The Discarded Son's Skill Market
Chapter 21: Mortal battle

Chapter 21: Mortal battle

John froze and turned deathly pale. His hand hurt terribly, but he was more focused on his two old friends.

Landon and Robert... Were they dead? He couldn’t move. He trembled and looked at Luke in the distance. However, his field of vision was obscured by the dark clothes of the nearest assassin, who struck him repeatedly.

Although John tried to defend himself, he was so confused that he couldn’t do so effectively. He was knocked backward and slammed into the dungeon wall; blood was trickling down his neck.

’Shit, these bastards came here determined to kill us all.’ Zaid swallowed hard and gripped his dagger tightly.

They hadn’t even given him time to activate his ability, and they had already taken out three of his teammates. Although it upset him to see them die, he had to stay focused.

He was determined to protect Alice, so he remained standing tall and fearless. "Alice... the situation is dangerous. Do you think you can...?"

BOOM!

A sudden explosion cut him off. He quickly moved his dagger to his side, where he saw a strange magical spark appear.

CLANK!

The clang of two daggers clashing echoed, but he didn’t have time to assess the situation. He immediately swung his dagger to the side, and several successive blows caught him off guard, sending him tumbling backward across the floor.

’The skill of these bastards...’ Zaid realized.

"Watch out!" Alice shouted, trying to warn him.

Zaid looked up... he was at the feet of the High Goblin.

The High Goblin had his weapon in hand; a horizontal swing threatened to kill him.

Instinctively, he roared, "Dagger Mastery!"

The dagger in his hand glowed...

CRUSH!

Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his side. A dagger pierced him, altering his angle of attack and field of vision. His body shifted several centimeters forward, almost as if seeking to counter the horizontal movement that threatened to sever his head.

He had no choice.

His ability failed to activate.

BOOM!

With a huge explosion, Zaid’s body was hurled across the room, crashing into the walls more than once until it finally disappeared from everyone’s view after bouncing around repeatedly.

There’s no way he could have survived that.

Alice felt desperate. "Damn you...!" she roared, and her red eyes turned even redder with her own blood.

"Don’t kill her!" Luke roared from behind.

Alice spun abruptly in a strange direction... but there was no one there.

Yet she knew someone was there.

Without a second thought, she swung her scepter once more and ignored the assassins closing in on her.

"Fireball!" she roared once more.

A powerful fireball exploded seven meters away, in a seemingly empty space.

Suddenly, the Luke who had been standing next to her vanished. Instead, a new Luke appeared seven meters away... and was struck by the fireball, which sent him crashing into the wall behind him.

"Ugh... Shit, is she that good?" Luke’s interest skyrocketed when he managed to dodge the fireball. "I want her!" he roared once more.

Even though he was wounded, he roared at the assassins, his eyes gleaming with madness: "No matter what, catch her and don’t let her...!"

"You won’t have time." A whisper startled him from behind and silenced him. His body took several colds, deadly blows. They were so precise that the pain became apparent in an instant.

CLANK!

CLANK!

His body was sent flying, and as he turned in midair to look at his attacker, his mind went into a daze.

’Reinforcements?’ he thought.

"Young Master!" The assassins stopped and looked at the newcomer. "Police reinforcements?" They grumbled about their bad luck.

’Thank God, I made it in time.’ Zaid watched Luke slam into a wall and assumed he was dead, so he ignored him.

Wearing several layers of dark clothing he’d brought along just in case, Zaid was practically unrecognizable, which allowed him to act with greater boldness and without fear...

His gaze swept across the room and landed on Alice... His heart sank.

She was kneeling on the floor. In front of her were the assassins, and behind her was the goblin.

The goblin’s blow struck Alice in the back first. She was sent flying, wounded in the back, until she slammed into the nearby walls.

Her body rolled across the floor, and it was unclear whether she was alive or dead.

"Shit, the target..." The assassins looked at Alice and tried to run over to grab her, but then they remembered Luke... And finally, the newcomer.

For a second, they didn’t know what to do.

By the time they made up their minds, Zaid was already standing before them.

"Die, bastards."

¡Dagger Mastery!

¡SWOSH! ¡SWOSH!

One of them died instantly; the other suffered serious injuries and fell to the ground, but did not die.

’Bad aim?’ Zaid frowned. However, he didn’t have time to worry about that wounded assassin. He turned away, as someone was attacking him.

CLANK!

His body was dragged several meters across the ground, just as a young man reentered his field of vision.

’Luke Shawn? Is he still alive?’ Perplexed, Zaid looked at Luke’s body... ’Full-body armor... damn rich people.’

"You bastard, how dare you meddle in my affairs? I’ll kill you, no matter who you are!" Luke roared, and the sword glinted in his hand.

He attacked him repeatedly, but Zaid managed to parry all his attacks with ease.

’No. Something’s wrong.’ Zaid noticed it immediately and kicked him in the stomach.

SWOSH!

’Did he pass out?’ Zaid looked behind him right away, but all he could see were two guys running for their lives.

One of them was Luke, who was holding his hand over his heart and had a lot of blood in his mouth.

’You think you’re going to get away? Dream on!’ Zaid prepared to leap after them.

His ankle was suddenly grabbed; he couldn’t move. He looked down and saw the gravely wounded assassin staring back at him with a hideous smile.

"Don’t... even think... about it..."

"You’re tough." Zaid prepared to shake off the wounded man, but his peripheral vision caught something else.

The Goblin was about to attack Alice, who was lying on the ground!

Zaid felt stressed. Could everything stop happening all at once?

He grumbled to himself, but he didn’t hesitate. He swung his leg forward, and after a kick to the stomach, the assassin’s body flew straight toward where the goblin was standing.

BOOM!

The goblin was effectively stopped, and Zaid was able to get there in time to grab Alice’s body and pull her to safety.

He saw her so badly wounded and barely breathing that it hurt him a little. This girl, so tender and mortal... She wasn’t going to die like this, was she?

"We barely know each other; I hope you don’t die..." he whispered, setting her down against the wall. As he crouched down, the pain from the previous attacks and from that dagger made him clench his teeth.

But he held out. He gave up chasing those two because he didn’t have time anymore.

Instead, he turned his attention to the High Goblin.

"At least you’ll die," he whispered, and plunged into a deadly battle against that bastard.

[You have killed the F-Rank Portal Boss: High Goblin Assassin...]

After the system’s announcement, he collapsed next to the goblin and one of the assassins. His breathing grew faint.

’Am I going to die too? Shit...’ He felt frustrated...

Just when things were starting to go well...

"Police! This is the police! Nobody move!" A shout came from behind, and a flurry of footsteps could be heard...

’Heh... same as always, arriving too late...’ With that final thought, Zaid succumbed to exhaustion—or death.

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