Chapter 768: Boss

Miranda took a deep breath and opened a different pair of eyes.

She saw that beyond the corner to her front left, the Supreme-class assassin holding the strange saber stretched out his limbs like a gecko, clinging between the ceiling and the vertical wall, looking down from above.

Only a single wall separated him from her.

But...

Miranda blinked in amazement, looking at the darkness before her that she should not have been able to see through, and at the "through-the-wall" vision beyond the corner that she should not have been able to see.

This was...

Miranda blinked and swallowed.

The Terrifying Blade was right. The girl from the Covendier family...

Had very deep tricks.

Crackle. The everlasting lamp not far away gave a soft sound.

Almost at the same time, the Supreme-class assassin across the wall moved. He flashed past at the edge of her vision and vanished into a patch of rubble in the tunnel to her front right.

Miranda was chilled.

"Look carefully, especially at the places you originally 'could not see,'" Hilley's voice sounded from behind her ear, slightly breathless, difficult and exhausted, as if enduring pain. "Watch how he moves."

Miranda frowned slightly.

But before she could think much, during the brief distraction caused by this one sentence, Miranda discovered:

The assassin was no longer in his original position.

"This assassin is a professional. He is skilled at blending into his surroundings, slipping into the blind spots of your vision, and also knows how to create movement to distract attention..."

Hilley's voice became much steadier.

"When the target concentrates, he stays motionless. The instant the target's thoughts turn and attention wanders, he shifts position. Bit by bit, inch by inch, he feels his way into the deepest and closest 'darkness beneath the lamp' in the target's field of vision and senses... By the time you react, it is already too late. He can reach out and cut open your throat."

In that instant, listening to Hilley's explanation and using that "through-the-wall" vision to observe the assassin's path, Miranda suddenly understood something.

Just as Hilley said, this assassin was extremely skilled at hiding within every kind of cover: blind corners, darkness, visual dead zones, even protective coloration. He moved lightly only when Miranda's sight drifted or her attention scattered, and yet when she searched carefully and observed with all her strength, he lay hidden and still.

The strange thing was that once he stopped and remained motionless, his aura, vitality, and even the visual differences in his form would naturally blur and separate from the observer's senses, nearly merging with the environment.

Even if he were right before one's eyes, a passing glance would almost never notice him.

In this way, in only a few seconds and several movements, the assassin used one moment of distraction and two shifts in Miranda's gaze to creep silently to a spot only a few steps to her front left, sinking into the sewage ditch without a sound and lying there quietly.

Miranda was horrified by what she saw.

This was the secret that made this Supreme-class assassin with the strange saber so successful.

"That is why I said it is not that you cannot see him, but that you are 'too late' to see him..." Hilley said faintly.

Relying on that pair of "seeing" eyes, Miranda stared fixedly at the Supreme-class assassin lying prone in the ditch, thinking he had hidden himself well. She took a deep breath and tightened her grip on the longsword.

"You are not Hilley."

Miranda's tone changed. She said coldly to "Hilley" behind her:

"Who are you?"

This time, Hilley did not answer.

Damn it.

Miranda frowned tightly. She had known these so-called "eyes that can see" had a problem.

"Mira... are you all right?"

Hilley's voice sounded again, making Miranda's eyes move.

But this time, she was panting repeatedly, her breath as thin as a thread.

"I have used up too much over the past few days, and there are not enough offerings. In a few more minutes, maybe... that will be the limit of the 'eyes,'" Hilley said with difficulty, haltingly. "End this... quickly."

After saying this, Hilley leaned against the wall and lost consciousness.

I knew it.

Miranda's heart sank. She held back the urge to sigh and focused on guarding against the enemy.

Where in this world was there power without a price?

Yet for some reason, Miranda had a feeling:

This powerless one was the real Hilley.

But in this brief moment of distraction, Miranda suddenly sensed something wrong.

The assassin was no longer in the sewage ditch.

Damn it.

Miranda hurriedly raised her sword.

This fellow truly...

