Chapter 423 - 423. Another Assassin
He promptly summoned Magic Shield and put his sword in front of him, just as he felt a strong impact from the incoming shadow. As the impact happened, a person in a black cloak materialized. Jack was sent flying back from the force of the impact. He landed some distance away. He lost almost 400 HP from the strike.
Jack was on full alert. The force that he felt and the amount of HP that he lost indicated that this was not the same player that had vanished. In fact, he didn't believe that any players at this stage could inflict this high amount of damage on him after he had performed a shield block.
He looked at his radar and his suspicion was confirmed. After his attacker materialized. A dot had appeared on his radar, and its color was red, which meant the human in front of him was either an outlaw or an NPC.
"You managed to escape my sneak attack, how impressive," his attacker said.
The attacker was a man with a face that looked to be in his thirties. He had a thin chinstrap beard on his face, his eyes were narrow and appeared cunning. Around his neck was what appeared as a scarf at first glance, but then Jack realized it was actually the same face mask from the players who tried to ambush him just now.
Another assassin? But it was an NPC this time. And a confident one that felt no need to conceal his identity.
Jack used his God-eye monocle to Inspect this one. Since the person was not wearing the face mask, the Inspect was successful.
Oswald (Elite Human, Assassin), level 50
HP: 82,000
'Ugh, level 50?' Even though this NPC was only Elite grade, the level was too high. It would be like fighting against Lieutenant Bailey. He had no confidence at all to survive against such an opponent.
"You are from the Assassins Guild as well?" Jack asked as he stepped back.
"I am," Oswald replied, he took a step forward, maintaining his distance from Jack.
"You are after my mark too? Are you working together with those five?"
Oswald chuckled. "Don't be ridiculous, why am I associating with those weaklings? I noticed them going in the same direction so I assume they were going after the same target as me. I let them fight you first to gauge your strength. That last one was pretty lucky to run away when he did. I'm getting tired of waiting and I would have killed him together with you."
Since the assassin this time was way more chatty, Jack decided to try to pry more information, "To have a native member of Assassins Guild comes after me, the reward for taking me down must be truly generous."
"Hehe, you are on the VIP list, of course it is. Though I do wonder why such large reward for a weak outworlder like you."
"You mind telling me who put the mark on me?"
"Hehe. You are going to die, what's the point of knowing?"
"It's precisely because I'm going to die, so you tell me or not won't make a difference. In that case, why don't you just tell me and let me die a satisfying death?"
"A satisfying death, hahaha! You are my first victim to say that. Well, since you amused me so much before I kill you. All right, I'll give you a clue then."
"Just a clue?"
"Take it or leave it, boy. But this clue should be an easy one."
"All right, lay it out then."
"Heh, I like you, kid. You can be this calm despite your obvious demise. I almost feel pity to have you as my mark, I would love to make friends with you under different circumstances. The clue is, you shouldn't have pissed off a certain magistrate."
Jack never stopped walking backward slowly as Oswald never stopped walking forward. As his last sentence finished, Oswald suddenly lunged forward. Jack, however, had prepared for this assassin's assault.
Oswald was fast, but Jack Shooting Dash was faster. Jack aimed his two dashes directly opposite from Oswald, so he was immediately 14.5 meters further from the assassin. Jack sent a Sword of Light to the assassin followed by Energy Bolts before turning around and ran. He knew he stood no chance against this opponent.
He heard some crashing sound behind, he did not know how effectively his skill hindered the assassin. He added Charge to put more distance.
As he ran, Jack shoot ranged attack to the side, where there was a large mound. That shot hit the mound and soon after, a torrent of Mouseants came out and chased after Jack. Jack continued to run with the Mouseants behind him. Every time he passed a nearby mound, he attacked it and more Mouseants came out.
He never agitated so many Mouseants at the same time. However, he had no intention to fight those swarms at this moment. His purpose was to create a carpet of Mouseant wall between him and that assassin. He could actually hear the sounds of slicing and shredding from behind him. He had no doubt it was the sounds of the Mouseants getting torn to pieces as the assassin trying to make his way. Jack never considered that the Mouseants would pose any threat to that assassin at all.
When Jack thought a sufficient amount of Mouseant hindrance had been lured out to block Oswald, he took out a whistle and blew it. His stallion steed appeared beside him. He immediately mounted and urged it to gallop away in haste. He was sure his movement speed was no match for the level 50 Assassin, but his steed's speed should be enough for running away.
Only after he was riding on his mount that he dared to look back. He saw Oswald in the middle of the Mouseant swarm. Their eyes locked for a moment. Jack could see the anger in Oswald's eyes as he saw his prey riding away. The assassin jumped and in an instant, his body turned into countless shadows. The shadows spread out in all directions and all the Mouseants that were passed by these shadows turned to mincemeat.
Jack was shocked by the display. He was indeed right to not engage that Assassin in combat.
Before Jack's shock passed, the shadows flew forward and coalesced back into a single being again, overshooting the remaining swarm. Oswald was now freed from the swarm's hindrance. He took out a whistle and summoned a steed as well. The steed was in the form of a weird horse with a wolven head, its legs ended with clawed feet instead of hooves. The assassin jumped deftly onto his steed then promptly chased after Jack.
"Shit! His steed is fast," Jack exclaimed with trepidation as he saw the assassin's steed gaining on him.
"That steed should be a rare grade one," Peniel said. She was clinging to Jack's shoulder as they sped.
"Well, thank you for the explanation," Jack uttered with slight annoyance.
They were at the edge of Busculla Plateau, the side which shared a border with the Valley of Tempus. Jack could no longer run straight since there was a huge gorge in front, so he steered his stallion to run alongside the edge of the gorge. Because he had to turn sideways, Oswald managed to gain even closer to him.
Jack saw from the corner of his eye some flashes. He was still turning his head over to have a clearer view when he felt his stallion jerked. Two large knives had embedded on his stallion's side. The sudden jerk of the horse caused it to topple over with Jack getting thrown off.
Before Jack could stand back up, he saw Oswald made a superhuman jump and landed close to his stallion. The assassin was targeting his steed. Jack tried to unsummon the horse, but a shining rope suddenly shot out of Oswald's left arm and bound the horse. Jack's unsummoning attempt failed, that rope had the power to keep the stallion tethered.
Oswald's figure then turned into a blur as several slashing flashes went across the stallion. Its HP zeroed out. The whistle in Jack's hand crumbled into dust.
"Now, you have no means and nowhere to run anymore," Oswald said to Jack with a vicious grin.
Storm Breaker and Rapid Dazing Staff reappeared on Jack's hands. As the assassin's said, he had lost the means to escape. The only choice left was a fight to the death, which provided little to no prospect of surviving. Even his strongest Lightning God Barrage would only take out a portion of the assassin's life. Not to mention the assassin most probably had a way to dodge his attack, he would have wasted the skill then.
Jack looked back at the gorge behind. Perhaps there was still a chance?
He stepped back while continued to stare at Oswald. Making it seem as if he was retreating out of fear. He stopped short of stepping over the edge of the gorge. He couldn't help but glance back and saw the fogged abyss below.
Oswald chuckled. "Is that your last attempt? Trying to trick me into falling into that gorge?"
Jack's heart sank. This NPC was not as gullible as he hoped him to be.
"Well, if you are so afraid to have a melee fight with a weak outworlder like me, then you can just attack me from afar like a sissy," Jack decided to just use a goading technique.
"Okay, then I will just attack you from afar," Oswald said as several throwing knives appeared on his hand.
'F*ck this assassin! Does he have no dignity?' Jack complained in his mind.