He stumbled back, catching a glimpse of Isaac appearing beside him like a ghost.
Isaac’s hands were covered in spectral gauntlets made of pure mana, glowing faintly.
Godric grunted and jumped back several meters.
He stabilized his breathing, summoning his battle aura.
His muscles expanded, and thick mana wrapped around him like a second skin.
“You’re faster than you look,” Godric said, voice low. “And you can turn invisible. But let’s see if you can dodge this… Attack!”
From the ruined buildings surrounding them, arrows shot toward Isaac.
Mana-imbued arrows, fast and deadly, coming from every direction.
Isaac didn’t panic. He turned invisible again, the power of his Phantom Emperor Bloodline activating smoothly.
The assassins, now aware of his abilities, immediately unleashed their sensory skills to locate him.
And with their attacks imbued with mana, Isaac couldn’t phase through them just by turning ghost-like.
But Isaac wasn’t worried. He had more than enough tools at his disposal.
’SSS-rank skills are not decorations,’ he thought.
With a sharp breath, Isaac activated Phantom Steps.
Combined with his eighty points of Agility, he moved so fast that to the human eye, he was just a flickering shadow.
Only Godric could track his movements.
Isaac tapped his soulbound pendant. Tirra, the ghostly bird, emerged in a flash of soft light.
He gave her a simple order through the mental connection she established.
’Get to the sky. Locate every assassin.’
’Yes, boss!’
Tirra soared upward without hesitation.
Below, Godric tried to rush him, but Isaac was ready.
From his spatial ring, Isaac unleashed the Deathwood Guardian Scarecrow.
With a thundering crash, the scarecrow landed and immediately engaged Godric.
The clash between them sent shockwaves through the broken ground.
Each strike of Godric’s fists was met by the scarecrow’s thick, stretchy wooden arms. The noise made one think that metals swords were clashing.
Just as Isaac was catching his breath, he felt an intense heat rushing toward him.
Above him, a massive fireball blazed through the air.
A Champion-ranked mage was targeting him.
’Of course there’s another one,’ Isaac thought calmly.
He didn’t move.
Instead, Tyr, who had been clinging to Isaac’s shoulder, leapt down.
The small creature grew, rapidly expanding into a ten-foot-tall tree-like warrior.
Roots coiled around his limbs, and flames licked his bark.
With a roar, Tyr smashed the ground with his foot, using Verdant Forge (S rank skill) to conjure a thick shield of reinforced wood.
The fireball slammed into Tyr’s shield.
The explosion shook the earth, scattering debris and ash.
When the flames cleared, Tyr was still standing.
Burn marks marred his body, but he remained mostly unharmed.
The Champion mage’s expression shifted in shock.
Through their mental link created by Tirra that connected all of them, Isaac ordered quickly.
’Tyr, use Flamewreath skill, and counterattack now!’
Tyr roared.
He manipulated the fire still clinging on him using the Flamewreath (S rank skill), and used them to form dozens of burning wooden pellets.
He launched them toward the Champion rank mage.
The mage tried to dodge, weaving between the burning projectiles.
But Isaac wasn’t about to let him escape so easily.
Roots, summoned from beneath the ground, whipped out at the mage’s legs.
The mage stumbled slightly, but it was just enough.
Tyr activated another skill, Feral Bloom (S rank), and surged forward, closing the distance in a flash.
Even a powerful mage would crumble under close-quarters combat.
And Tyr, who could already overpower Master-ranked warriors, was a nightmare in melee.
While Tyr kept the mage busy, Isaac stayed invisible, listening intently.
’Tirra, report,’ he sent through the link.
Tirra’s voice echoed in his mind.
’Five assassins hidden inside the eastern wall. Three hiding behind the left rubble pile. Two on the second floor of the warehouse. And… one Champion-ranked assassin moving to the basement.’
’Basement,’ Isaac thought sharply. ’Selene must be there.’
There was no hesitation in his eyes.
He sprinted toward the warehouse ruins.
On his way, he planted the poison flower seeds with his roots.
Mana flared around him.
His Demonic Eyes activated, allowing him to see the mana threads hidden in the air.
He located traps, tripwires, concealed spells.
He weaved through them effortlessly, moving with terrifying precision, his speed boosted by Phantom Steps.
As he ran, assassins spotted him.
They unleashed arrows, daggers, small bolts of magic.
Isaac didn’t slow down.
He dodged the attacks with pure agility. Unless the attacks came from Champion rank awakeners, they couldn’t even get close to him.
He activated Spectral Claws skill.
Long talon-like extensions of his mana formed over his hands.
Each time an assassin jumped at him, Isaac flickered through the air like a ghost and sliced through them without mercy.
Blood spilled onto the dusty ground, but Isaac barely reacted.
To him, this was a race against time.
Tirra guided him from above, warning him when hidden enemies aimed their attacks.
’Left wall. Third assassin preparing to shoot,’ she whispered into his mind.
Isaac twitched sideways without looking and dodged an incoming arrow, retaliating instantly with a mana spike that impaled the attacker.
The warehouse’s interior was a maze of broken walls and unstable debris.
But Isaac moved like a wraith, slipping through narrow gaps, climbing over fallen beams without slowing.
More assassins emerged from hiding, but they were nothing.
Isaac’s training, his SSS-rank skills, and his relentless focus made him unstoppable.
Another barrage of arrows came.
Isaac blurred forward, slipping through them.
An assassin lunged at him with dual daggers coated in venom.
Isaac caught the man’s wrist mid-strike, twisted it until it snapped, and plunged his spectral claws into the assassin’s throat.
Another fell.
Another followed.
He was cutting through them like a war god descending onto a battlefield.
He saw the stairs to the basement.
Isaac didn’t slow down.
He summoned his roots with Sovereign of Land, and used them to destroy the remaining barrier. More roots appeared around him, grabbing assassin attacking him from behind and they choked assassins to death.
While the roots could only grab and pull, it was more than enough to make them unstoppable given their numbers and strength.
Isaac descended through the staircase.
Darkness awaited him below, but Isaac’s Demonic Eyes lit the path.
At the bottom of the stairs, a heavy iron door blocked the way.
Isaac cleaved it using Spectral Claws. Unless the door was enchanted with highest degree of barrier, it couldn’t stop an SSS rank attack skill.
The door fell inward.
Isaac stepped into the room beyond.
There, tied to a chair, looking pale and disoriented, was Selene.
Beside her stood a Champion-ranked assassin, blades drawn, sensing the fight had finally come to him.
