Chapter 133 - Three Types of Cold Weapon Techniques

For a moment, the only thing that could be heard in the Joachim Manor was the sound of flames crackling in the deep pit. The rain continued pouring down as Cassius surveyed his surroundings. The three Decaying Knights seemed to have been taken down, but he did not relax in the slightest.

The progress bar in the top right corner had not moved, indicating that Cassius had not yet succeeded in his goal of weakening Black Rain Manor. The Decaying Knights in the storm were still a threat.

Cassius studied the two corpses in the manor, then slowly made his way toward the building. Using the hidden markers on the ground and his mental map, he performed a series of strange maneuvers, quickly returning to the front of the main door. He placed his foot on the first step, jumped over the second, and landed on the third; he had to skip the second since three landmines were buried beneath it.

With a mismatched stride, he moved up a few more steps. When he arrived at the door, he didn't push it open and instead sidestepped, moving to the right until he stood before a small window. Cassius was being particularly cautious as he knew that a single misstep could cost him his life.

He had spent a fortune on multiple batches of smuggled arms, all of which he used to heavily fortify Joachim Manor. Many seemingly ordinary spots were, in fact, laden with traps.

Once Cassius untied a thin fishing line at the window, he pushed it open and slipped inside, landing silently. He glanced back over his shoulder.

Two grenades hung behind the window. Had he recklessly pushed it open, the fishing line would have triggered an explosion.

𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

The grenades were only the beginning. Even the walls of the hall had explosive charges placed at intervals, done in a way that ensured if the Decaying Knights tried to breach the walls, they'd be met with a deadly surprise, and yet wouldn't trigger a chain reaction that could make the entire building collapse.

Cassius nodded slightly at the setup, then turned toward the door. There were no grenades there; instead, five or six heavy machine guns were pointed directly at the entrance, rigged to fire the moment the door opened. If anyone dared enter through the front door, they would face a barrage of fifty bullets per second—a storm of metal that would tear through even the thickest steel in an instant!

Cassius headed for the second floor. This space was just a place for him to temporarily live in, and had no additional defenses.

He quickly entered one of the storage rooms filled with various smuggled weapons and restocked his grenades. He also grabbed a bandolier, and even secured a military shotgun on his back. Cassius then retraced his steps swiftly. By the time he returned outside, only two minutes had passed.

Cassius glanced at his watch. It was 6:06 p.m; five minutes since he encountered the first Decaying Knight.

"Nothing's changed... Was my intuition wrong?" Cassius frowned slightly. The cold rain continued falling on his head.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of a blade slicing through the air from behind. A sharp sword slashed across Cassius's back, causing him to stumble forward before quickly rolling to face his attacker.

When he looked back, he saw a Decaying Knight fully clad in metal armor. It wore a dull, cone-shaped iron helmet and wielded a sharp Tufa Slashing Sword.

It revived.

Cassius wasn't surprised; he was more concerned about something else.

When did the slashing sword knight appear behind him? And how did it manage to get there? Even with Cassius's heightened senses, he hadn't detected the danger in time. Did it teleport? Or did it possess some other strange ability?

The slashing sword knight in front of him stomped its feet and charged with a fierce momentum.

There were no traps set in the small area as it was a safe zone that Cassius had established. As a result, the slashing sword knight rushed forward, unimpeded. In an instant, only a scant few meters separated him from Cassius.

Cassius quickly reached back and whipped out the heavy machine gun, but the thick barrel had nearly been severed by a deep slash mark. There was no time to switch weapons.

Shing!

The Decaying Knight viciously swung its slashing sword, cutting through the air at a deadly angle.

Bang!

The sword struck the heavy machine gun and sliced it in half instantly, sending metal fragments flying in all directions.

Whoosh!

A massive figure forced its way through the debris raining down, slamming into the Decaying Knight’s chest armor like a cannonball.

Wearing a specially designed iron glove, Cassius's fist landed explosively in the knight's iron armor, leaving a fist-sized dent in his wake. The slashing sword knight had to stagger back several steps to regain its balance.

In the pouring rain, Cassius ripped off his black cloak, revealing his strong, towering frame. Underneath the cloak, he wore a tight-fitting, gleaming silver armor that clung to his powerful physique.

"Guns aren't the only thing I know how to use." A sinister curve formed at the corner of his mouth. With a powerful step forward, the ground beneath him cracked with a loud bang. In an instant, Cassius vanished from his spot, reappearing beside the slashing sword knight.

