“Clang!!”
The flying energy sword slash smashed apart the mighty stream of knives, splitting it open and shooting through it to reach the assassin.
The daggers that made up the sharp stream failed to hold their own against the domineering might of the roaring sword and flew out like broken kites before raining down on the ground.
“Dang, dang, dang!”
The next moment, dull thuds were produced.
This scene flabbergasted Swift Death.
“Whoosh!”
He snapped back quickly as the flying sword could be seen cutting apart the air itself and coming down on him.
As it reached for his head, the shadow of death fell upon him, stealing the view of the surrounding from his eyes.
He gritted his teeth. ‘I don’t want to die. There are people waiting for me back home. If I fall here and now, how would they survive?!’
Swift Death’s eyes turned red.
His teleportation wasn’t working because he had fucked up his body with that last slot that was ridiculously destroyed by a slash of Roy’s sword.
Manifesting a power beyond his limits had injured him so severely that he wasn’t able to display the power of the soul shard he had merged with.
“Work… work… one last time, please work!”
Death’s hand reached an inch away from him as he desperately tried to make his power work.
Just then, with a whooshing noise, he vanished from his spot.
God did not hear his prayer, but… unknown to him and everyone else, someone… or rather something did!
…
Roy was spent after using the Third Song of Ninam.
Because of using it, his blood vessels were a mess.
The pain he was feeling right now was no less than a person getting pricked by hundreds of needles.
He intentionally trembled before falling to the ground like a withered leaf.
He was certain the assassin had survived as he had received no notification about his death from the system, and he also believed that seeing his weak self, the assassin would launch an assassination for his life.
Thus, he took out the rune stone of complexity and poured his Aura into it.
Only with this item would he subdue the assassin for good.
『You have activated the rune stone of complexity.』
『Where would you like to put the four magic symbols?』
He didn’t immediately place them down. He held onto them.
“Ahh… I am spent! If that bastard managed to survive, things wouldn’t end well for me.”
Intentionally, Roy shouted out that loud for the assassin to hear.
As expected, a pair of ears belonging to a man 70 meters away twitched.
The assassin’s eyes narrowed. ‘This is a god-sent opportunity. It’s a waste to kill a talent like him, but nothing is more important to me than feeding and taking care of my family. His sacrifice will be remembered.’
Gold was needed to take care of young ones.
And… he would get that only if he assassinated Roy and turned in his head.
Poof!
His body vanished into smoke, and he did a teleport.
Roy felt the great changes in the surrounding mana.
There was a massive energy fluctuation just behind him.
His lips curled up into a smile.
‘Put the Auxiliary Magic Symbol, Sealing Chains, a step behind me.’
『Ding! The invisible Magic Symbol, Sealing Chains, has been set on the ground a step behind you. Anyone who steps on it would lose their mobility, and their Aura or Mana Gate would be temporarily sealed, causing them to lose the access they have to their inner world and sea of mana!』
Like a deadly predator, Swift Death appeared behind Roy, silent.
There was no tension on his face.
It was a sign he was unaware that he had stepped on a trap carefully prepared by Roy just for him.
“Gotcha.”
Roy muttered under his breath as he remained seated.
Swift Death raised his dagger and got ready to send him off.
“You are strong, ridiculous so. If it were some other bronze-grade assassin, they would’ve lost long ago. But it’s your bad luck that you met me. If you’ve any last words, now’s the time to say them.”
Having activated the trap, Roy knew that the assassin could no longer move, and hence, the assassin’s words were taken as a joke.
He couldn’t help but laugh like a crazy maniac.
“Pfft!”
“Have you gone mad?” Swift Death said.
Roy composed himself quickly and replied, “Is it innocence? Or is it ignorance? How can you dare say that to me after falling into my trap? Are you naive or just plain stupid?”
“What trap?”
The assassin broke out in cold sweat.
At first, he thought Roy had gone crazy, but when he tried to summon his class weapons, the black daggers, to slit his throat, he realized that not only could he not manifest them, but he could also not move.
“… W-what did you… do to me?!”
While saying this, Swift Death struggled to break free from the invisible hand keeping him immobilized but failed.
All his efforts were in vain.
The more he struggled, the more he felt caged.
Rou stood up and turned to the assassin, raising his sword and bringing it close to his vitals. “You should be able to tell. So… Let’s skip that. And let’s come straight to the point. Who was it? Who hired you?”
Swift Death felt a cold feeling on his neck. A sword rested there. A gentle push would cause the sword to end his life.
It didn’t take a mastermind to determine that he would be beheaded if he played any tricks or refused to give an answer to the man.
Swift Death uttered two words. “It’s Rose.”
Roy’s brow raised. There were thousands of people with this name. Surely, it couldn’t be the one he knew. He didn’t have much beef with her and was still to do things to anger her. There is no way she is the one behind this attempt at his life.
“Rose? Rose who?”
Swift Death was worried that this madman would truly kill him, so he swiftly exposed the full name of his clienté.
“The young miss of the Charlotte family, Rose Charlotte.”