Chapter 766: One Encounter

At this very moment, in the ghoul tunnels, the wooden dungeon door that had held Lausanne the Second was silently standing wide open.

Inside the door was only darkness.

Damn it.

Miranda's heart was heavy.

Lausanne the Second really had escaped.

Outside the door, Glover lay limp on the ground, eyes closed and motionless. His sword was still on the table, never drawn from its sheath.

Not far away, Ralf lay on his side on a straw pallet, his life or death unknown.

As for...

He was simply nowhere to be seen.

The hastily prepared alarm bell still hung from its frame. The rope drooped low, quietly and obediently waiting for someone to pull it.

Miranda's eyes slowly widened.

No.

Had they been struck by that vampire killer's Evil Whisper again?

But that ability had a limited range. They had tested it. Unless Lausanne the Second escaped the dungeon, he should not have been able to affect the guards outside the door.

And Glover and Ralf had both experienced that ability before. They knew how to resist and respond to it. They even carried "homeless river shrimp" on them as a matter of course.

Besides, had Cassian not said that the black stone shackle could trap a Supreme-class fighter, that Lausanne absolutely could not break free from it?

Had he not said Lausanne the Second was gravely injured, dying, and desperately short of blood, making it hard for him to exert his full strength?

How had they let him escape so soon after she left?

Bad. Very bad.

Miranda was full of questions, but she had no time to complain.

The swordswoman clenched her teeth and held back the impulse to rush out around the corner. First, calmly and cautiously, she observed the surroundings, confirmed the environment, and ruled out threats.

Safe.

The next second, she rose and stepped out, charging around the corner straight toward the alarm bell.

A dangerous felon had escaped unexpectedly. She had to notify the outer posts at once, send word to the prince and the Terrifying Blade, and arrange a capture plan immediately.

But the instant she was only a few steps from the alarm bell, Miranda felt a surge of coldness. The hairs on her body stood upright.

The Heavenly Music Round Dance abruptly shifted, sharp and high.

Bad, Miranda's heart tightened. An ambush!

In that flash of lightning, the swordswoman, who had already been on guard, dropped her shoulder, withdrew a step, and swept her sword horizontally.

Clang!

A crisp sound of metal striking metal rang out. At the crucial instant, her sword Eagle Soar barely deflected a killing blow that had been certain to succeed.

A saber.

Miranda was battle-hardened. Even under sudden attack, she remained calm. With only a hurried glance, she roughly made out the enemy's weapon.

The opponent was using a saber.

Its curve was somewhat strange.

Faster than ordinary swords and sabers.

More bizarre.

But she had blocked it.

Miranda adjusted her center of gravity, rotated both hands, put strength through her waist and back, and pushed the blade into a returning swing.

Eagle Soar cut through the wind with a shrill sound.

The enemy's sneak attack had failed. His rhythm was already disordered, and her calculated counterattack would go straight for his vitals...

Huh?

Miranda's eyes widened as she stared at the empty space before her.

Whoosh!

The next second, the swordswoman's strike cut through nothing. Her miscalculated blow dragged her two steps sideways before she steadied herself and returned to a defensive stance in a slightly sorry state.

The rhythm of the Heavenly Music Round Dance broke, then plunged sharply.

Miranda clenched her teeth, exerted strength, and swiftly turned around to prevent the opponent from coming from another direction.

Hm?

Where was he?

Miranda looked around in shock and uncertainty.

Where had the person gone?

On high alert, Miranda looked front, back, left, and right, the tip of her sword pointing toward every corner where the enemy might be hiding.

But...

Miranda turned several times, yet her field of vision remained empty.

The area around the post was silent.

Just as it had been before.

Only the Heavenly Music Round Dance within her rose in continuous waves, restless and uneasy.

Where was the enemy?

Had the enemy disappeared?

For a time, Miranda could hardly believe it.

She immediately retreated, pressed her back against the wall, reduced the pressure on her defense, and thought urgently.

First, she had been ambushed.

Even though she had carefully observed before rushing out, she had still failed to discover any trace of the enemy in hiding.

Second, after one strike, the enemy had vanished without a trace.

If not for the injuries in her hands still aching after the heavy impact, and that flash of blade light just now, she might even have wondered whether she had hallucinated, or whether the enemy had created some kind of illusion.

