Chapter 400 - I'll Use Your Life As Compensation

As a hired assassin, Shadow Wolf had always stood behind others in the darkness. However, someone had managed to approach him from behind, and was now pressing a sharp weapon to his throat. But he had not sensed a thing until that gigantic scythe rested on his shoulder, sending a shuddering feeling of dread like countless sharp needles pricking his back.

At this moment, he dared not move an inch. Every hair on his body stood on end, and his heart thumped so hard it felt as though it would burst from his chest. Shadow Wolf had been an assassin for over twenty years, and his hands were stained with countless lives. He knew that simply releasing a hint of his bloodlust would terrify any ordinary person. Yet, he paled in comparison to the presence behind him. That surging killing intent felt almost tangible, filling his nose with a dreadful stench of blood.

In a daze, he felt as though a gigantic, hideous blood-beast's head had emerged from the darkness behind him and its gaping maw was exhaling a gust of foul air across the back of his neck.

Zing!

The sharp scythe quivered slightly, as if the person behind him had grown impatient.

Nearly frightened out of his wits, Shadow Wolf immediately raised both hands and stammered, "Don't kill me, don't kill me..."

Although he was one of the top assassins in the Shadow Thorn Organization, he did not even dare release his hidden blade. He remained kneeling on the ground with the scythe pressing heavily on him.

Elsewhere, the sun slowly sank below the horizon. The glow of the setting sun spread at the edge of the clouds, forming a line of fiery red. The sky hovered between light and dark as a few birds glided silently by.

A black carriage rode through the city gate of Florence, leaving the city. The coachman snapped the reins, urging the two black horses to gallop faster. The wheels rattled forward, passing over the smooth road beyond the city walls.

Inside the carriage, Cassius wore an ordinary gray hunter's outfit, his eyes partially closed.

Death's Fang Force and Reverberating Force flowed according to their meridian routes like flowing water. Each time the force passed through a body's vital point, it illuminated that point in shades of red and purple.

Cassius had restored his body to the peak of pugilist, unlocking the vital points for both forms of the Southern Dipper fist techniques. The subtle pain of that special force flowing beneath his skin reassured him. As strength gradually filled him, the emptiness in his heart vanished entirely.

As the Covert Martial Arts forces circulated within his body, surges of robust, refined vitality coursed through his muscles, bringing a scalding, sustained sense of overflowing power. From the outside, Cassius still seemed to be the delicate illusionist, White Aster. Anyone who had not practiced Covert Martial Arts would have found him frail at first glance.

If they rushed in close, they would surely believe they could tear him to pieces with ease.

Rumble, rumble...

The carriage headed toward the outskirts. Suddenly, the coachman leaped straight from the driver's seat, rolled on the ground, and darted into the bushes. The carriage, now without a driver, continued onward for a short distance. Its speed gradually slowed until finally, the two horses came to a halt.

In the dusky light, a man wearing a black cloak blocked the road. He stood hunched and emaciated, but his aura was oppressively gloomy. His face and shoulders lay hidden beneath the cloak's shadow, revealing only two withered, claw-like hands hanging naturally at his sides.

Tap, tap, tap...

A sticky, blood-like dark red substance dripped onto the ground. A corrosive sizzling sound rang out, as if sulfuric acid had touched the earth. The soil's surface instantly turned black as thin wisps of white smoke rose.

"Blood Hand..." began the woman wrapped entirely in bandages at his side, but she swallowed her words when Blood Hand's gaze landed on her.

His meaning was simple enough: this was his prey and his toy. Bonecrusher had better not interfere.

Whoosh!

Blood Hand vanished from where he stood, reappearing in front of the carriage. His hands, seemingly dripping with blood, pressed down on the two horses' heads.

Neigh! Neigh!

The black horses let out pained whines and tried to struggle, but the gel-like dark red energy had already spread over half their faces. Their skin cracked, muscles disintegrated, and skulls turned a sickly yellow. In just three or four seconds, both horses collapsed to the ground with a final wail.

Half of their heads had been consumed by that dark red substance, leaving them utterly defenseless.

Hissss...

