Chapter 223: Shadow Assassin (Part 2)

Chapter 223: Shadow Assassin (Part 2)



Fishing Harbor Town Administrative Hall.

Inside a resting chamber...

Rain was polishing the blade claws attached to his Knight Gauntlets with the paralyzing poison provided by Trevor, which was embedded in his Knight Gauntlet. On the bed beside him lay a genderless doll made of special wooden materials were crudely crafted, with cylindrical shapes forming the head, torso, and limbs, and a few simple strokes representing the mouth, nose, ears, and eyes.

When Veronica handed Rain the 'Substitute Doll,' Nathaniel's envious gaze made Rain realize that the doll was not as simple as it appeared.

Later, through Nathaniel's introduction, Rain learned:

"The Substitute Doll can only be crafted by a specific type of formal wizard, commonly known as a 'Doll Master.'"

"The usage is simple; it can be controlled through mental energy, or a strand of the user's hair or a drop of blood can be used to activate it."

"The Substitute Doll will transform into the user's appearance within a day, emitting the user's aura, making it difficult for even a regular formal wizard to detect the difference. Only after an attack will the deception be revealed."

"Of course, there are limitations. After casting the spell, the doll won't become a controllable entity; it can only mimic the user's static posture. Once damaged, it will revert to its doll form."

"Therefore, it's typically placed in a specific location to mislead enemies."

This is why Nathaniel showed a look of envy.

At this moment, Nathaniel had already set up a Sentinel Magic Array around Rain's room. If an enemy were to enter, it would alert them, but this wasn't foolproof.

Judging from the fact that the intruder had entered the Fourth-Class Ship Captain's room without a sound, they likely possessed a special magic item or an extraordinary shadow magic that allowed them to sneak into the room unnoticed, ready to launch an ambush.

In the first scenario, if the intruder was not alone but a group of two or more, Veronica would assist Rain, while Nathaniel and Trevor would handle the others.

This pairing was well-thought-out; both Nathaniel and Trevor were members of the Leviathan Squad, and their deep understanding of each other often allowed them to coordinate seamlessly, making their combined combat strength greater than the sum of their individual abilities.

In the second scenario, if the intruder was alone, there was no question that they would be surrounded.

Against such a high-level opponent, ordinary guards and watchmen had limited use. The Ramon Brothers led the outer defenses and dealt with minor threats, while Rain, Nathaniel, Trevor, and the others were prepared for the main event.

Rain placed the doll on the bed, covered it with a blanket, and fully armed, he hid under the bed to rest.

When Wexman and Zenina approached the Fishing Harbor Town Administrative Hall, they saw groups of three watchmen patrolling the area.

"Hmph, amateurish tactics."

"Zenina, as usual, if I can't defeat the opponent within ten seconds, you'll hold them off for a while."

"Yes, sir."

Suddenly, a shadow began to emerge from behind Wexman, taking the form of an assassin.

The Shadow Assassin was formed from the concentration of shadow energy, typically possessing around three to four-tenths of the caster's strength.

However, after obtaining the Shadow Assassin spell, Wexman spent over a decade researching and improving it, slightly enhancing its power.

Currently, the Shadow Assassin had nearly half of Wexman's strength. As a sustained spell, he couldn't cast other spells while maintaining it.

Additionally, the Shadow Assassin couldn't be directly attacked; if it was struck, it would disappear.

Once the shadow vanished, the caster would experience a short period of mental energy backlash.

This backlash wasn't severe, causing neither splitting headaches nor unconsciousness. However, during the backlash, the caster would temporarily lose the ability to cast other spells.

Five years ago, Wexman had spent considerable time and effort to find Zenina, an Apprentice Wizard specializing in Shadow Magic, and had been cultivating her ever since.

His purpose was twofold: to enhance the Shadow Assassin's defense with Shadow Magic, preventing direct attacks, and to support his actions to some extent.

Zenina chanted an incantation, and soon, black shields appeared on both Wexman and the Shadow Assassin, one after the other. The shields gradually faded, leaving no visible traces of the Shadow Shield spell.

Wexman had considered the option of eliminating Rain's companions one by one before targeting Rain himself.

