Asher opened his eyes and saw three creatures standing on two legs. At the end of their fingers were sharp claws that were highlighted in Asher’s eyes along with their short golden daggers.
Their eyes were as dark as night and they were dressed from head to toe in black.
Apart from these three, Asher could see more from the corner of his eyes and in total, there were ten of them.
Ariel’s voice rang in his head.
His first thought was to go for his sword, but as he turned his head, the biggest of the assassins removed his mask, revealing his fur-covered face, two wolf-like ears, and a pair of cat-like eyes.
“You have two options. Surrender to the Great Jackal clan or perish.” He brandished his dagger to threaten Asher even more.
Asher knew they would not allow him to stand up, as that would make it harder to easily eliminate him. To make it worse, the three before him were diamond-ranked assassins and the others were well-trained gold-ranked assassins.
Assassins were known for being able to kill those of higher rank. It took decades to train an assassin and they were a special troop that many nobles lacked. A gold-ranked assassin could eliminate a diamond-ranked knight, and a diamond-ranked assassin could eliminate a sacred-ranked knight, mage, priest, swordsman, and any other profession.
And he was surrounded by ten!
“Where do I sign?”
The jackal smirked, revealing his canines. “You don’t need to. We have a life and death scroll that will bind you. All we need is your blood.”
The moment Asher heard that, a gleam flashed through his eyes. He had been considering forcing his way to the hallway or hoping his men would come but both of them had huge cons.
One, in forcing his way, he might be killed, while the second was that his men might never come.
The head assassin brought out an animal skin and gave it to the one by his left.
“Our Lord’s blood is already here. All we need is yours.” The second assassin said as he approached Asher.
Asher gave him his arm and the assassin, instead of opening a small cut on one of Asher’s fingers, sliced his palm!
He groaned deeply but quickly pulled his arm back before his blood touched the animal skin.
“Hold him.” The head assassin ordered.
The seven gold-ranked ones pinned Asher and stretched forth his arm.
Asher looked at his bleeding palm and his expression began to harden. In the next moment, his eyes changed, and his feet sank into the stone floor!
The assassin who wanted to place Asher’s palm on the animal’s skin noticed he could no longer move the palm forcefully. When he turned, his eyes met a pair of cold white eyes boring deep into his soul.
Asher’s expression was so cold that one could see the contours of his jaws because of his clenched teeth.
Boom!
All of a sudden, the air in the room became fierce and blasted the seven assassins away. It formed a transparent cocoon with Asher within.
Before their eyes, Asher began to levitate.
Just as the head chief was about to act, his second in charge plunged a dagger into his throat, causing his eyes to grow wide as he fell.
The second in charge looked and saw Asher’s hand stretched toward him. Fear took hold of the jackal.
Asher swung his palm and the jackal lunged toward the next assassin, defeating and killing him in mere seconds and by the time he turned to the gold-ranked assassins, he found them lifeless.
Bam!
Wind left the ball and wrapped around the assassin’s neck, lifting him into the air.
“You mere beast. Go home and tell your lord that I will be coming.” It seemed like two voices were speaking from Asher’s mouth, one male and the other female.
The last thing the assassin saw before he vanished into darkness was Asher’s cold white eyes drilling into his soul.
After the assassin left, Asher crashed to the ground as his eyes returned to normal. Without being told, he knew Ariel was the one he linked with, which was why he could use her synergy but it felt weird for her to speak through his mouth.
Boom!
As he was recovering from the fall, the doors swung open. Nero, leading Alex, and the other commanders rushed into the room only to see their lord on his knees.
Corpses surrounded him.
“Your Lordship!” Eritrea paled while the others were shocked beyond belief.
Thud!
Instantly, they all fell to their knees and lowered their heads.
“I want another room prepared for me.” Asher said it softly, got to his feet and went to the open window. From there he looked down at the feast, which was coming to an end as many soldiers had gone back to rest.
“How was the feast?”
“Your Lordship…” Alex’s voice trembled. His lord was almost assassinated by beastmen and yet this was the first question his lord asked.
“Were you injured?” Eritrea asked softly.
“Just a little cut. It would have been a problem if Kelvin were to see it, though.” Asher chuckled but reality hit him hard.
Sending all his men, including his protectors, to a feast was stupid and it was more stupid to expect that they would be able to protect him all the time.
“From today, the Shura Vanguards and their commander are prohibited from leaving their lord. Except a direct command.”
Alex nodded.
Others, which were Alec, Adam, and Lambert, couldn’t utter a word.
“Nero. You did well.” Asher smiled at the young swordsman.
[Ding! Upgrade Quest: Conquer the Jackal mining town without sustaining a single loss (0/1).]
[Reward: The gold mining town will be available to be upgraded to a keep.]
Some time later, Asher lay on a bed in a different room and his hand was being treated by the physician and his female apprentice. Both of them felt pressured to be under the sight of their lofty lord.
At the opposite end of the bed stood Alex.
Just behind the physician and his apprentice was Katarina.
“You summoned me, Your Lordship.”
“Yes. Have you given the prisoner’s family the hexakad eggs?”
“Yes.”
“Have they visited him?”
“I planned for them to visit him tomorrow.”
“Change that. Bring him here.”
