Chapter 60, DGM-

Around the log cabin, more accurately, around Lucy, there were many robbers hiding in ambush.

These people were all clad in magic-resistant equipment. These expensive equipments blocked out the light from Link’s ‘beginner detection’, but this only served to make them painfully obvious. Because all living things had life energy, what Link actually saw were dark figures of humans hiding in places.

However, the syndicate’s robbers seemed to be aware of this. When they hid themselves, they had used thick wooden boards to construct a small pyramid-like building. Weeds and twigs had been used to camouflage the building.

Thick wooden boards and magic-resistant leather armours. A defense on this level was enough to defend against ordinary magic attacks.

These set-ups had revealed Ander’s tactics.

‘I’ll use Lucy to rile you guys up. I never killed her, so I’ll let you worry and think of all sorts of ways to save her.’1

From the looks of Link and the others, Ander had successfully achieved angering them.

Hidden behind a tree, Link executed his plan.

“Lucy’s still alive. Hank, you cover me. Greedin, you’re in charge of exterminating those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds.2 Annie, you will discreetly rescue Lucy.”

Link’s voice was as flat as ever. However, Hank, who was familiar with him, could vaguely detect some iciness within his speech. An indescribable aura of murderous spirit and bloodthirst flooded the air around him. The sensation of the raging magic…every pore on Link’s body seemed to be on fire.

Hank nodded. “Roger.”

Greedin deeply inhaled, then nodded. “Yes, Senior.”

Annie felt a sense of pressure radiating off Link. She unconsciously nodded. “Alright.”

Link kept his crescent magic wand and took out the fire crystal magic staff.3

Here, only Hank, Greedin and Annie were around. Annie knew of what happened in Glaston city while Hank and Greein were his followers. Link had no reason to conceal his real power any longer.

The moment the fire crystal magic staff appeared, the crystal at the end of the magic staff began to glow with a fiery radiance. It had been affected by the anger of the magic caster. The light from the crystal seemed to surge, like a burning flame.

Although Link was angry, his thoughts were still collected. Even better, his concentration seemed to be even stronger. The world seemed to stall, like a video from a time-lapse. Everything turned still.

Time to kill.

The magic staff stamped on the ground with a thud. Link had left his concealed position. Hank fell alongside him, raising the s.h.i.+eld in his hand as he covered Link from any sudden ambushes.

Greedin followed Link on his other side, raising his excellent wooden longbow as he nocked his recently purchased excellent feathered steel arrows. His eyes darted over the place as he hunted for targets.4

In the next moment, Link’s magic had begun their a.s.sault.5

The enemy was positioned behind their makes.h.i.+ft wooden bunker with their magic-resistant equipment. They had even used Lucy to goad them into attacking. Indeed, it was smart…very smart, they had very successful enraged him.

Whistle6

Level 1 excellent composite magic

Mana consumption: 4

Effect: Created through ‘vector throw’ as a base and the combination of metal and fire elements into a needle under high speeds of rotation. Possesses potent penetration strength and explosive strength.

(Note: When you hear the whistle, you hear death.)7

Link dug out a handful of iron filings from his pocket, releasing it into the air. Precisely 0.2 seconds later, the first ‘whistle’ materialised, hissing as it spat towards Link’s target.

The target was a good 50 meters away from him. While this distance was demanding to normal magicians, it could not be said the same for ‘whistle’.

Before half a second had pa.s.sed, the tip of the spinning needle, under Link’s control, drew a graceful ‘S’ curve. Barely skirting a tree in the middle of the river with the width of a hair, it smashed into the back of a wooden board.

This wooden board was at least 2 meters thick, something that could resist the bombardment of level 1 fireb.a.l.l.s. However, when the whistle was used…

‘Puff!’ A peculiar sound rang out.

The whistle had speared through the wooden board, reaching the interior of the makes.h.i.+ft bunker.

