How to Survive as a Genius Spy in the Game Chapter 101 - Chenarus’s Assassin (8)

“Without even announcing your name, you start like this? It seems you have a hot temper.”

Ante shrugged his shoulders. It was the kind of relaxation that comes from confidence in oneself.

The assassin of Chenarus, who had stirred up the capital. But those he had killed were not stronger than Ante.

There was also a prejudice that an assassin was good at assassinating, not at one-on-one combat.

So Ante did not think he would lose, although his opponent would be troublesome.

That didn’t mean he felt comfortable, though. The Haisen side was clear.

Since the leader Demorick did not know of the existence, he thought it was someone from Chief of Intelligence Brusek.

‘I’d like to capture him if possible.’

In the imperial capital, Haisen had carried out assassinations without Demorick knowing. 

It meant that Duke Brusek suspected Demorick. How much does the Duke know?

He wanted to confirm by taking him captive, but killing was the best as the Imperial Intelligence Agency would soon swarm.

Still, the information alone that the leader is suspected is a huge harvest. On the other hand, Carlyn focused only on combat.

‘The opponent’s weapon is a spear.’

It was not a weapon he had faced often. Although the soldiers used spears, the knights used swords.

There were even fewer people who could handle a spear at a high level.

It was a combat that required concentration. He could even lose his life to an unfamiliar number.

The moon rose in Carlyn’s mind. The magical power of the Moonlight Technique accelerated Carlyn’s circuits.

Carlyn stamped the ground silently. Under the blessing of the Winds, air resistance was negligible.

Dash.

Ante did not move from the spot. While taking a posture, he aimed the spear he was holding forward.

The length difference between spear and sword. The reach was in Ante’s favor. A gap had to be created. Carlyn threw out a short sword.

It was the last short sword left. Ante raised his arm to block it with the spear shaft. Carlyn wedged into that subtle gap.

Clash on the roof.

Ante did not lower his arm to block the sword. Rather, he raised it even higher.

‘Oh no.’

The butt end of the spear flew towards Carlyn’s eyes. Carlyn twisted his upper body.

His left forearm tingled from the sudden movement.

Although he stabbed quickly, he couldn’t make it a threatening attack as his stance had already collapsed.

As they passed each other by, Ante stabbed backward with the raised spear in an oblique line.

It was an attack coming diagonally. As his posture was already broken, Carlyn’s evasion was a beat late. The blade cut Carlyn’s shoulder.

“Ugh.”

The two who passed each other turned at the same time to glare at each other. Ante’s eyes became serious.

One breath. It was enough time to realize that the opponent was no ordinary one.

Carlyn was the same. Although he had expected a difficult fight, it was more than he had thought against a spear-wielding opponent.

There were hardly any flaws to be seen.

The gap between them was not that big. Ante was slightly superior. But that was a matter of experience.

Unlike Ante who had faced swords many times, this was Carlyn’s first time against a master spearman.

‘It would have been nice if I could inflict some damage with the short sword.’

He had no intention of sticking to fair and square methods to win. As a spy, he just had to complete the mission no matter what means were used.

Carlyn intended to use every trick.

After all, there was not much time left. The imperial agents were all over the capital.

He could be surrounded at any moment.

So dragging out time would only hurt Carlyn. While Ante could just escape, he had to go to the Imperial Palace.

Carlyn decided to take a gamble. Anyway, time was pressing, so it wouldn’t matter if it got even more pressing.

Three smoke bombs fell from under the cape coat. He kicked them to the center of the roof.

‘Now, how will he come out?’

The smoke began to billow bubbly. In a moment, the view on the roof became blurred.

Now the time count had begun. It was a bright moonlit night.

The smoke would be visible from a distance as well. At least imperial agents would approach within 10 minutes. Ante sneered.

“What is this again? Trying to attract attention and run away?”

Of course, he had no intention of doing so. In the smoke, Carlyn who uses the mystic power of Winds had the advantage.

No matter how keen the senses of strong ones were, limitations in vision came heavily if not trained.

Ante was not unaware of this either. But he just thought there was a way to dismantle it.

“I guess you’re going to hold out until the imperial guys come. I won’t let that happen!”

Ante struck the roof with the butt end of his spear. He planned to blow away the smoke with the shock wave.

Boom-! As the floor shattered, the shock wave spread out in all directions. It was enough of an impact to wake everyone nearby.

But the smoke did not disappear. Because Carlyn was keeping it in place with Winds.

At that moment, Ante realized who his opponent was.

“Carl Schurtafen. It was you.”

Carlyn did not reply. Instead, he took out Heavenly Scent from his bosom.

The powder permeated the smoke on the Winds. It was five times the lethal dose.

Carlyn circled on the roof as if carefully surveying.

On the other hand, Ante stood still facing Carlyn. He was gauging the moment.

“O darkness!”

Along with Ante’s cry, Carlyn’s left forearm tingled. The magic-inflicted wound was reacting.

Whoosh-! At the same time, Ante stamped the ground and rushed towards Carlyn. His breath was full of the heavenly scent.

Ante felt something was wrong. He had inhaled something. But it was too late to stop his body from shooting forward like an arrow.

The stabbing and slashing spear blade. Carlyn focused solely on defense and evasion.

