Volume 9: Shadows of the Swamp

Chapter 119: The Depressed Silver Assassin

After settling the affairs in their territory, Dalarn now had three more Silver Mages stationed there. With this, Donald no longer had many concerns and could prepare to set off with his teacher, first heading to the Northwest Province to join forces with the Ansel family.

The Ansel family, as a noble house with a thousand-year history, was trustworthy—otherwise, Donald wouldn’t have offered them quite a few of his own Truth Book products for trade. If it were a selfish and despicable noble like Viscount Macbeth, Donald would likely refuse even to talk to them!

With ample time, Donald, his teacher, and Kaelthas didn’t rush. Instead, they planned to stay in towns along the way for a few days, traveling slowly while allowing Donald to practice the flying skills he had just learned.

They had originally planned to take Uther with them, but he was needed to manage the orc valley mines, and the territory couldn’t rely solely on the three Silver Mages—Kriss and the others. Thus, Uther, Donald’s only other Silver-level strongman, had to stay behind to guard the territory.

Just as Donald and his teacher left Dalarn, a weary traveler arrived in Stonehold.

“As expected, it’s the most remote human city in the north—completely no match for the nations of the continent!”

After observing the city, the traveler quickly found the meeting place specified in his mission. Soon, a servant led him to a secluded mansion. Lord Bolton, the eldest son of the former Viscount Macbeth and heir to the Macbeth family, was already waiting there upon hearing the news.

“Mr. Viper, the Macbeth family welcomes you!”

The man, dressed in gray and with an extremely ordinary appearance, spoke in a hoarse voice without any hesitation. “It’s a pity. On my way here, I heard that the Viscount has passed away. I wonder if the contract between my family and you remains valid?”

Bolton grew anxious upon hearing this and hurriedly replied, “Of course it’s valid! I’ve already paid the deposit. With your organization’s long-standing reputation, you surely won’t break the contract, right?”

“Hehe! As long as you don’t break the contract, that’s fine. As for the assassination mission, that’s our concern! Black Dagger never abandons a mission halfway. Once we’ve taken the money, no matter how strong the target is, we’ll ensure it’s dealt with at any cost!”

“Then I’m relieved. Here are the latest details about the target, along with portraits of the key figures. Please take a look, Mr. Viper.”

The assassin codenamed Viper took the intelligence, flipped through it, and bluntly said, “You didn’t mention beforehand that there were four additional silver mages under the target. I can handle one silver-level mage, but if two or more gather together, it will be me who dies.”
Borton replied helplessly, “This happened quite recently, and the distance between here and your organization is too great, making communication difficult. That’s why we couldn’t send the message in time.”
Since he had taken on the mission, Viper couldn’t give up so easily. He tossed the intelligence back to Borton and said, “I’ll go investigate first. If it’s impossible, I’ll come back to discuss it with you!”
Borton naturally had no objections. To him, it was already very fortunate that the other party wasn’t giving up on the mission. As for his father’s death, Borton had suspected Donald’s family, who were targets of elimination.
After all, Viscount Macbeth died under suspicious circumstances—his body was completely destroyed, leaving only some ashes, and even their family’s secret collections vanished in the fire.
Yet the castle was heavily guarded. Even if someone had sneaked in to do these things, it would be nearly impossible to leave unnoticed. By the time the fire broke out, the entire castle was already sealed off, with various traps and guards protecting it like an iron vault. Moreover, the castle was adjacent to the Agricultural Temple of Stone City and Sir Brewster’s residence. In case of trouble, the experts from these two places would surely come to help out of courtesy, as they all belonged to Stone City’s forces and had little conflict among themselves.
Even a silver-level expert would find it hard to escape under such circumstances.
Unless they could obtain those long-lost, scarce teleportation scrolls, they wouldn’t have a chance to escape under such heavy siege.
So although Borton suspected Donald, he had no evidence, so he could only claim that his father died in a fire, an accident.
As for the silver assassin Viper, he acted swiftly. He secretly boarded a freight cart preparing to leave Stone City and headed north to Dalaran.
Along the way, with his keen senses as a silver assassin, Viper suddenly sensed something. He pushed aside the door of the cart he was hiding in and looked up, only to see three mages flying overhead. Two of them were likely bronze mages, while the old mage, whose back he could see, exuded a dangerous aura.