So this vanished enemy, what exactly was going on...

"Take the colleagues from the neighboring Dust World lineage as an example. Every one of them excels at hiding their traces, biding their time, numbing their opponents, all for the sake of an ambush that kills in one strike."

In that instant, Miranda's pupils moved.

"When facing them, there is no need to waste time being surprised or studying how they hide without a trace and disappear from sight. That is their consummate art, refined by countless predecessors over thousands of years at the cost of countless lives. Their methods are endless and impossible to guard against. We have no need, and no possibility, to meet their strength with our weakness."

Inside the Tower of Eradication, the cold and indifferent voice of Teacher Shatier, the Supreme-class inheritor of the Heavenly Music lineage, rang by her ear.

"Do not imagine that if you remain alert at every moment and give the enemy no chance to strike, you can defend flawlessly, without a single leak. That is impossible. It is merely the meaningless fantasy of 'guarding against thieves for a thousand days' held by the brainless hulks from the Ironblood and Storm lineages. You must know, they are often better than you at dragging things out and waiting. If you insist on waiting until they make their move, believe me, that moment will certainly be when you are already powerless to do anything and unable to resist."

Miranda suddenly understood something.

Lausanne the Second had not escaped on his own.

Miranda took a deep breath, her heart becoming clear.

Glover and his unsheathed sword, and Ralf's posture that was clearly one of resting...

Aside from Lausanne the Second's ability, they might also have been ambushed and knocked down by the opponent while completely unprepared.

They might not even have seen what the enemy looked like.

"What you should pay attention to, and the only thing you can grasp, is what timing these opponents will choose to 'appear.'"

So that was it.

This style...

"These undetectable assassins."

That's right, Miranda confirmed in her heart.

An assassin.

Without question, the one she faced now, the intruder who had entered the inner tunnels, was an assassin of superb skill.

Thinking to this point, Miranda exhaled and no longer spent her mind searching every corner in her field of vision.

Since the enemy was an assassin.

Since he kept hiding his traces.

Waiting only to strike at her and kill in one blow.

Then what she, Miranda Arunde, had to do, what she could do...

"To grasp the timing through observation and rhythm, and even to create timing, is exactly what our Heavenly Music lineage does best."

Grasp the timing.

Create the timing.

Miranda slowly turned her wrist. Her eyes sharpened, but she suddenly thought of something.

Taking command of the rhythm and forcing the enemy, that was Chloeyce's favorite style of fighting.

The corner of Miranda's mouth lifted unconsciously.

Do not "guess" when the opponent will appear.

Do not "wait" for when the opponent will appear.

The next second, Miranda decisively dropped her defense, left the wall, and charged toward Glover and Ralf.

She would create the timing and "decide" when the opponent appeared.

She had not rushed more than a few steps before Miranda once again felt her hairs stand upright and coldness bloom.

As expected, the assassin had come.

This time, from the rear flank.

Of course, Miranda's mind was clear.

A target in motion was like an army on the move. Stopping and turning required a buffer. Reorganizing took time.

For an opponent, there was no more suitable moment to launch an attack.

Just as in the first exchange, Miranda dropped her shoulder and swung her sword, turning to meet the enemy's second attack.

Whoosh!

But at the instant the blade light flashed and Miranda prepared to block, she frowned.

This saber...

Something was wrong.

Facing the blade that appeared again, Miranda's pupils shrank.

The assassin's second strike was faster, stronger, and more insidious than the first.

Bad.

She was too late.

She could not catch up.

She would be cut by the opponent.

She could not dodge.

At that instant, Miranda, swinging her sword with all her strength, understood.

The opponent's first strike had failed to kill her.

But he had successfully tested out her body shape and movements. Perhaps he had even carefully corrected his second ambush, one he was certain would succeed.

A killing blow.

Seeing that strange saber draw nearer and nearer, Miranda roared, and her wrist turned.

The Heavenly Music Round Dance flowed again.

But this time, its rhythm was different.

This assassin had miscalculated two things, Miranda clenched her teeth and stared fixedly at the blurred figure before her, the figure holding that strange saber.

First, the timing of this assassin's strike had not been chosen by him.

Miranda herself had chosen it.

She could fully predict, and even grasp, the rhythm of this exchange.

Second, against a single assassin...

What need was there for defense?

