bookandnovel Chapter 121 Assassination Plan and Lord Class
Chapter 121 Assassination Plan and Lord Class
Chapter 120 Assassination Plan and Lord Class
Loken stood at the end of the long table in the underground chamber of the royal city, the candlelight casting a long, narrow shadow behind him.
He raised his hand and gently tapped the table twice.
A barely perceptible ripple of air flowed from the hidden door in the wall, and then a figure shrouded in a black cloak appeared silently on the other side of the long table.
The man knelt on one knee, his face hidden in the shadows beneath his hood.
"Do you know why I summoned you here?" Loken asked indifferently, without any pleasantries.
"I don't know." The black-clad assassin's voice was deep and hoarse, carrying a strange resonance that didn't belong to human vocal cords.
Loken slowly walked around the long table, his leather boots making a rhythmic echo on the stone bricks.
He stopped two steps away from the assassin, looking down at the kneeling figure.
"You are one of our first fourth-tier assassins to be transformed into a monster."
Loken's tone remained calm, but the content of his words was enough to chill any listener to the bone.
He reached out and patted the assassin on the shoulder, as if soothing a loyal hunting dog.
"It is precisely because of this transformation that you have gained power far exceeding that of humans of the same level. You should know better than anyone else that each level of a monster is a perfect evolution—physical body, perception, and magical circulation, completely overwhelming humans in every aspect."
The assassin in black slightly raised his head, and a faint green light flashed in his eyes under his hood—a characteristic of demons.
"I understand this deeply."
"very good."
Loken turned and walked back to the long table, his fingers gently stroking a parchment map spread out on it. "This top-secret plan to transform all of humanity into monsters is known to only a handful of people besides us. His Highness chose to trust you, nurture you, and give you power beyond that of humans."
He paused for a moment, then turned his head to look at the assassin.
"Now, it's your turn to repay His Highness."
The assassin in black abruptly lowered his head, slamming his right fist heavily into his chest with a dull thud: "I would die a thousand deaths for you! Please, Lord Roken, give your orders. What do you require of me?"
Loken did not answer immediately.
His finger slid slowly across the parchment map, finally stopping at a location in the North marked with a wolf's head emblem.
"I remember mentioning to you before that there is a county in the North called Frostwolf City."
"I remember."
"We've sent someone to replace the Earl's double—Percival."
Loken's tone turned slightly cold: "He failed."
The four words, spoken lightly by Loken, seemed to cause the temperature in the sealed room to drop several degrees.
"Since the strategy of outsmarting them has failed..."
Loken straightened up, put his hands behind his back, and looked at a portrait of a prince hanging on the wall. "Then we'll need to use some—some rather crude methods—to complete the mission."
He turned around to face the assassin.
Then, he slowly raised his right hand and drew a line across his neck with his thumb.
This action is simple and straightforward, requiring no explanation.
The assassin in black stiffened slightly.
He was silent for a moment, then spoke, his voice more cautious than before: "Lord Roken, there is something I don't understand."
"explain."
"The one who can defeat Percival and the Countess —"
The assassin carefully considered his words. "His forces must have at least fourth-tier combat power. Is it really appropriate to send a fourth-tier subordinate to act alone?"
This isn't about cowardice, but rather the professional ethics an assassin should possess.
Blindly rushing to one's death is not the act of an assassin; that's just being a reckless fool.
Loken was not surprised by this question.
He even gave a slight smile, a smile that appeared somewhat sinister in the candlelight.
"Your concerns are not unfounded. But you need to understand two things."
He held up one finger: "First, His Highness's elite forces have all been dispatched to other earls' territories to carry out missions. The infiltration plan is being carried out simultaneously in more than a dozen territories in the North, East, and South. The tasks are too heavy, and there are simply no extra personnel available."
He held up his second finger: "Secondly, and most importantly—you don't need to worry. According to the intelligence we have, that young Earl Lorraine only possesses fourth-tier human weapons."
"There are currently no fifth-tier knights or witches."
Loken emphasized the word "human."
"And you are a fourth-tier monster."
