Cataclysm King

Chapter 448: The Emperor's Relic [Curse God Card: Spade 4]

After a brief discussion, the six members of Ji Xun's team moved towards the place where they saw Young Master Sak landed before.

It's not just about trying to gain some performance, but more importantly, it's also the best choice to pass the trial.

This kind of entrance examination has a death quota, and your chances of survival will be greater if you follow the strongest team.

The personal guard team around Young Master Sak was originally the strongest.

The light in the forest was dim, with only some luminous plants illuminating the general outline of the environment.

This environment is very suitable for assassins to sneak around.

But for most other people, vision is very limited.

The blurred vision gives people an indescribable sense of unknown horror.

This is a huge limitation for these young reserve knights who have rarely experienced life and death adventures.

Sister Zhuosha obviously had no practical experience at all. She was good at light magic. Just when she wanted to cast a spell to illuminate the environment, she was stopped by David on the tree branch and reminded: "Don't use light sources. You will just be a sitting duck!"

Although David is about the same age as everyone else, he has actually participated in adventures and wars, and has more practical experience than everyone else combined.

Coincidentally, just as he finished speaking, he saw a light source somewhere in the forest flash and disappear, accompanied by a scream and panicked curse: "Oh, damn it! Theodore was shot by an arrow, and the enemy is at nine o'clock."

It was obvious that the unlucky guy named Theodore had just exposed his position by lighting the way, and was immediately shot by the "bandit" with a spell crossbow.

This was a painful lesson the academy taught the new students with blood.

The noise not far away also made Zhuo Sha feel scared, and she quickly apologized to several teammates: "Sorry, I... I didn't know"

David didn't seem to mind at all. He stared sharply into the depths of the forest and said, "Without a light source, not only are we limited, but the bandits are also limited. If it is a trial, even if they are formal card masters, their strength will not be much stronger than our team. The only thing we have to be careful of is the 'traps'."

The team has gained basic familiarity through the exchanges over the past few days, and everyone knows that although this dark-skinned boy has a cold tone, he has a good heart.

Gang Duoduo and a few others thought what he said made sense and nodded in agreement.

Someone spoke up and explained these basic practical common sense, which saved Ji Xun a lot of trouble.

Although the plan is a bit simple, it basically takes into account everything that can be thought of.

He got along pretty well with his new teammates these days, and he also felt it would be better if these people could survive.

I don’t know if it was the academy’s intention to increase the difficulty, but the forest was soon filled with a thick fog of war.

Not only is the field of vision completely restricted, but even the direction of sounds cannot be distinguished.

Of course, no one dared to make loud noises in the forest.

As long as their tracks were exposed, there would surely be a burst of crossbow arrows breaking through the wind and heading in that direction.

The only sound in the forest was the rustling of leaves, which made people feel cold.

And so, the team of six continued to move forward.

Because they had to be on guard against "bandits" and traps hidden in the dark, they walked very slowly.

The qualifications of the more than one hundred reserve knights are carefully selected, and many of them have practical combat experience.

They also quickly adapted to the rhythm of the trial.

From time to time, there were sounds of fighting breaking out in the forest, and it seemed that they were fighting with those bandits.

Although Ji Xun showed due caution, he had no worries at all.

Since it has been confirmed that this is an entrance test, the risks can be anticipated.

As long as there are no major accidents, their team can basically protect themselves.

With Ji Xun around and David, whose strength far exceeds that of ordinary card players, basically no accidents will happen.

What's more, the dwarf Gang Duoduo and the lizard wizard Seri are also very powerful, there is no reason for them to die here.

But gradually, Ji Xun discovered that things seemed not quite as he expected.

The fighting in the forest was not as intense as expected.

In this case, either the two parties in the trial did not encounter each other;
Or, the strength of the "bandits" far exceeded that of these new students, so they were killed silently.

"That's strange. Why is there no fighting?"

Ji Xun was also a little confused.

Logically speaking, neither possibility should happen.

