"It's a trap!" Immediately Blake left the range of darkbringer, the masked men were able to pick up a hint of his presence even though he was cloaked by night veil.
Swish! Swish!
Void daggers came flying at the 2 masked men, but it didn't take any effort for them to with their Mana encased hands.
Gotcha!
Although the void daggers had been deflected to the side, Blake had already picked up the signal of their previous position.
Void shift!
2 spatial corridors opened beside the masked men, and Ebony and Ivory came thrusting out. The spatial attack was unexpected, leaving them no other option than to block, but that was their greatest mistake.
Both swords pierced through multiple layers of Earth walls and barriers before going right through their skulls.
THUD!
Their masks hid the utter shock that was written on all of their faces as they dropped to the floor and ceased breathing.
On the other side, immediately Blake had revealed himself, the intruder had placed all the crates in his dimensional amulet and was about to do the same for the artifact, but that was when the ground turned soft and 10 ethereal black tendrils latched onto him.
The attacks took him by surprise, but he quickly composed himself and hardened the ground dealing with the quicksand. Before he could get free from dark siphon, multiple earth spikes and water tentacles erupted from the floor aiming for non-lethal areas on the lower part of his body.
'There are 3? How didn't I get to sense them until the last minute?!' On detecting the 3rd person the urgency to flee tripled. He
Having the same element as Brian and being higher even though they were in the same realm, the intruder tried to forcefully break out of the water and earth binds, but that was when he noticed that something was draining his Mana and vitality.
'The black tendrils!' Fear was written all over the face of the intruder as he realized what was going.
"Haa!" The intruder gathered twice the amount of Mana and willpower to break out of the water chains and earth spikes.
"Just stand still." Immediately he was free, Castiel controlled the black ethereal tendrils to turn solid and pierce into his body.
Ahhh!
The intruder screamed in agonizing pain as another set of water chains and earth spikes erupted from below, binding and piercing deep into his bones.
With the 10 ethereal black tendrils constantly draining his vitality and the pain that came with every movement. It was clear as daylight that there was no way he would recover from it, but that was when the wooden heart in his hand began beating so loudly that even though the trio covered their ears, they were still bleeding.
'What the fuck is going on?!' Castiel screamed in the mind link.
It was hard to keep focus, but when they looked up they saw red veins coming from the wooden heart and entering the intruder's hand.
"What is going on?!" Blake who was on the floor just like the others asked the system.
[Apart from the deafening noise, the artifact seems to be drawing his blood and transferring cursed energy into his body, thereby granting him physical strength and magical resistance.] The system reported.
"This means it wouldn't… take long before he breaks free from… the black tendrils." Blake groan as he struggled to get on his feet.
Zzzg! Zzzg!
Lighting arcs began squirming all around Blake's body as he dashed forward with Ebony and Ivory in his hands.
Ahhh!
When Blake got within a certain range, an agonizing scream came from the intruder as every part of his right hand was covered in red glowing veins. The blood is being drained by the artifact had doubled and so did the screeching noise from the wooden heart.
"No, you don't!" Blake stretched forth his hand and the space around the wooden heart froze, forming an airtight box that prevented sound from escaping.
Ahhhh!
At that moment the brown pupils of the intruder changed to dark purple and his voice changed to the screeching noise of the artifact.
"Shut up!" With bleeding ears, Blake fired a flameburst that launched him forward.
THUD!
The right arm of the intruder which was still in possession of the wooden heart fell on the ground, causing the screeching to stop.
"That useless merchant has to pay a lot!" Blake cursed the merchant and his business.
[You are forgetting something.] The system pointed him to the bleeding arm of the intruder who was writhing in pain but they couldn't hear him due to their damaged ears.
"This should stop the bleeding." A ball of fire appeared on Blake's hand and went straight to the bleeding arm.
'I am actually glad that I can't hear anything at this point.' Brian said when he saw the agonizing expression on the face of the intruder but couldn't hear a sound.
"I don't feel safe getting close to that thing…" Blake pointed a the wooden heart. "So I would call Susan to get in touch with the ash corps."
Once the intruder fell unconscious due to pain, lack of blood, and little Mana left in his body thanks to Castiel, Blake called up Susan on his adventurer communication amulet.
"I won't be able to hear whatever you are saying." Blake pointed to his bleeding ears. "The intruder has been captured with the stolen artifact and goods still intact. Also, we ran into some complications that gave us no other option than to kill those that came to buy the stolen goods."
Once Blake was done with the report, Susan immediately connected to Ashely who was shocked when she heard they had completed commission.
"Alright… 2 teams will be sent to handle the scene and take in the intruder." Ashely said in a flustered tone as she cut the communication link and deployed 2 units to the slums.
"Is it that they are just too good or they have a secret?" Ashely couldn't help but ask. Blake's team has gone to Kadri's residence to ask some questions, but it wasn't even noon yet, but they had already tracked down the intruder and even captured him!
"Anyways, I hope they are involved in more investigation missions because they are still a lot of unsolved cases." Ashely said.
The presence of magic was theoretically meant to reduce the crime rate and increase investigation efficiency, but it was actually the opposite. Coupled with poverty, the gift of magic increased the crime rate to triple what it was meant to be.
In less than an hour, the 2 teams of ash corps arrived at the abandoned warehouse. The 1st unit was in charge of healing Blake's team and the intruder to make sure he didn't die.
As for the second team, they handled the corpse of the buyers and contained the wooden heart along with the decapitated arm.
…
At the moment 2 units had been deployed, Ashely got a report that Slade was fatally injured, but had managed to escape from the hideout.
The Creed gang's hideout was attacked by 4 B rank and 1 A-rank adventurer party. None of the parties had nothing less than 20 members.
Also, the leader of the A rank party who was also in charge of the operation was a Demigod. So it was unbelievable that Slade had managed to escape.
"When did he advance to the Demigod realm?" Ashely couldn't help but ask because that was the only way he could have survived.
…
In the sewer system of the central region, Slade lay on the ground with multiple injuries and the right side of his chest blown out.
While the hideout was being attacked, he wasn't only attacked by the A rank adventurer, Typhoon (Layla's dad). He also had to fight against 2 other peak hero adventurers.
If not for his pool of artifacts and him having recently advanced, it wouldn't have even been a battle.
"I have to say you achieved a lot since the last time we met." A voice said.
"I didn't get to thank you for saving me the last time, and you are here to do it again." Slade said to the man in all black and a smiling black mask.
"That is fate for you." The masked man squatted and poured a rejuvenation potion into his mouth, causing all his injuries to heal at a rate visible to the eye.
"Welcome to the League of assassins."