54 Chapter 54: The Grim Reaper (1/2)
My first reaction upon seeing that young woman was…
”…who?”
”Alicia. Richard.”
Cecilia Stuart's tone was tense all of a sudden. She was staring at the young lady with an impassive expression, but I could almost see the cracks that were beginning to appear all over her calm façade.
Alicia realized it too, but she was frozen to the spot, her eyes riveted to the impossible figure.
”Good evening, everyone.”
The young woman was dressed in a tight, black bodysuit that accentuated her feminine curves and matched her dark hair and ruby eyes. She was beautiful, the kind of girl who would no doubt catch the attention of any guys who were around to see her, but at the same time she was emanating a dark, malicious aura that would scare them off just as quickly.
She smiled as she bowed politely, placing a hand on her well-endowed chest, which was being emphasized by her black, leather bodysuit. However, despite her gorgeous figure and deadly beauty, she wasn't the one who caught my eye.
A giant lumbered behind her, a dark-skinned goliath that towered over three meters. Like the young woman, he had red eyes that flashed demonically against the shadows, and his muscular stature seemed to be something that was sculpted from an uncompromising mountain of black iron, and his skin chiseled from solid granite. Blood-red tattoos adorned his dark gray skin, twisting and melding into strange, disturbing patterns similar to magic runes. Leather armor hung over his waist, but he was otherwise free of cumbersome clothing. In his right hand he held a massive scythe that curved cruelly, its silver surface reflecting the faint moonlight and giving an impression of a sharp, earthbound crescent ready to reap the souls of its unfortunate victims.
The grim reaper. The giant was the grim reaper himself. That was the first thought that came to my numb mind as I struggled to process the terrifying scene before me. Not only did the giant strike an intimidating figure, he was emanating so much demonic energy that I was suffocated just by being in his presence.
”…ugh…”
This goliath…his killing intent was so raw, so overwhelming that I felt as if I was facing a force of nature itself. A calamity that had manifested in human form. Death incarnate. This giant was a berserk tsunami of sheer strength caged within a body of flesh and blood, a killing machine without a safety switch, bereft of any remorse, emotion or mercy.
A demonic knight who had been completely stripped of his humanity.
There was no way we could fight that thing. We had to run. Every instinct in me was telling me to escape.
”Cecilia,” Alicia whispered, her voice taut. She was staring at the two figures in fear and disbelief. ”They are…”
”They are assassins,” Cecilia replied quietly. ”Sent after the members of the Stuart family.”
I gulped and subconsciously took a step back, faltering from the tremendous amount of demonic energy the goliath was emanating.
”Good evening,” the girl in the bodysuit greeted me and Alicia as she stepped forward with a deceptively friendly smile. I instinctively shrank back. ”This is the first time we've met, isn't it?”
”…I guess.” Despite my fear, I shrugged. ”Uh, who are you?”
”Ah…forgive my manners.” The girl smiled brightly as she swept a few strands of her long, black hair from her face. Her right hand was clad in a black leather glove that was synonymous with the tight bodysuit that hugged her curves. I suspected her left hand was as well. ”I'm Selina Wright. As Miss Cecilia accurately pointed out, I'm an assassin.”
”Not a very professional one,” I observed dryly. ”Standing around and introducing yourself to your targets openly instead of…you know, killing us.”
”Oh, you misunderstand me. The both of you are not my targets.” Selina waved dismissively at me and Alicia. Then she pointed a gloved finger at Cecilia. ”My only target is her. The both of you can leave. As long as you don't get in the way, I'm not going to hurt you.”
Well, that figured. Wait, what was that? I heard some existences beyond the fourth wall expressing their surprise and screaming out their questions. Wasn't the assassin here to kill me? But why would she want to kill me? Selina didn't know who I was, and she had absolutely no reason to target me. In contrast, Cecilia was the first daughter of the highly influential and wealthy Stuart Clan. They had no shortage of political rivals and economic enemies.
Huh? What? Because I was the protagonist? Or because of some stupid reason like some arrogant young master or the goddess's fanboys were jealous of me getting close to the goddess and they wanted to kill me because ”how dare this trash blah, blah, blah…”? Are you serious? Since when did that sort of bullshit happen in reality? Of course no one was going to target me for assassination. I was an insignificant, unknown person who honestly didn't stand out. Nobody was insane enough to waste time, money and resources hiring assassins to kill me over some extremely petty grudge like ”he doesn't know his place” or ”he offended me (an arrogant young master)!” or ”we must kill this trash for getting near our goddess!”
Seriously, since when did such bullshit happen in real life? This was not a xianxia story or a Chinese web novel about arrogant young masters and face-slapping. Such ridiculous, contrived and unbelievable scenarios just didn't occur in reality.
Alicia and I exchanged glances, and then we stayed where we were.
”Cecilia is our friend,” Alicia declared, despite her voice shaking ever so slightly. ”We can't allow you to hurt her.”
”Yeah, I'll feel bad if we just leave her and run away by ourselves,” I agreed.
Selina shrugged, but she didn't look all that bothered. ”Fine by me. If you want to die with her, then so be it. It makes no difference to me.” she then glanced at the iron-like giant standing behind her and giggled. ”But Hades will be so happy.”