Right after abandoning their meal and leaving the tavern, the two adventurers moved straight toward the city center.
As they approached their destination, they suddenly spotted a silver-haired woman running in the opposite direction, not too far ahead.
Even amidst the chaos and the crowd, their eyes instinctively followed her, drawn by her alluring appearance and revealing attire.
Because they looked at her, they witnessed something terrifying.
At the spot she had just passed, another man, also looking like an adventurer and running toward the city center, suddenly collapsed. His head separated from his neck and rolled across the ground.
The two adventurers behind widened their eyes in shock.
Before their minds could even process what had happened, they locked eyes with the silver-haired woman ahead.
She kept running without stopping. Since they were moving in opposite directions, they would soon cross paths.
The scruffy brown-haired adventurer was the first to connect the dots, realizing the cause. In panic, he shouted:
"It's her! Draw your weapons!"
His companion barely had time to react before the silver-haired woman reached them.
As she came close, her speed suddenly became too fast for the eye to follow. At a glance, it looked as if she had vanished and teleported right beside them.
Just in time, the brown-haired adventurer raised his sword to guard his chest, only to feel as though a sledgehammer had struck him.
His body was hurled backward, crashing into a nearby wooden wall.
Through his dazed vision, he saw the dangerous woman retracting her leg. Only then did he realize he had just taken a direct kick from her.
It was truly a horrifying kick. Her leg moved so fast it was nearly impossible to follow, and the force behind it was nothing like what one would expect from such slender limbs.
Staggering back to his feet, he then saw his red-haired companion collapse. His head was severed from his body, rolling across the ground just like the previous victim.
So the terrifying kick wasn't the only thing she had done. At the very moment she reached them, she had swung her right arm like a blade, cleaving the head of the first target, the one who hadn't even managed to react. Then, twisting her body, she unleashed a lightning-fast kick with her left leg at the second.
Everything happened too quickly. Only now did the remaining adventurer fully grasp the fear, realizing the vast gulf between their strengths.
Like a mouse cornered by a starving wildcat, he could only cry out in desperation:
"Why are you attacking us?"
Ignoring his emotions, the silver-haired woman rushed forward, speaking words that made little sense:
"Sorry. I'm very busy right now."
"F*ck!"
Cursing under his breath, he thrust his sword forward with all the strength he had.
Even a rabbit, when cornered, will bite, let alone him, an adventurer armed with a sharp blade.
Anger surged, overwhelming his fear, driving him to make the enemy pay. Yet he did not let rage cloud his reason entirely. As he counterattacked, he raised his left arm, protected by a gauntlet, to shield part of his body, ready for the deadly strike she might unleash.
In stark contrast, on the opposing side, the silver-haired woman calmly charged straight toward the tip of his sword without a hint of fear.
Just as the blade was about to strike, she threw a right-handed hook-like blow, landing precisely on the side of the weapon. At once, the sword was knocked aside, swinging outward uncontrollably.
The adventurer felt his right arm nearly dislocate as he struggled to keep hold of the weapon, preventing it from flying out of his grasp.
He stepped back, clenched his teeth, ignoring the pain, then twisted his body to swing the sword again.
At the same time, the woman thrust forward with her left hand. At this distance, he could clearly see the sharp claws at her fingertips.
In his mind, everything seemed to slow down: his sword cutting forward, her hand stabbing like a dagger, all vividly clear.
Judging the distance, he calculated that his blade would reach her arm in time.
And then, before he realized it, he was staring up at the sky. A numbing pain and suffocating pressure overwhelmed him as fresh blood gushed from his throat, nose, and mouth.
For a brief moment of confusion, he understood he had lost.
Her attack hadn't even needed to touch him directly; it could kill from afar.
That thrust of her hand had released a razor-sharp gust of wind, slicing straight through his unguarded throat with deadly precision and speed.
Collapsed on the ground, the last sounds he heard were the shouts and hurried footsteps around him, before everything faded into eternal silence.
* * * * * * * * * *
Two more had fallen.
After the earlier broadcast calling for reinforcements, too many curious onlookers had rushed in to catch wind of the situation.
While running her errands, Zolie kept a sharp eye out for anyone carrying weapons or armor heading toward the city center.
Each time she spotted such a person, she casually chose to kill them on the spot, reducing the number of enemies they might face later.
Even so, there were still far too many.
In truth, their overall plan had been proceeding smoothly until an unexpected incident occurred on the night Erya reported that a strange entity had successfully infiltrated the city.
As a result, the situation inside the city was exposed to outsiders much earlier than they had anticipated. This left them no time to quietly eliminate more of the remaining forces within the city, such as the adventurers.
That very misstep gave their enemies the chance to exploit this valuable resource with just a single call for aid.
"Thud."
The sound of another body collapsing rang out once again.
Zolie rubbed her clean, bloodless hand, silently hoping that Nyxar would deal with these troublesome pests thoroughly.
After all, both assassination and large-scale slaughter were the arts he mastered best.