Fire Mage

Chapter 5: Ruthless Killer

Meanwhile, a total of 12 black-cloaked guys arrived in front of the two-storied house and then scattered in different positions.

Unlike the guards, these guys looked more like professional killers! John wasn't unaware of their movements. He studied those cloaked figures' movements one by one through an opened window and became deadly serious.

'These guys are not a normal bunch. But they aren't well-trained.' He nodded his head.

'It's been so long since I went on a rampage. Tsk, although my action will enrage this city lord, it can't be helped.' Although John was a little worried about these guys' abnormal strength, he didn't put much thought into it.

He was a skilled assassin on Earth. With the newly attained magical skills, he wouldn't have any problem dealing with these killers.

'Moreover, they are not assassins. From their movements, I can tell that most of them are relying on their brute strength. Their stealth skills are pathetic... Hmm? They also seemed to have no experience in weapons. There is one thing I'm worried about these guys are numbers. I need to kill these guys quickly. I can't fight against all of them at a time.' He made a few plans inside his head and moved in the dark like a spider.

Meanwhile, two cloaked guys went to the backside, and another three guys stealthily climbed up and seemed to be planning to move towards the second floor through the opened windows. The other seven killers took out their weapons and moved inside after opening the entrance gate.

John activated [Conceal] and [Dark Vision] skills and then moved towards the back door. He saw two cloaked guys were sneaking into the Lounge and sprinted towards them while holding the silver dagger in his right hand.

Before they could notice his presence in the dark, he appeared behind them and thrust his dagger into one of the guys' necks.

A heartbeat later, his silver dagger plunged into the killer's neck while tearing the flesh and gave him a fatal wound.

John didn't stop his hand and swiftly withdrew his dagger from the enemy's neck. He then made a hand movement and swiftly sliced the other guy's throat in a second!

The enemy fell on the tiled floor a heartbeat later while gripping his throat and soon went motionless!

[Target Eliminated! 30 Battle Exp obtained!]

John curled his lips as he saw the notification icon and then shifted his gaze towards the other guy, who was now gasping for breath with a horrified expression on his face. He then tried to grab John but failed miserably before falling on the floor.

Meanwhile, John squatted next to the twitching man and shook his head.

"This is what happens when you dare to play hide and seek with a former assassin." He let out a chuckle and sliced his throat calmly.

[Target Eliminated! 29 Battle Exp obtained!]

"Not bad. Not bad at all!" He spoke lightly, sheathed the dagger, and stood up. After that, he calmly walked towards the spiral stairs with light footsteps and moved towards the second floor.

A few seconds later, he arrived at the second-floor corridor and noticed another guy was cautiously walking out of his bedroom.

He then walked on the smooth corridor and appeared to be moving towards his study room!

John also noticed the other two guys' presence from the storeroom and gave a cold look.

He gripped his silver dagger and was about to attack but stopped.

His heartbeat raced all of a sudden!

It was the [Sixth Sense] warning!

He reflexively moved towards the right side and narrowly avoided a dark lightning bolt that came from outside.

A second later, the lightning bolt exploded and illuminated the whole corridor while exposing his location to the enemy.

'There must be an observer outside! But how did he found my location? Also, what is this powerful lightning attack?' He didn't dare to waste a second and moved towards the sole enemy who just walked out of his bedroom.

Meanwhile, the killer also noticed his presence and rushed towards his direction while gripping a short sword in his right hand. His movements were unique and gave only a few openings for John to attack. A second later, clangs reverberated at his bedroom's entrance, and yellow sparks flew everywhere.

After parrying for five seconds, John felt a numb sensation.

No, a total of three shallow cuts appeared on his right arm!

'His strength is above normal! I can't kill him using normal means.' He frowned and crouched down a little.

He then took out a kitchen knife from his black boots and threw it towards the killer at high speed. Simultaneously, he also took a step back and blended into the darkness.

