Chapter 506: A Very Original Assassination Attempt [II]

The realization dawned on the assassin far too late.

As it turned out, Thalia had intentionally positioned her body behind the broad face of her shield so that she could hide her movements.

Knowing he would try to snake around her guard the moment she got close, she had let go of the shield at the very last second.

The shield kept sailing forward through the air, carried by her forward momentum and making it seem as Thalia was still behind it.

But she had already peeled away, rounding around the opposite side of the shield to come up directly behind the robed figure.

The dagger-wielder didn’t even have time to turn his head before the heiress of Theosbane swung her cruciform sword with enough brutality to put a butcher to shame.

—CRACK!

The enchanted steel split open the assassin’s skull from temple to temple. Brain matter and gooey blood geysered into the cold air for a brief, horrific moment before his body collapsed limply to the stone floor, dead before he ever hit the ground.

One down.

Without pausing to catch her breath, Thalia yanked her sword back, flicking the blood off the gleaming blade, letting the crimson droplets splatter onto the ground.

The remaining assassins dashed in.

Thalia was just preparing to raise her guard again when she felt something slamming into her from the side.

—BOOM!

She went flying.

Her armored body plowed through one of the stone pillars before thrashing onto the ground with enough force to rattle her bones.

Breath was knocked clean out of her lungs and there was no doubt she had a few cracked ribs at least. "Ghk—!"

She dropped to the floor, rolling instinctively before another attack could reach her. An arrow stabbed into the spot where her head had been a moment earlier.

Thalia pushed herself up onto one knee and whipped her arm around, hurtling her sword in the direction from where that arrow had come.

The cruciform sword spun through the air and vanished into the darkness. A wet splatter and a dull thud told her she had struck true.

Two down.

She grunted and looked down at the tangled mess of metal fragments and bloody flesh under her right arm.

Her armor had been partially crushed inward there, the golden plates bent and cracked from whatever had hit her.

Whatever it was, it had enough power to turn solid enchanted steel into scrap metal. On top of it, the one who attacked her had moved fast.

It wasn’t the warhammer-wielder, since that guy was currently running toward from directly ahead.

Breathing shakily, Thalia dismissed her mangled chestplate, feeling some relief in her chest as the crushed metal vanished back into light particles.

Her ribs throbbed horribly, but she pushed the pain to the back of her mind. She kept the gorget and the gauntlets manifested to protect her neck and empower her punches.

As the massive hammer-wielder closed the distance, she picked herself up and darted at him. A thin beam of condensed plasma shot at her from somewhere in the darkness, but she easily dodged it by crouching low.

When the studded warhammer came swinging for her head, she went even lower and threw herself to her knees, sliding under the massive weapon.

Not giving the warhammer-wielder any respite, she sprang up and drove herself into his waist.

It looked like an absurdly reckless tackle — a slender girl trying to take down a man built like a tank.

But Thalia wasn’t really aiming to push him back.

The moment her hands wrapped around his waist, she launched her body upward, executing an improvised front flip right against his imposing frame.

Her body cartwheeled. Her legs came over his chest and hooked around his broad shoulders until she was practically sitting there on top of him.

The whole maneuver took less than a second, and in the next, Thalia grabbed the front and back of his head with both her hands and twisted with all the strength left in her arms.

—CRACK!

She snapped his neck. Just like that.

His mountainous body staggered, lifelessly collapsing forward like a felled tree.

Thalia kicked off his shoulders as he went down, airborne for a split second before a thin beam of plasma hummed through the space where her chest had just been.

She hit the stone floor, rolling smoothly under the infernal beam and transitioning into a low sprint.

The two remaining attackers on the ground had already zeroed in, their blades bared to finish her off.

They clearly expected her to reset her stance, to pull back and defend. But she wasn’t in the mood for it.

Without a weapon in hand, Thalia lunged forward like a wild beast, bashing her shoulder into the midsection of the nearest assassin.

The robed figure reacted with commendable speed, plunging his short sword deep into her back, right under her shoulder.

Pain flared bright and white. She cried out, but didn’t so much as flinch otherwise, instead using her momentum to drag him down to the stone floor with her.

They crashed together in a mess of limbs. Thalia ended up on top, her hand shooting down to pin his throat before he could twist the blade in her back.

He thrashed beneath her, his free hand frantically trying to push her off, but Thalia simply lifted her gauntleted fist and brought it down on his throat.

—THUMP!

The heavy golden steel crushed his windpipe instantly. The assassin gave one violent jerk, his eyes bulging behind his plain red mask, before his limbs went completely still.

Breathing heavily, her vision swimming slightly from the pain in her shoulder, Thalia pulled the blade out of her back with a low growl and slowly pushed herself up.

That blade was definitely laced with poison.

She immediately began circulating Essence to isolate the toxins in her body. That would stop her from going all out.

She’d have to keep a portion of her Essence focused on containing the poison, which meant she couldn’t afford to waste much of it.

But that was fine.

Four down now.