Drained
Drained
The moment the assassins entered the guest room, they avoided a direct confrontation. They spread around the room, confident that their movements were invisible to the naked eye.
'I wonder how they do that…' W thought as he tightened his stance. His sword and he were ready for anything.
Immediately, a volley of darkness rained down upon W. The room was large, yes, but this was certainly no stadium. W was immediately besieged!
W's swings cut through the air but…
"Urgh- Argh!" Corrosive arrows continued to pelt him. There was no way for him to swing fast enough to block all those instant attacks.
Suddenly, the sound of blades clashing!
The assassin jumped back, they were secretly shocked by the occurrence. The first time could be chalked up to coincidence, but not the second! Brennan could see them!
The eyes of the assassins narrowed and their relentless attacks relented. They were going to approach this more carefully. W could see all the assassins backing off to reevaluate their method of attack.
"Tsk!" W was annoyed. Brennan's body singed from the corrosive darkness. Thankfully, Bloody had nice regenerative abilities. As a mob with the powers of both death and life, dealing with the leftover corrosives was easy for Bloody.
Brennan's sword however did not have a bloody in it. The sword he was currently gripping was not his personal sword, it was just the best found in Arbor town. It was a high quality sword, there was no doubt of that.
'It's not good enough though' W quickly tossed aside the slowly corroding weapon.
"It's good you all locked the door on your way in" W said after shooting the locked door a glance.
The assassins who were already wary of Brennan had their hearts chill. This unbridled confidence… was it a ploy? Or did the former king come back with unknown powers. There was this sense of unease...
After just a moment, they buried this unease and decided to proceed with their impromptu plan.
"No matter… Kill him!" The leader of the assassin squad shouted to his teammates. The leader also charged out towards Brennan at that moment with two daggers in hand. These daggers were coated in a black ooze that one could tell was poisonous at a glance.
This was good, there was something W was begging to try out.
Blood splattered out as both daggers dug into W's body. But it wasn't just these daggers that dug into Brennan… Apart from throwing knives, there was also swords present!
The captain charging out was nothing but a diversion! W… W had fallen for their trap!
Brennan puked out a mouthful of blood.
"Huh?" The usually silent assassins finally made sounds. They were confused. Their weapons were stuck!
It was then that the blood Brennan puked out came to live. It rocketed up the bodies of the assassins and barged into them. The 3 assassins that took the liberty to sneak up on Brennan did not react quickly enough.
Their immediate reaction was to try and puke out the weird creature, but... Bloody was poisonous. The toxins Bloody acquired in the mushroom caverns were not child's play, the assassins turned pale and collapsed slowly onto the ground.
Not just that, but the collapsed bodies then began to thin out at a visible pace. They were becoming discolored husks.
The fragmented pieces of Bloody then all exited the now deceased bodies. It looked like a blood-red tide swept across the floor and crawled its way up Brennan's body.
The blood started entering Brennan's body just like it had done for the assassins, but as expected, the former king was completely fine. Brennan even looked refreshed.
The weapons that were still attached to Brennan's body then fell to the ground with a clang.
'I'm glad I didn't die' W used Bloody's metal body skill to prevent the blades from leaving his body. He also used it to ensure no vital organs were punctured. In a way, he armored his interior body.
The weapons being stuck as a side effect of this protection allowed Bloody an opportunity to suck the assassins dry from within. Now, there was just one fellow from the assassin squad.
The blood in Brennan's body began to churn, it was becoming heated, and W became increasingly energetic. The assassin did not hesitate to attack the wall of the bedroom, this smart person was escaping!
But of course, W wouldn't have that. He firmly pressed his feet on the ground before dashing off with explosive power. His figure smashed past the falling debris and cloud of dust.
Though blinded, Brennan's body grappled onto that of the assassin. He could still see them through sixth sense! These assassins were caught very much outside of their comfort zones!
"AARRGGH!!!" The assassin let out a frightened scream as they struggled to break free from Brennan's body. It was to no avail, Brennan's hands were like the talons of a bird holding prey. There was no hope... The assassin's face paled.
