Chapter 265 Chapter 265 – The Third Assassination Attempt
"Senior Brother, I could escort them to Young Master Ken's house, it'd be safer if they had one more guard by their side."
One guard suggested to the leader. After pondering on it for a moment, the leader nodded and sent him with them, "You're right, go with them."
"Yes, Senior Brother," the guard bowed and hurriedly followed Ken along with Jake and Max.
"Hello, Young Master, I'm Elliot."
"Mhm."
Ken only offered a hum in response and continued walking, wondering whether Eliott was the final assassin or if there were more to come. Elliot's way of approaching him seemed lousy in his opinion, but maybe it was only because he expected the next assassin to show themselves soon.
*BOOM*
*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*
The first explosion happened and three others soon followed in a delay of less than a second. Max, who walked in the vanguard to protect Ken from potential traps got caught in the first one and was torn to shreds, getting killed on the spot.
"Assassins!" Jake shouted as he was pushed backward alongside Ken from the blast. Weirdly enough, the other three explosions took place where the young teen would be repelled by the blow, but it happened one second too early before Ken arrived there.
Due to the ill timing of the trap, Ken and Jake were pushed back forward from the combined shockwave of the three explosions, near the place where Max was killed.
'Blood Sense,' Ken had his technique activated, ready to react to the potential threat from the new guard. Indeed, Elliot did not fail him, and Ken sidestepped to dodge his spear technique without looking back.
Jake swiftly reacted to the scene and pulled out his two daggers, engaging in battle against the traitor.
Ken only watched without intervening; he didn't sense any other assassins, and since he was still alive, it meant that the assassination attempt should've failed. The explosions originated from sixth-rank items that were implanted under the ground, a Runology creation.
The design of the trap took into consideration that Ken's bodyguards would walk ahead of him by placing the first bomb after a curve on the path to his house, so when Ken is pushed back, he would trail off the path where the second portion of bombs awaited him.
By standing further behind on the curve from a different angle and by being prepared, the blast did not send Elliot to the danger zone and he barely moved from his previous place.
Unfortunately for the Four Seasons Sect, Ken was a sixth-rank formation master and a top fourth-rank runologist, which was enough for him to locate the traps in advance and send a strand of Runic Qi and activate them earlier than the perpetrator intended.
He knew Max would die; he just didn't mind it. He rarely left those close to him alive once they knew too much about him, and even a little was too much for him. He only let those he deemed useful remain alive, and Max wasn't.
"Young Master, run! I will hold him back as long as I can!" Jake shouted heroically.
Jake was gradually losing the battle, showing the advantage of a cultivator at the peak fifth stage over someone at the high phase of the same stage.
"Thank you, make sure you don't die!" Ken played his part and ran away. He did not want to reveal his ability to take a peak fifth-stage cultivator head-on in front of Jake, so he preferred to run away as asked.
*Boom!* A blast sent Ken back to the battle area after he ran a few meters.
'Something isn't right! I thought a malfunction caused a bomb to go off earlier which caused a chain reaction, but another one just blew early without a reason!' Eliott thought to himself, and reached the inevitable conclusion, 'He can sense them! I don't know why he'd let the guard die, but I'm sure he can!'
When this realization struck Eliott's mind, his attacks increased in vigor and precision, aiming to finish the battle at the cost of his own well-being. Just like the other assassins, Eliott also noticed that his blackmailers' oath was restricted to the occasion that he completed his task successfully.
'I'm lucky to be still alive, I must finish this before the kid sets off more bombs and an elder decides to check the source of the ruckus.'
He stepped back to get some distance from the dagger user and coated his stomach with Spear Qi. As soon as Jake stepped forward to remain in close-range combat, he let the opponent send a dagger strike to his side and rotated the spear above his head.
Jake, who did not expect a mutual destruction attack, could not react on time and took the shaft to his temple, causing him disorientation and skull fractures.
*BOOM!*
Another explosion was triggered as Ken ran on the path again, making Eliott swear in his mind while he used that chance to run past the knocked-out bodyguard without wasting time on finishing him off. The clock was ticking, and every second was precious.
"WHO DARES ATTACK A SUE-CLAN MEMBER UNDER OUR NOSES?"
A strong rumble resounded just then, and Eliott was frozen midair in a beautiful pose with his arm stretched behind his shoulder, holding his spear.
He lost the ability to move even a single inch and could only watch in fear as an elder with smooth black hair and piercing brown phoenix-shaped eyes descended from the sky as if he appeared from the heavens above.
"Boy, aren't you very brave?"
The elder finally asked when he stood in front of the assassin. The question was rhetorical, and Eliott could not even breathe, but he still desperately tried to say something.
"The… kids…" his hoarse voice was barely audible, and tears formed in his eyes.
The man's eyes scanned the surroundings, seeing Ken standing some distance away, Max's messed up corpse, and the many pits caused by the explosions.
"You must be Ken, our rumored genius. Good to see you still alive. You can go back to your house, and I will deal with the situation here. Fernando will soon come to talk to you since you're under his responsibility. I will take this scum for questioning."
The elder waved his hand and 5 more bombs placed in different places came out of the ground and imploded. They did zero damage to the environment, and their blast was contained within a sphere of Qi that did not budge even a little from the impact.
"Thank you, Elder."
Ken bowed and cupped his fist. Before turning back and going to his house, he placed a healing pill in Jake's mouth to let the bodyguard heal. He wanted to maintain his humane image, and those little actions were part of the show.
"Hello Young Master, welcome back, let me prepare a hot bath for you" At home, a young maid welcomed him with a forced smile. Soleil tried her hardest to treat him to the best of her capabilities, hoping she could affect him enough to release her from slavery eventually.
"Mhm, thank you."
Ken took a bath shortly after and enjoyed a meal with much more delicacies than usual, prompting him to think he missed out all this time before he placed a collar around his maid's neck.
After waiting for a while, the man he has been waiting for has arrived.
*knock knock*
"Who is there?"
"Fernando Sue."
Soleil opened the door and the elder stepped in, finding Ken waiting for him in the living room. Fernando sighed at the sight, knowing that he might truly move Ken away from the sect after today's assassination attempts.
Three assassins were inside their sect, and one of them was even in their own territory, it was impossible to say that Ken was safe there now.
"Welcome to my home, Uncle Fernando," Ken got up and bowed to the elder.
"It's all right, let's just sit down and talk."
The two sat one in front of the other, and Ken let his uncle speak first.
"I've heard reports on today's events both through our intelligence net and from your bodyguard's mouth after he got better. For your information, he is safe and will be in perfect condition soon. We will reward him for putting his life on the line to save you. As for Max, he was an orphan with no family like most of our guards, so we will just burn his body and offer his ashes a place to rest."
"The Sue clan takes good care of their subordinates," Ken remarked.
"Of course, or else they won't be loyal."
The last note came out a bit ironic given the fact that one of them just tried to kill Ken, but the teenager did not bring it up.
"What was Eliott's motive in killing me?"
"He was blackmailed into doing it, he apparently hid his background from us and is still donating a sum of money to the orphanage he came from. They threatened to massacre the orphans and the caregiver if he did not kill you."
"I see."
"We looked into the identities of the other assassins and they also have families out of the sect, we assume that they were blackmailed as well, but we will look into it in more detail later."
"Will their families be punished?"
"Depends on the situation. The orphans won't be punished since it'd harm our image, but maybe the other families will be."
Ken satiated his curiosity and went to the main topic that interested him.
"So, will I be moved out of the sect for my safety?"
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