Category: The Azure Longsword

Chapter 43: The Spiderweb System

Alfred, the new strategic advisor to the King of Thessaloniki, was also Boniface’s confidant.

As a former Norman pirate who had studied at the military academy of the Holy Solomon Empire, Alfred possessed both the cunning instincts of a Norman pirate and a mastery of various Holy Roman tactics and strategies.

Therefore, with the intruding mage assassin still at large, Boniface directly handed over command of his personal guard to Alfred and hurriedly left the base, returning to Thessaloniki under the escort of his guards.

“The enemy’s strengths and weaknesses are both obvious.” Inside the command building, Alfred stood in front of a sand table, on which the terrain and building distribution of the town had been roughly piled up.

“Arcane fire abilities, and control abilities similar to Mind, Desire, or Dream, make this assassin almost impossible to deal with in a one-on-one situation.”

“However, she must lack defensive measures against large-scale attacks, otherwise, she wouldn’t have to hide like this and hunt down our stationed knights everywhere – she could just attack directly.”

“In other words, as long as everyone avoids acting alone, the opponent will have no chance to strike.”

“All search teams will consist of one powered armor knight and two knight squires as the minimum unit, and conduct a clockwise search centered on this building. I have already set all the routes. You must strictly follow this information to arrange your patrol routes.”

“Every minute, all teams must report their location and search progress. If any unexpected situation is found, report it immediately.”

“Understood!” The knights saluted in unison.

Soon, the patrol routes of the knights in the base changed, like a spreading spiderweb, seemingly chaotic and disordered, yet full of hidden dangers.

“A new commander? All operating in small groups?” Behind the wall, Medusa looked at the heavily armed and vigilant knight squads passing by, reading the information from their shallow consciousness.

“Then, let me see what you’ve learned.” She stared at these three enemies and secretly manipulated their desires.

The knight squad was advancing when one of the squires suddenly felt a sore neck and twisted his neck to turn his head.

The moment his eyes met Medusa’s, his mental body immediately fell, his limbs moving as if beyond his control. He grabbed the fireproof asbestos cloth on the knight’s armor and quickly ripped it off.

This action was so sudden that the knight and the other squire didn’t even have time to react. The next moment, a huge flame engulfed the powered armor.

Inside the rapidly heating steel armor, the knight’s flesh was almost instantly charred. The remaining two squires began to fight each other, then were easily ignited by the flames Medusa threw.

“Nothing more than this.” Medusa sneered, looking at the two squires struggling in the flames.

“What, I’ve been exposed?” She suddenly muttered to herself in confusion. “Medea, my flame control is very precise, they couldn’t send out any signal from beginning to end…”

Medusa quickly rushed into the building next door and saw two squads appear simultaneously on both sides of the street, running towards the burning corpses.

“Corpses found in area G15, currently burning.” They seemed to be communicating with the command center via radio.

“Yes, immediately search according to the latest route.”

Medusa, watching from behind the shop window, saw the two knight squads outside. One stayed in place to monitor the entire street, while the other began searching the nearby buildings.

So she walked towards the back of the store, intending to escape through the back door, while talking to Medea in her mind:

“How was I exposed?”

“You’re saying it’s because I killed these knights?”

Leaving the building through the back door, she suddenly sensed dozens of mental bodies approaching from her spiritual vision and quickly dodged behind a garbage pile.

“The enemy has set up a spiderweb-like defense system using communication channels. Each patrol squad is like a spider on the web, maintaining regular contact with the commander.”

“Once I kill one of the spiders, the entire web will be alerted, and all the nearby spiders will gather in this direction.”

“This will undoubtedly greatly increase the difficulty of my concealment. To escape from the encirclement safely, I must avoid killing any patrol squads.”

“Otherwise, every successful kill is actually exposing and updating my own location.”

“However, my own ability must be based on the pain caused by killing.”

“I understand, Medea. It seems that to break the situation, I can only start by destroying the entire patrol system.”

She stared at the knight squads hurrying past outside and quietly activated her psychic abilities, quickly flipping through their shallow thoughts.

“I see, I just need to kill their commander, right?”

Ten minutes later, Medusa quietly avoided several patrol squads and stealthily approached the Crusader command center.

It was a low two-story villa with a delicate small garden and a swimming pool.

Two fully armed knights guarded the entrance, and Crusaders were constantly coming in and out. From a distance, Medea could see two men talking on the balcony on the second floor of the villa.

There seemed to be more figures moving in the bedroom behind the balcony.

She took a deep breath and began to mobilize her surging fire ability.

A few seconds later, a stream of cyan flames shot from a few hundred meters away towards the heavily guarded two-story garden villa.

The flames first washed over the front door, melting and burning through it in less than half a second, then rushed into the lobby on the first floor with terrifying force.

As the caster’s hands moved, the flames swept like a giant python. Wherever they passed, whether it was furniture, tables, and chairs, or concrete walls, they were either melted or instantly vaporized under the terrifying high-temperature flames.

In just a few seconds, the load-bearing walls and pillars on the first floor were completely destroyed, causing the upper floor to collapse, and along with the victims inside, they all fell into the burning sea of fire.

“So much pain!” Medusa covered her cheeks in intoxication. “There are at least twenty people inside, their screams and wails in the flames are continuously replenishing my power…”

The next second, her face turned pale. A massive, undisguised malicious intent swept towards her from all directions.

Chapter 42: Ambush and Counter-Ambush

Medusa ran swiftly through the alleyways.

Using her Mind I ability, her mental vision could penetrate obstacles, vaguely seeing nearby mental bodies.

Then, activating her Fire ability, she would kill them the moment she saw them.

The precisely controlled flames wouldn’t extinguish until these victims died. The immense pain generated in this process, like the rich fragrance emitted from flowers, continuously sank along the sea of the subconscious, eventually being absorbed by the greedy Purgatory.

Purgatory absorbed these painful emotions and provided its power to Medusa as a reward and feedback.

She had lost count of how many people she had killed and could only feel Purgatory’s power pushing her upwards rapidly, reaching an unprecedented level of strength.

“Hey! Look, Medea! Having a body is so wonderful! I can hear those beautiful screams with my own ears, and appreciate their dance in the flames!”

“Perverted? I’m not perverted, just have a different aesthetic. I’m an elegant and unique art connoisseur.”

Medusa suddenly felt a stirring in her heart, sensing a restrained killing intent nearby through her recently digested “Conspiracy I” Sequence ability.

She dodged, throwing herself behind a nearby wall. A bullet hole appeared where she had been standing just a moment ago.

“A sniper?” She dodged again, throwing a large, fast-moving fireball in the direction locked on by her killing intent and intuition.

The sniper on the sixth floor of a distant building was reloading when he suddenly saw a fireball shooting towards him through his scope. He hurriedly dropped his gun and rolled to dodge.

The fireball pierced through the window he had been leaning against, rushed into the room where the sniper was hiding, and suddenly caused a violent explosion.

Thick black smoke and glass fragments, along with a shockwave, blasted out. The Crusader sniper was instantly covered in shrapnel, but even more deadly was the burning poisonous smoke and the rapidly depleting oxygen in the room.

He clutched his throat in pain, his body convulsing rapidly from suffocation.

Medusa looked over there, sensed the slowly growing power drawn from the painful emotions, and revealed a satisfied and wicked smile.

“Ah, new toys.” She suddenly turned around and noticed a dozen mental bodies rapidly approaching.

Unlike the previous toys, the mental bodies of these five people didn’t have the light green of fear, but were tinged with the dark red of killing intent.

“Have you come up with a way to specifically target me?” Medusa sneered and rushed into the building next to her.

Five powered armor knights, and a larger number of knight squires, rushed in from the alley.

They were covered in rough gray cotton cloth, their armor completely wrapped, only their eyes exposed.

That’s… fireproof asbestos cloth? Medusa stared at these Crusader knights from the shadows behind the door.

“She’s here.” One of the knights pointed to the bullet hole on the ground.

“Did you get her?” Another knight asked.

“Didn’t see a body, must have missed.” The knight replied. “The sniper is dead. The opponent’s counterattack was far fiercer than we imagined.”

“She can’t have gone far.” Another knight said. “Spread out the search line and find her.”

The team dispersed in an orderly fashion. Some guarded the nearby alleys, while others led the knight squires to search the surrounding buildings one by one.

One of the knight squires who entered the building approached the corner where Medusa was hiding and suddenly saw a pair of beautiful eyes in the shadows ahead.

Then he knew nothing. His body turned around like a marionette.

“Any discoveries?” Another knight squire came down the stairs and greeted him, seemingly an acquaintance.

“Nothing, don’t know where she’s hiding.” The controlled knight squire smiled, his hand reaching behind his waist to grip the hilt of his dagger.