Meanwhile, the killer moved his sword and blocked the kitchen knife. But soon, he frowned as he noticed the disappearance of his target and shouted.

"Guys, Be careful of any sneak attack. This guy seems to have chosen the-'Cough'." But before he could finish his words, a silver dagger came from his right side and plunged into his throat!

A second later, John appeared next to the killer, snatched his sword, and slashed at his head.

Like his silver dagger, this short sword was abnormally sharper and decapitated his head in an instant!

[Target Eliminated! 28 Battle Exp obtained!]

The enemy's head flew up in the air with widened eyes and sprayed the scarlet blood on the white ceiling!

Before the decapitated head could reach the land, a soft hand caught the head and disappeared into the darkness.

When the other two killers arrived near the bedroom entrance, only a headless body lay on the tiled floor.

"Ray is down!" One of the killers growled in anger.

"I will hold him off for a while. You go and tell the situation to Zero." Another voice muttered and moved towards the headless body.

But before he could take a step forward, his expression went stiff as he heard a slashing sound from behind.

With wary eyes, he turned around and became horrified!

Instead of his partner, he saw a headless body dancing in the dark and soon fell, leaving a thudding sound behind.

"Are you looking for this?" John appeared in front of the killer and threw the other guy's head towards him.

Fear gripped his heart as he caught the head instinctively and screamed in anger!

"Did you feel the fear?" John smiled coldly while avoiding the incoming sword and directly slashed the sword at the killer's throat.

[Target Eliminated! 30 Battle Exp obtained!]

[Target Eliminated! 26 Battle Exp obtained!]

John nodded inwardly as he glanced at the notifications and soon heard multiple footsteps from the stairs.

'Before they come here, I should go and finish off the sneaky observer.' He sliced the killer's head and threw it in his bedroom. After that, he went near the opened window and stealthily climbed down from the second floor.

He glanced around warily and then noticed one dark shadow was peeking towards him from the El Street road. The shadow's eyes glowed in green color.

Before John could climb down from the second floor, the dark shadow noticed his presence and ran away hurriedly.

'Who is he? A neighbor?' He furrowed his brows and shook his head.

He then moved towards the backside and looked at the opposite building's rooftop. The building was a simple one-storied house and looked abandoned.

He saw a dark human shadow on the rooftop and noticed that guy seemed to be searching for him using a telescope-like instrument.

'There he is.' John muttered inwardly and moved towards the opposite building.

Before the observer could notice his presence, he arrived at the foot and climbed up hastily using the nearby ladder.

The poor observer didn't sense his presence and appeared to be communicating with other assassins through a strange silver ring.

'Magic cell phone?' John stealthily climbed up to the rooftop and silently appeared behind the observer.

Unlike others, this guy didn't wear any black cloak. He wore a loose red robe and looked more like a mysterious mage. He had dark hair, a round chubby face, and looked around 20-years-old.

"I didn't see any traces of him on the second floor." The observer muttered in dissatisfaction.

"Are you looking for me?" John didn't plan to waste any more time and asked.

The observer jolted up in shock and turned around with a frightened face.

"H-How did you find me?" He asked with a stutter and then activated the strange ring.

"I will tell you when you answer my questions," John said as he slashed his silver dagger and severed the observer's wrist.

The next instant, the observer screamed while attracting the other 7 killers' attention and nearby neighbors.

"I-I will answer! I will answer it." He shouted while shivering like a frightened cat.

"Good. Tell me your full name." John stared into his red eyes and ordered while analyzing him.

'Hmm, he looks more like a coward. Heh, let's see what information I will get from him.'

"Rios Garcia." The observer replied while gashing his teeth.

"Who are those 'True Lords'?" John nodded his head and asked while playing with his silver dagger.

"I don't know! I don't know! But I heard from Da- Master James that they have some connection with Nightwind Elders." Rios said hurriedly and glanced at those cloaked killers. They were already moving towards this building from Charles's house.

