CHAPTER 26: HIDE AND SEEK

" mister.. are you playing hide and seek? can I... play with you "

The jolly voice of the child was like electricity struck to his heart that made it beat impulsively and numb all his senses. the butler's world seemed to stop for a moment, and the thing he could only hear was a ringing sound on his ear and a nonstop pounding of his heart while he instinctively traced the source of the voice without looking at it

with his years of training as an assassin, he becomes a lot more resourceful when it comes to the art of killing; he didn't even waste any time to become indulge in his block senses due to the sudden shock, and instead, the butler made use of the chopsticks as a dart and threw the pair of chopstick in a ruthless way above his head while he leans his body directly on the ground

in the midway of his actions, he sees a glimpse of a boy sitting at the top of the carriage intensely smiling at him with pure innocence depicting on his whole face and happily swinging his feet

The boy's appearance made the butler hesitate in a split second, but he hardened his resolve to immediately kill this boy that might mess up his whole mission. However, the moment he hesitated, Cynn jumped at the carriage and directly slammed the butler on the ground.

-thud- -crack-

"ackkk!!"

the butler landed unsafely on the ground because of the added weight of Cynn that caught him off guard, and his back made a nasty cracking sound upon hitting on the floor that made him cough a mouthful of blood and lose a grip on the chopstick he was aiming to dart at Cynn

when the butler lost the chopstick in mid-air, Cynn caught it in succession without delay and attempted it to pierce the two eyes of the butler cold-heartedly, but he halted his movement when he suddenly remembered the words of his liege

' the lives of people are precious.'

this kind of delay didn't let the butler pass, and he made a heavy kick on the chest of Cynn that made him shoot in the air

when the butler successfully pushed back Cynn, his eyes met; the unusual looks of Cynn terror crept on his spine, and he instinctively made a distance skillfully with his injured back

While in the air, Cynn made a backflip to avoid the carriage's corner and silently landed on the roof of the carriage like a falling feather.

The butler immediately looked at the campsite where the search and rescue team was resting to check if they were still unaware of their existence. Fortunately, they were still delightfully taking their meal and did not even notice any speck of their presence far away in this place.

when he assumed they were still left unnoticed by anyone. he turned back his gaze to Cynn

"I never thought that the legend they always told to me from when I was a child was standing in front of me right now."

"ehhh... legend?.... what was that, mister?"

" the creature who only exists in darkness and steals the souls of those who see its magnificent eye... this the only opportunity for me to see if the legends about the nightwalker were true."

The butler touches its head to put back his dark mask on his face, but when his hands lay on his head, he finds out that the mask is missing, to his shock. The mask was already at the hand of the nightwalker, and Cynn was casually handling it like normal stuff while his hands were at his back.

"give it back."

"Ohh, your toy, mister? "

" GIVE IT BACK"

upon his annoyance, he waved his hands, and two daggers connected by a long chain appeared on his hand that came from the spatial ring; he lost his composure this time, and the butler attacked Cynn without thinking of any consequences and jumped towards him full of blood lust silently emitting on his body paired by his sickening smile that shows all of his teeth

He pounces towards Cynn, almost comparable to the speed of sound. And arrive instantly in front of Cynn. They didn't waste any time looking at each other, and they immediately exchanged blows upon interaction. the butler used his dagger in the form of offense and aimed to instant kill Cynn while the chain was acting like a snake swirling around him and protecting his body on the chopsticks

Yess... Cynn was only using chopsticks with his left arm to overwhelm his opponent.

" Impudent!!"