But after some thought, there might be unforeseen circumstances that could cause the target to escape or other unexpected situations.

The best approach was to ensure a one-hit kill!

After so many years of assassinations, Wexman had rarely failed, thanks to his Shadow Assassin ability.

Wexman and his identical Shadow Assassin disappeared into the shadows of the street ahead. In the next moment, the Shadow Assassin phased through the wall.

A second later, Wexman's figure vanished, and the Shadow Assassin appeared in his place, the two switching positions.

This was the ultimate ability of the Shadow Assassin—it could swap places with its caster. However, this ability consumed a significant amount of the caster's mental energy, and continuous use would cause an exponential increase in mental energy consumption.

Therefore, it couldn't be used casually.

But this was already a very special ability, allowing Wexman to indirectly possess the power to pass through walls.

If Marika witnessed this, she would surely understand how the assassin managed to infiltrate the sealed captain's cabin and assassinate the Great Knight Captain.

After reaching the Town Hall, Wexman first controlled the Shadow Assassin to infiltrate several rooms. Within minutes, he confirmed the location of the target's room.

Outside, Zenina, following Wexman's instructions, began casting the Shadow Fog spell, a wizardry technique. Soon, a thick fog enveloped the area around the Town Hall as night deepened.

Rain felt a level 3 danger sense in his heart, an early warning sign.

But strangely, as he lay on the bed, his eyes darting around, he couldn't see anyone. Then, a shadow, like a mist, passed through the wall and entered his room. In the next moment, a figure flickered, and the shadow seemed to transform into a tangible entity.

A leather-armored middle-aged man appeared before Rain's eyes.

After a second, another shadow passed through the wall and entered the room.

In other words, at that moment, two figures with identical appearances but one shadow and one solid, stood in Rain's room.

The leather-armored middle-aged man's gaze quickly fixed on the motionless figure on the bed, and a mocking smile appeared on his face. In a swift motion, he drew two blood-hued daggers from his waist.

The actions of the leather-armored man were mirrored almost instantly by the shadow, which performed the same actions without delay.

Two figures, one shadow and one solid, each holding a dagger, silently approached Rain's bed from different directions.

From beneath the bed, Rain watched this scene, and as he recalled Marika's mention of the two previous assassination attempts on the Imperial Navy Rear Admiral, he had a sudden realization.

The shadow reached the bed and took the initiative to attack first!

"Sss!"

The sound of a sharp weapon tearing through the air rang out as the shadow thrust its dagger towards the 'Rain' figure's head, aiming for a fatal strike through the forehead.

"Bang!"

A sound like a bursting bubble echoed.

To Wexman's astonishment, the figure on the bed, who was supposed to be the target, suddenly transformed into a wooden doll. The Shadow Assassin's dagger had merely pierced a wooden head.

It wasn't as expected; the target hadn't reacted in time, allowing the dagger to pierce through the forehead and splatter brain matter.

Nor was it as expected that the target reacted in time, parrying the Shadow Assassin's attack, and then the assassin would strike from behind, ensuring a kill.

This unexpected turn of events caused the experienced Wexman to freeze in shock for a brief moment.

Just as he realized the danger and prepared to retreat, the wooden doll, under the force of the attack, suddenly exploded from below, releasing a sparkling glow of purple fluorescent powder.

Although Wexman's pupils constricted, and he swiftly retreated, he couldn't avoid getting a small amount of the purple glow on his leather armor. The Shadow Assassin, moving with equal speed, also got splattered with the glow.

The amount was minimal, but in the dark night, the two glowing figures stood out vividly.

Just as Wexman was about to wipe off the glow and leave, a sudden sense of foreboding filled his heart. The entire bed seemed to surge towards him, and just as he prepared to retreat, the bed suddenly shattered into four pieces!

A young-looking but abnormally muscular silver giant appeared, wielding a two-handed warhammer. From above, he smashed down towards Wexman!

He had activated 'Beyond Limits' and his innate talent 'Intermediate Gigastrength'.

Wexman naturally chose not to engage the giant's heavy weapon directly.

His dagger, no matter how sharp, stood no chance against the giant's warhammer, which weighed several times his own body.

