Chapter 45

Mid-Night…

Except for the Second Stage Assassins, everyone else involved in this mission were standing on a distant rooftop, over looking The Silver River Merchant Company's Headquarters.

The building was massive, decorated heavily with precious shining jewels and extravagant carvings that were seemingly of Ancient origin. The building itself seemed to have been entirely built out of jade, shining mildly under the moonlight,

'How pretentious' 

Nathan thought. He then turned to look at the person whom he did not expect to see here, "I'm surprised you decided to join us personally, Aunty."

Aunty Solina covered her mouth while giggling softly, "Oh, your words hurt my feeling, little Nate. You two Little ones are too reckless for me to rest easy, even with your Grandpa keeping watch."

"Mooom! We're not kids anymore~" Sophie whined cutely.

"Oh, my Dear, in my eyes, you two are always little~" Aunty Solina teased her Daughter, hoping to ease the tension in the air.

And indeed, it worked. Sophie turned the other way, dissatisfied that she didn't have a comeback, "Hmph!"

Nathan chuckled but turned to the seven Third Stage Assassins who were also with them, "It is time. Lead the diversion, and force them out of their hole. Be as flashy as you can."

"Yes, Your Highness." Two Low-Level Third Stage Assassins bowed and left immediately to reunite with the others.

Among the Assassins, only the seven with the highest cultivation were aware of Nathan's identity as a Crown Prince of Darkness, and they had already sworn an oath of secrecy. Should they betray their oath, death will be the least of their problems.

Under the cover of the night and guided by the light of the moon, 29 Assassins made flickered in the shadows, converging on The Headquarters from all directions!

"You have your orders. Everyone is hostile. Leave no one alive." Everyone heard a voice in theirs heads, as Grandpa relayed Nathan's orders.

As soon as they reached the building, 2 of the Assassins split off from the main group. They had different orders.

The Assassins easily infiltrated the building, and silently killed anyone they came across mercilessly.

Soon, they had cleared half of the building of any sign of life, when they encountered an obstacle,

"Your Highness, we have encountered large number of people on the 8th floor. If we engage, we won't be able to keep things silent in case there is someone with hidden cultivation among them." One of the Third Stage Captains reported using a Messaging Talisman.

Nathan also held a Messaging Talisman, "Captain, consider every single one of them equal or stronger than you and your men as you proceed."

Captain agreed, "Understood." He stored his Messaging Talisman away, and communicated with his men,

"Search for the targets who you think would be most troublesome. Take out at least one person on my command."

On the 8th floor, which was like a gigantic hall with massive pillars holding the ceiling, a crowd of normal workers were gathered, seemingly waiting.

The Assassins were in no hurry at all! They took their time observing each target carefully, while secretly communicating with each other.

After all preparations were in place, they all moved at the same time, 

Tens of shadows suddenly appeared behind the people in the hall!

*Puchi!*  *Puchi!*  *Puchi!*

PUUUUUUUUUUUUUUFFFFFFFFFFFF!!!

Instantly, many people died, and even those alive didn't know what was happening,

*Xiu!*  *Xiu!*  *Xiu!*

Countless daggers and flying darts and all sorts of hidden weapons were scattered across the hall, many of which were laced with poison!

*Puchi!*  *Puchi!*  *Puchi!*

Many more fell, before the handful survivors finally managed to react,

"Ambush! We are under attack!"

"Alert Sir Bishop!"

"Kill them all!"

In that moment, terrifying undulations burst from the remaining survivors! Many of them were even in The Third Stage!

The Captains reacted immediately, "Fall back!"

The Captains threw out Explosion Talismans to buy some time for their retreat, as one person contacted Nathan,

"Your Highness, your suspicions were true! The Enemy had hidden as plain workers and had sealed their cultivations! We killed most of them, but the remaining ones cannot be dealt with! We are retreating!"

Nathan's voice resounded as soon as he finished, "Proceed as planned. Nothing has changed."

The Captain put the Messaging Talisman away, as he and his colleague covered the backs of their subordinates.

***

Meanwhile, on the top floor of the same building, a meeting was taking place.

"Our plan has failed."

"Indeed, we had not expected this. We assumed that based on their past raids, where they merely knocked out everyone, they would do the same here as well. Who knew…"

"Doesn't matter. The shadow has walked into the shade. Soon, it will walk into the light."

"Indeed."

Everyone present turned to the person who had not spoken from the start.

"Send out the rest of our forces. Force them to show themselves…" An Aged voice, akin to a dried bark of an ancient tree resounded.

