333 Chapter 333: Samurai and Shinobi (1/2)

”You…!” Rei's eyes widened when he recognized Anastasia. ”Aren't you that Veneneum Sect Assassin who defected to the Silver Wolves?”

”Well…it was either join them or die…and to tell you the truth, the Silver Wolves treat me a lot better than my masters at the Veneneum Sect.” Anastasia shrugged. ”They have earned my loyalty rather than demand it, so I guess, yes. I am proud to have defected to the Silver Wolves.”

”Bitch…” Rei narrowed his dark eyes. ”You lack an Assassin's honor.”

”What can I say?” Anastasa shrugged again. ”The Assassins Guild lack compassion, treating us like tools. But…I realize that we aren't tools. Perhaps it's time that you guys realize it too.”

”I have no intention of debating with a traitor.” Rei flipped his katana about and rushed forward to stab her. Anastasia drew her own short sword and parried his strike. Even as her boots crunched against the ice and snow, she held her ground firmly against Rei's superior strength.

The bald Assassin didn't take his advantage for granted, however. He was already casting shadow spells to strike at her from above, the serpentine trendrils seeking to eviscerate her. Fortunately, Anastasia managed to draw a second dagger to slice away the offending shadow spikes and keep herself unscathed.

Rei pressed on with the attack while unleashing more of his shadow spikes upon Anastasia. Before they could reach her, however, I cleaved them apart with both of my swords.

”!!”

Clicking his tongue in annoyance, Rei spun around to parry my swords while kicking at Anastasia when she closed in to stab him with her poisoned swords. He avoided getting cut, and was able to whirl away from the both of us, his katana turning into a deadly storm of blade.

It wasn't just his katana we had to watch out for. We also had to be careful of his shadow spells.

”?!”

The both of us jumped away when the ground erupted with countless shadow spikes. Rolling to my feet, I cut through another horde of shadows that surged toward me before realizing I was standing in the shadow of something immense.

”Oh boy…”

Looking up, I caught sight of a gigantic shadow hammer that was raised to pulverize me. Rei didn't hesitate or throw any fanciful villain words before he delivered the crushing hammer blow that would consign me to oblivion if I didn't evade.

I dove to the side, hitting the ground and rolling as quickly as I could, even as the hammer smashed a crater and threw up an expanding cloud of dust and snow. For a moment, my vision was completely blotted out, but my glasses adjusted and infrared vision rapidly overlaid itself over my lenses.

Even though I could see the heat signatures, it was hard to tell who belonged to who. I did notice one of them swiftly approaching me. A silver flash of light nearly blinded me, but I managed to take a step back to avoid it before countering with swings of my own swords.

Clang!

Rei parried the blow effortlessly and turned my swords aside before elbowing me away. I managed to deflect his curved blade from my throat, only for him to kick me in the gut and send me sprawling in the snow. Before he could finish me off, Anastasia barged through the rapidly dissipating snow cloud and stabbed toward his back.

With a hiss, the bald Assassin spun around to block her poisoned blades. As he did so, I thrust both of my swords up from where I was lying, and Rei was forced to jump and tuck his knees in to prevent getting crippled.

Even so, I succeeded in grazing his thigh, drawing a thin line of blood. Rei muttered an oath as he retreated, but he focused on defending against Anastasia. It was only natural – against her poison, even a single scratch would be deadly. In contrast, the shallow wounds I dealt to him wouldn't be fatal at all, not unless I managed to deliver a few hundred other cuts. And even then it was unlikely that he would bleed to death.

Anastasia pursued him, and I tried to get to my feet, but Rei launched a new wave of shadows at us.

”Tsk!”

The green-haired Assassin jumped back and retreated, swiping at any shadow spikes that aggressively homed in on her. As for me, I cleared them with a single blast of black and white mana.

”…”

The moment Rei put a good amount of distance between us, he dropped onto the ground and slammed both palms against the snowy ground. Something burst out of the frost behind him, numerous shadowy, serpentine heads writhing and snarling. They lurched toward us, tearing through trees and sending up clumps of snow flying into the air.

”Hydra!”

Without any hesitation, I completed my summoning spell and called upon one of the strongest Constellation spirits in my arsenal. The behemoth materialized behind me, his nine heads uncoiling to hiss ferociously at the approaching shadowy heads.

Both monsters clashed. Well, I wasn't sure if Rei's spell was a summoned monster, but I didn't care. Hydra could take care of it, at least for now. I should focus on taking Rei out while he was still maintaining that massive spell.

”Kuh!”

Rei realized just how dire his situation was, especially as he tried to defend against simultaneous attacks from both me and Anastasia. Our blades struck from unexpected angles, probing his defenses. Afraid of Anastasia's poisons, Rei prioritized defending against her short sword and dagger, his katana sweeping up to deflect her venomous blades. As he did so, he left himself open to my strikes. Despite his impressive reflexes that allowed him to avoid fatal hits to his vitals, he wasn't able to emerge from the exchange totally unscathed.

Even as he kicked at me to force me back, I could see that I had scored several cuts across his arms, shoulders and legs. Even his back was dripping with blood. True, they were superficial wounds, but I was pretty sure the more injuries I inflicted upon him, the damage would eventually accumulate drastically to affect his movements and fighting condition.

Spinning around, wisps of shadows spilling from his blade, Rei unleashed a stormy hail of strikes that forced both Anastasia and me back. I ducked under his strike, only to grunt as I blocked his foot. The kick was still powerful enough to send me skidding back in the snow, but fortunately Rei couldn't follow up because he had to deal with Anastasia. She managed to cut away his shadows, but another kick toward her head forced her to stumble a step backward.

A new wave of shadows caused her to flip away and gracefully land a few meters away. Holding up her dagger, she reversed her grip on it and used it to shear through another volley of shadows that Rei directed at her.

The bald Assassin's eyes darted toward me, and I suddenly understood his intention. He was weighing whether it would be worth eliminating me first so that he could fully focus on dealing with Anastasia.