Witch, Fireball and Steam Evil God

Chapter 405 A Born Killer

Elemental Shaper?
An unfamiliar class, never before seen in the Silver Empire, further convinced the Skinner of her suspicions. The young man before her was the kind of pampered young master she despised, who had somehow learned a few spells and mistakenly believed he understood the meaning of combat.

However, she still decided to keep her promise and leave this arrogant young nobleman to be dealt with last.

As an executioner trained by the Simpler family, she knew countless ways to paralyze her prey.

The skinners don't pursue quick kills; they enjoy the process of torturing their prey, feeling life slip away, bleeding to the point of exhaustion, their entire bodies dominated by pain, and witnessing firsthand the entire process of their skin being peeled off. This is the true mastery of their craft.

So she targeted Ethan's wrist first.

In an instant, she covered a distance of more than ten meters to reach her prey. She had conducted countless similar hunts, and whether the prey was a superhuman or a commoner, the sharp blade in her hand would easily cut through their skin.

The target is tesuji (a type of scalpel), and for a skilled hunter, they only need four strikes to paralyze their prey.

Knife up and down.

As usual, the Skinner heard a muffled sound behind him, the cry of Evelyn, whose mouth was gagged. She must have witnessed the entire process of this reckless young man having his tendons severed.

The skinner quickly distanced himself from the two, his maniacal laughter echoing through the woods.

"I see, so you're a follower of Cynthia?"

However, the expected cry of pain did not come; instead, she heard a young man's commentary-like tone.

They fight with daggers and can instantly move more than ten meters. Their style is more like that of an assassin. However, there is no specific faith path for assassins among them. Stealth and assassination are mostly the fighting style of Cynthia's followers.

Cynthia has the most followers, and their fighting style is the most "free".

Raising monsters and forming contracts with them; learning the art of mimicry to imitate the fighting style of wild beasts and transforming into a half-human, half-beast alien in battle; or specializing in stealth assassination, silently disappearing into the shadows—these are all forms of assassins.

The skinner paused, quite certain that she had chopped off Ethan's wrist.

This is true.

She clearly saw Ethan shake his wrist, where there was a distinct cut, but what flowed from the wound was not blood, but some ominous dark substance.

She had never heard of such magic before, and if she had to describe it, it would remind her of a demon king.

Not right.

Her leaping figure paused, and two throwing knives flew from her sleeves, piercing Ethan's heart and forehead. The unknown fear forced her to change her plans; both knives were thrown with the intention of killing Ethan.

Ethan obediently stood still, having learned from Winter's experience at the academy, and amicably followed the rule that "Elemental Shapers" needed to chant incantations, otherwise it would be too unbalanced in a formal duel.

This time, the skinner saw it clearly.

The two daggers that struck Ethan pierced through his body, as if they had struck air rather than human flesh. The same darkness emerged from his heart and between his eyebrows, where the daggers had pierced him.

She was not facing a human being, but some kind of alien being disguised as a noble youth in human skin.

The moment this thought crossed his mind, the skinner's fear reached its peak.

Why is this alien in human skin here, and why does he want to go to the capital?

as well as……

Was the death of Hetia, the Grand Summoner of Gear City, and Baron Flin related to him?
In an instant, countless thoughts flashed through her mind. She almost immediately thought of the deaths of these two people, both of which were full of suspicious points that the Gear City sheriff could not explain, as well as the musketeer captain who seemed to have gone mad and stormed into the police station, taking all the blame upon himself.

The skinner immediately made a judgment.

She had to leave and take this news back to the capital, back to Grand Duke Ash—something had happened in Gear City that they were unaware of.

Her gaze swept across the shadows beneath the ancient tree, and she activated her ability again, teleporting more than ten meters away and crashing into the darkness.

However, this time, the techniques that had been used countless times failed to work.

An irresistible pull came from behind her, and the young man cast his first spell on her, which was also the only spell he used in this battle. Everything behind her was swallowed by darkness, leaving only a pitch-black vortex, as if even the concepts of time and space would be torn into that vortex.

Before she could utter a sound, darkness swallowed her up.

The last thing she heard was the sound of flesh and bones being crushed and crushed. Before she could even feel the pain, her consciousness vanished into nothingness.

As the shadows faded, the black cat that had jumped onto Ethan's shoulder yawned.

A boring match.

Perhaps if the skinner hadn't chosen to run away, she would have had more opportunities to use her skills.

Ethan, victorious, came to Evelyn's side and untied her. Instead of thanking her, the rescued Miss Evelyn hid in the bushes like a frightened little animal—she had clearly seen the sudden darkness pull the Skinner, who was trying to escape, into it, as if she had been swallowed whole.

"Who...who are you? No, what are you?!"

She peeked out from the bushes, her eyes filled with wariness.

She had initially thought Ethan was just a skilled negotiator and decided to stay and assist Lance in negotiating with the approaching Imperial Army. But who would have thought he would eat people! Although he wasn't eating good people, the scene was still terrifying.

"As I said, I am an elemental sculptor."

What is an Elemental Shaper?

"Simply put, it's a class that cultivates elemental magic and befriends elemental spirits in nature."

Ethan explained, "I just used Shadow Bolt from the elemental evocation spell."

The full name of the spell is Shadow Arrow - Black Hole.

“Miss Evelyn, you can rest assured that I am absolutely not a suspicious person, much less a psychopathic killer.”

"It's hard to say..."

Once again, Ethan's attempts to clarify his situation failed.

Evelyn suddenly realized something and felt a little embarrassed. After all, Ethan had just saved her from the Skinner. Even if he was a monster in human skin, he could perhaps be considered a friendly monster for the time being.

Her wariness and skepticism were indeed a bit impolite. "I'm sorry, but... you're too skilled; it doesn't seem like this is your first time doing this."

