Mon'Ter

Chapter 18: Raid Party VS Hired Assassins

Elyenora held the emerald orb in her free hand, looking over the battle as she did so.  

Eight of the peak Rare Class assassins were currently battling against eight of the knights as well as Trygg, Jorky, Siya and Drull. Two knights faced off against one assassin while the aforementioned four fought one each.  

“What’s that supposed to be?” The short assassin with the jagged dagger asked.  

Elyenora gave no reply, simply firmly grasping the orb and readying herself to use it by pouring her magic power into it. 

Despite that however, she was abruptly stopped by the assassin leader who rushed towards her at top speed.  

He pulled out a pair of twin daggers, their blades were as black as night and seemed to have a black shadow like line going along their edges, the assassin leader slung them both in quick succession towards Elyenora’s vitals. 

“Tsk!” Clicking her tongue, Elyenora could only move her free hand to the side along with the orb as she blocked the man’s attack with her rapier. 

The man’s charge ended up forcing the princess back, she halfheartedly jumped a multitude of steps backwards with her unharmed foot, keeping the strain on the wounded one to a minimum. 

In the time it took one to blink the two warriors were already on the other side of the room, exchanging blows with their weapons. 

“You think I’d give you the time needed for you to use that magic item? I’d sooner be a dead man.” The leader spoke condescendingly, slowly pushing through Elyenora’s defenses. 

Glancing at the weapons the man was using, Elyenora wondered, “Are those dwarven crafted?” 

“Oh, most certainly.” The man replied, raising the intensity of his blows with each passing second, “I’m quite proud of these blades, you see.” He grinned menacingly under his mask as his eyes pierced at Elyenora with killing intent. 

“I’m surprised your like has the luxury of such weaponry!” Elyenora grunted, smashing past the man’s daggers and lunging her rapier towards his neck. 

The assassin leader moved his body to the side, promptly dodging the blow before moving in closer to slash at Elyenora’s waist. 

By using the small tinge of winds formed from all the exchanges the two had made, Elyenora managed to speed her arm up just enough to parry the strike. She then backstepped a few meters as the assassin followed. 

“You sure love invading my personal space, you creep!” Elyenora insulted, striking a multitude of times with her rapier. 

The assassin managed to dodge each blow within a hair’s width, the last one having slightly grazed his left triceps.   

“Calling me a creep is a bit harsh,” The assassin leader seemingly pouted, “However, I’m sure your vision tells you much about my character by itself, doesn’t it princess Elyenora?” 

“How do you-” A look of shock filled the princess’ gaze. 

“Do I know your ability and identity?” He asked, snickering to himself, “His highness the prince has put a hefty bounty on your head you see… He definitely spared no small details for your appearance, abilities and weaponry.” He explained, looking over to the girl’s sword as well as her facial features. “Albeit I admit we never thought you’d run into us, the group that’s after you is quite off track I must say. Hahaha!” The assassin snickered. 

“Figures my douchebag of a brother would call the assassin’s guild after me…” Grumbling to herself, Elyenora started pushing back. “And so what if you know my capabilities? So what if my leg is wounded?!” She stopped on the ground with her pierced leg, moving forwards as she pushed the man back. “You don’t have even the slightest idea of what I’m capable of.”     

"We'll see about that." Replied the assassin with a sinister smile behind his mask.  

On the next moment, the assassin leader who had started being pushed back by Elyenora suddenly vanished from her view, appearing right behind her.  

‘That's-’ Before Elyenora could finish her thought, the assassin had already tried to plunge the tip of his dagger towards her vital points.  

Fortunately, Elyenora’s quick reflexes made her able to slightly move her body sideways as her rapier parried the incoming strike.  

The collision had caused Elyenora to be blown away since her footwork was far from perfect. With one of her legs bleeding, her center of gravity became a little wobbly and she was easily knocked back through the air.  

