It's You

It's You. The Night Blade Leopard was as fast as lightning. The instant it charged out of the yard, its sharp claws raked across the naga assassin's scale-covered back.

Its sharp fangs bit toward the naga assassin's nape.

Perhaps because he had left the sea, his body could only crawl like a snake. As he twisted, he was nowhere near as swift as he was underwater.

The Night Blade Leopard's claws scraped against the hard scales, sending sparks flying.

But the naga assassin reacted with astonishing speed as well. He had no time to swing his dagger, yet he dared not let the Night Blade Leopard bite his nape. He twisted around, bent his arm, and drove his elbow backward. A half-foot-long fin spike pressed close against his upper arm stabbed viciously toward the Night Blade Leopard's left eye.

The Night Blade Leopard sharply tilted its head aside and evaded the spike, then bit down on the naga assassin's shoulder. Its fangs were a full two inches long. As they pierced the scales, they gave a crisp crack and left four bloody holes in the naga assassin's shoulder.

The naga assassin, his body twisted nearly three hundred and sixty degrees, let out a shrill, miserable howl.

The sound could almost pierce the entire street.

The naga assassin grabbed the fur along the Night Blade Leopard's back with one hand. His arms were powerful and flexible, their surfaces covered in hard scales. Not only did his elbows have fins, but bone spurs also grew alongside them.

As his hand clutched the Night Blade Leopard's back, his five sharp nails nearly pierced through its fur.

He actually tore the Night Blade Leopard away from his shoulder by brute force, then viciously hurled it toward the wall across the street.

The naga assassin's body was nearly three meters long, and he possessed immense strength. His arm swing had a tremendous reach. The Night Blade Leopard tried to struggle and bite his wrist, but the force of the throw left it unable to control its body as it crashed toward the opposite wall.

Five obvious bloody holes immediately appeared in the satin-like fur on its back...

The naga assassin's nails were unbelievably sharp, capable of easily slicing through the Night Blade Leopard's fur.

In pain, the Night Blade Leopard let out a miserable cry, its four claws gripping firmly onto the wall.

Then its body arched like a spring with the momentum, before turning into a streak of lightning once more and lunging at the naga assassin.

After landing, the Night Blade Leopard gave a low roar. Its two powerful forelegs adjusted the direction of its pounce, and its strong hind legs kicked off the ground, instantly turning it into a black shadow.

The naga assassin refused to be outdone. He planted both hands on the ground, his body writhing like a sea snake. Countless sharp teeth showed on his ugly face as he let out a shrill roar at the Night Blade Leopard.

The Night Blade Leopard was so frightened that all its fur stood on end. Halfway through its charge at the naga assassin, it abruptly changed direction and rushed toward the Potion Shop's yard.

Its body turned into a wisp of green smoke as it leaped into the bushes in the yard, not daring to come out again.

Roy did not slow down at all.

He knew that even if he stopped, he would only be serving himself up to the naga assassin.

Only by running for his life would he have a chance to survive.

And that Night Blade Leopard was crafty as hell. Guided by a hunter's instincts, it could judge its opponent's strength for itself. Running when it could not win was that big cat's specialty...

Roy even felt that it lacked the ferocity expected of a magical beast.

Thick fog filled the street. As long as he could slip into it, the naga assassin might not be able to catch him.

Roy knew Brown Street extremely well, and he also knew where to find elves capable of dealing with the naga assassin.

He sprinted east along Brown Street without stopping, not even when he passed the temple entrance.

The Silver Moon Elf guards were stationed at the docks of Castleton Harbour. Those Elf Rangers guarded the docks almost day and night, preventing sailors from foreign ships from causing trouble there.

At a time like this, Roy naturally had to seek help from the Elf Rangers. They were the defenders of Castleton City.

When the naga assassin saw the Night Blade Leopard leap into the bushes, he did not pursue it, even though his shoulder was injured.

Instead, seeing Roy running east along Brown Street and about to disappear into the fog, he relentlessly chased after him.

He vigorously twisted his fish tail along the fog-shrouded street, his upper body almost parallel to the ground. His long, gaunt hands alternately clawed at the ground, propelling his body swiftly forward...

His hard scales scraped against the stone-paved road with a crisp scrape, scrape, scrape.

At first, the sound behind Roy was very faint, but it became startlingly clear in no time...

Roy had not expected him to crawl so fast, much less pursue him so relentlessly.

He only dared to glance back once, and saw that the naga assassin was less than ten meters away. His mouth, full of sharp teeth, held a keen dagger. Every time his hands clawed forward, his body shot ahead a great distance.

The distance between him and the naga assassin rapidly closed...

In the blink of an eye, the naga assassin caught up.

