Chapter - 34
"FOR THE RIGHTFUL LORD OF THE HOUSE OF DARGAN"
The man yelled as he leaped over the crowd towards Leo and Lady Seraphine. His blade descended upon them like a guillotine, eager to split their head from their body.
[Predator's Instincts Activated]
And suddenly everything slowed a bit for Leo. He could feel the chilling killing intent of the man directed towards them.
Though he felt everything slow down a bit, he still did not have the time to stand up. He was lying over Lady Seraphine, with his back towards the man. Even if he pushed himself out of the way, Lady Seraphine would end up taking the hit directly.
"Move!" Leo yelled. With his one hand grabbing her head and the other digging through her dress into her skin, he threw his weight to the side, rolling away with her.
CLANG!
The man's sword smashed into the stone floor exactly where Leo's neck had been a fraction of a second ago. The force behind his swing was so strong that stone chips exploded outward like shrapnel.
The man looked at Leo with a murderous gaze.
But this theatrical gave Leo enough time to scramble on his feet, pulling Seraphine up with him.
Right now, Lady Seraphine was in the worst of her minds. First she almost got crushed by that massive chandelier and now some man was running around with a sword, ready to chop her head off?
She was trembling as she stood behind Leo, peeking at the man wanting to take her life.
"What the Fuck!" Leo hissed. Was that bitch with shockwaves not enough?
He quickly waved his hand and the twin serpent daggers appeared in his hands.
'Come on system, tell me something.'
And right on cue, the system window appeared before his eyes.
[New Quest Available]
[Objective: Protect Lady Seraphine Dargan from the assassins. Ensure her survival at all costs.]
[Rewards: Attack Shield; +2,000 Gold Coins; Thunderbolt Card]
[Failure Penalty: Quest [Cuckold the Lord] automatically fails. Lose favour with Goddess Lysara.]
Leo's eyes narrowed. Everything aside, losing favour with that mischievous Goddess was a fate worse than death. That meant no chance of a respawn, no luck, and likely a very pathetic, very short existence.
"Stay there," Leo could not take a chance as he pushed Seraphine behind a pillar, "Don't come out of there and always watch your back. Anyone comes near you. And I mean anyone, even your husband. Yell my name,"
"Do you understand?"
"I..." Seraphine started, but the look in Leo's eyes made her hesitant. They were no longer the eyes of the charming and playful Mr Leo she had known.
"Tell me, damn it. Do you understand!?" Leo's loud voice almost made Lady Seraphine flinch. She nodded instinctively without even thinking.
"Good. Now get back," Leo turned his back towards the assassin who was still kneeling on the ground, posing for someone to take a shot.
The bulky assassin, whose muscular figure could not be hidden by the shabby servant clothes, raised the sword and put it over his shoulder.
[Enemy Identified: Professional Assassin - Level 3]
"You are fast, little rat," the assassin sneered, adjusting his grip, "But tell me, are you fast enough to run away with that whore?"
Leo thought that the man wanted to have a chit-chat, but before he could answer, the assassin dashed forward.
And before Leo could blink, the man had already moved a dozen or so feet. The assassin feinted a high slash to his neck, then dipped low, aiming for his guts. He knew what he was doing.
But Leo was no longer the newbie who had to sneak up on a level 3 enemy.
Because of his Predator's Instincts, he could already predict what the man was up to. To the assassin, his thrust looked perfect. But Leo, he had already planned his move.
Instead of pulling backwards to avoid the sword. Leo stepped forward as well, into the man. This made the sword cross Leo, before it could even slash him. Leo then thanks to his quick moves grabbed the man by his hand, twisted his hips, twirled the assassin, pulled the man towards him, and before he could react he brought down his dagger.
SHLICK.
The dagger dug through the assassin's flesh, deep into his shoulder right into the gap between his neck and collarbone.
[Effect Triggered: Paralytic Venom Applied]
The assassin's eyes went wide in shock, he couldn't even let out a scream. He felt that his tongue wouldn't move.
He tried to pull back, to swing his sword, but his arm wouldn't obey. The paralytic venom surged through his veins, as he stumbled, his movements turning sluggish and jerky.
"Too slow," Leo arrogantly looked down at the man.
He ripped the dagger off his neck and a fountain of bright red blood sprayed out, painting the walls red. Leo then drove the dagger again, this time upwards, under the assassin's chin, through his mouth, straight to his brain.
