It finally happened a few days after.

  “Did you… feel that?” Eri asked.

  Dulcina paused in her attack, lowering her training sword as her opponent seemed distracted by something. “What do you mean?”

  The two were in the sparring ground — they duelled nearly daily now, at Dulcina’s insistence to improve her fencing. No one else was around.

  Yet, Eri’s Observation Skill was pricking at him.

  A shift in the air… and was that another tremor in the sands?

  [Observation: Lethal Intent detected]

  “Grab your weapon, now!” Eri shouted. “We are under—”

  He had no time to finish before the ground beneath him opened up.

  He fell, and an enormous maw moved to swallow him — a giant worm. Eri felt the caustic wetness of its fanged gullet touch his boots and fencing shirt, melting the leather and fabric instantly.

  The boy allowed himself to fall, keeping calm even as the maw closed above him. He was swallowed in darkness and acid.

  Eri ignored the pain as he pulled a high-explosive cylinder from his inventory.

  Seconds later, the head of the giant sandworm blew apart, and a slime-drenched Eri leapt free from the corpse to find a cloaked intruder duelling against Dulcina, who was at a disadvantage without a proper weapon in hand.

  He didn’t waste time analysing the opponent. The moment he set eyes on the figure attacking Dulcina, he acted.

  [Dagger Arts, Hollowfang’s Third Form: Two-Step Kill]

  Eri blurred to motion. The intruder sensed his killing intent and reacted in panic, leaping away from Dulcina and swinging his shortsword wide in Eri’s general direction.

  Their attack slashed empty air. There was no time for the intruder to even express their confusion before steel bit their spine and tore it clean in half.

  Eri kicked the corpse aside, quickly pulling a real duelling sabre from his inventory and tossing it into Dulcina’s waiting hand. “Get ready, two more coming!”

  “Who are they?!” the noblewoman shouted. “They shouldn’t have been able to breach the Castle’s walls with the magical barrier activating!”

  Unless someone turned it off, and I just might have an idea who.

  Not many people in the castle would have access to the magical wardings…

  [Observation: Lethal Intent detected]

  Eri had no time to ponder further before his Observation Skill kicked in. Instincts guided his hands, and he narrowly deflected an arrow shot from the shadows of the sparring shed.

  Eri was certain there had been no one there a second before.

  “Hm. You are sharp for your age.”

  [Duskcrown Fellhand: Lvl 67 Shadowalker]

  The cloaked man emerged from the shed, twirling a shadowy arrow casually in his hand. The darkness of his robes was unnatural — a wispy, ethereal blackness.

  “Lethal as hell, too. Took out my partner there without a sweat. Say, why don’t you join us? Duskcrown’s paying pretty well. Hand us the girl, and we’ll— Whoa!”

  Eri used [Two-Step Kill] once more. The first step still forced the assassin to react and miss the swing with his black-mist bow, but when Eri moved behind the man, his shadowy cloak suddenly came to life and seized Eri’s killing hand.

  The man retaliated immediately, using his handheld arrow to stab over his shoulder with incredible speed and precision. Eri cursed and ducked his head back, narrowly avoiding a jab to his eye.

  That was fast. Not an amateur at all. These people are dangerous.

  The alien cloak would not let go, so Eri summoned a blade to his other hand and slashed off the tentacle-like appendage.

  There was barely any resistance; it was as if he were cutting shadows.

  Still, the cloak released its hold on him. Eri nimbly ducked another arrow jab before slashing at the assassin’s torso.

  His daggers once again cut through shadowy emptiness. The man disappeared like mist before reappearing in a dark corner of the sparring ground, firing an arrow the moment he manifested.

  Eri sliced the arrow out of the air, frowning as he protectively leapt to Dulcina’s side, ready to deflect more arrows.

  The man’s slippery… If not for my Observation Skills reaching ‘Expert’ Proficiency, I might have been hit by now.

  What kind of Artes are those? I’ve never seen them before, even when I was a Demon King…

  “Phew! Nearly got me there!” The man nervously chuckled. “What the hell, are all Bronze Cores so dangerous these days?”

  “Number 38, stop playing.” A third assassin — a dark-skinned woman in similarly cloaked attire — appeared on the walls. “We can’t afford to waste time. Grab the girl already.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  “I would have if your damn sandworm had properly killed the boy,” the shadowy man hissed. “Don’t underestimate the kid; he already killed Number 52.”

  The woman noticed the decapitated body of the first assassin and swore. She raised a hand.

  A great moving shadow momentarily blocked out the sun. Eri looked up and saw an enormous desert vulture fall from the sky.

  He jolted back in shock. The creature was the size of a wagon, and it was coming straight for them.

  Dulcina dodged right, and Eri went left. The creature’s talons gouged deep into the sands, massive wings churning up dust clouds that left Eri’s eyes stinging.

  [Observation: Lethal Intent detected]

  Eri immediately ducked, dodging a shadowy arrow from behind as it flew past his head.

  It had made no sound, nor did it even shift the air by even the most minuscule tremor.

  Not just Artes. Concealment magic. Paired with bolstered Silencing spells.

  Someone enchanted these assassins before they came for us.

  “Damn! Do you have eyes on the back of your head or something?!” The man complained. Eri threw his daggers at him, but he disappeared into the shadows once more.

  Annoying. Eri sighed before returning his focus to the woman and her vulture.

  [Duskcrown Fellhand: Lvl 71 Desert Beastmaster]

  The vulture was already grounded — Dulcina had severed a wing and badly wounded its leg as she danced around the feral beast, slashing hard with her sabre.

