Chapter 49
Chapter 49 – Masquerade 5
Antoine was the first to spot the assassins—or so he thought.
He was asking Enzo why it took so long for Giuliano to change his clothes. “He always moves very slowly.” Enzo replied perfunctorily.
Just as An Tuowan was about to say that I should go find him, suddenly, a murderous aura struck him from behind, piercing his back like thousands of steel needles.
-Danger!
He subconsciously searched for the sword at his waist, and then remembered that “Girissa” was not on him. Weapons weren’t allowed at the ball, and he hadn’t even thought of using them on such occasions!
The murderous intent was not directed at him. The turbulent killing intent was like an unstoppable tide, attacking General Hean Suweita who was wearing a black panther mask beside him. Su Weita also slightly noticed something was wrong. After all, he had been on the battlefield all year round, and his soldier’s intuition made him feel a subtle sense of disharmony. But he was nowhere near as sharp as Antoine. The young swordsman has received rigorous training since he was a child, which made him extremely sensitive to killing intent.
“Be careful!” Antoine dropped the wine glass in his hand and rushed towards Su Weita.
The next moment, a flying knife flew past his back, cut off a lock of his hair, brushed against the cheek of a certain waiter, leaving a trace of blood, and finally plunged into the wall with a “boom”, until the handle was missing. . If Antoine hadn’t thrown Suveta down, the throwing knife would be in the general’s throat by now!
There was a sudden silence in the side hall. The singing on the stage and the whispers of the guests stopped abruptly. Everyone stared silently at the flying knives on the wall. The waiter touched the wound on his face, staring blankly at the blood on his palm.
He opened his mouth wide, and it took several seconds before the scream overflowed his throat:
“Help! Killing!”
His screams echoed in the side hall. Before the end sound died down, a guest in blue jumped out of the crowd, and the dagger in his hand was like the fangs of a poisonous snake, biting Su Weita on the ground.
The general rolled over, and the man in blue rushed to nothing, and the dagger only scratched the opponent’s sleeve. Antoine jumped up, pulled Su Weita back to the side.
The guests woke up like a dream. All of a sudden, chorus-like screams came and went, enough to knock down the roof of the mansion!
“There are assassins! The assassins are killing people!”
“Guards! Come on!”
Some of the guests broke open the door, and some jumped out of the window to escape. The flowery skirts of the ladies are a hindrance, tripping not only themselves but those next to them. They pushed each other, stepped on each other, squeezed each other, and the panic converged into a greater panic, infecting the people in the grand banquet hall like a terrible plague. More and more people screamed and fled the mansion, but more people just ran around in a panic. Because the servants and guards of Fang Song’s family couldn’t even squeeze through the crowd to find out.
The assassin in blue has only a small dagger in his hand, which can be hidden in his dress and brought to the ball. Such a small weapon would certainly not be able to pose a threat to the experienced soldiers in normal times, but now the soldiers are unarmed, and a small knife can kill them! What’s more, the dagger was glowing with emerald green light, obviously poisoned. If one is injured by it, even if the skin is scratched a little, the consequences will be disastrous!
“He’s coming for me…!” Su Weita gritted her teeth.
“You must have many enemies!” cried Antoine.
“I must find out who is behind the scenes!”
Antoine glanced at several of his friends—Enzo grabbed Rexi with one hand and Constantia with the other, and retreated cautiously from the Assassin and Suveta. It seemed that he didn’t intend to participate in the exhibition, and only wanted to protect the bard. and women scholars. That’s it. thought Antoine. He was afraid that they would be involved innocently!
He was engrossed in thinking about how to deal with an assassin wielding a poison weapon with his bare hands, completely oblivious to the fact that another person was approaching diagonally from behind them.
“Oh!” Su Weita groaned, and knelt down on the ground clutching his left shoulder.
“There are two assassins!” he shouted.
A second assassin, dressed in red, attacked Suvetar with a throwing knife while his companion was drawing their attention. If it wasn’t for the general’s quick dodge, he would be a corpse now!
Su Weita pulled out the throwing knife and threw it at the red-clothed assassin, who easily dodged it. Fortunately, there was no quenching poison on the flying knife. The red-clothed assassin drew a dagger from his boot and stabbed it at Suveta’s unsuspecting left side. The general retreated again and again, narrowly avoiding his attack.