After his companion turned around, he drew his dagger and stabbed it into the other’s back.

The dagger pierced his lungs, bringing out a large amount of blood and froth.

The victim tried to scream, but couldn’t make a sound – all the air leaked out from the hole in his lungs.

Before he died, the controlled squire stabbed him a few more times, then turned the dagger and cleanly slit his throat.

Medusa walked out from her hiding place and reached out to touch the backpack on the knight squire’s corpse.

As expected, she found what she wanted – the power source of the powered armor, a single-phase nuclear fusion battery.

As knight squires, their main duty was to carry ammunition, batteries, and equipment for the knights, and their secondary duty was to assist in combat, so this was within Medusa’s expectations.

She took the fusion batteries from the two of them out of their special shockproof and heat-insulating boxes, piled them under the corpses, and hid them.

Medusa lay down next to the corpses and checked the view, finding that this angle just happened to face the window and the tall building across the street.

So she summoned a fireball and threw it into the room next door, then climbed over the windowsill and jumped out.

The room ignited by the fireball quickly filled with thick black smoke, billowing out from the window cracks.

The knights searching nearby quickly noticed the smoke rising from the building and rushed over.

“Two dead.” The knight who first rushed to the corridor outside the burning room found the two bodies lying on the floor.

“No burn marks… Knife wounds?”

On the tall building across the street, watching the last knight approach, Medusa pulled out a spear of flames with both hands and shot it towards the open window.

The spear of flames passed through the window and hit the corpses on the ground from a distance, startling the knight into raising his shield and retreating.

The high-temperature flames burning on the corpses quickly spread to the miniature fusion batteries underneath.

The next second, the entire roof of the house was blown off by a massive explosion.

On the road up Mount Olympus, Asker and his team saw flames rising into the sky from somewhere in the small town below.

“That’s… Medea’s doing?” Thira said in disbelief.

Hmm, did I choose the wrong Sequence? Is the Fire ability really that much stronger than the Storm ability?

“Yes.” Asker knew very well in his heart that it was indeed the power of the high-sequence Fire V, comparable to the Law Rank in some ways.

However, the flaw was also obvious: it had to absorb a large amount of pain to maintain its power.

For example, if the enemy adopted a retreat-and-defend strategy, then if she couldn’t find any enemies for a while and couldn’t absorb pain, Miss Insane’s fire power would inevitably decline rapidly.

It was only a matter of time before the enemy realized this. Judging from her current unrestrained use of her supernatural ability, it was just a matter of time.

At that time, with Miss Insane’s perverted personality, she might start self-harming or something.

“We have to hurry over there.” Asker clapped his hands. “Mia, you go ahead and try to locate her position, while maintaining contact with the team.”

“Okay.” Mia activated Flash Step and shot out from the front of the team.

Chapter 41: Attacking the Camp

Asker and the others rushed out of the tunnel.

“This is…” Everyone stared in horror at a charred corpse lying in the middle of the road.

Its surface was completely waxy, maintaining a kneeling, curled-up posture, as if it had suffered great pain before death.

A foul smell permeated the air, making the girls pinch their noses. Eleanor stared at the corpse, her lips pale.

“Ahem.” Asker knew he couldn’t remain silent any longer, otherwise, when Medea returned, she would be treated like a monster.

He briefly explained Medea’s situation, immediately diverting the girls’ attention from the corpse.

“A split personality?” Nuo asked in surprise. “And a negative personality created by contamination from the will of Purgatory? Can draw power from pain?”

She clicked her tongue in wonder, thinking that such a thing could actually happen. Poor Miss Medea.

“Is there a way to eliminate her negative personality?” Eleanor asked in a deep voice.

“Perhaps with a high-sequence Mind ability.” Asker replied. “But for Medea, the simplest solution is undoubtedly for her to first try to merge her main personality and sub-personality, and then use her willpower to suppress those evil desires.”

Eleanor frowned in distress. In her view, the crimes committed by the sub-personality undoubtedly couldn’t be blamed on Medea’s main personality.

However, there was no way to eliminate her sub-personality in a short time. After all, the two shared the same body, which was a headache.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk.” Sidlipha looked at the almost burned corpse and said, “It’s pointless to discuss this any further, it’s better to find Medea quickly, otherwise, she might burn down the whole town.”

Everyone shuddered. Burning down the town occupied by the Crusaders wasn’t a big deal.

But the Spartans were planning to attack that town at the foot of the mountain!

If the two sides met, and Medea indiscriminately threw fireballs and attacked their allies, things would get complicated.

As Asker and the others left the tunnel, Miss Insane had already arrived at the small town of Olympia at the foot of the mountain.

The ground was littered with abandoned bicycles, suitcases, and corpses. Obviously, before the Crusaders attacked this town, many residents had fled to the mountains.

Now, the Crusaders had built simple defenses with wooden stakes and sheet metal on the outskirts of the town, seemingly intending to turn this place into a temporary siege base.

A knight squire was guarding near the defense line when he saw the beautiful red-haired woman approaching.

He didn’t immediately fire a warning shot because the woman’s demeanor was too natural, without any fear of the army, and she had a strange smile on her face.

Probably the mistress of some commander in the base? The squire thought so and went up to her with his spear.

“Who are you looking for?” He asked.

“Looking for the people inside, are they Crusaders?” Miss Insane asked with a charming smile.

“Of course, they’re all Crusaders inside.” The knight squire guessed that she might be a prostitute and said with a playful smile, “I’m also a Crusader. What, looking for some fun?”

“How did you know?” Miss Insane covered her mouth and smiled, her slender hand reaching for his chest.

“Of course, you look like…” The knight squire’s words were swallowed by the rising flames.

He tried to scream, but couldn’t make any sound because Miss Insane’s precisely controlled flames had instantly burned his vocal cords, without injuring his spinal nerves.

An immense amount of pain signals, almost exceeding the normal human limit, rushed to his brain along his spine.

His brain tried to lose consciousness, but Miss Insane used her psychic ability to keep his consciousness awake, while amplifying his desire to survive.

In just a few seconds, the knight squire died from the burning flames and excruciating pain.

“Oh dear, he couldn’t even handle that?” Miss Insane stared at the corpse on the ground, shook her head as if disappointed, and then walked towards the base.

A moment later, a huge mushroom cloud suddenly erupted from inside the base, smoke and dust rising almost ten meters into the air.

“That’s a devil! By God, send her back to hell!” Crusader knights, wearing powered armor and carrying various firearms captured from Constantinople, fired frantically at Miss Insane.

The latter had already rolled several times and dodged into the alley behind the building.

“Asker’s training is quite useful after all, at least you’re no longer as defenseless as before, Medea.” She smiled and muttered to herself.

“Well, sharing the name ‘Medea’ sometimes makes me confused about whether I’m talking to you or talking to myself.”

“How about I call myself Medusa? Asker calls me ‘Miss Insane’ in his mind, so I’ll use the name of the snake-haired Gorgon~ Anyway, it sounds similar to your pseudonym ‘Medea’.”

Medusa said, throwing a fireball behind her.

A brave squire rushed in from the corner of the alley and was instantly engulfed in flames as soon as he appeared, his whole body turning into a burning torch, rolling on the ground in pain.

Several other squires grabbed fire extinguishers from the nearby shops and sprayed them at the unfortunate squire.

However, the flames produced by the “Fire ability” were essentially a mass of ultra-high temperature energy. Therefore, no matter how he rolled and struggled, no matter how much the fire extinguishers sprayed, the flames couldn’t be suppressed at all.

Finally, the squire died in extreme pain, the flames still burning on his corpse as if they would never be extinguished.

When the news of the intruder reached the Crusader command post, Boniface, King of Thessaloniki, who personally led the army, put down his fork, which was holding roasted pork.

“This fire ability is too powerful, isn’t it?” He looked suspicious. “Even fire extinguishers can’t extinguish it?”

“The essence of the fire ability should be some kind of formula that generates high temperatures.” Alfred, the newly appointed strategic advisor to the court of Thessaloniki, replied. “After leaving the caster’s body, the formula will quickly cool down until the flames are extinguished.”

“A normal Fire I ability can only sustain flames for less than 1 second. As your subordinates said, flames that last for tens of seconds must be a Fire ability of level III or IV or above.”

“Considering that the current magic tide level cap is only level 5, this intruder should be an assassin cultivated by Olympia, sacrificing the safety of future upgrades in exchange for the powerful offensive ability of a high-sequence Fire ability.”

“Is there any way to eliminate her?” Boniface asked in a deep voice.

“In the dioceses of the Holy Solomon Empire, in order to deal with these fire mages, the Templar Knights would wear specially made powered armor with a heat insulation and ablation layer.” Alfred spoke eloquently. “There should be corresponding fireproof uniforms in the fire station of this town. Although they are not as good as specially made armor, they can still resist flames to a certain extent.”

