Joel closed the worn wooden window to keep the rain out, then sat down at the table and pulled a roll of parchment from his bosom.

This is an abandoned log cabin on the outskirts of Ice City, the walls are rotten in many places, and the roof is also broken in two places, constantly dripping water downwards and accumulating on the ground.

This dilapidated house is Joel's resting place.

He spread the parchment in his hand on a worn wooden table, a list with many names written in branches and behind it with some patterns and instructions.

Joel picked up a stone from the ground and crossed out two lines on the drawing, the two people he had just settled, including Nedra.

"The last ......," Joel continued to look at the drawings, "Lino...... This person is elusive, the information is for informational purposes only, so be careful. ”

There is only one last target left on Joel's list.

"Lino...... What kind of guy could it be?" Joel began to imagine.

Each name on the list has a clear note that explains what the target looks like, where they are, and what recommendations they recommend to approach. Relying on this, Joel has always been very smooth in his actions, always solving the target cleanly and quickly.

But the name of Lino is followed by a simple portrait and a rough hand-drawn map, and there is only one line of text reminding him to be careful.

This made Joel feel a little unhappy.

Joel's swordsmanship, decisiveness, and quick-witted mind make him an excellent killer who almost never misses a task, big or small.

But he is accustomed to carrying out the task of knowing himself and his enemy, and this time not only is the information not detailed enough, but also a safety reminder is attached to him.

"What do you mean by letting me be careful......," Joel thought unhappily, "Worried I won't be able to deal with it?"

Joel is an assassin under Edta, the lord of Streamer City in the East, and has always performed well and made a lot of contributions, and is highly valued by Edetta.

In the past, every time he received a task, he would always hear Edetta say, "I can rest easy when I leave this matter to you", and he never had any worries about him, but this time he added such an admonition.

Even though he knew that Edetta was genuinely concerned about his safety, Joel was still not very comfortable in his heart, he had not been questioned about his strength for a long time.

At this moment, Joel suddenly felt a sharp pain in his head.

He hurriedly pressed his head, flipped through the burden spread on the ground, took out a medicine bottle from it, opened it and drank two sips.

He swallowed the potion hard with a painful expression, lay flat on the ground, pressed his forehead hard with his hand, and his body froze for a long time before gradually calming down.

After another moment, Joel breathed a sigh of relief, opened his eyes, and slowly sat up on his hands.

It was his old problem, and he often had sudden headaches, pain radiating from the diamond-shaped scar on his forehead to his brain, and the pain was excruciating.

Edetta had sent the best physician in Streamer City to examine him, and came to the conclusion that the wound on his forehead had injured a nerve, which was a sequelae of the trauma and could not be cured, and could only be relieved by taking a medicine concocted by the doctor.

"It's unbelievable. As the pain subsided, Joel muttered.

Joel gently stroked the still-aching scar on his head, from an assassination mission two years earlier.

During that mission, Joel received a severe blow to the forehead, and although he eventually succeeded in solving the target, he was injured and unable to cope with a high fever after returning to the city. After being diagnosed and treated by multiple doctors, he finally saved his life a few days later, but the root cause of the headache was lost.

After Joel wakes up at Streamer City Castle, he loses his memory for a while, and knows nothing about his past, not even his name.

Fortunately, Edetta found the castle's respected wizard, Lake, to perform a hypnotic treatment on him. Lake hypnotizes him, using language to induce Joel to regain his memory while he is half asleep. The end result was quite satisfactory, and Joel recalled his life experience during the hypnotic session.

An orphan, he was adopted by an instructor at the Streamer City Soldier Training Camp from a young age and began learning swordsmanship.

Later, due to his extraordinary qualifications and rapid progress, he was already a rival in his teens, so he was recommended by his instructor to enter the castle and serve the lord Edta.

Over the years, Joel has carried out many difficult missions for Edta, including many dangerous assassination attempts, and is one of Edta's most relied on assassins in the city.

Although the memories remained choppy in his mind, Joel finally found himself. After recovering from a serious illness, he slowly regained his swordsmanship through frequent exchanges with the various commanders in the fort under the arrangement of Edetta.

About a year ago, Joel resumed his job of assassination.

Lately, Joel has been feeling that his headaches are getting more frequent and more intense each time.

In addition, at the time of the attack, he sometimes sees visions, bright flowers, emerald trees, and crystal clear rivers, as if he is in a beautiful and comfortable fairyland, but full of familiarity.