He unleashed a ferocious spinning kick, the massive shadow of his leg slashing through the air and into the knight’s arm. There was a resounding metallic clang and both parties were blown back from the impact. However, they wasted no time in clashing again in a fierce melee.

The Tufa Slashing Sword drew a sharp crescent in the air as it sliced through the rain. His right foot planted firmly on the ground, Cassius sidestepped quickly to dodge the strike, while simultaneously delivering a powerful Wind Elephant Fist.

The Decaying Knight yanked its sword back, and awkwardly raised its weapon overhead before swinging it down in a brutal strike. It felt like the sword, and not the figure, was in control.

Clang!

Fist met blade. Cassius forced the sword back as his entire body trembled and his muscles bulged beneath the armor, thick veins throbbing as his blood surged. His body swelled in size, and one powerful stomp completely shattered the ground beneath him into smithereens.

"Elephant's Roar!" It was a lightning-fast straight punch delivered in a state of accelerated blood flow!

His massive fist smashed into the Decaying Knight's chest, causing the surrounding gray substance to immediately darken. The already dented iron chestplate collapsed completely and cracked open. Black liquid reeking of decay oozed out from the several fissures that appeared.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Cassius unleashed a flurry of punches, each as heavy and powerful as the last, as he hammered the knight's chest. The knight's armor trembled from the force of his strikes, causing the rainwater clinging to it to explode into mist.

Shing!

The slashing sword swung sharply in from the side.

"Die!"

Cassius ignored it, raising his thick, blackened arm and smashing it forward, taking out countless cold raindrops midair before finally meeting the knight's head. With an enormous crash, the blow knocked the helmet and head clean off.

Boom.

The iron-clad figure collapsed heavily to the ground. Cassius frowned; the slashing sword was still lodged in his side where it protruded out of his armor. He pulled it out, noticing a tiny bit of blood trickling from the hole. Despite his close-fitting metal armor and having mastered stage one of the hardening Qigong, Stone Armor Technique, he hadn’t managed to fully withstand that last strike.

The Decaying Knight was indeed exceptionally strong, with razor-sharp close combat techniques and a wealth of battle-hardened experience. It was like facing a sword master who had honed his skills over centuries and possessed an unparalleled level of aggression. The slashing sword knight’s physique was equally inhuman, roughly at the level of someone who just achieved the first-level accelerated blood flow. Coupled with its formidable movements, it managed to endure Cassius's attacks for quite some time.

Unfortunately for it, relying solely on skill left it at an extreme disadvantage in the face of Cassius's mastery of Covert Martial Arts. Moreover, it seemed to be driven by some kind of emotion as its movements were somewhat stiff and lacked fluidity in its transitions between combat moves. Cassius had used less than fifty percent of his strength to kill it.

He glanced at the left side of his waist, where his muscles contracted and stopped the bleeding immediately. Just as he was about to move, a stream of gray mist shot out from the ground and was instantly absorbed by the shield emblem on the back of his hand. Fragments of decayed memories flooded his mind.

Cassius quickly looked down and saw that the slashing sword knight’s body had vanished. He frowned as he noticed something pop up in the top right corner of his vision.

[Tufa Slashing Sword: First Stage Entry Level (Total Three Stages)]

As he focused, more detailed explanations flowed into his mind.

[Tufa Slashing Sword is an ancient slashing sword technique, often used on the battlefield and known for its highly aggressive killing moves.]

Cassius had received a memory imprint which had been directly absorbed by the shield emblem, granting him a portion of the slashing sword knight's combat skills.

He couldn’t help wondering why he hadn’t gained anything the first time he killed the three Decaying Knights. Perhaps pre-arranged traps didn’t count, and he had to be the one to actually kill them? But this only led to another question: if the Black Rain Manor had sent the Decaying Knights to hunt, why did killing them give the hunted experience?

Cassius quickly used his Covert Martial Arts to probe around his body, and immediately noticed something was amiss.

A faint decayed aura clung to him, eerily similar to that of the slashing sword knight he had just defeated.

This can't be good. Is this some sort of tracking mechanism?

Cassius pondered for a moment, growing increasingly discomfited.

While the decayed aura was faint now, if it increased a thousand or ten thousand times, it could become a real problem. But if he kept killing the Decaying Knights, who seemed to have the ability to revive infinitely, the aura would likely intensify very quickly and strengthen Black Rain Manor's ability to track him.

Was there a limit to Black Rain Manor’s powers of perception? Or did their ability weaken with distance? If he were far enough away, it might take Black Rain Manor months, maybe even half a year, to find their target even with the Decaying Knights.

