The Card Apprentice

Lu Xiaoru’s whole body was buried in the snow. The air she exhaled was cold enough to condense into frost, but she had forgotten the bone-chilling cold by then. She did her best to dilate her pupils, staring fixedly at the group of men approaching them at rapid speed.

She wasn’t using her perception. No one was. That was a technique learned from the boss and Wei-ah. Not using perception meant less chance of arousing the adversary’s notice, unless they also had card artisans with perceptual characteristics similar to the boss’s. However, that possibility was too minute.

Her vision wasn’t quite outstanding. In the darkness, with the help of the light produced by the battle on the other side of the mountain, she could only make out extremely vague shadows. The others weren’t much better off, apart from Wei-ah and the boss. It was easy enough to understand in Wei-ah’s case—he was an ace of the cardless sects. But the boss? A card artisan same as the rest. Why is his eyesight just as good?

Shaking her head, she cast aside her speculations. How could it be possible to resolve the mysteries surrounding the boss? She had gotten used to it anyway. No matter what unexpected things the boss would do in the future, she wouldn’t be surprised.

They were 11 total. Hertha had been left in the Starfish Fort since he wasn’t good at battling in such situations. On the other hand, the bar-browed man, who wasn’t far off, hid extremely well. The distance between the two was no more than two meters, but she couldn’t perceive any sign of him. As expected, he was worthy of having been in that line of work in the past.

The adversary’s speed was exceedingly fast. They moved in silence like a huddle of indistinct shadows.

A bada** bunch!

Lu Xiaoru felt a little chill. They were flying in close proximity to the ground, as if they were gliding. Being close to the ground was good for concealment. Moreover, even in the midst of flying, the formation of those 11 people was kept extremely well. Having calculated the space between each of them, she couldn’t help but feel some pity inwardly. The group was rather spread out, so her Sound Beam couldn’t include them all in the range of attack. But…

Glancing in the direction of where the boss and Wei-ah hid in ambush, she didn’t feel worried.

* * *

Robert led the group along the mountain peak with rapid speed. A glint of smugness drifted by in his eyes. The battle right in front of them was in full swing and had reached a stalemate. They shouldered a huge responsibility, upon which their victory or defeat depended.

As to that point, he was rather satisfied. They were elites. How could those small-fry card artisans be mentioned in the same breath as them? Recalling the botched performance of those card artisans, he was even more determined in doing a good job that time. He wanted the boss to know who was to be trusted! If things were done well, future salary and compensation would definitely be greatly increased.

“Buck up, everyone! We have to do a great job this time! Raise or no raise, it all depends on this!”

“Ha ha! All for the salary! Robert, don’t you be the one falling short at the key moment!”

As they chatted, they simply felt free and easy. No one believed the adversary could have withheld some power with such a fierce battle at the front. Nevertheless, they were rather experienced. Even though they weren’t worried, they still kept their guard. Nobody wanted to fail.

Looking up, they realized the top of the mountain was less than one kilometer away. The group felt their spirits lifted. Climbing over the top would give them entrance into the ravine. What awaited them was endless rewards. Eagerness was evident on each and everyone’s face.

Suddenly, the expression of the card artisan walking at the front changed. His figure stiffened, and he cried, “Be …”

“Careful” hadn’t left the tip of his tongue before his voice abruptly stopped. He was clutching his throat, his pupils dilated and his face full of fear.

Pew, pew, pew!

The sound of sharp objects entering human bodies sounded almost at the same time, and it was mixed with the sound of shattering bones. Argh! Argh! Argh! Several piteous screams rang out in the icy wind, more bone-chilling than the wind itself. Then, with a rigid expression, the card artisans at the front fell forward heavily into the snow.

“There’s an ambush!”

Robert’s mind exploded! How can it be? How can they possibly still have power for an ambush?

The card artisans reacted quickly. Their first response upon meeting an ambush was to retreat rapidly. The whole group fanned out at once, and the battle card artisans who had been prepared got ready to launch the first round of attack.

Exactly at that moment, the few at the front felt pain in their eardrums and numbness in their legs. The view in front of their eyes shook suddenly, their perception became instantly disordered, and their expressions changed all at once.

Sound Beam—infrasonic wave! Lu Xiaoru’s attack timing was just right in nipping those card artisans’ counterattack in the bud.

