While the Assassin Union was figuring out how they were going to deal with Abel, all the knights in the human world went mad about the new magic equipment set that Abel said that he was going to make. Helmet. Iron boots. Gloves. Belts. Armor. It was so valuable that they were willing to do anything for it.
There was also the magic knight’s big sword. Its most brilliant feature was the ability to drain life force and mana from its target. It was the dream of every head knight commander.
Other than that, there was the magic shield. The magic shield was the life of a knight. With a shield and sword in hand, a knight could defend and attack at the same time. It was an essential gear for them to become more versatile in combat.
Inside the human world on the Holy Continent, missions for the Assassin Union were sacked everywhere. It was the same for each of the duchies, and it was the same for all three human empires. The assassins never saw it coming. They thought that they would be targeted only if they were inside or close to the duchy of Carmel, but they were attacked at every single location.
Knights wore face shields in every city. It wasn’t something that they’d usually do. By having them on, they went on to fulfill the one objective that they were assigned: to find the main headquarter of the Assassin Union. Of course, it wasn’t an easy task at all. As the enemy of countless individuals and groups, the Assassin Union constantly tried to hide from the eyes of all of its enemies. Not even the high-ranking assassins knew where the main branch building was.
At Pute Valley of the Kingdom of St. Anwall, Wizard Kilmer looked bitter. Head Commander Acton and Wizard Elliot were just trying to convince him to kill Abel. Wizard Kilmer knew that it had to be done, but he wasn’t planning on treading into Abel’s territory. He was not prepared to go to a place where three level seventeen wizards died. Still, whether he was going or not, the consequences would still be equally unbearable for him.
Wizard Elliot advised, “We’ll lower to authorization level for killing Abel. That way, everyone in the organization will be able to go after him. After that, we’ll increase the reward so everyone can try to find a way to target him. He’s just a man. I’m sure there’s a way we can outnumber him eventually.”
The lower-ranking assassins could still trouble to Abel. They might not be that strong in combat, but they possessed a lot of deadly arts. Some of them knew how to set up traps. Others knew how to use venom. There were also those who were experts at “making things look like an accident.” Abel could try to survive, but what he couldn’t try to do was to rest easy for the rest of his days.
This was why nobody wanted to make an enemy out of the Assassin Union. They could be as careful as they wanted, but no one had the ability to defend themselves from countless assassination attempts till the end of time.
So what could Abel do? If he was just a regular wizard, he could just stay inside his own magic tower and not come out, but he wasn’t just a regular wizard. With all kinds of other priorities, he had to go between different places, and that would give assassins of all ranks the opportunity to come after him.
Head Commander Acton was still very angry, “Yeah, go do that. If Abel’s planning on staying inside his tower for the rest of his days, so be it.”
Wizard Elliot called, “Hey, someone, come here! Put this mission up at every point.”
Staff quickly came in and took the parchment paper over. Yet, he wasn’t moving when he took it.
Wizard Elliot sounded annoyed, “Hurry up!”
In a fearful tone, the staff said, “Master, all of our points have lost contact.”
“WHAT?!”
It took the Assassin Union centuries to set up points all over the human world. Not only did they have to get permission from everyone to do it, but the cost was also skyrocket high. To lose contact with all the points would mean that all their past efforts were for nothing. It was supposed to be something impossible. The three human empires could try to make it happen, but even their joined forces couldn’t make it happen this fast.
Wizard Kilmer tried to sound calm, “What happened? Tell me.”
Despite having no connection to what’s going on inside the Assassin Union, Wizard Kilmer was the one who’s been protecting it. It was the same vice versa. If it wasn’t for the Assassin Union, there would be no way that he could become a rank seventeen advanced wizard as he was now. Being a wizard was very costly. If he didn’t have an entire organization to keep supplying him with all sorts of resources, he wouldn’t have any ways of becoming a rank seventeen wizard. The ones with real talents left the Holy Continent as soon as they could, but for ones like Wizard Kilmer, he had to find ways to get past restrictions from the Wizard Union.
