The cloaked assailants parkoured from rooftop to rooftop, moving with practiced precision and in tandem with each other as they travelled towards Golemight Smithy. Lacking any wasted effort, the assassins' movements were swift and discreet as they leapt over the smithy's marble fence, and the seven of them landed in Reino's testing garden.
"To think such a high-profile person would hire us for such a low... priority job," a moon-emblem masked assassin grumbled dispointedly, believing their talents were wasted on such a person.
"I know we've been hired by the empire and all, but isn't killing a kid too far even for" the shortest moon-emblem masked assassin asked before catching a murderous glare from their leader, the assassin with the sun-emblem.
"It's a surprise how you're even an assassin with that kind of moral code," one of the other moon-emblem assassins barked as he pushed past the short assassin. Hearing her fellow assassin's comment, the tallest female assassin let out a pouty huff as she rested her arms on the shorter guy's head.
"More like he has one," the taller female moon-emblem assasin remarked, teasing the short assassin by lightly poking him in the side. The assassin's leader side-eyed the duo, glaring at them like a disappointed parent after catching their child eating ice cream straight from the container with their hands.
"You're one to talk," the leader uttered coldly, "But you at least know when to keep it to yourself."
[Activate Skill: Appraisal(Level 3) x7]
[*******][Level: 117]
[HP: 550][Hexa: 10]
[Class: Elite Assassin]
[Vitality: 55][Stamina: 145]
[Attack: 90][Hexa Profficiency: 50]
[Defence: 32][Intelligence: 1]
[Agility: 100][Speed: 120]
[******][Level: 81]
[HP: 450][Hexa: 550]
[Class: Poison Assassin]
[Vitality: 45][Stamina: 105]
[Attack: 28][Hexa Proficiency: 50]
[Defence: 18][Intelligence: 55]
[Agility: 77][Speed: 35]
[**********][Level: 90]
[HP: 12(+730)][Hexa: 10]
[Class: Combat Assassin]
[Vitality: 12][Stamina: 32]
[Attack: 146][Hexa Proficiency: 1]
[Defence: 77][Intelligence: 1]
[Agility: 90][Speed: 99]
[*******][Level: 73]
[HP: 360][Hexa: 1650]
[Class: Support Assassin]
[Vitality: 36][Stamina: 32]
[Attack: 1][Hexa Proficiency: 80]
[Defence: 33][Intelligence: 165]
[Agility: 25][Speed: 1]
[Atella][Level: 67]
[HP: 10][Hexa: 900]
[Class: Sniping Assassin]
[Vitality: 1][Stamina: 48]
[Attack: 1][Hexa Proficiency: 50]
[Defence: 1][Intelligence: 90]
[Agility: 151][Speed: 1]
[Kelao][Level: 62]
[HP: 700][Hexa: 10]
[Class: Tool Master Assassin]
[Vitality: 70][Stamina: 35]
[Attack: 70][Hexa Proficiency: 25]
[Defence: 32][Intelligence: 1]
[Agility: 55][Speed: 30]
[*****][Level: 99]
[HP: 360][Hexa: 1880]
[Class: Magic Assassin]
[Vitality: 36][Stamina: 55]
[Attack: 1][Hexa Proficiency: 50]
[Defence: 15][Intelligence: 188]
[Agility: 88][Speed: 70]
[Skills, Abilities, and stats from equipment are hidden due to the effect of Target(s) Equipment, Skill, or Ability]
Zalroth mentally hummed, finding it odd that only two of the assassins' names were observable, which led him to wonder if they weren't actually part of the assassins' group.
"To think I'd find scum like you in this world as well," Zalroth stated sternly, crouched on the roof of Golemight Smithy like a delinguent while overlooking the seven assassins. The unexpected voice shot the assassins onto the defences before they jumped away from the building and brandished their weapons.
"Impossible, our cloaks should've made us undetectable," one of the moon-emblem assassins yelled under their breath as they wielded their steel shortsword. With contempt for five of them and mild distaste for the other two, Zalroth hopped down from the roof before stating, "Unlike you, I have ways of detecting people without magic."
"Like an old school assassin," Fio muttered from behind her slightly ajared roof bedroom window. Zalroth mentally groaned, explicitly recalling he'd told the girl not to watch and go wake up her grandfather.
