14 Assassins (5)

Feather awoke in the middle of the night because of the sudden splash of water and crash.

Sharp sense of danger made her flip over the side, and a knife went through the bed in the place she was laying on just a moment before.

It was completely dark in the room; Feather could barely see some outlines.

"You idiot, you woke her up!" the voice sounded from the window.

The other one, just right above her thundered:

"She's not here!"

"It's you; you made me go to the door" whined the one who stepped into the basin left from Feather's evening bathing.

There were three individuals in the room. Feather could tell, they weren't highly professional. They failed to surprise her and didn't know what to do next.

"Light up the fire, let's see what's going on," ordered the first.

'Oh, no!' Feather thought. If they lit up the fire, she would have no chance against them.

She couldn't let them do it.

Feather anxiously thought what to do.

Yesterday she left all her things on the table, which now was separated from her by a guy standing over the bed. And from what she could perceive he was twice as big as her.

He was confused because he hadn't found her. He'd got distracted by his accomplice turning over the basin of water, but he would certainly notice her if she were to move.

And if she didn't move, they will light up the fire and see her all the same.

Having no choice, Feather swiftly made up her mind.

With a distinct thud, she has fallen under the bed to the other from the men side.

When they heard the thud, they all turned to the bed.

Right at this moment Feather forcefully hit the legs of the one standing above the bed with her own, rolled out and dashed to the table.

The assassins didn't expect retaliation.

"Guard the door, don't let her go!" the first one was obviously the leader.

The table was in the center of the room, the window on her left, the door on her right, and the bed behind her back.

It might've seemed as she was surrounded but, in truth, as soon as she reached the table, she grabbed her purse and took out a sword.

The stage reached a strange equilibrium.

The assassins didn't move, and Feather didn't move either.

Now that the sword was in her hand Feather felt confident and tried to strike up a conversation:

"Who are you, people?"

"He-he, little lady, you don't need to know this."

They knew her identity! So it wasn't a random assault. Feather was astonished. She didn't know them, so they were here on someone's errand. And they obviously tried to kill her just now. Just who would send assassins after her? And for what reason?

Having no idea herself, Feather decided to ask assailants:

"Who sent you here?"

"As if we'd tell you," answered one of them.

"Anyway, you are about to be dead. What's the need for you to know?" they were definitely stalling for time.

Feather flung the sword behind her. There were a screech and the sound of the sword coming out of the flesh.

Then Feather bent and stroke back with her foot right where the chest of the man would be.

The man flew back and fell crushing the bed.

The unfortunate assassins were dumbfounded. No one told them the target was this strong. To throw a grown-up man fly with a casual kick.

Of course, Feather put all her strength into this kick. But even she didn't expect this result. She thought she would at most be able to make him stagger. For him to fly two meters to reach the wall was totally unexpected. Were these assassins this bad? Why hire such weaklings?

The truth was, the assassins weren't that weak. They might've not been the strongest available in the field but still not that bad. At least, they shouldn't have had problems eliminating one girl, even if this girl was a good fighter.

The problem once again lay with the matter of the cave. The liquid fire had strengthened Feather's physique to humanly impossible level. Even if she wasn't the strongest person in the world after that, she was now ways stronger than any average human. Count in that she was physically fit in the first place, and you got the picture.

That was something the one sending them couldn't have predicted. The benefits Feather reaped from the hole were heaven-defying.

Unfortunately for her, what she got from there weren't only benefits, but that's the story for later.

Now, as a result, unlucky assassins were at a loss. They really wanted to cry but had no tears.

The deal was to kill a pampered little runaway-girl. Alas, the girl turned out to be a tiger in a sheep's clothing. That wasn't what they expected at all.

"Shut up, you idiot! You'll wake up the whole street!" the leader lashed out at his companion.

So what, if the girl was stronger than they expected? It was just a girl anyway. They would merely raise the price to the client afterward. And if he didn't pay, they'd simply sell the information, there were always customers for this sort of things.

They slowly moved in the pitch black room, making sure that the prey wouldn't be able to pass them and escape.

Unfortunately, they didn't know, that Feather had a huge advantage fighting in the darkness. After all, she specifically trained for it.

She waited for them to close in on her. Then she swiftly went down bypassing the sword of the leader and positioning herself between the bandits and the window.

Unlike what they worried about, she had no intentions to escape. She was cornering them so that they wouldn't be able to run away. She had questions she wanted to ask them.

One of the bandits thought she wanted to escape and threw a table at her, but she gracefully dodged. The table crashed into the window barricading it. The only exit left now was the door.

Feather let herself be surrounded once more. Then she evaded swords, moved to the backs of her opponents, and stabbed at the nearest one.

In this manner she continued to dodge and stab her opponents, appearing at their rears all the time. In the dark, they were not her equals. The wound she did couldn't be considered serious, but they stacked over time.

In several minutes the bandits were riddled with holes, and the blood loss started to get at them.

In such a deep night, even if there was a commotion, no one would care enough to go and check, unless untimely patrol happened to walk nearby.

The bandits were clear on that, but they never expected for the battle to last so long. And they weren't the ones winning.

"Retreat," commanded the leader.

"Oh, no, you are not," Feather's voice was leisurely but imposing. "Not until you've told me everything you know about this client of yours."

With these words she struck the nearest bandit under the back of the knee, rendering him unable to move.

In just a few moments, the situation the bandits were in turned into an inescapable one.

They were still holding their swords, but now they could only defend.

So their defense swiftly crumbled.

Alas, they didn't know anything of note about their client.

The only thing Feather managed to find out, it was a man, probably.

After interrogation, Feather left the bandits there, took her things, and went out.

She didn't care if the bandits would escape and how would they do it.