The Deceitful One

The fight outside the cave entrance was getting more and more ruthless by the second. Half of the Blood Path Apprentices had already perished. And although no one from the Strike Team had died yet, all of them were severely wounded.

None of them could provide support to each other as they were fighting multiple opponents at once. Even someone as resilient as Henry was finding it difficult to gain the upper hand.

After all, all of them had just finished a battle against Transcendents earlier and now they had to fight again. And throughout the entire battle, Alfredo hadn't made a move yet. Hence, they had to look out for his attacks as well.

Things were getting dire. Moreover, upon Alfredo's instruction, the first thing all the Blood Path Apprentices did, was to break or separate the Strike Team members' signal flare gun from them.

Now, they didn't have any way to call for reinforcements! This was a very smart move made by Alfredo. He knew that once any of them fired the emergency signal, things would get a little troublesome. He needed time.

Alfredo had his hands behind his back as he continued to spectate the fight with a cold smile. He didn't even need to participate in the battle. His underlings would take care of that for him.

And after this fight, he was sure that the members of the Strike Team would have heavy casualties and even deaths. Even if the Apprentices failed, he would step in. To him, victory was confirmed.

'Now, all that's left is for Master to advance to Rank 4 and grab that artifact from the ruins,' Alfredo thought inwardly, 'After that, I can leave this accursed city.'

This was the city where his grandson, his only kin, had died. Hence, he didn't want anything to do with this place. It would always remind him of the tragedy that night.

Even now, he was haunted by the nightmare of him holding Anthony's headless corpse in his arms. Thinking of his deceased grandson, Alfredo clenched his fists until his nails dug into his palms and blood started to flow.

He coldly looked at Bryan who was slipping in and out of shadows and providing support to his teammates, 'I'll make sure to take you away with me as well. I'll torture you for months, no, years! I'll make you beg for death.'

Alfredo did everything he could to control himself from killing Bryan right now on the spot. One of the reasons was, he didn't want Bryan to die so easily. However, the most important reason was, his Master still needed Bryan alive.

For he was the key!

Over a decade of scheming and plotting would bear its fruit tonight. And he sure as hell did not want to mess it up just because he couldn't control his rage.

On the battlefield, Bryan slipped out of a Blood Path Apprentice's shadow and nimbly climbed on his shoulders. He raised his hands and twirled the daggers and then finally stabbed them inside the person's eye sockets.

He then quickly dived inside Andrew's shadow—whom this Apprentice was fighting earlier—and disappeared again.

By now, all the members of the Strike Team were no longer surprised by this. They were even beginning to cooperate fluidly with Bryan. From the beginning of the battle, Bryan's role was support and assassination.

He was the most crucial link that prevented the Strike Team members from dying quickly. Hence, everyone gradually found the tempo of the battle and fought in such a way that allowed Bryan to execute quick assassinations.

Andrew, who was earlier fighting three Apprentices at once, now found room to breathe. He could easily deal with two Apprentices, on his own. And he did exactly that!

He constructed a spell formation in his mind and muttered coldly in Ancient Hymmnos, "Death Cord!"

He then raised his hands and pointed them at the two Apprentices. The next moment, thick black cables protruded from his palms and instantly coiled around his two enemies.

The attack was so quick that the Apprentices didn't even have time to dodge, much less counter-attack. And much to their horror, they saw Andrew take out two pistols and aim them at their heads.

"No! Wai-"

BANG! BANG!

Andrew pulled the trigger and accurately shot them in the head. He didn't want to listen to their bullshit anyway. This was a life-and-death battle! You're either an ally or an enemy! As simple as that.

He then turned around to look at the battlefield and check whom he could provide assistance. His eyes widened in apprehension when his gaze fell on Elijah. And he immediately rushed towards him.

Elijah was fighting against two Apprentices. Only just now Bryan had provided him support by severely wounding his third opponent and then slipping back into the shadows to provide support to others.

However, Elijah had made a grave mistake. He thought that the Apprentice that Bryan had just attacked was grievously wounded and would die any moment, without him having to finish him off.