"Maybe I've been a little tired lately. Joel attributes the hallucinations to fatigue.

Joel picked up his dagger and carefully wiped it down with his sleeve. Looking at the silver and sharp blades, a smile appeared on Joel's lips.

Although he was ordered to assassinate each time, he seemed to be fascinated by killing. Killing someone is as normal to him as eating, or rather, as important as eating. If he didn't do the assassination for a long time, he would feel uncomfortable, and killing people had become his habit.

Extinguishing the crackling bonfire on the ground, Joel lay down on the only remaining floor of the hut and fell into a deep sleep.

The next day, before dawn, Joel tightened his belt and set off lightly.

He didn't have that light soft armor equipped today, because the target was in the city of Ice City, and walking in the city in armor would inevitably lead to suspicion. Besides, he's going to be dealing with a wizard, and the armor doesn't seem to have any obvious effect in such a situation other than slowing down his movements.

Joel passes the routine inspection of the Gatekeepers of the Ice City in the name of a merchant. After a few moments, he followed the route on the map and came to an old neighborhood in the west of the city, where the target Lino should live, if the information was correct.

In the historic capital city of Ice, there are many old neighborhoods.

Most of them are old sites left from hundreds of years ago, and due to some ancient beliefs and conservative psychology of the people, the buildings in them have not been demolished and rebuilt, but have been continuously renovated and reinforced, so that they are still in use today. Walking on the old streets of the ice city, you can always fully appreciate the classical charm.

Most of the houses on the street are two to three storeys, and there are almost no gaps between the houses, one next to the other. The narrow streets are also crowded with pedestrians, and both sides are filled with small vendors.

Joel found his target, a small two-story building sandwiched between two houses.

The three houses are located next to each other, forming a row of houses. All three buildings are two-storey, and each floor has an open-air balcony that protrudes outwards and faces the bustling street outside.

This kind of terrain is a great environment for Joel to start with.

He walked around the townhouse first, and after making sure that there was nothing abnormal in the surrounding area, he jumped up against the old wall of the westernmost house, grabbed the iron fence on the outside of the balcony on the second floor, and then lightly turned over and entered the balcony.

Joel leaned his back against the wall, looking cautiously into the floor-to-ceiling arch that opened onto the balcony.

There was laughter from inside, but no one was seen from the second floor. Combined with the direction of the sound, Joel judged that the people in the room should be on the first floor at the moment.

So, he boldly and briskly sneaked along the balcony from the west side to the east side, and came to a vantage point where he could safely observe Lino's movements.

Lino's house is exceptionally quiet.

Joel lurked on the balcony for a long time, but couldn't hear a single movement. Through the window on the second floor, he didn't see any figures, only the mahogany tables and chairs and fur carpets in the room.

"Aren't people at home......" Joel recalled the hint on the drawing, "Hmph, even if you are elusive, as long as you are targeted by me, you will never be able to escape!"

Joel, who had always been confident in his abilities, decided to sneak straight into Lino's house.

I saw him prop up his hands on the railing, leap forward, and jump lightly from the balcony of the west building to the balcony of Lino, landing without making the slightest sound, as light as a cat.

Joel crept around Lino's second-floor balcony and checked through the window that the second floor was indeed empty. However, I don't know if it was because Lino had already sensed the danger in advance, and every window was locked so that it could not be opened directly from the outside.

"Under normal circumstances, someone would lock the whole house so airtightly......" Joel was faintly worried, "if he has already escaped, it will be more troublesome." ”

He pulled out an iron hook-shaped device the size of a fork with a rotating head from his bosom.

It was an essential lockpicking tool for Assassins, capable of opening most doors and windows without leaving any marks or making a sound.

Priing open the window, Joel sneaks into what appears to be a bedroom-like room.

The rooms are neat and tidy, and the furniture is furnished with high-quality leather furnishings. However, there is an indescribable smell in the air, which is sweet and unpleasant.

Joel took a brief look around and noticed a book full of strange symbols on the desk, and the oil lamp next to it was still warm.

Apparently, the people in the house had just left.

At this moment, Joel heard a faint, dull sound coming from the first floor, as if it was transmitted through something very thick.

"There's someone in the house!" Surprised and delighted, Joel immediately quietly moved to the top of the stairs and looked sideways.

He didn't see anyone. The source of the sound was a room on the first floor with a closed door, and a faint muffled sound was still coming from it.

