"Is this the place?"
A burly man stared at the large forest in front of him with a murderous gaze. His eyes scanned from left to right, trying to find any signs of life within the vicinity.
"Why are you asking such a stupid question? You should be able to see it too, right?" Another man responded.
"I see it, but I can't believe it. These women sure have balls, openly inviting us like this."
Proto gnashed his teeth as he spoke. He was already someone who hated the feeling of being looked down upon, but being looked down on by a woman was even worse.
"Tch. Let's just go. Regardless of what they have up their sleeves, they can't do shit to me."
Proto puffed out his chest and flared his aura. Without hesitation, he walked into the forest while brazenly showing off his position.
Nali sighed before following him in. 'Something doesn't feel right about this.' He thought inwardly, but there wasn't anything he could do at this juncture.
He wanted revenge as much as the next person, but he was more careful in how he went about it. He didn't like how brazen Proto as being.
But the die had already been cast.
Nali walked through the forest carefully, spreading his awareness outside his body to prepare for any sudden attacks. Unfortunately, his mind was relatively underdeveloped, so his awareness could only spread a few hundred meters away. But this was still enough space to allow him time to react.
Shiver!
As he walked further, he felt an inexplicable chill run down his body. The forest around him suddenly dimmed, as if the moonlight had been blocked by the dense foliage above.
'No, it's not that.'
His eyes hardened as he began circulating mana through his body. His eyes darted vigilantly from side to side, and his awareness became concentrated to the extreme.
Rustle!
"Who?!"
Nali swiftly turned around, throwing a fierce punch in the direction of the sound. With a bang, the trees and bushes in the direction of his fist were reduced to dust.
'There's nobody?' His eyes furrowed when he realized this. 'Have I become too paranoid?'
Swoosh!
As he had the thought, something sped into the range of his awareness, reaching his position before he could even register what it was.
"Fuck!"
He twisted his body unnaturally, narrowly dodging the attack that had been aimed at him. Using the momentum of his spin, he threw a punch at the fleeing predator.
'Damn. That thing is fast.' He thought, noticing his blow had failed to land. But even though he didn't gain a substantial advantage, he at least knew that he was truly being targeted.
Since it wasn't paranoia, he maintained his extremely vigilant state, walking forward and continuing deeper into the forest.
***
Concealed within the clouds above the forest, Feng Qing'er watched this sequence of events take place.
From the beginning, she was aware that assassination wasn't her forte. Her personality and affinity were perfectly matched, being specialized in frontal combat and explosive power.
But for this mission, they had specifically chosen to assassinate their targets.
Feng Qing'er knew that such a scheme wasn't necessary. There were only two Apostles present and they had already been separated. Feng Qing'er had the strength to fight an Apostle one on one and obtain victory.
'But this is a perfect opportunity to train.'
She didn't have any major hopes of becoming extremely cunning. She knew herself better than anyone, and as such, she was aware that it was impossible for her to develop in such a direction. Instead, she just wanted to expand her repertoire a bit.
Feng Qing'er had risen to the sky using her physical wings, so she emitted no obvious mana fluctuations. Combined with the fact that she was currently concealed by both the natural clouds and her own technique, it would be difficult for someone to spot her even if they knew where to look.
From this position, she watched as Nali made his way through the forest, cautiously attacking anything that made even a hint of sound.
'Now.'
Suddenly, she gave a command. A black blur swept down from the clouds next to her and entered the forest, extending its claws and attempting to pierce through the Apostle's skin.
"Bastard!"
Nali dodged just as easily as he had done the first time, suffering no damage. But Feng Qing'er wasn't perturbed by this.
The black blur soon returned to her side, and its form was revealed. It was Qing Tan's Commander-level Shadow Bird.
'Good, let's continue this for a bit more.'
Time passed slowly, and Feng Qing'er continued with the same strategy. She allowed Nali's paranoia to grow as the shadow bird swept down and attacked at random intervals.
At this point, he had already stopped moving forward and was situated in a single location, quietly trying to anticipate the shadow bird's next attack.
His eyes were closed and his senses were heightened to the max. Each rusting of tree branches and movement of the wind was clearly reflected in his mind.
'It should be coming at any second now.'
He knew that the enemy wasn't one of the two girls he had originally come to find, but killing it would allow him to find them. After all, he had personally seen this bird when they fought in the fourth layer of Acier a few weeks back.
'That one is more dangerous than the fiery one. She's too cunning to be left to that musclebrained Proto.'
If Proto was given to Qing Tan, his death was already guaranteed. He needed to kill the shadow bird to attract her attention before it happened.
'Now!'
The mana circulating through his body burst through his fist. His eyes shot wide open and his body pivoted to the left. A furious punch flew forward and impacted a black blur that had dived down from the clouds to attack him.
Skree!
A pained cry rang out as the bird shot back and impacted a nearby tree with a thump. Maki chases after the bird, raising his leg into the air and shooting a swift kick at its wings.
Bang!
The bird's eyes shone with panic as it tried to escape from its predicament, but Nali had acted too fast.
Crack!
The bird's wings, which were mid-flap, bent at an unnatural angle as a cracking sound rang through the surroundings. Another pained screech soon followed as the bird collapsed to the ground.
Nali didn't waste any time. He grabbed the bird by its throat and began to squeeze with all his strength.
"Why don't you call for your master? If you don't, then you're guaranteed to die here."
His grip became tighter, and the bird's cries soon lost their vigor. Truthfully, he didn't care if the bird called its master or not. Since the two were bound to have a spiritual link, he was sure that killing the bird would alert the master.
'Wait, something's wrong.'
He abruptly frowned. The sensation in his hand wasn't like that of flesh anymore. It was like he was squeezing a wet towel soaked in ink.
When he looked down at the shadow bird, he noticed that it was melting into the shadows around him. In its eyes, there was a light of disdain that couldn't be hidden.
Nali abruptly realized his mistake. He tried to turn around to see if there was another presence in the vicinity, but his head soon became muddled.
"It's already too late."
A silvery voice rang out from behind him. Although he wanted to turn around and look at the one who spoke, he found that he wasn't able to.
A sensation of heat began to spread from his nape and consume his body. His muddled head became even worse as the heat spread.
"You…!"
Fwip!
As he roused his mana in a bid to clear his head, a flicking sound spread from behind him. In the next instant, he found a dull orange needle embedded in his throat.
"This isn't something I've mastered completely, so its effects are a bit slow. But it seems to be doing its job properly."
Feng Qing'er smiled as she watched the incapacitated Apostle. Although he could only feel the single needle in his nape, she could see his true situation.
The back of the Apostle's body was littered with hundreds of needles. During the time that Feng Qing'er had been probing him using the shadow bird, she had condensed each and every one of them with care.
These needles were condensed with the essence of Reincarnation Flames. Since the dark material and Nox mana that ran through Nali's body were qualified as evil presences, the flame's effects were amplified.
Nali's body was being purified from the inside out. But since Feng Qing'er had used such condensed essence, there wasn't any flashy stimulus to accompany it.
Without much suspense, the Apostle's body crumbled to dust, with only a single reddish-orange flame remaining in the place where he once stood.