“Also, sending a sniper to attack from a long distance and eliminate this mage is also a very economical approach.”

“Then let’s do it both ways, as you said.” Boniface waved his hand.

Chapter 40: Collective Promotion

After the dream arena competition, Asker obtained the contact information for the Assassin organization, and the Azure Longsword team also purchased a batch of transcendental materials and finished potions from the Transcendental Market.

Next, naturally, was the joyous occasion of leveling up.

Currently, the members who had advanced to level 4 in the team were Asker, Mia, and Medea.

The thief girl Mia’s next potion, “Weakness I,” was luckily found by the girls in the Transcendental Market, so they immediately bought it with their financial power.

Medea also finally found the remaining materials for her “Conspiracy I.”

Both of them had taken their potions half an hour ago. Medea almost lost control again, but fortunately, she still successfully completed her promotion in the end.

Currently, there were 3 people at level 3: Eleanor, Peggy, and Thira.

Eleanor, as a War Crusader, benefited greatly from the trade with the Night’s Watch. She now had the next level potion “Resilience I” in hand, but she hadn’t taken it yet because the “Will I” in her body hadn’t been fully digested.

Peggy and Thira, the former gathered the Transcendental materials for “Plague I” in the Transcendental Market, while the latter directly bought the finished potion “Meteor I” from the Arcane Sequence, so both successfully advanced to level 3.

There were only 3 people left at level 2: Sidlipha, following the “Ancient X” formula, purchased the corresponding materials in the Transcendental Market and finally advanced to level 2.

Because “Ancient X” was a very niche sequence, the price of the corresponding transcendental materials was very low, costing her less than 200 pounds in total.

Miel already had the next level potion, “Vision I.” Like Eleanor, she had just taken “Intuition I,” so she had to wait patiently for it to be digested.

The last one to drink the “Spirit I” potion was Nuo. Drinking a different potion for the second time, she also experienced the feeling of Sequence conflict for the first time.

It was an extremely uncomfortable tearing sensation, as if her soul was about to leave her body.

Life I kept her physical body in place, while the newly ingested Spirit I tried to pull her spirit body out.

It wasn’t until tens of minutes later, when Nuo recovered from the intense dizziness, that she realized her translucent arms were slowly solidifying.

She had initially digested “Spirit I” and successfully advanced to level 2.

On Furnace Island, only Eleanor was by her side, the other girls were busy with their own things.

Most of them were training, a few were resting, or reviewing and discussing tactics.

They weren’t like at the beginning, curiously gathering around her, watching the changes after she drank the potion.

When did drinking potions become so commonplace in the team?

Nuo suddenly felt a strange sense of fulfillment, the kind of feeling after a long journey, suddenly turning around to look back at the road traveled, a sense of accomplishment welling up in her heart: “Ah, we’ve come so far.”

Besides the finished potions, the two Arcane Sequence formulas for Sidlipha’s bloodline path, “Frost I” and “Thunder I,” and Nuo’s own “Mind I” formula, had also been purchased and stored in the warehouse as advance preparation.

It was foreseeable that soon, the entire team would steadily reach level 3.

After reaching level 3, they would be considered to have left the ranks of newbies and officially entered the Transcendental world.

Nuo stood up with satisfaction and patted the dust off her skirt.

“How do you feel?” Eleanor asked.

“Hmm, I’m much better now.” Nuo said.

Her spirituality expanded in the air, twice as wide as at level 1, and she quickly sensed the presence of spirits around her.

The spirits on Furnace Island were different from normal human spirits.

They had human-like shapes, but with wings on their backs, slowly floating in the air.

One of the spirits came to Nuo’s side, seemingly curious about this being who could sense its existence.

After staring at her for a moment, the spirit opened its lips slightly and began to sing a mysterious song.

It was a language Nuo couldn’t understand, but judging from the melody, it was exceptionally beautiful.

The surrounding spirits also joined in the chorus, and the invisible sound waves echoed in all directions, almost enveloping the entire Furnace Island.

“Is something wrong?” Eleanor, although she couldn’t see the spirits, sensed something was wrong with her own spirituality and immediately shielded Nuo behind her.

The other girls also seemed to sense it, stopping what they were doing and gathering towards Asker.

In the center of the training ground, Asker, who was instructing Sidlipha on positioning, also suddenly felt something strange.

It was a feeling like being bathed in warm seawater.

“Angel’s Song?” Asker wondered. “How could it appear here?”

Angels, the native race of Paradise Mountain, were scattered in all directions after Paradise Mountain was destroyed.

In the game world of his previous life, players might encounter wandering angels in some high-altitude mountains. They were a type of randomly spawned neutral NPC, the kind that was hard to come by.

They wouldn’t actively attack people and weren’t curious about humans. They were generally considered to be rather lazy supernatural creatures.

But if you sang next to them, they would usually respond with their singing, giving the player an “Angel’s Song” buff, reducing spirituality consumption/loss of control probability by 60%, lasting for 24 hours.

Wait a minute, this was Furnace Island, one of the fragments of Paradise Mountain. It was impossible for living angels to appear here, but if they were spirits…

Asker turned around and saw Nuo running over hurriedly.

“Angel spirits should be harmless.” After listening to Nuo’s account, Asker comforted her. “For creatures in the main plane, Angel’s Song will soothe their spirituality, reducing the risk of losing control and damage. Only creatures from the Abyss, Netherworld, and Purgatory will suffer a certain amount of damage when they hear Angel’s Song…”

Hmm, Purgatory?

“Where’s Medea?” Asker turned and asked.

“She seemed a little unwell just now.” Sidlipha said. “I saw her teleport away.”

Asker immediately teleported back to reality and saw Mia running back and forth in the barracks room, practicing the Assassin’s Flash Step technique.

“Have you seen Medea?” Asker asked.

“She was laughing creepily just now, and then rushed out of the room.” Mia replied. “What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

“Her mind might be damaged.” Asker said concisely. “We have to find her.”

The two hurriedly rushed out of the room and bumped into Rudashius, the Spartan leader.

“Bring your people and follow me!” Rudashius said urgently. “The vanguard of the Latin Crusaders has already captured the town of Olympia at the foot of the mountain and is currently converting it into a siege camp!”

“Before they are ready and attack the mountain, we must take the initiative to destroy the camp and slow down their siege speed!”

Mia was about to speak when Asker interrupted:

“Just in time, we were also planning to take the initiative.”

“Hearing that the Latin Crusaders are at the foot of the mountain, one of our companions has already rushed down, intending to attack the Crusader camp alone.”

“Uh.” Rudashius thought to himself, I just received the news, and your people have already rushed down the mountain? And alone, so fierce?

“Does your companion have a grudge against the Latin Crusaders?” He asked in confusion.

“Yes, her whole family was killed by the Crusaders, so as soon as she heard the news, she couldn’t suppress her hatred and rushed out before we could react.” Asker said seriously. “It’s too dangerous for her to be alone, we have to catch up and act with her.”

Mia looked at him with admiration. This ability to make up lies on the spot… so impressive!

Rudashius said “Oh” and asked, “What are the characteristics of this companion?”

“Wine-red hair, a great beauty, gloomy face, creepy smile.” Asker described. “She’s our team’s Psychic and Arcane Mage, specializing in manipulating flames and minds.”

Rudashius naturally understood what he meant and pondered, “Hmm, fire abilities are indeed a powerful weapon on the battlefield, but they still need the cover of their companions, otherwise it’s too dangerous to be alone.”

“I’ll ask the city guards if they’ve seen your companion.” He took out his phone and dialed a number.

While Rudashius was on the phone, Mia quietly slipped back to the room and called everyone out from Furnace Island.

The girls left the room and saw Rudashius say to Asker:

“The patrolling city guards saw a red-haired girl heading towards the city gate. She’s very beautiful, with a gloomy face, seems to be the companion you mentioned.”

“Okay. We’ll go find her first, and then join the siege team going down the mountain.” Asker said.

“Hmm.” Rudashius, after all, had the mindset of a Spartan tough guy, and didn’t doubt Asker’s words at all (because the strong disdained lying), so he nodded and said, “Then I’ll take my men to the battlefield first.”

“We’ll be there soon.” Asker said.

After parting with Rudashius, the Azure Longsword group hurriedly rushed towards the city gate.

A few minutes later, Hood pushed the turret cart and ran in, excitedly shouting:

“Nuo, look! I added a few wheels to the bottom of the turret, now it can be easily pushed forward!”

“Huh, where is everyone?” He rushed in, looked at the empty room, and was a little confused.

…

On the other side, Miss Insane, controlling Medea’s body, also came out of the tunnel.