Joel didn't want to waste time, so he walked quickly to the door without making a noise, and found that it was locked from the inside.

Joel wanted to pull out the lockpick, but thought about it: "The lockpicker doesn't make a sound, but it takes time to unlock it." If the person inside looks here, he will see that there is someone outside the door. If he had prepared for an attack in advance, it would have been very disadvantageous to me. ”

Joel looked at the door again, it was a single wooden door, and if he struck it hard, it should be able to break open in an instant.

After a brief moment of thought, Joel took two steps back with the short sword at his waist in his right hand. Then his left shoulder sank, and with all his strength, he slammed forward.

There was a loud bang, and the door was knocked down by Joel. Following the inertia, Joel rushed into the room, swinging the sword in his right hand forward. This swing, one is for the surprise attack, and the other is also for self-defense.

But to the surprise of it, the room was empty, and the muffled noise came to an abrupt end.

Despite his surprise, Joel's mental strength as an assassin made him calm down instantly.

He glanced quickly across the room.

The room was spacious, yet empty. Except for an old bench on the wall, the only thing in the room was a large circular carpet in the center of the floor.

At this time, Joel keenly noticed that there seemed to be a depression in the center of the carpet.

He immediately rushed forward with an arrow and lifted the carpet.

A deep hole has been dug into the floor under the carpet!

"The sound must have come from inside!" After a cursory look at the size of the space in the tunnel, Joel clenched his short sword and jumped into the tunnel.

After entering the tunnel, Joel couldn't help but secretly marvel.

The whole tunnel is very spacious, and Joel can walk in it completely upright. On the walls on both sides, oil lamps are hung every few steps, so that the light inside is bright enough.

Obviously, this tunnel must be undergoing regular maintenance.

But Joel didn't have time to think about it, all he had to do was keep the people inside from escaping.

He sped forward as fast as he could, and although the road in the tunnel was uneven, the well-trained Joel walked on the ground.

The tunnel is surprisingly long. To Joel's surprise, even though he was chasing at such a swift pace, he still didn't see anyone.

"Is there another exit in the tunnels, or am I falling for some trick?" Joel thought calmly as he ran.

After chasing for a while, a light appeared in front of me.

Joel picked up speed again and rushed out of the exit in one go.

In front of him, there was a beautiful forest of pink cherry blossoms. The forest was dense, and Joel still didn't see any suspicious targets.

He looked down at the ground, and a footprint led to the nearby gravel path, but there were four forks in front of the path, each leading deeper into the woods.

"What the hell is this place?" scolded.

He had never been in a situation like this before. Not finding the target, not catching up with the target, these things are almost impossible for Joel.

But today, he did lose his goal. To be precise, he didn't even see his target.

Even if he was as calm as Joel, he stomped his feet heavily in anger, and the ground was shaken to dust.

Joel plunged his dagger into the dirt beneath his feet, bent down and braced his hands on his knees, panting for air. He's already used his fastest speed.

At this moment, Joel only heard a low shout from behind: "What person!"

The voice was deep and magnetic, but it was so loud and penetrating that Joel couldn't even tell how close it was to him.

Joel hurriedly turned around, only to see a purple light shooting at his face at high speed.

In a hurry, he subconsciously swung his sword in front of him, and at the same time tried to dodge sideways.

With a "bell", Joel only felt that his sword was blocked by a heavy hard object, which shocked his entire right palm and made his wrist instantly weak.

He gritted his teeth and clenched his short sword, and it took four or five steps to move backwards with force under his feet before he staggered to his feet.

It was no small surprise, and Joel knew he had a really tricky opponent today. He picked up his short sword, took a defensive stance, and looked closely.

In front of him was a blonde man, about twenty years old, with a face like a crown of jade, eyes like stars, two sword eyebrows flying into his sideburns, and a dignified appearance.

The man was dressed in silver armor, with a fiery red cloak fluttering in the wind behind his back, and a long sword with purple light in his hand pointed diagonally at the ground, majestic.

"Is this Lino? or am I chasing the wrong target?" said Joel, wondering. On his drawings, Lino is painted as a emaciated old man.

"That's probably too much of a deviation!" Joel began to get upset.

To his own disbelief, there was a fear that spread through him. The blades met just now, and Joel had lost the confidence to defeat the other party.

Seeing that Joel didn't speak, the man raised the sword in his hand, pointed it at Joel's face, and said, "Sneaky, trespassing on the forbidden place of the palace, what are your plans?"