356 Chapter 356: Assassin’s Pride

"The Veneneum Sect Leader is currently the Grand Master of Assassins," Redfield explained, even as we trekked through the treacherous terrain of the forest while keeping track of the Veneneum Sect Assassins' location. "That means he holds overall command over the Assassins Guild, and is currently one of the High Lords of Terra."

"…High Lords of Terra," I repeated incredulously. "Really? Are you sure you're not in the wrong universe?"

"Uh, sorry. I mean he's one of the most powerful men in the underworld." Redfield quickly amended his slip of the tongue (though I doubted it was a slip – he definitely made that reference on purpose). "And also one of the most dangerous and lethal killers in the Federation…perhaps even the world."

"Okay…"

I had no reason to argue against Redfield's explanation. That sounded about right. More importantly, we had to follow the Assassins while searching for Anastasia at the same time. Even though I could still find no trace of Ana in the vicinity, the fact that the Assassins were searching for her in this area meant that it was likely that she was close by. Either that, or the Assassins sucked at locating their target. Given how Anastasia told me that they learned at least the basic tracking spells, I highly doubt that it was the latter scenario.

Still, given how these were professional Assassins that we were following, I was surprised that we were able to track them for this long without being noticed. As much as Redfield and I were trying our best to be as stealthy as possible, I honestly doubted that we succeeded. I certainly lacked the training required to conceal my tracks and stay as silent as humanly possible. No matter how much I tried, I couldn't stop breaking twigs under my feet as I trampled through the dense foliage. The only small mercy was that my relatively small silhouette was mostly hidden under the tall grass and closely packed trees, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Assassins heard me.

For now, they either hadn't detected my presence, or they assumed I was just another monster running about in the undergrowth. Glancing at Redfield, who was moving a lot stealthier and quieter than me, I was sure that he was annoyed at my amateurish attempts to follow. Another small mercy was that the both of us were quite some distance away from the Assassins – normally we would be beyond the visual or hearing range of ordinary humans. Whether the Assassins had enhanced senses or not, I didn't know, but I was only able to keep visual track of them through the eyes of my Corvus.

Luckily, the Assassins could very easily dismiss my Corvus as another monster that inhabit the forest, so they paid the little crows no attention at all. Fortune was on our side…for now. I could only hope we wouldn't run out of it so soon.

"Something's not right."

After almost thirty minutes of tailing the band of professional killers, I noticed something amiss. They were moving to quickly and fixatedly, without any pause. In other words, they didn't seem to be tracking anything or looking for any sort of clues. Instead, it was obvious that they already had a specific destination in mind.

When I voiced that out to Redfield, he stroked his chin and pondered, even as we continued to run. Tilting his head to the side, he frowned in puzzlement.

"Well…they might already know the precise location of Anastasia. If that's the case, I had best warn the others to expect hostile encounters."

I nodded distractedly, focusing my attention on the Assassins even as Redfield tapped on his com bead to report. As he did so, I registered a new change. The Assassins had stopped atop a cluster of trees, perching atop their respective branches.

"They stopped," I informed Redfield. "But…they don't look like they are searching for clues or trails. It's like they are waiting for something."

"Waiting for what?"

How would I know? Did you want me to walk up to them and ask?

"I don't know…eh?" pushing my glasses, I watched as the leader bring his hand to his lips and whistled. It was a low, cryptic whistle that pulsed against my Corvus's senses, disorientating them for a bit. I blinked, realizing there was some sort of…provocative spell mixed into the sound. If my Corvus weren't so tightly bound to me mentally, they might have gone berserk.

"What's going on?"

"They just cast a spell. To provoke the monsters in the forest."

A few snarls and roars punctuated my explanation. The Assassins cocked their heads, listening for something, and then they almost disappeared, leaping off from their branches and rushing into the distance.

"!!!"

Their movements were so quick and sudden that I almost lost track of them. Fortunately, Corvus could fly, so I sent the majority of them soaring after the fleeing ninja wannabes. Out of curiosity, I left one Corvus behind to monitor the site where the dude cast his weird sonic spell. There had to be some reason why he instigated whatever monster that was in the vicinity.

As my Corvus pursued the jumping Assassins, a few of them suddenly whirled about and threw something. Even though I desperately sent a telepathic order to my Corvus to dodge, as expected of professional killers, their weapons struck true. I had a brief flare of psychostigmatic feedback that lashed out at me when my Corvus all blinked out of existence.

"Ugh!"