Wexman activated 'Beyond Limits', and with a light tap of his foot, his speed increased, and he retreated like an arrow, calmly dodging the giant's hammer strike.

Just as Wexman relaxed, thinking he had evaded the giant's attack, and was about to control the nearby Shadow Assassin to counterattack, his pupils constricted.

He saw that after the giant's hammer missed him, instead of stopping, the giant accelerated his swings and smashed the hammer onto the room's floor.

In an instant, a destructive force, invisible but potent, emanated from the point where the hammer met the floor.

The ground shattered and spread out in a fan-like pattern, rapidly extending forward. At that moment, a loud 'Boom' reverberated.

Including the Shadow Assassin, both of them were instantly attacked.

The Shadow Assassin's body flashed with black light, emitting a 'Pop' sound, and the Shadow Shield cracked in response, causing the shadow to instantly dissipate.

Vexman, however, suffered backlash, and his entire body stiffened again. Fortunately, his body also flashed with black light, and a black membrane appeared, mitigating most of the damage from the Multi-Oscillation. But the oscillation's power was immense, and the wall behind Vexman also collapsed, immediately followed by the sharp sound of the Sentinel Magic Array and the nearby footsteps of varying weights.

But just then, a muffled groan was heard, and Trevor, who had come to support, seemed to have been attacked by some kind of...

Rain didn't wait for Trevor, Veronica, and the others to arrive as planned. Instead, he remained calm and continued to swing his hammer down on the middle-aged man in leather armor.

At this moment, Vexman no longer wanted to continue the fight.

For him, face wasn't important, and a single mistake didn't matter either. What mattered was assessing the situation. Clearly, the opponent's defense was very targeted, and their strength was much higher than expected.

So, Vexman made a choice that he believed to be correct.

He intended to borrow the recoil from the weapon clash and immediately retreat, of course, without choosing to directly block the most powerful part of the hammerhead. Instead, he skillfully lunged forward and positioned himself in the middle of the hammer's handle.

He didn't believe that the next time he came, the opponent would still have a 'Substitute Doll' to mislead him.

But just as Vexman crossed his two blood-red daggers to block the middle of Rain's hammer handle, his entire body stiffened. He planned to retreat by borrowing the force, but not only did it fail, but he was also frozen in place for an instant.

At this moment, a powerful force of Multi-Oscillation emanated from the double daggers, although Vexman had the protection of both Essence and the Shadow Shield. He didn't get injured, but the momentary pause was unavoidable.

This pause allowed Rain to seize the opportunity.

Rain took advantage of the force and consecutively unleashed 'Giant Hammer Strike', 'Giant Hammer Sweep', and 'Giant Hammer Jump Strike', and under the effect of 'Light Weight', the heavy and dark boar-head hammer in his hands danced nimbly, as if it were a slender sword.

After that moment of stiffness, Vexman lost the initiative and fell into Rain's continuous heavy hammer strikes, each strike causing him to stiffen for a moment.

This momentary stiffness prevented Vexman from jumping out of Rain's two-handed war hammer attack range, but it was just enough for Rain to unleash another heavy hammer strike. So, Vexman had no choice but to use his double daggers to continuously withstand Rain's attacks.

"Clang!!!"

Every clash sparked flying sparks.

"Clang!!!"

With each powerful strike, the ground beneath Vexman's feet would instantly shatter and sink several centimeters, and this cushioning prevented Vexman from getting injured by directly withstanding the tremendous impact of Rain's heavy hammer.

However, this also meant that Vexman couldn't continuously withstand Rain's hammer strikes in the same spot, as after several consecutive blows, his entire ankle would sink into the ground, putting him in an even more passive position.

So, he could only fight while enduring the stiffness caused by the oscillation and retreating step by step, like a mechanical dance.

After dozens of clashes, the two fought their way from the collapsed wall to the backyard of the town's administrative hall.

The clashing of weapons deafened the ears, and the powerful airflow generated by the swift swinging of the heavy hammer caused debris to swirl in the air.

Vexman had never encountered such a stifling fight. His advantage of agility and high mobility was suppressed by the opponent's special Multi-Oscillation, which seized the initiative.

