Caesar did not bring his entire force. He only took four assassins with him, making a total of five people including himself.
His own strength was at the Low-tier Transcendent rank, which was by no means the top within his team.
On the other hand, the other four were all genuine High-tier Transcendent experts.
Caesar, whose strength was not the highest, was able to firmly suppress this group of unruly, blood-stained experts. He had never relied solely on brute force.
It was his exquisite political skills, which allowed him to mold people with different desires into a cohesive unit.
It was his precise bundling of personal favors and mutual benefits that kept his subordinates both in awe of him and unable to leave.
Even more so, it was the “debt of gratitude” for saving their lives, as he had led them to escape certain death time and again through almost cold-blooded decisions in desperate situations.
This was how he became the unquestionable leader of that chaotic, depraved crowd that believed only in power.
The ruthlessness and decisiveness in his bones far exceeded ordinary people's imagination.
This ruthlessness was not only directed at his enemies; when necessary, he never showed mercy to his own people either.
“Spread out and search. Find the exact location of the Saintess.”
After entering the mine.
Caesar's voice echoed in a low tone within the dim mine shaft, carrying an unquestionable tone of command.
“Once you find them, do not act rashly. Send a signal and wait for everyone to gather before launching a fatal blow together.”
“Remember, do not touch that mage named Lin Gui.”
“What about Princess Elvia?” asked Black Scorpion, the assassin who was jealous of Viper.
Caesar said in a deep voice.
“If she gets in our way, then send her to the grave along with the Saintess.”
“Leader, our targets are just a chick knight, a weakling mage, and that defenseless Saintess!”
One of the assassins, whose eyes were filled with lust and went by the code name “Lust Demon,” could not help but complain.
He had long been drooling over the Saintess's appearance and body.
On the stage, her holy, angel-like aura had left him utterly obsessed.
“Five Transcendent experts against them is like squashing bugs! We should just rush in and chop them to pieces. Why are we wasting so much time?”
Caesar's cold gaze swept over, the chill in his eyes making Lust Demon's skin tighten.
“Obey orders. I do not want any accidents to happen. It is always better to be safe than sorry.”
Lust Demon grunted in response, though his face was filled with displeasure and dismissal.
Caesar cast a harsh glance at him.
Then, he exchanged a cold look with another assassin beside him who had remained silent and had a face as cold as ice.
The cold-faced assassin gave an almost imperceptible nod, his eyes filled with killing intent as he looked at Lust Demon.
Only then did Caesar withdraw his gaze.
Under his direction, the five assassins simultaneously extinguished the magic lamps they carried.
Their figures melted into the twisted shadows of the mine, silently beginning to penetrate deeper.
According to the feedback received from the mages outside via their alchemical creatures.
The three targets had been moving at a high frequency inside the mine last night.
Moreover, their movement trajectories were quite bizarre, and their locations were extremely close to their stronghold and traps.
Yet, the mages had not detected any trace of reconnaissance from them.
The last place the alchemical creatures captured their location was at the eastern side of the deep mine... the No. 3 Mine Platform.
It was once a place where miners gathered to rest and store their tools.
The assassin code-named “Viper” was the first to quietly make his way toward No. 3 Mine.
As a High-tier Transcendent assassin, his stealth techniques had already reached perfection.
When he moved, even the sound of the wind was almost entirely absorbed by his body, and his footsteps left no noticeable traces on the accumulated dust.
When he heard Caesar's explicit order not to harm Lin Gui,
Viper actually felt a massive sigh of relief in his heart.
He felt grateful toward that messenger mage who had indirectly brought him news of his younger brother, casting a glimmer of light into his hopeless life.
He did not want the man to suffer any harm.
The reason he rushed toward No. 3 Mine first was to find Lin Gui before his other companions did.
He wanted to restrain or lead him away, preventing him from being caught in the crossfire of the chaotic assassination.
If Lust Demon or the other two guys found him first,
there was no telling what outrageous things they would do, and what if they accidentally harmed that mage...
Right then, a figure caught up with a distinct sound of rushing wind. It was Lust Demon.
At this moment, he was not using any stealth techniques at all.
His face bore an undisguised expression of disdain and greedy lust for the Saintess's body.
Viper deactivated his stealth, revealing his figure from the shadows as he questioned coldly.
“The leader ordered us to spread out and search. Why are you following me?”
Lust Demon licked his lips and grinned sinisterly.
“Viper, stop fucking acting all righteous in front of me!”
“That Saintess has such tender skin. Wouldn't it be a waste if she just died?”
“I'm going to have some fun first, to let her know what a real man is before she dies! You, get lost!”
A flash of disgust crossed Viper's eyes.
He knew Lust Demon's nature well; the man was a habitual rapist and murderer.
Nobles, commoners, and even lone female members within the rebels—he would target anyone without any bottom line.
However, he had no mind to care about this right now; he only cared about Lin Gui's safety.
Viper ignored him, his figure suddenly accelerating.
He shot toward the depths of No. 3 Mine like an arrow leaving a bow.
This action of his instead infuriated Lust Demon.
Lust Demon misunderstood Viper's intentions, thinking that he also wanted to get his hands on the Saintess first and monopolize the “spoils of war.”
Instantly burning with rage, he cursed and chased after him at full speed.
The speed of High-tier Transcendent assassins was incredibly fast.
The intricate tunnels within the mine felt like flat ground under their feet.
In less than a minute, the two of them rushed one after the other into the No. 3 Mine area marked on the map.
This was a relatively open platform.
On one side of the rock wall, a few dilapidated, simple tents once used by miners for resting still remained.
Viper was faster. With a sprint, he arrived in front of the nearest tent and violently pulled open the heavy dust curtain!
The tent was completely empty.
Viper's expression froze.
Seeing this, the closely following Lust Demon shoved Viper aside without ceremony.
He rushed inside impatiently, muttering excitedly.
“Little beauty, stop hiding. Let big brother treat you well...”
However, the expected panicked, beautiful face of the Saintess did not appear.
There were only some rotting wooden crates, rusted pickaxes, and scattered clutter inside the tent, emitting a heavy musty odor.
Refusing to give up, Lust Demon pulled out his magic lamp and clicked it open with a snap.
The piercing light instantly dispersed the darkness inside the tent, illuminating every single corner clearly.
It was indeed empty.
“Damn it! Are they playing with me?!”
Lust Demon was so angry that veins bulged on his forehead. He kicked the empty wooden crate in front of him to splinters.
“When I get out of here, I'm going to gouge out the eyes of those useless mages outside and stomp on them like bubbles!”
Viper also slipped into the tent. Ignoring Lust Demon's temper, he quickly squatted down, his sharp eyes scanning the ground.
There were distinct, fresh footprints of multiple people on the accumulated dust, as well as dragging marks, and... the embers of a campfire that had only recently gone out.
“They indeed stayed here, and they didn't leave long ago,” Viper calmly assessed.
The lustful light in Lust Demon's eyes grew even stronger: “They can't have run far! Chase them!”
He dashed out of the tent in a single stride.
Meanwhile, Viper's eyes narrowed slightly, stopping at an inconspicuous spot in the corner of the tent where the dirt had clearly been disturbed.
Heart stirring, he squatted down and carefully brushed away the loose soil with his fingers.
Under the soil, a small object was buried.
A few strands of hair gleaming with a faint, ginkgo-gold hue were carefully wrapped around a small wooden stick.
Making it look like an extremely crude... little doll?
Viper's pupils contracted slightly.
“What is this?”
Rate on N.U.
