"That voice... Is that Paul?" Dylan was able to recognize that voice from the axe-wielding assassin.
His eyes sharpened as he finally understood what was currently happening. 'Hm, I knew this was too reckless for the City Lord to order. Victoria is still here to protect me and Scarlet...'
"Shit!" The mask hid his face, but it couldn't hide the distinctive heavy rasp or the sloppy stance Dylan had noticed earlier.
'I doubt that he would do something like a petty assassination the very next visit I do to the City? If I died, Scarlet would want revenge for me and Victoria would step in order to appease Scarlet's rage to reel in a ten-star talent like her.' A cold, calculating calm settled over Dylan as the puzzle pieces snapped into place; this wasn't an elaborate move by the City Lord or a grand sect conspiracy. 'A mere city is something a True King Clan could afford to destroy even if it meant offending the Thunderbolt Clan. The City Lord should know this...'
"You two are such idiots!" Ronald's voice resounded from the sword-holding assassin who attacked Dylan first. He initiated an attack and lunged forward. His partner who had been using twin daggers had also joined him earlier.
'So, the first one was Ronald. If that's so, then this is probably a conspiracy by the Chief Gate Guard and these two idiots.' This was just raw, desperate greed from someone who thought an 'unarmed cripple' was an easy payday in the dark.
He knew that the most probable scenario was the Chief Gate Guard had simply pretended to arrest them in front of the public. Then, he ordered them to kill Dylan and he also sent two more soldiers as an insurance, 'The Chief Gate Guard probably did not know that I have the princess of the Cross Clan as a backer.'
"Die" Ronald initiated a thrust which Dylan was able to anticipate and moved his body towards the right.
The twin dagger assassin was coming in from Dylan's left and noticed this sudden movement. 'He deliberately moved to the left so he could obstruct my path!'
'The speed at which they attack doesn't really differ much from a Martial Master's.' Dylan took note of their velocity as he evaded. He balled his fists, tightened his core, and delivered a devastating liver blow.
Ronald was able to perfectly react to this and cloaked the part Dylan attacked with Innate Energy, forming a dense barrier over his flank. Despite that, his face still grimaced from the raw, kinetic force that bled through his defensive layer, "Fuck!"
Dylan's punch lifted Ronald off the ground and sent him skidding towards the Twin Dagger Assassin!
'Wasn't deep enough. I guess that was the defensive way to utilize Innate Energy.' Dylan noticed the bright, unstable glow on Ronald's side and immediately knew that this was the defensive application of Innate Energy.
The Twin Dagger assassin had to pull back the dagger he wanted to attack with when he saw Ronald flying towards him like a heavy projectile. The two collided with one another and rolled to the side in a chaotic tangle of limbs and blades.
"Shit, why are you in my way, Frank!" Ronald cursed as he rolled.
Frank shot back, "You were the one who was sent flying by a crippled bastard!"
Despite fending off Ronald and Frank, Dylan did not catch any break as Paul and the Saber-wielding Assassin were already attacking him, from opposite angles.
The saber had struck first to which Dylan had stepped back to his right one step while leaning back to marginally avoid the saber. He once again positioned himself away from the follow-up attack.
"What the heck?!" The saber wind had breezed past Dylan's face by a quarter of a meter. Paul had no choice but to circle around them to attack Dylan from a broader angle
Dylan took a step forward to get behind the Saber-wielding assassin. But he also noticed that Paul was already closing in. Thus, he backwards kicked the saber wielding assassin at his lower back to make him lose balance and disrupt their timing.
"Damn it!" The saber-wielding assassin had rolled forward due to the force of the kick.
'His eyes are still on Edgar!' Taking advantage of this, Paul had already made a side swing with his axe to Dylan who had just extend his foot. Seeing as Dylan's eyes were still aimed towards Edgar, he rejoiced.
But that joy was short-lived as Dylan's right arm had also been swung in a blurred arc firmly grabbing Paul's right elbow. This caused his swing motion to be halted mid-way since he could not follow through! The axe's heavy blade was stuck hovering only a few inches away from Dylan.
'How did he-' Paul could not believe the impossible grip strength that Dylan possessed. It felt he was being stopped by a boulder. But, he gritted his teeth and tried flicking his wrist to wound Dylan.
But Dylan had pulled Paul's elbow sharply toward him, destroying his center of gravity. The sudden pull made Paul lose balance as he lifted his feet from the ground, allowing Dylan to spin mid-air and deliver a flying knee kick with his extended leg straight into Paul's exposed torso!
"ACK!" Despite reinforcing his ribs with a thick shroud of energy, Paul still felt his ribs were slightly cracked from the blunt force of that attack. He was easily sent flying backward by Dylan's sideward flying knee kick.
In a split second, Dylan had stopped his attack, caused him to lose balance, while initiating another attack.
'What the hell is this guy?!' The four assassins could not understand the situation that was happening before their eyes. Four cultivators were actually knocked down by what they had assumed as a cultivation-less trash.
"Paul, Ronald..." Dylan said, his voice dropping into a dangerous, razor-thin register that made the four men visibly flinch. "I see your intellect is just as crippled as you thought my cultivation was."
