Chapter 11: Suicide Squad
The meeting room was in shambles, with a corpse kneeling on the nearly collapsed long wooden table, and several more lying by the walls and under the windowsill.
The old divine stick hadn't come to reinforce Su Xiao; he was protecting Princess Pedeira alongside the Saber with the ahoge. If Princess Pedeira was killed, it would cause Su Xiao considerable trouble. Although he could find another puppet, Blumer would surely throw obstacles in his way.
With a crack, Su Xiao snapped the throat of a thin, beggar-like assassin, casually tossing the body aside.
Su Xiao's gaze swept the surroundings. His instinct warned him there were still assassins. The previous seven were more like probes; the truly capable ones were hiding in the shadows.
Aside from the fake maid who appeared first and a man who could conceal his aura, the other five assassins were suicide soldiers. Knowing they were no match for Su Xiao, they still charged recklessly.
Apart from the sound of dripping blood, the room was dead silent. Noticing this, Su Xiao tore off a curtain, wiped the blood clean from Dragon-Slaying Flash, and sheathed the long blade, as if believing the battle was over.
Bang, bang, bang...
The seven corpses in the room all exploded. Blood coalesced in midair, forming a blood wolf.
Several blood spikes shot out from the blood wolf's back, turning twice at right angles before hurtling straight at Su Xiao.
Su Xiao stepped back and sidestepped. The blood spikes passed behind his chest and lower leg, missing their mark. Unexpectedly, the two spikes twisted several times, wrapping around Su Xiao's legs, chest, and abdomen.
In the manor's courtyard, a bald, muscular man opened his eyes. His face and body were covered in blood-red tattoos, obscuring his features.
"Got him."
"Understood."
A soft laugh came from the shadows behind the bald man. A man with grayish-white skin, bare-chested and wearing a bone-tooth necklace, stepped out. His skin was ashen, and his attire clearly marked him as a borderland barbarian—what the Empire called savages, living in tribes, eating raw meat and drinking blood.
"Earth Father, lend me your strength."
The barbarian clasped his hands together. The soil beneath his feet seemed to come alive, shifting almost imperceptibly.
"Hurry up. That guy's strength is monstrous."
The bald man's neck veins bulged, his clenched hands trembling.
"Ready."
The barbarian's pupils turned earthy yellow. Upon receiving his confirmation, the bald man let out a low roar.
Meanwhile, in the meeting room.
Thick, arm-sized blood threads coiled around Su Xiao, binding him. The threads kept breaking apart but quickly reformed.
Suddenly, the threads turned a glaring, vivid red, and their binding force sharply increased.
Boom!
A nimble figure crashed through the inner wall of the meeting room. Amid flying debris, the assassin wielded a crystalline warhammer.
"Heavy Cannon!"
The agile female warrior charged to Su Xiao's side, swinging the barrel-thick hammerhead horizontally, producing a mournful whoosh.
Su Xiao raised his arm to block, a layer of crystal forming on his left forearm.
Thud!
A shockwave spread, shattering all the glass in the meeting room. Su Xiao was sent flying with a whoosh, crashing through the outer wall and hurtling rapidly toward the courtyard.
Midair, Su Xiao shook his slightly numb left arm. Finally, someone worth his attention. The previous assassins were too weak to pique his interest.
Boom!
Dirt and grass flew in all directions as a large crater formed on the pristine lawn.
Before the dust settled, the barbarian lying in ambush in the courtyard raised his hands above his head, his eyes glowing with a dark yellow light.
The ground surged, and soil mixed with some kind of energy rose up, covering the crater.
"Quick!"
The barbarian roared. The bald man rushed forward, blood flowing back from the distant meeting room and coating his right arm.
"Morosh!"
The bald man bellowed, his muscles swelling several sizes. His blood-wrapped arm clenched into a fist, punching toward a mound of earth.
Before his fist landed, a figure appeared above the mound—the female warrior. She raised her crystalline warhammer high and slammed it down with all her might.
After a thunderous, earth-shaking roar, both the bald man and the female warrior were pushed back by the shockwave. One clutched his right arm, gasping for breath; the other propped her warhammer on the ground, her arms trembling slightly.
Dust surged dozens of meters high. The three assassins stared intently into the haze.
Crack~
A crisp sound rang out. The night wind blew, gradually dispersing the dust. Their target stood within the haze, protected by an oval shield formed from dozens of crystal plates. The cracking sound came from the shield slowly breaking apart.
"Is that all?"
Su Xiao waved his arm, tapping his knuckles against the counter shield. The shield shattered on contact. After acquiring the Slaughter Shadow ability, the energy shield's defense had multiplied. Withstanding the three assassins' ultimate moves head-on, the counter shield hadn't even broken.
"No... way."
The female warrior forced a strained smile, exchanging a glance with the bald man beside her.
"Retreat..."
Before the bald man could finish, a sonic boom came from behind him. He immediately leaned forward to dodge, but nothing struck.
In the female warrior's stunned gaze, the bald man clutched his throat, his face twisted in agony as he collapsed, legs thrashing on the ground, green grass blades clinging to him.
Pfft~
Blade fragments burst from the bald man's chest. The light in his eyes gradually dimmed.
Banishment reverted to its hiltless rapier form. Instead of attacking the female warrior, it made a sharp turn and shot toward the barbarian, who had already fled over ten meters.
The female warrior was about to turn and retreat, but she stopped. A pair of eyes gleaming with blue light were fixed on her.
"Damn it."
The female warrior stomped the ground, wiped the blood from her face, and charged at Su Xiao with a roar, as tragically beautiful as a moth diving into a flame.
Five minutes later, the bare-chested barbarian leaned against the courtyard wall, one hand clutching his spurting throat. Banishment pierced his forehead, pinning him to the stone wall. A half-maimed hunting dog was tearing at his chest. This dog was the sole survivor of over a dozen hounds; the others had been poisoned by the assassins. It survived only because it held the lowest rank among its kind, usually hiding in its kennel.
The courtyard was littered with slash marks. A warhammer, its head severed by a third, stood upright on the ground, its cut surface smooth as a mirror. This energy weapon was slowly dissipating. Nearby lay a severed arm, its skin relatively delicate, with faint muscle contours visible.
"Besides you, no other assassins?"
Su Xiao crouched in front of the female warrior. She lay on the ground, missing her left hand and right leg. Dragon-Slaying Flash pierced through her torso, pinning her to the earth.
The female warrior glared up at Su Xiao, her eyes blazing with fury. She was chewing something, pain contorting her face as blood dripped from the corner of her mouth.
"I thought Blumer would give me some surprise. Not a single worthy opponent. Made me wait until ten o'clock for nothing."
Su Xiao yawned as he spoke. With his physical condition, he could go days without sleep, but he was accustomed to getting proper rest each night. This kept him at peak combat readiness and mental clarity, which also helped his daily sword practice.