"Huh?"
"What’s going on?"
"We’re under attack?"
"Ahhhhhhh! S-Someone is dead!"
"Holy shit!"
"Dead bodies!"
The assassins were now in a tough spot. Since everyone was now awake, they couldn’t operate as planned and had to fight their way forward. Still, they managed to kill around 100 C-Ranks and 50 B-Ranks.
"Leader! The A and S-Ranks are coming!" An assassin shouted
"Dammit! I’ll hold them off. I want twenty men with me. The rest of you split up, and half will stay and kill as many people as they can, while the other half will escape. We need to inform the boss of our failure!"
"Yes, Sir!" The assassins split up.
Kai was spinning his blade, watching the assassins break up and head off in three different directions. He didn’t know what they were doing or where they were going, but he decided to go after the ones that stayed in the camp.
"Alright! Time for my midnight workout!" Right before he took off, a green beam of light blew by his side, heading off in the direction of the assassins. Then, another followed.
"Huh?" He looked around, then saw two more beams of light heading off in the direction of the other assassins.
Then, finally, one beam of light headed off in the direction of the last group of assassins.
"Ohh. Those are probably the S-Ranks. Maybe I should help them. Since they all left in pairs, I’m guessing that the one who went that way is the only one alone, so I’ll help that guy."
---
"Leader, someone is coming."
"I know."
The assassins knew they were being followed, and they waited for the right moment to strike. Soon, a blonde-haired man stepped forward with his hand on his hilt, looking around the area.
"I know you’re there, Carlile, come out." The blonde-haired man demanded.
"Oh, it’s just you. What are you doing here, Rick?" The assassin leader jumped off a tree branch and landed next to Rick.
Rick looked at Carlile with anger. "I told you not to make a scene. Now look around, the plan is ruined."
"It wasn’t my fault! One of your C-Ranks had a fortified tent that blasted my men back! The sound woke him up, and he killed five of them!"
Rick didn’t understand. "What are you talking about. We made sure that the C-Ranks didn’t get any special equipment. They are supposed to be used for the sacrifices after all. Besides, no C-Rank is strong enough to kill your assassins."
"That’s what I thought! Until some bastard did! He even shot that fireball in the sky and announced our presence!"
"Do you know what he looks like? I’ll kill him when we get back." Rick promised
"His features are too common for you to know who he is. The only thing I know is that he’s tall and uses dual daggers as his weapons."
Rick placed a hand on his chin. "You’re right, that is pretty vague. I’ll still figure out who it is."
"So what now? The adventurers are fighting my men, and your party members are after the squad I sent to escape. I don’t think my men will be able to handle S-Ranks."
"Hmm. Yeah, that’s unfortunate. Well, it doesn’t matter. You can just escape with the people here and deliver the message to Carlos."
Carlile nodded. "And for the dead bodies?"
"I’ll have them be buried, and you can come back later to get them."
"Understood. So, are we going to act like we’ve been fighting?"
Rick chuckled. "Yeah, man. Draw your blade." He said as he drew his own.
"Go easy on me. I’m not trying to get-GAUGHHHH!"
"Kai to the rescue!" Kai swooped in, killing Carlile with a blade to the face.
"L-Leader!"
"Get him!"
The assassins rushed Kai, but he was too fast for them to keep up with.
He retraced his blade from Carlile’s face, grabbing it and swinging it around, which cut two assassins in half. One assassin tried to sneak attack him, but Kai dodged to the side, stabbing the man in the heart.
One assassin jumped in the air and looked as if he was about to cast a spell, but Kai kicked his blade that was being retracted into the man’s neck in the air.
’Tall and uses dual daggers. This is the guy! But I can’t have him know I’m working with the assassins. Dammit! Why did he have to come now? Sorry, but I have to keep my cover.’
Rick cut down the assassins who were backing away, killing them mercilessly to make sure his cover wasn’t blown.
"Duck!" Kai shouted.
Rick ducked, and a blade flew right over his head, stabbing an assassin in the heart.
"COME HERE!" He shouted, pulling the man into his grasp, where he then crushed his neck.
Together, Rick and Kai killed the assassins until they were the only two standing.
"Nice work. What’s your name?" Rick asked
"Kai."
"Rick. Thanks for helping me."
"No problem. I’m glad I was able to." Kai looked down and saw a skull tattoo on one of the assassin’s arms.
"Hmm? What’s this?" Kai pulled off the sleeve and showed the arm to Rick.
"Dammit. This is bad. That’s the logo for the church of demons."
"The church of demons?" Kai asked
"Yeah. They are a group of demon worshipers who shunned the gods. They want to demon king to be revived, and they use the blood of dead bodies to act as anchors to this world. The church of Gracia fought them many times and always won. I remember learning about them at the Royal Academy."
Rick was giving Kai this information on purpose. The best way to tell a lie is to give parts of the truth. So to make sure his cover wasn’t blown, he had to tell Kai about the organization.
"That is bad. Should we inform the church?" Kai asked
"Yes, we should.....Wait, do you see that? The guy’s chest." Rick pointed to one of the assassin’s chests. On it was the tattoo of a spear with a snake wrapped around it.
"That’s the insignia of the Jabber Bandits! The demon church and jabber bandits are working together! We need to stop them!"
Kai nodded. "Let’s go."
’Do you think I’m a fucking fool? I heard your conversation with that Carlile bastard. I’ll play along for now, though. It will be more fun when you get caught up in your own web of lies.’