The normal trial scenario should be that the new students unite as one, then find those "bandits" and defeat them one by one.

Although there may be some casualties, overall we will be able to pass the trial safely.

Those college mentors hiding in the dark will also give evaluations based on the performance of these people.

However, why is there no movement?

The perception ability of the clone "Su Lun" is at the level of a normal card player, and his vision and hearing are also limited.

The fog of war limited his perception to a range of less than ten meters.

However, Ji Xun soon discovered that there was a big problem with this trial!

The six-member team did not move fast, but they groped their way cautiously, approaching the place where Young Master Sak was suspected to have landed.

However, the lizard wizard Seri suddenly discovered something, his expression changed, and he warned: "Be careful, there is a smell of blood ahead!"

Although the fog of war interferes with the sense of smell, the lizardmen's superb talent for smell is innate in their blood.

His sense of smell is sharper than that of canine monsters.

They also detect abnormalities earlier than others.

Bloody smell?

Corpse?

Hearing the reminder, everyone approached cautiously.

Knowing that they were very close, they saw two corpses wearing chain mail appear on the ground.

When Ji Xun saw this, his pupils suddenly shrank and a bad premonition came over him.

Even from a distance, he could smell the scent of conspiracy.

After checking the surroundings carefully and finding no traps, they moved closer.

Gale walked to the side of the corpses, turned over the faces of the two corpses, and said solemnly: "It's Benson and Bach. They are the guards around Master Sack."

Ji Xun had discovered it a long time ago.

When he saw their attire, he actually recognized who they were.

Benson and Bach are different from these reserve knights recruited from outside. Their fathers and even grandfathers are knights from the Duke of Landon's family.

So he became Young Master Sack's personal guard.

Similarly, these loyal guards who have been trained with great expense since childhood have much stronger equipment and combat capabilities than those at the same level.

But now, both of them are dead.

The death was very strange.

The moment they saw the two bodies, everyone in the team felt a chill in their hearts.

If we can kill these two elite soldiers now, we can also kill them.

Gail herself is an assassin. She looked at the wound and immediately said, "The wounds are all on the neck. This is the assassin card master's [Throat Slitting] dagger skill."

David also looked at the body and analyzed solemnly: "The blade is poisoned, and one strike will kill. The opponent is very strong and should have used a soundproof barrier. We didn't notice it before."

Having said this, he hesitated for a moment, as if he was doubting his own judgment.

"."

Ji Xun knew what he was wondering about.

Because judging from the wound, the strength of the assassin was far beyond the level that an apprentice could accurately judge.

Ji Xun's clone's strength is that of an apprentice.

But vision is not.

The moment he saw the wound, he figured out more clues that others could not see: "The wound is from bottom to top, the person must be lurking in the tree trunk and suddenly attacked. He is about 90 meters tall and left-handed. The wound is dark red and has a corrosive smell. There is a % probability that it is [Violet Paralysis Toxin]. The refining method is not very sophisticated. It looks like a civilian product that is only circulated in the black market. Is he really a bandit?"

A single clue cannot determine anything.

But with all the clues together, Ji Xun was able to completely reconstruct the appearance, strength, moves, and even the origins of the assassin in his mind.

But that's what's strange about him.

No matter how you look at it, the one who did it was a wild assassin.

Although his martial arts skills were not very advanced, his actions were extremely experienced and decisive, and it was obvious at first glance that he was a gangster who killed people frequently.

Therefore, Ji Xun was certain that the attacker must be a desperate criminal like a "real bandit".

How could the academy allow such a person to participate in the trial?

And the bigger doubt is:

No matter what this murderer is, one thing is certain, he is definitely not a first-level assassin!
Second-level assassin?

Ji Xun immediately realized that something was wrong.

If this was a trial at the academy, how could a second-level assassin appear?

Normally, the first level is enough for this group of reserve knights to be busy.

Even if the strongest Sak has the combat power of a first-level card master, he will basically die if he really faces a second-level card master.

