Assassin

Heavy Rain pelted the Great Sea, and the gale swept the waves toward the shore.

Waves crashed against the coastal reefs, exploding into countless droplets of water.

He stealthily swam out of the sea, his dark back bearing a dull gray fin, almost pressed against his spine.

He spread his pectoral fins, controlling his direction, twisting his tail from side to side, silently approaching the black reefs.

A wave pushed him onto a reef, and after the surge, his body was almost plastered against the Oyster-covered rocks. The Heavy Rain poured down on him, making him even more agile.

He climbed onto the black reef, constantly approaching the shoreline...

Dusk in the drizzling rain,

The light was dim,

Two Sailors with beer bellies hurried along the beach with buckets, jogging towards the port.

Their obese bodies made it impossible for them to run on the sand. Raindrops kept hitting their bodies, heads, and faces, flowing into their eyes, making them squint.

The two Sailors huffed and puffed as they ran along the coastline, leaving two clear rows of footprints in the sand.

Ahead were black reefs. After passing them and running a few hundred meters further, they would reach the edge of the dock.

The two Sailors were already soaked. The waves kept crashing against their ankles.

A fish in the bucket was thrown out, plopping into the sea and disappearing as a dark shadow.

One of the fat Sailors immediately cursed, glanced at the two remaining fish in the bucket, and had to slow down.

Anyway, they were already wet. Sooner or later, it would be the same...

If the last two fish in the bucket jumped out, he would probably have to eat Black Bread with Cabbage for dinner.

He wanted to call out to his companion running ahead, but as soon as he opened his mouth, rainwater rushed in.

He quickly spat out a couple of mouthfuls and continued to jog forward silently...

He lay prone on the reef, biding his time, a look of resentment flashing in his eyes.

His cyan cheeks were covered with strange gills, and his head was braided with fine strands of hair. His ears were pressed against the sides of his head, and his face was almost as hideous as a demon.

His arms were about a meter long, his body covered with cyan scales, and his back had a black fin. The upper half of his body resembled a human, but below the waist was a fish tail more than two meters long.

When he saw the two human Sailors on the coastline, his golden-threaded pupils instantly widened.

Even his breathing became heavy. He took a sharp dagger from his waist and bit it in his mouth before silently slipping into the sea from the reef.

He nimbly navigated around the reefs in waist-deep water.

He was very close to the beach. The figures of the two human Sailors a few dozen meters away became clearer and clearer in the Heavy Rain.

A large wave surged up, pushing his body quickly towards the shore.

He vigorously wagged his fish tail. The thrust of the wave and the acceleration of his swimming made him shoot out of the wave like an arrow.

He was within striking distance.

He opened his arms, swung his fish tail, and pounced on the human Sailor who was lagging behind.

The human Sailor was bald, one meter eighty-five centimeters tall, with an Anchor tattoo on the back of his ear. The beard on his chin was neatly trimmed, and his arms were thick.

His fat belly pulled his lumbar vertebrae into an exaggerated 'S' shape, making him feel like he was about to spit out the lungs in his chest after running a few steps.

He didn't even dare to breathe heavily, to avoid rainwater choking him.

He was just a cook on the ship, whose greatest hobby was sleeping with exotic women of different styles in the port.

He rarely had a day off, but he was unlucky. He lost the last copper coin in his pocket the night before, so he could only carry his fishing rod to the seaside to fish and kill time.

A fishy, cold shadow pounced on his back, and a slimy, icy arm strangled his neck—if that could still be called a neck.

The human Sailor saw a cyan arm covered with scales, and the other hand with a fin was clutching a sharp dagger...

The dagger cut into the thick fat beneath his neck, finding the windpipe beneath the layers of fat...

A flash of light streaked across...

Blood gurgled from his throat.

He didn't even manage a cry, clutching his throat as he fell into the sea, the spurting blood instantly staining the surrounding water red.

The strength in his body rapidly drained away, and he struggled to stand, wanting to call out to his companions ahead.

But the sound of the waves and the Heavy Rain drowned everything out, until he lost his last bit of strength and collapsed limply into the Great Sea.

His obese body was carried by the waves, pushed onto the beach.

The Heavy Rain washed the blood from his body...

The Sailors in front ran on, only to realize that there was no sound behind them.

He subconsciously glanced back and discovered that his companion had actually fallen on the beach, the bucket and fishing rod in his hand flung far away.

He wanted to curse: 'This damn weather!'

When the wave receded, it swept away the fine sand beneath his feet, almost causing him to fall into the sea.

He couldn't see anyone on the beach at all, the Heavy Rain making the surrounding scenery incredibly blurry.

He thought his companion had just accidentally fallen and needed his help to get up, so without thinking, he turned around and ran back into the rain...

When he reached his companion, he found that his entire face was buried in the sand, and there was a trace of blood flowing from his neck.