“This is so annoying.” She played with the fireball in her hand, looked at the sky, and showed a somewhat depressed expression.

“First, I was forced out by the Angel’s Song, then I wanted to have some fun burning a few people, but you wouldn’t let me…” She muttered to herself, “Do you really care about him that much?”

“Alright, alright, I’m not talking about romantic love, I know you’re just worried that you can’t beat him.” Miss Insane casually threw out a fireball, which crackled and burned in the bushes next to her.

“But why should you be under his command? With my strength and your brains, as long as we leave that Seljuk place, where can’t we thrive?”

“Profit? Don’t be silly, he can bring more profit, but it’s evenly distributed among eight girls, how much can you get? I might as well kill everyone else, so you can have him all to yourself.”

“So, what are you worried about, Medea?”

Miss Insane pointed her finger at the nearby trees, a wicked smile appearing on her face, and said softly, “Come out, I’ve found you.”

The Crusader scout behind the tree was startled and immediately rushed out from his hiding place.

A fireball caught up to him from behind, setting him completely on fire.

He screamed shrilly in the flames, his flesh and the cloth armor almost melting together, the pain almost unbearable.

“Yes, yes!” Miss Insane continuously threw fireballs at him, a look of intoxication on her face. “That’s the scream!!!”

“Let me savor it a little longer…”

Chapter 39: Ilanian Flash Step

“How is it going?” Asker, returning to the training ground, asked, staring at Mia who was still running at the foot of the hill.

“Not bad.” Rasul replied. “Although she doesn’t seem very smart, and her understanding of the details of the movements is not fast, overall, she’s still above average.”

“What surprised me was her perseverance. Running continuously in a specific posture for six hours, even in an illusory dream, the mental fatigue is very significant. For an underage girl to persevere to this extent is quite remarkable.”

“She was a thief before, and patience is a basic quality of a thief.” Asker recalled. “I remember she mentioned before that in order to steal something, she once followed the target for three days and nights.”

“Patience and perseverance are not the same thing.” Rasul said. “There are plenty of rookies under me who have the patience to listen to me finish explaining the training plan, but less than one-tenth of them have the perseverance to train according to the plan. The rest can only be forced with whips and swords.”

“I originally only intended to give her a head start. But at the current rate, it doesn’t seem impossible to finish teaching her the basics of Flash Step in this dream.”

“As long as her body remembers this way of exerting force, you can handle the subsequent correction of movement details yourself, Asker.”

“Of course.” Asker paused. “Thanks, Rasul.”

“You’re welcome.” Rasul chuckled. “It’s rare to meet someone who knows my identity and isn’t afraid of me. You’re the first one who dared to ask me for a favor.”

Asker smiled but didn’t answer. He couldn’t just say that he knew him from his previous life and that they were quite familiar, could he?

Rasul stared at his expression, feeling a little puzzled.

This guy… interacting with him always gave him a strange feeling of an “old acquaintance.”

But Rasul was certain that he had never met him before.

He looked at Mia, who was still running below in a strange posture, and suddenly leaped down the hill, drawing his sword in mid-air and roaring:

“You’re too slow! Die!”

The blade slammed heavily into the ground, and Mia, like a startled rabbit, instantly darted more than ten meters away.

“You have learned Flash Step.” Rasul sheathed his sword, a satisfied look on his face. “Remember the feeling of exerting force just now, don’t forget it.”

Mia paused and realized that she was now almost twenty meters away from her previous position.

“Let’s go, I’ve had enough here.” Rasul said lightly, turning and walking away.

“Don’t forget to give me your contact information!” Asker reminded him.

With a contact in the Assassin organization, it would be much easier to obtain intelligence in the future. The infiltration abilities of these assassins were simply pervasive.

Rasul didn’t look back, just waved his hand.

“How do you feel?” Asker walked down the hill and saw Mia lying sprawled on the ground.

“Tired.” Mia said weakly.

“That feeling… is very strange.” She looked blankly at the sky of the dream and thought for a moment before adding, “It’s as if the muscles in my lower body were tightened, then suddenly exploded, first the knees, then the thighs, and finally the calves.”

“My whole body was like a spring, shooting forward with all its might. So… have I learned Flash Step?”

“It’s still early.” Asker smiled. “In learning the Assassin’s Flash Step, you can only be considered to have just started, having learned this method of high-speed movement.”

“To truly reach the realm of practical application, you need to be able to use Flash Step at will, accurately use slashes or thrusts to hit the enemy during Flash Step, and even change the direction of Flash Step at will – the so-called Counter-Charge.”

“Hahaha.” Mia let out a dry laugh and couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “I can’t do it. Just the initial stage almost made me collapse.”

“You’re already very impressive.” Asker encouraged her. “It took me a whole week just to get through the initial stage.”

“Oh, really?” Mia snorted. “That means your talent is not as good as mine.”

“Yes, yes, yes.” Asker patiently coaxed her.

The two were silent for a while.

“It’s a little strange.” Mia said, “I feel the strength in my body… seems to be returning?”

“It’s not an illusion.” Asker stood up and looked around. “The dream is over, we are being teleported out.”

A few minutes later, Asker opened his eyes and found himself sitting on a chair next to the arena.

In the center of the arena, countless participants were lying scattered around, now gradually waking up and getting up from the ground.

“How was it?” Rudashius, the leader of the Spartan mercenaries, walked up to him and asked.

“There are a few formidable individuals.” Asker touched his pocket and took out a neatly folded list.

Although the notes were taken in the dream, this special paper could be taken out of the dream, probably made of some magical transcendental material.

“Oh?” Rudashius took the list and looked at it for a while, then said speechlessly, “The so-called formidable individuals you mentioned, are they these guys who lasted more than three minutes against you?”

“These people’s fighting styles are quite unique, and they have high potential for future growth.” Asker replied. “So I deliberately held back.”

Deliberately held back and still only fought for three minutes? Then what would happen if you didn’t hold back? Instantly kill them?

Rudashius was completely speechless.

But he also knew that this Asker was very high-level. Those with lower levels couldn’t even last a round against him, and any slight flaw would be seized and exploited.

It was completely different from the brute force style of the Spartans, who would directly clash with each other and compete in physical strength.

So he could only nod and silently memorize the names on the list.

“Oh, right.” Rudashius patted his head and said.

“News just arrived two hours ago.”

“Thessaloniki has fallen.” He said seriously.

…

Unlike Olympia, which was protected by natural barriers, Thessaloniki, the second largest city in the Eastern Solomon Empire, had very developed land and sea transportation.

In peacetime, this was an advantage for the city to maintain its commercial prosperity; in wartime, however, convenient transportation became a great help to the besiegers.

Under the attack of the Latin Crusaders, whose numbers far exceeded those of the defenders, Thessaloniki had no power to fight back.

After capturing Thessaloniki, Emperor Baldwin of the Latin Empire announced that this second largest city, originally belonging to the Eastern Solomon Empire, would be granted to Boniface, Marquis of Montferrat.

(This guy was one of the Crusader leaders who colluded with the Doge of Venice and led the Frankish knights to attack Constantinople.)

Boniface then declared the establishment of the Kingdom of Thessaloniki, with this city as its capital.

On the day of the founding of the kingdom, about 20,000 citizens of Thessaloniki were brought to the city square and then subjected to inhumane massacres.

Of course, whether they were deliberately deceived by the authorities and then massacred, or whether they gathered to protest against the authorities’ rule and were ruthlessly suppressed as a result, Olympia and the Kingdom of Thessaloniki each had their own version of the story, accusing each other of being responsible for this incident.

The only confirmed fact was the massacre itself.

Olympia declared three days of mourning for this, all entertainment activities were stopped, and even TV programs were uniformly changed to solemn black and white.

Residents spontaneously gathered and erected hundreds of handmade monuments and altars in Olympia, spontaneously offering flowers and lighting candles to mourn the victims of the Thessaloniki massacre.

At the same time, the more than two thousand outstanding mercenary warriors who emerged from the collective competition also began to receive equipment and training from the Spartans.

War was imminent.

Chapter 38: Saber Turret

“Do you know what Flash Step is?” Rasul asked, his hands behind his back.

“It’s a footwork technique that allows you to burst into super high speed instantly.” Mia replied.

“Wrong!” Rasul pointed at her and exclaimed, “Flash Step is not a footwork technique in itself, but a way of exerting force with your leg muscles.”

“The Transcendental power you absorb or plunder, after being transformed into physical strength, can significantly enhance your physical qualities, but do you know how to effectively utilize it?”

“Humans’ original way of running is based on normal human physical qualities, evolved over hundreds of millions of years, balancing energy conservation and efficiency.”

“However, when your physical qualities are enhanced beyond the ordinary, the original way of running is no longer suitable. You need a way to burst into high speed in a shorter time.”