Blood began to flow out of Brennan's body, they wanted to scream some more, but they quickly forced their own mouth shut. They shook their head fervently while holding back tears. This was too cruel!
Their protest was useless. Bloody punctured into their body and their face went from pale to ghastly pale. After a while, they no longer resisted.
'That was… easier than I expected' The assassins were not weaker than him. If it wasn't for Bloody's regenerative boost and natural ability to deal with both the death and life elements… it was very likely that Brennan's body would have collapsed from the first few corrosive arrows.
The assassins' only mistakes was that they didn't know their opponent. What should have been the lowest risk target suddenly brought out powers that did not match their knowledge.
'Still, they are very thorough' Their reaction when splitting told W they accounted for many possibilities. The number of assassins that chased him was overkill for a single Brennan. That would be if things were all according to their expectations.
'But as soon as they saw me block their first attack and escape past them…' They figured they couldn't be too careful. This was good for W, but it was bad news for Miller! The assassins were confident that they could get rid of him without 4 others!
'Hmm… Should we… should we help?' W asked Bloody with reluctance.
Brennan's position as king was being put into question. If the current king died, it was natural for Brennan or his children to take the seat back. It was in W and Bloody's best interest to let Miller die.
On the other hand, they could try to get more benefits from Miller and his entourage if he helped them. The only problem was this relied heavily on their good virtue.
'Would Ed help?' W suddenly asked himself this question. Would Ed help?
He was honestly unsure.
'Let's leave it to their fate then' This meant leaving them to die, but W simply couldn't risk helping. Apart from helping going against his interests, the suspicions towards him might grow. They should never discover there was a monster inside of Brennan!
In fact, he was already unsure about how to explain the deaths of these assassins. He couldn't say they died suddenly, right?
For users of the death element, their death didn't seem entirely farfetched. The suddenness could be brushed over and it seemed like an end befitting these demons. There was one key detail, however.
'Their body didn't rot' This small detail would point away from the death element. This killer element did not differentiate between living components, they were all targets for murder.
It was at this moment the floor seemed to shake. W who was still standing above the assassin stumbled forward.
'What the heck!' W shouted inwardly seeing the assassins fly out of the throne room. Strong gales of wind pinned them against the wall, they were entirely suppressed.
A human with an irate expression stepped out of the throne room. He was dressed like a swordsman, but the turbulent winds that surrounded him suggested he knew more than just a little magic.
"Samuel…" W muttered from afar. This was the human that escaped him using a weird augmented power of the wind. Even in a near mana less state, this human managed to escape with his life.
'He has progressed…' W thought silently while feeling very conflicted. He was seeing an old nemesis attacking his teammates, but he couldn't do anything about it!
Technically they weren't teammates but they could be considered friends, right? The enemy of my enemy is my friend?
Another thing that made him feel conflicted however was the daunting progress of Samuel. The current Samuel could not compare to that one from a few months ago. They hadn't fought, but it was clearly evident.
"Samuel, great job" Miller said with cold sweat. He was usually rather stoic but under the threat of death, even Miller could not remain impartial.
Samuel did not answer to the praise. He still held an angry expression as he looked down at the assassins he just subjugated.
"Get someone to disable them and interrogate them" Miller said to the knights behind him.
These knights, less than half of their original numbers, came out and with much hatred helped maim the deathly assassins.
"Wait…! They are killing themselves!" One of the knights exclaimed seeing one of the assassins go limp before he could plunge his blade into their body.
Samuel immediately acted. The wind which was just pressing them against the wall before smacked all of them down on the ground.
He let the wind enter their bodies for a quick examination.
Samuel frowned, there were no foreign objects.
"There is nothing…" Samuel said.
"Then… how are they killing themselves?" A knight asked. All they got in response was a dry chuckle from a wilting assassin.
"You!" The knight kicked the assassin, but they were already dead by that point.
"Stay back!" Samuel then shouted, having noticed one of the assassins twitch. Zombies... Again!?!