Chapter 271: Five Minutes in the Shadows

[Earlier]

Thoren stared at Cressida’s backside as she tried to escape with all her might.

However, he did not worry about losing her. With his undead servants on her trail, she could forget about escaping unless she could defeat them quickly without him arriving on time.

But that was completely impossible.

Thus, he gave her the false illusion that she was actually going to escape.

Suddenly, he creased his brow as he noticed a new group moving in the shadows, trailing Cressida from a safe distance.

He slowed down his speed and watched them carefully. Then it dawned on him. These were men from the Slave Trade Guild trying to protect their valuable asset.

As one of their most important informants, they would not allow her to fall into his hands alive.

’Finally, you show yourselves,’ he grinned and reduced his speed further, trailing behind them instead.

He could have caught Cressida right from the beginning, but he deliberately chose not to do so.

He was trying to use her to lure out the hidden Slave Trade Guild members. With how secretive the guild was, he knew he needed someone to draw them into the open.

And who was better suited for that role than Cressida herself?

Thus, when he saw Cressida was about to enter another street, he commanded his two undead servants to increase their chase speed and go for a killing blow.

This was all part of his plan to make it believable that he was trying to kill her in one swift motion.

As expected, the moment the Slave Trade Guild members lurking in the shadows saw that Cressida’s life was in immediate danger, they rushed forward to protect her.

Even though some men rushed out to protect her, he could see that others were still hidden in the shadows, as if they were waiting for someone else.

Frequently, their nervous gazes moved toward him, trying to make sure he did not escape from their sight.

While they were biding their time, Thoren had already moved to the next phase of his deadly plan.

He did not care who or what they were waiting for. Right now, he was going for the kill without mercy.

Without hesitation, he turned back and headed toward the opposite street.

When the Slave Trade Guild men saw this sudden change, their expressions shifted in panic. Without hesitation, they followed suit.

With the target finally in their sight, they dared not let him escape once again.

Just then, a strange sound cut through the air.

Whoosh!

A Level 25 assassin moving at the top of one building to another barely saw a red dot appear on his retina.

Hmm?

He creased his brow in confusion, and that was the last thing he ever did. His head rolled off from his neck, and his headless body fell to the ground with a heavy thud.

Both the human and Jackal Beastmen pedestrians halted in their tracks, staring at the headless corpse in confusion and horror.

However, when they looked around for the perpetrator and found no one, they all continued on their way as if they had seen nothing at all.

As for the Slave Trade men, none of them realized that one of their own had already fallen.

On the ground below, a Level 26 hunter hid behind a building monitoring Thoren’s movement. Suddenly, all the hair on his body stood on end.

’Danger!’ his instincts screamed.

He did not think twice as he retreated from his position, but it was far too late.

A red flash appeared before his eyes, and before he could even blink, it was gone.

“What was that?” he whispered, his face filled with confusion. But then his body betrayed him.

He fell to the ground without warning.

Hmm?

He lowered his head, and it was only then that he realized the full horror of what had happened. Half of his body had been cut cleanly off from the waist down.

Blood splattered to the ground along with some of his innards. He opened his mouth to scream, only to see the red dot appear once again before his dying eyes.

Bang!

His skull was split into two, and the unseen attacker was long gone.

Looking at the gory scene unfolding around them, everyone on the street was drenched in cold sweats of pure terror.

From the beginning to the end, none of them had seen how the attacks had been delivered.

Quickly, terrified whispers and news began to spread through the crowd. But for the remaining Slave Trade Guild men, their full attention was locked on their primary target.

“Should we try to stop him now?” a young woman, a Level 25 Lancer, asked her partner with growing impatience.

“I do not think that is the right call,” her partner, a Berserker, responded, shaking his head nervously.

“You are too scared. He is nothing but a weak necromancer. Right now, his undead servants will have already been captured by our people,” she said arrogantly, staring at Thoren’s back.

Her heart was filled with misplaced confidence and fighting spirit.

Swiss!

A sharp wind whistled past her ear, but she failed to detect anything dangerous. She kept on trying to justify her decision to capture Thoren.

However, she noticed there was no reply from her partner. She turned her head with annoyance. “Why are you being so…”

Ah!

She jumped in fright, and her eyes widened in pure horror. Beside her, her partner’s corpse lay on the ground with blood gushing out from his neck, while his head was a dozen feet away, eyes still wide open.

“This is…,” she shuddered violently, and her spine was drenched in cold sweat.

All her previous confidence and arrogant speech vanished from her mind in an instant.

’I need to run,’ she thought desperately.

Her thought was cut short when the whistling sound echoed once again, closer this time.

Thud!

Her head rolled off from her neck in a wet, sickening thud, followed closely by her headless body collapsing to the ground.

Thoren walked casually down the street, as if everything happening behind him had nothing to do with him at all.

When all the hidden Slave Trade Guild members had been silently assassinated, two bloody red undead Sanguine Vultures appeared beside him for a brief moment.

And in a single blink, they vanished from their spot, returning back into his undead space.

“Now, let us handle those remaining rats,” he mused calmly and began his way back toward the main confrontation.

From the beginning to the end, everything had happened in less than five short minutes.

No one passing by would ever believe that an entire team of Level 25 and Level 26 elite fighters had been slaughtered in the shadows without any fanfare or warning.

****

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