“Then, how can we achieve that?” Mia asked.

“Shut up! Didn’t Asker teach you not to interrupt others when they are speaking?” Rasul scolded her.

Mia pouted and didn’t say anything.

“First, you need to change your running posture!” Rasul took out a sword from somewhere and tapped her body with the scabbard. “Lean your upper body forward! Lean your lower body forward! Land on the balls of your feet! Lift your heels!”

“I’ll fall if I lean any further forward!” Mia exclaimed angrily.

“The way to avoid falling is to run! Keep running forward!” Rasul pushed her to run, occasionally hitting her with the scabbard. “Faster! Faster! Lean your body forward a little more!”

Mia, while running, tried to lean forward further, but almost fell flat on her face. She quickly sped up.

On the other side, Asker, carrying his sword, after killing a dozen or so targets again, turned back to check on Mia’s progress.

He saw Mia running frantically around a hill, while Rasul, at the top of the hill, was holding a stopwatch and shouting:

“Speed up! Speed up! You must reach 10 meters per second, or you’ll die!”

“The training is going quite smoothly.” Asker jumped onto the hill.

“I find this dream to be a perfect training ground.” Rasul stared at the scene below. “In reality, if the rookies under me ran like her, they would have fallen due to muscle strains long ago.”

“The so-called fatigue in a dream is actually just a mental illusion, it won’t cause any damage to her body. And long-term repetitive practice here can not only train her willpower but also allow her to deeply memorize the way her muscles exert force, just like that… V…”

“VR.” Asker said.

“Right, VR.” Rasul said, “I’ve long wanted to get a set of VR equipment, but unfortunately, only the Church headquarters has this high-tech stuff.”

“I’ll have to find a friend from the School of Dreams.” He sighed.

…

Olympia Barracks, training ground.

The melee DPS members of Azure Longsword who had initially fought against the Spartans were almost all pulled into the dream arena to act as snipers.

The remaining girls, after purchasing the transcendental materials, had just returned to the barracks when they heard that the newly recruited boy, Hood, had created a new piece of equipment.

“Ta-da!” Hood pushed out a cubic iron box about one meter in length and opened it like a magician unveiling a curtain.

“Saber, the automatic King Arthur turret!” He introduced enthusiastically.

Inside the iron box was a strange-looking machine gun.

“What’s the use of this?” Thira asked.

“It’s equipped with a fully automatic image recognition program and a rotary machine gun. After activation, it can automatically target and shoot enemies, isn’t that great?” Hood introduced.

“Why is there a tuft of hair sticking up on top of the machine gun?” Miel asked.

“That’s an ahoge.” Hood said seriously. “An ahoge is the King Arthur’s combat power… Hey! Don’t, don’t, don’t!”

Before he could scream, Medea had already pulled off the glued-on fake hair.

“Heh, it seems to be Eleanor’s hair.” She sneered.

“I painstakingly collected it from her pillow…” Hood said dejectedly.

“Gluing hair on it is meaningless, right?” Thira urged, exasperated. “Quickly demonstrate it.”

“Okay.” Hood fiddled with the machine gun for a while, then pressed the switch.

The machine gun turned around with a clatter, aimed at several targets in the distant shooting range, and quickly shot them all down.

“The turning speed is too slow.” Miel commented. “At this turning speed, the enemy just needs to charge in an arc and can directly reach the machine gun and destroy it. Also, the muzzle can only move horizontally, it can’t rotate vertically?”

“What’s an arc charge?” Hood was a little confused. “Isn’t this turning speed fast enough? Is there anyone who can dodge its trajectory just by running?”

“As far as I know, Asker and Peggy definitely can.” Miel pondered. “Mia might be able to as well.”

“This is a bit heavy.” Nuo tried to lift the turret.

“Of course, it’s made of steel, after all, almost 40% of the weight comes from the ammunition compartment.” Hood said.

“It’s not easy to carry when it’s so heavy, right?” Nuo asked.

“It can be mounted on the car roof.” Hood said, “Don’t you have a car?”

“Let me share my understanding.” Thira said, “The function of this machine gun turret should be to supplement the weaker side’s output when the team splits up.”

“If it’s just mounted on the car, it means the team can only stay near the car, which is too restrictive.”

“Change the physical ammunition to energy ammunition.” Nuo suggested. “That can reduce the weight.”

“The main frame material can be changed to military aluminum alloy, and the parts that bear shear force can be replaced with adamantine components.”

“Where can we get these materials?” Hood chuckled. Military aluminum alloy? Adamantine? Were those materials that ordinary people could get their hands on?

“No need, we have them in our team warehouse.” Nuo replied. There were still a few boxes of raw materials left over from the Grand Arena.

Hood: …

“After reducing the weight, can it be carried?” Miel asked.

“I’m afraid not.” Nuo said.

“Then I don’t need it.” Miel said.

“Install a jet suspension engine.” Nuo thought for a moment. “Then there won’t be a weight problem.”

Hood was speechless.

This was just an ordinary auto-turret! Why did they seem to want to modify it into Bumblebee!

“Don’t you think this name is terrible?” Medea shook her head and asked. “Saber? King Arthur? What does it mean?”

“Change the name.” Thira said, “How about ‘Sabre Turret’?”

“Not bad.” Nuo said.

Okay, now even the name had been changed.

Hood started to complain wildly in his mind. Can you women please stop making random suggestions and changes?

Do you understand mechanical dynamics? Do you understand the law of energy dispersion? You don’t understand anything and just make random requests. When I make a Frankenstein monster of a piece of equipment, you’ll complain that it’s ugly!

I’m not changing it anymore! If you want to change it, do it yourselves!

“Then let’s do that.” Nuo smiled. “Hood, this turret you made is quite useful. If it can be optimized as we just said, it would be perfect.”

Hood stared blankly at her smiling face, the word “angel” suddenly popping into his mind again.

“Okay! I’ll definitely change it!” He nodded repeatedly.

Chapter 37: Finding a Teacher

“Mia, why are you here?” Asker asked in surprise.

“I came to participate in the competition,” Mia said matter-of-factly. “You were all taken away by the Spartans. I was bored staying in the room alone, so I came out to have some fun.”

“Did you kill anyone just now?” Asker asked.

“Took out a dozen or so clueless ones. How about it? I’m pretty awesome, right…” Mia trailed off, suddenly realizing, “Are you the sniper who hunts down people with a kill count of 10?”

“Yeah.” Asker said.

“You actually wanted to take me out!” Mia pounced on him like a wildcat, clinging to his neck and shaking him.

“Hey, hey, hey! What do you mean ‘take you out’? Don’t use Medea’s way of talking!” Asker put her down. “I didn’t know it was you.”

“I don’t care, you have to compensate me!” Mia bared her little canines. “I almost thought you were going to kill me just now! I was scared to death!”

“You didn’t lose anything, what compensation do you want?” Asker said, exasperated. “Or, I can find you a teacher?”

“A teacher?” Mia paused, looking at Rasul behind Asker.

Rasul: ???

“You want me to be her teacher?” Rasul said with a surprised laugh. “Have you forgotten my identity?”

Hey, I’m an Assassin Instructor of the Assassin sect! I kill people without blinking!

“I see you’re quite bored too, Rasul. Why not try training a newcomer for me?” Asker said with a smile. “Of course, only in this dream.”

No one could be injured in the dream. Even if they were killed, they would only be sent out, so the Assassin organization’s cruel training methods could be used freely here.

Rasul’s eyes lit up. He immediately thought of the feasibility of using dreams to train assassins.

Hmm, after getting out, he would find a way to recruit (kidnap) a Transcendental from the School of Dreams and give it a try.

“My training is not free.” Rasul said implicitly.

“What do you want?” Asker asked.

What do I want? Rasul was taken aback.

Money? He didn’t lack it. Potions? The Assassin organization had abundant resources. Women? His tastes were rather unique, and his desired targets were everywhere.

As the highest-ranking instructor of the Assassin organization, Rasul had long passed the stage of striving for certain goals. He was now fully enjoying life, treating it like a game.

Even befriending Asker and trying to recruit him into the Assassin organization was only because “this guy is quite formidable,” similar to the mentality of a mobile game player collecting characters to complete their roster.

Seeing Rasul stunned, Asker pressed his advantage and said:

“If you don’t want to teach her, then I can teach her myself. I’m proficient in the Assassin’s Flash Step and Counter-Charge. My technical skills are not much weaker than yours.”

Rasul sneered. With his intelligence, how could he not hear the provocation in Asker’s words? He was about to retort sarcastically when he heard Mia say disdainfully:

“I don’t want him to teach me! He looks lecherous, and he’s as skinny as a monkey. I’m afraid he’ll fall over if I just poke him with my sword.”

