Chapter 54: Attack (1)
His hands slipped into his pockets as he moved through the street.
The city felt peaceful.
People were talking, shopkeepers were closing their stores slowly, and the evening lights had begun to glow.
’Everything feels... too easy,’ he thought.
There was no resistance. No complications. He was still wearing the same mask. Many people looked at him with suspicious gazes.
Azael ignored them. He was in a good mood. Everything was moving exactly how he wanted. Since the time he had transmigrated into this world, he hadn’t faced any difficulties till now. Everything was smooth.
He continued walking, his masked face slightly tilted upward as he observed the calm surroundings.
But just then something unexpected happened.
BOOM!!!
A deafening explosion shattered the peace.
Azael’s eyes widened behind the mask.
The building beside him exploded violently, flames and debris bursting outward with terrifying force.
The shockwave hit him instantly.
"—!"
His body was thrown off his feet like a ragdoll.
He flew across the street and crashed hard onto the opposite side of the road.
THUD!
Pain shot through his body as he rolled across the ground before finally stopping against the wall of another building.
Dust and smoke filled the air.
Burning debris fell from above. People screamed. Panic spread instantly through the street.
Azael groaned slightly as he pushed himself up, his ears ringing.
"...What the hell...?"
He looked up.
The building that had just exploded was now partially destroyed. Flames burned from its windows, and thick black smoke rose into the sky.
People were running in all directions.
"ARHHHH!"
"Run! Run!"
"We are under attack."
"Someone help me!"
Some were screaming. Some were frozen in shock.
The peaceful street from moments ago had turned into chaos. Not all people had formed a core. Some were not able to. Mostly among commoners. There were many who formed cores but they were stuck at lower levels most of the time for not having talent or resources.
So it was natural that many people tried to run away.
Azael slowly stood up, brushing off the dust from his clothes. His expression, hidden behind the mask, turned serious.
His violet eyes narrowed.
"...This isn’t normal."
Another distant sound echoed faintly through the air.
His instincts sharpened.
Something was very wrong.
And this... was just the beginning.
Azael saw it, in the burning building in front of him where the explosion had just occurred.
Two hooded figures came out. One was tall with broad shoulders while the other was tall but had a lean figure.
Their faces were hidden beneath the hoods.
The tall and broad-shouldered man was holding a man by his neck in his left hand. The man was yelling for help.
"Save me please! Save me!" The man had bruises on his face. Fear was visible on his face.
The cloaked figure who was holding him threw the man to the floor. There was a battle axe in his hand as it moved in a flash.
Slash!
The curved blade of the axe beheaded the man with a single slash.
Thud!
Splatter!
Blood splattered from the slashed neck like a fountain.
The head of the dead man fell on the ground with a thud. Fear still remained on his beheaded face.
Azael, who was still lying on the other side of the road, watched the sight in surprise.
"Shit!" He pushed himself up. His body aching in pain.
’I need to get out of here.’
Azael was not too strong to go and fight two people head on. He was also like others here. Not strong enough to defend himself.
The two men dashed forward to kill others.
The second lean man in the black cloak was wielding a sword.
"Mom!" A small girl of age four or five fell behind while running. She got separated from her mother in this chaos. The unknown man dashed towards the girl to kill her.
Her mother was several meters away from her, panicked, watching the scene. She couldn’t move forward because of the huge crowd of people running.
"Baby! Wait! Somebody help!"
Azael saw that and clicked his tongue. "Tch!"
He changed his direction from running away to the girl’s direction.
A sword appeared in his right hand as he pulled it from his storage ring. Mana wrapped around the blade of the sword.
His sword glowed in light blue mana.
The man was close to the girl as his sword moved to kill her.
Clang!
Sparks flew as steel met against steel.
Azael used his free hand at the same time. He was already preparing while running here. A red-colored magic circle was formed in front of his left hand.
Mana surged from his body forming a red-golden colored sphere of blazing hot fire. It was the size of a football.
He had conjured a fireball spell. It was a basic magic spell but had more attack power compared to normal since his fire was special.
The ball shot forward towards the enemy.
"What?" The man whose sword was clashed against Azael’s sword moved as fast as possible.
He jumped back into the air, avoiding the fireball which moved through the air and collided against the wall of another building.
BOOM!
It exploded outward.
The man who jumped in the air landed a few meters away from Azael.
"Kid run!" Azael glared at the man while his back faced the little girl. He said without looking at her.
The girl got up. Her big eyes were filled with tears and fear.
"Th-Thank y-you u-uncle!" She ran away from him, towards her mother who was coming towards her.
"My baby!" The mother cried in relief and lifted her daughter. She glanced at the back of the man one time and started to run away.
Meanwhile Azael cursed inside. ’The fuck? Uncle?’
His mood soured by her words.
While the man away from him watched everything in amusement.
He watched the man with the mask and black suit. "Who are you?" He asked as if he had some suspicion.
Azael remained silent for a while then replied. "Does it matter? You will try to kill me either way."
Azael was feeling slightly shameful. The reason being how he ran away leaving people here to die.
As much as Azael was selfish and greedy for his own good. He was also someone who had fought on the side of normal humans in his past life. Being a hunter and saving people was one of his jobs.
’Not forgetting...this is my home...my new family’s territory now...they tried to wreak havoc here...’
He needed to stop them, at least for a while until people ran away from this place. And hoped that the knights of Ignivar would come soon.
Azael walked alone now.