Miranda drew out the bearing of a survivor of the battlefield, and her longsword swept out fiercely.

Whoosh.

In the next moment, Eagle Soar gave a shrill cry, but not to block or resist.

On the contrary, it slashed diagonally, ignored the opponent's killing move, and crossed past the enemy's blade.

Straight for his vitals.

The enemy's blurred figure swayed slightly, as if hesitating.

Miranda, eyes red and vicious, threw herself forward without regard for life, charging head-on into the assassin.

Come on!

I am not defending. I am not blocking.

I am done caring whether I live.

The Heavenly Music Round Dance played faster and faster, and Miranda thought with something close to madness:

I will be cut first.

Then it will be your turn to take my sword.

Let us see who is more ruthless.

Let us see who lives.

In that flash, one saber and one sword swept past like fleeting light.

Clang!

An ear-piercing shock rang out. Miranda's hands trembled, and only then did she break free from that state of staking everything.

Her neck was intact. It had not been opened by the enemy.

And her sword strike had also failed to achieve its effect, cleverly parried aside by the enemy's saber.

But Miranda's eyes lit up, and the corner of her mouth rose.

It worked.

The assassin had given up in the end. He did not want to gamble with her.

To gamble one death for one wound.

So he defended.

In that case...

Miranda's eyes sharpened. Her previous sword had not yet withdrawn, but her momentum abruptly changed.

This time, it was not Miranda defending against him.

It was the assassin defending against Miranda.

The next moment, the Heavenly Music Round Dance changed key swiftly.

Clang!

Miranda reversed her hand into a new stance and delivered a returning cut that landed precisely on the node where the assassin was preparing to move, forcing him to swing his saber to block once again.

Ting!

This time, with nothing obscuring her and enough time, Miranda finally saw the enemy's strange saber completely.

The blade of the saber had a special curve, opposite to ordinary blades.

It bent downward along the direction in which the assassin gripped the hilt.

So that was it.

In that instant, Miranda's thoughts spun like lightning.

If the timing was right, when this reverse-curved saber was swung, it could strike its target faster than ordinary swords and sabers.

That was why she had been unable to keep up with or defend against the assassin's second cut.

If she had still used the habits of the first exchange to receive this strike, or foolishly waited for the opponent to attack so she could counter...

Miranda felt lingering fear.

In all likelihood, her neck would have bloomed.

Of course, every gain had its loss. Apart from strengthening offense, such a reverse-curved saber was surely even less suited to defense.

So now...

Miranda's expression chilled.

The next second, the Heavenly Music Round Dance had gathered enough momentum and naturally played the next passage, melodious and flowing.

Eagle Soar in Miranda's hands changed with it. Her style shifted from entangling delay to sharp advance.

Clang!

At the crucial instant, the assassin parried aside one killing move Miranda launched with the flow, looking slightly awkward.

Now, with her offense fierce, Miranda had gambled her life successfully and forced the opponent into formation combat, where blades crossed and there was no room to retreat, much less use his assassin's talent for hiding.

Yes, this assassin hid perfectly. His ambush was terrifying. I could only passively take the beating.

But once he is dragged into close combat...

Where are you going to hide?

And as long as they were fighting face to face, blade against blade, that assassin's reverse-bending saber could not guard a damned thing.

After all, the other party was an assassin, not a swordsman accustomed to trading set moves back and forth.

You are an assassin.

What defense do you need?

Clang!

In the blur of their rapid exchanges, after only a few clashes, Miranda narrowed her eyes.

She had to admit this assassin's footwork was exceptional, and even his saber technique was not poor. Several times, he nearly succeeded in counterattacking and opening distance from her.

But the Heavenly Music Round Dance rose and fell in surging waves, full of momentum, grasping the rhythm of the battle with perfect timing.

Miranda's offense was extremely fast and pressed forward without pause. Each time, at the instant before the opponent could leave the fight, she erupted with another wave of attacks, sometimes cunning, sometimes fierce, forcing him either to defend with all his strength or dodge in embarrassment. She simply did not allow him to open distance, let alone leave her field of vision.

While biting tightly onto the assassin, Miranda understood in her heart:

After crossing swords with Lausanne the Second, her vision and experience had improved enormously. Unknowingly, she had adjusted her movements and habits for the better, making each sword more perfect.