The decayed aura was supposed to prevent such situations, though it also, ironically, increased the hunted's strength in the process...

At first glance, it seemed incredibly illogical, but it actually made sense according to Black Rain Manor’s own twisted logic. The manor seemed like it was a rigid, unrefined AI system, strict in following predetermined rules. Because why wouldn't it assign other Hellsings to hunt the traitors down? That approach would have a higher success rate than relying on the seemingly powerful Decaying Knights!

After all, humans had the ability to develop their own initiatives, and with enough incentive, they'd be terrifying; sniping, setting traps, planting bombs, poisoning, honey traps—the possibilities were endless. So long as the Black Rain Manor regularly updated the target’s location, the rebel would, at the very least, be harassed to death. That would be far more frightening than the predictable pursuit of the Decaying Knights.

Black Rain Manor was simply following its own set of operational logic. When a marked-one failed to complete their regular mission, they were labeled a traitor. Once their mark changed, the manor would dispatch the Decaying Knights from the Rainy World. Finally, rain would begin falling around the traitor, activating the Decaying Knights' hunt. That was the logical sequence.

Cassius shook his head. Black Rain Manor’s efforts to enhance their tracking on him were futile as he had no intention of running away. He only needed to kill this wave of Decaying Knights to buy himself some more time since his deadline was fast approaching. Once he was done, Cassius would shamelessly return to complete his mission.

According to the Black Rain Manor’s rules, every traitor had two chances to repent. After surviving the Decaying Knights’ pursuit, they'd be assigned to an extremely difficult task upon returning to the Black Rain Manor. If they completed it, their record would be wiped clean. If they failed, they would be hunted down to the ends of the earth. That was, if they didn't die trying to complete the task first.

Other than that, Cassius wasn’t too concerned about the decayed aura that came hand-in-hand with the combat techniques, because when he returned to the real world, he'd only bring back the essence of his growth. Things with hidden dangers like the decayed aura would most likely be purified.

Did this mean he had essentially gotten the technique for free?

Although the cold weapon techniques weren’t particularly useful to Cassius who specialized in Covert Martial Arts, there was never any harm in knowing a few more things. Additionally, accumulating experience from different sects might help his own Covert Martial Arts progress through analogy.

Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta...

The sound of rapidly approaching hoofbeats jerked Cassius back to reality.

Cassius turned sharply and saw the Decaying Knight on horseback charging toward him. The cross sword knight, which had been burned to death by fire, had revived once again. The horse stumbled and fell into a pit, its legs flailing and kicking up dirt.

Boom!

The explosives detonated. A smoking iron helmet flew into the air.

Damn it, don’t die now!

Cassius cursed internally. Deaths caused by external forces and traps didn’t count! He clenched his iron fists and charged forward, igniting another fierce battle near the manor.

Two and a half hours later, Cassius, after numerous trials, finally discovered a pattern.

Firstly, the slashing sword knight took five minutes to resurrect, the cross sword knight seven minutes, and the double axe knight ten minutes. Upon revival, they would instantly vanish into the black rain, reappearing randomly within Cassius’s vicinity.

Secondly, Cassius needed to use forty percent of his strength to kill the slashing sword knight, fifty percent for the cross sword knight, and seventy percent for the double axe knight. And if he used explosives and firearms, he only needed ten percent of his strength for each.

Third, the Decaying Knights didn't seem to ever get tired, with unlimited revivals, and a power seemingly linked to the rain falling from the sky.

Another ten minutes passed. Around nine in the evening, the rain suddenly ceased. The dark clouds drifted away, revealing the vast, empty sky once more. The Decaying Knights did not revive again, their resurrection ability having disappeared along with the rain.

Inside the ruined manor, there was evidence of explosions and burn marks everywhere. Countless craters dotted the landscape, and the walls and buildings were heavily damaged and partially collapsed.

A tall, battered man stood amidst the craters, his once-sturdy armor now shattered. His gray, rock-like skin was coated in blood. Cassius exhaled two streams of hot air from his nostrils; it smelled faintly of blood. He was severely injured, but he seemed rather pleased.

In the top right corner, the progress bar had made a significant jump forward.

Other than that, Cassius had killed the slashing sword knight over thirty times, the cross sword knight around twenty times, and the double axe knight fourteen or fifteen times in the span of three hours. The decayed aura on him had grown so thick it was practically overflowing. In contrast, the three lines of combat techniques in the top right corner had made some rapid advancements.

[Tufa Slashing Sword: ...]

[Midak Storm Cross Sword: ...]

[Yaka Blood Battle Axe: ...]