"Hmm.." the old man pondered while alternatively staring at Lawrence and the three hooded assassins.
"Fine..the problems of mortals don't concern me" with a flick of his fingers, the old man vanished as the leader assassin smiled widely.
"You seem oddly confident in yourself" Lawrence commented as the leader assassin only chuckled.
"You fool, of course, we came prepared" the leader whistled as a loud roar shook the trees as the rhythmic footsteps of a large being put fear in everyone or what the leader hope to happen but Lawrence didn't even flinch. Luke stared at the group of assassins as he can wait to tear them to pieces while Catalinna is quite excited to bash whatever that large being is. It revealed itself as a muscular man reaching the height of 3 meters with its vein throbbing intensely. Its skin is covered in the color of pale violet as bubbles escaped from the man's voice. A metal chain is wrapped around its torso as its eyes glisten with madness. Lawrence clicked his tongue as he knows what this thing is. They are called combat slaves as their strength and resilience are the same as a 4-star warrior who focused on cultivating their body to be impregnable. A captured slave was experimented with different strengthening liquids and materials to create this beast.
"I'll take this combat slave by my own" Catallina simply commented as Lawrence can only nod. She rushes forward with fire covering her body as the combat slave roars. The assassins were surprised by her recklessness as they took their eyes off Lawrence who activated the necklace as he vanished. He needs to take one out immediately, using lighten and whirl. The assassins were caught off guard by something sucking them in. They looked around with panic in their hearts but Lawrence eerily smiled. With his fist connecting to one of them, the assassin flew from the force of his fist as the assassin's chest caved in while coughing blood. The two assassins immediately jumped backward but he used attract on the both of them. They were sucked in again, confusion clouded their expression but they are assassins trained by the black syndicate. Their eyes turned cold as they used shadow jump to teleport to nearby shades in the trees.
"Be careful, one of them is mi uggh- before one of them can finish his sentence, a dagger is already inserted in his heart as he gurgled his own blood while flailing his arms trying to take the dagger off from his chest but it was too late. The assassin immediately loses his consciousness before falling to the ground as a corpse covered in his own blood.
"Why are you guys revealing yourself?" Luke sighed as he wiped his dagger on the cloth of the man he just killed. The leader assassin widened his eyes before gritting his teeth, this isn't in his plan but the combat slave that he wanted to rely on was getting stopped by the white-haired woman. Although there are multiple burns covered in its body, it continued fighting madly. Crushing the surrounding trees and stomping the ground with impressive strength. The problem is, that the combat slave is too slow while having the combat capabilities of a toddler. It merely swings its arm around and stomps the ground occasionally. Still, its strength isn't to be ignored. Those swings and stomps can flatten and break the bones of any man. So, Catalinna can't risk going in full blast like what she did against the old man.
With her outstretched palm, a fireball appeared before smashing towards the combat slave. It exploded in the face of the slave but it seems to be unaffected as it continued charging toward her with an indignant roar. She continued barraging the combat slave with fireballs while dodging and weaving despite knowing that her attacks are dealing almost no damage. She glanced at the red ring on her finger before shaking her head. It wasn't the time to use it yet.
Throughout this scuffle, Vania hid in a nearby tree while looking at the three of her allies. She wanted to fight too but with no spells and abilities to show. Once again, she has to hide to avoid getting targeted and needing to be rescued like a damsel in distress. Her eyes locked on the combat slave and Catalinna before noticing a dark aura circling around the leader assassin. His heart is covered with the emotions of anger, shame, and a fanatic obsession.
"Boss! Luke! Hurry up and kill the leader assassin. He's planning something!" she shouted as both men winced before charging forward. But it was too late, the leader assassin revealed a syringed containing a dark liquid inside before stabbing it on his neck. A fan of knives penetrated his vitals such as his heart, neck, and forehead while a large explosion followed before a hole appeared in his stomach as both Lawrence and Luke is feeling uneasy about something. The man coughs up blood before smiling, violet veins started appearing as they throbs and throbs. Then suddenly the man's eyes lose their shine before falling to the ground. Both Luke and Lawrence are confused about just what happened.
"Retreat!" Vania shouted once more as Luke hurriedly activated shadow jump while Lawrence used the ring of teleportation to leave the corpse. Oddly enough, the corpse started standing up as its injuries started healing at a fast rate. Its eyes are clouded with madness before growling like an undead. Lawrence cursed his luck, this thing is infected with maleosis. A disease that revives the dead as a vengeful undead. Unlike the undead which are slow and fragile, this disease consumes the victim's aura. Once the aura is consumed, the undead would gain regeneration and a demonic aura. This demonic aura would circulate around the bloodstream and its meridians to give the undead a burst of speed and strength. Luckily, this only lasts for 3 to 5 minutes before withering into ashes. Still, with no way of retreating. They have to outlast this thing. The undead growled before jumping forward with its fangs bared as the dark liquid splatters everywhere.
"Be careful! Don't get bitten or mauled and make sure to lock it in place" Lawrence reminded everyone as Luke summoned the paw of Fenrir before slamming the undead towards the trees. The undead's body is slashed to pieces but pieces of its body started inching closer and closer before combining once again. The undead gazed at Luke since it can only see him. The undead vanished before teleporting behind Luke's back and slashing forward with its sharp nails. Luke was surprised as he immediately turned around while parrying the attack before jumping back with his eyes opened. The undead tried teleporting behind Luke once again but it was pushed away by Lawrence's spell repulse.
"This is bad, the undead can still use its skills" Lawrence grimly responded as the undead gazed again at them with maddening eyes but Luke patted his shoulder with a smile.