Could not be taken lightly in the slightest.

Fortunately, this time, she had Hilley's "eyes."

She could see.

Miranda turned her sword edge and pointed toward empty air.

The next second, as if to prove her movement correct, the Heavenly Music Round Dance shrieked in warning, and killing intent overflowed from the darkness.

Blade light and a human shadow emerged from her blind spot.

Prepared in advance, Miranda focused completely. She only waited for the enemy to step into her trap before launching a full counter...

Hm?

Miranda's pupils moved.

This time, the assassin did not strike.

His figure merely flashed before her, then disappeared from her vision.

Like a wave rushing up a cliff, discovering the rock face towered high ahead, then rolling back with the flow to await the next surge.

It left only Miranda's ineffective trap-like sword stance behind.

What was going on? Miranda was shocked. Another feint?

But she did not remain confused for long.

"You."

The assassin's voice came from the darkness, drifting and hoarse as always, yet incomparably certain.

"You can see me."

Miranda frowned.

But what shocked her even more was that as those words fell, the masked Supreme-class assassin actually revealed himself, walking out from the corner without the slightest hesitation and coming into the light of the everlasting lamp.

Coming before Miranda, who faced him as if facing a great enemy.

"You cheated." The assassin before her was not tall, his limbs long and slender. He touched the place on his thigh where Miranda had cut him, his tone unconcerned. "Right?"

Cheated...

No way.

Miranda realized something and found it hard to believe.

From just now until now, after one exchange and one probe, this Supreme-class assassin had seen through...

Her new trump card?

"This technique for hiding traces," Miranda said through clenched teeth. "You come from... the Shadow Shield?"

As expected, the other party did not answer.

"You should have died quietly, but you did not... You even grew stronger." The assassin tested her trump card in return. "Is it the Miracle lineage of the Tower of Eradication? Or... the Sin of Hell's River?"

Miracle, my ass.

Miranda clenched her teeth.

Damn it.

Miranda's nerves tightened under an indescribable pressure.

The other party was no longer hiding his body. This should have been good, because the enemy had voluntarily given up the card she feared most.

But why...

Miranda looked at the enemy's strangely exaggerated reverse-curved saber and thought urgently.

Why could she not relax at all?

"It does not matter." The Supreme-class assassin shrugged. "Then come?"

The next second, without waiting for Miranda to answer, the assassin before her charged at an unimaginable speed, attacking with his saber and reaching her in an instant.

Damn it.

No deviation, no evasion, no hiding, a direct frontal attack?

Was this still an assassin?

Miranda had no time to think. She could only discard stray thoughts, step forward, and swing her sword to meet him in the rhythm of the Heavenly Music Round Dance.

Besides, with the arc of that strange saber, when facing an enemy head-on, there was no way he could defend...

What the hell?

At the instant sword and saber were about to meet, Miranda saw in surprise that the assassin tapped the ground with his toes, leapt up, and twisted his body into a bizarre arc no human should be able to imagine. He barely skimmed past Eagle Soar's edge, and the strange saber went straight for her face.

Bad.

Miranda shouted angrily. The Heavenly Music Round Dance sounded, and at the crucial instant, she turned her blade and blocked toward the reverse-curved saber.

But sword and saber did not collide as she expected.

Instead, the assassin bent his body in the air and once again narrowly avoided her sword edge.

Chh!

The two figures crossed past each other.

Miranda retreated two steps, braced herself on her sword, and her right leg was streaming with blood.

No.

The swordswoman looked at the new wound and stared at the assassin before her in disbelief. He had already turned his saber edge and was preparing the next strike.

Only dodging, never guarding. Only attacking, never defending.

No. This was not the movement or saber technique a normal human should have.

And that strike just now reminded her of the first time she encountered him, of that fleeting leap that had left her gravely wounded and dying.

Miranda glanced at Hilley, already unconscious behind her, then clenched her teeth again, forced herself to stand, and raised her sword.

Damn it.

Even after forcing an assassin to abandon concealment and face her directly...

