South Tivian, Bishop Square.
In the square on New Year's Day, people celebrated joyfully under the guidance of the host on the stage. Fireworks that had been prepared for a long time exploded in the sky at the moment the New Year arrived. Splendid sparks continuously bloomed in the night sky, and the entire Tivian was welcoming the arrival of the new year.
The moment of the New Year was also the moment of slaughter. On the rooftop of a tall building on the edge of Bishop Square, Naifnis leaned over a corpse, extending her tongue to lightly lick and taste the blood of her prey. At this moment, she could feel a tremor from the depths of her soul, and the power of her soul radiating through her body. Under the influence of the Soul Xu of the in this context, the term refers to something related to wild/untamed spirits/powers., she had mastered the hunting techniques of the beasts in the wilderness.
Without much hesitation, Naifnis launched another surprise attack amidst the astonishment of the surrounding people. She pounced on another masked monitor on all fours. This Apprentice Stealth Shadow hurriedly rolled over. After narrowly dodging an attack, he gripped the dagger in his hand and thrust it towards Naifnis, attempting to counterattack. However, after his thrust was easily dodged by Naifnis sidestepping, Naifnis seized the opportunity and bit down on the wrist that had extended due to the thrust. Accompanied by a gush of blood, the monitor's wrist was bitten with immense force, almost breaking. In extreme pain, he couldn't help but let out a miserable scream.
The intense pain and the restraint of his arm made it almost impossible for the monitor to continue fighting. Naifnis took this opportunity to tear the monitor's throat with another claw. Thus, another prey fell. However, Naifnis's hunt did not end there. Her vertical pupils shifted, immediately glaring at the third monitor not far away.
After witnessing the rapid deaths of his two companions, the last monitor felt a surge of fear in his heart after being glared at by Naifnis's vertical pupils. Then, knowing he couldn't contend with the being before him, he hurriedly turned and ran. However, exposing one's back to a hunter is a foolish decision.
Facing this situation, Naifnis had no intention of letting the other party go. After a brief charge, she pounced rapidly towards the fleeing figure. As the other party was about to open the door to go downstairs, she tackled him from behind and quickly finished him off with the claws on her hands.
Within a short period, Naifnis, who had only recently been promoted to Soul Appender, personally hunted and killed three Apprentice """Shadow""", and her methods were exceptionally swift and brutal. This was absolutely not the kind of attack method that Naifnis, normally a young lady from a wealthy family and an excellent student at school, could employ. This hunter-like attack was naturally influenced by the Soul Xu.
The ability of a Soul Appender is simple: it is to rely on their own physical body as a vessel for a spirits, and reproduce the skills the attached spirits possessed during its life.
Of course, this method of reliance is by no means just allowing a soul to control an ordinary physical body. The Soul Appender's physical body is very special; it undergoes some particular changes due to the spirits attached to it, allowing the spirits to exert power it had in life or even beyond. After being possessed by the Soul Xu, some of Naifnis's physical characteristics even began to resemble those of felines. For instance, her nails unintentionally became much sharper, and her physique became incredibly agile. Otherwise, with a purely human body, it would be impossible to fully perform feline hunting movements.
Unlike some other Extraordinary professions, the strength of a Soul Appender fluctuates significantly. This largely depends on the strength of the spirits the Soul Appender relies on. The stronger the spirits, the greater the abilities the Soul Appender can display. Of course, restricted by the Soul Appender's own rank, there is an upper limit to this display.
The Soul Xu is a Wilderness Spirit of the New World. It is itself a special spirits much stronger than ordinary Ghosts. The Soul Xu, chosen by the environment to be its representative, was also an extremely outstanding predator in its lifetime. Its possession of Naifnis greatly enhanced Naifnis's abilities.
Rank 1 """Cup""", the Soul Xu's hunting experience and skills, the Soul Xu's spirits strength's amplification of the Soul Appender's abilities... Under all these bonuses, the Apprentice Stealth Shadow, who was only Rank 1 """Shadow""", was no match at all and was completely hunted down by Naifnis in a short time. Due to adopting the Soul Xu's combat experience, Naifnis was also influenced by the Soul Xu's consciousness, and her behavior resembled that of a wildcat.
