Inside the cloud of dust
'These crazy bastards' thought the assassin inwardly as he knew there was no gap to escape from due to the multiple explosions occurring in every direction.
Richard also saw this, so he immediately used his sword to slash downward allowing him to jump high in the sky as all the attacks landed on the assassin as his attack cracked the ground disorienting the assassin.
No one saw this scene as the epicenter was lit with different colours but soon a white blinding light followed by a cloud of dust enshrouded their vision.
*Boom* *Boom* *Boom*
The shockwaves after the explosion made Richard unstable and pushed him even higher, thus making his landing unsafe.
The three assassins were gloating as they had killed a competitor and most likely the B+ rank as even he won't be able to escape scot-free from such an all-out attack.
The gloating of the assassins did not even last for a while as they suddenly heard a whittling sound and looked up to see Richard swinging his sword.
The cloud of dust was finally cleared giving them a view but the sight made them question their decision to not run away in the chaos and lament their stupidity.
The mid-B rank assassin was riddled with holes with a pained expression while the other three were looking at this sight with their jaws agape.
*Thud*
Hearing a sound, they turned around to look at the one by their side to find his body cleaved into two and the B+ rank charging another attack at them.
It turned out that in their shock and stupor, the B+ rank used that opportunity to use the falling momentum to charge an attack and kill one of them.
Richard did not care or wait for them to respond as he had to finish the fight as fast as possible and seeing their expressions, he knew this was the best time to kill one more.
Just when Richard launched himself, a huge aura spread from the mid-B rank which distracted him for a moment and the defending female barely survived the attack but she had exhausted all her strength like the one-arm guy next to her.
All three of them turned to look at the place from where the aura was emanating from only to find that the mid-B rank assassin was using some unknown method to fight even in that condition.
"This is going to be a bit troublesome" muttered Richard, recognising it to be a berserk type of art which gives you power even more than your peak but the side effects of such arts are the reason they are considered for 'even if I die, I'll take you down with me' kind of situations.
He hurriedly used all his strength to kill the other two and just when he cut the other arm of the one-arm, he turned to look at the next target to find her head crushed by the berserk assassin.
*Sigh*
Richard sighed knowing he had no other choice than to kill them as the armless man had also just committed suicide to prevent any information from leaking as he probably realised the reason Richard had not killed him yet.
The berserk assassin attacked with full strength at Richard as he was the only living target around the area to which Richard focused to barely block the attack.
Just blocking the attack got him pushed back for several meters as he was not in his peak condition otherwise, he would have been able to take care of such a guy easily.
…
…
…
Meanwhile when the explosion occurred, Jarien who had just barely stabilised his mana got a jerk and it made his state unstable releasing the rein on mana.
As he also felt that something was amiss, he hurriedly calmed down himself to complete his breakthrough.
"Argh…" Jarien gritted his teeth as his mana core felt fiery suddenly and he did not know the reason but it was only for a few seconds as it passed fleetingly.
Unfortunately, he did not have enough time to delve into it too deeply. He was in too much of a precarious state due to several factors affecting him.
Finally, he immersed himself deeply in the mana around him and after his harsh effects he stabilised his mana and was about to open his eyes just when he heard a loud noise making him twitch his lips at this turn of events since he started his breakthrough.
*Crackle*
*Bzzzt*
"Aaahggh…" a scream sounded.
The scream made Jarien open his eyes immediately as this could mean only one thing: that someone got captured in a trap and from the sounds of it, it was a lightning stun trap.
The only conclusion Jarien could come to at that moment was that someone bypassed Richard and reached him as the one who laid the traps wouldn't get caught in it.
Jarien could not gauge the strength of the unknown assailant which meant that the person was stronger than him but he assessed that he was weaker than Richard.
By the looks of many traps being activated in the room, it was certain that the assailant was skilled as many traps lay to waste and only the current one had managed to hit him.
It was not like he did not have any artifacts to save his life but he wanted to wait for Richard as that would be the best option in the current situation.
For some reason, Jarien felt uneasy as even after the trap's effect wore off Richard did not come back and he wasn't expecting the person in front of him to explain as anyone could tell he was angered even with all that hoods and masks hiding his face.
For some time, the assassin did not move but kept sensing and dismantling the laid traps which increased the sense of danger in Jarien.
Fortunately or unfortunately, it was going to take the guy some time as there were many traps laid out and this guy seemed to not want to try his luck as he was dismantling one trap after another.
Seeing the scene in front of him, Jarien decided to try his luck and threw an exploding ball-shaped mana bomb which had the power of full-scale attack of a D-rank hunter.
The assassin dodged it by kicking his foot to get a pushback effect and the bomb exploded but it didn't seem to harm him.
'Just this? This would result in only light injuries even if I were to take it head on' thought the assassin.
'What the hell? How can Richard miss a C-rank?' cursed Jarien unaware of the berserk mid-B rank rampaging outside.
Luckily, the place where the assassin landed was a trap's location so he instantly got locked there but it was simple entrapment for a few seconds at best.
Jarien gritted his teeth and threw 3 mana bombs which the assassin easily received but the fourth one came from the blind spot just when the three exploded right in front of him.