Was the gap between her and a Supreme-class expert still this large?

Could it really be as Teacher Shatier said, that when facing a Supreme-class assassin, the best chance was to turn around and run?

Miranda's eyes moved.

Wait, then the second-best chance...

"Do you know, still taking the Dust World lineage as the example, they have the fewest people among the Eight Lineages of Eradication. Even fewer than the Sinwound lineage, which specializes in producing masochistic maniacs."

Teacher Shatier's words rang by her ear.

"So, Mira, remember this. Our greatest advantage when facing assassins is that we have more people."

It was indeed Shatier's advice.

As always, full of optimism.

Fuck!

Before Miranda could finish recalling the words of that stern and cold Supreme-class inheritor of the Heavenly Music lineage, the strange-saber assassin before her closed in head-on again.

Damn it.

Miranda had no choice but to drag her injured leg, steel herself, and swing her sword again.

Ting!

Unexpectedly, this time her sword actually blocked the enemy's strange saber.

But Miranda immediately reacted. The force on the sword was wrong.

The next second, the assassin did not leap up as before. Instead, he crouched and rolled, the back of his head just brushing past Miranda's sword, while his blade went straight for her injured leg, which was half a beat slow.

Damn it.

As expected of an assassin. This fellow was too good at exploiting openings.

Miranda was shocked and furious, but could only roll on the ground in equally sorry fashion.

Swish!

Miranda felt a chill across her back and knew she had been wounded again.

How long could she endure this kind of abnormal, reckless, yet unreasonably sharp offense?

One exchange? Two exchanges? Three?

"In other words, facing a Supreme-class assassin, aside from turning around and running, your second-best and second-most reliable chance of survival is..."

In her memory, Teacher Shatier turned back, her gaze compelling, imposing, valiant, and dashing.

"Call people!"

"Gang up!"

"Start a group fight!"

Shatier, I love you. Truly.

But please take all those "experienced suggestions" of yours and shut the hell up!

Miranda clenched her teeth, made her decision, rose with the flow, turned back, and swung her sword, widening her range of attack. The blade drew an unimaginable wide arc through the air.

But her counterattack failed again.

The pursuing assassin bent into an arc impossible for an ordinary person, barely avoided Eagle Soar's sword wind at the crucial instant, and drilled into the gap in her sword move.

Miranda's heart chilled.

Chh!

Her right arm was cut. The longsword flew from her hand.

Miranda retreated again and again. At the final moment, she reached out and pressed against the opponent's right shoulder and right arm, but it was only futile.

At some unknown time, the reverse-curved saber had already pressed against her neck.

Feeling the cold sharpness at her throat, Miranda pushed the other party's right arm away with all her strength, her face deathly pale.

She had lost.

A second time.

A crushing defeat.

The Supreme-class assassin laughed softly.

"Remember. In your next life..."

The owner of the strange saber turned his wrist, forcing Miranda to lift her neck beneath the blade.

"Do not fight an assassin head-on."

Especially...

A Supreme-class assassin.

"Right," Miranda, having lost her weapon, said with a lost expression. "You are right."

So damned right.

The Supreme-class assassin's gaze was indifferent.

At that moment...

Thud!

A strange muffled sound.

But before the two could react, alarm bells instantly rang throughout the tunnel.

Ring-ring-ring-ring-ring!

The strange-saber assassin frowned and turned back instantly.

Not far away, at the dungeon entrance, the alarm bell on the frame was vibrating back and forth, sounding loud enough to spread through the tunnels.

Beneath the frame, Miranda's ancient sword, Eagle Soar, had not long since landed and was still shaking.

The assassin's pupils shrank violently.

"Alarm bell, Star Lake Guard special edition. The pull rope is a trick. In truth, it rings if you slap or smash it," Miranda said in a low voice, pressing hard against his right arm and looking at the blade against her throat. "If no one interferes with it, its mechanism will keep ringing for..."

Before she finished, the Supreme-class assassin waved his left hand. A hidden weapon flew from his waist and struck the alarm bell.