"What happened? Are you all right?!"

"The bastards…they knew I was watching all along. They just took out my flock of Corvus! We have to hurry! Based on the direction they were going, they should be heading that way…"

Before I could take off in the direction where I last saw the Assassins, I halted abruptly, almost causing Redfield to collide to me. He stared at me quizzically.

"What is it this time?"

"…the spell. It's bringing a few monsters to the vicinity. But that's not all. There are…other people there."

"Our people?" Redfield asked dismissively. "I guess we must have gotten close to one of the other sectors without realizing. Good thing they just missed the Veneneum Assassins, or they would be forced to engage in combat."

"No. It's not Silver Wolves. It's…"

I had a sense of déjà vu when I spotted the newcomers bursting from a bush and staggering into a clearing. They were too young to be mercenaries. They weren't even old enough to be high school students, seeming to be about fourteen or so. Close to Adrian's age.

…actually, Adrian Stuart was among them.

"What the fuck are you doing here, Adrian?!" I yelled, almost startling Redfield. He immediately cuffed me across the back of my head.

"Oi! Maintain field discipline! Don't start shouting in the middle of a forest!"

"Sorry. But they aren't Silver Wolves. They are a bunch of middle school students!" I rubbed my head and growled in frustration. "I have no idea how they got into the forest, but…it gets worse. They are currently being under attack."

Through the eyes of my sole surviving Corvus, I could see a pack of Jack-o'-Lanterns descend upon the helpless students. Named as such for their pumpkin heads, hollow glowing eyes and mouth, they resembled cosplayers more than monsters. Don't ask me why. They had a weird witch's hat atop their orange heads, and the rest of their bodies were draped in black cloaks. Thin, black arms protruded from beneath those shadowy cloaks, bearing deadly-looking scythes that they swung mercilessly at the panicking middle schoolers.

To his credit, Adrian finally stopped to stand his ground. Drawing his sword and using the basic Stuart clan swordsmanship techniques, he managed to halt one of the Jack-o-Lanterns' attacks, parrying its scythe with his sword. The rank E monster spun around and kicked him in the chest, throwing him off. Fortunately, Adrian managed to flip himself upward and land on both feet. Heaving, his face red, he raised his sword and unleashed a storm of petals at the approaching monster.

Beside him, a blond girl – her long hair mostly let loose, except for two small pigtails at her side – also drew her sword and charged the monsters. As if not to be outdone by Adrian, she swung her sword at the closest Jack-o'-Lantern, but the skillful monster deftly deflected her sword before spinning around to slash its scythe down on her neck. The blond girl quickly withdrew her sword to parry the strike with her blade, but the impact from the blow sent her crashing several meters to the side. Coughing out some blood, she struggled to roll to her feet and just barely managed to block the Jack-o'-Lantern's next blow. It was unfortunate, but she was knocked to the side again.

The other middle school students, unfortunately, were almost completely useless. Unlike Adrian and the blond girl, they were unable to fight, and instead screamed as the Jack-o'Lanterns descended upon them in a flurry. They couldn't even run, the majority of them falling over and scrambling desperately on all fours as they tried to escape.

That wasn't good.

"We have to help them!"

I was already rushing in the direction of the middle school students before Redfield fully understood what was going on. He stared at me blankly, and then sprang into action.

"Hey! What's going on!? Where are you going?!"

"The middle school students – they are being attacked by Jack-o'-Lanterns right now! They'll be massacred if we don't step in to help them!"

"But…but what about Ana? And the Assassins?!"

"We can find her after we save the kids!" I snapped. "Or are you just going to let them die?!"

There was no way I was going to just stand around and pretend I didn't see a group of kids a few years younger than me fall prey to monsters. I wasn't going to abandon somebody who was getting attacked right in front of my eyes – or in this case, right in front of my Corvus's eyes, but same thing, really. Especially since Adrian was among them – though, to be honest, I would still have gone and rescued them even if there wasn't a single person I knew.

That was my own personal code of…chivalry, if you wish to call it that. My code of honor, my value systems, my beliefs. I couldn't care less if scumbag readers condemned me as stupid for wanting to be a hero and trying to save everyone in front of me. They were reading the wrong story if they wanted an evil, cold and ruthless or pragmatic (?) protagonist. I was going to help whoever was in need right in front of me. Period.

It took me half a minute to dash into the clearing where the Jack-o'-Lanterns were. Drawing both of my swords, I cut apart the closest Jack-o'Lantern before it even noticed me coming. A streak of black and white crossed the air, and the pooor monster fell apart in bloody pieces.

