Foreboding Storm - Chapter 121

“Kill her!”

Crown Prince Lail instinctively stood back to back with Laila and asked.

“Do you know them?”

“Nope. Before today, I have never even met them.”

“Well, they seem to be after you…” He added with a frown as his eyes swept over the mass of black.

“Oh, if you had not mentioned it, I would have never known.” She replied with a sarcastic sneer.

“Very funny. Now, half and half?”

“Fine with me!”

Without another word, the two tightened their grip on their weapons and faced the charging men.

Slash!

Puchi!

Boom!

Princess Qamari and Crown Prince Lail flashed and twirled around each other, one defending while the other attacked and one attacking while the other defended. The night of slaughtering in the Budh Village wood had formed a tacit understanding between the two, making their cooperation as smooth and seamless as old comrades.

Fast and furious, the men in black unleashed their skills and attacked with the intent to kill. Their sword strikes aimed at vital points, malicious and sinister in their cold radiance.

Princess Qamari wielded Skyler with grace, her steps nimble and her strikes swift as she dashed back and forth between the men and evaded their attack. Her white robes flapped around her, giving her the presence of an immortal fairy dancing among a horde of nature’s creation.

On the other side, Crown Prince Lail twirled his magical spear and stabbed it consecutively into the necks of three charging men. Blood splashed and horrified shrieks filled the region, scaring away all nearby wild creatures. His grotesque mask and red eyes made him appear like a sovereign of death that reaped lives wherever he passed by.

As the battle grew fiercer, bodies slumped to the ground like crumbling walls and crimson liquid flowed freely, making the atmosphere thick with the metallic scent of blood.

Puchi!

With another slash, two more bodies fell and Crown Prince Lail wiped the blood on the cloth of a falling body. Holding his spear sideways, he infused a scant amount of his magic and threw it in the air. A violent hurl of storm came to life, flinging the men into the distance.

“What in the realms are you doing? I ordered you to kill her! Can’t you take care of two individuals?” The Assistant Leader roared with rage when he saw his men being toyed with like pets by two youths.

A task that should have been as easy as strolling through the woods has suddenly become a difficult matter to handle.

‘If the Boss came to know about this, she will have us all fired!”

Cold sweat sliding down his back, the Assistant Leader’s eyes swiveled around as he searched for an opportunity to step in and take care of the two in one strike.

Right at this time, the temperature in the Forbidden Zone drastically dropped, causing icicles to form on the branches and frost to cover the leaves. The sky turned overcast as dark clouds shrouded the trillion of stars, causing the men in black to pause in their spots and lookup.

In the next moment, their eyes widened in disbelief as they shrieked.

“Not good! Assistant Leader, the Forbidden Zone’s Ice Cyclone is about to descend!”

“The Ice cyclone freezes anything it touches to ice within seconds!”

“If we don’t find shelter right now, we will forever be buried here!”

The men’s expressions turned pale as their desire to live overcame their desire to pursue the two youths and die a horrific death. Even though they were hardcore mercenaries that earned their living through killing, they weren’t ready to die horrific deaths just yet.

Dying in the line of their mission was different from dying by nature when they had a chance to escape with their lives. As such, their minds wavered and their wills crumbled, leading to them backing away before fleeing from the scene.

“Stop right there! How dare you leave without accomplishing your tasks? You need to finish this woman before leaving, otherwise, you’re getting no share in the reward!” The Assistant Leader threatened.

He knew that before the threat of death, every individual placed more importance on their life than others. In fact, if it wasn’t for the knowledge that deserting a mission mid-way had devastating consequences, the men in black would have run off the moment they saw their companions falling like flies.

However, now that an Ice Cyclone was about to descend, the threat of death by freezing wasn’t appealing at all.

“The Hunters Guild pays no deserters!” The Assistant Head finished.

“The Hunters Guild? That is the famous mercenary guild of professionally trained killers in the Northwest? They make a living through killing for money.” Crown Prince Lail said with a frown.

He turned to Laila and looked her over. Although her eyes were cold and alienating, she didn’t give off any malicious or sinister aura. In fact, the energy radiating from her person was so calm and soothing that anyone would be tempted to follow her.

‘Who would want to kill such a simple and straightforward woman?’ He wondered in displeasure.

Princess Qamari had read about the Hunters guild of the Northwest as well. They were an organization of failed magicians that used their abilities not to fight against the magical beasts but used them for assassination and murder. Whether the individuals they were commissioned to kill had magical abilities or not, it didn’t matter to them.

However, what confused her was that she couldn’t think of harming anyone bad enough for them to commission the Hunters Guild to kill her.

‘There is someone out there that wants my life and I have not a clue about their identity…’

Looking at the overcast dark sky, a smile surfaced in the depths of her eyes. Moving closer to Qaliq, she slashed her sword bringing another man down. Whether there was someone desiring her death or not, Princess Qamari did not care.

At this moment, whoever got in her way would go straight to the Underworld.

“Qaliq, the Ice Cyclone’s descent is our opportunity to escape. The Men in black are distracted by the changing heavens, so while they are preoccupied, we can slip out of their midst and locate a secure region to recover from our injuries.”

