As we enjoyed a period of solitude, we were disrupted by the sound of approaching individuals. A group of five were running toward us, one moving faster than the others, hinting at an entire party. One of them had a smaller presence, suggesting he was an assassin.
"Hey, you guys, get up! We have an issue. We need to leave as soon as possible," I warned.
"What happened, brother?" Luna asked, pausing her play with Seraphina.
"I said, get in the carriage right now. Guards, some people are approaching us. Get ready to leave immediately. That's an order!" I shouted, knowing we only had seconds before the assassin reached us.
Everyone, still unsure of what was happening, began to hurry after my shout. My sisters and Erebus moved toward the carriage as the horseman hitched the horse. The guards scrambled in a panic, bringing their horses and preparing to move.
"Quick, quick! We don't have time! Move!" I urged. Just as we were trying to move out, Seraphina had a muscle cramp and fell to the ground.
"Damn it, we're going to die here," I whispered, turning back to help her up. But it was too late; the assassin was already upon us. Instead of helping Seraphina, I moved toward the assassin.
"Erebus, pick her up and start moving. The assassin is here, and the rest of the group will arrive soon," I ordered. Fighting was out of the question. I could sense the assassin was at Level 4, while our guards were only at Level 3. Even without counting the four others quickly approaching, we were at a serious disadvantage.
I didn't want to strike first, but the assassin's bloodlust was evident. They were going to attack us, no doubt. Relying on my assassin's archery skill, I aimed to stop him in his tracks to buy enough time for the others to escape. I couldn't bear to lose someone close to me again, like in my past life.
I threw three knives, one of them striking the assassin's arm as he advanced.
"Who is this damn fool who dares to attack the Hawk Squad in our own territory?" he snarled, moving towards me in the woods, searching for my location. "It's one of the kids we're supposed to kill. And look at your audacity, attacking me instead of accepting your fate by the beach! We could have buried you in the water, but now the wolves will eat you alive," he taunted, drawing a long knife—a cross between a dagger and a sword.
I smirked as I pulled out my scorpion knife. The assassin stood on a tree branch, clearly underestimating me. "Oh, the kid has a real knife. What are you going to do, scratch my back with it?" he mocked.
Taking advantage of his overconfidence, I struck first, using my Shadow Steps to leap forward and slash at his neck with my primary knife. Though it was a surprise attack, he dodged just enough, and the blade only cut part of his chin.
"Aagh! You damn brat! I'm going to slice you into pieces and feed you to the wolves!" he roared, lunging forward with his long knife, which seemed to grow in size. We exchanged blows, our blades clashing, and paused briefly to catch our breath. I knew I had to end this quickly.
As I focused on his metal daggers, the ground began to crack and stone daggers emerged from the ground and came rushing towards me. I quickly used a shadow steps and was able to dodge his attacks but one shot up from the ground, scratching my left arm. Realising he had earth manipulation abilities and he was a x.
I tried to First move forward on the ground but I was stopped in my tracks by metal daggers not coming from almost all the sides. I avoided And deflected most of them using my dagger with a few of them scratching me.
Now moving Forwards was out of the options so I retreated to the trees, where our fight continued. We exchanged more blows, but I noticed his speed slowing. I managed to slash his wrist, impairing his ability to wield his knife effectively.
The fight was far from over, even though the poison on my blade was taking effect. He was still a Level 4 user, and I didn't know what other abilities he might have.
Then I Saw him use his other ability. He moved his danger in a slash position and the blade came Out and lunged towards me hitting my right ear as I tried to move left and cutting down 4 entire trees behind me.
Those were really fast and if you combine this ability with his ground skill it would be almost impossible to avoid them. It's good that we have trees to fight on.
Continuing with my trickery of skills i made my final distraction and used my shadow mantle to distract him and attack him what he saw was actually my shadow attacking him.
"Aagh, you damn kid! You'll regret this!" he shouted, lunging at me again. Just then, a chakra shot toward his neck. He dodged it, but the distraction gave me time to move in and strike again.
"Who's this now?" he spat, looking around. It was Luna and Erebus.
"Are these the rest of the kids? I'll kill all of them!" the assassin in the black cloak snarled, his voice dripping with rage. It seemed they'd followed me, like they were determined to die alongside me. And what were they even thinking? They're only level 1.
It was reckless. At least Seraphina hadn't come; she must've stayed back because of that cramp, and she wouldn't have been able to keep up with them anyway. But where were the guards? Why hadn't they stopped them? Did they run away or something?
The distraction gave me an opportunity. I slashed out, cutting both of his wrists.
"Aagh, you goddamn son of a bitch, you are going to regret it." I needed to kill him as soon as possible as he was in a state of denial before entering the state of anger, and yes, with quick use of shadow steps, I was able to behead him.
The assassin's headless body collapsed to the ground, marking the end of the immediate threat and the other group members were already here.
[System: Assassin archery Level 2→ Level 3]
This level up is a good boost but first I moved towards erebus and luna "why did you come here i said you to leave can't you understand than."
"We just wanted to help you," Erebus replied. great so we all are going to die here.
All the four of them were here one beastfolk guy with a big long sword, a mage in blue clothes, a healer which will be light or water sar user because of how common it is and a dual blade sword user where the big guy was level 5 and other were level 4 users.
The swordsman saw the severed head and burst out laughing. "Hehe! What took place? He scoffed, "That cannibal died fighting a bunch of kids?" However, the mage's expression was twisted with wrath; not all of them were pleased.
"What transpired here?" the large man enquired, glancing at me. It looked like we had no choice except to negotiate.
He was bloodthirsty and armed. I tried to maintain my composure as I spoke, "I didn't have an option. "And don't involve anybody else; they weren't involved in this." Naturally, their emotions changed to ones of disbelief. How could a boy from the ordinary folk like myself defeat a level 4 assassin?
"Hehe! Who do you believe you are deceiving? The swordsman chuckled, but his laughter was short-lived. They were beginning to realise how bad this may be and how quickly the reality of the situation was setting in.
The big guy turned to the mage, whispering, "Hey, are you sure we're not messing with some big noble family? How is this seven-year-old so strong? If he's from a noble family, I swear I'll kill you all and that jeweller before dying myself because of your stupidity." It was a predictable reaction. If they had crossed a noble, they wouldn't be left alive after this incident, especially with the rising tension between independent guilds and the noble families and their respective guilds.
The mage nodded, his voice low but confident. "Don't worry, leader. I'm certain. He's just the son of a runestone trader. I'm not sure about the others, though, so let's stay cautious."
Their conversation ended, and the mage began casting a spell. I could sense the build-up of mana, but it seemed like a long-range attack. Engaging him now wouldn't be good because of the people around him.
It was a sleeping spell as he casted it luna and erebus went to sleep and lose consciousness but due to my neuroguard skill it didn't even affect me
[system: neuroguard is active]
As I turned my eyes from them back to the enemy, the swordsman was suddenly right in front of me. Before I could react, he kicked me hard, sending me crashing into a tree. The impact broke the trunk, and pain exploded in my body as I started losing consciousness. I could barely make out their voices.
"Confirm each identity, and kill them if they're commoners," the big guy ordered. "And take that ring we came for."
Damn that jeweller. This was all his fault. Through my blurred vision, I saw Seraphina running towards us. Is this the end? Am I going to lose my life in regret again? Before I could think or say anything more, darkness claimed me, and I lost consciousness.