However, he wasn't worried.

The opponent's continuous heavy hammer strikes had to be performed in one go. As soon as the opponent paused to prepare a secret technique or great technique, he would immediately break free.

If the opponent didn't use their killer move, how long could they maintain such an exhausting series of heavy hammer strikes? Once the opponent became exhausted or showed signs of reduced strength or speed, the pressure on Vexman would quickly ease, and he could easily break free.

At the same time, Vexman didn't believe that this young-looking opponent could surpass him in terms of stamina; it was simply impossible.

On Rain's side, after his Earthsplitting Hammer triggered the Multi-Oscillation and enveloped the shadow, the entire battle rhythm entered the scenario he had been waiting for.

As for Rain, he had to ensure that each strike of his hammer was powerful and swift, like a rushing thunderbolt. Stamina consumption wasn't something he worried about.

At this moment, he had six remaining attribute points.

After nearly a minute of fighting, Rain didn't hesitate to add one point to his stamina.

As the remaining attribute points decreased from 6 to 5, his physique also increased from 28 to 29.

Instantly, a surging heat flowed from his heart and quickly spread throughout his body.

In an instant, the numbness and fatigue he felt throughout his body disappeared.

Rain's strikes with the two-handed war hammer maintained the same speed and strength as when the battle began—steady, precise, and powerful.

Sub-Lieutenant Wexman's eyes widened in disbelief and surprise at the young man's seemingly inexhaustible stamina.

With his extensive combat experience, he deduced that the young man should have shown signs of fatigue within the last minute, but instead of waiting for you to dream of a better tomorrow, but to escape the reality of today.

But a minute and a half had passed, and each of the young man's strikes remained powerful and swift!

On the contrary, Wexman's stamina began to wane.

This made Wexman feel inexplicably irritated.

Had the young man taken some kind of drug earlier?

That could explain his sustained state.

A powerful stamina potion?

Unlikely!

At most, it could only enhance one's stamina by a mere 10-20%.

A blood potion?

Clearly not!

As the effect would only last for a minute and a half, so it was unlikely that the young man had taken a potion during the fight.

Action: Sub-Lieutenant Wexman's eyes widened in disbelief and surprise at the young man's seemingly inexhaustible stamina.

Action: With his extensive combat experience, he deduced that the young man should have shown signs of fatigue a minute and a half ago, and his current state indicated a turning point in the battle.

Action: But a minute and a half had passed, and each of the young man's strikes remained powerful and swift!

Action: On the contrary, Wexman's stamina began to wane.

Action: This made Wexman feel inexplicably irritated.

Action: Had the young man taken some kind of drug earlier?

Action: That could explain his sustained state.

Action: A powerful stamina potion?

Action: Unlikely!

Action: At most, it could only enhance one's stamina by a mere 10-20%.

Action: A blood potion?

Action: Clearly not!

Action: As the effect would only last for a minute and a half, it was unlikely that the young man had taken a potion during the fight.

Action: "Clang!!!"

Action: "Pfft!"

Action: Two distinct sounds of metal clashing rang out almost simultaneously!

Action: Sub-Lieutenant Rain's near-full-power strike was clearly beyond what Wexman could block with one hand.

Action: After the hammer and dagger collided, the pitch-black Boar Head Hammer heavily smashed into Wexman's left arm.

Action: 'Crack!' The sound of breaking bones echoed as Wexman's left shoulder joint shattered under the force of the hammer.

Action: At the same time, Wexman's blood-red dagger pierced through Rain's Water Film Steel Armor, penetrating his abdomen.

Action: But as the dagger met the steel plate, a strong resistance forced Wexman to change his expression!

Action: This was the effect of Rain's 'Basic Steel Body' talent.

Action: Wexman's reaction was swift. In the blink of an eye, he flicked his right-hand dagger upward, bringing it between Rain's hands, and then swiftly dragged it back, forcing Rain to release his grip on the hammer's handle.

Action: Seeing Rain lose his favorite weapon, the hammer, Wexman couldn't help but smirk slightly, his heart filled with determination.

Action: Young man, your combat experience is still lacking!

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end