Chapter 320: Castle Chase! (2/2)

"What kind of skill is this dash?!"

"I think it's from the armor.  It glows a bit every time he uses it." 

"Where the heck did someone his level get something like that?!" 

"Who cares? See that corner there? He'll slow down a bit while turning. We'll catch up before the end of the next corridor." 

"Haha, I can't wait to murder the little fucker!" 

As predicted, Josh lost speed while turning. They soon followed in his step, but the scene was wrong. They were supposed to see his ass slightly in the distance. Nope! He had been waiting right in the blind spot for them! 

There was no frightened prey, only a grinning predator that was done laying his trap. For a fraction of a second, they were too shocked to comprehend what was happening. That's when Josh struck! 

Their instincts kicked in, and they protected all their vitals. But, the glowing magical link was completely open. Josh slashed thrice, annihilating their buffs and making them cough blood. One swift movement was all it took for the triple kill. 

He didn't stay to examine his handy work. He ran like he had the devil behind him. Two seconds later, the enemies found their diced allies: 

"What the fuck?! What happened?!"

"Shit, he was waiting for them at the corner." 

"It took him about a second to kill them. We need to be careful." 

They noticed all this while running and approaching Josh once more. At this point, he was already starting to pant. This wasn't as easy as it had looked. He had to keep running. 

Could he use the same trick as earlier? It would be too dangerous. Now, they would be on their guard. Then again…what if? 

As his pursuers turned the corner, they found Josh ambushing them. Instead of panicking, they calmly counterattacked! They had been expecting it, and the two joined forces, raining a flurry of blows on the guy. 

Except, there was something wrong! Instead of dying, his body suddenly became shadowy as the cloak behind him seemed to envelop him. Another OP item?! They instantly became careful. 

Out of nowhere, Josh took a pickaxe and smashed toward their skulls. They easily dodged it and got ready to kill him. They wouldn't believe that he could use that defensive ability twice in a row. 

But, they had misunderstood. Josh had been aiming for the stone floor all along. The pickaxe instantly created a crater. with the three of them all losing footing. 

Josh somehow managed to regain his balance in mid-air. A closer inspection would have revealed spider threads. 

Using their loss of balance, Josh slashed their link, with them suffering the same fate as the earlier ones. He quickly finished them by plunging a dagger in their hearts.

The last three enemies arrived just in time to witness such a gruesome scene. How many freaking OP items did this guy have?! They still approached him, but they couldn't have been warier. 

They used the time Josh was getting out of his hole to surround him from all sides. It was now impossible for him to run. What could he do now? 

"Be careful. He has an invincibility ability."

"Dodge all his attacks by a large margin, especially that pickaxe." 

"As long as you protect that link, he can't do anything to us. Remember, it buffs us a lot."

"Fuck, I so freaking wish we could disable this goddamn thing. It's a freaking liability right now!"

"Focus, it's three of us versus him alone. He has to be running out of tricks by now!" 

They menacingly approached. Now that he had used pretty much all his trump cards, he was nothing but meat on a cutting board. Josh even began throwing random pebbles at them. But, it still bought him a few seconds as they needlessly dodged or deflected them! 

"Stay away! Stay the fuck away!" 

His fright was obviously genuine this time. He began making a call on his UW: 

"If you kill me, there will be people hunting you and your organization 24/7 until you're all gone!" Josh even threatened as a last resort. 

"We got this, slow and steady. We just need to make sure that goddamn link remains out of his attack range and—AArrggg." 

That's when they all started coughing blood at once. What was happening? They suddenly noticed the pebbles on the ground, right under their respective links. There was even a faint remnant green aura around each that was slowly dissipating. 

"Dumbasses, killing aura isn't visible to the naked eye. You have to feel it." Josh ridiculed them as he summoned his bow and shot mana arrows, gouging their chests open. 

Tiny and insignificant pebbles had caused their demise…talk about a tragic ending! They never saw it coming. He had used mana + killing intent all along, and they had only become accustomed to the mana part. The last attack had been 100% killing intent. 

As they closed their eyes for the very last time, their faith was only renewed. The Fallens indeed were a calamity for this world! The silent castle would be their resting grave. 

"Ah, it's a shame that they aren't monsters." Josh deplored. 

How much XP could he have gotten from them if they were? Probably a shitload. As for their gear, it seemed slightly higher level than his but he had grown to love set items. He had tasted the joy of using OP skills! 

Hunting humans truly was a tedious endeavor. 

In the Tower, gods were often popping left and right while thundering: "You've killed my subjects, now pay with your life!" He couldn't help but think. Where was their god, the one overseeing humans? Why did he just watch as they killed one another? 

Josh gave one last look at the bloodied corpses, grabbed a mask, and headed back toward the battlefield. While his priority was to assure his safety, he still wished to know what had happened to his assassination target. 

His upcoming actions would depend on whether the man was still alive or had perished. But, he would need to be extra careful. This chase had been very troublesome, and yet there had only been 8 of them, plus they had underestimated him. 

He backtracked until he reached the massive hole in the wall. Peaking through it, he couldn't help but feel surprised. 

Those guys sure were resilient…. 

Creator's Thought

Information is key in any combat. 1. Killed 3 because they didn't know that I would fight back. 2. Killed 2 because of the surprising effects of my OP set items. 4. Killed 3 thanks to how I camouflaged my killing intent. They saw through the mana and completely missed that there was more hidden underneath.