Three a.s.sa.s.sins lay p.r.o.ne on the floor in ambush. The reason why three people were squeezed into one bunker was to prevent being ambushed from behind. This was Ander’s arrangement, a brilliant tactic that could only be prepared and executed by him. Ironically, this brilliance of him had been a factor to his fatal downfall.

The ‘death needle’ pierced through the wooden board like a knife shearing through hot b.u.t.ter. Then the fire element encased within the metal element blew up.

The explosive force of a level 1 fire magic was the equivalent of the common grenade on earth. However, if a few iron bits were added to the grenade as a present? That would be the equivalent of the infamous frag grenade on earth.

“Boom!” The magic exploded. Fire surged, metal fragments whirled. The a.s.sa.s.sins hiding behind the wooden boards in their makes.h.i.+ft bunker had virtually no s.p.a.ce to react. The crammed and confined s.p.a.ce had become their graves.

The magic-resistant equipment on their bodies could allow them a certain level of resistance against the flames. At the very least, it would not have damaged them severely enough to lose lives. However, how much physical defense could armours specially created to defend against magic have? Confronted with the whirling fragments of metal, the a.s.sa.s.sins were shredded into pieces.[footnote]The a.n.a.logy the author used was “peeled like a helpless, weak mother” so no. Wanted to make it more realistic. After all, a person would get shredded by a frag grenade irl. Frag grenades are absolutely deadly in warfare.

Ander was the head of a syndicate branch. As a head, he did not join in the fight, instead observing it from a distant location. Ander’s ears p.r.i.c.ked as he heard the explosion of magic. He swivelled his head towards the location of the sound.

“Fire magic. Judging from the strength, it should be the ‘fireball’ spell. The nightblade people should still be alive!”8 Ander’s estimate was not unfounded, but instead from prior experiences.

Because the ‘fireball’ spell was pure elemental magic, every single nightblade member who was equipped with magic-resistant armour would be able to easily resist it.

Ander turned, startled. Just as he made his judgment, he heard more explosions of magic, and in quick succession. 8 times in total!

This was the exact number of sentries that he had arranged around Lucy.

The explosions died down. An eerie, unsettling silence took its place in the valley.

Ander frowned, willing his subordinates to stand up and counterattack. Then he spotted the magician which had started the battle. The magician was standing behind the undergrowth by the bank of the whitebait river. The magician’s only cover was a burly warrior and an archer. Even if half of his a.s.sa.s.sins had died, they would be able to capture the magician and his comrades alive as long as ten a.s.sa.s.sins attacked them.

After capturing alive came torture… Ander, as sickening as it sounded, took pride in his torturing skills. He believed that under his torturing skills, he would be able to pry information even from the people with the tightest lips.

But reality did not equal expectations. One second, two seconds, three seconds… the eerie silence hung in the air. Ander’s heart began to sink.

Other than a few bloodcurdling screams, not a single a.s.sa.s.sin appeared to attack them. What was even more haunting was that the bloodcurdling screams had quickly died down. The wooden boards the a.s.sa.s.sins had used to evade the magician’s magic had been sent flying. The opposing archer had taken down any remaining survivors of the magician’s magic with his cursed bow and arrows.

Another five seconds, and the 22 elite nightblade a.s.sa.s.sins had been wiped out. Without a single survivor. It was so easy, so anti-climatic that it felt impossible.

All colour drained from Ander’s face. He turned slowly towards the two a.s.sistants beside him. These two a.s.sistants lay on the floor, returning Ander’s stare. A deathly silence hung in the air as all three of them s.h.i.+vered uncontrollably.

Ander watched the distant survivors of the elite nightblade a.s.sa.s.sins. They were retreating.

“What the h.e.l.l was that? What magic did he use? How was it so strong!” Ander gaped. This surpa.s.sed his understanding of magic greatly.

He turned his head again as a black figure appeared by Lucy’s side. The figure raised its hand. Darts shot out and severed the rope securing Lucy to the tree. The figure caught Lucy as she fell. Carrying Lucy, the figure quietly disappeared.

