'What a practical Blessing. He can hear footsteps at such a distance just by putting his head on the ground...' Noah thought with interest as he looked at the man who screamed.
But then Noah ignored that thought and turned to look for Shadow S.
That name did not come without reason. The man known as Shadow S, in fact, was a Blessed One who had received a powerful Blessing from the Shadow God, one of the few cruel gods who were not considered to be evil gods.
With the power of shadows, Shadow S had become one of the most famous, if not the most famous, assassins in Eyrin City, mainly because of the practicality that his blessing provided when carrying out a murder. Being able to hide in the shadows whenever convenient, as long as he had enough mana, this had always made it possible for Shadow S to be able to escape from crime scenes after carrying out his murders. However, apparently this ability required a lot of mana, being used only when it was truly needed. Yet, with no clues to follow, both the police and other Blesseds had never been able to find Shadow S's hideout, or even his true identity, just knowing he was a powerful, greedy assassin.
Noah, of course, wasn't going into this battle lightly. He knew his opponent was formidable, and since he didn't have corpses to burn in this battle his mana would also be a big issue. Noah's big advantage was that in group battles he hardly ran out of mana, but in a single battle that advantage turned into a disadvantage. Luckily he had more mana than the average Blessed, as well as several useful abilities, so even though his opponent was someone powerful, he still wasn't scared.
The 8 imps he had summoned when he arrived were still by his side, ready for battle and prepared to give their lives for their master. With Pyakugan activated, Noah was on alert. Even after being warned by the Blessed who heard the assassin's footsteps, no one had apparently died or was able to see the man hiding in the shadows of the night. But unlike those Blessed Rank E or D, Noah could notice a suspicious movement.
'Go investigate,' Noah mentally ordered one of the unskilled imps to go to the spot he suspected. Carlos' family security guards were a little scared of these little red goblins, but knowing that the Blessed One who controlled these monsters was Noah, someone they had already seen at the mansion, they were a little less worried.
Within seconds of the goblin walking across the garden in the direction Noah had indicated, a scream came out of his mouth. The awareness of the monsters on alert was frightening. When Blessed invaded Fortresses, they always abused monsters that were unprepared, and hardly if the attack went wrong, they would manage to escape those monsters, because unlike humans guided by logical and more elaborate thoughts, monsters were creatures driven by instincts, and when those instincts were sharpened, a small noise of a branch being broken on the ground would be enough for these monsters to deduce the position of their prey.
And Noah's imps were no different. When the imp noticed a strange noise in the area, without thinking twice he ran screaming while waving his claws in the direction of that noise. With this alert notification, all of the security guards turned in the direction of the shout before noticing a dark figure running in the opposite direction of the 'red goblin'.
Shadow S most likely already knew that it would be useless to deal with that weak E Rank monster, since he had already been located, so his choice was to ignore that weak monster and run to finish the task that was assigned to him.
But just as the weaker Blessed had also been notified, Noah was not left out. To give the assassin no more room to approach the house, Noah immediately teleported in front of the man and used an ability he was familiar with.
[Fire Claws]
With a wave of his hand, Noah hoped to cut the man down and use the flames to get a source of extra mana for the battle, but unlike the previous battles he'd had, Shadow S bent like a cat, and in an extremely agile way, dodged Noah's attack, continuing the impetus towards the mansion.
"You won't run away from me," Noah said in a cold voice before teleporting in front of the assassin, leaving a small spark where he was, and trying once more to slash at him with his fiery claws.
But once again the assassin dodged Noah's attack with a strange movement of his body. However, this time the assassin pulled away from Noah a little and looked at him suspiciously.
"Where are you from?" the assassin asked in a husky voice, probably to hide his own identity.
Seeing that the assassin had stopped to focus on himself, Noah was pleased. He wasn't a person who liked talking to strangers, as his personality was aloof, but to prevent the assassin from ignoring him and putting his second family in danger, Noah had to do this to get his attention.
"I am a native of Eyrin, but not as famous as you," Noah replied.
"Spatial Blessing... If you were from Eyrin you should have already been famous, even more so with a Rank C force. It's impossible I've never heard anything about you," Shadow S said cautiously, watching Noah from a distance.
The head-to-toe armor of fire prevented the assassin from knowing who this opponent was, but the Blessing was too unique to be unknown. The only conceivable explanation was that the target family had hired a Rank C Blessed from another city, or they had some contact with this powerful Blessed One.
But looking better at the red goblins that approached the two, Shadow S got a glimpse of the identity of this Blessed One. "These imps, maybe you're the Oni?"
"Maybe I'm not as unknown as I thought," Noah replied calmly.
"These red goblins appeared under the control of many rich kids, and they all said it came from a powerful Blessed One named Oni," Shadow S said, "For a Blessed One to have monsters that weak, you either like to waste money, or those monsters were initially yours."
"An assassin's mind is really peculiar. With so little information you've been able to deduce my identity. Maybe I should be flattered? Unfortunately, that won't be enough for me to let you out of here alive," Noah said in a cold tone.
"Hehe, you can't even hit me with an attack and you think you have the right to make such arrogant exclamations? Having to deal with you was not part of the deal. I will have to charge my employer more after turning in your head," Shadow S said with a disdainful expression.
Even wearing a mask and hood that covered the assassin's entire face, Noah could deduce that expression both from the bared eyes and the tone of voice.
"If you're brave enough to try to deal with the Devil, maybe you can back up your words, but I very much doubt it," Noah said before teleporting once more with his fire claws activated, leaving another small spark floating where he was.
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