After witnessing this scene, the native inhabitants present were all stunned, their eyes wide. In their fright, they couldn't help but point their weapons at Naifnis. The Neff before them felt just like the dangerous beasts they had encountered in their homeland.
Meanwhile, seeing that the three monitors had failed and been killed, and Kapak was not dead, Sado also felt anxious and decided to deal with Kapak himself. He seized the opportunity while Naifnis was killing the third monitor, gritted his teeth, and rushed towards Kapak, extending his hand to push him directly, wanting to push him off the rooftop. This way, no one could stop him from inciting the people anymore.
Facing the aggressively attacking Sado, Kapak here was well prepared. Before coming, he had already affixed the Raw Consumption Symbol sent by Dorothy via a Corpse Puppet. Therefore, he was not at all afraid of Sado in a head-on confrontation. He also extended his hand and easily blocked Sado's attack, then with a side throw, easily threw Sado to the ground. Next, he punched Sado in the face, knocking him unconscious. He fainted instantly. Even the strongest hunter cannot contend with someone empowered by Extraordinary force.
After seeing their leader Sado being easily taken down, the native inhabitants present became even more shaken. After dealing with Sado, Kapak straightened up again and spoke to his compatriots before him under the fireworks in the sky.
"Put down your weapons, everyone. I will take you back. We will fight for our people in the right way."
As Kapak said this, finally, under the influence of various factors such as the example of abandonment, the Great Shaman's counsel, and the defeat of their leader, the native inhabitants looked at each other for a few moments and finally put down their weapons. Kapak finally breathed a sigh of relief after seeing this scene before him.
...
"Oh my... it seems it's over there..."
On the other side, in the backstage of the stage at Bishop Square, Adele looked through the window towards the distant rooftop. From her position, she could vaguely see the native inhabitants confronting each other on it. Just now, she had also used the little inherent Spirituality she had left to give Kapak and the others a little help, assisting those native inhabitants whose hearts were shaken in making their decision.
For those with firm will, Adele's ability actually has limited effect. However, for those whose hearts are shaken and hesitant, Adele can achieve great results with a small amount of Spirituality. Under Kapak's earlier persuasion, the hearts of those native inhabitants were already in a state of indecision. But blood feud is not something that can be completely erased with just a few words. To be on the safe side, Dorothy asked Adele to use a little of her ability to help Kapak, assisting his compatriots in making their decision.
After all, as a dancer on the stage, Adele was very willing to protect her audience.
'In this way, the threat to the audience is completely eliminated. What's left are the two assassins targeting the Royal Family. I hope Detective Miss has a smooth journey.'
Adele thought this in her heart, and then she turned her gaze towards the rooftop on the other side of the square. At this moment, a more intense battle was underway there.
...
Rewinding time slightly, one minute before the countdown, on the rooftop of a building on the other side of Bishop Square, a man dressed as a guard had just taken out a brass and white wood rifle from a prepared wooden box and walked to the edge of the rooftop.
Amidst the cheers of the audience in the square below, Berlit, standing at the edge of the rooftop, pressed a mechanism on the firearm in his hand. Then, a small, slender opening on the side of the gun body opened. Berlit then took out several bright, shiny gold coins stamped with a sun symbol from his pocket and inserted them into the gun body one by one. After inserting a total of five gold coins, he pulled the bolt and chambered a bullet.
Berlit raised his gun and aimed at the distant Royal Family balcony. After he aimed, there was another sound from the side of the rifle. Under the action of an unknown mechanism, three circular lenses deformed out from within the gun body and overlapped before Berlit's eyes, supported by thin frames. Through these overlapping lenses, Berlit could see the balcony several hundred meters away clearly.
"Well... now we just wait for the performance of the native Mr.s..."
Looking at the Duke and the Princess laughing and talking to each other on the balcony, as well as the bodyguards behind them, Berlit murmured with a smile. At this moment, he could already hear the host on the stage below rallying the crowd for the countdown.