Evelyn has now come to her senses. She suddenly realizes that Ethan never seemed to take the fearsome Skinner seriously from the beginning. Their battle looks more like a cat-and-mouse game, where the cat always lets its prey run a distance before swallowing it.

"Let's go back to camp first."

Ethan awkwardly changed the subject, and Evelyn was right about that. Although his elemental magic was all basic introductory spells, his proficiency with it was indeed very high.

He gleaned some additional information from the skinner's words.

People's understanding of the Skinners seems to be flawed. Most people think of them as cruel executioners, but now it seems that it is an organization, and every member of the organization is what the people of the Silver Empire know as "Skinners." Grand Duke Ash trained them, made them the family's henchmen, and provided them with the opportunity to unleash their cruel nature.

Besides teleportation, throwing knives, and disappearing into the shadows, the Skinner can also disguise herself using the skins of the people she peels off. This is why she kidnapped Evelyn here. If she had arrived any later, another "Evelyn" might have appeared in the camp soon.

He had to admit that the skinners were practically born to assassinate.

Then a new problem arose.

How many skinners did Grand Duke Esch send out, and where are they now?
The rebels in the camp were unaware of the Skinners' abilities. After Lance gave the order, everyone was busy preparing supplies for the evacuation of the Empire. At this time, even if a few people suddenly disappeared for a period of time, no one else would notice.

It's not scary to confront the skinners head-on; what's scary is not knowing where they've gone.

This reminded Ethan of the shapeshifters mentioned in "Take You to Know 100 Dark Creatures." Although they are not individually very destructive, they have become the nightmare of every Witcher. After they disappear for a period of time, they may become anyone you see.

In comparison, the skinners are more deadly and powerful. They wear human skin on their bodies and do not have the weaknesses of dark creatures, nor can they be detected by the spells of the Cult of Life.

..............................

At the same time, a rebel soldier with hurried steps ran towards Lance.

He was drenched in sweat and breathless from running, and before he even got close, he shouted to Lance, "Lord Lance, something terrible has happened! Evelyn has disappeared!"

"Evelyn!?"

Lance was startled. He immediately put his greatsword down and faced the panting rebels. "What happened?"

“We were just counting heads and supplies with Evelyn when we came out and found she was gone! All along the way, she kept saying she could hear strange noises and felt like someone was spying on us in the forest…”

"Don't be anxious, speak slowly."

“Evelyn suspects someone has infiltrated the camp. She must have gone to check while we were taking inventory of supplies. If she encountered attackers in the forest, I'm afraid, I'm afraid—”

The moment Lance glanced towards the distant forest, the panicked rebel suddenly changed his tone and stabbed Lance in the lower back with a dagger hidden in his sleeve. All of this happened in the blink of an eye. Although Lance had dodged in time, the blade of the dagger still pierced his side.

"I'm afraid that stupid woman has already been skinned alive and thrown away like trash."

As he spoke, he turned back several times, grinning maliciously, and said, "Your vigilance is much higher than that stupid woman's. If it were anyone else, that one blow would have already damaged their internal organs... Lance, the strongest man in the empire, how long can you hold on in this state?"

Lance retreated to the greatsword and slammed it into the ground. The pain in his waist made his vision somewhat blurry. Logically speaking, an injury of this severity should not have put him in such a state. The only explanation was that he had applied poison to the dagger.

"Did you notice? But you're lucky; they hope you can return to the capital alive."

Lance heard more footsteps.

Three more rebels arrived, and his expression grew even more grave.

This wasn't reinforcements. The four men occupied four different directions, blocking all his escape routes. They knew the swordsman's fighting style well and were wary of the greatsword in his hand, so they didn't give him a chance to close the distance.

The daggers were constantly being blocked by the battle aura, but they were very good at taking advantage of the gaps created by the poison. After a few rounds, Lance's thighs and arms were covered with wounds left by the flying blades, and more and more venom seeped into his body.

This was definitely the most frustrating battle he had ever experienced in his life.

These people not only understood his fighting style, but also devised targeted tactics.

His vision became increasingly blurred, his steps grew heavier and heavier, and his battle aura could no longer maintain the protection of his entire body. All the flying blades were aimed at his limbs—the attackers' purpose was clear: all their actions were aimed at completely incapacitating him.

Under the influence of the venom, this desperate struggle did not last long.

They treated it like a large monster, and under their relentless attacks, the two-meter-tall body collapsed with a crash.

"Tsk, it seems we overestimated him."

Before reaching Lance, the attacker's sleeve thread entangled the greatsword that had fallen beside Lance, flinging it aside.

The other two then produced a device resembling handcuffs.

This is an item that Grand Duke Ash specifically used to deal with high-ranking superhumans; the electric current it generates can calm down any superhuman.

They mocked the fallen giant; everything had settled.

Grand Duke Esh only requires Lance and Solan to be brought back to the capital alive; as for the others in the camp, they can decide for themselves.

However, the next moment, something unexpected happened.

The giant, who had been unconscious, suddenly opened his eyes. His bloodshot eyes were filled with murderous intent. Having lost his greatsword, he simply used his hands to restrain the attacker who was trying to handcuff him. The veins on his arms bulged as he forcefully slammed the attacker's head into the ground.

The force, enough to smash a head, had no effect whatsoever.

Suddenly, the attacker unleashed an irresistible force, breaking free from his grip. Under the bright moonlight, Lance witnessed a scene he would never forget.

Beneath the torn skin, his original face was revealed, with deep, bone-revealing wounds.

However, he did not die.

Because what was exposed in the wound was not human bone, but some kind of metallic-like substance.

What exactly are they?
"Lance."

The face uttered a cold voice, "The game of the hero is over. This is the natural order."

(End of this chapter)