Shadow Ambush

About a hundred meters away from the cabin, behind a dense thicket of bushes that almost blended into the night, several indistinct figures stood as still as rocks, their presence perfectly concealed.

One of them Isa, the seemingly ordinary young fruit vendor from earlier in the day. Now, his face was devoid of any of his usual obsequiousness, replaced by an icy indifference.

"Isa, are you serious?" A slightly hoarse male voice rang out, carrying a hint of barely perceptible seriousness. "There are two targets in there. One is Frieren, who is said to have the strength of Great Mage, and the other is a man who is said to have fought to a draw with that Serie. Hey, these guys are showing up in pairs, and those three girls with them are obviously not ordinary people. The captain isn't here, are you really going to fight these guys?"

Without turning his head, Isa's gaze was fixed on the peach-haired figure sitting with a gun on the veranda of the distant hut. His tone was calm. "The target of the Shadow Warriors has appeared before us. There is no reason to stop."

Another voice sighed beside them, with a hint of resignation. "Sigh... we're in charge here for now, so we'll listen to you."

A man crouching on the ground, his eyes gleaming with a sharp, hawk-like light in the darkness, interjected in a low voice, his tone tinged with disbelief:

"Hey, come on, we're at least a hundred meters away from them! What could we possibly see? If it weren't for my 'Eagle Sight,' just looking at you guys standing here, I'd really think we came to this desolate wilderness for a team-building exercise with Shadow Warriors, or for a nighttime picnic."

He paused, then clicked his tongue. "But that woman on night watch... judging by her attire, she's a warrior? Tsk, she's really cute, I like her a lot."

Isa finally turned his head slightly, glanced at his companion who had spoken, and his voice remained icy:

"Foolish. Blinded by that cute appearance? She does hide her aura very well, but if you sense it carefully, that guy's killing intent is not light. Although it is concealed, it has definitely come from mountains of corpses and seas of blood. The number of people who have died at her hands is more than all of us combined."

"Ah?" The Hawk-Eye man exclaimed in a deliberately exaggerated low voice, then added regretfully, "Such a lovely lady? You really can't judge a book by its cover... I was thinking of having a drink with her after the mission. Looks like that's out of the question. I love pink-haired women the most."

A slightly husky, magnetic female voice drifted out, belonging to a woman leaning against a tree trunk, her fingertips entwined with nearly transparent silk threads. The voice held a hint of mockery. "What, my dear 'lover,' you've already fallen for someone else? Looks like I'll have to consider finding a different person to tie up with~ Also, her hair is peach-pink; she's colorblind."

The Hawk-Eye man immediately retorted, his tone clearly showing disdain:

"Get lost, stop with the nonsense. That was just a disguise for the mission. Otherwise, who would pretend to be a couple with a viper like you? Who knows, you might secretly rip out my guts and study them while I'm asleep. I still prefer the gentle and cute type... As for color, you know my 'Eagle Sight' can't see colors. I haven't seen her during the day like you guys have..."

"But since this person is also a ruthless killer, then forget about it."

He changed the subject, a hint of curiosity in his voice, "I remember you said that besides the elf that had to be killed, there were two adorable little sisters in the house... Hmm, they must be the gentle and cute type."

"Enough with the chit-chat." Isa interrupted his companion's increasingly rambling conversation, his voice soft yet carrying undeniable authority. "Mark, you go first. Create openings and proceed according to plan. The rest of you, prepare to provide backup."

Under the porch, Lupa held a long spear, her heterochromatic eyes gleaming in the moonlight. The night breeze ruffled her pink twin ponytails, bringing with it the rustling sound of the distant forest.

Time flowed slowly in the silence. After an unknown amount of time, the prolonged vigilance finally took its toll, causing even the most rigorously trained body to experience physical fatigue.

Lupa's eyelids trembled slightly, and she involuntarily opened her mouth and let out a small yawn.

"Ah..."

In that instant when his eyelids closed and his breath slightly escaped—

A sudden change has occurred!

A dark figure, like a venomous snake that had been lying in wait, suddenly darted out from the shadow of a large tree on the side! So fast that it left only a blurry afterimage, it skimmed the ground and silently hurtled towards them—it was the warrior known as Mark!

He reached forward with his left hand, his fingers hooked, precisely seizing Lupa's wrist as she gripped the gun, intending to control the weapon before she could react; his right hand, holding a poisoned dagger with a chilling glint, aimed straight for Lupa's unprotected throat like a viper's hiss! The movements were ruthless, swift, and efficient, without a single unnecessary flourish—pure killing technique.

However, the expected sensation of a sharp blade cutting into flesh did not come.

Just as the dagger was about to touch her skin, Lupa's heterochromatic eyes, which had been glistening with moisture from a yawn, suddenly snapped open!

There wasn't a trace of sleepiness inside; only an icy calm and a killing intent as sharp as a knife!

"Clang--!"

A dull yet piercing metallic clang rang out!

At the critical moment, Lupa flicked her wrist, and the butt of her spear, as if possessed by a life of its own, deftly deflected the unassuming, palm-sized circular metal shield on Mark's left wrist! Sparks flew everywhere!

Mark was startled when his attack was blocked, but his expression remained unchanged, and his movements did not falter.

When his dagger missed its mark, he immediately used the impact to slide forward like an eel, trying to close the distance—the dagger is the king of close combat, and once you're in close combat, the advantage of a long weapon like a spear will be lost!

However, Lupa's reaction once again exceeded his expectations.

Instead of retreating to create distance, she met Mark's charge head-on with her right foot, which shot out like lightning! The target wasn't his torso, but rather a precise kick aimed at Mark's wrist, the one holding the dagger!

"Smack!"

Another crisp sound rang out! The dagger was kicked away with pinpoint accuracy, tracing an arc through the air.

Success? Not only that!

Lupa's offensive continued. Using her right leg, which had just kicked away the dagger, as a pivot, her left leg followed up with a powerful spinning kick that swept straight at Mark's chest and abdomen! The kick was fierce, carrying a sharp whistling sound as it tore through the air.

However, Mark displayed astonishing flexibility and unpredictable movements.

Faced with this fierce kick, he did not try to withstand it head-on. Instead, his body twisted in an illogical way, as if it had no bones. His feet seemed to be glued to the ground, while his upper body leaned back, narrowly avoiding the most powerful part of the kick.

At the same time, he made a strange grabbing motion with his left hand in mid-air and caught the falling dagger again!

Lupa raised an eyebrow, a hint of surprise flashing in her heterochromatic eyes, but more so a surge of fighting spirit. "Tsk, slippery fellow."

Her opponent was more formidable than she had anticipated.

This series of exchanges was swift as lightning. Only then did Lupa's clear, calm shout break the silence of the night and enter the wooden house:

"Enemy attack!"