He took a step closer, lowered his head, and said, almost touching the assassin's hood, "I don't need to remind you of the difference between a fourth-tier human and a fourth-tier demon, do I? Every inch of your muscle and every magical pathway has undergone the perfect evolution of demonic blood."
"Humans of the same level are like children with wooden swords facing fully armed knights in your presence."
The black-clad assassin's breathing became noticeably heavier.
Those eerie green eyes gleamed beneath the hood, and his demonic instincts gave him a profound understanding of the concept of "crushing".
He was very satisfied with the power he now possessed—powerful enough to crush all those who had previously looked down on him.
Oh—no, ever since he advanced to the fourth rank, he's already wiped out all those kinds of people!
"And—" Loken straightened up and took something from the leather pouch at his waist, "I will bestow upon you a wondrous object."
""
The assassin in black tilted his head slightly and saw a black gem the size of a thumb in Rocan's hand. Dark purple patterns flowed across its surface, like some kind of living veins writhing within it.
Even he, a fourth-tier cultivator, could sense the immense magical power forged within.
"This wondrous artifact can enhance your ability to conceal your presence and form. When you wear it, even a perception-type witch of the same rank will find it difficult to detect your existence."
"It can even block the detection of a fifth-tier perception-type witch for three seconds."
Loken handed the gem to the assassin.
"Take this with you, and you will surely succeed."
The assassin in black received the gem with both hands, feeling the cold yet vibrant magical energy emanating from his palms.
He put the gem into his pocket, knelt down on one knee again, and pounded his chest with his right fist.
"Your subordinate obeys!"
"very good."
Loken took a step back and turned slightly to the side.
A figure emerged silently from the shadows behind him.
She was a woman, or rather, she used to be a woman.
Her skin had an unnatural grayish-white hue, her pupils were vertical dark gold, and she wore a deep purple robe with distorted spatial crack patterns embroidered at the hem.
She stood there, and the air around her seemed to be slightly distorted, as if her very presence was exerting some kind of pressure on the space.
"This is Lola, a fifth-order space-type witch," Roken introduced.
The assassin in black involuntarily tensed up.
The fifth rank is a level that he simply cannot reach at present.
Just standing next to this witch, he could feel a sense of oppression from his very life force.
However, Lola didn't look at him, or even give him a glance.
She simply stood quietly behind Rocan, like a statue.
"The royal city is too far from Frostwolf City, and it's closed during the snow season," Loken calmly explained. "I can't let you get there by the usual means."
He looked at the assassin in black: "Go back and prepare tonight. Report to Lola's witch-specific building tomorrow. She will teleport you directly to the vicinity of Frostwolf City."
The assassin in black nodded: "Understood."
"There's one more thing," Loken's tone suddenly turned cold and hard. "You only have one day to complete the mission."
"one day?"
"one day."
Loken repeated, "Maintaining spatial teleportation comes at a cost. After one day, regardless of whether you have completed your mission, the teleportation anchor will automatically activate, at which point you will be forcibly teleported back."
He stared into the assassin's eyes: "So, don't waste time on anything else. Once you get there, find your target, kill him, and wait to come back. Clean and efficient."
"Understood. Lorraine will die within a day."
Loken nodded in satisfaction and waved.
The black-clad assassin vanished silently from the secret room, disappearing as if into the shadows.
Lola also turned and walked into the passage behind the hidden door in the wall; her footsteps were quickly swallowed by the darkness.
Now only Rolken remained in the secret room.
He stood in front of the map, his gaze fixed on the location of Frostwolf City, his fingers lightly tapping the table.
"A bastard son exiled by his family—" he murmured, "how much trouble can he cause?"
The candlelight flickered, but he did not answer.
In the Lord's Hall of Frostwolf City, thousands of miles away.
Lorraine was sitting behind a long oak table, with several reports on supplies that Olivia had sent out spread out in front of her.
The fire in the fireplace was burning brightly, making the whole hall warm and cozy.
He casually flipped to a page of the report, but his eyes did not fall on the paper.
Because in his field of vision, a line of semi-transparent red text was slowly emerging.
