Chapter 45

After jumping out of the window, Zich ran straight for a while and then climbed on top of a roof. He chased after the cloaked figures on the rooftops. It was not hard to catch up to them since they had to carry Snoc and his weight dragged them down.

When Zich was close to them, he shouted, "Hey! Why don't we try talking for a bit? I have some unfinished business with that luggage you are carrying!"

Judging by their attitudes and based on his past experience, Zich could tell that they were doing something very suspicious. However, he wanted to try talking to them first as Lubella had advised him to do.

Despite Zich's goodwill, the cloaked figures took out their weapons.

Clang!

There was no need for Zich to pull out his sword. He intercepted a dagger in mid-air by pushing the air between them. The dagger spun around in a circle and Zich caught it while it was still spinning.

"You dropped this!"

Zich threw the dagger back at them after he put some mana into it. The strengthened dagger flew towards them with enormous speed.

"Ugh!"

The figure at the very back got hit by the dagger. The person let out a small scream and went rolling down the roof. The rest of the figures stopped moving and jumped down into the alleyway.

'Instead of attacking, they should have run in the first place.'

Zich followed them down. In the dark alleyway, Zich and the cloaked figures faced each other.

Then he put his hands on his hips and asked, "Who are you guys?"

But no one replied. A person that seemed like a leader stepped forward. Unbeknownst to Zich, he was the man who killed Drew earlier that day. The man kicked his dead comrade a few times, and the body flipped over. There was a dagger in the corpse's neck.

'They don't seem like a tight-knit organization.'

Zich thought as he saw the man kick the body of one of his dead comrades. The man glared at Zich with murderous intent, and Zich replied back with a shrug.

"Your comrades gave me a surprise present. I was so touched I wanted to give something back to them. I regret my actions. I didn't know they would be so touched that they would fall dead."

"Kill him."

With the man's command, the rest of the figures began taking out their daggers.

"By your movements, it seems like you are all assassins. What business would an assassin have with a miner? This man you kidnapped is pure to the point of being stupid, so I doubt he caused anyone harm too."

"..."

"Bastards. Can't you even reply?"

Punch!

A harsh sound rang out from one of them. Zich's punch landed on one of the assassins who came straight at him. As if someone pulled him from behind, the assassin's body flew backwards and his dagger fell to the floor.

"As expected of assassins. You are excellent at assessing the situation."

Although they tried to attack him, the assassins now kept a safe distance from him. They all noticed that Zich was extremely skilled at fighting.

"Don't assassins normally take care of the bodies and quickly draw back? But none of you guys are doing that."

Zich laughed.

"All of you are not ordinary assassins, right? What organization are you part of?"

Boom!

Suddenly, a fireball exploded on top of Zich. It was magic. To a person who was expecting only assassin techniques, this attack would have definitely caught them off guard.

"What's this?"

Smash!

Zich smashed the fireball with his hands as if he was swatting a mosquito. The fireball flashed on the ground for a bit and then died out.

The assassins were shocked by the ease in which Zich handled the fireball.

"Wait, assassins that know how to do magic? It's not as if people like that don't exist, but they're definitely not as common as a passing rock. Moreover, none of you guys said an incantation; there's a very low chance that someone with such a high level of magic skill would be an assassin."

Zich began narrowing his choices down and continued with surprise in his voice, "Is one of you using an artifact? And an artifact that can do strong magic attacks like this?"

Artifacts were rare, and ones that could do strong magic attacks like this were rarer. But Zich was not surprised by the artifact itself. Before he regressed, he had seen much more precious and stronger artifacts than the one that the assassins used. Yet, Zich was surprised for one reason—

"I don't understand. Why are all of you using such a high-level artifact to kidnap a mere miner?"

The assassins were of a way too high caliber for the purpose of kidnapping, torturing, or even killing one miner like Snoc. Zich began to grow suspicious, but he thought he had to decide quickly.

"Well, whatever. I'm going to capture you guys and beat all of you up until I get some answers."

Swish!

Zich pulled out his sword. The sharpness of his sword glinted in the light. The man who seemed like the leader stared at Zich's sword for a few moments and then opened his mouth.

"...Three of you stay. The rest of you follow the plan."

The three figures nearest to Zich moved towards him. The leader left the three of them behind and began climbing on the roof with the rest of his other underlings.

"I just want to talk for a bit. It's so dang hard to get even one conversation."

It was basic manners to at least pretend to listen if Zich was asking this many times.

'Well, I guess it's laughable to expect manners from assassins.'

Zich stared at the group that was moving along and then moved his attention back to the three in front of him.

"I guess the plan is for the three of you to risk your lives and make time for the rest of them to escape but..."

Zich lightly moved his sword a few times. He lowered his body and moved his center of gravity to the front.

"Do you think that will be possible?"

Bang!

Zich condensed his strength inside his body so that a ripple came out from him. The three assassins moved towards him.

Whish!

Zich sharply wielded his sword. One assassin tried to block Zich's attack with a dagger. The other two tried to attack his sides. Their blue daggers shook like poisonous snakes—it was a pretty good collaborative effort.

