Although Zaos hit the assassin's arms with the reverse side of his blade, they still didn't groan in pain. The effects of the spell were canceled by the damage, but Zaos still managed to break the legs of the other three and make them fall before they could try to escape.
While those two escaped, the remaining assassins created a perfect encirclement around Zaos. They were neither too close nor too far away. Zaos couldn't see all of them, but he could sense their movements, and they were preparing to throw their poisoned knives. While fighting without worrying about their weapons was convenient, Zaos knew that a single scratch caused by those would at the very least increase the difficulty of the fight quite a bit.