It only caused him slight cuts and bruises but more than enough to annoy him.
*Clack*
"I was gonna kill you painlessly but now I have decided to torture you properly" gritted the assassin through his teeth, his fuming anger visible to any spectator.
The angry guy launched towards Jarien but a trap erupted in the middle of the path as Jarien had swiftly relocated himself but he easily sidestepped and rushed again at Jarien.
Jarien used another explosion to run away but it was just a distraction and he did not have any weapon nor the strength to fight the assassin who was 3 ranks higher than him.
He barely survived the attacks when Richard came from the door and killed him like a hero saving a damsel in distress.
***
Richard who was fighting the berserk guy suddenly felt uneasy, so he tried sensing the room where Jarien was but to his surprise, he was unable to sense anything.
Thus, he concluded the fight and gave his all in fighting the berserk guy. His sword clashed with daggers and he had to block hidden weapons, projectiles and every ranged attack while using the force to go inside the mansion.
He smartly led the man inside and soon he realized that a silencing artifact was in use which caused him a lot of worry about Jarien's life.
He stood in front of the barrier and let the berserk man attack in his direction and dodged so as to use this attack to break the barrier and he continued to repeat this until the barrier finally broke and he was shocked to see Jarien running away from the assassin.
He hurriedly dashed in the direction with all his strength and hurriedly killed the C-rank in one sword strike and stood guard in front of Richard facing the berserk guy.
"…Huff…Huff…Young Master…Don't worry… I will protect you…" said Richard while panting heavily to catch his breath.
The berserk guy dashed towards them out of his senses based on his instincts and Richard was blown away as he had used up nearly almost all his strength.
Jarien had already planned on using his last bomb which was the only C-rank one and on seeing Richard blown away, he threw it and ran back as fast he could but he still got caught up in the explosion.
This caused the room to almost collapse but gave Richard enough time to drink two potions which helped him regain a portion of his mana and tried sensing the assassin.
The guy was almost dead and his life force was extremely weak as if on the verge of death but he sensed that the guy was trying to self-destruct so he hurriedly left with Jarien activating some defence artifact to protect him.
The self-destruction caused the entire room to collapse and the further collapse of the entire house was only stopped because of the rubble getting stuck but it would burst soon.
"Richard, collect their space rings and put all of them inside the house" said Jarien after noticing the dead bodies.
Richard was worried as this was probably the first time Jarien saw corpses in such condition but he relaxed on hearing the order even though he felt confused.
"Uhmm Young Master, we should leave and not waste time. Otherwise, if the escape passage collapses it will not bode us well" said Richard.
"Just do it and fast please. The assassins should have some explosions or mana bombs, place them near them and we will leave as soon as we light them up" said Jarien and moved to the training room to collect the weapons as they may come in handy some time.
Richard did as asked due to the urgency and when they entered the safe passage, he wanted to ask but he had to hold Jarien and run at his top speed to save them from the aftershocks.
After the first explosion ended and he was about to slow down, he heard Jarien's urging to keep going and soon another louder explosion sounded.
The second explosion burned down the entire house and the first explosion destroyed the assassin's corpses. The second one was due to Jarien setting up multiple explosives and flammable substances that were hidden from Richard.
"Young Master, this… what is going on?" asked Richard as he was sure from the urging that something was going on and he did not know about it.
*Sigh* "It's simple, the guards of the city did not come for so long means that some barrier was setup and even one sneaked past you during your fight means the mastermind already knew a lot and this meant the assassination should succeed no matter the cost, hence the bombs in their space rings" said Jarien as they were crossing the underground escape path.
"Young Master, I already understood that much, I am asking about the second explosion and how did it occur?" asked Richard.
"Oh that, umm, well let's just say I had planted them in advance for when we have to escape" said Jarien sheepishly.
"Wha-Why?" asked Richard stupendously.
"You see Richard, we have to make it seem like I died or gone missing because I don't want to stay sheltered and do things at my own pace. By the way, we are going to Volley City" said Jarien shamelessly.
"Young Master, this…I-wait does the family head or Lady Viria know about it?" asked Richard nervously.
"Ah, no. That's why I have gone 'missing' or 'assassinated'." said Jairen and then laughed sneakily to which Richard just facepalmed knowing he would not even get the chance to contact them as they were in a rush and had to escape safely and quickly.
The two of them ran and ran to reach Volley City for 6 days and settled there but they still did not contact the house back as they had changed their identity again to be random people.
Jarien just sent a 'I am fine' to his father after a few days and then ignored everyone's calls and messages.
Unfortunately, his childhood friend was caught talking with him, so she was grounded till she entered the world academy. Else, he would have asked for her help once again.
It was 30 June, 988 by the time they reached and Jarien had already started searching for the 'fragment' dungeon as it would be appearing soon.
Unbeknownst to them, a lot of trouble was ensuing in different places as they had run away without informing his family and all the assassins died, so the perpetrator was still alive.
Due to the first 'fragment' appearing, Azazel refocused on that rather than caring about Jarien's failed assassination as his priorities were different and everyone believed that Jarien had died as there was no movement from the Dawner family.