But the fact is, the "mysterious man" in the forest really killed the two guards around Sack.

This means that the assassin was not arranged by the academy at all.

"No! Someone is trying to kill Sack by taking advantage of the college entrance exam."

Ji Xun's thoughts raced through his mind, and he instantly deduced the most reasonable explanation.

"No wonder there are always high-level card masters guarding Sack. Only after the academy trial and those guards are sent away will there be a chance to take action."

"It's most likely a hired murder. These assassins are cannon fodder. They must really be professional killers on the black market, or gangsters."

"To know the trial plan of the new students so clearly, the news must have leaked from within the Royal Academy. Moreover, someone else must have cooperated. In other words, there is an 80% chance that there is an 'insider' among the instructors of this trial assessment."

"."

This is a tightly-knit plan, and it is difficult for people to get a glimpse of the truth before it is exposed.

But Ji Xun's current realm of "I am the world" is already very high. Just after seeing the corpse for a moment, he has already deduced the whole ins and outs of the matter in his mind.

But this kind of assassination was nothing strange to him.

The plan is not very sophisticated and is not worth much consideration.

Anyway, it wasn't aimed at him, so Ji Xun didn't need to worry.

However, the problem is that Young Master Sack is the key to his admission to the Royal Academy this time.

If this guy was really assassinated during the trial, their group of reserve knights would most likely be implicated.

Not to mention that there is a high probability that he will be buried with the deceased or demoted to a slave.

There is absolutely no hope for going to school.

"Oh, this is troublesome."

Thinking of this, Ji Xun frowned.

If it was the second level at this moment, it would be difficult to solve the problem even if the clone wanted to help with his current strength.

But he couldn't let Sack really die.

Otherwise, if you want to create a new identity to enroll in school, it will be too late.

Thinking of this, Ji Xun thought again: "But then again, why did the guy behind the scenes hire someone to assassinate Sack?"

Under the feudal lord centralized system in the southern continent, the crime of assassinating a high-ranking noble would result in the confiscation of property and extermination of the entire clan.

Even the political enemies of Duke Langdon would never do such a despicable thing as attacking and killing the younger generation of the family.

personal enmity?

To have the guts to take action in the Royal Academy and to have such great power is not just a personal vendetta.

Thinking of this, Ji Xun finally became interested.

There are three main motives for murder: hatred, political purpose, and treasure.

Excluding the first two, what incredible treasure does Sack have?
Ji Xun's deduction led to this most likely reason.

However, in the deduction, there are some broken causal lines
This made him feel that the conspiracy behind this assassination was far more than just this.

But no matter what.
Since he didn't intend to watch Sack die, of course he would go and take a look.

"What do we do now?"

The other five people in the team have not yet realized the seriousness of the matter.

They looked at the corpse, which was still bleeding warm blood, with solemn expressions.

"Even Master Sack's guards are dead. Master may also be in danger."

"We are the reserve knights of the Duke's Palace. We must go and take a look."

"Ah."

"The assassin is very powerful, everyone be careful."

"."

After a brief discussion, everyone immediately decided to chase after and provide reinforcements.

Although they did not think that the academy's trials would pose a fatal threat to Master Sack.

But even if they encountered ordinary danger, these contracted knights could not retreat.

This is the clause in the emergency loyalty contract.

Everyone had been planning to continue to meet up with Sack's team, which saved Ji Xun the time of explaining.

However, he knew clearly that this situation was definitely not something that this group of apprentices could solve. As he walked, he came to the end of the team.

All five teammates were in sight, and Ji Xun quietly fell behind the team.

Then, without anyone noticing, he took out a very ordinary book of spells.

I opened it, tore off four specific pages, and glued them together.

This is no ordinary paper, but enchanted parchment disguised as a book page.

At this moment, those originally unrelated words were magically pieced together into a mysterious spell formation.

This was the simple space teleportation array that he had carried with him before.

Ji Xun knew that he couldn't handle the situation, so he could only summon his original body.

What's more, we are now near the college, so the main body can come over just in time.

