Assassin Obstacle Course (11)

The opponents that Alicia and Alex faced, were dealt with soon after they attacked. The arrays they set up were effective against the secret guards, so as long as they stopped Alex from interfering with them, it would be their victory. However, Alicia saw no need to play along.

Soon after they used their arrays, she told Alex to activate the array that he had laid in advance. Surprisingly, the array was right below the feet of the young man from the Noe family and his elders, so it gobbled them up in a black dome without any trouble. Once they were trapped in this cage, Alicia and Alex could leisurely unravel the arrays around them under the protection of their guards.

By the time, they were able to break free of the cage, their arrays had been dismantled so it was easy for the secret guards to handle the rest of the work.

"No, no!!!"

"You can't do this, stop!"

"Do, do you know who I am? I-"

Some even went down on their knees and kowtowed, but not a single one was spared. Alex looked indifferently at the scene, while his sister focused her senses on the area near the amphitheater.

"It looks like they took the bait. Let's begin the next phase."

Alex nodded in response and followed Alicia as she went for a different array than the one planned. The hostile force believed that Astar would dismantle the stronger arrays while his disciples would take care of the rest, but Astar was never dedicated to that role in the first place. Since he knew that he would be targeted, rather than struggle to fight off interlopers, he chose to lure the enemy so that his disciples could do the task instead. No one predicted that they would use this plan, because tier 5 arrays were included among the traps set up for Emily, so neither of the siblings should have been able to handle them. However, Astar and Alex were aware of her skill.

Sky Realm experts still remained in the area to keep an eye on the stronger arrays, but Alicia already knew their general positions and she could narrow down their location using her keen sense for danger. She made Alex set up arrays to hinder the watchers in case they were noticed, while she dismantled the traps. Naturally, it took more time to dismantle the tier 5 and 4 arrays, but she still managed to successfully do every one that she started.

When only a few tier 4 arrays remained, she sensed the second boundary being raised.

"We've brought you this far, surely you wouldn't waste our efforts, right?"

Meanwhile, Emily was flown so close to the amphitheater that she could throw something to hit it, but even though it was one straight path, it was rife with danger. She took a moment to count the number of arrays she would have to slip past or dismantle, but she shook her head at the result. Putting the numerous tier 3 arrays aside, there was enough space for her to evade most of the tier 4 arrays, but there was one that was inescapable.

It covered the entire stretch of road, so the moment she stepped on it, it would activate every array in the area. Fortunately, she calculated that her boosted speed would be enough to make it to the amphitheater before the tier 4 array fully activated the others, but that was only if she wasn't stopped a single time. She was tempted to take a different route, but she was by herself so there would be no one to protect her if there were any more assassins lurking around. Furthermore, Shui told her that this path was the most optimal one, and fear wasn't enough of a reason to doubt him.

Once she accepted that she had to walk down this road, Emily took a deep breath. She wouldn't be able to relax for a single second after taking the next step, so she first examined her body to confirm her condition. She remained under the influence of 'Haste', but she had gotten used to this speed so it wouldn't cause any accidents.

Emily placed her hand on her chest and closed her eyes.

'Am I ready?'

Throughout this incident, she had been protected, and that stayed true even now because she possessed Dull Harmony. However, she remembered why she came to this city and why she had to move forward.

'This is for my revenge. For me to prove myself. If I can't make it past this, then I'll never be able to stand on my own.'

When she opened her eyes, Emily had fully plunged into the Still Heart state. Like a serene lake, there were no ripples in her heart. Adrian's true motives and his death, the betrayal of her family, Shui's warmth, her suppressed fear; everything deemed unnecessary was wiped away, and she burst forward.

The moment she entered its range, the ground covered by the core tier 4 array, lit up with a bright light that engulfed the light from the other arrays it began to activate. Some arrays activated faster than others, and targeted her unhesitatingly, but Emil didn't flinch even as a gigantic fireball was hurtling towards her. There was no need to. Despite looking like it would smash right into her, the fireball whooshed past her head, scorching the tips of her hair as it went by.

Emily had already taken a good look at the minefield of arrays, so she calculated the best route for her to take. It wasn't perfect, but she was confident that anything that she had accounted for wouldn't be able to touch her.

Emily dashed through the arrays without fear, with the finish line getting closer in sight. She didn't feel proud of reaching this far, because she knew that her enemies wouldn't simply watch her trample their trap.

Suddenly, a flaming spear shot towards her from the amphitheater. Even attempting to dodge it would cost her valuable time, but she could still use the small golden swords of Dull Harmony to create a shell that would protect her. The spear was frightening considering the way it suddenly appeared, but not as much as the assassins she escaped from, so she was sure it wouldn't be able to breach the shell. However, a wide wall sprouted ahead of her and kept growing taller.

The wall wasn't very strong, but it wasn't weak enough for Emily to simply smash through it, or was it? Under the influence of Still Heart, she made her decision in a split second. She grabbed the hilt of her sword and pushed the blade in front of her. Unlike against the assassins, she couldn't expect the sword to respond appropriately in this situation since she wasn't filled with a clear desire like 'defend', so she had to actually use it this time.

Once she decided to take control of it, the white light leaking from the sword brightened substantially. Emily didn't look at it, she only focused on the feeling of the sword in her hand and tightened her grip. Finally, she had a chance to use the sword instead of it using her. She didn't expect anything astonishing to happen; her blade would cut through the wall and then she would run through the entry opened, that was all.

When the time came to bring her speculation to reality, Emily's swing first hit the flaming spear and easily gobbled it up. While the sword was absorbing its snack, she finished the swing. Not only did it cleanly cut through the wall, it caused a spiderweb of cracks that brought it to destruction.