Lester gave the order to attack.
He didn't understand why the higher-ups were so cautious in dealing with this bunch. At one go, twenty C-rank adventurers were dispatched. Not only that but a hidden B-rank was also watching over the entire operation.
The amount of people involved in this ambush is more than enough to kill a veteran C-rank party. Just for a few D-rank newbies this was a bit of an overkill. Even if they're the disciples of the fastest S-rank adventurer in history it doesn't necessarily mean that they should be difficult to deal with.
They might have tremendous talents, yes, but to turn that talent into real strength needs an adequate amount of time. They just graduated and only on their first quest so this much preparation to hunt them down, in his opinion, was a waste of resources.
Sure enough, the next set of events confirmed his opinion.
As the long range attacks such as spells and arrows bombarded the five greenhorns the wand wielder in their party, the kid named Wuryan Sol according to the intelligence, hastily casted a Mana Shield. A dome shaped barrier enveloped them but this was obviously insufficient to handle the damage output.
Only a second passed, it shattered like broken glass. The remaining attacks fell on them one after another. The party scattered in embarrassment and despite the huge amount of spells and arrows unleashed by the eight members hiding in the woods, those five newbies only sustained minimal injuries during the process.
"That's quite something..."
Lester muttered but he wasn't all that surprised. As closed-door disciples of that legendary adventurer they obviously had some capability even when facing a siege. The long range attacks were just an appetizer; the real offensive are the dozen close range attacks that followed behind.
Two on one, Lester didn't personally engage at the first collision but instead commanded the other eleven while sticking closely behind to look for an opportunity to give a fatal blow. The five adventurers were able to withstand the first wave with steady pace.
The archer girl was shooting arrows with lightning attached to it as she kept retreating while the blond girl summoned a swarm of poisonous wasps from the book she held. The mage was casting Fireballs and Mana Arrows from the very back while the burly looking ginger-head was punching and kicking violently to parry or attack the two sieging him. The silver haired guy, named Xar Umbra, showed excellent swordsmanship as he handled the two C-rank with relative ease.
"Very talented! But, how long can you hold on?"
Lester sneered and signaled the hidden eight long rangers to attack at will. The rhythm of the battle shifted instantly and the five newbies suffered more injuries. The archer girl suddenly lost her footing as she clumsily parried with a short sword at the broadsword that slashed at her neck. This is the problem with long rangers, as long as they are forced in close combat their various weaknesses would be exposed gradually.
Chance!
Lester's eyes flashed with cruelty as if an eagle who saw its prey out in the open. He bursted with a sudden speed as he used the Shadow Burst skill and appeared behind the brunette. His dagger laced with poison thrusted forward and easily penetrated the heart from the back.
He twisted the dagger for a good measure and the girl's body staggered for a second before falling headfirst on the ground. Irilea's face was filled with disbelief, she died with eyes wide, full of resentment.
The genius girl who reached D-rank in her twenties, with a bright future ahead of her died just like that.
"How dare you!!!"
"Damn it!!"
"No! Irilea!!"
"Everybody, disperse!! Run to the woods! We will meet in the city!!"
They shouted in anger and grieved mournfully while Xar, the party leader of Drifting Cloud, roared at the top of his lungs for retreat. Following his roar, all the party members fought desperately and retreated towards the woods on the side of the road.
Lester only laughed amusedly, "Hahaha, this decision will only speed up your death!" There is a hidden B-rank assassin in the woods overseeing this operation. The fact that they took the initiative to enter the woods actually relieved the pressure the eleven close combatants were facing.
Faced with the desperate counterattacks from such talented D-rank adventurers and not to mention they are stimulated by their companion's death even these veteran C-rank assassins had to be cautious lest they suffered serious injury.
Lester only ordered them to harass the fleeing four with long range while they would guide them slowly towards the location where the B-rank was stationed.
Swish!
A head flew in the air.
It was the head of that mage, Wuryan. The B-rank assassin, Preston, threw an axe that whizzed through the night wind and chopped the neck of that mage. Taking advantage of the darkness and stealth Preston killed the mage first as he had the most damage output in the previous clash.
Before the remaining three could react another axe was thrown. It rotated with a fast speed and the cold glint of metal headed towards the blonde, Esmeria Asterisk. This summoner was too troublesome to deal with. The swarm of wasps and the later beasts she summoned were difficult to deal with in a short period of time.
Unaware of the hidden assassin's strength, her death became inevitable, a simple decapitation just like that mage.
This time, Xar and the ginger-head Ryonen Zenith finally located Preston's location and rushed towards him with red eyes. They were filled with rage, they must kill the murder of their companions!!
Lester chuckled and signaled the eight long rangers to release the attack that has been charged for a while. Mysterious circles of runes connected the eight and two big spheres of flame and ice condensed above the central point of the main runic circle.
Battle Formation Attack!
A sphere of flame as big as an elephant headed towards Xar and the ice sphere of same size shot towards Ryonen. The distance and speed of the two spheres made it impossible for them to dodge so with an unwilling roar both of them desperately used skills, either it be attack or defense-type, but it was of no avail.
Boom!!
Two died at the same time, one was reduced to ashes while the other's body exploded from the sheer impact.
"Tch! You made too much noise. The mana fluctuation of this area has become too intense now."
