mine thin."

Sirena scoffed and raised her dagger.

"And I have my honour. If you come any step closer to my ward, be prepared to die."

All of the assassins began to laugh. The tension in the square grew with their loud voices. Sirena ignored them and cast her first spell.

She sang the incantation like the rumbling of a volcano. It wasn't a voice you'd ever expect a human could make. A short chant that sank into Percy's bones.

Four stone blocks ripped themselves from the earth in response to her spell. Brown earth spirits appeared around them shortly after, surrounding the floating bricks of stone.

Percy couldn't help but gape at the sequence. Spirits always appeared before the spell was cast, but Sirena's chant was either so fast that there was a delay, or there was another factor to why the spirits came late.

The assassins didn't seem worried by the earth magic. One of them even scoffed in a feminine voice.

"You aren't the only Spiritmancer here, old lady. You're surrounded by Spiritmancers and Arete users. We even have magic tools."

Sirena raised an eyebrow.

"Good. You'll need a little more to make me break a sweat, but let's see how well you do."

"Enough talk!" their leader roared and pulled out a blowdart shooter from his sleeve.

Before he could even put the wood to his mouth, Sirena cast her spell again. The rumbling chant grasped the earth and dragged four more blocks of stone into the air.

The assassins all shot darts from all around them. At the same time, three of them charged in, bodies surging forward in black blurs.

Percy's mind barely had time to register everything moving at them all at once. His first thought was to create a thick straw mat with his customizable reward. It would be cheap and could block the darts, but how would he deal with the—

His thoughts were interrupted when Sirena began her attack. Three of her floating blocks of stone shot towards each of the approaching assassins even faster than their movement.

Only two of the assassins were able to dodge the stone blocks. The last assassin took the speeding rock to the chest. The sound of bones cracking filled the air and the assassin went flying backwards.

The other five stones rotated around them so quickly Percy felt dizzy. The stones blocked every single dart coming at them. Sirena even let one purposely pass, and caught the dart with her free hand.

It was a thin piece of reed with a fluffy green fletching that Sirena held it by. Its tip glinted with poison. She made a disappointed sound.

"Shadesilk poison? You couldn't get anything better. Being poor and destitute must be hard."

Shortly after that, she whispered to Terra and Percy.

"Hold onto me."

They both grabbed her brown dress without being asked twice. The assassins growled and rushed towards them en masse, jade daggers flashing, chanting under their breath.

Sirena wasn't silent either, her voice rumbled his bones once again as it commanded the earth to move.

The first assassin dodged under Sirena's spinning rock formation. But she brought the stone down on his back with blistering speed and a terrible snap.

Another assassin was able to get past the rotating stones and his dagger pointed at Percy. He raised his hand to summon his reward but Sirena was faster.

The stone under their feet suddenly moved, turning his belly with a lurch as they shot away from danger. The ground under their feet slid like a moving platform, carrying them away from the assassins' daggers.

The killers were forced to dive out of the way as Sirena and the children barreled past, because her rotating blocks of stone followed her, whistling through the air with deadly speed.

Sirena glanced at the man whose spine she had just shattered. His strange helmet began glowing, then it teleported him away in a flash that left crimson sparks behind.

"I guess you scoundrels could spend more on life-saving tools than things that would make up for your meagre killing talents."

All the assassins released their spells after chanting. Percy had noticed that three of them were Arete users. The others were Spiritmancers.

Spells of flame, water, and even light flew across the battle, clashing heavily with Sirena's blocks of stone. In the meantime, the platform of stone under their feet kept moving, causing a lot of spells to just miss.

The assassins, realizing that they were just wasting spirit energy, all charged at her once again, but with different spells.

The assassin leader's hand burst into flames that didn't seem to hurt him or even burn his black clothes. A female assassin manifested a ring of ice around her hand that spun like a buzzsaw.

The others that didn't have close-range spells manifested glowing red shields to protect their allies as they attacked an old woman and two kids.

They're really putting their backs into exterminating us, Percy joked compulsively. He was still waiting for his chance to attack.

But Sirena looked more than capable of killing them all. She sent two blocks of stone soaring at the assassins and cast the same spell again to draw up four more.

The assassins fought as hard as they could but couldn't break through her defense while keeping their lives. They smashed stones and dodged around like rats while Sirena circled them with her stone platform.

The leader of the assassins groaned, smashing a rock to smoldering pieces with a fiery punch. He turned to one of his lackeys, shouting.

"Use it! We can't kill these bastards cheaply!"

The lackey pulled a black rod from his sleeves. It was intricately designed with golden lines in what Percy realized was circle magic. The lackey slammed the rod into the earth, releasing a wave of energy.

All their spells fizzled out instantly as the rod burnt to ashes. The leader's flaming fists sputtered out and Sirena's earth magic died, sending blocks of stone spinning out of control.

The assassins moved instantly, dodging the flying rocks as they came for Sirena's life. They were no longer concerned with the child; as long as they could kill this old lady they were satisfied.

Sirena didn't seem too fazed by her disrupted spells though, she lazily threw the dagger in her hand at one of the approaching assassins.

The man scoffed at her stupidity as he leaned away to dodge. But then the dagger curled to follow him, cutting his artery as it passed.

The man stopped, clutching his bleeding neck, and Sirena flicked her hand to send the dagger towards the leader's neck.

The man's eyes widened as he blocked the dagger. Sirena smirked.

"Did you think you were the only ones with magic tools? It seems you aren't prepared for a battle, I'll teach you about the art of killing."