233 Surrounded (1/2)

It was an unwritten rule in the mercenary world that in the event of a surprise attack, the first priority of a physical melee professional was to protect the spellcaster first.

This was an ironclad rule, one that the mercenary world had taken hundreds, thousands of years to learn, a lesson paid for in blood.

Physical professions only had two functions: kill or protect. But spellcasters were different; as long as they were prepared, they could not only do the first two, but also heal, alter terrain, alter climate, control enemies, or summon creatures as reinforcements.

Even if you were surrounded and in danger, as long as the spellcaster was still alive and able to cast spells, there was a possibility of turning the tables. On the other hand, if your own spellcaster was dead, or if you had no spellcaster but the other side did, it was just as dangerous as long if you didn't have tremendous advantage in numbers.

Because you would have no idea what strange things the spellcaster could do next.

Andonara had worked as a mercenary for a few months before she became the queen, so she was aware of this unwritten rule, and… she was standing in front of Roland, though not just because of the rules.

Nineteen of them!

There were nineteen black-robed Assassins that were forced into the open by the glare. In just the blink of an eye, everyone on Roland's side counted the number of enemies—none of them were weak, after all.

The number of shadow Assassins was twelve more than the number of people on Roland's side, which was the reason why they dared to launch a sneak attack.

There was always some advantage in numbers.

Looking at the nineteen Assassins who were as ferocious and quick as ghosts, Roland was the one who had the slowest reaction. The others had already set up and were preparing for the onslaught of the enemy, especially Raffel, who, being a shield warrior, had taken out his huge tower shield from his Backpack and taken up a defensive stance.

But then, someone made a move.

It was Roland.

Although Roland's reaction was the slowest, it was only relative.

He allocated full intellect and concurrently high resistance growth. His coordination, the attribute in charge of reaction speed, softness, and sensitivity of the body, was only the most basic at 5 points.

He was surely a little slower than the others, roughly about 0.05 seconds slower, but as he leveled up, his reaction speed would grow even further apart from that of the other physical professions, unless he used reaction speed enhancement spells.

The others would have taken at least half a second to draw out their weapons and take their stance.

Roland's spells, however, were all instantaneous.

Then Roland snapped his fingers.

Hypnosis!

Instantly, four charging assassins fell asleep. Like hungry dogs snatching food, they directly dove toward the ground, sliding on the stone ground for four or five meters. The other three were deeply dizzy, feeling weak all over, yawning repeatedly, and they stopped after running a few steps and smacked their heads hard.

Although they didn't fall asleep, they lost their fighting strength.

With this one spell, Roland made the enemies lose almost half of their momentum.

This was something that Roland had discovered when he had clashed with the Shadow Assassins Guild before. It seemed that many assassins had very poor mental resistance, and a single Group Hypnosis could hit about a third of their targets.

”Well done.”

Raffel shouted a commendation at the sight and directly launched a shield charge.

The city wall was less than twenty meters wide. When Raffel charged over, the relative speed of both sides was too fast. There were two assassins that couldn't dodge in time and were knocked back on the spot, blood spurting wildly from their mouths.

The moment Raffel knocked them off their feet, to his left, the sound of a bowstring rang three times in quick succession.

A black-robed Assassin waved his dagger wildly as he dashed, parrying two arrows, but then with a gushing sound, an arrow pierced his throat, and half a second later, he fell to his knees, gagging. Eventually he fell face-up, looking at the sky.

Brazil, on the other hand, jumped five meters back and drew his bow again.

Now, there were only nine Shadow Assassins before them.

The two sides then skirmished, with Husseret scaring off three Shadow Assassins with a smoke grenade, while Betta and Li Lin each held back an opponent. Betta, because of his talent, was apt in defense but lacked in offense, and for the time being, he was locked in a battle with the Assassin.

Li Lin, on the other hand, was a Berserker and moved slightly slower, but every time he swung his greatsword, a strange whirring sound would emit, and the Assassin he was fighting would turn around in fear upon hearing it.

Li Lin stomped his feet on the spot. ”Why did you run away? Come and fight me for three hundred rounds!”

The Assassin ran even faster.