Chapter 13: Assembly of Gods
Just as Su Xiao awaited the assassin's strike, a notification from Reincarnation Paradise suddenly appeared.
Due to the Hunter's actions, the hidden mission: Assembly of Gods has been triggered in advance.
Hidden Mission: Assembly of Gods (Single Ring Only)
Difficulty Level: Lv.56
Mission Info: Find the leader of the Assembly of Gods and eliminate them.
Tip: The leader of the Assembly of Gods is a certain duke of the Sera Empire.
Mission Deadline: Before completing the fourth ring of the mission reward.
Mission Reward: Fate Stone (Holy Spirit Rank Gem)
Mission Penalty: Forced Execution.
...
Upon seeing the mission content, Su Xiao was genuinely surprised. That unknown organization was called the Assembly of Gods, and their leader was actually a duke—in other words, a Saint Descendant.
Among the four—the Old Duke, Duke Lilin, Lady Moon Wolf, and Duke White Dragon—one of them was the leader of the Assembly of Gods.
But why would a Saint Descendant want to kill other Saint Descendants? After all, the power structure of the Sera Empire was the very foundation of the Saint Descendants' survival.
Assassinating other dukes was essentially cutting off their own lifeline. All four dukes understood this, yet one of them had done exactly that.
A certain doubt in Su Xiao's mind suddenly cleared up—namely, how the Assembly of Gods had managed to grow to such a scale. Now it seemed that with a duke backing them, it was entirely reasonable for the Assembly of Gods to reach this size.
Su Xiao felt that none of the four dukes were likely to do this, but just as he thought that, a certain force suddenly emerged in his mind: the Abyss!
The Abyss was arguably the most mysterious force. They had once tempted mortals to slay gods, and the appearance of the Undying—the Saint Descendants—was almost entirely driven by the Abyss.
Why did the Abyss do this? The answer was easy to guess: they wanted to use these Undying. But what the Abyss hadn't anticipated was that the Undying formed the Sera Empire, completely beyond their control.
The Abyss forces were the creators of the Saint Descendants, but not their controllers. Originally, the Abyss wanted to be the controllers, but they failed. Over time, the Abyss forces inevitably grew dissatisfied and used their old methods against the Saint Descendants—tempting them to slaughter each other.
Of course, this was just Su Xiao's one-sided speculation. It was also possible that the duke who founded the Assembly of Gods wanted to accomplish something—a monumental upheaval—and thus needed to use the current methods. To achieve this, he was willing to let the Sera Empire's power structure partially collapse, allowing him as a duke to seize great authority in a short time.
Regardless of which possibility was true, the Assembly of Gods would definitely eliminate the Saint Descendant King.
Among the four dukes, Su Xiao found the Old Duke the most suspicious. Suspecting the Old Duke was due to the first speculation about the Abyss—the Old Duke's representative crest was the Abyss Serpent.
Next most suspicious was Lady Moon Wolf, a duchess of extreme selfishness.
After her was Duke White Dragon, because he had never shown himself.
The least suspicious was Duke Lilin, who had contributed too much to the empire. As for the Assembly of Gods not killing innocents aligning with his integrity—that wasn't the case at all. Lilin was just fair and upright; when he killed, he was even more ruthless than the Old Duke.
Thoughts raced through Su Xiao's mind. Just as he was about to grasp something, a short blade suddenly appeared before his left temple.
Crack!
The crystal layer was cut into slightly. Su Xiao's hand, wrapped in the crystal layer, grabbed the stabbing short blade.
"Just a little more, and I would have thought of..."
Su Xiao tilted his head slightly, rarely speaking during combat.
A figure draped in a black robe, slender in build, appeared in Su Xiao's line of sight. From the physique, it was a young woman, holding a short blade less than half a meter long.
The area around the castle remained quiet, indicating that the guards in the courtyard had been dealt with—silently eliminated. These guards, who sold their lives for money, were not considered innocent by the Assembly of Gods, so they all had to die.
The black-robed woman stood beside Su Xiao, motionless. A sense of danger pricked at every part of her body like sharp needles.
Thump, thump, thump...
Heavy footsteps came from Su Xiao's other side, followed by a sudden sound of wind breaking.