"I got this boss, don't worry" Luke replied with confidence as Lawrence glanced at him before nodding. Despite all of this happening, Catallina is slowly losing as her mana and aura are starting to deplete. The combat slave is covered with burns but Catalinna is visibly fatigued. She was getting angrier and angrier as she was about to charge in and bomb this fool to kingdom come.
"Let's kill this thing. I will give you an opportunity. Hit it with your strongest spell or skill" Lawrence charged in as Catalinna was surprised by his arrival before following him. Casting attract, the combat slave was lifted in the air before slowly moving towards Lawrence as he can feel it tugging the gravity qi that allows him to use gravity-based spells. He bawled his right fist while his left palm is controlling the attract spell. He cast removal as the combat slave can only stay in the air. It tried destroying Lawrence's pulling force over it but with the removal, it can only helplessly float around in the air as it roared. Seeing this, Catalinna's body immediately bursts with white flames as it converge around her right fist, creating a large white flame that covered her right arm. She stomps his feet in front of the slave before leaning forward as she slams her fist on its stomach before dragging her fist downwards. The combat slave crashes beneath her on the ground as a large explosion and smoke swallowed both of them while Lawrence casted repulse to counterattack the strong shockwave. Trees were unearthed while the ground shook from the force alone. It was too loud that Lawrence nearly felt his ears ringing like a grenade just exploded a few meters away from them. A couple of explosions followed before Catalinna walked away from the combat slave with a satisfied smile. The corpse was burnt black and ripped into different pieces.
"Thanks, that combat slave was getting annoying" she smiled while her white hair flowed on her shoulder. She combed it before tying it up into a ponytail. She muttered something about her hair getting in the way but Lawrence simply nodded.
"We should hurry, Luke might be in danger" Lawrence replied as Catalinna followed him again. Only to see Luke toying with the undead as its limbs are scattered all around as it desperately tried moving closer to its main body. Three Lukes continued on stabbing the arms and a single leg as the undead tried crawling at a snail's pace. Noticing the both of them, Luke waved at them.
"Boss, i successfully subdued the undead. It was oddly easy once i created a mirage of myself and an illusion. This thing should be turning into ashes any minute now" he responded with a carefree smile.
"Still, be careful. I might be able to create a cure but i would need some herbs and materials to create it first" Lawrence reminded him as Luke only smiled before stabbing the arm once again.
"Hey, should i burn this thing? Isn't fire able to stop regeneration?" Catallina throws a fireball at the main body as the undead releases an unholy screech. It was effective as it turns and wriggled in pain, hoping to remove the fire.
"Hmm…anyway. How did the black syndicate get their hand on a maleosis disease? This only appears in the south" Lawrence pondered. This disease only appeared in the southern parts of the human continent since this disease originated in the central continent. This disease currently ravages the Sekai Kingdom as ships from the central continent dock in its port. Of course, the nobles and higher officials know that the maleosis comes from the central continent but their greed was too immense that they turned a blind eye to it. With important and rare materials that can only be found on that continent. It was natural for them to ignore the disease since only the slaves and commoners get this sickness. There are templars of the goddess of light that executes anyone who exhibits any symptoms of this disease to avoid it from spreading.
There are two reasons why he wants to create a cure for it, one is that a crown princess would get this disease during her rampage in the central continent and the second is that the criminal organization known as the Forsaken will sow chaos by creating a bomb that can release the disease to anyone who inhales it. Also, there is a hidden relic that can be found in one of the massive grave sites known as the Spear of the Damned.
A minute later, the screech of the undead has stopped as Lawrence gazed at the ashes flying with the wind. It was a relatively easy battle. There were no injuries and the enemy was easily dispatched.
"Impressive" the old man appeared suddenly with an amiable smile.
"I seems that i wasn't wrong. " the old man muttered before glancing at everyone.
"Are you all ready? Once i teleported all of you, there is no going back" he added as Lawrence nodded. Out of nowhere, a white circle appeared beneath their feet as a sudden flash of light consumed everything as they closed their eyes. Slowly opening his eyes, he gazed ahead to see a large wall with immense heights. A large stretch of ocean can be seen behind the kingdom walls as ships of different sizes are moving across the water. A breeze of the ocean hits their hair as the line of merchants and adventurers slowly inched towards the golden gate. They are finally in front of the Sekai Kingdom.
"Now that we are here, how the hell are we gonna enter?" Catalinna stared at Lawrence. She knows that despite how confident the Sekai Kingdom is in their naval army and ocean beast tamers. The gate is still guarded by guards and some templars. The influence of the goddess of light is strong in this kingdom unlike the northern kingdom and the Swordwin Empire.
"Calm down. Use your mask" Lawrence simply replied as she clicked her tongue while wearing her mask. After seeing that everyone is wearing their mask, Lawrence nodded.
"Let's go" Lawrence passes through the large line as everyone followed him, utterly confused about what is happening. Reaching the golden gate, a knight didn't even stop them as they easily entered the gate without anyone asking for their identity or their purpose for entering the kingdom. Looking around, Lawrence headed to a nearby inn as even the innkeeper seemingly didn't notice them. Heading upstairs, Lawrence opened the door to an empty room before removing the mask. Sitting down on the chair, he looked pensively at all of them with their faces contorted with confusion.
"The mask has a skill called Accord. This means that as long as one of the wearers of the mask activated a spell, all of those who are wearing the same mask will receive the effects of that same exact spell. I used the invisibility of this necklace. I'm sure all of you understood what i did" Lawrence shrugged as even Catalinna was speechless before gritting her teeth.
"Why didn't you tell us?"
"I can say the same to you" Lawrence replied curtly
"What do you mean?"
"Why didn't you tell us? Tell us the knowledge you gained" Lawrence stared at Catalinna with a flash of suspicion in his eyes.