On the edge of Elf Forest,
Lis deflected a blade that had come at him from the shadows, gazing into the shadowy depths of the forest opposite him.
As expected, they've come, huh?
Lis was somewhat curious, he hadn't noticed anything unusual along the way nor had he felt any signs of someone tracking them.
How had they found him and Cecil?
It was impossible that the people attacking Cecil were from the Elf Slave Hunting Group.
The sneak attack that Lis had just countered was clearly a full-fledged strike from a Gold-Level Assassin, if it had been the Elf Slave Catching Team, they would have held back.
After all, their goal was to capture Elves to sell for profit.
A dead Elf was of no use to them.
Cecil, seeing Lis suddenly appear before her and deflect the attack, was momentarily taken aback, but she too realized they were under attack.
Hurriedly drawing her magic wand, Cecil tensed, alert to her surroundings.
Lis detected a presence stealthily approaching, hidden in the shadows of the forest, slowly moving toward him and Cecil.
At that moment, the forest air was thick with a killing intent, as if even the wind held its breath, anticipating the imminent duel and slaughter.
Lis bellowed as he spun his longsword, slicing through the air toward the shadow in the forest to his right.
Just as the longsword was about to strike the ground, under the sporadic sunlight filtering through the tree canopy, the apparently normal shadow suddenly twisted—an individual shrouded in a dark gray shadow power revealed themselves.
This was the Gold-Level Assassin hidden in the shadows!
The assassin, Sinker, looked at Lis in shock, not expecting a Gold-Level Warrior to so quickly pinpoint his location.
It should be noted that he had avoided approaching Lis directly, instead planning to bypass him and attack Cecil directly.
He had cloaked all his aura with shadow power, also effectively concealing his intent to kill.
Normally, as long as he didn't harbor any hostility against these advanced warriors, the instinct for battle of the Gold-Level Warriors wouldn't be triggered.
But things had not gone as he had anticipated.
What was most important, the aura emanating from the young man before him instilled a sense of fear in him, not daring to directly face Lis's sword, he could only continuously retreat.
Lis, however, seemed unconcerned, advancing directly to further pressure the position of the Gold-Level Assassin.
After all, he was quite familiar with the shadow power used by his opponent, to some extent, this ability was even stronger in Lis than in the opposing Gold-Level Assassin.
As long as the opponent used shadow power, to Lis, it was as clear as a lamp in the darkness.
Under such circumstances, the strongest ability of the Gold-Level Assassin had almost no effect, and was even the biggest vulnerability.
However, Sinker wasn't aware of this; faced with Lis's attacks, he shuffled back again and again, looking for an opportunity to re-enter stealth mode.
His mission this time was to kill Elf Cecil, and although a failed sneak attack not yielding a swift escape deviated from the norms of an assassin, Sinker was not ready to retreat just yet.
This was a mission given to him by his superiors, and he did not intend to return empty-handed.
Although the young man before him was strong, Sinker believed escaping from a Gold-Level Warrior was still within his capabilities as an assassin.
Lis wasn't in a rush either; though it seemed on the surface that he was fervently battling with the Gold-Level Assassin, he was in fact not using his full strength.
Although the strength of this Gold-Level Assassin was decent, to Lis, he was nothing significant.
He was nearly on the same level as the Gold-Level Hunter he had killed two days prior, and could now be said to be utterly countered by Lis.
What was most important, Lis was curious about the background of the Gold-Level Assassin before him.
It was clear that this assassin was not the mastermind but had been ordered to assassinate Cecil.
Aside from the reasons behind the assassination of Cecil, just the deployment of a Gold-Level Assassin was enough to demonstrate the power of the forces behind him.
If not for Lis, even if Cecil had hired a Gold-Level Mercenary, it would have been challenging to protect Cecil from the initial attack of the Gold-Level Assassin.
Even Cecil's father, Gale Sword Saint Igley Alce, couldn't easily mobilize an entity of equivalent stature.
This almost implied a blockade of the Elf Court, and a special link between the command that had sent Cecil to Bolin Kingdom given by the Illiser Elf Elder.
Lis was very clear that the destruction of the Elf Court was connected to Abyss Prince Demogorgon.
If it was indeed that entity, arranging a Gold-Level Assassin to eliminate Cecil wouldn't be surprising.
After all, the incursions of the Abyss Demon Lords into the Gaia World had never ceased.
Many people succumbed to the temptations of demons and devils, accepting powers from the abyss and hell.
Though this granted them greater strength, in reality, the evil powers also polluted and changed the souls of those enticed, causing them to continually slide towards the dark and evil side, beyond redemption.
Though they appeared the same on the outside, they were essentially no different from Abyss Demons.
Even in death, their souls would not enter the Divine Country of All Gods or rest in the Netherworld, instead falling into the abyss to transform into new Abyss Demons.