Chapter 62

Torrential Rain and strong wind seemed to be a phenomenon only present in the jungle while the night outside the snake palace in the Arcadia city was relatively warm with buzzing sounds of insects. Ever since the mercenaries escorting Cornelia encountered the terrifying aura from within the jungle, the group had started going through a different path straying further away from the place where the supposed fight between mages were felt.

The shadow guards of Cornelia had been repeatedly trying to communicate with the group assigned by the crown Prince to rendezvous with them after ambushing the death squad and lack of any response had left them alarmed, having them send a shadow guard take turn to scout their path ahead of time.

Meanwhile within water palace the ever silent and confident crown Prince Voight was gloomy and had lost his composure. Ever since the start of mission nothing seemed to be going his way. He had lost contact with the three mages along with an elite group of warriors he had sent to ambush his brother's forces and now he had lost contact with his scout sent to keep an eye on the battle between his forces in the snake palace.

Going completely blind had sent Voight on edge and for the first time in his life Voight sensed defeat and it had come to him at a stage where he cannot afford to loose. Knowing something had happened at the snake palace, the crown Prince took his talisman out and sent his mana. "Roger, it's me. Do you remember the time I saved you? You said that you owe me."

"Voight, I remember it, but why are you bringing that up now?" asked Roger

"Well I want to cash in that favour now. I am in need of your help. Will you help me?"

"Unless you tell me what the problem is that is troubling the great crown Prince, I cannot help you. You might think of me going against my promise, but I will not engage in any life threatening activity for you" said Roger in a tone of certainty.

"Don't worry, it's nothing too big. I want you to bring at least two other Rank 1 mages and together we will attack the second prince's forces".

"What happened to your forces?"

"I don't know but I can speculate to a certain extent. Though not being in any of the intelligence report my brother could very well be employing a Rank 2 mage in the dark. If we both join forces defeating his last line of defence would be easy. Once his trump card is dealt with we can easily finish the rest of his forces".

"Sounds like a plan, however if I find it to be too dangerous, I would retreat immediately and you had better give me some benefit as well".

"Of course, once I win it would be a matter of time before I ascend to the throne. Whether a fief or wealth I can provide you with anything".

"Alright I will arrive as soon as possible" said Roger and quickly cut the connection with the talisman.

Within the dark jungle, hidden amongst the shadows a group of twenty mercenaries moved by foot using trees as shade from the torrential rainfall and wind. Despite the extreme chill ness none of these warriors flinched and their eyes were cold and devoid of any human emotions. They were the death squad who had deviated from the main group, specially prepared with elites to assassinate Cornelia and her guards.

Despite moving fast they did not make much noise and due to absolute darkness in the jungle even an elite scout could not make out their presence. These death squad comprised of elites of level 7 to level 9 warriors and were headed by a level 10 warrior. Despite Cornelia's group changing their original route, as if knowing of such change, these warriors were moving in a route which would make the meeting of both groups unavoidable.

Just like one would expect, despite being extremely dark and vision being dimmed due to rain, a shadow guard spotted them as he had used a vision enhancement potion which gave a buff of fifteen minutes in respect of vision enabling them to be able to see in the dark.

As if sensing the shadow guard's sight, the Rank 10 Warrior who is also the death squad captain looked towards the shadow guard's spot and despite quick response by the shadow guard in retreat and running towards the group to relay the information the death squad captain made a quick dash and within moments entered the striking zone.

The shadow guard also had a quick response and had sent emergency signal through the talisman and turned around with his sword drawn from its sheath and swiped at the incoming attack.

Despite the fast response from the shadow guard the strike threw him back uncontrollably and his right hand which held the sword was mangled. Bearing the searing pain of his broken arm, the shadow guard searched for his sword which got thrown from his hand while desperately trying to dodge the second attack.

Before he could dodge the incoming attack his thoughts froze as he saw his own body in a crouching position desperate to dodge to it's right. The most horrific scene was that the body did not have a head and blood was spewing out like a fountain painting the dark forest red.

'What?' thought the shadow guard with a froze expression on his face before succumbing to eternal darkness.

The second the shadow guards received the signal, they ran towards the source at full speed while drawing their swords. A total of 10 shadow guards with strength of Level 8 to level 10 leaked their killing intent and flashed into the dark forest leaving behind two level 9 warriors to guard Cornelia in case of emergencies.

Despite the heavy rain, Sean silently sent a total of 5 drones controlled through his system which flew steadily, two in the direction of fight to get the live footage of the status, rest three in three different directions to find out any incoming and hidden threat. Sean had already scouted out possibly escape routes during this journey just to make sure that he had a way out in case they met any unrealistic opponents like the one who blared his aura throughout the jungle.

Scenes played in his system where he saw the dead body of a shadow guard with his head detached from his body and within a span of 5 breaths the shadow guards reached the place and intercepted the death squad warriors. From the aura leaking by both parties, the surrounding area became abnormally silent as the small animals and beasts escaped from the vicinity in order to preserve itself.

Silence ensued between the two groups and the shadow guards were in disadvantage in terms of numbers but held more advantage in terms of quality and battle experience to the death squad. Locking their eyes, both groups erupted as swords clashed while spears struck at one another with every intent to kill each other. Not holding back anything, they activated their Qi, unique bloodline and the battle cry erupted making the rather quiet scene to be filled with noise.

However no matter how much they shouted their voice was still deafened by the sound of wind and rain. The two level 10 warriors who had lead the groups, opened a distance from the group and clashed without holding back causing trees to uproot with every strike and Qi to be blasted with every move. Keeping their distance from the two monsters, the other warriors clashed amongst them and the shadow guards looked as if they could barely hold out the death squad members because of difference in numbers. Every level 8 shadow guard was attacked by a level 7 and a level 8 death squad and every level 9 shadow guard was attacked by a level 8 and a level 9 warrior.

Each shadow guard had at least two death squad to fight against, making them be on guard towards every move and in this rain, with their field of vision affected their mental stress was huge and even a small lapse in concentration meant defeat and death. Even with the obvious disadvantage, the death squad members could not take advantage of the situation as the shadow guards were barely injured showing the difference in quality of the guards who were trained by the one of the biggest mage clans in the Arcadia Kingdom, Hall family to the Royal family's second prince's forces.

The two groups entered a state of balance which could only be destroyed if an external force stronger than these two groups emerges. And this was exactly what was about to happen as Sean who had sent the drones had marked the death squad members using his system and equipped with AWM with a electronic night vision scope with additional facility to activate thermal scanner made his way above the carriage of Cornelia and covered himself completely with a sheet with only the scope and the muzzle equipped with a suppressor peaking from the gaps the sheet.

This was the strategy that they had prepared after the shadow guards had seen the combat ability and the overpowered weapons of Sean.

With tons of experience in sniping from both his past life and through training program given by the system, Sean aimed at the death squad members with strength of level 7 to reduce the pressure on the shadow guards and pulled the trigger.