Bang!

The alarm bell flew into the air, hit the wall, fell to the ground, and deformed.

The piercing ringing stopped abruptly.

The tunnel returned to silence.

"All right," Miranda sighed. "That works too."

The assassin turned his head and stared at Miranda with an incomparably cold gaze.

"You did that deliberately," he said hoarsely. "Whether your choice of position in the fight or throwing away your weapon, it was all to sound the alarm."

Miranda looked quietly at the enemy and smiled.

"The first time you attacked me was when I was about to ring the alarm," Miranda said softly. "So I guessed: our outer posts are still there, and you do not want to alert them."

That was right. This assassin was bold because of his great skill. He had infiltrated this place alone, knocked down the dungeon guards, and released Lausanne the Second, but he had not removed the outer posts. It was not worth it, time-consuming and troublesome, with risks besides.

Miranda narrowed her eyes.

"But now, they have already been alerted. Within minutes, experts under Prince Thales will arrive in groups and surround this place completely. The leader, the Terrifying Blade, has unfathomable strength. Lausanne the Second fell under his hands. Even if you face him, the odds are no better than fifty-fifty."

The assassin's gaze was dead still. He looked at her coldly without moving and without speaking.

"Regarding calling people... I mean, summoning help and disturbing the situation, even passersby watching the excitement will do."

Inside the Tower of Eradication, Teacher Shatier opened her eyes. Her gaze was keen and compelling.

"You must know that no matter how formidable an assassin is, if the environment he needs to deal with becomes even one point more complicated, if the target variables he needs to consider increase by even one..."

"Even one, the difficulty of his operation and the price he must pay will rise in a straight line."

"You must make them understand: if they make a move, the whole world becomes their enemy. And every time they move, they must shed a layer of skin."

"Then let us see how many layers of skin these lurking, trace-hiding assassins, these head-concealing tail-showing insects, these narrow-minded rats..."

"Actually have to shed."

The memory faded. The Heavenly Music Round Dance flowed with her will, grasping the rhythm that had reappeared in her senses.

Her music began to sound.

Do you know, Teacher Shatier?

The corner of Miranda's mouth lifted.

I love you to death.

"Now, you can kill me, then abduct Lady Covendier behind me."

The assassin's gaze moved, looking toward Hilley collapsed on the ground.

Ignoring the sharp blade at her neck, Miranda pressed hard against his shoulder and arm.

"But even if I die, I will not let go. I will grip you hard, slow your movements, waste your time. Add to that the fact that you must bring a hostage... You know how difficult these tunnels are to travel. Before you escape to the surface, you will be heavily surrounded by the Terrifying Blade and his army of subordinates."

The Supreme-class assassin frowned.

"Or, you let me go, and I let you go," Miranda changed direction. "You save time, abandon the burden, and with Supreme-class concealment skills, that is enough for you to escape alone before the encirclement forms. You already released Lausanne the Second, so it is not as though you return empty-handed."

Miranda's gaze sharpened.

"How about it?"

The assassin did not speak. He only stared at her faintly.

Miranda took a deep breath.

"No hurry. Think slowly. The alarm has already rung. Time is on my side."

The strange-saber assassin's eyes turned cold.

"Or," the assassin said hoarsely, "I pretend to release you, then kill you when you are unprepared, then kill the Covendier girl, save a great deal of time, and leave at ease before your people arrive."

"You will not kill Hilley," Miranda said with certainty. "That goes against your employer's wishes."

"You are that certain?"

"Yes. Otherwise, after knocking down the alarm bell, you would already have acted instead of wasting words with me until now."

The Supreme-class assassin's eyes changed.

"What if I have no employer?"

No employer...

"Then you came here to..."

Miranda frowned, glanced at the ghoul tunnel's environment, and took a deep breath.

"...dig through manure?"

The assassin's gaze chilled.

But at that moment, the Supreme-class assassin abruptly turned his head and looked toward the other side of the tunnel.

Seeing his reaction, Miranda's spirit immediately lifted.