After the splicing was completed, Ji Xun quietly hid the spiritual array in an inconspicuous tree hole.

Although the assassins blocked the sound transmission and used the fog of war to cover the vision, the traces of the battle in the forest could not be concealed.

Ji Xun's team of six walked along the way. Looking at the traces of fierce battlefield, they felt that things were not going well.

When they encountered corpses again and looked at the devastated battlefield, the six people instantly realized that something was wrong.

The brutality of the battlefield far exceeded expectations.

"Why is the battle so intense? What kind of trial did the academy organize?"

"This burning mark was caused by the ultimate-level spell card [Earth Dragon Breath]. And more than one card was used!"

"And these two bodies are also the guards around the young master."

"This is the young master's [Thunderbolt Cut]. He seems to be fighting desperately as well."

"."

Seeing the scene in front of them, David, Gang Duoduo and others' faces turned ugly.

At this moment, even the dumbest person would know that this fierce battle was no longer just a trial.

Ji Xun also looked at him with a slightly stern look.

Even if he has no guards around him, Sack, as the young master of the Duke's family, has many ways to protect himself and his guards.

A first-level ultimate card, this is a life-saving spell that card players would only use when they were desperate.

After all, when using this kind of profound spell across borders, the probability of being backlashed is extremely high, which is almost a "gamble with your life" approach.

It took at least a dozen photos to catch my eye.

This means that someone has gambled his life more than a dozen times.

It can be seen that the fight was really brutal.

Moreover, such a big commotion might be hidden from them, the card players, but it would be impossible to hide it from the instructors of the nearby academy.

This means that the college tutors have also taken action.

The situation is not good.

The simple teleportation array still needs some time to charge energy, and Ji Xun doesn't know whether his main body can arrive in time.

Seeing this scene, the assassin Gale's expression changed drastically, and he shouted anxiously: "Oh no, the young master may really be in danger!"

As she said this, she had no intention of negotiating at all, and said, "Hurry, let's hurry over there!"

Everyone was stunned when they heard this. Gale's behavior was a little abnormal.

But Ji Xun was not surprised at all.

In fact, she had discovered long ago that this assassin Gail was most likely a "spy" planted in the team by the Duke's Mansion.

It seems that there is absolute trust in these reserve knights who have signed the contract, but in fact there are some hidden arrangements.

But there was no time to say anything now.

Everyone knew that if Young Master Sack was really killed, they would all die as well.

Seri, Gang Duoduo, Zhuo Sha and Ji Xun looked at each other and nodded seriously.

Even David said nothing.

As soon as the words fell, the six of them rushed towards the direction of the battle traces without hesitation.

They didn't care about any traps and chased at full speed.

This decisive decision also allowed them to hear the sounds of fighting soon.

But along the way, we encountered more corpses.

Not only did they think about this problem, but other reserve knight teams also thought about it.

But the result of chasing after them to protect their young master was that they became corpses in the forest.

These apprentices had little ability to resist the bandits, including at least one second-level assassin.

Ji Xun ran all the way, observing the wounds on the bodies, and came to a conclusion: "There were at least three enemies who attacked, two second-level enemies and one first-level enemy. They were all assassins."

It's really tricky.

But the young master Saen was not dead yet, which was a little beyond his expectations.

"So there is a treasure on you?"

Ji Xun murmured in his heart.

Since he's not dead yet, this is the only possible outcome.

He became more and more curious about what the treasure was that could save Sack's life.

"Quick, dispel the fog!"

Ji Xun and the other six ran wildly and soon discovered that the sound of a battle was very close.

Now there is no need to worry about being exposed. The Lizard Mage Seri used [Purification] to disperse the fog around him.

Suddenly, they heard several sounds of fierce fighting in the distance.

When Ji Xun saw the figure flashing with lightning, he felt relieved.

It's better not to die.

Seeing this, he decisively shouted at the top of his voice: "Master, we are the knights of the sixteenth team!"

This shout is not just to show off loyalty.