John was well aware of the cloaked enemies' movements and asked another question.

"Who is James? Why is he after me?"

"This… His master is afraid of you-." Rios clamped his mouth shut at a slip of the tongue and became pale.

"His master?" John stared at him deeply and skilfully threw a knife towards one of the killers who had already arrived near the building.

The knife tore through the air with a whooshing sound and directly landed on the opponent's throat!

"L-Lord M-Martin Nightwind. He is Lord Martin Nightwind." Upon witnessing such a scene, Rios took a step back in fear and answered.

"Good. Now, why is he after me?" John was very curious about this. It didn't make any sense at all.

"It's about your father. Lord Martin feared that your father might have given you a final gift before his death. So, he cooperated with the 'True Lords' and planned to kill you before you chose your Main Class."

"What has to do with me choosing the Main Class?" John stared at the loose mouth with a deep look and asked.

"Unless you activate your Class, you won't receive your father's gift," Rios replied nonchalantly.

'Oh? How did he know so much information?' John became shocked for a moment and soon furrowed his brows.

"How did you know so much information?"

"James is my dad." Rios scratched his head awkwardly and hung his head in depression.

'Heh, so that explains everything. Moreover, a gift, huh?' John arched his lips upward as he turned around and moved towards the killers who were climbing up to the rooftop using a ladder.

After taking the fifth step, he activated [Conceal] skill and disappeared into the darkness.

The next instant, he arrived near the ladder's end and started killing the enemies one by one.

[Target Eliminated! 27 Battle Exp obtained!]

[Target Eliminated! 30 Battle Exp obtained!]

[Target Eliminated! 24 Battle Exp obtained!]

…

A few minutes later, John stood on the rooftop while glancing at the eight corpses and sighed heavily. He felt fatigued all over his body.

'My muscles are hurting like hell. Tsk, what a troublesome job.' He shook his head and glanced at the shivering Rios. After witnessing the battle, Rios had already submitted his fate to John. Like a scared cat, he stood a few meters away from him.

Although John managed to kill all of the enemies, multiple shallow cuts appeared all over his body. 

Blood dripped down from his hand and pained the rooftop.

"Do you have any healing potion?" He asked in a cold tone.

On the other hand, Rios hurriedly nodded his head, took out a reddish vial, and gave it to him.

"T-This is the only thing I have." He said in an anxious tone.

On the other hand, John caught the vial and furrowed his brows.

'Is it a healing potion? Or, a poison?' A frown appeared on his face.

Noticing his frown, Rios trembled all over and spoke in a hurry.

"It's a real one, sir. I wouldn't dare to lie."

Upon seeing his terrified face, John gave one last look and opened the vial.

"Open your mouth," He ordered.

With a helpless look on his face, Rios nodded his head and opened his mouth.

On the other hand, John poured a small amount of potion into his mouth and ordered him to drink it. Then, he waited for a minute.

Only after noticing nothing abnormal happened on Rios did John raised his hand and drank the vial. 

After noticing that the wounds on his body were starting to disappear, he breathed out a sigh of relief and glanced at the notifications.

'I got 321 Battle Exp!' He calculated the Exp he got from killing twelve members and nodded.

He then moved near those corpses and started decapitating their heads one by one.

After dropping the heads, he climbed down using the ladder and began to take these severed heads.

"W-Why are you taking their heads?" After climbing down from the rooftop, Rios sneakily glanced at him and asked in horror.

"It's secret. Help me carry them to the reception room."

John smiled mysteriously as he gave a short reply and then walked into his own house.

After that, he repaired the connection to the magic candles and lightened the house.

"Move one wooden table from the dining table to the reception." He ordered Rios and then moved towards the corpses that laid near the backdoor entrance.

He checked their clothes and soon sighed in disappointment.

'These guys don't even have a single copper in their pockets.'

"I'm done!" An anxious voice appeared from the reception room.

Nodding his head, John turned around and went to the reception room.