Fire Mage

Chapter 461: Assassin

Although the 'Nature's Leaf' ability had activated on its own earlier, it still couldn't able to block the spear!

A cracked green layer appeared around his body and appeared to be on the verge of breaking down. Scarlet blood poured out from his chest and drenched his formal attire.

But what was more shocking was that the spear even seemed to have entered the Astral Plane and even touched his soul and consciousness.

Although it didn't damage a bit, this action startled him greatly. The only thing left untouched by this spear was his elemental form.

'My elemental form is in my Inner World, otherwise… Nah, my elemental form is tough to break due to the presence of Rebirth Flame. Still, this spear is something else.'

For the first time, a serious look appeared on Charles's face. To this day, he considered the Faith Realm Knights and Sorcerers as some tribal Shamans and Knights with little to no knowledge about Essence-related spells. This incident showed him that one shouldn't underestimate the tribal Shamans.

'The enemy knows about Astral Plane and also seemed to be aware of my abilities. Is he from the Light Church? Or from the organization that belongs to Nash?' He frowned as he analyzed the situation at an unimaginable speed.

Even though he was injured deeply, not a single sigh of emotion appeared on his face.

At that moment, Melody and Irzoch also noticed the sneak attack and attacked the area where the spatial crack was. Unfortunately, they were too late.

By the time their attack spells went towards the spatial crack, the enemy had long finished his sneak attack and withdrawn while leaving the golden spear behind! ????????n????e????????. ????????ｍ

"Don't waste your time." Charles spat out a mouthful of blood as he said those words, let out a deep sigh, and then added.

"Stay away from me."

Saying so, he took a deep breath, took a few steps forward, and analyzed the surroundings.

'What kind of attack was that? Why didn't I see clear visions? The enemy has a way to fool my future self?' Multiple thoughts whirled in his head in just a second.

Without any delay, he transformed into his fire-elemental form for a split second, directly pulled the golden spear from his chest, and stored it inside his space ring. After that, he returned to his human appearance and noticed that the wound on his chest was too severe.

'I was careless earlier. I didn't expect the enemy to use a 'Thought Interfering' spell. Moreover, my opponent's wisdom power is higher than mine. He is most possibly an Awaken, has a dream-related ability… Or did he use some artifact?'

While thinking, he suddenly cast [Crimson Steps] spell, took a step forward, and disappeared while leaving blurry images. A moment later, he appeared three steps away from where he stood before, turned around in an instant, and saw a deep spatial crack that appeared behind him.

At that moment, a purple-colored liquid-coated dagger came out from the deep crack, tore through the air quickly, and soon landed on the opposite side wooden tree.

Simultaneously, the enemy seemed alerted by his action and instantly dismissed the spatial crack.

'Tsk! The enemy is too cunning and is lurking around me like some poisonous snake.' Even though he didn't sense any abnormality near him, he felt a strange prying sensation.

Charles then raised his hand, placed it on his chest, cast the [Life of Fire] spell, and healed the severe wound on his chest. At the same time, he also cast [Sun's Shield] spell on himself and protected himself from any sneak attack. As he cast the spell, a sunshine layer appeared around his body, covered him like a force-field, and gave him a warm feeling.

Although this shield wasn't strong enough to block the enemy's attack, it could delay the opponent's attack speed.

After preparing, he took a step forward, moved towards the area where the spatial crack appeared earlier and probed the place using his wisdom power.

'Hmm, I feel similar divine power around this area. As I thought, the church is after this assassination attempt, huh. The enemy seems to be using some kind of domain power to move around… The question is: What domain does he belong to?' He paused for a moment, cast [Arcane Eyes] skill, and studied the remnant divine energy.

As he made contact with the divine power, a strange sense of justice, righteousness and honesty appeared in the deepest part of his heart.

At that moment, he wanted to turn himself to the Light Church for committing crimes!

'What the hell was this feeling?' He muttered to himself in shock.

Just when he was about to probe further about this divine power, his [Sixth Sense] and [Prevision] skill triggered on their own and warned him.

He turned into his fire-elemental form without any delay and saw another spatial crack that appeared before his forehead!

Like before, a long sharp sword came out of the spatial crack, pierced through his elemental head, and appeared on the other side.

But instead of doing any harm to his body, the sword melted within two seconds and fell.

On the other hand, Charles suddenly raised his hand and grabbed the hand that came from the cracked spatial crack.

Then, he cast [Sleight of Mystery Hand] skill, released hundreds of invisible strings, and let them pass to the other side of the spatial crack.

He manipulated those invisible strings a moment later and soon caught a humanoid figure from inside!

Even though the enemy seemed to have found a way to counter his [Forewarning] and [Multi-Vision] skills, he wasn't an omnipotent being.

'My [Prevision] and [Sixth Sense] skills are still working properly.' A smile appeared on Charles's face.

Indeed, the enemy wasn't powerful enough to completely block him from seeing his future.

Moreover, Charles even managed to see blurred future images like earlier and acted calmly.

He first manipulated the spatial elements using the False Fire, created a spatial vortex, and pulled the assassin from the other side of the separate domain.

A moment later, a humanoid figure came out from it and soon crashed ten meters away from him.

The assassin was a middle-aged man, had multi-colored eyes, long brown hair with a mustache, rough-looking face, and he appeared to be around 175 to 180 cm high. Currently, he wore a grey robe, a red scarf around his neck, and held a golden crosier in his right hand.

"You are indeed sharp, Flame Demon!" A cold voice emerged out of the assassin's mouth.

Upon hearing those words, Charles raised his eyebrows in surprise and used [Inspect] skill on the intruder. But to his shock, the only thing that appeared on the blue screen was nothing but question marks.

"Who are you?" Charles sized the man up and down and asked.

On the other hand, Melody seemed to have found out the intruder's identity and explained.

"He is the Cardinal of the Light Church and also held the position of Head Deacon, My Lord. His name is Smith, and he is specialized in assassination and stealth missions." She paused for a moment and then added.

"But I don't have any information about his strength."

'Oh? A cardinal, huh. He is definitely an Awaken-Level Knight.' Charles instantly linked his mind with the green pendant and gave a specific order towards the artifact.

A second later, Melody and Irzoch felt dizziness suddenly and soon got sucked into a void.

Meanwhile, the Light Cardinal Smith got stunned by their disappearance and soon shifted his gaze towards Charles's green pendant.

"A pocket dimension?" A flash of surprise appeared on his face.