Chapter 242. The Crimson Reaper’s Web

"I need to set some traps before I leak the news about the energy core vein," Aiden thought.

Hundreds of liquid legendary Rank 3 poisons in poison vials appeared before him.

Several blobs of blood also appeared before Aiden.

The blobs of blood turned into crimson, spongy-looking threads and entered the poison vials.

In a few moments, all the poisons in the poison vials had been absorbed into the sponge-like crimson threads.

The empty poison vials disappeared.

The poison-soaked crimson threads floated before Aiden.

"I need to make this microscopic. A trap works best when the prey doesn’t know they are walking into a trap."

Under Aiden’s control, the crimson-soaked threads started to turn into extremely thin, sharp-bladed crimson threads till they looked microscopic.

They could not be seen by the naked eye.

"The crimson threads can’t do anything on their own against intermediate, advanced, expert, legendary Rank 3 chaotic beasts and warriors. But with the legendary Rank 3 poisons melded with them, they will do just fine," Aiden thought.

He had already mapped out the entire layout of the ruined city before he even arrived here.

The microscopic crimson threads shot towards different directions across the ruined city, through trees, ponds, lagoons, underground regions, ruined skyscrapers, among other places.

They spread everywhere.

No cranny of the city was left uncovered.

The place had become an invisible web of traps.

The only place that was not covered with the traps was Aiden’s body. But everywhere, including the vicinity where he was seated, was completely covered with the poison-melded microscopic crimson threads.

"The ruined city covers roughly about 4 kilometres. This means I can sit here and absorb the blood essence of anything the traps kill, since my blood essence absorption range is now 5 kilometers. I initially had plans of hunting down chaotic beasts actively in the first zone. But the wind-lightning storms here are too much. I can die before I know how. Just because I want to grow strong does not mean I want to get myself killed. Sigh, I was really itching to test my actual combat prowess as a beginner Rank 3 warrior in battle, but I guess that can wait. I should visit the danger zone of Sauna City when I return for that," Aiden thought.

"Also, the lightning storms seem to have killed the covert ops who are protecting me from the shadows. It looks like from now on, I have to rely on myself and my poisons," Aiden thought calmly.

Suddenly, Aiden saw several cloaked figures darting across a ruined skyscraper intertwined with several trees, using his enhanced vision. Several affinities flashed across their battle-suited figures.

"Boss, what’s the next course of action?" one of the cloaked figures said.

"We locate Aiden Vhorn and kill him. We’ve been following him covertly till we got here. That guy is cautious. The last batch of assassins sent after him were killed. It’s shocking how he even noticed them when they were following him from an extremely far distance with a surveillance cam. This time, he couldn’t locate us. He’s a threat to the Order and must be removed," the boss of the assassins said.

"Yes, boss," the group of assassins replied.

"The drones picked up a biological signature of a human at 8 o’clock," someone with spectacles said.

"Alright," the boss said as a glint of coldness flashed through her eyes.

Aiden observed them calmly from the tree.

"So they are from the Paranormal Liberation Order. Good thing I set traps. But I need to hide. Else, who knows what will happen. If they locate me, they can even activate their detonative implants and kill me with them."

He took out a legendary Rank 3 invisibility bracelet he had bought from the Warriors Association of Sauna City before he left the city for York City University and put it on.

His figure completely disappeared. But he was still sitting on the tree.

"With this, not even a legendary Rank 3 warrior or chaotic beast can discover me," Aiden thought.

"They should be walking into a trap now," he thought.

Suddenly, the boss of the Paranormal Liberation Order assassins stopped moving.

"Something is off," she said. Currently, the group was standing on the moss-covered forest floor.

A glint of cautiousness flashed through her eyes.

"I don’t know why, but I have a feeling that he’s watching us," she said.

Everyone widened their eyes.

How was it possible for Aiden Vhorn to be watching them?

"And if he’s watching us, then he has made plans. The Crimson Reaper is known for his tactical acumen," someone said.

"This guy killed several people on the Kahra Desert and did several absurd things in the southern continent, even to the point of outmaneuvering a high-ranking member of the Order in the southern continent." The boss nodded. "We need to retreat and restrategise."

The moment she spoke, she started coughing.

Her veins started turning blue and her eyes turned bloodshot.

Expressions of terror appeared on the faces of her subordinates.

"Retreat... I don’t know how... but he set traps and we have walked into them. It should be some poisons..."

These were her last words before her skin turned completely greenish, and her eyes turned lifeless. Then, she fell down and died.

"He set traps...?"

"But we can’t see anything here!"

"Quick, run!"

"Shit... this guy is a devil, a devil!"

"How did he even pull it off... there are obviously no traps here, right? I don’t even know how we walked into a trap!"

"Even if it’s a gaseous poison, it should have a smell, or a color, right?"

"The boss is dead, run!"

Chaos broke among the Order assassins.

Suddenly, their vision started waning.

"How is this possible..." Someone coughed a mouthful of blood.

"I can’t breathe!" Another lost her breath.

"Shit... my skin is turning greenish... just like the boss..."

The group of expert Rank 3 assassins, willing to die for the cause of the Paranormal Liberation Order on a mission to kill Aiden Vhorn, met the same fate as their team leader.

Thud... thud... thud...

Dull thuds resounded on the rain-covered floor.

A pile of greenish, bloodshot, lifeless bodies, with expressions of shock and fear on their faces, lay on the ground.

They were dead.

Aiden nodded with crimson eyes, invisible on the tree, several distances from where the assassins had died.

"It worked perfectly. They didn’t even realize it when the poison-melded microscopic threads grazed their skin. The solubility of the poisons is very high with an extremely durable cutaneous effect.

As long as the threads come into contact with the skin of a Rank 3 warrior, they will die, unless they have the antidote of the poison in their system. It looks like I won’t need to worry about even legendary Rank 3 opponents if I use this method to assassinate them. As long as it’s not a direct confrontation and I take the initiative to act covertly with enough preparations, I can eliminate them and absorb their blood essence."

Aiden didn’t know that very soon, he would be using this method of assassination to terrorise two reclusive sects on the western continent.

Aiden quietly absorbed the blood essence of the dead assassins from the tree.

"Time to leak the news about the energy core vein."

After that, the pieces would start moving.

Then he would have a large harvest of blood essence waiting for him.