The assassin's murmur was carried to Pepe's ears by the pre-dawn breeze. The girl instinctively ducked her head as another blade of wind sliced over.
Not good, this guy was just full of killing moves.
Pepe raced through the spacious yard with the assassin hot on her heels. As she slowed down gradually, she bent and channeled magic power (life force) into the ground. The lawn instantly withered in neat patterns, forming three nested magic circles.
Maintaining her connection, Pepe continued feeding energy until the arrays lit up pale and pulsating, having reached the activation threshold.
The assassin was utterly baffled by the ten armored humans that appeared amidst the circles. Their full suits of metal armor and weird hollow iron sticks on their backs were strange enough, but he really didn't get why a magic array reeking of dark magic had summoned human soldiers.
The skeleton militiamen scratched their bony heads then quickly grasped the situation. Their captain turned and asked, "Miss Pepe, what can we do for you?"
Pepe pointed at the long-haired assassin. "I'm under attack. Hold him off."
The ten skeletons swiftly unslung the arquebuses on their backs, half taking aim while the other half began loading ammunition.
The long-haired assassin remained clueless but that didn't impede him one bit. Kill one or kill ten, it made no difference. His cover was blown anyway so no need to hold back!
"Indomitable! Extreme Sharpness!"
The man cast two enhancement spells in succession. His staff instantly transformed into a flawless cold weapon, molded snugly against his palm. The transparent crystal at its tip glinted ominously sharp along every edge.
Charging straight for the skeleton squad, he sought to rip open a hole in their line. Right then, gunshots exploded.
"Bang bang bang bang bang!"
The five finished loading passed their cocked guns up front to their comrades standing guard, taking their guns in exchange to continue reloading.
The iron bullets filled the conical space before the muzzles densely. Certain death for any normal human within that range, but the assassin was no normal man.
Sensing the threat from the unknown magic tools, the already crouching man bent even lower. Whipping his staff up on an arc from lower right to upper left, he deflected the sure-hit bullets, sending them scattering into the turf beside him.
With only two meters left between them, the rear skeletons were still fumbling with gunpowder. No time left.
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Judging the situation, the front five skeletons swiftly shifted postures, one hand clutching the gunstock and the other grasping mid-barrel—the mining maneuver was engraved in their bones.
Too bad the assassin proved swifter. Weaving through two withering rays from the girl, his sharpened staff plunged hilt-deep into a skeleton's belly before ripping out the side.
"Plop" The skeleton crashed heavily to the ground.
The assassin flicked the gore off his staff without bothering to check if it was actually blood. Something felt off about the stab just now but no time to think. The remaining skeletons had formed a half-encirclement, a righteous group beatdown imminent.
But the anticipated melee never came because the assassin's skill cooled down.
"Shadow Blink!" Upon invoking the spell, his body seemed to suddenly flatten into an inky black paper cutout, rapidly melding into the darkness. His sole target—Pepe behind the skeletons.
Taking out this little girl would make everything easier after, he thought while blinking through the gap from the fallen skeleton. Materializing from the shadows, he aligned his sharp staff tip to the girl's throat as she cast her spell.
The concentrating Pepe snapped her eyes wide. Gathering power complete.
"Withering Ray! Fifty times life force!"
Expending half her vitality bar in one breath, she had no time to catch it back before the man nimbly side-jumped clear of the withering trajectory.
Then her fifty fold powered decay beam struck what was behind him—his preciously maintained long hair.
Sensing something off, the man whipped around in horror to behold the unfolding tragedy, his staff an instant slower. "No! My hair!"
Bathed in the wan moonlight, his once flowing locks had withered, split-ended as if they had been bundled up to scrub dishes for the entire capital before getting stuck back on his head.
"Not over yet!"
Hearing the girl's voice, the man instantly snapped his neck back round but her form was already gone from his front.
"Dark Ambush!"
With the sting of a shoulder blow, the girl had blinked behind the man. As he spun back to retaliate, another spell came hurtling his way. "Dark Slash!"
Aghast, the man watched his carefully cultivated hair get utterly sliced off. An updraft arose and lock by lock, his shorn ragged strands were borne away into the endless dark night.
"You damned brat! I'll kill y—" His bellow got cut off by a muffled thud. "Thunk!"
Watching the man slump slowly, Pepe gave her staff a twirl and laughed brightly at the skeletons. "How was that? If it sounds good, it's a good hit, right?"
The previously injured skeleton looked at their now down-for-the-count foe and gave Pepe a bony thumbs up. "Miss Pepe is truly formidable."
"You guys can stick around for now until Master gets back."
Having received orders to station, the wounded skeleton and Slime went off to rest while the other nine militiamen dutifully stood sentry in the yard.
Tied up tightly, the man was locked away in the basement to await Murphy's return and judgment.
After the militia battle, the great hole in 2 Clyster Street's basement linking outside the city had been refitted into a standard shuttered wooden door.
Pepe had zero concerns about her captive prisoner escaping. Both basement doors were affixed with new spells by Murphy that her opponent had no chance of unlocking. And if he still insisted on leaving the basement, there was a third route—the aboveground magic array.
Pepe was fully envisioning the scenario of the assassin using the last dregs of mana to activate the array and getting transported bone-dry to the demon realm to face all the bared-fanged demons there.
With everything settled, Pepe returned to her room, fully satisfied as she drifted off until next morning—
"My lawn! Who did this?! My brand new lawn!"