[Activated Skill: Gaiaful Thorn(Level: 2)]
Twirling it in his hand as it formed, dark green vines formed around his palm, wrapping and coiling around themselves, tightening into the shape of a long spear before petrifying while retaining its colouration. Deeming that waiting any longer could risk the target getting away, the elite assassin(the leader) ordered the combat assassin to deal with Zalroth while they searched for the target.
Not needing to be told twice, the combat assassin sprinted into action and booked it at Zalroth using an Accel Drive(Level 2) to close the distance, brandishing his steel shortsword in hand.
"Don't get over yourself just because you spotted us, and have a magical weapon," the combat assassin shouted as he raised his shortsword over his head and lunged at Zalroth.
The other assassins turned their attention to the smithy, prepared to break in to get Fio. But before they could commit, their attention was ripped back to Zalroth as their colleague was sent flying in front of them and slamming into one of the backyard's marble walls. The guy bounced off the wall, slouching against it like a stuffed toy as a red digital 730 and a red digital 10 appeared beside his head, and a Creation Crest on the cheek of his mask.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Raising an eyebrow, Zalroth was mildly surprised, noticing the pop-up that appeared above the combat assassin.
[Crest Copy: Selective Acquire is available on target]
Strolling up to the knocked-out combat assassin, Zalroth blocked the other assassins' path so they couldn't ignore him. Crouching down and planting a firm hand on the knocked out guy's shoulder, Zalroth quietly murmured, "Hmm, so when a non-monster reaches zero HP, they're knocked out, that makes using the Selective Aquire more convenient."
[Activated Unique Skill: Selective Aquire]
[Combative Armour]
-The user creates a magical protection that absorbs DMG-
-1 point of magical protection is equal to 2 of the user's Attack stat-
-1 point of magical protection gives the user 10 Armour HP-
-Cooldown of 30 minutes-
"Oh, no wonder he willingly had such a low HP stat," Zalroth remarked amusedly, "Shame I don't need it for this battle."
The elite assassin narrowed his purple-glinted eyes, brandishing his silver-cored steel knives, and ordered his team members to cover him before charging at Zalroth. With their orders, the support assassin swiped their silver bracelet-clad arm to the side, its moon features shining a bright blue, green, and red, signifying its different buffs as they were applied to the elite assassin.
Bracing himself, Zalroth traced the elite assassin's enhanced movements, his fingers twitching with slight excitement. As he approached, Zalroth got the feeling the elite might be strong enough to harm him now with all those buffs along with his equipment seeming higher grade than the others.
Despite his initial excitement, Zalroth soon gained a strange sense of concern as he found himself easily combating the elite assassin, even with his teammate's support, whether it was buffs or attacks. Whilst countering their attacks, Zalroth was left wondering why the assassins' attacks almost felt off, like their capabilities were significantly more than what they were showing, but their bodies were being hindered. The poison assassin noticed the contemplations in Zalroth's eyes and mistakenly thought the teen was losing focus.
Taking their chance, the poison assassins leapt onto one of the backyard walls before hurrying to Golemight Smithy's roof. Noticing his teammate's break for the target's location, the elite assassin shouted, "Don't break formation, you hothead."
Luckily for the poison assassin, the warning came just in time, and they dived off the wall as a magic bolt shot out from one of the smithy's windows and narrowly missed the dodging assassin. Mid-fall and spotting Zalroth and their leader in a blade lock, the poison assassin took their chance for a surprise attack as they pulled poison potion-infused gold-tipped iron knives from their cloak and hurled them.
"Hmm, those would be an issue if they hit me," Zalroth thought, recalling that Al mentioned poison does percentage DMG. In the short time he had to think, the Chronia part of his brain whispered in Zalroth's mind to do a needlessly cool trick to catch the knives by activating Frostbite Armament when the knives were almost about to hit him.
"Watch out, Zalroth!" Fio exclaimed in a panic as she screamed out the open window.
Hearing the girl's warning and that she was still watching, Zalroth decided to ditch his idea of using Frostbite Armament to catch the knives on the off chance he ended up poisoning himself by mistiming it and needlessly scaring Fio.
So, he just used Particle Warp to avoid the knives and appeared beside Fio's open window, making the girl cheer happily.
Catching everyone off guard, especially the Elite Assassin, the knives of his teammate plunged into his chest. Feeling the effect of the poison taking effect, the elite assassin leapt away from Zalroth before landing next to Kelao, almost knocking the small assassin over in the process. After a few seconds, a glassy dark green digital eighty-two-point-five appeared besides the elite assassin's head as dark green swirly particles popped off his body. Kelao quickly regained his balance, huffing under his breath, before rummaging through his small item bag and pulling out a needle-like artefact.