No wonder Teacher Shatier and Master Shao both said fighting a Supreme-class expert to the death was a rare opportunity.

Of course, the premise was that you survived.

The next second, the assassin was forced back another step. Behind him was the wall. He had nowhere to evade.

Miranda's gaze was sharp. Her sword style instantly opened wide, working with the Heavenly Music Round Dance to sound a heavy note.

Swish!

Eagle Soar gave a shrill howl and rushed straight for the assassin's chest.

But at that moment, seeing there was nowhere to evade, the assassin's movement changed.

He turned, leapt, kicked both feet against the wall, and sprang into the air.

Miranda frowned tightly. Her longsword naturally slanted upward in pursuit. The opponent's feet had left the ground and he was attacking from midair. That was a major taboo in battle.

After all, in the air there was nowhere to borrow force for evasion.

Unless this assassin had grown wings...

Hm?

Miranda's eyes widened.

The assassin in midair flipped his saber edge, bent his body, and met Eagle Soar diagonally. The side of the curved saber struck her sword edge with a motion that was exquisite yet dangerous.

Thud!

Miranda could not withdraw her sword in time. She grunted and trembled backward a step. The opponent had the high ground, and this direct collision took a heavy toll on her.

Borrowing that impact, the assassin was almost lifted upside down by Miranda in an unbelievable posture, stopping gracefully in the air for a fraction of a second.

Like a flying fish leaping out of the water and looking down.

At that moment, one above and one below, one high and one low, the assassin's eyes met Miranda's in midair.

The former had his head and face covered, revealing only a pair of cold eyes.

This figure, this movement...

This "cornered animal leaping over the wall" evasion...

Miranda's arms hurt terribly. She found it hard to believe.

Was this something a damned human could do?

In that instant, the Heavenly Music Round Dance plunged, cold and brief.

And Miranda suddenly felt the cold rise again.

Bad.

In the next instant, the assassin kicked back against the wall with his rear leg, borrowing force to countercharge. The reverse-curved saber shot toward her like lightning.

Miranda could not react in time. She could only lift her sword by instinct and barely block the descending slash.

Clang!

Eagle Soar was driven by the enormous force and slammed into her chest.

The Heavenly Music Round Dance stopped abruptly.

In that instant, Miranda felt a booming shock. Her whole body lost balance, rolled backward, and fell into the sewage ditch.

Water splashed everywhere.

Miranda saw stars, her heart bitter.

She had guessed correctly.

As an assassin, the opponent excelled at offense and did not excel at defense.

Miranda laboriously raised her chest, bringing her mouth and nose above the water, and breathed in pain.

She barely turned over, propped herself against the ground, and had no time to care about the foul stench of sewage covering her body. The moment she found Eagle Soar beneath the water, she trembled and tried to climb up.

But she had also missed something.

Miranda thought back to that fantastical airborne strike just now.

He was an assassin.

What the hell did he need defense for?

At that instant, a burst of intense pain came from Miranda's chest and abdomen.

"Ah..."

Miranda moaned from the pain. Her features twisted, her legs weakened, and she was forced to kneel back into the calf-deep sewage.

Splash!

Ahhhhh...

Miranda clenched her teeth and endured the cries and groans of pain. Trembling, she reached toward her chest and abdomen.

The next second, Miranda's heart went cold.

Damn it.

Damn it all.

Enduring the sharp agony every breath brought, Miranda looked at the spots of crimson appearing between her fingers and judged in disbelief:

That slash just now...

I did not block it?

Miranda lowered her head and looked at the clothing and armor around her chest and abdomen, where scarlet was gradually spreading.

So that was it.

When saber and sword collided, the enemy's blade had, with a clever and vicious angle, slid past the block and stabbed diagonally into a gap in her armor.

Below the ribs.

Deep into the organs.

Miranda clutched the wound tightly and tried to stand, but under the intense pain, she knelt back into the sewage.

Damn it. Damn it...

This kind of wound...

She had seen too many on the battlefield and knew what kind of injury it was.

If she immediately used the Power of Eradication to protect her vital organs, tighten the wound, stop the bleeding, then stay where she was and quietly rest, calm her breathing, avoid strenuous movement, and after that wait for rescue to carry her away from the battlefield to a safe place, find the best doctor, use the best medicine, hold her life, operate, suture, rely on medicine, divine arts, and most importantly a little favor from the Sunset Goddess...

