‘They could be working together.’

Judging by the current situation, Zich could not erase that possibility. No, it seemed very likely that they were collaborating together.

‘Since the assassin group’s focus is to make Demon People, Fest could be one of their creations.’

This was good for Zich either way. The reason why Zich had come to this village while thinking it might be a trap was because he wanted to meet the assassin group again.

‘Just finding out that Fest and the organization are working together is already a good harvest for me.’

Of course, Zich was not satisfied with just finding out this information. If he could, he wanted to get as much information as possible. However, it would be very difficult for Zich to find any more information about them considering that they were so inclined to self-destruct. But Zich was not fazed.

‘I have to be patient when dealing with guys like this. I need to slowly gather information bit by bit and find the perfect timing.’

That was the extent of Zich’s thoughts. He didn’t need to think any further; moreover, Clovey’s attacks put a stop to Zich’s thoughts.

Crash! Crash!

As expected of a knight, Clovey’s movements were fast, and his attacks had great power. From what Zich knew, Clovey was the strongest among Joachim’s subordinates—no, he was one of the strongest knights in the whole Dracul estate. Compared to Zich’s younger brother, Greig, or a beginner knight like Byner, Clovey was an experienced and powerful knight. 

“Hyaaat!”

Zich bounced off Clovey’s cleverly placed sword attacks. Since Clovey’s sword was fast and strong, Zich’s hands were becoming a bit sore. However, it was not only Clovey that Zich had to pay attention to.

Slide!

As if it appeared from the ground, a dagger suddenly jumped towards Zich’s side. With his elbows, Zich pushed the dagger away by hitting its hilt. Just when it seemed as if Zich had avoided one dagger, another came flying towards his side. Zich pushed that one away too, and while he was occupied with the dagger, Clovey made a giant swing.

Whish!

Just the sound of his swing shook the air. Zich expressionlessly watched Clovey’s sword move in front of him. Since the magnitude of Clovey’s attack was large, the assassins had to take a moment to escape from his attack. Thus, when Zich evaded Clovey’s attack, the battle came to a stop.

But this only lasted for a moment, and very soon, numerous opponents came running towards Zich again.

‘The flow of their movements is very good.’

Even Zich was amazed by Clovey and the assassins’ abilities to coordinate their attacks. It was even more amazing because the assassins probably received no professional training in connecting their attacks with Clovey.

‘The assassins look as if they were trained to coordinate their attacks, but I’m sure that they didn’t train with Clovey.’

There were definitely areas where Clovey and the assassin’s attacks did not flow well together. The problem was that those areas were extremely small, and it was very difficult to fight them. However, their opponent was Zich.

‘Even though it’s their first time working together, it’s amazing that they can work together so well. But it’s not perfect.’

There were very small gaps between their attacks, but it was still a gap. Zich pierced his sword in between the openings. Clovey and the assassins tried to respond, but they ended up flinching for a second. The area that Zich pierced was the minuscule gap between their unified attack flow. After a moment of hesitation, the assassins slowed down to let Clovey block Zich’s attacks. An ordinary person would never be able to notice this slight hesitation, but this opening was enough for Zich. 

Clash!

“Ugh!” Clovey let out a cry of pain. Since he changed his movement so drastically, he lost a bit of his balance, and Zich used that to his advantage and attacked Clovey. However, Zich’s goal was not to attack Clovey. At that moment when the assassin slowed down and Clovey drew back, Zich squished his body between them and met the assassin’s wide eyes.

Whish!

Zich swung his sword. The assassin who just slowed down tried to accelerate again, but in the process of gaining speed, the assassin ended up jumping towards Zich’s sword. This was the shining result of Zich’s battle sense honed from countless battles and life experiences.

However, the assassin didn’t easily back down. He had also prepared something as well.

“Ack!”

The assassin reached out his hand and grabbed someone near him; at the sudden pull, the person screamed. However, the assassin paid no attention to the person’s screams and pulled his hand back. The person who the assassin grabbed was a villager. 

The villagers were blackmailed by the assassins and forced to lie down in the temple, but they awkwardly stayed near the battle. They were paralyzed by the intense battle in front of them, but they also didn’t have the strength or abilities to intervene. But the assassins had a way to utilize these harmless villagers by using them as shields. For any sane person, if they saw an ordinary villager in front of them, they would hesitate for at least a moment. No matter how much they hardened their hearts, it was normal for the end of their swords to waver a bit. 

But the problem was that Zich was not ‘normal,’ and he was not completely sane either. Zich slowed down his sword. Since he decided to live a kind life, he couldn’t just kill an ordinary villager. If his life was at stake, he might cut a villager without hesitation, but this was not the case. But Zich did not want to helplessly evade all the attacks directed towards him just because a villager was being used as a shield. He didn’t want to go that far, and his evasions did not help end the situation.

‘Also, that bastard’s face is annoying.’

Zich wanted to destroy the assassin’s arrogant expression which seemed to say, ‘So what are you gonna do now, huh?’

“Agh!”

With a menacing sound, a villager’s scream echoed out. The villager quickly lost his sense of balance and fell down. The villager’s right shin was bent as if it was another joint. Zich’s kick had broken his bone. However, Zich’s attacks towards the 

villager

 were far from over.

Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!

Zich kicked him exactly three more times, and the villager’s limbs looked as if they all gained a few more joints.

“Ah! Ahhhhh!”

All of the villager’s bones broke at once, and he

 shrieked in pain. 

The villager

 wanted to grab onto 

his

 wounds, but because the bones in 

his 

arms were also broken, he 

couldn’t do anything 

else other than

 scream. Without a care for 

his

 struggle, Zich lifted the 

villager

 and threw 

him

 far away.

Drop. 

