Chapter 32: Is This an Assassination?
At this moment, Su Xiao maintained a posture of bending sideways, such that if he stretched his body, most of his upper torso could lean out of the window.
The Apostle's Eye hovering in midair activated, and Su Xiao released the safety on D·Assassination. While this legendary pistol's lethality in frontal combat was decent, its true purpose was assassination—hence its name, D·Assassination. All three of its abilities leaned toward stealth kills.
Equipment Effect 1: Vicious Mark (Active) — If undetected by the enemy, activating Vicious Mark locks onto the heads of six enemies (if only one enemy exists, three marks are formed simultaneously). The next six bullets will track the marks on the enemies' heads and increase firing speed by 100%.
Equipment Effect 2: Skull Shatter (Passive) — If a bullet successfully hits an enemy's head, this attack's damage is increased by 45%.
Equipment Effect 3: Silent Hunter (Passive) — Bullets carry a silent, perception-blocking effect. Upon hitting an enemy's head, a silent zone with a 3-meter radius spreads out.
...
Lock on, nearly 50% increased damage on headshots, and a silent zone created.
Through the Apostle's Eye, Su Xiao had already assessed the situation inside the watchtower. There were seven witches inside, two of whom were snuggled together on a small bed, fast asleep. From their exposed backs and thighs, it was clear they were completely naked. The other five witches seemed unfazed, each occupied with their own tasks.
Of the seven witches, only two sat by the window observing the surrounding sea. One of them was clearly asleep, drool dripping from her mouth.
Su Xiao activated D·Assassination's "Vicious Mark (Active)" ability. Through the Apostle's Eye's vision, he saw white skull patterns appear above each witch's head, but the witches remained completely unaware.
The white skulls gradually changed color. When they turned fully red, it meant the lock was successful. There were seven people in the watchtower, but Vicious Mark could only form six marks, so Su Xiao abandoned one witch lying asleep on the bed.
Two seconds later, all six Vicious Marks turned red. Su Xiao suddenly straightened up, raising D·Assassination level.
Pfft, pfft, pfft...
After seven shots with a rhythmic cadence, six witches in the watchtower had their heads pierced, and the last one was shot through the neck.
No sound of bodies hitting the floor came; the silent zone had already enveloped the watchtower.
Su Xiao unclipped the grappling hook from his waist and leaped into the watchtower. The witch lying in a pool of blood raised her hand, seemingly screaming.
Su Xiao raised his gun and fired two more shots. The witch collapsed. He had killed seven witches in succession but didn't receive a single treasure chest. The Pioneer Source was a pitiful 0.3%, and that was the total from all seven witches combined.
This was actually normal. How could a witch of any status be assigned to guard a watchtower?
Standing on the other side of the watchtower, Su Xiao saw the distant West Port. It was more magnificent than he had imagined. He wondered how many generations of slaves the witches had exploited to build West Port to such a scale.
Before long, Melody climbed into the watchtower via the rope Su Xiao had left. Seeing the several corpses inside, she turned her head and covered one of them with a bedsheet—this might have been someone she knew.
Melody's mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out. She froze for a moment, then tried raising her voice.
Su Xiao gestured for her to shut up. The silent zone blocked sound transmission. Even if he fired the Duke of Annihilation here, no one would notice. Infiltrating West Port was simpler than Su Xiao had imagined.
However, given West Port's strict vigilance, someone would soon come to relieve the watchtower guards. So Su Xiao led Melody in a leap into the sea on the other side of the watchtower. As for Bubu Wang, it was already waiting for Su Xiao on the shore...
With Bubu Wang leading the way, Su Xiao soon reached the beach area. In the distance, a few children could be seen playing on the sand.
"Hey, hey? Hey?"
Melody tapped her ears. Su Xiao and Bubu Wang both looked at her with confusion.
"I can talk now."
Su Xiao ignored Melody. The sound of waves reached his ears as he moved forward, stripping off his diving suit.
Just as he crossed the beach, a notification from Reincarnation Paradise made him stop.
[Notification: Hunter has entered a high-risk area, West Port.]
[West Port is a medium-sized witch gathering. It is recommended that ten or more fourth-rank contractors enter together.]
[If the Hunter enters the West Port area, killing enemies will no longer yield treasure chests, Pioneer Source, etc. Only Holy Healing Church reputation will be gained.]
[If the Hunter successfully kills Witch Queen Morisha and destroys the 'Sunlight Conversion Crystal' (this action signifies the destruction of a witch gathering point), the Hunter's kill record within West Port will be settled for rewards. If the Hunter leaves the West Port area during this time, the kill record will be cleared.]
...
Seeing the series of notifications from Reincarnation Paradise, Su Xiao raised an eyebrow. This was the first time he had encountered such a situation. It was somewhat similar to participating in a large-scale plot event, but more dangerous.
As Su Xiao and his group passed through the beach area, the children in the distance clearly noticed them. Melody's eyes flickered with purple light, and the children immediately knelt on the sand.
"See? This is the result of generations of management by Witch Queen Morisha's family. In West Port, witches hold supreme status."
Watching the little ones kneeling in the distance, Melody clenched her fists. Her younger brother had died because of these absurd rules, which was also the main reason she had chosen to flee West Port.
After crossing the beach area, the group officially entered West Port's territory.
West Port had over a dozen winding stone stairways. At their current location, the outermost edge of West Port, lived the commoners—descendants of the original batch of slaves. Of course, West Port also regularly replenished its population with fresh blood.
Behind a civilian house, Su Xiao was adjusting some kind of device in his hands. Melody urged him repeatedly. She understood the situation inside West Port and knew this position wasn't safe. Any commoner who saw this group would either shout loudly or secretly report them to the witches.
"What do we do next? If we're going to sneak in, I recommend taking that stone stairway over there. It leads directly to..."
Melody stopped mid-sentence, suddenly realizing something was wrong. Su Xiao was walking toward the street.
"Hey, aren't we supposed to assassinate Witch Queen Morisha?"
Hearing Melody's words, Su Xiao and Bubu Wang stopped.
"Isn't this an assassination?"
As Su Xiao spoke, he tossed out an arm-thick test tube.
With a crisp shattering sound, the test tube broke, and green flames spread out. It was the Nether Flame: Hades.
The green flames gradually expanded. Hades wasn't a weapon primarily designed to kill. Its burning speed was slow, and even commoners wouldn't easily be burned to death by it. Its main function was to destroy buildings, slowly burning an entire city to the ground.