Then it would still be hard to survive.

Miranda breathed with difficulty. She felt that with every breath, the wound in her organs stabbed into her heart.

Otherwise, even the Powers of Eradication from the Miracle lineage that could heal grave wounds would probably be powerless to reverse it.

A pair of legs abruptly appeared in her field of vision.

Miranda trembled and struggled to raise her head.

It was that assassin.

He wore black clothes and black trousers, his head and face covered. In the dim tunnel, his figure could not be distinguished, much less his appearance.

Right. The battle...

She...

Miranda thought in despair.

She had lost.

From the first move to the end, she had not even been able to last through...

One encounter.

The assassin slowly stepped forward, without the slightest concern, and trod into the foul, filthy sewage. He stopped one foot in front of her.

"Heavenly Music Round Dance."

The assassin spoke softly, but his voice was incomparably hoarse, as if he were deliberately concealing it.

"The Tower of Eradication's skill..."

The other party looked at the gravely wounded Miranda, raised that special reverse-curved saber, looked at the red blood on its tip, and said disdainfully:

"Isn't worth shit."

Anger rose in Miranda at those words. Enduring the intense pain, she tried to stand for one last desperate fight.

"Fuck you..."

But she swayed violently, lacking the strength.

Splash!

Miranda fell helplessly back into the water, stirring splashes and ripples.

"Stay there. Kneel properly."

The assassin stood beside her, looking down from above, his pronunciation hoarse.

"Rise, and you die."

No.

She could not stay. Could not stay here.

Pain and severe injury were seriously affecting her thoughts. Miranda tried hard to shake her head, wanting to say something.

She still had a mission. Hilley was still hiding, still fleeing.

She could not let her be alone...

But in the next second, Miranda's face changed, and she instinctively clenched her teeth.

"Cough, cough..."

Miranda coughed violently. A large amount of blood seeped through her teeth and poured continuously from the corner of her mouth.

Bad.

Miranda looked at the drops of blood on the water surface. Her gaze went blank, and without realizing it, she loosened the hand covering her wound.

Internal...

Bleeding.

Was she going to die here?

Miranda's consciousness began to scatter.

It seemed she truly had failed Teacher Shatier's instruction.

Her Heavenly Music Round Dance...

Really could not defeat this fellow.

But...

One encounter?

In that instant, she suddenly felt like laughing.

Just one encounter.

She had exhausted everything, finally used her strengths against his weaknesses, and dragged this assassin out of the concealing shadows into a situation she was skilled at handling.

Miranda's vision was a little blurry. She tried hard to shake her head.

Yet even facing him head-on, even fighting a set battle, for the opponent to deal with her had only taken a short...

One encounter.

"Supreme-class experts are very terrifying opponents... and among them, Supreme-class assassins are the most mysterious and terrifying existence among all Supreme-class warriors..."

"Imagine this. A warrior who has reached Supreme-class, yet spends the talents and abilities of his entire life, all his will and strength, all his labor and time, on that final, ultimate, killing blow..."

In her hazy daze, Miranda was slightly stunned.

"Facing them, you have no opportunity to prepare beforehand, collect intelligence, much less adapt to your opponent during battle and respond..."

Shatier's voice sounded from far away.

"Your meeting with them will very likely be just one encounter."

Miranda's gaze scattered more and more, but at that moment, she understood something.

"The encounter that decides your life or death..."

One...

Encounter.

The dying swordswoman gave a bitter laugh and coughed up more blood.

Supreme-class.

So that was it.

Presumably, Glover and Ralf...

They had also been taken down by him in one encounter.

Miranda trembled and lifted her head, trying with all her might to see the assassin before her clearly.

To see that incomparably unique reverse-curved saber.

The pain in her chest and abdomen gradually grew numb.

Her vision also grew darker and darker.

But Miranda felt increasingly tired. Even her eyelids became heavier and heavier.

"The only advice I can give is this..."

Teacher Shatier's voice suddenly tightened.

"Survive, Mira."

At that moment, Miranda's vision went black. She felt all the strength in her body leave her.

"Survive. Live. Live through the first encounter with a Supreme-class assassin."

That's right.

This fellow holding a reverse-curved saber was a...

Supreme-class assassin.