The evening breeze rustled the towering sycamore trees, their leaves whispering softly. The buildings lining the road were leisure spots for the nobles of the capital, who enjoyed owning houses in this secluded corner, though they seldom visited.
The first to build a Gothic-style private space here was a romantic poet, a hereditary earl, very wealthy. He built the first house to shelter his lover, and this traditional style was then preserved.
Passing through this artistically rich cluster of buildings was a shortcut to Felendia. From Saint Erde Cathedral, one would turn at the corner and pass through the sycamore woods. When a lake, blue and mirror-like, appeared before your eyes, you knew you were close to Felendia. Its reflection shimmered at the lake's center, right before your eyes.
The territory of Felendia spanned roughly a kilometer in diameter. Everything within this land belonged to the enigmatic Gamma Mage, including the beautiful lake at the foot of the mountain. Perched atop a hill 100 meters above ground level, where there once was a peak, now stood a nine-story magic tower built by the Gamma Mage, who had flattened the mountain with brute force.
The entire hillside had been smoothed by powerful magic and re-founded with granite marble engraved with magic runes. The soil beneath the hill had been thoroughly excavated to house the tower's underground chambers.
Felendia held many secrets, but Felix's current power was insufficient to unveil the mysteries hidden behind its enchantments.
Even with the marks left by the Gamma Mage, there were still rooms and hidden compartments in Felendia that Felix couldn't access, as they were sealed with Barriers that required powerful magic to unlock.
The most heavily guarded Barrier was on the ninth-floor observatory. According to the Gamma Mage's notes, it was clear that without Golden Domain-level magic power, it was impossible to enter. That place was marked as Felendia's greatest secret!
Just as Felix was about to leave the architectural cluster, a hidden gaze in the darkness triggered his alertness!
He turned around swiftly, but there was no one behind him, no trace of anyone. At that moment, a sharp whistling sound came from above his head. Felix instantly crouched and retreated explosively.
"Transparent gas shield!"
Almost in the same instant he retreated, Felix pulled out 'Mammon’s Redemption' from the Blue Crystal. A white transparent gas shield materialized in front of him, blocking the initial attack.
It was a black crossbow bolt, its tip shimmering with a deadly blue glow – poisoned!
Clearly, Felix's excellent reflexes momentarily startled the assassin, who paused briefly after the first attack was blocked before launching a second wave. Two more piercing sounds of air being split echoed as two crossbow bolts shot from a rooftop, aimed at the corner where Felix sought refuge.
Just as Felix reached the corner, the two bolts, launched later but arriving sooner, hit him. The transparent gas shield only slightly diminished the second wave's force before dissipating. The two poison-coated bolts struck Felix squarely.
Upon impact, the bolts made a clinking metallic sound, and under the cold moonlight, a glint of silver-white shimmered through the torn black cloak. Beneath it, Felix wore a layer of silver light armor.
To ensure maximum penetration, a repeating crossbow could only shoot three bolts in quick succession before needing to sacrifice penetration power for more shots.
These bolts had penetrated his transparent gas shield, leading Felix to surmise that the assassin used a high-penetration military-grade repeating crossbow designed for combating mages.
This meant the assassin had no ammunition left!
"Levitation spell!"
Felix raised Mammon’s Redemption and cast a weakened version of a flight spell, an air-elemental levitation magic, on himself. With a light tap of his toes on the hard stone pavement, he soared into the air like a bird.
At about five meters off the ground, Felix's left foot landed on a second-floor windowsill, propelling his lean figure even higher. When he reached a height of ten meters, he elegantly somersaulted and landed on the rooftops of the connected Gothic buildings.
His agility, though not typical of a mage, was in no way inferior to that of an assassin!
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Felix saw a clear look of surprise in his attacker's eyes.
The assailant was a middle-aged assassin, tall and powerfully built, cloaked in black like Felix, with only his eyes and a gaunt chin visible in the darkness.
Those brown eyes held both experience and a deadly intent, marking him as a high-level assassin with a wealth of killing experience.
"Who sent you to assassinate me!?" Felix called out from the rooftop, eyeing the middle-aged assassin warily.
The assassin's eyes narrowed slightly as he crouched, then exploded into motion like a shadow, leaping towards Felix. In mid-air, he revealed a pair of daggers coated with a bluish poison, aiming straight for Felix’s throat.
"God!" the assassin exclaimed in a cold, ruthless voice as he neared Felix.
Felix, undeterred, plunged Mammon’s Redemption into the roof tiles and shouted, "Shadow Bind!"
The battle between mages and assassins had been relentless for thousands of years, with each magical confrontation teaching apprentices how to deal with a powerful assassin.
