Underestimating the Assassins

"Keep an eye on the Gladiator that has brown hair, his frame is also small so eliminate those that have a wide and muscular frame" two hooded figures which are assassins can be seen hiding on top of a tree, their hawk eyes searching for someone amongst the people that came out of six crimson wagons in front of them.

From the looks of it, they seem to have a hard time finding the person they are looking for.

Aside from the limited description they gain from their employer, the previous team also never came back which shows that they are most likely to be dead. Due to that, they don't have any additional information about the target.

What seems to be an easy mission surprisingly becomes hard because of that.

One particular assassin has a tattoo on his face that poked out of the black mask he's wearing, his eyes are sharp and he's standing on a tree branch beside another assassin, hidden from the people on the road.

"Scorpion, that person should be sickly is he not?" the assassin on the side asked.

The assassin that has a tattoo on his face called scorpion frowns when he heard this, "Don't base your search on that, I have a feeling that he's not sick. I don't know how, but he recovered from the poison and killed the last team that got sent here"

"Aye, you're thinking it too much. I think he has a protector instead" the other assassin rebutted.

But even though the other assassin seems to be fixed on the fact that they need to be wary of the potential protector that protected their target, Scorpion still has doubt in his eyes. It's his guts that telling him to be careful.

"If it takes too long, we'll try and take the Gladiators with Dog Slave Mark" Scorpion said.

Without even waiting for the other assassin to reply, Scorpion dashes away from the tree branch to check the others assassins that are scattered and hidden behind the cover of the forest, looking from the other side.

Scorpion utilizes his footwork to go through the forest swiftly and silently.

Like a shadow, he managed to cross the road to the other side where the other assassins are located. None of the Gladiators or even the guards can sense Scorpion crossing the road which displays his skill.

Going straight to the place the other assassins should be, Scorpion reaches it in a few seconds.

Pushing away a thick bush that blocks his way, his steps suddenly halted when his eyes catch a glimpse of something in the leaves. Kneeling down, Scorpion frowns when he saw a trail of crimson substance on the leaves.

In reflex, Scorpion takes out his dagger while darting his eyes left and right cautiously.

Without needing to check for the second time he knows that the crimson color staining the leaves is blood, he dwells in this kind of world for years and can tell blood from a glance. 'Is there really a protector? Or is he manage to realize that we're going to assassinate him?'

Frowning for a second, Scorpion courses through the forest on high alert.

Although the forest looks normal right now with the heap of leaves and trees surrounding him, it becomes eerie and dangerous in the blink of an eye as Scorpion realized that there's a threat lying within this forest.

Step by step he walks with extreme caution, and he reacted to any sudden sound that he heard.

Looking down to the ground his eyes manage to find the trace of blood, he followed the trail before he reaches a certain tree. Going around the tree, Scorpion sucked in a cold breath when his eyes were greeted by something surprising.

Three of his comrades were stacked against each other behind the tree.

From the looks of it, they were all killed with one swift stab to their throats. There's no sign of struggle in their corpses, they died without being given any chance to resist. Scorpion immediately feels a shiver down his spine, the way his comrades died shows that he's dealing with an expert.

No rookies can do something like this, the kill was too clean to be done by a noble brat.

It was so clean and smooth that there was no sound that indicates that three of his comrades were killed, not even the people on the road can hear any sort of sound. Something like this is truly terrifying.

'Okay, there might be someone protecting that brat. Now I'm sure of it' Scorpion thought.

Due to the existence of a protector, a bead of cold sweat can be seen tracing down the side of his face, the kill confirms for him that there's the existence of a hidden protector. 'I need to regroup with Bear, it'll be bad for him to meet with the protector alone'

Swiftly, Scorpion went back to the tree branch where he was before.

Knowing that three of his comrades are dead without making a sound, he fears that the other assassin, Bear would end up with the same fate. They are dealing with an unknown figure, and it's best to stick together.

Upon reaching the tree, Scorpion stopped when he saw a man standing by the tree.

Leaning on the tree trunk while playing with his bloodied dagger, the man seems nonchalant. But Scoprion tighten his grip on his dagger when he saw Bear's corpse lying beside the man, the same small stab can be seen in his throat.

It seems Scorpion was too late, his other comrades were all killed.

"You know, I thought I never get used to killing people, it feels wrong every time I did it. But for some reason, I can kill your friends without feeling any guilt whatsoever" the man said before he straighten his body, "Do you know why...?" he then asked whisperingly.

Scorpion keep silent, he looked at the man standing in front of him with a frown.

'It's not a protector...' Scorpion thought, realizing the figure that he was up against. Wearing the uniform of the Gladiator from the Gladiator School of Tyranny, having brown hair, and also a rather young face shows that he's not dealing with a protector.

Now it was clear that the ones that killed his comrade were the target himself.