He cautiously crouched down and turned his body over, lying face up, only to discover that his companion's throat had been cut open.

The wound on his throat was still bubbling with blood.

In shock, he immediately wanted to run away...

A wave rolled in, splashing onto his legs.

He felt as if a hand had grabbed his ankle, and he lost his balance, falling backward into the shallow water.

Another wave crashed over, and he struggled to crawl towards the beach, but the hand on his ankle was like a shackle, forcefully dragging him into the sea.

Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his calf, and he turned to see a dagger pinned to his calf, cutting open a wound more than a foot long.

Fear and pain made him scream hysterically.

His arms desperately beat the seawater, creating countless splashes in the rain.

The Heavy Rain poured down, obscuring all sound.

The waves rolled the Sailor's body further and further into the sea, and he tried to grab a protruding reef nearby, but the sharp shells immediately cut several wounds on his palm.

In the violent struggle, the Sailor was still swallowed by the Great Sea.

He didn't know how long had passed, but the rain gradually subsided.

The Sailor, whose face was devoid of blood, leaned against a black reef, his legs soaked in the seawater. There were only knife wounds about a finger's width on his legs, and those wounds were all white, with no blood flowing out.

The Sailor desperately opened his eyes, his trembling hand pointing towards the Da Nei River on the shore, and took his last breath.

The morning after the Heavy Rain should have been a sunny day.

But the climate of Castleton Harbour was quite different. It just happened to encounter a cold air current blowing from the north, causing the temperature in Castleton Harbour to plummet after the rain...

The entire port was shrouded in a thick fog, and the closer to the coastline, the thicker the fog became.

Brown Street was the street closest to the sea, and with the Da Nei River nearby, the fog almost completely enveloped the entire street.

Roy, carrying two books, ran out of the house and plunged into the thick fog.

He groped forward along the street, the Da Nei River on the other side making a 'splish splash splosh' [Hua Hua Hua] sound.

A cyan, scale-covered finger gripped the stone railing, the sharp nail embedded in the stone railing. His body hung behind the railing, and beneath him was the rolling Da Nei River.

Sniffing a human scent, he cautiously poked his head out.

In the heavy fog, even looking across the street was somewhat blurry, but fortunately, he could distinguish scents...

Naga, humans, and elves all had different scents.

He smelled a very faint human scent, which was why he peered out to observe.

Thus, the Naga Assassin saw Roy walking in the heavy fog...

Walking on Brown Street, he had just reached the Potion Shop.

This was exactly the intersection of Brown Street, where the Da Nei River flowed into the Great Sea, and the elves had built a stone bridge here.

It had been raining for the past two days, and the Da Nei River's water level had risen, with the current flowing rapidly.

Roy was hurrying to the Elf Academy and didn't pay attention to his surroundings. If he could meet a long carriage passing by at the street corner, Roy was even prepared to take it to the academy.

But under the heavy fog, the street corner seemed deserted...

Roy stopped as usual next to Mrs. Winnie's Potion Shop. He wanted to see what kind of miserable state the Night Blade Leopard tied to the door was in.

He bent down and glanced into the kennel.

However, today this Night Blade Leopard seemed particularly docile. It vigilantly stared at its surroundings, its eyes revealing a look of unease, constantly licking its paws with its tongue.

Even when Roy came, the Night Blade Leopard didn't respond at all.

Roy was a little surprised. If there wasn't some inexplicable danger, the Night Blade Leopard would definitely snarl at Roy. Its grudges with Roy hadn't just started...

Roy looked around. The street was quiet.

Because it had rained yesterday, and this morning was shrouded in heavy fog, no one had set up stalls at this time of the morning.

Moreover, not even pedestrians could be seen on the street...

Roy instantly felt that indescribable sense of oppression.

At the same time, the Night Blade Leopard also shrank its head into the kennel...

A dark shadow appeared from the bridgehead. This position was right behind Roy. Its body writhed like a giant python, silently approaching Roy.

Roy didn't actually sense any danger approaching, but he saw that the pupils of the Night Blade Leopard in the kennel had already turned into vertical slits, and the fur on the back of its neck was standing on end.

Seeing the Night Blade Leopard being frightened to such an extent, Roy felt that something big was wrong.

Roy didn't even dare to turn his head. He shouted and rushed forward.

The Naga Assassin, who had stuck so close, actually missed the first strike. Its sharp claws only grazed Roy's linen clothes on his back, tearing three foot-long gashes in them.

Roy seized the opportunity to dash out...

The Night Blade Leopard hidden in the kennel darted out like lightning at this moment. The thumb-thick iron chain around its neck was instantly snapped. Its two fleshy front paws rested on the wooden fence, and its body leaped high, opening its bloody maw to bite at the Naga Assassin.