“At least a high-level silver mage. This is just the most remote territory in the Northlands—how could there be so many silver-level strongmen? Could it be a warning from my lord, indicating that this mission might soon be impossible to complete?” Viper prayed silently before suppressing his unease, following the carriage to Muldrow, the capital of Dalaran, as dusk fell.

Stepping out of the carriage quietly, the agile silver assassin immediately blended into the crowd like an unremarkable ordinary citizen.

He first explored the town and detected the presence of three strongmen near the lord’s manor—probably three of the four silver mages. Besides them, there were also many bronze-level strongmen, and the adventurer’s guild piqued his interest even more.

However, he found no sign of his target, which made Viper feel uneasy.

Since Donald had no intention of hiding his whereabouts, Viper simply asked a passerby and learned that the lord had left the territory. Frowning, he muttered to himself, “Has the target already left? Then one of those three mages must be the target. Damn the Macbeth family—how do they gather intelligence? How can they not even keep track of the target’s movements?”

He rushed from Port Raton to Stonetalon, and before he could catch his breath, he heard that the target had left the territory. How could this silver assassin not be furious?

Fuming, Viper returned to Stonetalon and sneaked into the city lord’s manor, going straight to Bolton.

“Who is there?”

Surrounded by heavy security in the city lord’s manor, Bolton was naturally shocked to see a stranger appear suddenly.

Only when he realized it was the assassin he had hired, Viper the Scorpion, did he relax slightly.

The guards outside heard the shout and rushed in to protect Bolton. Seeing a stranger intrude, they were about to attack, but the startled Bolton quickly sent them away. Those guards, with their black-iron strength, were no match for this silver assassin.

“What? Donald has left the territory? Do you know where he’s going?” Bolton was greatly surprised by Viper’s news, but more so disappointed. If Donald didn’t show up, the mission would be impossible to complete, and he would only grow stronger in the future, making such opportunities even rarer.

Facing Bolton’s questions, Viper retorted irritably, “If I knew, would I have come to you? It seems he’s going on a long journey—probably won’t return for ten days or half a month.”

Borton asked awkwardly, “Since the target left unexpectedly, this isn’t a mistake on either of our parts. Can I choose another target, like assassinating an important figure in their territory? That would also deal a blow to the target!” But Poison Sting immediately rejected this idea.
“It’s impossible. There are three Silver Mages in their territory. If it were knights or swordsmen, I wouldn’t fear them—I have ways to escape. But with three Silver Mages, any move I make will alert them. Under detection spells, I’d be exposed, and against three powerful Mages, even as a Silver-level expert, I’m no match at all.” “Rather than that, it’s better to track the target! When I went to scout, I happened to encounter them while they were on the move. They were flying, so I couldn’t recognize them in time. There are only three Mages in total, two of whom are Bronze Mages. If I can distract that old Silver Mage and leave the target alone, I can take him out instantly.”
Hearing Poison Sting’s words, Borton showed some relief.
“It’s good that you’re confident, Mr. Poison Sting. If the mission is completed successfully, I’m willing to give you an extra thousand Gold Solars as personal reward!” “I hope you keep your word. It’s still time to chase those two Mages. I’m going!”
With that, he left the city lord’s mansion silently. Watching the Silver assassin disappear before his eyes, Borton thought to himself that the defenses of the city lord’s mansion needed to be strengthened further. He didn’t want to die under mysterious circumstances like his father had.
The flying spells used by Mages rely on the force of the surrounding air to propel them forward, so their speed is relatively slow—slightly faster than an ordinary person’s running speed, similar to riding a carriage, but not as fast as riding a fast horse. Silver Mages fly a bit faster, but there’s no significant difference. Moreover, since Poison Sting’s target was taking care of the two other Bronze Mages, their speed probably wasn’t very high. As long as he sped up, he should be able to catch up soon.
Although Mages have an advantage in the air, their flight altitude is generally not very high, around a few hundred feet. Beyond a certain height, the air currents become a hindrance. Only Gold Mages who master elemental powers can fly at heights of thousands of feet, unaffected by low temperatures and air currents, just like large birds.

At such a height, with a Silver-level expert’s vision, it could be observed from miles away. Moreover, he was skilled at tracking hidden Silver assassins, so Poison Thorn wasn’t worried about losing track of his target.