Although he doesn't know how the target, Ramero manages to find out that he's going to be assassinated right here, the fact that he was the one that killed his comrades greatly troubles Scorpion. 'My guts is right, he's not sick and is even stronger'

The man is none other than Ramero, he was the one that decides to strike first.

~

A moment earlier, Ramero dashes into the forest without anybody noticing.

Equipped with the dagger that he grabbed from the equipment wagon, he went on a hunt for the assassins that are trying to assassinate him. As an ex-special force, he's well-equipped with the knowledge of stealth and fighting in the forest.

Since he's in a new world, he only needs to adjust a little bit to find the assassins.

Back in his home world, the people he faced in the forest doesn't have easy access to the top of the tree. Most of them uses camo suit and hides on the ground, becoming one with the forest, but this world is different.

If many people are considered to have superhuman strength, Ramero needs only to look up.

Ramero manages to find two assassins standing on top of the tree branch, looking at the road to find him. None of the two realizes that Ramero is on their backs, and that gives a quick kill for Ramero by throwing his dagger.

With his current stat points, he has enough strength to mimic the feat of his old self.

Although he was worried that his aim might've been a little off, the dagger manage to hit a bullseye. In the two throws, one dagger manages to stab the assassin's neck and killed him almost instantly.

The other one on the other hand missed, and it alerts the assassin.

But the assassin made a dumb mistake, he stayed up on the tree while trying to find Ramero and this resulted in an easy kill. Ramero climbs the tree with his strength and catches the assassin off-guard from the back.

Grabbing the dagger that got stabbed into the tree, he then stabbed the assassin in the neck.

Without any sound, he brought the assassin down and hides the corpse behind a tree. As for the third assassin, he finds that assassin hiding under a bush, a throw to the neck did the job before he went on with his hunt.

Finding that there were no more assassins on this side, he decided to go to the other side.

Ramero knows exactly that there are five assassins stated by the system, he killed three and there are supposed to be two more. It didn't take long before he finds the fourth assassin, he creeps behind him silently.

Like an expert, he covers the assassin's mouth and stabbed him in the neck.

It was then he managed to kill four assassins before he heard the cackling sound of branches being broken, indicating that the last assassin is heading his way. And that is when he met with Scorpion while leaning on the tree.

~

"Do you know why...?" Ramero asked whisperingly.

Pausing for a second to look Ramero directly in the eyes with clear anger, Scorpion ignored the question as he gripped the dagger in his hand tighter. Not intending to reply to Ramero at all, he kept his mouth shut.

"It's because you tried to kill me, and I feel no guilt for killing people that tries to kill me"

Immediately after he said that Ramero stomp the ground and sprinted forward swiftly. Scorpion was surprised to see that Ramero's movement is quite fast, he raises his dagger to block a swift slash to his face.

Clang!

Ramero stands a couple of meters behind Scorpion, he's oozing with confidence.

From the assassins that tried to kill him back in his jail cell, he doesn't have that much difficulty in beating them. If Scorpion is the same as the assassins from before, he doesn't need to be cautious against him.

"As a respect to my friends, your death is not going to be painless" Scorpion slowly turned back.

Inside his tone is a hint of anger, showing that he's being serious.

But instead of feeling intimidated by the threat, Ramero smirked descendingly while pointing his dagger at Scorpion, "Is that anger inside your voice? That's no good, assassin, you shouldn't have your emotions riled up like that" he replied mockingly.

Scorpion gritted his teeth and lunges forward angrily.

Although he has been in this profession for years, he has never been mocked by a kid like Ramero.

Out of the many people that he assassinated, there are some that mocked him but they have the power to back that up. For someone like Ramero to mock him is unacceptable, he won't let this slide easily.

Swoosh!

Ramero looks at the dashing Scorpion calmly, his eyes are crystal clear.

'Why are people in this world got easily angered, they should know that this would make it easier for me to beat them' Ramero thought while shaking his head, he keep standing there waiting for Scorpion to strike.

Just then his pupils dilated when he saw Scorpion's legs emitting a grey hue.

Instantly after he realized that Ramero jumps back as that grey hue despite differences in color is very similar to Leandra's blue hue, and that puts him to one conclusion, 'This guy is a fucking Mage!' he exclaimed inside his head.

Looking at Scorpion that intends to swing his dagger, he prepares to dodge it.

But even though he already waited for a good amount of time, the horizontal slash never came despite the close distance between them. Ramero's eyes then trained forward when Scorpion stomp the ground powerfully.

Bam!

Crack!

Immediately after that, Ramero can feel something wraps around his ankle.

Ramero wanted to look down to see what wraps around his ankle but his body froze for a brief moment, he saw a sharp and pointy object heading towards him at a fast pace. 'I never fought a Mage before! Shit! What's that? A spike...?"