The real purpose is to distinguish between friend and foe so as to avoid being accidentally injured by Sack and the guards.

Furthermore, the more important purpose is to attract the enemy's attention!
Only by reducing the pressure over there can Young Master Sak survive.

Sure enough, this shout boosted the morale of Sack and his group on the opposite side, and immediately attracted the enemy's attention.

"Hey, here come some more people seeking death!"

It was as if a scornful laugh was heard, and a disdainful voice came from the void.

Ji Xun didn't sense where the enemy was, but he used a [Shock Blast Card] without hesitation.

With a "bang", a gust of air exploded in front of him.

Gang Duoduo and others were still wondering if this "Su Lun" was stupid and was going to blow himself up?

However, before they could figure out what was happening, a transparent shadow appeared in the explosion, and they were extremely surprised.

"what?"

It seemed as if the assassin was very surprised. How did he get discovered?

Ji Xun's clone didn't have the ability to discover it, but the shout he just made exposed his position and his identity as the "backbone" of the team.

And he was dressed in French attire.

If he were an assassin, he would definitely kill the squishy targets first.

So he predicted that the enemy would kill him first, so he used the [Shock Blast Card].

This card isn't very powerful, but it can have a large-scale impact in all directions.

It is more than enough to deal with this basic stealth technique.

When they saw the transparent sound and shadow appear, Gang Duoduo and the others suddenly realized what was going on.

They were shocked by Ji Xun's extreme reaction and shouted in unison: "It's an assassin! Use the developing powder!"

The most dangerous moment is before they are exposed!

Now that it has appeared, the threat has been reduced by half.

In an instant, the developing powder was all over the floor.

Wherever the assassin lands, he will be discovered.

The dwarf Gang Duoduo was not afraid at all. Holding the small round shield in his hand, he used the martial art [Charge] towards the phantom.

After all, there was a big rank difference between them. Although the assassin was forced out of position by the explosion, he twisted his body and avoided this reckless straight charge.

However, because of this evasive action, the trajectory of the body has been predicted.

As soon as he stepped on the ground, several green vines quickly grew out from the ground and wrapped around him.

"Damn it!"

The assassin cursed inwardly as he saw his feet entangled in vines, then swung his dagger and cut the vines off like lightning.

But this action made his body stiffen again.

At this moment, a dagger was already close to his neck.

It turned out to be the assassin Gail in the team who took action!

However, looking at this assassination technique full of flaws, the assassin did not feel threatened at all. With a sneer in his eyes, he blocked the dagger of his colleague who was one major rank lower than him with one knife.

Then he casually cut the tendon with a knife, leaving a bloody line on Gale's wrist.

Gale groaned and instantly realized the horror of approaching death.

It was at this encounter that this first-level assassin resolved the joint attack of four people in the team.

Originally, he only needed to strike Gale next to him with one more blow, and then he could kill three more mages and the battle would be over.

But at this moment, the assassin never expected that he would suddenly hear the sound of "pa pa" of stepping in the air.

Before he could figure out what was happening, he saw a dark-skinned young man rushing towards him from the blind spot he had just seen.

He wanted to dodge, but his tendons were cut. Gail gritted his teeth, turned over and kicked him in the knee with a "Knee Breaker".

The assassin's previous series of actions had already pushed his body to its limit, and now he could only dodge to the side.

Thinking that if his knee was injured, it might affect his body movement, he decisively chose to dodge and fight against the dark-skinned boy.

"Oh!"

At this moment of decision, the fist had already hit the assassin's back steadily.

There was only a muffled sound of the sandbag, and a strange force flowed into the body from the fist.

The assassin's expression froze for a moment, and then his teeth gritted their teeth!

"how is this possible?"

He opened his bloodshot eyes wide, as if he couldn't believe that this apprentice's punch could be so terrifying.
The huge force was still pouring into his internal organs, and the assassin had no time to retract the dagger that Gale, who he originally wanted to kill, had to use. His body lost the force and flew backwards with a bang.