That was the information panel of the Witch's Codex, which only he could see.
[Crisis Warning]
[A fourth-tier Shadow Assassin belonging to Prince Thursmir has been detected and will attack the Mystic Lord in one day. Please prepare accordingly.]
Lorraine stared at the line of text for three seconds.
Then he laughed.
He leaned back in his chair, casually placed the quill pen next to the ink bottle, and crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"Assassinate me!"
He muttered to himself, his tone even carrying a hint of relaxation.
What is an assassin's greatest advantage?
It is about concealment, surprise, and the fact that the target has no idea that death is approaching.
But now, that advantage has completely disappeared.
Before the Witch's Codex, all covert methods are nothing but futile and laughable acts.
It's just laughable.
Lorraine quickly calculated the cards in her hand in her mind:
Anna, the fourth-tier Flame Witch; Ohm, the fourth-tier Myriad Machine Witch; Victor, the fourth-tier Great Knight; Lyra, the third-tier Fate Witch.
The fourth-tier Storm Witch Catherine, along with the densely packed witch towers on the city walls and the Titan mechs under construction.
A fourth-tier assassin?
"Just keep all the fourth-tier combatants by my side for the next two days."
Lorraine said softly, her fingers tapping unconsciously on the table, "A fourth-tier Shadow Assassin, attempting an assassination while surrounded by four fourth-tier assassins—is the information that prince's confidant had about me a bit outdated?"
He shook his head, the smile on his lips not yet completely gone.
However, as he laughed, his expression gradually became thoughtful.
He reached out and touched his chin.
"On another note—"
Lorraine's gaze returned to the interface of the Witch's Codex, and his finger lightly swiped in the air, bringing up a function panel that he hadn't paid much attention to before.
[Lord Enhancement]
He knew about this feature a long time ago.
The Witch's Codex clearly states that a lord's power is determined by the buildings and witches under his command.
By consuming certain resources, one can enhance the lord's physical attributes based on the quantity and quality of buildings and witches.
Simply put, the more buildings you have and the stronger the witch, the higher the maximum enhancements a lord can obtain.
Lorraine had never used this feature before, for the simple reason that it wasn't cost-effective.
In the early days when resources were scarce, every magic crystal was so precious that people would want to break it in half.
The resources required for a lord to upgrade their physique far exceed those required for a witch or knight of the same rank to advance.
Instead of investing precious resources in strengthening one's own body, it would be better to use them to build defensive structures, upgrade witches, and expand military equipment.
After all, he was a lord, not a warrior; his value lay in strategizing, not in charging into battle.
But the situation is different now.
The situation in Frostwolf City has basically stabilized.
The coal mine problem was solved, the economic system was established, the city's defenses were improved, and the ranks of the core witches were raised to a sufficient level.
While the resources at hand are not abundant, they are no longer as scarce as before.
and-
Lorraine looked down at her hands.
He clenched his fist, feeling the power emanating from his knuckles.
As a lord, without expending resources to advance, his current physical attributes are roughly equivalent to those of an ordinary first-tier knight.
This is perfectly adequate for everyday use, but if you really encounter close-range danger—
For example, the instant a fourth-tier shadow assassin breaks through all the defenses and appears in front of him.
Even a fraction of a second of reaction time can mean the difference between life and death for a stronger body.
"Now that we have the luxury, why not use it to improve ourselves?"
Lorraine muttered to herself, "Anyway, those resources are just sitting there."
He refocused his attention on the Lord Enhancement panel and lightly tapped his finger in the air.
The panel unfolded, revealing a dense array of data and options before him.
Lorraine glanced at the current enhancement base—two third-tier witches, three fourth-tier witches, one fourth-tier knight, and the witch-specific buildings that he had equipped for each witch.
This level of skill far surpasses that of an ordinary earl or lord.
The maximum enhancement limit displayed on the panel made Lorraine raise an eyebrow slightly.
"interesting."
He leaned back in his chair, his gaze sweeping back and forth across the data, a slow smile curving his lips.
He had one day before the assassin arrived.
There is enough time required for the promotion.