Boom!
A shockwave spread. A fist covered in calluses slammed into Su Xiao's raised right arm, sending him skidding backward.
"You okay?"
The burly man in the darkness spoke. Unfortunately, the black-robed woman didn't answer him. A spurt of blood erupted from her severed neck, staining a patch of the ceiling red.
The black-robed woman collapsed with a thud. Not far away, Su Xiao stood on the back of a wooden chair, holding a head in his hand. The expression on the head was one of obvious shock.
The burly man in the darkness felt an urge to turn and flee immediately, but his loyalty to the Assembly of Gods suppressed that impulse.
Crack, crack, crack...
Windows shattered as twelve figures leaped into the room. Their attire was uniform—all in white robes with metal masks on their faces. The Assembly of Gods: The Twelve.
By the moonlight, Su Xiao surveyed these twelve. Not bad—they already made him feel a sense of danger.
Zheng~
Dragon-Slaying Flash hummed softly as the long blade was drawn. This Holy Spirit Rank long blade was showing its power in the Abyss World for the first time.
"Light."
The Twelve spoke almost simultaneously. Holy divine power enveloped them. Only the earliest batch of Saint Descendants had mastered divine power.
But the Twelve weren't even Saint Descendants—they were powerful humans. This was likely some technology of the Assembly of Gods, showing that the organization's name wasn't without reason.
"Bright."
The Twelve spoke again. After they uttered the word "Light Bright," soft golden holy light enveloped them. This golden holy light connected with each other, representing life and purity.
The Twelve were twelve Holy Sword Warriors, all clad in heavy armor, using holy power to heal each other. Their survivability was as one could imagine.
In the next moment, the Twelve simultaneously drew the knight swords from under their white robes.
Apostle's Eye floated beside Su Xiao. After checking the data on these twelve, he found that their physical attributes were not weak.
Moreover, each of these twelve had Sword Mastery at around Lv.30 to Lv.40. One or two were nothing, but twelve attacking together was terrifying. Too many ants could kill an elephant, let alone twelve Sword Masters at around Lv.40.
The situation was clear. Su Xiao's investigation of Duke Fury Lion and his subversion of Ghost Shadow had thoroughly angered the Assembly of Gods, so they had directly sent their trump card.
Just as Su Xiao was about to step forward, the Twelve almost simultaneously slashed their knight swords diagonally.
Zheng!
Twelve golden sword auras interwove, but Su Xiao didn't stop, continuing his charge.
The sword auras passed through Su Xiao's body, but he was in a Space Penetration state, completely unharmed.
Boom!
Blood aura exploded from Su Xiao as the center point. He turned into a blood-red afterimage, appearing behind a Holy Sword Warrior.
'Blade Path Sword: Time.'
The shockwave spread, and all twelve felt the surrounding air become viscous.
Cyan Steel Shadow Energy surged along the long blade. Su Xiao slightly lowered his body and slashed out.
'Blade Path Sword: Extreme.'
Blade Path Sword: Extreme was the ability Su Xiao had perfected this time in the Land of All Beings, Layer Five. It didn't have Azure Demon's ultra-high speed or Slaughter's wide-range slashes. What it had was unparalleled slashing power. All of Su Xiao's passive abilities, the true damage of Cyan Steel Shadow, and the sharpness of Dragon-Slaying Flash were pushed to their limits by 'Blade Path Sword: Extreme.' That's why it was called 'Extreme.'
Pfft!
Half a broken knight sword flew up, along with a Holy Sword Warrior's head.
The headless corpse fell with a thud. The other eleven Holy Sword Warriors showed pained expressions, all retreating and gathering together. The boss battle... had begun!
Blood dripped from the tip of Dragon-Slaying Flash. Su Xiao looked at the corpse on the ground. He had originally thought these so-called "Holy Knights" types were quite tough, so he had directly used 'Blade Path Sword: Extreme.'
But who would have thought one slash would kill one? They didn't live up to the prestige of their entrance. Of course, this was related to Su Xiao slashing at the neck—a vital point unprotected by armor.
Under Su Xiao's blade, these Holy Sword Warriors in heavy armor, thick-skinned as they were, seemed rather fragile.