Mages didn’t fear knights or warriors who attacked head-on; they could always escape with their magic. However, they dreaded assassins who emerged from the shadows, often striking when one least expected it.
Suddenly, two tendrils of shadow energy appeared at the assassin's feet, quickly entangling his ankles and yanking him down from the air. The assassin landed and immediately slashed at the ethereal vines with his daggers.
Felix's second wave of attack was ready: the Shadow Whip!
A dark red whip shot out from Mammon’s Redemption, silently tracing an arc towards the assassin’s head.
Confronted with the incoming shadow whip, the assassin, having just cut through the energy vines, had to raise his cloak to protect his head. High-level mages could use mental targeting, unlike the straightforward approach of elemental magic.
Negative magic often had the ability to track its target. Other than enduring the hit, there was no other way to avoid it.
As the shadow whip struck, it emitted a sizzling, corrosive sound. Once the magical energy dissipated, the assassin's cloak had a gaping hole in it. By the moonlight, Felix finally saw the assassin’s face, scarred from countless battles.
The assassin's composure finally broke. He staggered back, a look of horror on his face as he stared at Felix. He had never seen a mage cast spells so quickly, without incantations or chanting, simply invoking them by name.
Looking down at the large hole corroded in his black cloak, the assassin’s scarred face grew solemn.
A high-level assassin's cloak was made of special materials with high magic resistance. If not for the cloak absorbing that burst of elemental energy, the intense corrosive power would have been enough to bore a hole through his head.
"Who sent you?"
Felix cautiously advanced a few steps, eyeing the fearsome middle-aged assassin with a vigilant expression. The fact that this assassin could ambush him here meant he must have had a detailed understanding of Felix's movements. For a spellcaster, such knowledge was fatally dangerous.
Felix was never one to passively wait for death. Since someone had sent an assassin after him, how could he remain indifferent?
The assassin in front of him had likely only recently entered the Silver Domain. If he had been a Golden Domain-level powerhouse, his method of assassination wouldn't have been crossbow bolts. Assassins in the Golden Domain could merge their bodies with the shadows, becoming a nightmare for all professions.
As long as the opponent wasn't a being beyond the Golden Domain, Felix was confident in his strong mental prowess to remain undefeated. The key question now was, who wanted to assassinate him? Assassins were different from mere killers.
Killers could be anyone, but assassins adhered to their own belief system. Killing was their profession, and to show their dedication, assassins living in the shadows often disfigured themselves as a mark of their commitment.
The middle-aged man before him was clearly a true assassin, one who took killing as his profession. The fierce scars on his face indicated to Felix that this man was one of those rare, devoted assassins who strictly followed their creed. Such individuals were rarer than mages, even rarer than Gamma Mages.
The use of such a person to assassinate him was not something that could be achieved with just money. And this was precisely what worried Felix the most.
The middle-aged assassin removed his black hood. In the cold moonlight, his scarred, fierce face was revealed, with traces of knife wounds crisscrossing his ugly visage. The most striking feature was his eyes – cold, cruel, and filled with murderous intent.
The assassin circled Felix from ten meters away, calculating the optimal distance. At this range, he could use his agility to dodge Felix's near-instantaneous spells, which required no chanting. The target was stronger than he had anticipated; the information provided by his sources was utterly inaccurate. Such instant spellcasting was unheard of, even for mages who had truly entered the Golden Domain.
Felix's patience finally wore thin. It seemed he wouldn’t get any useful information from this assassin. And if the assassin was of no use to Felix, then he could die!
Watching the assassin cautiously circle him, Felix's face, graceful yet grim, showed a hint of murderous intent. His pale lips moved rapidly, chanting an incantation.
"Colder than frost, darker than night, souls wander the icy netherworld, spirits curse any living being."
A layer of frost began to spread from Felix's feet, rapidly expanding until the entire rooftop was covered in a crystalline layer.
As Felix chanted, the assassin seized his chance. He leaped, hugging close to the rooftop. As he flew, he hurled a dagger from his left hand. The poisoned blade, whistling sharply through the air, aimed straight for Felix's throat.
If he could interrupt Felix's casting and get within three meters, the assassin was certain he could slit Felix's throat and decapitate him.
But at that moment, something unbelievable happened.
Felix continued his incantation without pause, but his pale right hand again cast a transparent gas shield – multiple spellcasting!
A legendary ability said to be mastered only by two-headed ogres!
With a tinge of despair, the assassin's thrown dagger was blocked by the transparent gas shield, and a surge of icy power instantly spread beneath his feet.
Felix, pointing Mammon’s Redemption at the despairing assassin, coldly declared, "Winter of the Dead!"