The staff stuttered as he saw how angry Wizard Kilmer was, “El..el..elder, please, hear me out. According to our latest news, the knights attacked out points voluntarily. All the knights in the human world are going after our mission points. They took all our working staff. They even went as far as to destroy all our locations.”
Head Commander Acton ground his teeth, “We are gone! We’ve lost everything in the human world, all thanks to Abel!”
Wizard Elliot complained, “We should’ve never taken the order. Abel is too costly for us.”
Of course, Wizard Elliot would be the one complaining. While both of them proposed to accept the mission, it was Head Commander Acton that really pushed the idea.
“Hey, hey hey! What do you mean by that?” Head Commander Acton slammed his fist on the table and stood up, “Fine! I was the one who brought this up, but why? Didn’t I do it because I wanted better for our union? I suggest you take that attitude else, Elliot, or else-”
Wizard Kilmer interrupted, “Hello? I’m still here, you two. Are you trying to start a fight in front of me?”
As Wizard Kilmer said that, Head Commander Acton and Wizard Elliot were forced to bow to him. The aura that he emitted pushed the staff to the ground. Not a single sound could be heard.
Wizard Kilmer tried to redirect the conversation, “We’ve lost the human world, but we still have contact with the dwarves and elves. We can just wait for things to settle down.”
Actually, there really wasn’t a way that things could settle down. There were too many knights that were involved this time. The Assassin Union just made an enemy out of the most populated class on the entire Holy Continent. If they really wanted to make an escape, the Orc Empire was pretty much the only place to go.
“Sir!” Another working staff screamed at the door.
Wizard Kilmer just stared blankly at Head Commander Acton and Wizard Elliot. There was already enough bad news for one day. All three of them didn’t speak. Even the phrase “come on in” was too hard to say in this situation.
Wizard Kilmer tried to sound calm, “In.”
When the staff went to him, he saw the staff that was trying to crawl up from the ground. His face was full of fear when he saw it.
The staff said in a shaky voice, “News just came from the elves. Since we, the Assassin Union, are trying to target Grandmaster Abel, king of the duchy of Carmel, The elven city of Angstrom City decided that it must participate as an ally. Not only did the elves arrested all our members, but they also shut down all of our points to conduct investigations.”
Wizard Kilmer widened his eyes, “How are the elves connected with humans? Did Abel have an elven wife or something?”
The staff couldn’t even look Wizard Kilmer in the eyes, “There is also something else, Master.”
“Go on, what?”
“News also came from the dwarves. They are shutting down all our points in the dwarven cities. The staff that was captured will be handed to Grandmaster Abel himself. Our dwarven members were demanded to leave or will be persecuted as traitors of their race.”
Boom.
Both of the staff were hit with a fireball. After being sent flying for a few meters, the flame exploded and turned them into cinders. The entire assembly hall was trembling.
Wizard Kilmer carried on to talk to himself, “It’s over. It’s over for the Assassin Union.”
The elven and dwarven branches cost about ten times more than the points in the human world. The dwarves and elves could pay a more generous price for service. The higher-ups were very important clients. After promising to them that the Assassin Union wouldn’t target anyone from the royal families, they were granted access to do business with the two races.
Wizard Kilmer tried to calm himself down, “Block the teleportation circles. We can’t have anyone moving about when it’s this dangerous everywhere. The only thing we can do is to wait it out.”
For Wizard Kilmer, killing Head Commander Acton and Wizard Elliot was a very easy job, but the most important thing now was to preserve his own strength. He needed ways to rebuild the Assassin Union, and that had to wait after things settled down.
As for killing Abel, it was now the last thing that they would think about. Abel was simply too much for them. They would’ve never thought that he could just target them as soon as they finished discussing what to do with him.
After the teleportation circle of the Assassin Union was shut, all the members were sent out. They prepared themselves to wait for a chance to rise again.
…
It had been five days since the Assassin Union commenced their attempt to kill Abel. It’s also been the rowdiest the knights of the Holy Continent had ever been. They cleared off every mission point that the Assassin Union installed. Not only that, but they also captured a vast majority of the associates that they could identify.