“Ahhhhh!”

Zich

 heard shrieks again. 

B

lood poured out of the man’s body like rainfall

 as the 

man’s broken 

bones 

protruded

 outside his skin

, b

ut Zich didn’t care. The best course of action he could take right now was to immobilize the moving meat shields and scare them away from the battlefield. It didn’t matter if the meat shields suffered injuries in the process.

“

S

hould I make the rest of them like this as well?”

Zich purposefully 

said this loudly

. 

Then h

e saw some of the 

villagers

 near him 

quickly run away 

after seeing the gruesome state of the

 villager used as a shield

. Yet, Zich wasn’t considerate enough to care for their ‘trivial’ worries.

Clovey and the assassins attacked Zich again. However, Zich didn’t counterattack. He stealthily avoided their attacks and headed towards the

 villagers

. Clovey screamed at the 

villagers

 to fight Zich, but it was impossible. They were too demoralized from seeing what Zich was capable of doing; his cruel attacks and the screams that followed had shaken them too much. The 

villagers 

screamed and scattered like a herd of rabbits in front of a tiger.

‘It will be more bothersome if they g

et

 out of my sight.’

Zich calmly broke another 

villager

’s limbs and threw them far away.

“Hey!”

Zich shouted. Hans and Snoc

immediately realized that Zich was calling for them and turned around.

“Take care of the meat shields like this!”

Zich showed how he broke a

 villager

’s limbs and threw 

them 

far away. Like Zich, Hans and Snoc were also suffering from having to deal with the 

villagers

. They also realized that their opponents were ordinary people

who 

had been

 blackmailed. However, unlike Zich, they were struggling to harm the 

villager

s while knowing that they were dealing with ordinary people. That was why Zich had decided to set a—not so mild— example for them to follow.

‘W-We have to do 

that

?’

Snoc was stunned by Zich’s cruel actions, but Hans was different. Of course, Hans wasn’t

 happy about

 following Zich’s orders, as his slightly raised eyebrows indicated. However, he swung his sword without hesitation.

Slice!

“Ahhhh!”

A sword skimmed a person’s shin. Blood spilled out and cries of pain rang throughout the room. Someone who had no experience in battle couldn’t keep their composure after being sliced by a sword. The 

villager

 bent over without 

caring

 if he was in 

the middle

 of a battle or not. Hans took that moment to swing his scabbard and crush the man’s limbs. Then, he kicked the 

villager

 a distance away.

Unlike Zich, Hans had always seemed like a sensible person; but seeing him like this, Snoc became speechless.

Punch!

T

he ground rose below Snoc and struck the assassins’ stomachs. Snoc

 had been distracted, but now he was startled.

Koo!

Nowem cried out loudly 

on Snoc’s shoulders

;

 he was giving a warning.

“Sorry! Thank you, Nowem!”

‘Yeah, that’s right. I can’t just keep going back and forth. It’s better than killing them.’

Following Hans and Zich, Snoc also focused on immobilizing the 

villagers

. However, even while doing that, Snoc stole furtive glances at Hans. He shook his head when he saw Hans recklessly crushing the 

villager

s’ limbs with his sword and scabbard.

‘Even my senior is becoming more like Sir Zich.’

At that moment

, Snoc almost became certain that he would also become like that. As Zich, Hans, and Snoc ignored the assassins and Clovey to focus their attention on the 

villagers

, the number of 

mobile

villagers

 decreased quickly. Of course, Zich continued to also slice some of the assassins while everything was going on. There were even some guys who shot out artifacts from time to time, but Zich evaded or intercepted their attacks.

“As expected, you have some skills

,” 

Clovey muttered while glaring at Zich.

“My skills are definitely superior to yours. It seems like you brought those guys to make up for that, but it doesn’t look like they're helping much

,

” Zich retorted.

The assassins didn’t move even while Zich ridiculed them. They just stayed in their position and looked for Zich’s blindspots. 

Thus, Zich

 spat

 out some more words. 

“It’s at a level where it’s hard to believe you guys are here to create demons out of people, including Joachim, all over the world.”

“What are you saying?”

Clovey scowled, but the assassins responded differently. It was 

fleeting,

 but Zich 

noticed 

a slight disturbance. Even the

 assassins

 who had trained to suppress their emotional expressions couldn’t help but respond a little bit after having their goal completely seen through.

‘I’m right!’

This made Zich more certain. These people were trying to make Demon People all over the world. The assassins all moved at once. Their skills didn’t improve, nor did their attacks become more dangerous, but Zich could sense that their mindset had changed; in their eyes, Zich had changed from ‘a guy they had to kill’ to ‘a guy they couldn’t fail to kill.’ However, they couldn’t kill Zich just by 

changing

 their

 mindset.

Slice!

“Argh!”

Crack!

“Argh!”

At Zich’s sword, the assassins lost their lives one by one. It was the same for the assassins who Hans and Snoc fought.

Pop!

The assassins avoided the stalagmites shooting up from the ground, but they were traps. Ha

ns 

expected them to avoid the attacks, 

so he

 swung his sword at them.

“Urgh!”

An

 assassin groaned as the sword opened up his chest. He was among the many who 

fell victim to

 these t

ypes of 

attacks. Some lost their heads. Although the assassin group had laid down a trap, it

 wasn’t very effective

 because Zich found it out in the middle. Their large 

numbers

 also became useless as the 

villagers

 used as meat shields 

were

 immobilized.

“…Damn it!”

Realizing the situation he was in, Clovey gritted his teeth.

‘I really didn’t want to use this…’

Clovey shuffled through his belongings. He hesitated for a moment, but when he saw another assassin lose his life, Clovey made

 his final

 decision. He took out a small bottle and drank the whole thing down in one gulp.