If Zich didn't have to get Snoc back, he might have spent some time playing with them. But now was not the time for that.

Zing.

Mana began to seep into Zich's sword. He instilled mana into the sword until it reached the very tip of his sword.

Ziiing!

The mana around his sword turned around like a chainsaw. The cutting force of his sword right now was several times greater than usual.

Zing! Zing! Zing! Zing!

In a short amount of time, four cutting sounds could be heard. The first cut broke through the dagger and its owner. Then, the next cut reached a little further and broke through the second dagger next to him and its owner.

Splash!

Blood poured out like rain. The upper and lower bodies of the two assassins collapsed onto the ground in succession. The surrounding area became a puddle of blood.

Zich evaded the third assassin's attack easily and bent down towards one of the corpses. The last assassin tried to create as much distance from Zich as possible.

"W-What...!"

He was stunned. Even though he was taught to maintain his calm at all times, the assassin was shocked that two of his comrades were cut up like pieces of cheese in a matter of seconds. However, Zich frowned while looking down at his sword.

'They are surprisingly resilient.'

All three of the assassins' skills and weapons were extraordinary. Even though a head-to-head competition was not an assassin's forte, they were all very skilled at fighting. Zich wondered where they all came from.

"Wait a minute."

Zich tapped his head with his thumb. He came to this town because of an impending disaster. There was a strong possibility that these assassins and the disaster were connected somehow.

"Are all of you related to the 'Tyrant of the Earth, Nowem'?"

Tyrant of the Earth, Nowem.

He was one of the Demon People that appeared during this time. As his name implied, he used the earth's strength, and he made his first appearance in Suol. As soon as he appeared, he demolished Suol and settled down in the Iruce Mine. Fortunately, he didn't move out of this mine at all, so his danger level was low.

The Kingdom had desperately tried to recapture the Iruce Mine after Nowem made it his home. The iron ores in the Iruce Mine were an extremely significant strategic resource. However, all the soldiers that were dispatched to Suol never came back alive. Nowem's hidden strength inside the mine was too enormous.

As the Kingdom continued its efforts to recapture the Iruce Mine, it realized Nowem's true strength and how powerful he could be in his home ground.

'The Kingdom eventually collapsed from that.'

The resources the Kingdom lost from Suol's destruction eventually led to its doom. Moreover, all the soldiers and armies lost from trying to recapture the Iruce Mine further deteriorated the Kingdom and hastened its downfall.

Even though there were a lot of Demon People during this time (to the extent that this period would be called the 'Demon People Period'), it was rare for a Demon Person to destroy a whole Kingdom. As a Demon Person that brought ruin to a Kingdom, Nowem gained much notoriety as a powerful being.

'It's reasonable to think that these assassins have something to do with the rise of the Demon People...since it's around this time that Demon People first began appearing.'

Zich's prediction was confirmed as he saw that the last standing assassin looked shocked by his words.

Moreover, the assassin raised his voice and shouted, "...How do you know that!"

"Hey, should we exchange information or something? If you tell me what you know, I'll teach you how I was able to learn this information."

"..."

"I knew it."

Zich clicked his tongue as he saw the assassin raise his dagger at him.

'I guess it'll be better for me to go after those guys that kidnapped Snoc. I can get as much information as I want from them after all.'

Moreover, there was the leader with the most information in that group.

Tap!

Zich moved his feet. He transferred his mana to the very tip of his sword again. He increased the flow of mana around his sword. As Zich ran straight towards the assassin, the assassin also ran towards Zich. Compared to Zich's mana-filled sword, the assassin's dagger looked pitiful.

The distance between the assassin and Zich was now very small. From this distance, Zich was able to see the assassin's eyes, which had been hidden inside his cloak.

'He's hiding something.'

The assassin looked as if he had a secret backup plan. There was a certain kind of resolve and determination in his movement.

Slide.

The assassin reached his free hand into the cloak. But before the assassin could fully take the possession out, Zich moved his sword to kill the assassin. However, Zich was too late.

The mana flow around them became violent. The assassin's cloak began to flutter and expand.

Boom!

There was an explosion. The area the bomb targeted was small, but the bomb's destructive force was massive. If a person happened to receive a direct hit, they would have disintegrated in a second.

After a few moments, the explosion began to die down. The light and sound of the explosion began to fade and only a soft glimmer of light remained. From this light, Zich began to appear in clear view. Only some parts of his clothes were ripped. He brushed the dust off his clothes and spit on the floor in distaste.

'As expected of assassins that barely show any regard to their own life, they self-destruct.'

Zich clicked his tongue as he saw that there was not even a trace of the assassin's body left. It was sad that the assassin's self-destruction only ripped Zich's clothes a bit.

'But even their self-destruction technique is high level.'

It took a great level of skill to self-destruct like the assassin; you would have to spin your mana like a whirlpool until it exploded. But it seemed as if the assassin used an artifact to self-destruct since they reached inside their cloak a moment before they exploded. On the other hand, this also meant that the people behind them were powerful enough to hand out two high-level artifacts like it was almost nothing.

'I have to find out who's behind all this.'

Zich began chasing after the rest of the assassins.