Dylan laughed mockingly as he added, "How embarrassing it must be for the two of you. The Chief Gate Guard must have deemed you two incompetent and useless that he sent two more assassins as an insurance? HAHAHA."
Ronald untangled himself from Frank and snarled, his face flushed with humiliation, "Shut your mouth! You bastard's stand up. We are Peak Stage Spirit Core Cultivators! How can we be humiliated by this wastrel?!"
It is exactly as Ronald mentioned. They were all at the Peak levels of the Spirit Core Realm. Just one of them should be able to kill hundreds of cultivation-less bastards like Dylan! Yet they were manhandled by a cripple!
"We-were caught off guard, you muscle head! So what if you're a bit strong and fast! I will show you the true strength of a cultivator!" Paul roared as he finished rolling on the ground, his chest aching with every breath.
Deliberately adding salt to the wound, he continued, "You want to know what's more embarrassing? All four of you are lying on the ground! HAHAHA."
"?!" The two could not stand being insulted by Dylan as they immediately gathered themselves and stood up.
"Fuck you!" Ronald roared, leaping towards Dylan. "You're just a slippery bastard! Let's see you dodge this!"
"Soaring Cloud Art: Cloud-Sea Surge." He launched a flurry of horizontal sweeps, generating rolling waves of sword energy that obscured sight and swept foes away.
'I guess they aren't completely dumb.' It was an area-of-effect attack designed to cover all evasive paths, so Dylan could not simply finesse his way out of it through normal footwork.
Yet, Dylan had already familiarized himself with his muscles' strength and explosiveness at this point. As though drawing a right angle, he leapt diagonally to his right side and made another diagonal Mach cut-in to quickly evade the Cloud Sea Surge while also repositioning himself into their flank!
But Dylan was shock because Paul was there anticipating his movements, already launching an attack at the spot where he would be in a few seconds, accurately predicting his trajectory. It was as though Paul knew that he was going to attack here.
"Die!" Paul said with killing intent!
A devastating, downward arc that mimics the heavy rain from a cumulonimbus, specialized in shattering heavy armors and defensive barriers. "Soaring Cloud Sword Axe Technique, Second Move, Cumulonimbus Cleave!"
'He predicted me? I guess he used Spiritual Sense to do so. This will be harder than I thought.' Dylan thought.
Having opponents that could launch area-of-effect attacks with precognition and sensing abilities is too much for any non-cultivation cripple except Dylan Ford, of course.
He kicked forwards to the ground to propel himself backwards and committed a reverse somersault.
*Boom*
The attack could only hit the ground and cause a sizeable fissure which snapped the earth open. The resulting blast of debris, carrying a fraction of the power of the Cumulonimbus Cleave, whistled through the air and still caused minor bruises across Dylan's arms and torso.
'If I get hit by any of their attacks, I will die.' Dylan thought as his boots slammed back onto the ground. He smiled as he remembered his times in deathmatches in underground matches, 'Now, this is exciting!'
Yet, even in the face of instant death, instead of retreating, Dylan moved forward with an expectant smile. He kicked the ground with even more force as he accelerated faster!
Before the thick cloud of dust from Paul's attack could settle, Dylan burst into the haze. Paul still had his axe stuck in the deep fissure, frantically trying to yank it free.
"You!" Paul was stunned as he saw that Dylan was already in front of him winding up a fist. He did not even time to say what he had on his mind as Dylan, 'Too fast!'
In a single second, Dylan made a quick right hook and left hook combination while weaving his entire body to carry its entire weight as the momentum further amplified the force of his attacks.
Then, he firmly planted his feet on the ground as he delivered a devastating upper cut! The attack was so strong that it sounded like a shotgun was fired!
*Bang*
Edgar and Frank hurried over, wanting to contribute with the onslaught. But they heard a loud bang which was followed by a body being flung in the air out of the cloud dust.
"Is that Paul?! How come he's the one who got blown away?!" Edgar halted for a beat, his brain struggling to process the sound of the two successive impacts that had landed a split second before the strike.
Immediately, after that, another figure emerged from the side of the cloud dust, it was heading towards Ronald who wanted to assist Paul.
The figure that just emerged was Dylan of course. Before going out of the rubble, had scooped up a jagged chunk of shattered stone and hurled it upward directly at Ronald to split his attention.
"?!" Ronald sensed that there was something heading towards him at an extremely fast speed. He assumed a defensive stance as Innate Energy gathered around his feet.
It shot towards him like an arrow! It was a flying kick, aimed at his face. The flying kick attacked what seemed to be a clone that scattered like clouds.
"Soaring Cloud Sword Art, First Move, Mist Weaving Shadow." But Ronald had preemptively retreated with swift light footwork and repositioned himself to the side, leaving his cloud clone while his blade movement deflected the rubbles that Dylan just threw.
Him blocking the attack brought Dylan enough time to touch the ground and wanted to launch another attack. 'If that hit, that could have knocked him out but I guess I need to be also wary of the movement techniques these people have.'
"They may have spiritual sense and wide-scale attacks that could instantly kill or mortally wound me, but as long as I have the speed that allows me to evade these attacks and strength that could still do damage to them despite their defenses, then I have a win condition," Dylan whispered under his breath.
He shifted his feet, locking his gaze onto his target with utter, terrifying confidence that he could pull this off.