Asker broke out in a cold sweat. This was the youngest Assassin Instructor of the current Assassin sect! A level 20 Transcendental powerhouse, one step away from becoming a demigod!

And you compared him to a monkey?

Rasul froze, then became furious.

Because he realized that Mia’s assessment wasn’t provocation, but her genuine feeling. He, the once-in-a-millennium super-genius assassin of the Assassin sect, was actually looked down upon by an ignorant underage girl?

“Heh, hehehe.” Rasul’s eyes twitched, he could only sneer. “Come to think of it, I don’t lack anything. But this weak little girl in your team may not be able to keep up with my high training standards.”

“I don’t want your training! Blegh…” Mia stuck her tongue out at him.

Asker was also apprehensive. Although based on his understanding, Rasul wouldn’t be angry with such a little girl, wasn’t she being too provocative by directly insulting him like this?

Seeing that the veins on Rasul’s forehead were almost bulging, he hurriedly pressed Mia’s head, petting her until she purred, and said to Rasul at the same time:

“It’s okay, although she’s a bit foul-mouthed, her training attitude is meticulous, she won’t be any worse than your rookie assassins.”

“Who’s foul-mouthed!” Mia became even angrier and bit the leather armor on the back of his hand.

“She better be, otherwise it would be a waste of my time.” Rasul said arrogantly. “Come here.”

Mia still bit his leather armor and wouldn’t let go, like an angry little wolfdog. Asker could only whisper in her ear:

“This guy is very powerful.”

“Really?” Mia squeezed out a few words through her teeth, slightly tempted.

Since it was Asker’s assessment, maybe this guy really had some skill?

“His guidance and training are quite rare.” Asker continued to encourage her. “Learning what he teaches you can raise your strength to a higher level.”

Mia was greatly tempted.

Actually, she was also dissatisfied with her current position in the team.

Physical DPS professions like Eleanor, Sidlipha, and Peggy not only received Asker’s focused attention during training, but also shone in recent battles against the Spartans.

As for magic DPS professions like Medea and Thira, although they didn’t perform much during training, they could also shine on the battlefield with their powerful spells.

The more awkward ones were her and Nuo. The latter, as a healer, although she was mostly slacking off, was sometimes an indispensable lifesaver for the team.

And she, as a thief and scout, only played a reconnaissance role in the early stages of battle and used her shadow abilities to restrain opponents during battle. She couldn’t compete with others in terms of damage output and lacked long-range attack methods like Miel, which made her feel very awkward.

If she could transition into an assassin role, both scouting and dealing damage, wouldn’t her position in the team be greatly improved?

Mia was very tempted, but also hesitant. She leaned close to Asker’s ear and whispered:

“Asker, do you trust this guy? What if he has ulterior motives towards me?”

Before Asker could answer, Rasul jumped up:

“Ulterior motives towards you? A joke! Your washboard figure, your skinny little arms and legs, are you worth me having any thoughts about you? A ewe’s backside is more attractive than you!”

“I was originally thinking that if you could learn the most basic techniques, I would offer you an external position in the Assassin sect. Now it seems that whether or not this weakling can even withstand my training is a question!”

Mia was immediately furious upon hearing this:

“What is your training, jumping rope? Asker’s training is a hundred times harsher than yours!”

“You wouldn’t dare.” Rasul said disdainfully.

“What’s there to be afraid of!” Mia immediately regretted saying this.

Because Rasul immediately revealed a smug smirk, and Asker couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

“Although I believe you are a professional, but Rasul…” Asker said helplessly. “Don’t leave her with any psychological trauma.”

“Of course.” Rasul said proudly. “Who do you think I am? No one is more professional than me in the field of training assassins.”

“Then, I’ll continue my work.” Asker patted Mia’s head encouragingly. “I’ll come back later to check on your progress.”

Chapter 36: The Sniper’s Work

Asker felt a little uneasy.

As someone who knew the future, the advantages he possessed would eventually be erased by the changing world line as the butterfly effect took hold. He just hadn’t expected it to happen so quickly.

As a professional player, he wasn’t afraid of change or the unknown, but after suddenly learning about the current state of the world, he felt a sense of crisis about his team’s current progress.

The current storyline timeline was roughly at the beginning of Version 1. The average level of his team wasn’t even level 3, which was considered slow even in the game of his previous life.

Most mainstream guild players in his previous life, even if they weren’t fully geared, were basically all level 5 elites by this point.

Of course, elite teams had the support of a large number of guild players, and they didn’t have to worry about materials and formulas.

It was naturally incomparable to his current situation of fighting alone.

He was currently carrying the entire team by himself, so it was inevitable that progress would be slower.

Sigh, he could only find a way to speed things up.

In the mercenary group ahead, more than a dozen mercenaries were protecting their leader. According to the instructions in his earpiece, their leader was the one with a kill count of 20, his target for this trip.

Although he didn’t know why the Spartans hadn’t sniped him before, he was unlucky to encounter Asker this time.

Asker drew his sword and walked over casually.

He was greeted by a barrage of bullets.

“Careful! He wasn’t hit!” Someone in the mercenary group screamed.

Several gunmen fired consecutively, but were shocked to see the man in front of them charge in a large arc at high speed, dodging almost all their bullets.

He charged into the crowd like a lion into a herd of zebras.

His sword rose.

The closest mercenary was the first to fly out, a Lion’s Fang slashing across his chest and abdomen, turning into white light in mid-air.

Then three or four mercenaries were directly hit by his Half Moon Slash, severed limbs flying.

The leader in the center raised his giant axe – he was using a two-handed long-handled giant axe, which looked like the executioner’s axe used for beheadings.

Then the surrounding mercenaries began to compress their formation, seemingly blocking his room to maneuver and forcing him towards the axe-wielding leader.

A human wall?

Isn’t this a player tactic? Asker chuckled.

If they were in the outside world, these NPC mercenaries would never do this, because they were compressing the space for both sides. While Asker’s range of movement was reduced, so was theirs. It was equivalent to using their lives to restrict his mobility.

It was precisely because they were in this dream that even if they died, they would only be sent out. Therefore, the mercenaries could use such a shameless tactic as a human wall.

It could be seen that once people had immortality, they could let loose and act recklessly, whether they were players or NPCs, there was no difference in their thinking.

“That’s good too.” Asker suddenly stopped attacking and said, “Hey, big guy, you’re the only one I’m looking for.”

“Let’s settle this quickly.”

The surrounding mercenaries didn’t move, but quickly surrounded him, leaving only a narrow gap, just enough to connect him and the mercenary leader.

Oh? So the real purpose of this human wall was just to prevent me from dodging sideways, forcing me to take the mercenary leader’s axe blow head-on?

He had just understood when he saw the leader opposite him suddenly jump up during his charge, the heavy giant axe raised high above his head.

A Northern Jump Slash? No, the movement wasn’t standard, and the jump height wasn’t enough.

Probably just to look more imposing.

The surrounding mercenaries looked tense, because they had linked arms with each other, forming a wall of flesh and blood, surrounding Asker and the leader in the center.

If Asker swung his sword to attack now, they wouldn’t be able to counterattack at all.

However, the entire tactic was to stall the sniper. As long as Asker wasted his attacks on them, the tactic would have achieved its purpose.

At most, he would kill four or five people, and the leader’s giant axe would split him in half.

Even the number of people maintaining this tactic was calculated. Even if Asker attacked one spot and tried to break through, there would be more people on the outside to fill the gap.

As long as they held on until the leader’s axe hit, it would be fine! Die, sniper!

Under the mercenaries’ terrified and excited gazes, Asker calmly looked at the axe-wielding leader leaping in the air, his left hand discreetly reaching for his waist.

He drew his Desert Eagle.

Huh?! The mercenary leader, leaping in the air, his giant axe already raised high above his head, was about to slash down forcefully.

Then he saw Asker’s pistol aimed at him, the dark muzzle as if hiding a man-eating beast.

A thunderous gunshot rang out, and the leader’s head exploded in mid-air.

Then his entire body turned into white light and was teleported out of the dream.

The surrounding mercenaries were stunned, staring blankly at his pistol.

“You?! How can you use a gun?” Someone couldn’t help but scream. “Aren’t Spartans not allowed to use guns?”

“Spartans just disdain using guns.” Asker calmly put away his Desert Eagle.

“Besides, I’m not a Spartan.”

“You’re not a sniper!” Another mercenary shouted as if suddenly enlightened.

Asker was truly speechless. Brother, how did you come to that conclusion?

“Avenge the leader!” The mercenaries shouted chaotically, drawing their weapons and attacking him clumsily.

“Your courage is commendable.” Asker said calmly, swinging out another Moon Slash, perfectly hitting all the enemies around him.