Once the mission points were destroyed, the Assassin Union’s assassins lost their channels to be assigned missions. Either that or they would finish a mission without having any way of receiving their reward. Not only did it lead to the ruin of the Assassin Union’s reputation, but the members also lost ways of reaching their bosses and other senior staff. By the way, Abel never expected things to escalate this much. He never expected the promise of a grandmaster blacksmith to make the knights go this insane.
Wizard Elliot and Head Commander Acton were celebrities now. Before, their names could only be heard of from other assassins, but now, they were the names that every knight looked for.
One day, Butler Burbridge went inside the Billy City Palace to have a dialogue with Abel.
Burbridge bowed to see Abel in his study room, “Wizard Allenby is planning on visiting you, your Majesty.”
“Sure, be quick about it.”
Abel was somewhat surprised to hear this name. The only advanced wizard he was close with was Wizard Lorenzo. He didn’t expect someone like Wizard Allenby to come to him without something special to talk about.
Wizard Allenby went to see Abel in the guest room, “It’s been a while, Grandmaster Abel.”
Abel went out of his study room to meet Wizard Lorenzo here. The study room was a very private location. Only the ones close to the king would be allowed in. There were simply too many secrets that must be kept.
Abel gestured Wizard Lorenzo to a chair, “So what business do you have today, Wizard Allenby?”
After giving a bow, Wizard Allenby sat on the chair. He sipped on the juice that was made by the elves. He was about to say something, but his eyes looked somewhat cautious as they scanned across Burbridge.
Abel said to Burbridge, “Sorry, but can you go out for a bit? I want you to make sure that no one’s coming in to interrupt our conversation.”
Wizard Allenby smiled and spoke, “About the assassin attempt you encountered, Grandmaster Abel, I’ve come here to visit you on behalf of the Wizard Union. The Assassin Union has gone too far this time. We are planning to condemn their misbehavior very soon.”
Abel went to the point, “I thank the Wizard Union for the bottom of my heart. The Assassin Union has turned to become the cancer of the human world. I’ll do everything in my power to stop them from disrupting the harmony and order of our civilization.”
Wizard Allenby suddenly changed the topic, “Also, Grandmaster Abel, Wizard Kilmer happens to be someone I know.”
Abel wasn’t sure what to say, “Um, sorry? Forgive me if I’ve misinterpreted Wizard Allenby, but no one is going to make me make peace with the Assassin Union.”
There was no turning back between Abel and the Assassin Union. He was at an advantage now. If he didn’t take an extra step to go after the rest of the members, they would just slowly come back to target him. It wouldn’t be just him that’s going to be in danger when that happens. He still had his family and duchy to look after. He must do everything he could do to prevent a disaster from happening.
Wizard Allenby shook his head, “No, Grandmaster Abel, I’m not here to convince you to do anything.”
“So, what are you doing?” Abel asked.
Wizard Allenby took out a crystal cup and spun it in his hands, “So I’ve paid a visit to Wizard Kilmer’s magic tower magic years ago, and did you know what I see.”
“No. Wait, you’ve been to Wizard Kilmer’s magic tower?”
It was excellent news for Abel. Advanced wizards were much stronger than regular people in terms of their sense of direction. With him and his wealth, Abel had no way of pinpointing where exactly the tower would be situated. So far, all he knew was that it was somewhere at the Kingdom of St. Anwall.
Wizard Allenby nodded, “There are a lot of parts that he bought from Liante City. I was the one who helped to install some of them.”
He then took out a parchment paper from his portal bag, “Here, the most I can do is to give you an approximate location.”
Abel could see that the paper had a drawing of a map. It was the rough shape of the Kingdom of St. Anwall. There was a spot that was circled in red. The diameter of this circle was about eight hundred miles. Anyone could tell that the location was in the mountains. It wouldn’t be easy to find the main headquarter here, so it seemed.
Wizard Allenby spoke, “They’ve installed things that could disrupt your signals. And no, I was not allowed to check on the geography from inside the tower. This is about the most I can tell you.”