With another "bang", the assassin hit the big tree several meters away heavily, and couldn't help but spurt out a mouthful of blood.

At the same time, he looked at the dark-skinned boy with an expression of disbelief.

This punch not only shocked the assassin, but also Gang Duoduo and other teammates.

This... That guy knocked a first-level card master away with one punch?
Under normal circumstances, a first-level card master has cursed power to protect him, and it is difficult for the card apprentice's methods to cause effective damage.

But the scene before his eyes was that David's punch was so real that it made his opponent spit blood as soon as it hit his face.

Sack and the guards glanced over here and were equally surprised.

Two reinforcement teams had arrived before, but they were killed by these well-prepared professions.

They didn't have time to remind them just now, and they thought that this "Team 16" was going to repeat the same mistake again.

However, unexpectedly, these six people cooperated and severely injured the professional assassin?
Not far away, only Ji Xun was not surprised at all.

It is indeed difficult for an ordinary Qigong master to injure a first-level assassin in one encounter, but [Ba Quan] is different.

Just now, David used his Tyrant Fist to activate the [Second Extreme Collapse] and directly injected the power into the opponent's body, so it was expected that the assassin would be seriously injured.

However, looking at that punch, Ji Xun also praised: "This guy's martial arts talent is really amazing."

You know, he has been secretly observing David practicing boxing these days.

But before that, he definitely didn't have the power to deliver that punch just now.

The punch just now was obviously a breakthrough from the crisis before the battle, which produced such unexpected results.

With such understanding and talent, it’s no wonder that Gong Wu can teach real skills.

But the reality is that people don't have enough time to think about it.

David had stepped on the ground again, the air exploded, and he rushed forward.

Ji Xun had predicted this scenario in advance. Originally, he could have taken action in advance according to his prediction, but he deliberately hesitated for a moment before releasing the card in his hand - [Black Oil Technique].

The assassin's blood was boiling and he wanted to avoid the dark-skinned boy, not caring about his injuries, when he saw him rushing towards him.

However, unexpectedly, when he kicked the ground, a pool of black asphalt-like mucus suddenly appeared under his feet.

At the moment when his body was unstable, David's fist as big as a sandbag hit him on the forehead.

"Boom!"

This punch was a solid one.

The skill of [Ba Quan] allowed Ivan to not be at a disadvantage even when facing a first-level assassin.

After two successful sneak attacks, he punched down repeatedly with heavy punches.

On the other side, the dwarf Gang Duoduo also rushed forward with a shield and axe in hand.

Ji Xun and Se Li, two magic systems, are used for long-range restraint.

Although they didn't have much tacit understanding, the four against one completely overwhelmed the assassin and left him no room to fight back.

The battles between low-level card masters don't last for three hundred rounds. One fatal mistake and it's all over.

In the end, the thick-skinned dwarf Gang Duoduo ignored the risks and forcibly controlled the enemy after being stabbed twice.

David punched the opponent's neck several more times, and heard the sound of bone breaking. He died on the spot!

The six-man team killed a high-level enemy in their first collaboration.

Everyone let out a long breath.

This scene happened to be seen by Young Master Sak who was fighting fiercely in the distance, and he was equally surprised.

I was surprised that there was such a talent among the Knights.

Ye Xi was happy that he finally had reinforcements to help him share some of the pressure.

Ji Xun, who had not performed very well from beginning to end, did not look at the dead first-level assassin much.

In the eyes of others, the assassin had just died a second ago.

However, in Ji Xun's eyes, this guy was already dead from the moment he shouted that.

In his eyes, there was nothing surprising about a battle of this magnitude.

Compared to some second-rate assassin, Ji Xun is more interested in other things.

He glanced at the golden card floating in Young Master Sack's hand and narrowed his eyes: "[Cursed God Card - Spade 4]. Hey, this guy actually has the emperor's relic in his hand, no wonder..."

It is precisely because of this relic of the great emperor that Sack is still alive today.

(End of this chapter)