It sounded as if thousands of insects were feeding; the two strong black horses corroded away with astonishing speed, white smoke rising in thick clouds from their bodies.

"Heheh, too scared to come out? Frightened out of your wits, aren't you, little darling..." Blood Hand revealed a cruel smile. This twisted psychopath loved nothing more than seeing the look of terror on his targets before they died.

Casually killing the two black horses was meant to give White Aster a close look at what happened when one was consumed by his dark red energy. That way, when White Aster's body would be devoured bit by bit, his terror would only intensify. Blood Hand loved the scent of that despair more than anything.

Swish!

His red-lacquered claws lashed out toward the carriage door.

Click.

But the carriage door swung open at that same moment. A slender hand suddenly reached out from within the darkness inside and caught Blood Hand's claw.

"Ho-ho, how bold! You really should come out and see how those two horses died!" Blood Hand, though initially surprised, admired White Aster's courage in daring to shake hands with him.

He smiled viciously as he clenched his claw like iron tongs, dense dark red energy filling his forearm.

Hiss, hiss, hiss... buzz, buzz, buzz...

Blood Hand's smile deepened at the corrosive sounds. He slowly withdrew his right hand, expecting the person inside the carriage to scream and rush out.

"Blood Hand, Blood Hand... y-your hand!" Bonecrusher, who had remained silent beside him, suddenly yelped.

"What is it?" Blood Hand frowned. He hated being interrupted while killing. Yet in the next second, he stumbled back three steps in shock.

"My hand!!!"

He raised an arm that was now missing a hand. There was only a small section of bone melting slowly like hot chocolate. His pupils shook violently as he saw scarlet specks spreading beneath the red energy on his arm.

Those crimson spots resembled countless sharp fangs, silently gnawing away at his skin and bones. They even devoured Blood Hand's own dark red energy, reducing it to fragmented debris!

His formidable, corrosive dark red energy was being used on him instead!

"Impossible! Why is this happening! Aaaahhhh!" Delayed agony now surged through his body, bringing Blood Hand unimaginable suffering. It felt as if countless insects were gnawing at his nervous system inside his right arm and climbing inward along his bloodstream.

In that instant, he understood the nearly unbearable torment his victims had endured as they were eaten by his dark red energy. It took only a second for Blood Hand's right arm to completely dissolve. Mixed black-and-white steam rose from his shoulder, while drops of blood kept pattering down.

A young man in a hunter’s outfit stepped out of the carriage. He looked gentle, slender, and thin. His azure eyes were as deep and somber as a bottomless pool.

"Did the royal family send you?" The young man inquired.

"

Heh...

" As a top assassin of Shadow Thorn, Blood Hand would never reveal his employer. Even now, drenched in sweat and racked by spasms of pain, he gritted his teeth in denial.

Squelch!

Blood Hand's eyes went wide, as though in disbelief.

A slender arm had just plunged straight through his chest as easily as a red-hot iron rod piercing a lump of fat. Blood splattered violently from his back, spraying all over Bonecrusher's face.

The youth struck a pose as if embracing a friend, wearing a gentle smile as he spoke.

"I really hate fools who disrupt my schedule..." He gently pushed, and Blood Hand fell to the ground, eyes wide with rage. Steam rose from the hole where his heart had been, and the opening grew larger. Clearly, Death's Fang Force had begun violently decomposing his body.

Dust flew up as Bonecrusher vanished.

"Fuck, this doesn't match the intel at all! He isn't a Black Copper Hunter. Blood Hand got killed in a single exchange. He has abilities similar to Blood Hand's, but even more advanced!"

Bonecrusher bolted toward Florence's city district. However, she had barely gone a hundred meters when Bonecrusher was forced to stop and gaze warily ahead.

Cassius stood silently in the shadow beneath a tree. His eyes glowed with a bloody hue. In the twilight, he seemed like a cold, hard statue.

"Damn it, I have to fight!" Bonecrusher was a villain who dared to fight for her life in a crisis. Besides, she was not without a chance. If she avoided his ability and did not foolishly shake hands like Blood Hand, the outcome of close-quarters combat remained uncertain.

