Chapter 213. Ambush.

Southern Continent.

Eldorath Empire.

Capital.

On a cultivation mountain.

Five individuals were currently seated in lotus positions, absorbing the worldly energy in their environment.

Suddenly, someone’s eyes flickered open.

Desmonda opened her eyes. A staff appeared in her hand. Lightning flickered across her figure as she equipped her battlesuit.

She swung the staff towards a particular direction.

Lightning trailed ahead of the staff. The sound of flesh being scorched resounded across the place.

A dull thud resounded as someone fell from the skies.

The person was dead.

It was an advanced rank 2 warrior.

" Fortunately for me, I broke through to expert rank 2, else, this would have been an extremely disturbing situation" She sighed.

" There’s more?"

This time, she was not the one to initiate the attack.

Several bolts of fire and light streaked towards the group from all directions.

Everyone’s eyes flickered open at the same time.

Luke’s crucifix looking sword appeared infront of him.

Light danced across his figure like a halo.

He appeared mid air.

He turned into a phantom of light. His figure started to overlap. He swung the sword, clad in light. The sword clashed into the attacks with otherworldly dexterity and speed, snuffing out each of the attacks.

A group of forty assassins appeared on the air.

All of them were expert rank 2 warriors in different battlesuits. They were using aerial maneuvering to sustain themselves in the air.

Seraphina equipped her battlesuit as her fan appeared in her hand. An ethereal hue of sound waves flashed across her fan.

Asmodeus, clad in his battlesuit, had his hammer in his hand. The air around him seemed to crack and grow heavy.

Ice danced across Candice’s battlesuit clad figure as she held her halberd.

"Let’s not waste time. Let’s finish them off quickly" One of the assailants said.

Asmodeus, Seraphina, Luke, Desmonda and Candice disappeared from their current locations.

They appeared mid air, their affinities dancing across their figures.

Asmodeus’ hammer came down, clashing into a flame attack launched by one of the assailants holding a polearm.

The air shook.

Desmonda swung her staff at an unnatural angle.

It arced through the air gracefully as lightning arcs trailed ahead of it towards an assailant who had manifested earth boulders before him.

Seraphina waved her fan with ethereal grace. Streaks of sound waves and sonic booms rippled through the air, heading towards an assistant shooting vines from her hands.

Candice waved her halberd. A serpent shaped ice construct trailed ahead of her halberd and crushed into an attack launched by an assailant launching ice arrows towards her.

Luke’s figure streaked through the air, covered in light, arcs of destructive fiery light cleaved ahead of him and came down on someone launching flames towards him.

The attacks caused resplendent lights and shockwaves to spread across the place as both sides clashed over and over again.

Five against 40.

They turned into streaks of light across the mountain, clashing and separating, then clashing all over again.

The assassins wee surprised. Had they received wrong info about the strength of these geniuses?

Were they not supposed to be advanced rank 2 warriors?

How had they become so terrifying?

Even if they had become expert rank 2 warriors, how was it possible that five expert rank 2 warriors were able to hold their own against 40 expert rank 2 warriors?

Very soon, the clashes ceased.

The assassins were sent crushing into several parts of the mountain with broken and shattered battlesuits.

Blood spewed out of their mouths. They were all on their dying breaths.

The group of five floated on the air, unharmed.

" They may not be as strong as Aiden Vhorn, but these guys are monsters" One of the assassins said.

Glints of realisation flashed through the eyes of the five.

Someone sent these guys to kill them or kidnap them. Whoever wanted Aiden dead was convinced that Aiden was still alive. They knew that there was no way they could bait him into revealing himself. However if they harm his friends, he will be forced to show up.

" Let’s interrogate them and find out who..." Before Seraphina could finish speaking, the assassins revealed lifeless expressions in their eyes.

" Shit" Candice cursed.

" Looks like our attacks killed them before we could get anything out of them" Luke sighed.

"It looks like someone leaked our location to them. The people who brought us here are all members of the Academic Federation’s board in the Eldorath Empire. Some among them must be working for Aiden’s enemies" Asmodeus added.

"Aiden has a lot of enemies at the moment. So we can’t narrow it down to who is behind the attack. Even if we could narrow it down, we can only get stronger from now on. We are still too weak" Desmonda said "But we need to update Aiden of the current development. It looks like his enemies are becoming desperate"

Everyone nodded.

" Just when I thought breaking into expert rank 2 was an accomplishment to be proud of, we just got a strong reality check" Asmodeus sighed.

" I know right?" Seraphina sighed.

The group de-equipped their battlesuits, deactivated their affinities, and landed softly on the cultivation mountain.

The corpses of the 40 assassins were scattered across the place.

" Maybe if we touch them, or examine them we can find out something about them" Luke scratched his chin.

Suddenly, Desmonda shouted.

" Don’t"

Luke paused.

The moment he did, the figures of the assassins turned greenish and disfigured, then melted into liquid goo, then to ashes.

The group of five were shocked.

What sort of poison had these assassins been fed?

It was too lethal.

" Whoever is behind this assasinatiin didn’t want to leave behind any traces of the assassination" Candice said.

" That’s true" Seraphina added "Whether it succeeded or failed, these assassins would have still been killed afterwards to keep the matter quiet"

"They are very meticulous," Asmodeus said.

"So this is the kind of people Aiden has been dealing with all this while?" Luke sighed.

" Indeed" Desmonda said.

The group went silent as glints of shock and renewed determination flashed through their eyes.

" Aiden’s enemies are indeed terrifying. And it seems they think we are weak links they can use to manipulate him" Desmonda said. "We need to get stronger, else, this will keep happening"

The group nodded.

" Our time here is up, but when we return to campus, we can’t relax," Seraphina said.

" I will text Aiden and let him know the current development as soon as possible," Desmonda said as everyone descended the mountain.