Looking at the bodies of their fallen companions, these mercenaries immediately realized another problem.

Whether he was a sniper or not, this man in front of them was not someone they could match.

“Everyone, survive first, then avenge the leader!” Another mercenary shouted, and then they immediately scattered like a swarm of bees, fleeing in all directions as if they had been injected with chicken blood.

Asker: ???

He leaned his sword on the ground, stunned for a long time, before bursting into laughter.

“A wonderful fight.” Applause rang out again from the hill. Asker turned his head and saw Rasul, the Ilanian Assassin Instructor, standing there, holding his old book.

“You haven’t left yet?” Asker asked.

“The Spartans want to find warrior seedlings that meet their requirements from this large-scale battle, and so does the Ilanian Assassin organization.” Rasul said with a smile. “What’s even better is that our selection criteria are not the same.”

Just say you want to take advantage of their event to recruit people.

Asker nodded and asked, “Did you find any?”

“I found five promising rookies.” Rasul said, “Two of them didn’t want to join, so I sent them out of the dream. The remaining three… although they have potential, that’s all.”

“Having potential is good enough.” Asker said with the tone of a veteran. “It’s not easy to recruit people these days.”

“The members of your group are quite promising.” Rasul said with a smile. “How did you find them?”

“I’m just lucky.” Asker didn’t want to say more and listened to his earpiece for a while. “I have to go, there’s another target.”

He headed towards his next destination, noticing from the corner of his eye that Rasul was also following him.

In the game of his previous life, he had played an Assassin character and had interacted with Rasul, the leader NPC of the Ilanian Assassin faction, for a long time. It could be said that their relationship was quite good.

This guy had a complex personality, both gentle and elegant, and cold and vengeful. He was a completely unrestrained and free-spirited person.

To use an analogy, if he bumped into someone on the street, he would first apologize politely. If the other party wouldn’t let it go and cursed his whole family, Rasul would smile and kill the other party, then investigate their address and eliminate their entire family.

Also, this guy had a unique sexual preference: he liked older, foul-mouthed, strong, and burly women.

Asker couldn’t comment on this. Anyway, whenever Rasul was mentioned on the forum back then, players would only reply with clown emojis.

Although this guy was a bit of a pervert, as long as you didn’t deliberately offend him, he wouldn’t do anything to you.

Arriving at his destination, Asker looked around with his hand on his sword and saw a petite figure rushing towards him.

Mia?

Chapter 35: The Assassin Instructor

Asker arrived at the edge of the river valley.

He saw a man in white standing in the middle of the open space.

He had dark brown eyes, slightly curly hair, a high nose bridge, and deep-set eyes, seemingly of Middle Eastern descent from the Ilania region. He held an old book in his hand and had the elegant demeanor of a scholar.

However, his kill count, which had instantly climbed to 10, indicated that this person was definitely not a scholar.

After seeing his face clearly, Asker placed his hand on the sword at his waist.

“Do you know me?” The man turned and asked gently.

“Why do you say that?” Asker asked back.

“That’s the look you give when you see someone you know.” The man replied. “But I don’t remember ever meeting you.”

“Perhaps I mistook you for someone else.” Asker said.

“Who did you mistake me for?” The man asked curiously.

“Rasul, the youngest Assassin Instructor in the history of the Ilanian Assassin sect?” Asker said.

The man silently closed his book.

“It seems you really do know me.” Rasul said. “Do you know why I’m waiting for you here?”

“I’d like to hear it.” Asker said.

“You killed one of our people.” Rasul replied. “The White-Clad Assassin, Jalaluddin, was discovered by you while carrying out a mission in Olympia. He was killed while trying to assassinate you.”

“According to the customs of the Assassin organization, we should at least avenge him once.” Rasul said calmly. “So we started collecting information about you, and the results were quite interesting.”

“Asker Lepidus Achilles, from the Achilles family of the Eastern Solomon Empire, and also the last member of the family.”

“Early records indicate that you were just a mediocre person. Your parents hoped that you would study law or accounting, but your test scores weren’t good enough. Later, your family pulled some strings to get you a high school teacher position, clearly having lost confidence in your life, only hoping that you would live a mediocre life.”

“From beginning to end, you had no experience in learning martial arts or entering the transcendental world, until your parents were killed, and you suddenly displayed strangely superb strength, killing a level 2 Transcendental with an ordinary person’s body, and it was a Flesh Sequence known for its powerful life force.”

“Then you started to form a mercenary group, and the people around you appeared one after another.”

“The daughter of the Duke of Bavaria, the daughter of an Italian family, and even the daughters of the two emperors of the Eastern Solomon Empire and the Seljuk Empire. It seems you are a collector of noble ladies.”

“However, the little thief from the Thieves Guild, the desperate half-elf, the down-and-out mercenary from the North, and the girl next door all indicate that you might just have overflowing sympathy for the lower classes.”

“To be honest, we have never seen such a strange mercenary group, composed of people from different countries, different ethnicities, different classes, different ages, and different personalities. The only thing they have in common is their gender, which is meaningless.”

“The strangest one is you. From the limited information, we found that you are proficient in various weapons and tactics, from greatswords, short swords, and straight swords, to spears, battle axes, shields, and even firearms. There seems to be no weapon or technique that you don’t know.”

“Although you chose the Weapon Master bloodline, which seems reasonable, judging from the exquisite skills you displayed, it’s not something that can be brought about by potions.”

“What intrigued us the most was the Ilania Flash Step and Multi-Stage Counter-Charge you demonstrated during the contest in the Night’s Watch legion. Those are assassin techniques that people outside the Assassin sect cannot learn.”

“Don’t you have anything to say? Mr. Asker?” Rasul finally asked.

“You’ve said it all, what else can I say?” Asker said with a chuckle. “Your investigation into our team members is even more thorough than my own understanding.”

“Well, how about we change the way we do this.” Rasul pondered. “We take turns asking questions, and the other party answers, how about that?”

“Sure.” Asker said.

“Let me ask first.” Rasul said seriously. “Do you have any direct or indirect hostility towards the Ilanian Assassin organization?”

“No.” Asker replied. “Are you here to kill me?”

“Originally yes, but I changed my mind.” Rasul said with a smile. “Did you obtain the martial arts inheritance of the Ilanian Assassins through any direct or indirect means?”

“Sort of.” Asker said vaguely.

Having played an Assassin character in his previous life and having spent a long time in the Assassin sect, that counted, right?

“Did you assassins come here to destroy Olympia?” Asker asked.

“Not at all.” Rasul said with his hands behind his back. “Mr. Asker, did you bring your people here intending to get involved in the conflict between Olympia and the Latin Crusaders?”

“We came here only to purchase the corresponding potion materials.” Asker replied. “But, if there is an opportunity for practical training, we don’t rule out the possibility of participating in the battle.”

“Mr. Rasul, you claim that the Ilanian Assassins do not intend to destroy Olympia, but your actions have actually had a destructive effect, how do you explain this?”

“The explanation is that everything we Ilanian Assassins have done in the city was under the instruction of City Lord Appius.” Rasul said meaningfully.

The city lord’s instruction? Asker was stunned. Wait, wouldn’t that mean…

“It seems you’ve also guessed it.” Rasul said leisurely. “Mr. Asker, who do you think will be the final victor in the current chaotic international situation, the Latin Empire, the Seljuk Empire, or the remnants of the Eastern Solomon Empire?”

Is he testing my insight? Asker pondered for a moment and replied:

“The Latin Empire cannot last long. It is built on armed force, but it has neither the support of the people nor the financial resources. It will be the first to fall.”

“The Eastern Solomon Empire also has no chance of reclaiming the capital. Once the Seljuk Empire completely digests Anatolia, Constantinople will be in the tiger’s mouth, with no chance of survival.”

“The only hope is for the Church to launch another Crusade. However, the war between Pope Innocent and Emperor Otto of the Holy Roman Empire is imminent, and there is no condition for another Crusade.”

“The best outcome for the Eastern Solomon Empire is to hold onto the Siris province, they shouldn’t even expect to keep the Macedonia province. In the long run, the Seljuks’ dominance in the East cannot be shaken.”

“Well said.” Rasul applauded, a faint look of approval on his face.

“Then, the question I want to ask is,” Asker said cautiously, “the Ilanian Assassins are wreaking havoc in the city, and the people they assassinate are actually the doves among Olympia’s high-ranking officials? Since City Lord Appius instructed you to do so, it means that he anticipates that the Latin Crusaders will go all out in the siege next?”

“That’s two questions.” Rasul said lightly. “But for the sake of your previous answer, I can answer you.”

“The targets of our assassinations were some stubborn doves and a few not-so-firm hawks, otherwise the intention of the assassinations would be too obvious.”

