The brown-haired, gray-eyed man rushed out of the restaurant, but Charlotte was nowhere to be found.
The throwing knives in his hand spun once before sliding back into his sleeve. He smiled slightly, ready to say something, but in the next second, a magic-breaking shell came roaring from a distance like a dragon's roar...
Charlotte fired that shot with a heart full of resentment.
He was just a math teacher. After being transported to this world, his highest life goal was to marry a wealthy woman, climb the social ladder, and amass wealth. How did it come to this, where he was being hunted down repeatedly?
At Kilmarnock Prison, it was all because the new warden, Magru Trelle, harbored selfish motives and forced him to betray Menielman. Even after he escaped, Magru Trelle wouldn't let it go and spent a fortune hiring the Red Horse Detective Agency to hunt him down, triggering a series of misfortunes. After killing eight detectives from the Red Horse Agency, their leader, Aubrey Charlton Atwood, had even bribed assassins from the Beastman Assassin Guild to come after him...
The troubles seemed endless.
"Magru Trelle! You deserved to die."
"Aubrey Charlton Atwood, I will kill you, destroy your Red Horse Detective Agency, and bring ruin to your family, wiping out your lineage entirely!"
Though Charlotte was a transmigrant, he still held onto some traditional Chinese values deep down!
Yes, he had a particular fondness for wiping out his enemies' entire families.
The brown-haired, gray-eyed man reacted swiftly, his body flickering as he dodged the magic-breaking shell, leaving an afterimage in the air.
The shell struck the ground, leaving a deep, basin-sized crater, and the bullet carved a trench seven or eight pimi long into the ground.
The assassin's eyes narrowed, and suddenly he started running, his speed as fast as a cheetah.
Charlotte missed the shot and was about to fire again, but seeing the assassin's speed, he knew he had missed his chance.
He quickly stowed the anti-space sniper rifle into his alchemy staff and casually tossed it into a nearby wall before drawing the Blood Rose.
Though Charlotte wasn't a combatant, he made the best possible choice in an instant.
Facing the brown-haired, gray-eyed assassin, the anti-space sniper rifle was no longer useful, and the alchemy staff held no combat value, so he temporarily discarded it, setting up an ambush instead.
The bloodsucking hatchet had limited lethality. If his opponent's speed were comparable to his own, he could still play with ranged attacks, but the brown-haired, gray-eyed assassin was faster, leaving no distance for him to control the hatchet.
So Charlotte chose the swordsmanship of the House of Asilo!
He fully activated his Insight ability, and as Blood Glory infused the Blood Rose, the sword let out a faint hum. His tension reached its peak.
Charlotte had never before chosen to confront an enemy head-on. Although he had come up with what seemed like the perfect strategy in just a few breaths, facing such a formidable opponent, how could he be at ease?
The brown-haired, gray-eyed assassin took a step forward, leaping into the air, his throwing knives shifting in countless ways. Charlotte countered with his sword, and in the span of a tenth of a second, they exchanged seven or eight moves.
Charlotte had Agility backing him up and was also enhanced by Protagoras' secret techniques. Though slightly slower, his Insight ability allowed him to predict every move the assassin made, and his magic rapier was longer than the opponent's knives, enabling him to parry every strike from the brown-haired, gray-eyed assassin.
The assassin let out a light "hmm" and said, "The Angel's Sting of the House of Asilo?"
"You don't seem like a vampire."
Charlotte had no leisure for conversation, his full focus barely enough to keep up. How could he dare be distracted?
His magic rapier circled continuously, clashing with the assassin's knives seventeen times, the blades' shrill sounds blending into a continuous melody, like a symphony.
Swordsmanship wielded with such elegance wasn't Charlotte's style—it was the style of the House of Asilo. The Angel's Sting swordsmanship was divided into twelve movements, and Charlotte could only execute the first movement: Dawn's Flame!
The brown-haired, gray-eyed assassin had intended to assassinate a fourth-tier target. The intelligence he had received was slightly outdated, making this seem like an easy task, not requiring much planning. He had originally intended to break into 58 Élysée Gardens and kill Charlotte at home. When Charlotte went out for dinner, he simply adapted his plan and followed, aiming to kill him in the restaurant.
That talk about liking to kill the target's lover first was just psychological warfare.
He enjoyed watching his targets betray their loved ones in a desperate bid to survive, only to cut their throats afterward and say, "I'm a lover of true love. If you had chosen to die to protect your lover, I might have spared you…" Watching his victims spiral into despair, regretting their decisions, and breaking down emotionally was his twisted hobby.
Yes, it was a rather sadistic pastime.
He never expected Charlotte to be even more "twisted" than he was—Menielman was someone he could kill? And the Duchess Meisu? Don't even think about it. Even if the seven leaders of the Beastman Assassin Guild joined forces, they might not be able to handle the Grand Duchess.
In fact, Charlotte was overestimating this assassin!
Annie was the daughter of an Imperial Count—how could a mere assassin dare to target her? Even if someone placed an order, the Beastman Assassin Guild might not even accept it.
The two clashed fiercely for dozens of exchanges. The magic rapier and the throwing knives clashed one final time before they separated, each drawing upon secret techniques to recover.
The brown-haired, gray-eyed assassin chuckled and said, "I underestimated you."
Charlotte took a deep breath and said, "You're mid-tier, not high-tier! You only know at least two abilities!"
Charlotte had been intimidated by the assassin, initially mistaking him for a high-tier extraordinary. But after battling for so long, he realized this brown-haired, gray-eyed assassin wasn't as strong as he had feared.
The assassin had a technique to conceal his presence, which had fooled Charlotte's Insight, and another ability to accelerate his movements. However, this speed burst was not sustainable; otherwise, Charlotte would have been dead long ago. How else could he have held out for so long?
The assassin was slightly surprised and said, "You're very observant."
"But unfortunately, it won't save you from certain death."
Charlotte laughed dryly and said, "Don't be so sure!"
Hundreds of meters away, where Charlotte had dropped his alchemy staff, three clever cat kittens had climbed up onto the wall. Under the influence of Necromancy, the three kittens worked together to pull the anti-space sniper rifle out of the staff.
The little ones were panting heavily, but they didn't rest. Instead, they used the nearby wall to prop up the rifle, huddled together, and mewled loudly, their six little paws working hard to pull the trigger.
The magic-breaking shell pierced through the air like divine fire, crossing hundreds of meters straight towards the brown-haired, gray-eyed assassin.
The assassin, a seasoned killer from the Beastman Assassin Guild, was just about to leap at Charlotte.