The rest of the Jack-o'Lanterns turned to face me, completely disregarding the poor middle school students who were completely at their mercy mere seconds ago.

"Brother Richard?!" Adrian cried out. I glanced at him, wanting to ask what he was doing here, but a Jack-o'-Lantern chose that moment to swing its scythe at me, forcing me to parry it. Whirling about, I twisted my sword and slashed at it, but it agilely withdrew. At the same moment, another Jack-o'Lantern tried to slash be from behind, but I instinctively raised Bai Ri to deflect it without even bothering to turn around.

A third Jack-o'-Lantern attempted to flank me, but I thrust Hei Yue in its direction to discourage it from approaching. The swarm of Jack-o'-Lanterns danced around, almost mischievously, as they lashed out in rhythmic concert, eliciting a defensive posture from me. We waltzed around at a surreal speed, our blades blurring as we clashed, collided and tangled over and over again, dancing to a silent beat that only we could hear. The air seemed to ripple every time the Jack-o'-Lanterns swung their scythes, ethereal flames coursing through the crescent-shaped blades and pulsing eerily. I responded with black and white ripostes from my differently colored twin swords, alternating between offense and defense, and spinning almost melodically in order to accommodate my multiple partners in ferocious combat. All the while, the Jack-o'-Lanterns appeared to mischievously dart around and dance out of range of my attacks, their eyes and mouth glowing gleefully and faint whistles emitting in what seemed like a teasing manner as my occasional counterattacks missed them. Sparks flew, punctuating the orchestral beat of our clashing weapons and leaving the spectating middle school students in spellbound silence.

Even though Jack-o'-Lanterns were designated rank E monsters, they were still pretty tricky to deal with, their speed and skills making them a formidable foe. That was why the ranking system was not absolute. It wasn't always a case of "oh, I can beat rank A monsters, therefore I can easily massacre all rank B and below monsters." It would be fatal to underestimate lower-ranked monsters – even rank F ones – as mobs or fodder just because you possessed the strength to defeat a high-ranked monster. No, it was never that simple. Reality was a lot more complex than that.

Jack-o'-Lanterns were classified as rank E because of their lack of durability, their relatively small sizes – they were about the same size as a normal human, being 170cm of height at most – and their inability to cast elemental spells or other sorts of magic. However, their speed, ferocity and skill with their scythes made them extremely troublesome to deal with – if I wasn't mistaken, their skills were probably on par with a veteran swordsman. They moved almost instinctively, had awesome reflexes, and could pick out openings in a mage's defenses. Their low rank was deceptive, all because the ranking system was not perfect and didn't account for other factors, such as speed and combat skill.

Honestly, power, amount of mana and size weren't everything. Skill mattered a lot as well. those fools (especially some readers who rigidly adhered to the ranking system and demanded that everything falls into neat categories and levels) who dismissed monsters just because of their low ranks without taking into account other factors such as speed, skills, intelligence and even flawless cooperation between numerous numbers of monsters in a single pack were people who died early deaths or those who evidently had not experienced combat before. A pack of rank E monsters such as these skilled Jack-o'-Lanterns was probably equivalent to perhaps a single rank C Elemental, or even a rank B monster in terms of speed alone.

"Be careful!" the girl shouted. "Those Lycanthropes are dangerous!"

I almost dropped my guard and got cleaved when I spun around to gape at her.

"Say what? Lycanthropes!? Are you blind?! These are Jack-o'-Lanterns, not Lycanthropes!"

"Eh? Yeah, I know. I mean they are a type of Lycanthropes, a specific species of Lycanthropes, right?"

"You're in the wrong story, lady!"

However, I didn't have the opportunity to correct her because a Jack-o'-Lantern seized the opportunity to slice at my throat in an effort to behead me. I jerked my head back and just narrowly avoided getting my neck cleaved apart, and then retaliated with a thrust of my sword, but it seemed to giggle as it danced out of my reach.

"That's it. Time to get serious. Green Dragon!"

A chibi Green Dragon manifested over my right shoulder. At the same time, thousands of flower petals drifted around me, almost resembling springtime in the middle of winter as their pink clouds engulfed the entire area.

"Watch and learn, Adrian." I directed this sentence toward my young friend, who was currently watching the battle, mesmerized. "This is how you use wood-type spells in conjunction with your sword techniques."