Her target looked so slender, even weaker than a normal adult man. If she could land one full-strength punch, he would either die or suffer grievous injury.

Boom!

The ground shook loudly, propelling Bonecrusher forward in a leap. She shot out like a cannonball, her white bandages exploding in an instant, revealing muscles tempered through countless trials. Her right forearm swelled to twice its normal size until it was thicker than her upper arm.

Whoosh!

Her fist carved a sharp white streak through the air. Like a javelin, it struck straight toward Cassius's seemingly fragile chest.

Boom!!!

A muffled thud of flesh and fist colliding rang out. The large tree behind them quaked, sending a shower of leaves down. Bonecrusher's face lit with joy as she started to smile, but then she realized that the man before her had not retreated even half a step!

Her punch merely rested against his chest, unable to advance an inch further. As Bonecrusher stared in shock, Cassius, with his feet planted firmly, tilted his head to crack his neck audibly.

Then, his entire form inflated like a balloon. In an instant, he grew from a slender youth of 1.75 meters into a nearly 1.9-meter tall muscular giant. His hunter's outfit, stretched taut by his bulging muscles, tore into ragged strips that clung to his bronzed skin.

Cassius resembled a towering iron pillar with shoulders as broad as a reinforced door and veins bulging over his thick arms. He raised one arm slowly. He breathed heavily through his nostrils, exhaling two beams of almost tangible white air.

Bonecrusher felt as if her fist was pressed against a massive fortress wall. Above her, a voice rang out like a grand bell, "You ruined my clothes... You will pay with your life."

Bonecrusher's pupils contracted.

Boom!!!

It felt as though a speeding train had slammed into her, and she was sent hurtling backward in a blur, parallel to the ground. Her body shattered into pieces during her airborne flight, scattering blood in all directions. She left a scarlet trail in midair, skidding over a hundred meters until she finally crashed heavily into the carriage.

Only a lone head remained intact amidst the carriage's wreckage, mouth agape and eyes filled with despair, frozen forever in that horrific expression.

A hundred meters away, Cassius rolled his shoulders and glanced up at the rising moon. He shook his head, muttering to himself, "Seems I'm going to be late..."

Two hours later, at 8 p.m. in the Florence city district, a room was brightly lit inside a concealed building. A middle-aged man stood waiting while sniffing some snuff. He frowned slightly and checked his pocket watch.

Eight o'clock. That was already an hour past the scheduled time. Did it really take this long to finish off a Black Copper target, or had something unexpected occurred along the way?

The middle-aged man shook his head, seemingly dissatisfied with the Shadow Thorn assassins' efficiency. He was about to take another sniff from his snuff bottle when a knock came at the door. He stood up and went over to open it.

A tall, thin figure wearing a hood entered.

"Shadow Wolf? You're finally back, a full hour late."

The middle-aged man sounded displeased. When he saw Shadow Wolf alone, he asked suspiciously, "Eh? Where are Bonecrusher and Blood Hand?"

Swish...

Shadow Wolf, his face concealed by the hood, raised a wooden box in his hand.

"Oh? Killed him? You brought back the head intact too?" The middle-aged man set aside the snuff bottle and took the heavy wooden box with one hand.

He opened it with a

click

, and the stench of blood assaulted his nostrils.

Under the lamplight, the man squinted at the contents of the box before his head snapped backward in shock. Inside the box lay Bonecrusher and Blood Hand's heads! Since there hadn’t been enough space, the two heads had been crushed and twisted together. Soaked in blood, their expressions of agony and despair eerily chilling.

"Th-this!" The middle-aged man rose to his feet, tongue-tied.

He looked at Shadow Wolf and finally noticed something off. Shadow Wolf's shoulders trembled as if he were sobbing silently. Slowly, he lifted his head, revealing a face that was half flesh and half not. There was still flesh above his nose, but below, his entire jaw and tongue had been eroded into white bone.

Shadow Wolf could not speak; his pained eyes reflected deathly silence and terror.

Crackle, crackle...

Firecrackers seemed to have been buried inside his body...

Boom!!!

His entire body exploded from the inside out, scattering his remains across the room. A heavy stench of blood spread to every corner.