“That was my intention as well. But how do we escape out of this encirclement successfully without alerting them? And even if we do alert them, we need to be able to escape from their chase.” Crown Prince Lail swept his surroundings, his dark eyes searching for a gap in the men’s tight formation.

Just as his gaze swept by the Assistant Leader, he caught an opening.

“Laila, I know how we can get out of this formation. Follow my lead.” He straightened his spear as a dark gleam flashed in his eyes. In the next instant, he dashed through the barricade of men, aiming for the Assistant Leader.

“Hmph! Seeking death!” The Assistant Leader saw Crown Prince Lail charging towards him and scoffed disdainfully. In his eyes, the man was only seeking death.

There was a group of highly trained elites surrounding him. A group that had more blood on their hands than they themselves could remember. He didn’t believe that a scrawny-looking youth like the one before him had the ability to directly confront them. And even if he did, he still had full confidence in his own abilities.

As such, the Assistant Leader did not move in the face of the charging man. Instead, he crossed his arms and leisurely watched, his stance one of waiting to see a good show.

Crown Prince Lail slashed and pierced through the men’s bodies as easily as chopping wood, his strikes strong and powerful as they precisely pierced their vital organs. A hail of ice rain followed his path, causing his opponents’ concentration to falter as they repeatedly glanced at the darkening sky.

They were nervous about the approaching Ice Cyclone.

“Stop spacing out! Can’t you see that he is slaughtering by the masses?” The Assistant Leader was readying himself to watch a good show.

But what he saw was horrendous!

His men were getting butchered left and right as they dazedly stood transfixed by the strengthening cyclone.

Upon hearing his thunderous roar, the men came back to their senses and fixed their fierce gaze upon the fearless man.

“Brothers, let’s take him down! The sooner we clean them up, the sooner we can leave from here!” A hammer-wielding man roared as he swung his weapon over his head and charged forward.

“Yaaaa! Let’s get rid of them!”

“Get rid of them!”

Soon, the entire place was filled with the deafening roar of men in black as they attacked unrestrainedly in a bid to wrap things up at the fastest speed possible.

At this moment, Princess Qamari’s ethereal figure flashed before Crown Prince Lail, taking his place in facing the men. Crown Prince Lail twirled his spear and jumped over her shoulder, aiming straight for the spectating Assistant Leader.

The change occurred so suddenly that neither the men in black nor the Assistant Leader had time to react. By the time they returned to their senses, Crown Prince Lail was only three feet away from them.

“Stop him! Stop him! If you let him through, I will see to it that none of you get merit points for this mission!” The Assistant Leader angrily screamed.

Princess Qamari swung Skyler with ease and instantly brought down four of the charging men who had not registered the sudden development. She slashed a few men that tried to obstruct her advance and jumped, spinning in the air before landing right on Crown Prince Lail’s shoulder.

In the next heartbeat, she lunged forward and slashed her sword right across a dumbfounded Assistant Leader’s neck. Blood sprayed like an unblocked dam, covering her white robes in crimson patches as the headless corpse thumped to the ground.

The surroundings fell in complete silence as the men in black stared in disbelief at the rolling head of their Assistant Leader. Their blank expressions were as if they had lost their souls, seemingly empty and stiff as they blinked in astonishment.

“The Assistant Leader is dead? How can he die so easily? He is one of the Northwest’s best martial artist!”

“Am I dreaming? He died without even lifting a finger?”

“He died in her hands!”

The men gasped in astonishment as they looked at the blood-soaked woman standing before the Assistant Leader’s headless corpse. They were fully aware of the man’s abilities. Whether it was speed, strength, or flexibility, the Assistant Leader was one of the best.

However, he had died without even getting the chance to roar in rage. This showed that the woman’s abilities were so powerful that under her powerful might, the Assistant Leader didn’t even have the chance to retaliate.

Drip!

Drip!

The Ice hail became fiercer as fat drops of ice rain began falling from the sky. The men’s already shaken resolve was further weakened under the unexpected death of their leader. As such, they tightly held their weapons and slowly converged forming a defensive formation.

‘Perfect!’

This was what Crown Prince Lail and Princess Qamari had been aiming for. Right from the beginning, Crown Prince Lail wasn’t aiming for the Assistant Leader. He was just putting on a show of charging towards him to keep his attention focused on him.

And that’s exactly what had happened. The Assistant Leader was so focused on tracking Crown Prince Lail’s progress that he dismissed the equally ferocious Princess Qamari. As such, when she suddenly leaped onto the Crown Prince’s shoulder and lunged towards him, the Assistant Leader didn’t even have the time to scream before meeting his end.

Unlike how the men in black were speculating, Princess Qamari did not kill the Assistant Leader due to her formidable skills. She was able to accomplish such a feat due to Crown Prince Lail and her perfect coordination.

The fact that the Assistant Leader was caught unprepared by the sudden development was a bonus.

“Your Assistant Leader is dead! Who wants to go next?” Crown Prince Lail banged his spear on the bloodied ground and asked in a domineering manner, his oppressive aura and gruesome mask making him appear like a grim reaper.

Boom!

Bang!

Ahhhhh!

Before anyone could speak, violent tremors and vibrations shook the ground as giant chunks of ice dropped from the sky.

“It’s the Ice Cyclone!”