As everyone got busy, one man brought out a tiny pyramid that hovered above his palm, as he laughed maliciously, "He He He… Time to trap the mouse…"

He channeled his Spiritual Energy to the pyramid, which glowed brightly, and soon, the entire building was covered by a barrier, exactly the same as the formation key he held in his hand,

'Tonight… none of you will leave this place… I will finally receive my promised reward! Nothing can stop me now!'

***

The Assassins had retreated to the perimeter of the building, when the formation activated, and trapped them inside.

In the blink of an eye, many people caught up to them, surrounding them and cutting off their path of escape.

The Assassins grouped together, and one of them hidden from view reported to Nathan, "12 Low-Level Third Stage and 20 Second Stage Cultivators of different strength. No sign of a leader."

Nathan didn't panic. The enemy had brought more people than expected, but everything was still under control.

"Initiate the second part of the plan." 

***

The unknown Cultivators surrounded the Assassins and looked at them mockingly, "Look at these rats! To think a bunch of weaklings dare attack us. You should have ran as far away as possible, but you fools actually delivered yourself to us!"

"You are right, Senior Brother. They could have lived a few more days, but they chose death."

"Let's make sure to capture them alive! Breaking them will be such a joy! Oh! I cannot wait!"

They continued taunting them, but the Assassins only looked at them with cold eyes, as if looking at a dead man talking.

Seeing no reaction from them, The unknown Cultivators soon got bored, "How boring. Let's get this over with."

 The Assassins looked at their surrounding, with unnerving calm. They had only 2 people at Low-Level Third Stage, while the opposition had more than ten! If a fight breaks out, they would get wiped out without question, so what was their source of confidence?

Some people were getting irritated by the Assassins attitude, and decided to act first when,

*Crack!*  *Crack!*  *Crack!*

To their horror, the Formation Barrier surrounding the building began to crack!

*BANG!*

With a loud bang, the Barrier shattered like glass. This was a very expensive Formation Barrier that could withstand several attacks for a Fourth Stage Cultivator!

Many figures attacked the scattered Cultivators who were surrounding the Assassins, catching them off guard!

Nathan and Sophie ran together, their target? The strongest Mid-Level Second Stage Cultivator! A bulky man with a massive club on his shoulder, who looked very savage!

While in [Stealth], they struck simultaneously, but their opponent discovered them beforehand, and swung his club at them!

Nathan and Sophie jumped to either side of him, and attacked his fatal spots, but the bulky man was faster! He infused massive amounts of Spiritual Energy into his club, and keeping his momentum, he slammed his club to the ground, generating a massive shock wave that blasted both Nathan and Sophie back, sending them flying!

"Heh! A couple weaklings think they can take me down… I feel insulted! I will rip you apart limb by limb!" The bulky man snorted in disdain as he reached Nathan in the blink of an eye!

Nathan somersaulted in the air to regain his footing, and he threw one of his daggers at the charging man!

The man easily deflected the dagger, when he was hit by a ball of Golden Flames!

*BOOOOM*

Nathan could sense that the man was still alive, so he didn't give him a chance to recover, and ran straight into the flames fearlessly!

The flames didn't hurt him at all, and Nathan discovered the bulky man trying to eat a Healing Pill!

'Not on my watch!'

[Reaper's Gaze!]

Nathan's eyes shimmered with a cyan glow, as he poured his Soul Force into them, and looked at the bulky man.

The bulky man suddenly froze, as he was caught unprepared, and the next moment he woke up with a sword in his heart!

'This… is… not… possible!'

The next moment, he fell to the ground, and his soul was harvested by Nathan,

'That was a close call! If he had protected his soul with his Spiritual Energy, then [Reaper's Gaze] wouldn't have been able to stun him.'

Nathan picked up his dagger and looked around.

Aside from him and Sophie, there was a Mid-Level and 3 Low-Level Third Stage Assassins who came with him, and a hooded Warrior was tearing through the Second Stage Cultivators like a monster!

The hooded Warrior didn't waste much time on anyone! Even when facing Peak-Level Second Stage Cultivators, he merely traded a blow for blow, which turned out to be a huge mistake for the enemy! Their blow would merely shake the Skeleton without doing any damage, while the saber infused with a minor amount of Death Energy reaped their lives like livestock!

Indeed! The hooded Warrior was Nathan's Skeleton, whom he he disguised it to avoid unnecessary trouble.

Everything was according to plan so far!