As crucial as the help was, it was still far from finding the real Assassin Union. If the Assassin Union installed some sort of seclusion circle device, this map would become useless.
Abel stood up to give a wizard’s bow, “Thank you so much, Wizard Allenby. Remember, once you’ve prepared your ingredients, you can come to the duchy of Carmel to get me to make you a magic staff.”
Wizard Allenby was extremely pleased, “It’s my great honor to have helped you, Grandmaster Abel.”
Once Wizard Allenby was gone, Abel went to open the map again. He was starting to understand why he didn’t want the others to see it. Giving the map out was pretty much the equivalent of selling out a former client. If someone else found out that Wizard Kilmer was doing this, then his whole reputation would’ve been over.
Abel said with a dry smile, “Right, so he’s the type who just wants the right price. If the price is right, he’s willing to sell out anyone that he knows.”
Speaking of which, the eight hundred mile area was not quite hard for him. It might be hard for the others, but he had flying mounts and the battle command spirit. It wouldn’t be long before he could find the exact location.
Abel said to Burbridge, “Alright, Burbridge. Tell the others that I’ll go into shutdown for a few days. Leave everything to my father and Earl Brook.”
It was routine for Abel. If he wanted to do something else, he would leave the political matters to his biological father and grandfather. Of course, he wasn’t really going to go into shutdown. He was planning to go into the Kingdom of St. Anwall himself. The sphinx knights could do the scouting, but they had no ways of bringing down advanced wizards that they found.
Abel first used the teleportation circle to teleport back to the Bakong City Palace. After that, he used his soul chain to get White Cloud, Flying Flame, Johnson, and White Snow onto the battle fort 03. The battle fort was his best tool to deal against advanced wizards, who could move at lightning speeds.
White Cloud was responsible for pulling the battle fort 03 to the Kingdom of St. Anwall. Since they were in invisibility mode, Abel didn’t startle anyone that was on their way. They just flew slowly to the location marked on the map. He didn’t use the battlefort at Harry Castle because that was the last line of defense that he needed there. He didn’t want the advanced wizards to suddenly target the Harry Castle once he was gone.
As fast as White Cloud was, it was still not as fast as Flying Flame. This was because White Cloud had to drag the battle fort along with it. Its speed determined the speed at which the battle fort was moving. If he wanted to move faster, he happened to have a bottle of the “ability potion” in his hand. It was a potion that gave one of the three abilities at random: lightning enhancement, special speed enhancement, and teleportation. If he could get the “special speed enhancement,” he could save a lot more time to reach the destination.
“Rest, White Cloud,” Abel called White Cloud to stop.
Without knowing the reason behind the order, White Cloud made a stop in midair. The battle fort 03 automatically locked itself in midair as well.
“Here,” Abel threw the purple “ability potion” to White Cloud. White Cloud knew what it was, so it was keen on grabbing it with its beak. Flying Flame and Johnson were jealous when they saw White Cloud drink the whole bottle.
Very quickly, a purple light flashed across White Cloud’s body. It was up to luck now. If Abel and White Cloud were lucky, they could just reach the destination a lot faster. Actually, the “lightning enhancement” could also be a good outcome. White Cloud would gain the ability to shoot out four streaks of lightning to attack enemies in every direction. Abel wouldn’t want that, though. Despite having conquered its timid nature, White Cloud was not a creature that was born to engage in hard combat. Abel didn’t really trust it to be a threat against its enemies.
The last possible outcome was “teleport,” but the weird thing about it was that it could only be triggered when the user’s life was threatened.
Anyways, once the purple was gone, the outcome of the ability potion became imminent.
Abel asked, “No! Is it teleportation?”
The answer was positive when it came from White Cloud’s soul chain. Just when Abel thought that the potion had gone to waste, White Cloud teleported to a spot that was about five hundred meters away.
“You can activate it without being injured?”
A confused response came from the soul chain. It was obvious now. White Cloud was not a combat-type beast. It was a timid creature that relied on a vegetarian diet. Of course, any buff on it would have an enhanced effect.
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