But much to his surprise, before dying, this Apprentice had made a last-ditch attempt at sneaking an attack at Elijah. And he had succeeded!

Because of this Elijah was now missing an arm and bleeding profusely! He was having a very tough time fending off the other two Apprentices.

"Elijah!" Andrew screamed as he ran and cast his spell at the same time.

Rank 1 Spell: Hand of Death!

A large black hand made of darkness energy particles formed over Elijah's battlefield. The latter instinctively withdrew. He had fought alongside Andrew on many occasions and hence knew how to react.

However, the two Apprentices were caught off guard.

BAM!!

The Hand of Death slammed against the two Apprentices and pinned them to the ground. Elijah then aimed his pistol with his only remaining arm and pulled the trigger.

BANG! BANG!

The Apprentices were helpless to defend themselves and soon embraced the cold touch of death.

Elijah fell to his knees as his breathing turned ragged. In the midst of battle, he was unable to take any healing potions. Hence, he lost a lot of blood. Subsequently, his head was also feeling dizzy.

Andrew ran and crouched down beside him. He then helped Elijah drink a portion of the healing potion and smear the rest on his shoulder that was missing an arm.

"Arrggghh!!" Elijah groaned in pain and agony as his wound came in touch with the potion. A few moments later, he began to recover slightly. He looked up at Andrew and smiled bitterly, "Sorry… I let my guard down."

Andrew patted his shoulder and replied worriedly, "Don't worry about it. Can you still fight?"

Elijah looked at his shoulder for a few moments and then at the rest of the team members. His eyes shone with firm determination, "I can still fight!"

"No!" Henry arrived at their location and looked at Elijah's deteriorating condition, "Run back to Damascus and bring reinforcements. We'll be fine here."

"But-" Elijah wanted to refuse but was sternly cut off by Andrew.

"Henry's right. These bastards have already gotten rid of our flare guns. There's no way for us to contact the others. So go! Don't worry about us."

As Andrew mentioned the flare guns, he couldn't help but grit his teeth when he recalled how those Apprentices had done everything possible to try and destroy their guns.

Most of them died in the process. But they had accomplished their goal.

Elijah looked at Henry and Andrew. And then he looked at the rest of the Strike Team members who were still in a disadvantageous position.

He finally gritted his teeth and nodded. Without saying another word, he got up to his feet and ran towards the city.

Andrew looked at Elijah's back and mumbled, "At least, you'll make it out of here alive."

Henry patted his shoulder and smiled faintly, "Don't lose hope yet."

Andrew nodded his head and then together with Henry, he began to fend off the Apprentices who were trying to stop Elijah from escaping.

Alfredo had already noticed Elijah's departure but he simply didn't care. The number of dead bodies here and their spiritual blood was more than enough for his Master's advancement.

Looking at Elijah's fleeting back, Alfredo couldn't help but sneer as he thought inwardly, 'So what if you bring reinforcements now? Can they defeat my master who would have already advanced to Rank 4?'

He then looked at the place where Bryan and Ron were fighting against a couple of Apprentices. His lips slowly curled up into a sly smirk, "Anytime now…"

Bryan cast Shadowy Tendrils as he incapacitated an Apprentice. He then instantly appeared in front of him and chopped his head off with his black dagger.

Without even casting another glance at the dead body, he slipped into the shadow formed by a rock and then came right behind the Apprentices who were fighting Ron. Silently, he assassinated one of them, as Ron finished off the other.

Bryan, at this point, was extremely tired and was breathing heavily. He had forgotten how many people he had killed tonight. And constantly using his innate abilities was also taking a toll on him.

He looked at the battlefield and saw Henry, Andrew, and Emma still fighting. He deduced that Emma needed their help the most because she was fighting alone.

Hence, he instructed Andrew, "Let's go assist Em-"

However, his words got stuck in his throat. He looked down in confusion and saw a silver dagger jutting out from within his chest. It took a moment for the pain to kick in and also for realization to dawn on him.

Blood spewed out from his mouth as he turned to look behind him, "W-Why!?