Ander’s pupils constricted as he calculated the speed of the escaping figure. “A level 3 a.s.sa.s.sin?! When was there a level 3 a.s.sa.s.sin?”

He had done his homework on them. The meathead with the s.h.i.+eld was of level 3 occupation, and the rest were your common level 2 occupations. As for that magician, he hadn’t even enrolled in eastern valley magic academy due to lack of qualifications.

How strong could a magician that didn’t qualify for eastern valley magic academy get? Sure, they had exterminated the dark brotherhood, but the dark brotherhood was a puny organisation in Ander’s eyes. And what sorcery had that magician worked, to this effect?

Back in the silence valley, the cloaked magician had a.s.sured him that he had not detected any traces of high level magic used. The highest levelled magic casted had been level 1.

A mere level 1 magic spell. Ander had made his arrangements using that information. Now he was told that the information was wrong. He had been gravely mistaken all along.

“Senior, what do we do?” His a.s.sistant beside him whispered.

A sheen of sweat could be seen on Ander’s forehead. He glanced at the magician by the riverbank. The magician turned to stare at him, as if he knew Ander was there.9 Ander’s pulse raced.

“Retreat! Retreat! We’re beating the s.h.i.+t out of here! I won’t have anything to do with this!”

They were only a group of robbers, a bunch of subst.i.tutes that extorted money for the big guy — the syndicate. Now that his life could not even be guaranteed, who the f.u.c.k was there to subst.i.tute?

Ander decisively led the survivors of the nightblade elites out of the whitebait river.

His speed was uncanny. With the knowledge of the familiar terrain of the red leaf valley, he quickly escaped from the whitebait river.

However, when he turned a corner in the valley, he found himself staring at a familiar person. It was the magician cloaked in black who kept him in contact with the general headquarters.

“Why are you here?” Ander asked breathlessly.

The cloaked magician’s hoa.r.s.e voice croaked out, “I’m here to help you fight against that magician.”

“You want to go against that?” Ander said, the expression on his face twisted into a mixture of disbelief and joy. If memory served, this magician had been too ‘weak’ for the cloaked magician to dispose of.

“This magician is worthy for me to take action!” The cloaked magician gently fingered his magic wand. This magic wand was purely crafted from mithril. The tip of the wand was embedded with a blue magic gem the size of a pigeon egg. The gem seemed to sparkle the light blue glow of magic.

“But of course, he’s strong. We need a plan.” The cloaked magician added.

…………

Link told Annie, “Take everyone and go back first. I’ll pursue them!”

If he didn’t slay that cruel and demented viper, his heart would not be at peace.

As he spoke, a notification flashed in his vision.

Mission – first step: ‘Rescue’ completed.

Free points awarded: 20.

Perfect. Adding together his 14 free points, he had 34 free points once again. Not to mention that he still possessed 63 mana. It was more than enough.

Mission: Pursuit

Mission description: Kill the remaining syndicate branch elites.

Mission reward: 25 points

Progress: 22/32

Could it be any better? Even the system was in favour of him wiping them out. Now, he had even less reason to abandon the plan halfway.

Annie was somewhat uneasy, but she soon realised that it was pointless to try to dissuade Link. Just like in Glaston city…

Annie sighed. “Alright. But take care. Remember to leave behind tracks for Anderson and the military. They’ll quickly come to your aid.”

“Got it.” Link nodded his head.

He turned to gaze at Lucy. This unyielding woman was still conscious, even at this moment. Lucy stared back at him silently. She had not surrendered or given in. Even now, she had not even let out a cry of pain. Now that her master and comrades were here, she started to soften like a lost child meeting her parents. Her eyes brimmed with tears.

Gazing at the welts on her body, Link felt the guilt hit him. He raised his wand. “Elemental remedy!”

A soothing light enveloped Lucy’s body as it replenished the consumed nutrients in her body. After finis.h.i.+ng the casting, Link turned to Hank. “Go, let’s kill those thieves!”

-Chapter 60, end-