...…
Steve and Chris were sweating profusely as they scanned their surroundings. No matter how hard they tried, they could no longer sense the presence of their opponent, much less find him.
With just this, they could already guess that they stumbled upon a pretty scary opponent. Even within the organization, there were only a very few people who could make them feel this way. And those people were the cream of the crop within the whole organization – the best of all the executioners that the organization could hope for.
"Serra, can you move with that?" asked Chris with his backing her while keeping an eye on the surrounding.
Serra smiled bitterly when she heard that. She looked at the wounds n her thighs and said. "I don't think I can. That guy accurately hit the veins that can make me unable to move. And if I don't take any measure to fix them, then there is a high chance that I will not be able to walk ever again."
She was at her highest level of vigilance, but she had never expected that she would be attacked like that without being able to protect herself, much less retaliate.
They came here expecting that this was supposedly an easy mission, which was why they were unwilling to come. But before they could even arrive, they discovered that the scouting party was immediately annihilated by the opposing party.
At first, they thought that it was a group of highly trained soldiers from the Springfield forces. But after seeing the initial display of that sole opponent just now, they quickly understood how the scouting party got annihilated without putting up a fight. If even Serra, a highly trained young executioner of the organization, could not fight against that guy, then those average agents would definitely not stand a chance.
Steve knitted his brow deeply as he also found their situation very troublesome. Their team composition was supposedly centering Serra since her abilities and fighting style focused on supporting the others.
Chris was supposedly the initiator while Steve was the finisher. The former was tasked to hold the opponent with Serra's help while the latter finished off the job. But with Serra being seriously injured, their supposedly strong and balanced composition was completely useless.
Steve could tell that the opposing party had perfectly spotted their weakness and immediately struck that weak link, crushing their plan with a single ambush.
Serra might be able to survive in the end, but she was no different from being useless baggage right now. She understood this very well, so she said. "Forget about me and just focus on that guy."
Chris frowned deeply and tilted his head to the side. He also did not like this situation, but there was nothing the could to do change it. All they have to do was to focus on taking down the sneaky and slippery opponent and nothing else.
…
Shin remained on the first branch that he landed while staring at the three from the shadows. He could now ignore Serra since she was practically useless right now. The problem now was how he was going to take down the other two as fast as he could.
The guy with the name Steve seemed to be leading the small team based on what Shin had observed. He was Shin's primary target, but the problem was the guy seemed to be quite skilled himself.
The other guy was pretty troublesome too since as an initiator of the group, that guy should be quite tenacious and hard to kill.
Shin knitted his brows as he thought of a plan. Not long after, he raised his brows before muttering. "I think it is worth the try."
After that, he suddenly jumped toward another tree before assuming a jumping position. He was getting ready to launch himself down, targeting Chris, who was currently not facing his direction.
Swoosh!
Not long after, he suddenly kicked the branch that he was sitting on and flew straight at Chirs. And with the Silencing Technique that he had cast on himself, no sound was produced when he made his move.
He was already upon his target when the trio noticed something.
They quickly turned toward the direction where they sensed the threat was coming from almost simultaneously and looked at Shin with shocked expressions.
"Ah!" Serra exclaimed loudly when she saw the incoming figure. She looked at Shin in horror as she was reminded of the previous exchange. And since she could not do anything at the moment, she could only watch Shin swing his at Chris.
Chris widened his eyes as he stared at the incoming opponent. He also saw the magnifying blade that was about to reach him. He was quite fast in responding. He quickly raised his arm in an attempt to block the incoming dagger with his other hand clenched into a fist and waiting for the right moment to strike.
Pu-chi!
A long gash appeared on his arm as Shin slashed at him.
"Urgh!" Chris endured the pain that was caused by the wound. He clenched his teeth and threw a strong punch with his arm.
Black Qi was enveloping his fist as he threw that punch forward. And since he threw everything in that, the speed of his punch could not be seen by the naked eye. A trail of black light was left in the path of his fist as it flew straight to Shin.
Bang!
The air exploded as his arm stretched forward and reached its longest reach. But to Chis' surprise, he did not hit his opponent despite the perfect and instantaneous counter.
Shin twisted his body in the air right after he threw his previous attack. He even used the momentum of his swing to spin midair, barely dodging the incoming fist of his opponent that almost struck him.
And together with his spinning motion in the air, he threw the dagger to the side. He sent it to Steve, who was already approaching from the side.
Swoosh!
Steve managed to dodge the dagger by slightly tilting his head to the side. He was about to continue charging forward when he sensed something odd.
As Shin spun in the air, there seemed to be an invisible thread being pulled alongside his actions. And the end of that threat was attached to the hilt of the dagger that he had just thrown.
With his actions, the thread tugged the dagger and was pulled back. It did not trace the path that it went through earlier but flew in a circle instead.
The invisible thread made of Mental Energy was attached to that dagger. And it tried to wrap itself to Steve as the dagger circled around him.
Whoosh!
Without any hesitation, Steve halted in his tracks and jumped in the air, dodging the invisible thread before it could even restrain him.
With a slight tug, Shin pulled the dagger back to his hand as his midair spin ended. He then used the accumulated force that he gained from that spin to swing the dagger at the extended arm of Chris.
Splash!
Blood was splashed in the air as the dagger lacerated a huge wound on Chris' arm. It did not cut too deep to sever his arm entirely, but it was deep enough to impede his moment.
"Argh!" Chris cried in pain as the blood was gushing out from the huge wound. He quickly retracted his arm and covered the wound on it with his hand while retreating away from Shin.
How could Shin miss that opportunity to strike?
He quickly changed after Chris right after his foot touched the ground. He was planning to finish off this guy before more problems arose.
Unfortunately, not everything could go according to his plans. Steve was already there to block his body and save his companion. He knew that he would be in deep trouble if even Chris was rendered useless.
Shin was already expecting that, so he quickly engaged in an intense melee with Steve. He had already achieved his initial goal, and that was to almost incapacitate the two supporters of the latter.
With Serra not being able to move and Chris having been seriously injured, the support that they could possibly provide was almost negligible.
But to his surprise, Steve was still able to keep up with him during the multiple exchanges that they had. He must admit that this guy was pretty skilled.
Though, Shin was not showing his real capabilities since he was still waiting for something. He was trying to see if that real executioner would show himself after showing that he was 'struggling' against much weaker opponents.
As the two continued to exchange blows, Steve was starting to feel some pressure as he found himself being gradually surpassed by Shin. He did not know why, but he found that his opponent was able to counter each of his moves as if the guy was always one step ahead of him.
Chris tried to help but given the wounds that he had on his arms, the support that he could provide was pretty limited. Even if he used the painkillers that they had prepared for such situations, all of them were pretty much useless in this situation.
Unknown to everyone, as they continued to battle, a shadow was slowly and silently sneaking toward them.
...…
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