He stretched out a gaunt, scale-covered hand toward Roy's shoulder.

How could Roy possibly let him get a solid grip? Without even thinking, he leaped toward the right front. His body rolled twice across the ground before slamming into the stone railing by the street. Pebbles dug painfully into his back, and when he stood up, Roy's head was spinning.

Without waiting for the naga assassin to catch up, Roy scrambled to his feet and tried to jump over the railing.

This was a steep slope, with nothing below but bare white rocks. The neighbors usually liked to lay small dried fish out on these rocks, where they dried quickly...

Sliding down from here would lead to the shore, and after running another hundred meters or so, he would reach the harbor docks.

The naga assassin pounced again. Just as Roy jumped down, his sharp claws seized Roy's arm.

Roy felt as if an iron hoop had clamped around his arm, while sharp nails pierced his skin.

He was forcibly dragged back from beyond the railing...

The naga assassin's other hand reached for Roy's shoulder. Roy did not want to fall into his hands like this, but the agonizing pain left one of his arms completely powerless.

He barely managed to turn around and use his arm to block the naga assassin's claws.

In his panic, a ball of holy light appeared in Roy's palm.

But at a time like this, he could not draw divine runes, nor could he recite a prayer...

The holy light in his palm was nothing more than a pure, dazzling glow.

The naga assassin behind him did not know that the holy light was merely ordinary light without any offensive power. Seeing the radiance flare in Roy's palm, he trembled all over in fright...

His first reaction was to withdraw the hand gripping Roy's arm.

Freed from his restraints, Roy immediately leaped over the railing again.

The sounds of the fight had already alarmed the neighbors on the street, and people had begun running out of their homes.

But the fog on the street was too thick. Many elves ran out of their homes and could only hear the sounds of fighting without seeing anyone...

Seeing Roy slide down the rocks, the naga assassin jumped down after him. With a swing of his massive fish tail, he caught up to Roy again.

The sound of clang, clang, clang bells rang from the docks in the distance. Whenever Great Sea Ships docked or put out to sea, they would sometimes ring their ship bells...

The bell seemed to make the naga assassin before Roy pause for a moment. His gaze even turned toward the docks.

But thick fog filled the air. Forget the ships at the docks—even the sea less than a hundred meters away was hidden in the mist.

An expression of utter hatred appeared on his ugly face. When he looked at Roy again, his expression became incomparably savage as he reached for him once more.

Roy had already slid to the bottom of the rocks, where a beach scattered with stones lay below.

Before he could run forward, a sharp pain struck his back. A tremendous force sent him stumbling, and he fell face-first onto the pebble-covered beach.

The naga assassin grabbed Roy by the nape with one hand, trying to lift him up...

At that moment, a sharp whistle sounded from the shore. A whistle that normally would have been mere noise sounded incredibly comforting to Roy.

Two Elf Rangers emerged from the thick fog by the sea. The first thing they saw was the naga assassin's vague silhouette.

The Elf Rangers ran exceptionally fast.

The naga assassin was unwilling to let Roy go, dragging him toward the sea. But as he crawled across the pebble-covered beach, the scales on his fish tail struck the stones with crackling sounds, and he was clearly in great pain.

Moreover, if he wanted to speed up, he had to use one arm, while the other dragged the struggling Roy...

With all his strength, Roy broke free from the naga assassin's large hand and landed amid the beach stones. Ignoring the pain throughout his body, he ran desperately toward the approaching Elf Rangers.

When the naga assassin saw the two lightly armored Elf Rangers holding longswords, he did not dare remain by the sea any longer.

Once he abandoned Roy, no one could affect his speed.

After several powerful swings of his fish tail, he plunged into the sea.

Roy collapsed onto the beach in exhaustion.

The two fully armed Elf Rangers ran over. One immediately crouched down to examine Roy's injuries and asked, "What's your name?"

"Roy..."

"Where do you live?"

"Brown Street Number Fifty-Seven."

The Elf Ranger questioning Roy froze for a moment. Seeing four bloody marks on Roy's nape, he immediately took out some hemostatic ointment and applied it to the wounds. Then he noticed four more half-foot-long claw marks on Roy's back.

"I suggest you find someone to treat those wounds later," the Elf Ranger said as he applied the hemostatic ointment.

Besides the wounds on his back and nape, Roy also had obvious claw marks on his arm...

The other Elf Ranger ran toward the sea to search for the naga assassin's hiding place.

The naga assassin who had plunged into the sea was already nowhere to be found. Unable to uncover any useful clues, that Elf Ranger turned back.

Seeing Roy sitting miserably on a rock, he lifted the lower half of his helmet's face guard and asked in surprise:

"Why is it you again..."