Chapter 901 Bloodshed at Harpton Highlands
On Qacalisle Island, in the southern suburbs of Duskhaven, at the foot of Harpton Highlands, Annie had been tailing four Sakurania assassins.
Her pursuit had led her to a dense, eerie thicket nestled against the base of the mountains.
Harpton Highlands, a region about six miles from Duskhaven, had once been a beautiful and peaceful place, admired by both locals and tourists for its breathtaking views of the sunrise and sunset. However, everything changed two decades ago during the first Qacalisle Summit Meeting held by the Thalrex Order. After that autumn, strange and sinister events began unfolding in the Highlands. People mysteriously vanished or were found dead in the area.
Those who ventured into the thicket returned-if they survived-but mentally broken, as if their minds had been lost to the place.
The events led to the mass evacuation of the area, and over time, Harpton Highlands became an abandoned, forgotten stretch of land.
The early morning air around the foot of Harpton Highlands felt unnaturally quiet, and the overgrown thicket, draped in shadows from the looming mountains, gave off a chilling, foreboding atmosphere. The sense of fear and disorientation seemed to hang in the air. The four assassins, sensing something unusual, stopped in their tracks and turned to face Annie, who had been following them stealthily.
One of the assassins, his voice sharp and demanding, asked, "Who are you? Why are you following us?"
As seasoned professionals, assassins were always meticulous in their preparation.
They never left anything to chance, thoroughly surveying their surroundings before executing a mission.
Annie's sudden appearance caught them off guard.
They had never encountered her before.
As assassins who had been in the field for so long, they were extremely familiar with the methods and codenames of people from the major sects.
Annie showing up here brought them immense uneasiness.
Her techniques and presence felt completely foreign, unlike any sect they knew.
If she were a rookie from some major sect, how had she managed to track them for over six miles without detection?
And where was the man who had been so vigilant earlier?
Such a strange situation made even the most experienced assassins uneasy.
The unknown, after all, is often more terrifying than any known threat.
Realizing Annie was alone, without backup in the dense thicket, the four assassins quickly made a decision. There was only one course of action: eliminate her.
Annie, cold and composed, briefly scanned her surroundings. Her eyes fixed on the assassins as they readied their weapons.
"Answer me!" demanded the assassin in black, pointing his saber at her.
Annie remained silent, her focus unwavering. In a swift motion, a short, half-foot-long dagger appeared in her hand.
She took deliberate steps toward the assassins, her movements graceful yet threatening.
The dim thicket was suddenly thick with an ominous, oppressive energy, like the air itself had turned deadly.
Annie, who had previously been calm and poised, underwent a dramatic change.
Her serene and composed expression was replaced by one filled with cold determination, her eyes glowing with an icy intensity.
The four Sakurania assassins rose in unison.
They moved with quick precision through the dense underbrush, surrounding Annie with an intricate, disorienting trap designed to confuse her-four points closing in, leaving her no escape. Annie stood firm at the center of the thicket, her senses fully engaged, relying on sight and sound alone to assess the situation.
At this moment, the smartest thing to do was to stay still, control her breathing, and wait. In such a situation, unpredictability was her enemy; her best chance lay in resisting the urge to act hastily. When faced with assassins who specialized in ambushes and deceit, the key was to remain calm and look beyond the surface of their feigned strikes, searching for the real opening to strike back. It was only by staying patient, unshaken, that she could turn the tide and land a decisive blow.
Annie held her ground, and after a tense moment, the four assassins could no longer hold back and rushed toward her.
As the assassins launched their attack, a flurry of blades and sabers filled the air.noveldrama
Suddenly, thousands of cross-shaped projectiles shot toward Annie, raining down like a deadly storm.
Annie reacted swiftly, spinning with fluid precision, her dagger cutting through the air to knock the projectiles out of their trajectory.
Some ricocheted off and hit one of the assassins, injuring him severely.
The projectiles were laced with poison, capable of inducing dizziness and suffocation once they entered the bloodstream, making the danger even greater. Annie saw her opportunity and seized it.
She feinted an attack, then charged toward the wounded assassin, her dagger flashing through the air as it
struck his throat. Blood splattered as he fell, lifeless, to the ground
en
BUMS
The thicket fell into an unnatural silence for a brief moment, but then, like a swarm of insects, hundreds of throwing stars shot toward her in a relentless barrage.
The sound of metal cutting through the air was deafening.
Annie rolled to the ground, closing the distance between herself and the remaining assassins.
That was the only way to avoid further attack.
Her movements were almost poetic as she dodged and deflected the oncoming stars, her dagger striking them from the air one by one.
After what seemed like an eternity of dodging and counterattacking, the assault finally slowed. But Annie could feel the toll the battle had taken on her.
Sweat trickled down her brow, and her grip on the dagger tightened as she prepared for the next wave.
However, just as she began to
regain her composure, a disturbing realization hit her: The thicket had somehow filled with ten more assassins, identical to the ones she had been facing.
Annie froze. Where did they come from? How have I missed their arrival?
Before she could process the situation, the new assassins formed a circle around her, trapping her in the center.
Thirteen assassins now surrounded her, moving in an intricate, dizzying pattern.
Their erratic motions made it impossible for anyone to predict their next move.
The assassins then launched another wave of cross-shaped projectiles, this time forming an unbreakable net around her.
At first, Annie wielded the short dagger in her hand with remarkable ease.
But as the attacks from the 13 assassins intensified, she began to feel the strain, and the injuries started to accumulate.
Even though she was hurt, Annie's
resolve only seemed to strengthen. With each passing minute, her
fighting spirit grew more
determined, pushing her to fight
harder despite the pain.
In less than ten minutes of relentless battle, she had already taken down five of the assassins, her half-foot long dagger flashing through the air with deadly precision.
Realizing they couldn't win in close combat, the remaining eight assassins stopped closing in on her.
Instead, they began circling her, using quick movements and tossing hidden blades from the shadows.
These assassins were like phantoms, their actions so swift and silent they seemed to disappear into the darkness.
Despite her determination, the poison coursing through her veins and her worsening injuries drained Annie's strength, and her stamina began to fade.
Even after swallowing a pill earlier, it was clear that she couldn't keep up this pace much longer.
The attacks came faster while her speed reduced, and soon, there were too many openings for the assassins to exploit. The scene before her turned more and more blurry.
In a split second, one of the sabers knocked her dagger from her hand. As she collapsed to the ground, eight more gleaming blades descended toward her throat.
Annie smiled faintly, a bitter laugh escaping her lips. After 20 years of hardships and survival, it seemed her life was about to end here.
But just as she braced for the final strike, a familiar figure appeared before her.
"Mr. Ramsey... Is it really you?"