Limited sight. Ante’s attacks were not so threatening. Carlyn counted the time to himself.

He just had to hold out for 30 seconds. He had inhaled five times the lethal dose in one breath. Movement stimulates blood circulation.

It wouldn’t take long for the body to become numb.

The moment Ante did not flee outright, the victory was virtually decided already.

“You bastard, what the hell did you do…!”

Ante also noticed something was off with his body. With sensitive senses came quick perception.

Although he held his breath after the first, yet it was this much.

As Ante, it was difficult to comprehend carrying the poison powder with winds. He had never seen such smoke either.

Ante quickly judged.

‘I have to retreat.’

Having decided, Ante turned his body to escape the smoke onto the roof of the building next door.

But Ante’s body was more numb than he realized.

The poison had spread to his head, slowing down his judgment. Ante could not reach the roof he should have obviously reached.

The tall figure falling stretched out his hand. The edge of the roof caught onto his right hand.

“Ugh!”

He tried to put strength into his right arm but his body had no strength left. His limp body felt heavy.

Behind him, Carlyn charged.

Although Carlyn had never faced a spearman before, neither had Ante faced the mystic power of Winds.

Experiences fighting top intelligence officers would also be rare.

The difference between the two stemmed from the wariness of each other. In a way, it was a fair fight.

“You bastard……!”

Carlyn leaped across roofs and severed Ante’s neck and arm as he was, then brought him up onto the roof.

Thud- a moment late, the sound of Ante’s over 2m tall body falling was heard.

At the edge of the roof, only Ante’s right arm remained barely hooked. Carlyn focused on the Winds.

‘The imperials… are almost near.’

On the smoke of fear, imperial agents were quickly approaching, but there was still an opening.

Carlyn immediately started running. Blood from the shoulder grazed by the spear was sticky wet.

The return was cautious. He stopped the bleeding with a hemostatic and erased traces with Winds.

He changed clothes before hiding the old ones. There would be no problem disposing of them later.

As imperial agents were also stationed inside the imperial palace, Carlyn was quite careful.

However, it seemed the outside news had not been relayed yet as there was no difference from when he went out.

Assisted by Winds, Carlyn scaled the wall of the palace. A 19-meter leap in two breaths.

The window was open. As he climbed over, the imperial princess inside raised her head. A faint delight flashed in her eyes.

“You came.”

“Was everything alright?”

“Emmet is quite patient.”

The imperial princess standing up glanced sharply at Carlyn. Her worries had deepened as much as the waiting time.

“Didn’t you say you’d come early?”

“Sorry. I came as fast as I could but was a little late.”

It took one hour and fifty minutes. Due to the imperial agents called because of Ante, time was delayed evading them.

The imperial princess examined Carlyn’s body.

“Are you okay? No injuries? Your complexion looks ghastly.”

Carlyn straightened his expression. The fatigue he was unaware of had set in. Indeed, his condition was extremely tired.

Although wind magic consumes very little mana, he kept surveying the battlefield with it.

Add to that combat and disruption. No wonder his body had no strength left.

“My shoulder was grazed a bit but it’s not a major injury.”

The imperial princess seemed a little dissatisfied. Reading her mood, Carlyn glanced around.

“You broke the order not to get hurt.”

“Sorry.”

“Let it be. It means you went through quite a lot. Did things go well?”

“Yes, thank you for your kind consideration despite my abrupt request.”

The imperial princess nodded, face turned away. Carlyn bowed his head politely and withdrew.

As soon as he left, Emmet approached Carlyn.

Though the hemostatic had a strong smell, he had blocked it with Winds so there was no need to worry. Carlyn looked over Emmet.

From his manner, he did not seem particularly suspicious.

“Took you long.”

“It’s quite an issue so it took some time to resolve.”

“Of course. Marriage is a major event. It’s best not to do it on a whim but…….”

Emmet trailed off with a serious expression.

“If it’s Duchess Lyurik, it’s worthy of consideration. So how did you decide to handle it?”

“I decided to refuse.”

“What? Why?”

Emmet was surprised.

“Carl, think about it carefully. There is no one like Duchess Lyurik. She’s currently the most popular person in the empire.”

“My thoughts haven’t changed.”

“Still, such an opportunity won’t come again.”

Despite that, Emmet seemed displeased. Then suddenly, his expression changed as he nodded.

“No, it may have been a good decision after all. You still have far to go in the future. The duchess must have brought up the marriage proposal because of that too.”

Feeling slightly guilty that Emmet was thinking too deeply about his made-up story. Nonetheless, it seemed like they had successfully overcome the recent ordeal.

‘At any rate, Phiri must have managed to escape.’ 

Given Phiri’s capabilities, she didn’t anticipate any major issues arising.

Carlyn cracked a joke to lighten the mood.

“By the way, can I mention to Helly too that you said that it’s better not to marry?”

Emmet looked at Carlyn with a betrayed expression.

“You….”

“Haha.”

“I wouldn’t mind even if you wished for my death.”

“Just kidding.”

And crisis struck at an unexpected moment.

The next morning, imperial agents had come looking for Carlyn in front of the imperial princess’s room. They had business with him.

“Greetings, Sir Carl. I’m Barrelly from the Imperial Intelligence Agency. There’s something we need to verify, could you please cooperate?”