"Hehe, my apologies, Sir Preston. We ended up letting you take action. Those newbies are too tenacious. Please rest assured, we will clean up the scene quickly before anyone comes here to check."
"Get to it then. You got two minutes."
Preston checked the communication device before giving them an estimate. Lester didn't dare to waste any time and hurriedly led a few of them to clean up the obvious traces. They were very professional in killing and hiding traces over the years so just a bit over a minute later they rushed back to Preston's location and then disappeared from this place where five young adventurers with outstanding talents died before they could fully realize their potential.
They arrived in front of the warehouse district in Yvolit City.
After completing various code signs and verification processes they successfully entered one of the warehouses which had no difference from others in that area. Entering a staircase hidden underground they soon saw the Yvolit City branch manager of Assassin's Guild waiting for their arrival.
It was a tall but slender figure wearing a big black hat that hid half of his face.
Lester and Preston stayed behind to give a detailed report while the remaining nineteen left to their quarters after greeting the branch manager respectfully.
"Proof of completion..."
Branch manager said in a monotonous tone. Preston handed over a white crystal ball which was slightly transparent. He used mana to play the recorded scenes inside the crystal. All the assassins had a similar crystal ball fragment which served as a body camera attached to them and this crystal ball was the central storage device of the recordings.
Seeing the perspective of all twenty one assassins one by one, the branch manager nodded before continuing: "Material evidence?" Lester took out the storage bag, a brown leather pouch, and brought out all the items stored in it. Rags of clothes and damaged weapons fell on the concrete floor.
Branch manager carefully identified the items from the recordings and divided them into five portions according to the specific target it belonged to.
"Loot?"
This time Preston was the one who handed over four satchels. Anything suspicious that could be used to track them has been destroyed in advance. He frowned slightly after only seeing four of them but then remembered that the party leader Xar Umbra was reduced to ashes so all his belongings were subjected to the same fate.
Lester cursed inwardly that this guy's greedy nature was really abominable. The first thing he did when the loot didn't match up was to glare at them before finally remembering the recordings. Tch, what bad luck did I have to be assigned to this branch! This bastard eats up 80% of the loot every time while the remaining unwanted stuff is thrown at the wage earners.
Just wait, after this year ends he will be able to apply for a transfer.
"All of you should lay low for a while. The targets this time were related to Ghost Spear Orion, after all. The aftermath of this commission would be very stormy."
"Manager, was there really a good reason for so many of us to be dispatched this time? Though those five newbies are talented enough not to die instantly after facing siege from so many C-rank but well, it's just like that. Sooner or later they would still die without causing any waves."
Preston asked the question that has been lingering in Lester's mind since the beginning of this commission. Of course, only the B-rank Preston dared to question the branch manager who's an A-rank assassin.
He shook his head before replying, "You don't need to worry about it. Our Assassin's Guild only follows the requirement set by the client after they paid the deposit. Since the client asked for one B-rank and twenty C-rank then we will dispatch the same. You two can retreat now. Wait for the notification after the full payment has been made."
He took the recording crystal, four satchels and the five portions of material evidence into a storage bag before going back into the depths of this hidden base.
Lester was about to head to his private quarters when suddenly Preston muttered from behind him, "What a pity, this guy's reach is only this much…''
Startled, he looked back and saw a scene that frightened him so much that he dropped to the ground in shock.
Preston had no eyes, nose, mouth or ears in his face!
He had straw-like hair that dropped to the ground and it covered his entire body as if it was a tightly held blanket.
"Ahhh!! Ghost!!!"
Lester screamed in horror and desperately hoped that others would rush back to him after hearing such commotion. To his relief the "Faceless" Preston didn't attack him but only looked at him with a tilt of its head. It seemed to express curiosity for his abrupt behavior.
Lester heard loud footsteps and soon saw the nineteen assassins rushing out of their rooms with weapons in hand but when they entered the open space where he and the thing was standing their pace abruptly paused.
All of them looked at him in horror and questioned his identity fiercely. Preston also jumped back at this moment and took an attacking posture while pointing at him and similarly questioning him in fear and anger.
Lester was puzzled by the sudden turn of events and felt absurd when the Faceless Preston questioned him while pretending to be scared. Before he could say anything in reply one of the eight long range assassins shot a spell at him.
He hurriedly dodged and roared, "Are you kidding me!? Why are you siding with the ghost!!?... Idiots!! Bunch of idiots!!!"
His roar became even more hysterical as attacks one after another fell on him and the Faceless Preston commanded the nineteen assassins from the back.
His injuries became worse and when he finally understood that they refused to listen to him Lester's face showed despair and he also started attacking madly.
"Branch manager!! Branch manager!!! Where are you!? Stop them!!"
He shouted at the top of his lungs but from the beginning to the end that greedy bastard never appeared in front of him. He had already killed three assassins and his injuries had reached the point where his whole body was dripping with blood.
He felt dizzy and his vision started to darken. Before he completely lost his consciousness from the blood loss he caught a glimpse of another assassin suddenly attacking from the rear in the same horrified expression when they faced him.
The hidden base became even more chaotic as another fight broke out.
"Just what is happening…"
This was the last thought before Lester closed his eyes in eternal slumber.