At the same time, in the darkness, two brilliant golden crosses were stamped upon the chests of two card artisans in silence, as though crosses of gold leaves were stuck to them. The two crosses had come so silently and so without warning that they seemed to have appeared out of thin air. A light could be faintly discerned flowing on the surface of the cross, which was unbelievably beautiful. They were stamped on the chests of the two men at exactly where the heart should be.

The move was called Cross, a unique assassination skill from the legacy of the Night of the Cross.

The bodies of the two men stiffened, and an expression of pain emerged on their faces. Their hands seemed to reach out for the ever-shining cross. That action, however, which usually couldn’t have been simpler, was just not accomplishable. The light in their eyes dimmed swiftly and turned into emptiness. Thump. The two fell to the ground together with no sign of life left. The puzzling thing was that the crosses on the corpses remained just as dazzling as before and were strikingly conspicuous in the night.

This guy has gotten stronger again, Lu Xiaoru remarked inwardly. She had retreated quickly after her attack and happened to witness the scene. Nonetheless, she wasn’t too surprised. Not only the bar-browed man, but everyone, herself included, had advanced their skills from the past to a higher level.

She still remembered the encounter with the dingbirds. Releasing infrasonic waves had almost depleted her perception. But at present, she was managing it with skill and ease.

Five card artisans were affected by her attack, and none survived. That was a tactic they had devised earlier, and their collaboration had already achieved great teamwork during their normal training. The advantages of the daily strict tactical collaboration training required by Bogner were then obvious.

However, she dared not be compared against the boss and Wei-ah. When those two killed, it was just like cutting grass. Moments ago, Wei-ah and the boss had finished off eight; Wei-ah got rid of six and the boss two. All they had were merely some daggers, which the boss had made last-minute from some scrap metal. Who would have expected they could become such lethal weapons in their hands?

Aces of the cardless sects are really too terrifying!

The other seven card artisans had rather good results, as well—two killed and two heavily injured.

The first contact had cost them the death of 15 men and the injury of another two. Robert and his group were taken aback!

Their perception was released and spread with no disguise, along with the fear in their hearts.

Nine! That number reassured them a little. The distance between the two sides was increased. The adversary’s sneak attack was really incredible! They could achieve such a result with just nine people; it was glorious even for a sneak attack!

However, the distance between the two sides had become relatively safe. What came next would be a confrontation to see who was stronger head-on. Robert steadied his shaken nerves slightly. The adversary had actually predicted they would take action and had set up a trap. It was way too scary!

The two sides came to a brief standstill.

It was only two seconds, and the battle then began abruptly. Robert and his men were seeing red. Having lost almost half their forces in the first contact, it would have been strange if they weren’t fuming.

They rather wished to make mincemeat out of those nine people. Rationally, they also needed to win against those card artisans in front of them to achieve their ultimate goal in battle. No probing. That time, it was with full force!

The surviving 20 or so card artisans were all attacking to kill. Energy bodies filled the sky—blue blades, golden meteors, flaming red sand, rainbow-colored ribbons… Those all flooded toward the nine card artisans to turn them into sieves. However, the nine card artisans broke into groups of two or three, dodging and counter-attacking.

“Stop them, and don’t let them get away!” Robert called out loudly to his companions. He was standing at the place where Lu Xiaoru had been hiding in ambush earlier.

A few murderous-looking card artisans closed in on Lu Xiaoru from all directions, cutting off her possible escape routes. Drops of blood emerged at the corner of her mouth. She had just been whipped by one of the adversary’s card artisans with a five-colored rainbow ribbon. If she hadn’t activated her energy cloak in time, that would have been enough to take her life.

Even so, she had still been hurt. At that moment, she was like a wounded little bird forced to a dead end with nowhere to escape. Just death was left. She wasn’t the only one; the situation of the other card artisans wasn’t much better. They were disadvantaged in number, and the capabilities of each of the adversary’s card artisans were better than theirs. Within the time of a few blinks, four had already lost their lives, and others were merely putting up a stubborn fight against the odds.

A sinister smile appeared on Lu Xiaoru’s lips. Her gaze fell straight onto Robert, which struck some terror into his heart.

Is this woman mad? Just as that idea came into his mind, his expression changed suddenly! There’s still more to this ambush!

Just as he was about to respond, his head abruptly whirled, and his eardrums ached at once! An agony was in his chest, as though he had been hammered. Before his sight could clear, he was shocked to find that his consciousness had begun to fade away.

No—

He wanted to scream madly! Ignoring the scenery swiftly flying past him, he stared stonily at the dagger that had been sunk to its hilt in his chest!