Chapter 62: Shadow Assassins  

Silently climbing to the roof of the three-story inn, a cold smile appeared on the face of Della, the “Shadow Assassin”.

As the leader of the Shadow Killers, his reputation wasn’t particularly renowned. After all, an assassin too famous couldn’t carry out their missions. But this didn’t mean his skills were lacking. Within the entire Kingdom of Wester, Della considered his assassination techniques to be among the top ten. However, unlike those assassins who wandered like lost souls, Della wasn’t the type to do anything for money. In fact, his family had been serving the Zach Family for generations. Legend had it that the founder of the Zach Family fell in love with a female assassin, who eventually became his capable subordinate and companion. Afterwards, to express her loyalty and protect the Zach Family, that female assassin established the Shadow Killers, and their family had been protecting the Zach Family from external threats ever since.

But in this generation, Della had grown somewhat weary of his family’s mission. He had already acquired highly advanced assassination skills, and had even been ordered to assassinate high-rank swordsmen before. Although high-rank swordsmen possessed powerful strength, even their advanced sword techniques were meaningless against an assassin’s hidden movements. While Della was only at the level of a mid-rank swordsman in terms of swordsmanship, he believed his techniques had reached a level surpassing high-rank swordsmen. After all, he was an assassin, not a swordsman, and naturally wouldn’t foolishly charge forward to fight others. Assassination was about killing with a single strike, and in this aspect, Della had reached the pinnacle.

Recalling the expressions of his foolish subordinates when discussing high-rank swordsmen, Della felt a sense of disdain deep in his heart. Neither his subordinates nor the people in his family believed it was due to Della’s superior skills that he had managed to kill a high-rank swordsman; they all thought it was just incredible luck. This infuriated Della internally. And now, the opportunity to prove himself was right before his eyes.

If killing one high-rank swordsman could be attributed to luck, what about killing two? Would they still dare to say the same?

It was with this mindset that Della actively chose Julian as his target. In his view, the other party was just a 20-year-old youth. Even if he truly had the strength of a high-rank swordsman, so what? Young people’s temperaments were always rash and impulsive; finding an opportunity wouldn’t be difficult, would it?

In a moment’s thought, Della had already quietly landed beside the guest room window. He held his breath and peered inside, seeing Julian lying on the bed, fast asleep. From the looks of it, he seemed completely dead to the world, showing no signs of waking up. Moreover, his weapon was placed on a table quite far from Julian. In this situation, no matter what kind of attack Julian might face, he wouldn’t be able to grab his weapon and counterattack immediately.

Just a kid after all.

Della sneered inwardly, then drew his dagger and gently inserted it into the window crack, quickly opening the previously locked window. Then, Della leapt inside like an agile black cat. Although the wooden floor was quite old and would normally produce noise with any movement, Della’s actions were exceptionally nimble and light. Until both his feet landed on the floor, he didn’t make a sound.

Everything was going smoothly.

Della’s eyes swept across the room, finding no hidden traps, which further boosted his confidence in his judgment. Earlier, when he saw Julian’s high-profile entrance, he had already pegged him as a youngster who didn’t know his place despite having some skill. Indeed, the strength of a high-rank swordsman was admirable, but not all high-rank swordsmen were good-tempered. Some became arrogant after attaining the rank of high-rank swordsman, and Della had seen such people before. Now, Julian appeared to be the same in his eyes. So young, yet possessing the power of a high-rank swordsman, and because of this, not knowing the immensity of heaven and earth, thinking himself invincible, and not believing anyone could harm him. This kind of arrogant overconfidence was now becoming the flaw that would lead to his death.

Della slowly moved along the wall, approaching Julian. Moonlight shone through the window, easily illuminating the young man’s face. His eyes remained tightly closed, as if he were having a pleasant dream… unfortunately, it seemed he would never wake up.

Goodnight, hope you can continue this sweet dream forever.

While inwardly sneering with mockery, Della raised the black dagger in his hand, aiming at Julian’s throat.

Then, he struck like lightning.

“Whoosh”

Della’s speed was not slow by any means, but Julian’s movement was even faster. Just as the dagger was about to pierce Julian’s body, it suddenly stopped.

At this moment, Della’s expression changed. He could see very clearly that the dagger hadn’t stopped on its own, but was firmly pinched between two fingers of Julian’s right hand, unable to move even a fraction. Although Della had used considerable force, he still couldn’t move the dagger in his hand. The originally agile, sharp, and poison-coated dagger now seemed like a stone sculpture, completely immobile.

