Chapter 10 One After Another (1/2)

Whooosh! Ping!

A loud metal clanging sound exploded in the alley, breaking the eerie silence of the small alley. Joshua eyes' swam around the entire place in search of the dagger. He wanted the dagger to pierce the wall but it seemed that it had bounced off something metallic and fallen to the ground.

At the same time, a shadowy human figure emerged from the darkness and immediately withdrew from the alley.

With keen eyes, Joshua identified the shadowy figure as a warrior clad in heavy armor. His metal armor had many scratches that could only be resulted from arrow grazes and light sword cuts. The armor was made to be tough hence it allowed the dagger to slide off his armor instead of penetrating it.

Even though the hidden man's face was fully covered with armor, both Joshua and Chris could sense the emotion of surprise given off by the warrior.

”Silencer?!”

Chris exclaimed silently and he noted that the warrior in the alley was the same warrior that was always by his father's side. Noting that something was awry, he retreated a step.

When both of them were having their warm conversation, he was silently notified about it by Joshua swift hand movement. He thought it was merely his habit to grab a blade by his hand but little did he know that Joshua could sense out a presence and even pinpoint his position. As an alchemist, his sensory skills were sharper than an average warrior. How did he not sense the silencer?!

The man that was forced out of his hiding, shared the same expression.

”Surprised? Thought so.”

Joshua grinned. Swiftly, he pulled out the spear that he stabbed in the snow and entered his battle stance.

”I see that you had combined the techniques of both shadow assassin and spirit warrior. Not bad. Spirit Silencing Aura matches well with Shadow Walk. You can move around stealthily even with heavy armor. It would certainly remove one presence in the field and increase one's survivability.”

”Commendable. No one could have detected your presence. But you see, I'm different. You think that the Silencing Aura can help you move without a trace. The problem with that is the aura was a gigantic mute barrier. When you came, all the sounds that were supposed to come from the alley were mysteriously silenced. Even a monkey would know that something was going on.”

While he was taunting the silencer, Joshua turned to glare at Chris and hinted him to move back. He knew that the silencer was of Upper Silver tier. If both of them were to fight each other with their unrestrained strength, the damage would be overwhelming and he might get caught in the crossfire. He had the confidence to end the opponent's life within ten seconds, however, the power display will be too great for someone like Chris to handle.

A spirit warrior is a warrior's special class granted with many special supernatural abilities. Even though at first glance, a spirit warrior had anti-magic skills, they were also known to have many other ultimate skills.

The silencer moved away from the alley and stood in the middle of the road. He did not mind that the son of his benefactor was running away. He just stood there, glaring at the warrior that had thrown the dagger at him and got it.

As a spirit warrior that had pledged to be silent, he had special skills to cancel out enemies' spellcasting and possessed the supernatural ability to mute sounds. Being a silencer had its drawbacks; he was mute for the rest of his life and had to use Spirit Sense to communicate with others. To others, it might be some form of punishment or a huge sacrifice. However, the silencer felt it was a worthwhile trade to gain immense power.

Combining the silencing ability and Shadow Step, the silencer had the highest confidence in his own survivability and assassination prowess. However, even the best swimmer would swallow a mouthful of water from time to time. When his stealth was broken by Joshua with a mere dagger, the dissatisfaction he felt was severe. However, the worse was not about being detected.

(Unable to communicate verbally?! What willpower… Unable to communicate… That would make his willpower as resilient as a rock! In that case, a mental attack would not have any effect on him!) (1)

With the helmet covering his entire face, the silencer cocked his head slightly to prepare himself to receive an attack from Joshua, who seemed to be ready to jump at any time. The itch in his hands was ready to counter his attacks.

I have never seen such stubbornness coming from a warrior. My 'Spell Disruption' skill would be useless in a physical brawl. The fact that he could see through my stealth would put me at a huge disadvantage.

Thinking rationally he had decided to not fight the man. He began to take a step back silently.

I could not even exert half of my powers fighting against him. I'd better withdraw now and think of another plan.

”You think you can escape?”

Joshua might have keen eyes, but he was not a mind reader. He could not possibly know how to read the other person's mind, especially when he was fully clad in armor. All he knew that the enemy was planning to escape by sensing his movements. At that moment, he couldn't care less. He flexed his forearm and jumped forward with the spear in his hands, ready to pierce.

With years of combat training, not only he was proficient with all sorts of weapons, he could even use a wood chopping machete as a greatsword and a polearm as a spear.

He stomped the ground with such so much strength that it sent him flying straight like an arrowhead. The spear in his hand was aimed directly at the silencer's heart. The whistling sound of the spearhead flying through the air was so loud and sharp that anyone would deem it as an attack that could pierce through the thickest armor made, including the silencer. He knew that the incoming spearhead was too dangerous to be taken lightly, especially when the incoming attack had him limited to the small narrow alley.

However so, the silencer was still an Upper Silver-tier with superior experience. If the fight was a melee, a close quarters combat, Joshua would surely be the one that had the upper hand. He had nowhere to escape. However, he was only using a long spear. Such a weapon possessed no real threat to him.

The gray metallic armor glowed with a faint radiance and formed a small barrier-like protection. When the spear landed on the armor, the spearhead was deflected, crashed into the wall, and reduced the foundation bricks into dust. The loud crashing sound had alerted the entire neighborhood, prompting the citizens to scream in terror. Amidst the chaos, the silencer jumped to the side and pulled out a scroll out of thin air. With a powerful burst of magic power, he vanished.