The man gagged, his eyes rolled back and before he knew it, his body went rigid and fell on the floor. He was dead.
[Assassin Defeated. +50 EXP]
[Reward: +20 Gold coins]
Leo stood over the corpse, looking at him with cold eyes, "You were worth just 20 Gold coins. Worthless."
"KILL THEM! KILL THE GUARDS!"
Before anyone in the hall could understand what in the world was happening, a voice roared from somewhere in the hall.
And with that, an ambush had begun.
From the crowd of terrified nobles, 4 servants dropped the trays in their hands and revealed the short swords they have been holding.
Two from the musical band smashed the violins they have been holding and pulled out their swords.
They moved with terrifying coordination. Before the guards on duty could even pull out their swords, the assassins, dressed as servants who had positioned themselves beside them, slit their throats with precision, not wasting a single move.
One by one in no time 5 of the guards in the hall fell on the ground with their hands on the hilt of their swords.
A guard standing by the door was scared into shitting his pants as he watched his fellow soldiers die.
In panic he dropped his sword and rushed towards the exit. But two of the killers quickly intercepted him before he could run away.
The guard was too slow compared to the assassins. One of the assassins got down and slashed at the guard, severing his hamstring.
The other jumped on the guard's back and grabbing him by his chin, brought his short swords to his neck, taking his sweet time slitting his throat as he watched the guard shake in terror.
The blood sprayed across the white tablecloths of the banquet tables.
The screams of the nobles almost burst Leo's ears. Fat lords trampled over their own wives to rush towards the exits. It was a stampede.
But to Leo's surprise, the assassins didn't care about the crowd, they weren't attacking them.
Instead, the 4 of the remaining assassins were slowly moving in his direction.
"Baron Volkov!" A guard standing by the fat baron called out, "We need to get you to safety."
"You damn right you have to," The Baron angrily slapped the guard, spitting as he spoke, "That's fucking why I pay you, you bastard."
The guard wasn't very happy. He frowned. He slowly rubbed his cheek and looked at the Baron with vicious eyes. But he held his anger back. He had been a soldier in the Baron's service for over a decade now. This was not the first time… and this won't be the last.
"Lord Baron. Let us escape through the balc…"
"Ughhh"
"Aaaahhh"
A sword suddenly emerged out of the guard's chest, stopping barely an inch away from the Baron's face.
The Baron's face turned white, as he looked at the top of the sword pointing between his eyes. The coward couldn't even say a word before his eyes rolled back and his heavy body fell on the ground. The bastard fainted.
And a second later the body of his guard fell above him, crushing the Baron under the weight of the armour.
"Six of them are left," Leo counted, his heart hammering like a war drum against his ribs. "Counting the dead one seven. All of them are possibly level 3 or higher."
The nobles were in full-blown panic. Lord Caelum had already gone ahead and hid himself behind the throne he had in the hall.
He was cursing non stop at the mess happening in his castle.
Fuck… He wanted to use this opportunity to show that the House of Dargam was still very strong and capable.
On top of that, his daughter's B-class Divine Blessing was just an icing on the cake. He was already dreaming about becoming a baron.
But nothing could go as planned these days. Fucking nothing.
Aliana, on the other hand, was still standing on the elevated platform, a devious smirk curling up on her lips as she looked at the sight of four assassins closing up on Leo and her mother. There was no way he could survive them all.
And High Priest Remus? The man of god was on his knees behind an overturned table, clutching his holy symbol and wailing, "Oh, God of Light! Protect your servant! Spare me! I have been your loyal servant all along."
Leo scoffed, looking at the Holy Priest, "Useless old fraud."
He backed up until his shoulder blades touched the stone pillar. He could feel the Lady Seraphine behind him.
"Leo..." Her voice was small, terrified.
"Don't worry," Leo said, not looking scared at all. He raised his twin daggers and looked at the four men.
It was seven men against one. Now it was down to six men.
The assassins looked at him, then at the woman behind him. They were not like those loud mouth bandits.
They didn't speak. They didn't taunt. They just tightened their grip on their weapons and stepped over the corpses of the City Guards, moving in close.
Leo took a breath, letting the scent of blood fill his lungs.
"Come on then," he grinned, a savage, bloodthirsty expression appearing on his face, "Let's see what colour your insides are."
** ** ** ** **
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