But the masked assassin laughed hoarsely.

"Only one."

Doubt appeared in Miranda's eyes.

The assassin looked at Miranda under his blade.

"Interesting. After all this time, the reinforcements you placed such great hopes in..."

The Supreme-class assassin's gaze was amused.

"Only one came?"

Miranda's heart sank.

The outer posts...

"Then perhaps," the swordswoman looked toward the other tunnel, unwilling to show weakness, "the one who came is the strongest one?"

It could not be.

Miranda's thoughts sank.

Although the last time he had held the rear alone and laid a trap to kill Lausanne the Second, which had been rather impressive...

The Terrifying Blade, Mallos, would not really come alone, would he?

"Then guess. If I kill you, then kill 'the strongest one,'" the assassin sneered, his blade tightening suddenly and forcing Miranda to shift position, using her to block that suspicious tunnel. "How many seconds will I need?"

Miranda was forced by the gradually tightening blade to lift her head with all her strength, and her heart chilled at his words.

"Wait! Stop! Stop!"

At this moment, accompanied by hurried footsteps, a boy's voice Miranda had grown extremely familiar with lately sounded in the tunnel.

"Old fellow!"

In that instant, so close to him, Miranda felt the blade at her throat stop.

"Old... stop!"

The assassin slowly turned his head.

A boy carrying an everlasting lamp rushed out from the corner and barely skidded to a stop before them, looking incomparably disheveled.

With her back to the passage, Miranda heard the boy's voice and was first startled, then spoke loudly, not only out of respect, but also to remind the opponent before her:

"Your Highness!"

As expected, the Supreme-class assassin's eyes changed violently in an instant.

Ha, ha, ha. Finally, finally made it!

Thales wiped away sweat, tossed down the everlasting lamp, bent over with his hands on his knees, and gasped for breath. Even the Sin of Hell's River was stirred into surging waves.

He clenched his teeth and looked at Miranda, who was being threatened and held hostage. Several times he wanted to speak, but each time he could not catch his breath and had to give up, bending and waving his hand in apology.

Damn it.

Unable to see Thales's appearance, but hearing his extremely sorry gasps, Miranda sighed helplessly and ironically.

She had not said it wrong.

It really was...

The strongest one.

"You..."

The assassin held Miranda hostage with the saber, his whole person cautiously hidden behind her head, revealing only a pair of cold eyes staring fixedly at the panting boy.

"What did you just... call me?"

"I... I called you..."

Thales took several deep breaths. Only after finally calming his breathing with difficulty did he straighten, his face piled with smiles.

"I called you old fellow... Oh no! No, no, no! That is what other people call you behind your back. I have never called you that... I mean, I called you Boss. Boss! Right, Boss! Big Boss!"

Boss?

What?

What was going on?

Miranda frowned tightly, unable to understand the prince's negotiating language at this moment.

But unexpectedly, Miranda suddenly felt the breathing of the person holding her hostage stop.

The assassin did not speak.

He only stared fixedly at Thales.

"Yes, I... I know who you are."

Thales finally recovered his breath. He looked at the weapon before Miranda's neck, revealing a complicated yet relieved expression.

His gaze crossed over the back of Miranda's head and met the assassin's eyes in silence.

"You are one of the top killers of the Black Street Brotherhood, a name in the kingdom's street legends, ranked alongside Black Sword and the Prisonlock Scythe..."

Miranda's gaze moved slightly.

Thales looked at that reverse-curved strange saber and grinned.

"Codename: Reverse Blade."

The Supreme-class assassin, Reverse Blade, snorted coldly, rather disdainful.

But Thales was not finished.

"But you were also once the owner of Sunset Bar in the Underground Street of Lower City, Eternal Star City. Nicknamed 'Old Fellow'..."

In that instant, Miranda felt the blade at her throat tremble violently.

"And also Cook Edmund's elder sister, and, and, and..."

With strange emotion, Thales looked back at the wary Reverse Blade, paused, and only then spoke faintly.

"Yala's mother."