With the knowledge of his leader's high pain tolerance, Kelao stabbed the needle into the guy's chest and carelessly pulled the knives out of his chest. The needle artefact sprang to life, siphoning all the poison out of the poisoned assassin's blood.
"For some reason, the ones with redacted names seem weakened by something while the two with names seem to be actively holding back. Why is that?" Zalroth pondered as he decided to restrain the two named ones with a less aggressive method while just knocking out the others.
Noticing the shift in temperament in Zalroth, the elite assassin acknowledged the tricky predicament he and his team were in, and reasoned Zalroth must have been holding back against them this entire time for the change in demeanor to have such an effect on him.
"We should fall ba-."
Before the elite assassin could finish his statement, a commanding and aggressively controlling voice exploded into his mind like a thunderstorm, ordering him to kill the Master Blacksmith's granddaughter no matter the cost. Recognising the voice, the elite assassin's heart sank and he tried to warn his teammates, but no words could leave his mouth as he found himself in a spirally mass of corrupted Hexa particles. Trying to make sense of what happened, his thoughts began to cloud, distorting into a searing torrent of melting thought as he felt his very sense of self being cursed and warped.
In reality, a torrent of corrupted/distorted Hexa particles, appearing like corrupted image files, spun around the five cursed assassins. The corrupted Hexa particles funnelling out from the four lower-level assassins in a wild frenzy, thrashing around the testing ground before funneling straight into the body of the lifeless elite assassin.
[Activated Unique Skill: Random Aquire]
[Ability Acquired: Prosperous Health(Passive)]
-The user cannot be afflicted by any debuff/negative status effect that decreases the user's stats or HP/Hexa-
[Skill Acquired: Hellflames of Apocalypse]
-The user fires a concentrated beam of dark blue flames that decimates its target-
-DMG is proportional to the amount of Hexa spent to charge it-
-Every 100 Hexa is equal to 1% of the User's Intelligence-
[Skill Acquired: Flash Freeze Perma Frost][Cost: 3045 Hexa]
-The user conjures a giant AOE cluster of solid ice that inflicts the Frozen Status Effect-
-When a target is freed or escapes, they are then inflicted with the Slow Status Effect for five minutes-
[Skill Aquired: Accel Drive(Level: 4)]
[Accel Drive]
-Increases the user's speed for a short burst, and attack scales off the user's speed at attack-
[Level: 4][cost: 145 Hexa]
-Increases speed by 50% and attack by 40%-
[Ability Acquired: Hide Presence]
-The user becomes undetectable to detection-based skills from anyone lower level than them-
"To think I'd be forced into using this ability," the humanoid creature said boldly, its voice eerily similar to that of the elite assassin with minor distortions to it. The Corrupted Hexa mist disappeared, revealing the creature to be a more muscular and purple-skinned version of the elite assassin as it stared down Zalroth with its black scleraed eyes.
"Hmph," Zalroth mumbled coldly as he plopped Kelao and Atella beside before marching toward the cursed creature, his grip on his Gaiaful Thorn spear increasing with each step.
"Even if I'll lose these pawns, as long as we get back at that blacksmith, it'll all be worth it," the mutated elite assassin stated coldly and indifferently, his original voice overpowered by the distorted feminine voice of someone else talking through him.
"To think it didn't matter if I wanted to spare them or not," Zalroth uttered under his breath, his rage bubbling to the surface as he shattered his Gaiaful Thorn spear between his fingers and summoned his Silver Combat Knife(rare) from his Inventory into his other hand.
[Activated Ability: Weakening Howl]
[Activated Skill: Inferno Blaze(Level 3)]
Like many times before, a booming howl erupted from Zalroth's body at the ability's activation, the suddenness and unexpectedness of it catching the assassins and the being behind the puppeteering of the elite assassin's mutated body by surprise. His knife spewed opaque flames, coating its blade in a burning rage that simmered like Zalroth's own.
"Using this knife on its own is overkill for you, but you won't get the courtesy of me playing nice anymore," Zalroth stated as he assumed his usual knife combat stance. With his statement and stance, Fio could be heard quietly geeking out at getting to see Zalroth fighting more seriously while Reino dragged her back inside, much to the girl's annoyance.
"Then by all means, show me a good time before I get bored with you," the voice puppeting the elite assassin said in a joking manner as she forced the elite assassin to levitate off the ground and hover into the sky.
