Assassin Obstacle Course (4)

The duke's assassins split up and then attacked from all directions. As Shui could only use martial intent on one portion of the formation at a time, he would lose this clash if he tried to attack each of them separately. Therefore, he instead unleashed a horizontal swing powered by martial intent to knock them all back, but perhaps they had predicted that.

As soon as the golden sword appeared in horizontal position, the Tower assassins jumped in front of it and captured the blade in their Dynamic Blood Formation. Shui immediately felt a strong resistance stopping the blade, and before he could overcome this resistance, the duke's assassins were in range to attack. They fired off spells and struck with a ferocity that caused the formation to tremble. He summoned other golden blades to swat them away, but just as he expected, they were able to easily destroy these normal blades.

With the energy of the formation rapidly draining, Shui knew that it was about time to finish this battle. First, to give himself breathing room, he stabbed Sui into the ground and retracted the golden swords. The assassins went straight for them, but Shui then used martial intent on the entire formation, immensely strengthening its defensive ability. Try as they might, the assassins could not damage the tower of swords.

While this defense was still up, Shui turned to Emily with a solemn expression.

"I'll make an opening. I want you to run as fast as you can until you make it out of the area so that I can seal this place up."

"What? No, I can't abandon you!"

"You're not abandoning me, I'll be fine. If I'm by myself I'll be able to move more freely."

"But..."

Emily didn't know what to say. She was happy that he would do so much for her, but she didn't want to lose another person she cared about. She had already lost enough. Shui wouldn't mind taking his time convincing her, but this wasn't a suitable setting, so he discreetly applied 'Haste' to Dull Harmony that peeked from her robe so that it could support her without leaving any damage, and grabbed her hand.

"Believe me. I definitely won't die."

He didn't need to add any volume to his voice, but Emily was impressed by the strength in his tone. Taking advantage of that moment, he pushed her in front of him.

"Run!"

Thanks to the push he gave her, her legs started moving forward before she could make a decision. The assassins immediately noticed her running away, and pondered on what they should do. Their mission took priority over killing Shui, but if they ignored him then he would surely target their backs. Even so, they couldn't ignore such perfect bait. Most of them stopped attacking the formation to go after her, while the rest remained to restrain him.

'Just as planned.'

Shui shifted Sui into an offensive stance with the blade held horizontally and the tip pointing behind him. The formation also tilted to the ground and turned into the shape of a cannon with him as the cannonball. The assassins staying behind knew that this was a bad sign, but the durability of the formation hadn't weakened so they were helpless to stop the change.

Unaware of what was happening behind her, Emily ran with all her might as she could feel the assassins closing in on her like wolves on a deer. It would be a lie if she said that she didn't wonder if Shui had sacrificed her, but she kept moving faster than she thought possible. Her faith in him wasn't unshakeable, and she wasn't ready to lay down her life, but something powered her forward.

'I don't know why, but, for some reason, I don't think I'll die here.'

"Speed Form, First Stance: Instant."

Like a bolt of lightning, Shui dashed through the assassins and stopped by Emily's side. Once he stopped, the sword formation lost power and the swords went back into his storage, but that was only one event, and it wasn't the major one. Shui made sure to keep his strength under control, but by focusing the formation's power on Sui a moment before he made his move, he was able to summon enough external force to cut through all in his path, literally.

Every assassin who was about to make contact with Emily was cleanly severed in half, while those who were a bit farther were only knocked away. Now, only six assassins remained, and all of them were speechless.

Emily didn't know when Shui appeared beside her, but when she saw him this time, she didn't even question why she moved her legs forward. As she went ahead, Shui turned around and drew a line on the ground that separated Emily from them. The array boundary was farther, so it would be better if he could stop them here.

"I won't allow anyone past this line. Come if you're ready to die."

They gulped before his cold eyes, but their fists remained clenched. They noticed Emily running away, so they had to break through Shui's guard, even if they had to use sacrifices to do it.

Considering that he couldn't kill them quickly with his limited power, it would be troublesome to hold them all back if one decided to surrender their life in exchange for their allies to escape through an opening. However, Shui had prepared attractive bait that they wouldn't be able to ignore.

First, he turned to the two remaining assassins of Duke Eclair.

"By the way, after this, I'll be making sure to report what's happened here to the capital. I wonder how the other nobles will react when they hear that a duke sent his personal assassins to kill a little girl."

They had ensured that they didn't use any techniques that would reveal their identity, but they couldn't get rid of minor material evidence in the form of their corpses. Normally, the ones alive would clean up after the departed, and even if corpses did remain, that wouldn't be enough to incriminate their master. Unfortunately, a witness would certainly embolden his competitors.

As assassins, they should only need to think about their mission, but now their loyalty made them hesitate, just as Shui wanted.

Still, he hadn't forgotten about the team of four from the Tower of Killers. Since the others had been killed, they were much weaker than before, but he couldn't allow them passage either.

No one would bat an eye if he exposed their involvement in this event, and he had no way of damaging the reputation of the Tower of Killers, but he had a feeling that what he did prepare would do the job.

"And for those from the Tower of Killers," Shui took out a black seal with a mask on one side and a heart on the other, "Look what I have here."

Shui didn't know the significance of this token which he took from the body of the assassin that attacked him in the Ancestral Lands, but the befuddlement he could sense from them told him that he had played the right card.

After laying the bait, Shui only had to wait a few more minutes before the array boundary activated and the only thing left to do was fight.