In that same moment, when Elyenora was still in midair, the assassin quickly followed with another strike, giving the girl no chance to think or retaliate. 

Trusting her instinct which had been forged in thousands of hours in training and hundreds of battles at Benulis’ border skirmishes, Elyenora swung her rapier within a split-second made decision and miraculously blocked another of the assassin leader’s attacks. 

She steadied her footing, pointing her rapier back towards the enemy in front of her as she glared at him in defiance.  

The man himself simply smirked, twirling one of his daggers around his finger. "Impressive. As expected of the Dancing Sword Princess."  

...  

While the assassin leader kept Elyenora busy, the eight Rare Class assassins were also busying themselves with the princess’ party, with the remaining three Champion Class ones simply watching and enjoying the show.  

In one corner of the room, Jorky was fighting against one of the assassins while wielding his twin axes. Although he had trouble keeping up with the assassin's speed, the assassin himself had found the situation to be in a stalemate as he couldn't see any openings in Jorky's defense.  

"Dammit it, bald man! Just drop dead already!" Shouted the assassin with frustration while he sent out another barrage of assaults with his sword.  

"Huh, how about you drop dead yourself! Why ask ‘Me’ that, eel boy?!" Taunted Jorky back as his eyes fixed towards the assassin's movements.  

"Tsk." Clicking his tongue, the assassin swiftly sent a kick towards Jorky and knocked the latter back by half a meter.  

Using the chance, the assassin then pulled out a ball made of leather and threw it to the floor. The ball suddenly burst open, spewing out black smoke to cover the vicinity.  

The smoke was not big enough to cover an area more than ten meters in diameter, but it was enough to completely encompass both fighters.  

Thinking that it was his chance, the assassin dashed towards Jorky while he utilized the skills which every assassin had practiced the most in their life, stealthily and quickly moving towards Jorky within the silence and shadows.  

Traversing the dark smoke as if it was his own backyard, the assassin readied his weapons and charged right at the direction where he could see the faint figure of Jorky's body.  

Unexpectedly, Jorky swept the back side of his axe with unprecedented precision as it deflected the incoming stab.  

"Did you think you are the only one who is familiar with these cheap stealth tricks?" Said Jorky while he grinned confidently.  

Moving right after he parried the strike, Jorky sent out a skull crushing blow at the assassin's head, much to the assassin's dismay, he wasn't the only one to see things inside the smoke.  

Brain matter splattered on the floor while the assassin's head was slammed by Jorky’s powerful axe swing. 

"One down." Muttered Jorky while he turned his eyes to where the others were fighting against the rest of their foes, "And more to follow."  

Twirling both of his axes with his hands, Jorky charged towards the nearby enemy who battled with Trygg, the leader of Nadia’s private knights.  

Both Trygg and the assassin were in a deadlock, too absorbed in their own fight to the death to notice what had happened in their surroundings.  

Trygg sent out a horizontal slash right at the slightest opening the assassin had unconsciously made, however, the assassin swiftly covered some distance with his movements as he dodged yet another blow from Trygg.  

Out of nowhere, an axe came spinning through the air while it headed towards the assassin’s direction. Not being able to ignore the incoming axe, the assassin tried to avoid it by sidestepping while he tried to search where the axe had come from.  

But then, a figure approached from the assassin's back with haste as it sent out another swing with a second axe.  

Seeing the chance, Trygg followed with a stab of his own and immediately created a pincer attack without the assassin’s knowledge. 

Within mere moments, the assassin had both an axe in his back and a sword in his chest, he soon breathed his last. 

Breathing heavily, Trygg spoke up. “Nice work Jorky…” 

“Yeah, and it seems the others are done with their opponents too.” Jorky replied, glancing towards both Drull and Siya. 

They had both already cut down their opponents, glancing over the battlefield and onto the ongoing fights. 

"Jorky! Trygg!” Drull shouted, pointing towards the far end of the room, “We need to help Ely!”  