Antoine is entangled by the assassin in blue. He didn’t have a weapon to fight back, and he didn’t dare to receive the poisonous blade with his bare hands, so he could only flee in embarrassment amidst the assassin’s continuous thrusts. He kept cursing himself for being so careless, even if he couldn’t carry “Girissa”, it was better to have a small knife than empty hands! If the teacher in his hometown knew that he was so careless, he would definitely reprimand him severely! Well, if only he lived long enough to return home safely…if only he had a weapon…he’d have a weapon!
Enzo dragged Rexi and Constantia away from the battlefield. The female scholar’s face was pale, and she tugged at her gloves in bewilderment. Lei Xi frowned, and looked back and forth between Su Weita and Antoine.
“Aren’t you going to help him?” the bard asked softly.
“I don’t get involved in this matter.” Enzo replied.
“You already knew?”
Enzo was silent. Those two assassins were the Reticents they had encountered in the city. They had come to assassinate Suveta. Enzo had promised not to interfere with their mission, and they would not interfere with Enzo and Giuliano’s actions. Now that the two parties have made a deal, they cannot break the agreement.
“I can’t help him.” Enzo touched his chest, the holy emblem pressed against his skin, and the chill pierced into his heart. He sighed regretfully.
Leixi gave him a sideways look: “What a pity. I thought you guys…”
He suddenly stopped. Antoine was cornered by the blue-clothed assassin, and he was desperate!
“Antoine! Next!” The bard raised his priceless lute and threw it at the young swordsman!
The blue-clothed assassin thought the bard had thrown some hidden weapon at him, so he quickly dodged to the side. Antoine seized this gap, jumped up, grabbed the lute in mid-air, rolled on the spot, and distanced himself from the assassin. After getting out of trouble, he was relieved, but was immediately confused by the instrument in his hand.
What do you mean? Why did Lei Xi throw Qin over? Is it to let him meet the enemy with a lute? Uh… Although the lute can indeed resist a blow or two, it can’t be used as a weapon! Besides, isn’t this an extremely expensive antique musical instrument? Is it the work of some master who died hundreds of years ago?
No time to think any more! When the blue-clothed assassin saw the lute in Antoine’s hand, he sneered and stabbed at him with the dagger back. Antoine raised the lute reflexively to block it, only to hear a frightening crisp sound, and the dagger actually split the lute in two!
It’s over! broken! He can’t afford to sell it! Antoine wants to cry but has no tears.
“Tsk!” The blue-clothed assassin gasped angrily.
Only then did Antoine realize that there was something wrong with the lute. After being hit hard by the assassin, it was already torn apart, but something was exposed inside, and it was illuminated by the lights in the side hall, exuding a cold light.
That is-
The young swordsman pushed aside the broken pieces of wood and pulled the thing out of the broken lute.
– It’s a broken sword!
There is actually a broken sword hidden in Leixi’s lute!
The guard of the broken sword was very narrow, and the remaining blade was less than a cubit long, and the cross-section was uneven, as if it was finally broken after many battles. I don’t know how long it has been sealed in the piano, but the double-edged blades are still sharp, and there are grains of steel when it was cast on the blade. When facing the light, the grains are like blood flowing.
Antoine looked at the broken sword in his hand, and at the assassin in front of him.
Broken sword versus dagger, who is better?
He gave the answer without thinking.
While Antoine was fighting hand to hand with the blue-clothed assassin, General Hean Suweita was also dealing with the red-clothed assassin. His black panther mask had fallen off in countless dodges, but the assassin’s mask still covered his face.
He is not as lucky as Antoine, and he does not have a friend who gives him a “sword” at a critical moment. The assassin’s dagger brushed against his skin several times, and the icy air brought by the blade made his skin crawl. While dodging, he retreated to the long table, grabbed the cups, plates and dishes on the table and threw them at the assassin. The assassin laughed and jumped onto the table with a somersault. Su Weita was about to reach for an alchemy lampstand, when the assassin stepped on his hand and crushed it hard! The lampstand fell to one side. Su Weita’s face was livid, and he clenched his teeth to prevent himself from screaming.
The assassin raised the corner of his mouth triumphantly, and stabbed Su Weita’s face with the dagger. Su Weita closed his eyes, ready to meet his end, but he waited for a long time, the dagger didn’t even land on his face, but an angry yell came to his ears instead.
