Chapter 270 - Assassins

After his initial win, Kretos kept on winning in the underground fighting ring. He won all the battles in such an overwhelming manner that the name of Kretos the killer of a thousand demons spread throughout the western lands. His name drew in the most powerful demons in the western lands. Yet no matter who he faced Kretos would win, as victory seems to be his and his alone. 

The one assigned to watch Kretos already understood that fighting with Kretos head-on without the power equivalent to a demon lord was foolish. Yet he wasn't expecting that Kretos would be this powerful. Every time Kretos fought he would always allow his opponent to attack at full power, and Kretos would happily accept everything. When the opponent showed everything he had Kretos would then retaliate and only use the minimum strength needed to beat his opponents. 

The weaker ones would die, while the stronger ones were beaten to the point that they could never fight again. He was even able to incite an unexplainable fear that could make even the most courageous cower. So now when the observer looked at his vicious smile he couldn't help but tremble. 

The scariest part of all these was not that Kretos strength was unfathomable, but the idea that Kretos might be growing stronger after each battle. 

'I guess it's time to use that.' The observer sighed as his plans were being forced to move forward at a pace he didn't like. 

...

After another victorious battle in the underground fighting ring, Kretos was feeling a bit bored. It wasn't like his opponents weren't fun to fight with, but he was expecting the so called demon lord of cunning would've done something by now. 

After the initial move the demon lord made, which was to control the order of the matches so that Kretos would face all the strong opponents who had a chance to win the tournament, the demon lord hasn't done anything else.

'Is he perhaps waiting for me to lower my guard? That can't be it, he must already know that it doesn't matter if my guard is down or not. I hope he makes his next move soon.'

Kretos was walking back to the inn he was staying at as he continued to wonder what the next move of demon lord Darius will be. While he was walking down the busy street he sensed that some people were following him. Their movements were so light and their mana fluctuation was barely there that Kretos almost didn't detect them.

Kretos couldn't help but smile as he felt those presences that were trying to hide from him. 'Finally, something exciting is about to happen. I thought that this would happen earlier but after that fight with the red ogre, most of those that were following me stopped. Still, these guys are pretty decent...' 

Kretos headed to an empty alleyway and once he was there he looked around and spoke. "So are you people going to come out now, or are you going to do it later while I sleep?" 

Even after he called out to his would-be assailants they didn't appear. Kretos waited for a bit more and when no one appeared he sighed. 

"I really don't like it when someone disturbs me while I sleep, so if you're going to come and kill me doing it now would be a good time for me."

The observer who was watching the scene using a special spell heard what Kretos said and was dumbfounded. Who would talk to his would-be assassins like this? 

When the silence continued Kretos suddenly emitted intense and heavy killing intent. After he did that, Kretos finally moved. The observer couldn't even follow Kretos's movements, this was the first time he saw Kretos move at such a speed. He then saw Kretos suddenly appear on top of one of the buildings and buried his hand onto a shadow.

Kretos pulled up his hand buried into the shadows and a demon with horns appeared. When Kretos saw the horned demon he wasn't that surprised to see who it was. There were only few assassins that were this good, and there was only one assassin clan that uses the shadows to this degree. 

It was none other than the shadow Clan that had all these abilities. The moment Kretos was able to pull out one of the members the others appeared and surrounded him. They were all wearing the uniform of the Shadow Clan dressed all in black while wearing white masks.

"Heh, so you guys are working for Demon Lord Darius now. I never expected that the loyalty of the shadow clan was this shallow." 

The Shadow Clan assassins did not speak a word and seeing there reaction confused Kretos. Though he didn't really like the Shadow Clan's way of dealing with things in the shadow, they wouldn't work for just anyone. 

While Kretos was thinking about why they were reacting the way they are the shadow clan assassins removed their masks. The ones behind the masks were people Kretos knew very well, these people were none other than the members of his direct family. The whole shadow clan was a closed family of horned demons that married those of the same blood as to not dilute their so called superior bloodline. 

The people in front of Kretos were the strongest in the clan and they were the ones supposedly with the purest of bloodlines. Not only were they the strongest but they were also Kretos's family the main house of the clan. His mother and father, his grandfathers, and grandmothers as well as his older siblings were now in front of him trying to kill him. 

As he was about to ask why they would do this Kretos noticed that their eyes were hollow. When he saw that Kretos could deduce what had happened. 

"I see so you all have fallen to the dominion of the Vampiric Lord." Kretos sighed when his family without warning attacked him. Their attacks were swift and precise which was expected of the elite of the clan. They used the shadows to their advantage and coordination was near perfection. 

The observer smiled when he saw Kretos not retaliating. In the observer's mind, Kretos must be hesitating because he doesn't want to hurt his family. The moment the observer thought of that Kretos summoned a sword hidden within his shadow and sliced his grandparents in half. 

The observer's eyes almost popped out in shock by the scene he witnessed. Kretos then proceeded to slice apart all of his relatives. This was the first time the observer had witnessed Kretos's sword skills, and it was sharp and overwhelmingly powerful. 

Kretos was able to easily dispatch his family members all except his mother. The two of them fought in blinding speed that the observer found it nearly impossible to follow. All he could see were the sparks of the blades colliding with each other. After a few clashes, the victor was decided.

Kretos looked at his heavily wounded mother and smiled. He was bleeding at the right side of his chest, if the blade pierced a little bit more to the left he would've died. As they were fighting his mother was able to toss a hidden blade that he was unable to detect until the very last second.

"As expected of the leader of the clan the one with the moniker Shadow. You were and forever will be the perfect assassin." After saying what he wanted to say Kretos beheaded his mother. 

As all of his family members lay on the ground dead, Kretos closed his eyes. He remembered the days when he talked and ate with these people. He remembered when his mother taught him the way of the sword. There was no warmth in this family of assassins, but nevertheless they were his family. 

...

The observer watched as Kretos burned the bodies of his family members and left. He couldn't believe that Kretos's reaction while facing his family was the same as when he fought and killed those demons in the underground fighting ring. He still retained that vicious smile on his face as he killed them. 

'So using his family won't work as well. Based on the reports I read using women won't work as well. Fighting him head-on or using assassins to attack in the dark doesn't work as well. It doesn't look like money could affect him. He already has fame and power. Does this demon even have a weakness?' 

The observer could only sigh as he decided to head back and report to his lord as well as to ask what the next move should be.