"Sure dude!" Shouted Jorky back while he waved his hand at Drull, running towards the destination along with Trygg at his side. 

“Siya will smash the assassin dude!” Siya bellowed as she raised her war axe above her head, rushing alongside Drull. 

On the other side where the rest of the assassins’ stood, the three of Champion Class whom still made no moves were glancing at the four receding figures. 

“Seems like the extras managed to pull off a victory.” The short assassin with the jagged dagger commented while smirking in amusement, “Either one of you want to go stop them? I doubt Leonard will be able to handle all of them along with that princess.” 

“I’m still tired… You two go instead.” The armless assassin with the salamander spirit on his shoulders spoke in reply. 

“Tsk, Rith, you always get tired too quickly after doing those big flashy flames with that pet of yours.” The short assassin interjected on the side  

“It’s a spirit, not a pet.” Rith replied, “And I get tired quickly because I used a continuous stream of Spirit Fire... Also, I wanna nap instead, this is boring...” 

The short assassin then spoke while he stepped forward, "Well, doesn't matter. Things got boring for me too over here anyways. I’ll go kill those remaining knights, you two go and figure out who’s stopping the other four cretins." 

"Crux,” The last assassin spoke up to the short one named Crux, “I'll deal with those people who followed the princess."  

The man had a lean stature and held a spear in his hands. He had piercing emerald eyes in the gap of his mask which radiated confidence.  

“Sure thing,” Crux replied, smiling playfully, “Just don’t go too harsh on them, Jerrion.”  

Without further ado, the last assassin, Jerrion, moved with his spear quickly and commenced into action as he stepped backwards, blending with the shadows.  

“I’ll go now too,” Crux spoke, glancing at Rith, “You just… sit around there I guess.” He murmured and rushed towards the knights who still fought against the last four remaining assassins of Rare class. 

Rith simply watched the two go on the offensive as his salamander spirit cuddled up to his cheeks, “Yeah, yeah buddy we’ll go eat stew soon.” He spoke while he enjoyed the creature’s hugs. 

Shortly after that, Jerrion already had his spear moving in a stab motion towards Drull while he was on the move with Siya.  

"Be careful!" Siya warned while she stretched out her axe to counter the blow which was directed to her close one.  

With a clang, the axe deflected the incoming spear and nearly sent the girl tumbling down to the ground. 

“Hoh? Not bad, little miss.” Jerrion spoke, admiring the girl’s strength. 

Drull then turned around, readying his sword as he spoke. “Thanks Siya, I owe you one.” 

“Siya repaid her debt just now! You owe Siya nothing.” Siya answered with a grin, raising her war axe once more to the challenge. 

At that moment, Jorky and Trygg arrived from the side, entering a four to one standoff with the powerful assassin. 

“Oy, ye bout to get yer arse kicked assassin boy!” Jorky snarled at Jerrion. 

“We shouldn’t dilly dally, take care of him quickly now!” Trygg ordered, preparing himself for a charge at the spear wielder. 

“Ain’t all of you just pleasantly wonderful for my training? I’ll have a fun time turning you to mush.” Jerrion ridiculed the group with a smirk that was hidden under his mask. 

“Siya will turn you to mush! Siya is not training! Siya is mush making you!” Siya shot words rapidly. 

The standoff wouldn’t last much longer as both parties began to motion towards attack, so Drull acted out quickly and spoke. “Siya, you go on ahead while we deal with this guy.” 

“Siya understands! Roger, dodger Drull!” The girl gave it no second thought and ran off towards Elyenora who still combatted the assassin leader, Leonard. 

“Just one of you won’t make much of a difference.” Jerrion scoffed, rushing towards Drull once more, “Not that she’ll manage to get to there before I kill all three of you.”  

His black spear that had a texture reminiscent of charcoal plunged towards Drull with unprecedented speed, the latter only surviving thanks to the fact he was able use his great sword as a shield against it. 