Just as Berlit was preparing to count down with the audience below, he saw a rather unexpected scene. In the lenses, Berlit saw a man dressed in a guard captain's uniform suddenly enter the balcony. After apologizing to the Princess and the Duke, he pulled one of the bodyguards and went into the room for a while.
After the bodyguard who was pulled into the room by the guard captain returned, he suddenly began discussing something with the other bodyguards. Then, he actually took all the bodyguards into the room together, along with his accomplice.
Although Berlit could see the unwillingness on his accomplice's face, the other party was helpless.
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Although Berlit didn't know for what reason his accomplice was invited indoors, being away from the assassination target just as the operation was about to begin clearly indicated something was wrong!
"Did that guy Jeffrey expose something..."
Frowning, Berlit looked at the change on the distant balcony and couldn't help but mutter with a worried expression. However, at this moment, he couldn't afford to worry too much about his companion. After Jeffrey was forced to leave, the assassination mission could only be completed by him alone.
Gripping the rifle in his hand, Berlit aimed more intently. Just then, he suddenly felt a disturbance in the air behind him, and a chill rose from the depths of his heart.
Sensing something was wrong, Berlit immediately turned to dodge, but still couldn't evade the attack from behind. A sharp blade struck his left rear shoulder. With a crisp sound, Berlit was cut down and fell to the ground. He then quickly rolled away a few times to the side and immediately coughed up a large mouthful of blood.
"Cough... cough... Ambush... when..."
Covering his injured left rear shoulder, Berlit, with blood at the corner of his mouth, stood up again. His gaze looked forward, towards the figure that attacked him. He then saw a white cloak fluttering in the cold wind, and a lifeless white mask beneath the hood. On the ruby rapier held by the hand extending from the cloak, a little of his own blood was still dripping.
'A white swordsman... concealing their identity? Why would they suddenly appear here...'
Looking at the figure before him, Berlit gritted his teeth and thought internally. He wasn't too surprised by how the other party had approached him quietly, as it wasn't difficult to approach someone unnoticed with specific Symbol combinations. The key was how his position was found. He hadn't sensed any signs of "Light" detection at all. Why was he suddenly exposed?!
Berlit thought with distress. If he hadn't been carrying an Extraordinary item of "Stone" with him, which could actively add a layer of powerful stone skin effect to resist attacks when attacked, his hand would have been gone with the force of that sword strike just now. The price he paid now was merely extensive skin breakage and bleeding in the injured area.
"Who are you! Where do you belong?"
After quickly taking out a blood-red syringe and injecting himself to recover from his injuries. Berlit stood up and shouted loudly at the attacker before him. The white-robed swordsman gave no response, gripping the blade in his hand and attacking Berlit.
Seeing the white-robed swordsman attack, Berlit immediately drew his sword to respond. After enchanting his sword with "Shadow", he began to fight the white-robed swordsman.
Tier 3 "Shadow", Tier 2 "Cup", plus "Shadow" enchantment, this was already a quite powerful combination of Extraordinary abilities in close combat. Speed was like an afterimage, strength could easily break steel. The close combat ability of Vampires could be said to be the best among all Chalk Tier Extraordinary. Therefore, Berlit was not afraid of close combat with the swordsman before him at all.
From Berlit's analysis, judging by the strength the white-robed swordsman just displayed, the opponent should be a "Cup" Extraordinary, slightly stronger than himself, at least a Tier 2 "Cup". But they didn't reach the exaggerated level of a Tier 3 "Cup", so the opponent should have used some Symbols based on their inherent "Cup" power.
If their strength wasn't Tier 3 "Cup", then the opponent couldn't be something like a Werewolf, and there were no signs of transformation. And since the opponent wasn't a Werewolf, with such great strength and no fire on their sword, they wouldn't be a Saint Knight or anything like that... After eliminating several Extraordinary professions with strong close combat abilities in his mind, Berlit believed that the opponent's close combat ability was nothing to be afraid of, so he decisively engaged in battle with them.
As the countdown on the square stage ended, brilliant fireworks were blooming in the sky. Under the colorful illumination of the fireworks, afterimages appeared everywhere on the rooftop platform. Amidst the afterimages, the crisp and loud sounds of weapon clashes were continuous.
