Chapter 236: Battle

"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.

As soon as Noah teleported, he tried to attack Shadow S once more, but like the other times, the assassin dodged without much difficulty.

'Compared to my Strength, which is 36 points, my agility being at only 17 is still very low... Dealing with strength-based opponents I don't have much problem, but when I come across an opponent with a higher agility than mine it really is work...' Noah thought with a little disgust.

Since Shadow S lived in Eyrin City, Noah doubted this assassin had ever absorbed any essence orbs. But since Noah hadn't absorbed orbs or killed Rank C monsters that would give him agility himself, it didn't differ much between the two.

Noah knew that with his Strength at 36 points, as long as he could hit a single attack on Shadow S, that attack would be decisive in battle.

This would be even more so because he was dealing with an assassin who wasn't recognized for having a high defense. There was even a chance that Noah's attack could kill this assassin right away. After all, if his Strength was double the Shadow's toughness, the difference would be as big as a Blessed Rank D attacking a Blessed Rank E.

But knowing his attack could do so much damage didn't change the fact that Noah's attack couldn't connect with Shadow S. Even though Noah continued to teleport whenever the attack failed, Shadow S still managed to dodge each attack in unimaginable ways.

"Hrmp, are you just that? If your space Blessing only does that, you can hardly handle me," Shadow S said with great contempt.

As an assassin, the class Shadow S detested most were warriors. Mages were simple to kill for being vulnerable in close range combat, but warriors had a lot of stamina. Trying to deal with those Blessed was definitely more complicated, even more so against a warrior like Noah. Even though Noah didn't have much agility, those teleports of his prevented Shadow S from getting a blow on Noah too.

However, that sentence from Shadow S made Noah crack a small smile under his armor's helmet.

"Really? Then we'll see," Noah replied.

At that point he had teleported over 100 times in just a few minutes. The amount of small sparks of fire floating in the air was also over 100. And with a single thought from him, as he teleported to attack Shadow S once more, those little sparks streaked toward the assassin in tandem with Noah's attack.

Just like the other times, Noah's physical attack failed, but that didn't mean everything had failed once more. Noah's sparks approached at high speed. They were so small that Shadow S hadn't noticed them initially, but when the sparks gathered close to the assassin's body, there was no way it could have been missed.

"Hehe, do you think your attacks can do me any damage? I just need to get into the shadows to-" But Shadow S couldn't retreat into the shadows and was forced to come into contact with these little sparks directly. 

"Aarrrrrgghhhh!!!" the contract killer screamed, feeling their entire body burning with a pain that had never been felt before.

"What were you saying? I don't think you studied physics or chemistry… and I don't mind explaining it to you," Noah responded with disdain, "Have you ever wondered why a candle flame doesn't produce shadows, just wax? That's because unlike solid objects, fire doesn't prevent light from passing through, meaning where there's fire, there's no shadow."

Hearing this, Shadow S's eyes grew alarmed. As an assassin, the priority was always to kill mages first in any assassination, and because Noah was apparently young, Shadow S had never dealt with a situation like this and overlooked the possibility. Ever since the flames hit, Noah noticed the assassin had frantically tried to hide in the shadows, but nothing had worked.

And Noah didn't sit still after that. With the flames burning his target's body, Noah ordered the fire to spread even further as it consumed Shadow S's mana, before teleporting once more and attacking the assassin again.

But as much as Shadow S had some parts of flesh on fire, still, Noah's attacks couldn't hit. After all, the assassin's agility was still there. However, feeling that mana for some reason was being drained by these flames like a parasite, the trained assassin knew that continuing this attack anymore was futile, because even if the assassination was successful, getting out alive would be impossible, even with the secret resource that had been provided for the job.

"Shit, you'll pay for this one day, Oni." Shadow S responded regretfully and pulled out a parchment from a hidden pocket and used it in front of Noah, who was still frantically trying to attack while teleporting.

As the parchment was ripped open, a space rift appeared and in less than a second it had sucked Shadow S in and closed once more, leaving only Noah there in the courtyard.

"Uff..." Noah sighed after seeing Shadow S leave.

As much as he had displayed a high confidence in front of Shadow S, Noah knew he couldn't have stopped the assassin from killing Carlos' family were his bluff called.

Based on what Noah had seen, Shadow S's agility was probably more than 35 points... At this point he even wondered if ShadowS might have absorbed some agility essence orbs before coming to Eyrin City. With such high agility, even if Shadow S couldn't have killed Noah, the assassin could still have carried out the contract and killed Carlos' family.

Also, Noah had already heard of that kind of scroll that Shadow S had used. The parchment practically stored an ability of another Blessed for single use, however, it required mana from the user. And if the user was not of the same class as the person who stored the skill, the cost would be higher, and could even be double the original cost.

Maybe if Noah had consumed Shadow S's mana until the assassination was completed, he could maybe have killed the assassin after Carlos' family died, but that wasn't what he wanted. Noah came here to protect Carlos and his family, and that's what he focused on during the entire confrontation. Unfortunately, the battle was won, but Noah knew the war was not yet over.

It was no use just dealing with Shadow S that day. If whoever had hired Shadow S was still alive, it was only a matter of time before another attack came, and Noah knew he still had a lot of work to do to prepare for that.

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