Book 5: Chapter 23: Are You Looking For This?
Cold sweat dripped down from Heji’s forehead.
He clearly discovered that he wasn’t able to feel out the assassin’s true strength, so there could only be one possibility: the assassin’s strength was above his own. Coupled with the fact that his superior and crush was watching on the sidelines, Heji was under considerable psychological pressure.
On the contrary, Bai Huang was very optimistic as she maintained her posture with hands at her hips. She shipped out the appearance of one whose plan had succeeded and loudly said:
“Go, Heji. Teach this ******* who dares to look down upon me a lesson!”
Heji’s sword drew a minute arc.
His tensed body was originally like a readied arrow waiting for action after having accumulated power while Bai Huang’s command was like the order to release it. In an instant, Heji lifted his sword up. His sword art was wide and focused; as an attacker, he possessed extremely strong suppressive strength and every downward swing of his displayed explosive might like that of a silver bottle shattering into pieces. Light reflected off his sword edge and made the nighttime appear as bright as day.
The assassin clenched the dagger in her hand as she hurriedly retreated backwards while blocking several of Heji’s sword attacks.
Once the duo exchanged a few rounds, Heji changed to holding the sword with both hands, withdrawing his left foot by half a step, and lowered his body. A half-second later, six silver-colored sword lights were released from different angles, all aiming at the assassin’s vital points. Those sword lights blast the azure bricks into pieces, stirring up sand and dust, blurring the line of sight.
“Well done!”
Bai Huang praised.
Heji frowned, then suddenly shouted:
“Be careful, sir Bau Huang!”
When the smokescreen dispersed, the place that the assassin stood in was empty.
Heji clearly didn’t understand the law of “using smoke to cover for injuries”, but he evidently discovered that he hadn’t hit anything, so he suddenly gave voice to warn Bai Huang. But he was one step too late. A ghost-like figure appeared behind Bai Huang with the dagger about to stab into Bai Huang’s fair neck.
At this moment, a sword obstructed the course of the dagger. In the instant the sword-edge and dagger clashed, a small gap appeared on the dagger-edge.
Even though it’s a bit embarrassing to bully someone depending on sharp weapons, the longsword【Roaming Dragon】is, after all, the level of weapon that an Overlord would equip, so it has enough and more to spare when dealing with ordinary weapons.
Heji wouldn’t have been in time to cover that distance, but Aleya was close enough.
She immediately ran over to Bai Huang and blocked the attack the assassin was about to use on Bai Huang in the most critical moment.
But the situation still wasn’t an optimistic one.
Aleya’s right arm had already sustained injuries and with the blow she had just blocked from the assassin, it caused her wound to aggravate and even more blood started gushing out. But she didn’t draw back because of this. As if nothing had happened, she stepped forward bravely with both of her hands on her sword and forcibly compelled the assassin to retreat from Bai Huang.
But there’s another problem.
Regardless of whether it’s Aleya or Heji, both aren’t able to leave a nick on the assassin.
Even touching the corners of her clothes seems to be an unattainable goal.
Aleya’s battle style is called “Mad Dog Style” by those who don’t understand. Clashing without a care for life and without the slightest intention to draw back. I, Aleya, just want to kill everyone or be killed by everyone is roughly the feeling you would get from her. The assassin wrinkled her brows as if thinking Aleya was a little hard to deal with.
Naturally, it’s merely her battle style that’s a bit difficult to deal with.
There was still a considerable gap between Aleya’s full strength and the assassin’s.
It’s true that Aleya is a genius, but she only started to practice her swordsmanship when she entered the City Lord’s mansion at around 10 years-old. Her body also wasn’t one that was maintained with heavenly treasures and all depended on her diligence to make up for this deficiency. Facts prove that no one cares about their opponent’s age, sex, status, or where your martial skills came from when fighting. Only true powerful strength is the bargaining chip that decides victory or defeat.
This time is the fifth round. In the next few seconds, the assassin slashed at Aleya’s wrist with the back of her dagger again. Aleya snorted and the sword in her hands nearly dropped out, but luckily, she was grasping the sword with both hands. With the sheer force of her willpower, she tightened her bloodied grip on the sword and forcibly stabbed out one last move.
Is this sword move important?
Of course it is!
Because behind the assassin, two to three meters in the air, Heji was holding his sword with both hands and slashing downwards as if he were slam dunking.
This move was just like a sudden clap of thunder.
After the assassin evaded Aleya’s sword move, she ran into Heji’s sword aura.
The silver-white sword light burst forth and instantaneously snatched away all vision. When the swordlight dissipated, my eyes weren’t able to react for a short while. When my vision was restored, I could then see Heji standing there in front of a large pitfall that was still smoking. All the azure bricks within a radius of a dozen meters were turned into fragments. From the area that his sword had fallen to even some of the earth outside, it was all scorched.
Bai Huang exclaimed:
“Heji! Aleya! Are you two fine?”
Aleya shook her head while using her left hand to cover her right forearm and donning an unwell expression.
In contrast, Heji was looking at the pitfall in front of him foolishly as cold sweat kept dripping onto the ground.
Still the feeling of not having hit the target!
All of the sudden, just like the classic scene in a horror movie, the torches placed on the surrounding wall of the granary all went out, leaving the furthest one still burning in silence. Someone stood underneath the torch with a very very long shadow beneath her. In the next second, her figure quietly faded away.
The only thing remaining in the surroundings was endless darkness.
Fear creeped into their minds.
Heji tightly clutched the sword in his hand as he shouted:
“Sir Bai Huang, leave quickly!”
Within the darkness, Bai Huang was glancing left and right with unwillingness in her voice:
“But if we leave now, the granary……”
She didn’t finish her words.
Only the heavy sound of something like a sandbag falling could be heard.
“Sir Bai Huang?”
Heji called out, but nobody responded to him in the darkness. He clenched his teeth and fell into a rage, but before the words of cursing left his mouth, the sound of wind abruptly appeared behind his back.
Heji turned around with his sword, creating the familiar scene of silver swordlight sweeping by and illuminating his surroundings momentarily.
In the next second, something suddenly struck his nap. Heji swaying took two steps forward, holding his sword close to his body, but the assassin struck out again and completely shattered his last persistence.
Darkness, this is the most suitable stage for assassins to perform in.
Concealment, assassination, once again returning back to darkness; it’s like an art.
Aleya still hadn’t given up, but because of how heavy her wound was, the hand grasping her sword was already starting to tremble unnaturally.
She searched her surroundings with all her effort, trying to seek the assassin’s whereabouts.
But until the assassin struck her down, she wasn’t able to discover the noiselessly approaching ghost-like young lady.
Bai Huang Squadron, all knocked out.
I have to say, this uninjured assassin, who silently appeared in front of the final torch, does have quite the long shadow.
She took down the torch, walked over to the door of the granary, and threw the torch inside.
The torch drew a perfect arc as it sailed through the air and fell onto some dry grains.
The assassin didn’t continue watching. Her mission was complete, so that meant it was about time for her to leave.
But just as she walked out three steps, she suddenly went to feel her face.
What met her fingertips wasn’t the familiar cloth texture, but rather a glossy, ice-cold sensation of skin.
The mask is gone——this is probably what she’s thinking.
Thus, the assassin hurriedly turned her head and discovered that the torch she had thrown into the granary didn’t cause the conflagration like she had imagined. On the contrary, it had oddly gone out and created true darkness.
I stood by the doorway of the granary and tossed the already-empty iron bucket to the side. Then, I used my right hand’s index finger to twirl the mask like a handkerchief and asked the assassin with a smirk:
“……Are you looking for this?”