“The Latin Crusaders will indeed attack with all their might, because the Church has sent instructions, ordering the Latin Empire to capture Olympia as soon as possible, and declaring that Olympia is the source of all evil, the vanguard of the supernatural world eroding the civilized world, the serpent of sin that tempts humanity to fall.”

“Here’s some additional information. The reason why the Church declared this is because Emperor Otto recently issued the Walpurgis Decree, declaring that any Transcendental within the empire, as long as they are registered and certified by the local lord, can enjoy the right not to be arrested by the Inquisition.”

“After this decree was issued, a large number of lords in the Holy Roman Empire chose to hire Transcendents as secret advisors, which angered Pope Solomon.”

“He ordered the Inquisitions, Templar Knights, and Witch Hunters of various countries to capture and kill the Transcendents within their territories, and at the same time, quickly excommunicated several counts in the Holy Roman Empire who openly accepted Transcendents.”

“And attacking Olympia is also a major signal of the Church declaring war on the supernatural world, showing the Church’s determination to defend technological civilization.”

In other words, these Crusader fanatics would definitely do their best to besiege Olympia, and City Lord Appius, in order to prepare for war, hired Ilanian Assassins to carry out internal purges…

Asker rubbed his brows, feeling that this plot was several times more complicated than the game in his previous life.

“The conflict between religious authority and imperial power, the split between East and West, the all-out confrontation between technological civilization and the supernatural world will inevitably lead to clashes and massacres of iron and blood.” Rasul’s voice lowered.

“What about you? Mr. Asker, where do you stand?”

“We only stand on our own side.” Asker replied.

“Everyone only wants to stand on their own side.” Rasul said, “However, in times of chaos, weakness is the original sin.”

“Like camels in the desert, when encountering a sandstorm, they have to huddle together, enduring each other’s roughness and stench. Those camels standing alone on the sand dunes, seemingly proud and free, are actually the fools who die the fastest.”

“What role does the Ilanian Assassin organization want to play in these chaotic times?” Asker asked slowly. “Mercenaries? Information brokers? War profiteers?”

“See, we still have common ground.” Rasul smiled gently. “I intend to offer you honorary membership in the Ilanian Assassin organization, how about that? This way, we can write off the past.”

“It’s not the first time I’ve been an external advisor in a major organization.” Asker smiled wryly. “What are the specific rights and obligations?”

“You can pay for our intelligence, and of course, you can also sell intelligence.” Rasul said, “Occasionally, we will issue some missions. You can choose to accept them, and of course, there will be rewards. It’s okay if you don’t accept them.”

“It seems I have no reason to refuse.” Asker said.

“Of course, we only offer this status to special individuals we want to befriend.” Rasul said lightly. “After this dream ends, someone will contact you, Mr. Asker.”

“From now on, we are no longer enemies.”

Chapter 34: A Grand Melee

Olympia, top floor arena.

The military competition held here by the Spartans attracted a large number of mercenaries.

After all, the prize for first place was a hefty 1000 pounds.

In addition, mercenaries who performed well in the competition would also be exceptionally recruited into the Spartan mercenary company and participate in the city defense of Olympia.

For mercenaries who lived with their heads constantly on the line and were often cheated by their employers, a stable 9-to-5 job like the city defense force was their dream job.

Therefore, the number of initial applicants exceeded 20,000.

As the saying goes, a thousand people is a vast crowd. The arena definitely couldn’t accommodate so many people.

The Olympia Mages Association solved this problem: they found a demigod from the School of Dreams and set up a large-scale dream, the kind that could accommodate tens of thousands of people fighting simultaneously.

In the dream, anyone could freely kill without causing actual harm to others. The consciousness of those killed would only be expelled from the dream and safely return to their original bodies.

“What an amazing miracle.” Standing on the mountaintop in the dream, City Lord Appius said in admiration.

In his field of vision, the land below had rivers and forests, plains and wilderness, as well as swamps and hills, covering most of the terrain of the Balkan Peninsula.

A perfect virtual venue for combat competitions.

“This is modeled after the legendary Paradise Mountain.” The demigod from the School of Dreams said. “Paradise Mountain is the eternal paradise of all things in this world. Any race of creatures can find a suitable living environment on Paradise Mountain.”

“It’s a pity that most of the 25 ancient books that seal the fragments of Paradise Mountain have been lost.” He sighed regretfully.

“Have you found your missing East Asian branch personnel?” Appius asked.

“We found them.” The demigod said, “By searching the sea of the subconscious, we can roughly locate them at the bottom of the Black Sea.”

“After retrieving the bodies, we can see that the wounds were caused by swords and bullets, but they have been soaked in seawater for too long, so we can’t discern more information.”

“Based on the few remaining fragments of consciousness, these people should have discovered a Paradise Mountain fragment, but they didn’t report it to headquarters immediately.”

“Their selfishness killed them. By the time headquarters discovered the anomaly, these people had been dead for a long time, and it was almost impossible to extract any clues about the murderer from their consciousness.”

Appius nodded solemnly and didn’t speak.

When people died, their superego would sink into the sea of the collective subconscious and be assimilated in a short time, leaving only the deepest memory with their obsessions.

If it were a high-ranking spiritual powerhouse, they might still be able to move around in this memory, pretending to be alive.

Listening to the demigod’s account, the deepest memory of those dead Eastern branch personnel was not “being killed,” but “obtaining the Paradise Mountain fragment.”

Therefore, the Dreamland Paradise headquarters only knew that they were killed because of the Paradise Mountain fragment, but they couldn’t find out who the murderer was.

This matter was destined to become an unsolved case.

“Oh, the competition has begun.” He looked at the people teleporting in below, scattered around, and said.

…

Asker was teleported in.

As a warrior pre-selected by the Spartans, his purpose in participating in this competition was not to advance, but to hunt down the strong.

In this kind of grand melee, although it could test the participants’ actual level, it also reduced the fairness of the competition.

For example, the combat power of an “ordinary person” was 5, while the combat power of a “strong person” was 50. Unfortunately, when they just teleported in, the “strong person” encountered a “super strong person” with a combat power of 100.

As a result, they were instantly killed. This kind of instant kill couldn’t reveal the loser’s strength level. So the “strong person” with a combat power of 50 was eliminated first, while those lucky “ordinary people” with a combat power of 5 could survive until later.

In addition, in order to compete for the top few places, the “super strong person” would inevitably go on a killing spree, eliminating everyone, regardless of whether they were a “strong person” with a combat power of 50 or an “ordinary person” with a combat power of 5. In this way, most of the “strong people” would be eliminated, which would violate the original intention of this competition – to select outstanding warriors on a large scale.

The role Asker played was that when someone’s kill count exceeded 10 in this battle, he would go and eliminate them, preventing any “super strong person” from gaining an overwhelming advantage in the melee and slaughtering “strong people” who could have been selected.

Of course, Asker would score those who were eliminated in advance, whether they were “super strong people” or “strong people,” based on their responses, performance, and how long they lasted against him.

As for those unlucky ones who were eliminated before entering Asker’s hunting list, maybe some of them were “strong people” who accidentally encountered a “super strong person.” There was nothing that could be done about that.

The final ranking would also be based on points, not the “last man standing wins” rule that relied heavily on luck.

The participants all agreed on this rule – otherwise, if someone hid in a hole and only came out to take advantage when the melee was almost over, wouldn’t that disgust everyone?

Asker, holding his sword, had just walked onto a hillside when he saw two participants talking below the hillside.

“Listen, it is said that if your kill count exceeds 10, there will be a Spartan who will specifically snipe you.”

“The sniping time is 1 minute. As long as you can survive this minute, the Spartan will retreat, and then your kill count has to reach 20 before the next round of sniping.”

“Let’s raise our kill count to 9 first, then find a suitable place to defend or escape and wander around until we encounter an enemy, raise our kill count to 10, and then immediately prepare to deal with the sniping.”

“Hey? I have a good idea.” The other person said, “If your kill count reaches 10, and mine hasn’t, then according to the rules, the Spartans will only attack you, not me? Then I can help you fight the Spartans.”

“Spartans will not actively attack those whose kill count does not meet the standard.” A voice came from the hill. The two participants looked up and saw Asker, with one hand on his sword, looking down at them from above.

“But if they are attacked, then of course they can fight back.” He said.

“Our kill count is still 0!” The two participants hurriedly raised their hands to signal.

“Of course, I’m just reminding you of the rules.” Asker nodded.

The two participants were relieved upon hearing this and hurriedly fled.

Asker looked into the distance, thinking that this grand melee organized by Olympia was a bit like the arena mode in the games of his previous life.

Just as he was thinking this, a voice came from his earpiece.

“Coordinates X32530, Y21215, target appearing.”

Oh, someone already has a kill count of 10 so soon?