The real close-quarters combat began. After Berlit and the white-robed swordsman engaged in several rounds of high-speed clashing, Berlit immediately noticed something wasn't right.
First, Berlit found that although the speed of the white-robed swordsman before him was far inferior to his own, they seemed to be able to predict his attacks. No matter how unpredictable his sword strikes were, they could always be parried by the opponent in advance. Although his movements were fast, they were completely seen through. The opponent used superb skill and minimal movements to block his fierce attacks.
After a brief exchange, Berlit concluded that the opponent was a master swordsman whose sword skills far surpassed his own. Such skill could even compensate for a large gap in stats.
Secondly, although Berlit had added "Shadow" enchantment to his sword, and the opponent had used their sword countless times to block his attacks, he never saw the opponent's weapon disintegrate due due to the erosion of the "Shadow" enchantment. Given this situation, Berlit paid special attention to the changes in the opponent's weapon.
Under Berlit's observation, he saw that the opponent's weapon, a slender blade, was in fact cracked all over during their clash. It was covered in cracks, and many places even had chips.
Although heavily scarred, the sword did not disintegrate. Instead, it tenaciously continued to resist the erosion of the "Shadow" enchantment, like a beast covered in wounds but still standing, with tenacious vitality.
Like a beast, this was not a metaphor, but seemed to be real. Under Berlit's observation, the cracks on the sword body showed a unique blood-red color. After the ruptured wounds, there were actually granulation tissues wriggling. On the hilt of the rapier, a large ruby was emitting a slow red glow. Berlit felt a strong "Cup" aura from the sword.
This sword is healing itself! Using its own Cup to heal itself! This sword is a living thing! A genuine living thing!
The Extraordinary rapier, being a living thing, barely resisted the erosion of "Shadow". This prevented Berlit from breaking through the opponent's sword defense by destroying their weapon.
A strange living weapon that can heal itself, extraordinary swordsmanship... these were the two points that made things difficult for the white-robed swordsman for Berlit. However, these two points were not necessarily fatal. What truly made Berlit feel urgent was another point.
This point was the increasingly intense pain and discomfort coming from his shoulder!
Yes, Berlit's wound was hurting. The wound caused by the ambush was still hurting, and it was getting more intense, its scope was expanding, and it had even begun to affect Berlit's movements.
Originally, Berlit's biggest advantage against the white-robed swordsman was speed. The speed of Tier 3 "Shadow" was terrifying. Although the white-robed swordsman could erase some of the difference in stats by relying on superb swordsmanship, the speed difference brought by Tier 3 "Shadow" was very large, already reaching the limit that could be compensated by skill. If Berlit fought the white-robed swordsman with his full stats, the white-robed swordsman, no matter how superb their skill, would not be able to compensate for the excessive gap in stats.
However, due to the severe discomfort caused by the injuries on his body, Berlit was completely unable to display his full stats. The advantage of his Tier 3 "Shadow" could not be fully utilized, which was why he had been unable to gain an advantage in the fight against the white-robed swordsman.
The increasingly severe injuries on Berlit's body hindered his performance, but this brought up another problem. Before the battle, to eliminate the impact of his injuries, Berlit had already injected himself with a blood syringe, using his Vampire ability to recover from his injuries. However, this injection seemed to have no effect at all. Not only did the injury on Berlit's shoulder not heal, but it seemed to have a tendency to worsen based on his sensations.
Why didn't the blood syringe work?
This question had been bothering Berlit. So, taking an opportunity, Berlit quickly retreated several steps. After creating distance from the white-robed swordsman, he tore open the clothes on his left shoulder to check. It wasn't a big deal until he looked, and he was greatly startled.
At this moment, on Berlit's left shoulder, within a large area of skin, although there were no traces of the sword wound, instead there were disgusting pustules and tumors everywhere, festering sores oozing pus everywhere, subcutaneous blood vessels were swollen and burst, even breaking through the skin and intertwining, pus flowed horizontally between the tumors, presenting an utterly disgusting scene.