He opened his eyes, and an incredible scene happened in front of his eyes: the alchemy lamp ball that fell on the lampstand suddenly exploded, and a flame accompanied by glass shards rushed towards the assassin!
The assassin had to let go of Suveta and leap off the dining table, out of the way of the flames. Su Weita was finally saved, and hurriedly ran in the opposite direction from the assassin. The flames grazed the hem of the assassin’s clothes, scorched a strand of fabric on his body, and flew straight to the ceiling. The assassin regrouped and planned to continue chasing Suveta, but the flame suddenly turned around and fell straight to him from the ceiling!
how is this possible! Not only the assassin, but even Su Weita was stunned. Although the alchemy lamp ball explosion accident has been heard occasionally, it has never been heard that the flame inside can jump so high, and it is even more unheard of that the flame turns in mid-air! There is only one possibility—that flame is being manipulated! Su Weita knows that there is a kind of person in the world who can draw power from nature and use it for his own use through some unknown means to achieve the purpose of manipulating the elements of all things!
—Here is a mystic!
His gaze turned to the corner of the hall. Most of the guests have fled, and only a few people are still here, including the female scholar Konstanzia from Akton University. Ever since Suveta saw her, she had been wearing a pair of long gloves covering her hands and arms. At this moment, she uncharacteristically took off her gloves, revealing her skin and the bright red tattoos on her skin.
Suveta understood. She wears gloves to cover up the tattoo, because it’s the mystic’s mark! These people who manipulate the arcane tattoo ancient runes on their arms, so that the magic power relies on these runes to circulate, and then transforms into incomparable power.
The red rune tattoo on Constanzia’s body extends from the place where the upper arm is covered by the sleeve to the palm, and each finger is tattooed with exquisite patterns. Now, those tattoos are like flowing magma, glowing golden and red. Constanzia spread her five fingers to control the flames that were jumping up and down. More alchemy lamp **** exploded, and more flames gathered together to form a flowing river of flames!
“General! Get out of the way!” she yelled.
Without thinking, Suveta threw himself down and rolled under the table. The river of flames twisted into a huge circle, surrounding the red-clothed assassin in the middle. At the same time, An TuoWan picked up the blue assassin’s dagger with a broken sword. Constantia flipped her wrist, and a flame burst out from the ring of flames, surrounding the blue-clothed assassin in the center.
The two assassins were sweating from the roast, and their hair was scorched, exuding a pungent smell.
“You have nowhere to go! Put down your weapons! You are also sent by someone, right? Why risk your own life?” Constanzia narrowed the range of the flame circle, forcing the assassin to surrender.
The red-clothed assassin’s shoulders collapsed, as if he had given up. The assassin in blue glanced at him, then turned to Constanzia: “Don’t think about it.”
He took off his mask and threw it hard. The flames engulfed the mask, sparks erupted, and the blue-clothed assassin jumped into the flames. The red-clothed assassin hesitated for a moment, then imitated his companion, took off his mask, and rushed towards the flames.
Constantia gasped, and immediately removed the ring of fire. However, it was too late. Both assassins were on fire. The fire spread so fast that it engulfed them both in no time. The female scholar hastily reversed the magic flowing in the rune tattoos on her arms, driving the flames away from them both.
The scorching heat disappeared quickly, and the temperature in the side hall became even lower than before. The flames on the two assassins were extinguished, leaving only two bodies burned beyond recognition, whether they were dead or alive.
General Suveta crawled out from under the table. The smell of burning human body made him sick. He looked at the assassins regretfully, and then heaved a sigh of relief.
“It’s too late,” he whispered.
A group of guards in the uniform of the Fangsong family filed in. The messy scene in the side hall made them horrified and inexplicable. They were here to save people, but now they all froze and blocked the door.
“Get out of the way! You useless idiots!”
A nobleman in a white dress and a gold mask pushed aside the guards and rushed to the front. Seeing the charred bodies of the two assassins, he immediately covered his mouth and retched, then stepped back.
“You came too slowly, His Excellency Fernando Infonçon.” General Suveta straightened his clothes, strode forward, and dragged the nobleman in the golden mask out of the guards.
“I…vomit…sorry, the guests outside were in a mess, I spent a long time calming them down, so I delayed the…uh…rescue.”
“Really?” Su Weita twitched the corners of his mouth, “Are you sure it’s ‘rescue’, not collecting my body? Seeing that I didn’t die, you must be extremely disappointed?”