  “They are both Silver-Cores!” Eri shouted as he regrouped with her. “The male assassin can move through shadows and attack noiselessly!”

  “I think I can hold him off!” Dulcina shouted, sidestepping the vulture’s shrieking charge and lopping off its horridly long tongue in one seamless motion. “Can you deal with the summoner in the meantime?”

  That was a terrible idea; Dulcina was still a Copper Core. She was on the verge of her ascension and would likely receive her Bronze Core once her yearly Tribulation Day arrived in another month, but for the moment, she was woefully ill-suited for this fight.

  But Eri didn’t have a choice. He couldn’t deal with both opponents at once without risking Dulcina’s safety, and neither could he try to tell Dulcina to flee, lest the Shadowalker shoot her in the back.

  I’ll have to buff her with the Bond Shop first; otherwise, it’s too dangerous to leave her alone while I deal with the Beastamer. Eri grimaced. Sorry, Dulcina. I’ll explain later, but I don’t have time for permission! System!

  [Understood. Applying ‘Lesser Combat Boost’ to Companion Dulcina]

  [5 Bond Points deducted! All of Companion’s Attributes +10!]

  “I’ll slow him down first!” Eri shouted. “Don’t fight to kill him; prioritise staying alive!”

  Eri produced several dice-shaped objects from his inventory, each clutched between his fingers. When he felt the flicker of lethal intent again, he threw it in its direction without even turning.

  There was a scream as the dices detonated violently in a dark corner, sending spike-like shrapnel slicing through the air. Eri glanced and saw the Shadowalker clutching a ruined hand, the mangled stump wisping vapour-like shadows as severed palm and fingers fell to the ground.

  Satisfied with the results, Eri charged towards the walls, not wasting another second on the Shadowalker assassin as he rapidly closed the distance between him and the Beastmaster.

  Athletics improved his dash to incredible heights, granting him agility beyond a Chosen of his rank. The woman cursed loudly, caught off guard by his speed, as magic roiled at her fingertips.

  [Beastamer Arts, First Form: Keeper’s Benediction]

  The wounded vulture suddenly rose, wings healed and fury stoked, as it took flight briefly before diving for Eri head-on.

  Eri sucked in a breath.

  [Dagger Arts, Hollowfang’s Fourth Form: Life-Emptying Crucible]

  His right dagger blazed a brilliant silver. The magic swallowed his entire arm, turning it into a massive, shining claw.

  Eri slashed, blade tearing vertically down the middle.

  Flesh, bone, and organs were all parted before him. The vulture was cleaved clean into two.

  The boy didn’t stop moving, throwing his twin daggers onto the wall ahead before running effortlessly up the flat surface. Using the impaled daggers as footholds, he ascended the wall in seconds and powerfully leapt up the last few metres.

  The robed Beastmaster struck, her hand wiping out right as Eri appeared over the walls.

  A desert snake slithered over her arm. The venomous creature lashed out in unison with its mistress, spitting foul poison.

  There was no time for Eri to pull out another weapon, but he didn’t really need one.

  [Unarmed Arts, Ascetic Fire Monks’ First Form: Enduring Firefist]

  Eri’s hand blazed with a sudden inferno, the fires seemingly hardening the flesh and bones of his hands into burning rock. His backfist strike obliterated the snake’s head and vaporised its spitting venom.

  To the woman’s credit, she didn’t hesitate. Pulling out a dirk, she closed in on Eri rather than retreat, choosing to trust her superior Core and physical capabilities to overwhelm him.

  It was not an unfair assumption on her part; Eri was a Bronze Core and a child. Common sense dictated that she, an experienced Silver-Core Chosen, would win every time.

  But some part of her must have already known it wouldn’t work — the despair was apparent in her eyes.

  This was no ordinary child she was fighting. An ordinary child would not have so easily triumphed over her repeated attempts to kill him.

  Her sandworm. Her vulture. Her snake. All dead.

  The primal part of her brain already registered herself as his next prey.

  The woman’s thrust was perfectly aimed at his heart. It didn’t matter as Eri moved faster, hands blurring as he simply grabbed her wrist and crushed it under his fiery grip.

  He held her in place. There was no time for her to panic before he placed a flaming palm against her chest.

  [Unarmed Arts, Ascetic Fire Monks’ Second Form: Rippling Heat]

  A fiery pulse vibrated through her body. The woman’s eyes widened in fear. Eri saw her veiled mouth open.

  “Wait—!”

  There was no time for her to finish. No time to even scream.

  A heartbeat later, the woman’s back exploded. Blazing spine and flesh tore through her cloak and splattered all over the floor behind her. Her internal organs were cooked thoroughly through, and her blood hissed as it boiled to steam against the stone battlement.

  She was mercifully dead before she hit the ground, but the sheer violence of his actions unsettled Eri momentarily.

  It wasn’t the same as when he hunted the demons in the port. The sheer panic in the woman’s eyes before they went dark was haunting.

  The heroes he faced before as a Demon King all held defiant looks even as they died, but the despair they felt at the realisation of their imminent failure, even after all the hopes placed on their shoulders, was not a sight he enjoyed seeing.

  Distinctly, Eri wondered if it was a good thing he had become so adept at killing.

  There was no choice. But still… Next time, I prefer using daggers, Eri shakily thought as he pulled another pair of knives from his inventory and leapt back down to the sparring grounds. But I have to admit, Elen’s insistence on learning unarmed combat paid off after all.

  One more assassin left. Hopefully, I can make his death a little more dignified.