' is this really the skill of nightwalker? He was the one who had an appearance of a child. Yet, I'm the one that looked like a child in front of his skill. I can't let it be... I must kill him no matter what!! '

" Bastard"

the butler got more a lot furious as time passed by because he couldn't even land a single attack on Cynn, and it seems Cynn was reading all his actions as an open book and predicting it before he initiated the move up to the point he would execute it

' damn, he was out of my league...unforgivable!!! All my experience and years of training are just equated just like this? I can't accept it!! '

the butler intensified his attack and doubled his speed; he even put a lot more strength on each blow he released

' how can he dodge it all?!!'

he becomes a lot more frustrated as their fight continue, and it really hurts his pride as one of the skilled assassins on the continent

" AHHH!!! "

This time he didn't mind if the search and rescue team would notice them, and he put everything he got to kill Cynn. He changes his positions and utilizes anything in the vicinity; he even takes advantage of the dark parts of this area to make a surprise attack, but it was all in vain, and he cants still land a single blow to him.

- huff - - huff -

this time the butler stopped his barrage of attacks on Cynn and took a proper distance from each other because he was already out of breath, and his hair was messy with his whole body drenched in sweat

"can we still play hide and seek, mister?"

different from the situation of the butler, Cynn was still totally okay like there was nothing happened. his white hair was still so neat without any scratch found on his body

then when the butler looked again at Cynn, he was in utter shock

' how can he dodge all my attacks without leaving his original position.'

this time the butler found out that Cynn was just playing around all this time and didn't see him as a proper opponent because all he did was dodge everything of his attack and attack him only to halt his momentum and control him without knowing that he was already under his control

' i will take him down this time.'

The butler gets ready in another series of attacks and takes his stance. However, when he was ready to move, he found out that his feet were shaking and not in good condition due to extreme exhaustion.

"Damn, did I already reach my limit without even giving him a single scratch?... impossible."

he strengthens again his resolve that gives another kind of fuel to his worn-out body before he initiates another attack and dash at Cynn again like a crazed beast

While he was running, he tossed the other end of the chain the butler was holding with a dagger at the tip. he skillfully maneuvered the chain to land at the position of Cynn at a fast speed. however, his first attack was easily dodge by Cynn by jumping off at the carriage, but in return, the carriage was a slice in half

he immediately retrieved the chain, and then he kicked the dagger to bombard him with a simultaneous attack; he didn't give Cynn any time to take a break

amid his multiple attacks, when Cynn was busy dodging and defending, he finally spotted an opening that he believed could lead to him in a victory, so the butler didn't hesitate to make a move and attack Cynn relentlessly until he got near to him and execute his plan

when he believed that his plan was going smoothly, he shot his dagger at the left feet of Cynn and decided to miss it deliberately, then he pulled it back that made his chain change in trajectory, and coiled at Cynn"s Feet like a snake catching its prey that made him lose his balance and fall on the ground

" Gotcha!! { got you } " the butler proceeded in jumping and crushing Cynn with his feet. However, before he could land a hit, Cynn kicked him so hard at his chest that made the butler fly away and cough a mouthful of blood again.

however, this kind of injury was not enough for him to give up, and he decided to make another attempt

When he was ready to dash again towards Cynn, he suddenly felt a distinct sharp air aiming at his neck. He instinctively turns his head to his right and sees a shiny thing traveling at incredible speed and getting close to his neck.

he responded out of his survival instinct and attempted to block the incoming unknown attack with his two daggers while he was holding them backhanded

he was successful at parrying the attack, but he overlooked another incoming spearhead at his lower arms that made a clean sound of tearing flesh upon contact, and he immediately bent to dodge his neck on the continuous attack of the spear

However, when he bent his back, he didn't know again that unknown feet were waiting at his head, which kicked his face downwards and slammed his head on the ground ruthlessly. After that, he lost consciousness in an instant.

-thud- -thud -

Afterward, the two previous hands of the butler landed on the ground with a dagger still attached to them, and the blood started to flow from the clean-cut of it.

" Ohh, why are these two disgusting sneaky Cats quarreling here? Did they know that we are taking our hard earn rest here? "

" It was too early to nag at them, lieutenant Chris; we have another cat we need to catch."

" you didn't know, young lieutenant, how upsetting for an old man like me to disturb my precious sleep! "

" Okay, okay... "

" hays, it was hard to catch a proper sleep these days; how can you not appreciate that... alright, let finish it first."