Trapped

As an experienced assassin, Della immediately made his choice. Although he didn’t understand how the other party had discovered him, he was certain that his assassination attempt had failed. As an assassin, what he needed to do now was to retreat immediately. After all, the other party was a high-rank swordsman; in a face-to-face battle, he had no chance of winning.

Although up until now, Della still had some doubts about whether this young brat truly possessed the strength of a high-rank swordsman, the fact that his weapon had been caught by the other party indicated that his assassination techniques were ineffective against him. Regardless of whether the other party actually had high-rank swordsman strength or not, staying here wouldn’t change anything.

Realizing this, Della immediately released the dagger in his hand and swiftly retreated backward. Having been exposed, he no longer needed to conceal his movements or sounds. Escape was his only option. Although he was an assassin, he wasn’t a suicide soldier. He wouldn’t sacrifice his life for a single assassination attempt.

Especially if he couldn’t kill the target.

Della jumped backward, rolling once to distance himself from Julian. At the same time, his right hand swept across his waist, throwing another dagger to obstruct Julian’s movements. The entire sequence was executed fluidly. If he could just have two more seconds, he would be able to jump out the window and escape this cursed place.

But unfortunately, at that moment, a black light flashed.

Della had barely reacted when he felt an intense pain in his right palm. Then, a tremendous force suddenly erupted, pulling his arm backward. It abruptly stopped, and Della’s entire body, following this force, slammed heavily against the wall. If he didn’t possess the strength of a mid-rank swordsman, this collision might have cost him half his life.

Della raised his head and looked towards his palm, only to see that the dagger he had originally used to assassinate Julian was now piercing through his own palm, pinning it firmly to the wall.

Seeing this, Della’s soul immediately scattered in fear. He certainly knew that all his daggers were coated with deadly poison, substances that would kill instantly upon contact with blood—wait a minute, how was he still alive?

“Assassin? Killer?” Just as Della was puzzled and confused, Julian’s voice suddenly rang out, startling Della. He hurriedly turned his head, enduring the intense pain in his palm, to carefully examine his opponent before him.

By this time, Julian had already stood up. He was observing Della with an amused look while playing with the dagger in his hand—the very one Della had thrown earlier to hinder his opponent’s movements, now in Julian’s possession.

Della opened his mouth but didn’t speak. By now, he understood that he couldn’t escape. What about the others? Had they completed their mission? If so, it wouldn’t be a complete failure, but…

“Your assassination technique is not bad,” Julian said, observing the man before him while speaking. He slowly walked forward, then approached the desk and picked up the sword lying there.

“It’s just a pity that your grasp of aura is far too lacking… Alright, Mr. Assassin, there’s no need to be so tense. I have no intention of killing you, but I hope your companions can stop their futile struggles. Can they?”

“Hmph,” hearing Julian’s words, Della only grunted, not answering. However, looking at his expression, Julian just shrugged, then his right hand moved slightly, picking up the dagger and suddenly throwing it towards the wall beside him.

“Ah!” Before Della could react to what had happened, he heard a scream from the adjacent room. At the same time, Julian drew his sword, a pure white soul light appearing on it. Then Julian casually waved his hand, and a crescent-shaped soul sword light suddenly erupted, blasting through the wall on the other side with a “boom”.

Through the hole in the wall, Della could easily see that in the next room, his subordinates had been blown away by the sword light, while their assassination target was also unconscious. Although he didn’t know exactly what Julian had done, he was certain that their assassination attempt had completely failed.

“One chance. I don’t want to kill anyone,” Julian put away his sword and looked at Della again. Then, he lightly whistled.

The door opened.

Ophariel walked into the room, her face somewhat pale, and glanced at Julian with a slight complaint.

“My lord, I hope next time you do something like this, please warn me in advance… It’s really not good for the heart, it could scare someone to death.”

“Don’t worry, you can’t be scared to death again,” facing Ophariel’s complaint, Julian just casually waved his hand. Then he focused his gaze on Della again.

“Alright, no need to be so worried. I mean no harm… I just hope to make a deal with your master behind you.”

“Huh?” Hearing this, Della was stunned.

A deal? What did this young man mean? Weren’t they escorting the young master back to the family? His actions clearly showed he was trying to eliminate the young master, yet he wanted to make some kind of deal?

“Go back to your master,” however, Julian didn’t seem to care about Della’s confusion, nor did he intend to explain.

“I’ve safely delivered the goods. If he wants to obtain this batch of goods, ask him to come and negotiate with me personally.”

“What if my master refuses?” Hearing this, Della frowned and asked in a deep voice. Faced with his inquiry, Julian smiled slightly and looked through the crack in the wall at the unconscious young Zach master and his attendant.

“Then I’ll have to contact other clients,” he said.