The strike still managed to fling him a good five meters across the floor however, nearly knocking him to the ground. 

Drull managed to step onto his feet and readied his sword to go on the offensive as Trygg and Jorky came from behind towards Jerrion, the three would execute a three way attack and take down the assassin! 

However, fate would not have them take such an easy route. 

Jerrion’s spear moved like a ghost, what was once pointed towards Drull was suddenly moving straight towards Trygg, piercing through his armor and into his chest. 

““Trygg!”” Jorky and Drull shouted in unison, swinging both axes and sword towards the assassin in retaliation. 

Jerrion simply pulled his spear out and vanished from both their vision, as if he was never there in the first place. Not a moment later, Trygg fell over on the ground and laid on his back. The inside of his body had begun melting and corroding like it had been filled with acid. 

“Mordax!” Drull bellowed, “The bastard is using Mordax steel! Jorky do not let his spear touch you if you value your body!” 

“Tsk!” Clicking his tongue, Jorky stood back to back with Drull as the two tried not to look at their comrade’s corpse. “Where the hell is he?!”  

“Right here.” Jerrion’s voice bellowed from above, prompting Jorky to look upwards where nothing could be seen. 

A second later steel clanged against steel as Drull parried the spear which aimed to pierce through Jorky’s throat 

He pushed the spear back, moving towards his opponent while dealing heavy blow after blow towards Jerrion, trying to get through his defenses only to find his blade clanging into the spear. 

Jorky quickly moved back into action, his axes becoming a blur as he went into a battle frenzy against his opponent, the now two versus one proceeded with the two in the lead, yet Jerrison seemed to chuckle quietly to himself as if it was all too easy for him. 

While that had still been transpiring, Siya managed to reach Elyenora and the assassin leader’s, Leonard’s, battle. 

Elyenora had been throwing barrages upon barrages of strikes towards Leonard who either blocked, dodged or threw his own variant of attack back at her who did most of the same, it was a huge stalemate for the two even when Leonard used that vanishing and reappearing technique of his to get behind Elyenora. 

Siya rushed towards them as she wound up her axe to strike at Leonard, he obviously noticed her incoming visage and simply glanced at her, his eye shone with a dark, shadow-like color and he then continued fighting against the princess. 

Siya felt that something was wrong, her instincts told her so, and they were indeed correct in this instance. 

Behind her appeared Leonard, rising up from underneath her own shadow as he lunged straight towards her. 

The attack managed to pass through her defenses and scrapped past her abdomen area, digging rather deep into it. 

“Urgh!” Grunting in pain, Siya stepped back away from the man as she held her wound with a hand, glancing at him and back to Elyenora who was actually still fighting against the assassin leader, Siya revealed a shocked expression as she gazed back at her opponent. “W-What? Siya is... Confused... How?!” 

“...” The seemingly copy of Leonard gave no reply and simply rushed towards Siya, striking with his blades once more. 

The now wounded warrior had to go on the defensive against her foe, he seemed to be slower than the one fighting Elyenora, however he still packed quite the punch with each attack. 

“Siya!” Elyenora shouted, seeing that her companion was in trouble, “Move away damn it!” She roared, swinging her blade with ferocity towards Leonard as she pushed him back only to get countered and continue the stalemate. 

Seeing the change of situation, Jorky quickly prompted, “Drull, I’ll handle this guy so go help Siya and that Ely girl.” 

The battle against Jerrion halted for a second, with the assassin himself asking. “Hoh? You can barely battle me with both of you. While I do admit you’re a bit more impressive than I gave you credit for, you can’t do this alone baldie.” 

“He’s right Jorky... If I leave you here alone, he’ll kill you then stab me in the back before I knew it!” Drull admitted, feeling rather uncomfortable with his current position of weakness. 

“Say what you want Drull, but I’ve got an ace up my sleeve.” Jorky grinned, taking out a small pill from his pocket. “Have either of you ever heard of Berserkers?”    

...