Ascension of the Master Assassin

Venn had died.

Or at least that was what he was hoping that the goblin scout would believe especially after the Oscar level acting that he painstakingly performed.

Originally, he had already planned to fight to the death with the goblin scout in the tent. But once he realized that he could control both himself and the shadow that he conjured separately, he had a change of mind.

It was much better that he did not put all his eggs into one basket, and he was right.

"Hahh.. Hahh.."

After distracting the goblin's attention, his shadow had escaped from the tent with the twins in his arms.

And right before he was killed, he had reactivated his skill to swap places with his shadow, resulting in his shadow to act as a substitute for the fatal blow.

It seemed that he was still able to swap places with his shadow even if they were more than 30 metres apart. Knowing this, Venn's face brightened a little, but still he needed to experiment more to know about the extent of his skill. 

After switching places, Venn had been running around the battlefield that was engulfed by flames with the Oni twins piggybacked on his back to look for a way out whilst dodging flaming debris.

Even though deep down, he knew that the twins were just digital data, and he wasn't exactly in a circumstance to help the NPCs, he couldn't find the heart to abandon the twins. Especially after witnessing the atrocities that the goblin army had subjected to the Oni race.

Looking back, ever since he joined the blood serpents, he felt that things kept getting weirder and weirder. 

The more he knows about the secrets in the game, the more unfamiliar the game is. Heaven Descent had evolved to become a much different game than what he had remembered. 

***

After encountering flaming obstacles after obstacles, Venn finally found a clear path out of the village after taking several detours.

Along the way, he had met others that were running away for their lives as well and they banded together to search for a way out of the ransacked village, following along a somewhat empty path.

Although Venn felt that it was very strange that all the goblins were nowhere in sight, he shrugged the feeling off as there were no alternatives.

Before long, the group consisting of around 20 people finally arrived at an opening. 

However, instead of feeling relieved, their faces quickly distorted into faces of despair when they soon discovered a row of heavily armed goblins surrounding them and blocking their path of escape as if they had been waiting for them to land directly into their trap.

Among the goblins, there was even a gigantic hobgoblin standing amongst them with a large wooden club of around 5 metres long while behind the rank of goblins, there were clusters of captured individuals with their wrists being tied with massive ropes; many of whom on the verge of death as bruises and blood covered their bodies.

Seeing the goblin's formation, Venn quickly realised that it was a trap. To save the hassle of finding Oni that were hiding from them, the goblins had set fire to the village to flush out the remaining individuals.

"Hahaha… Is this the end?" 

"After all that I had done to join the blood serpents, I was given an impossible mission to complete?" Venn complained while clenching his sword hard.

He couldn't accept such an outcome.

Almost immediately, Venn turned to the group of Oni around him to inspire them to fight. But unlike what he had expected, the colours of their eyes had long since faded away along with their fighting spirits.

They had completely given up.

Nonetheless, Venn wasn't able to. Although he might look like an idiot that struggles pointlessly, he preserved on.

That was how he had lived his life, and he wasn't going to change that.

Stepping forward to fight, Venn's lone figure appeared incredibly gallant. Against the horde of appalling goblins that were multitudes larger than him, he steadfastly stood in the middle of their encirclement.

However, before Venn and the goblins crashed, the sound of a lone drum beat suddenly could be heard as it echoed throughout the grassy plains.

"Dum!"

Surprised, everyone in the area; both goblins and the Onis alike, stopped their actions momentarily to look around for the sound's origin, but to no avail.

Soon, the drum beat was followed by another again, with the sound of each beat landing indirectly onto everyone's heart, thereby affecting their heartbeats as well.

"Dum!"

"Dum!"

"Tak!"

Shortly after, the beat of the drums quickened its rhythm, going faster and faster every time a verse is completed.

"Dum! Dum! Tak!"

"Dum! Dum! Tak!"

"Dum! Dum! Tak!"

And at the height of its speed, the beats stopped abruptly, turning the place into a creeping silence. 

No one knows what was going on. But once the beats stopped, they spotted a young lady had appeared out of nowhere in front of Venn.

Immediately after that, the Onis cheered when they had a better look again at the figure.

"Princess Ysera!"

"The princess is here to save us!"

The young lady was wearing a long white silk dress with a long sword in her right hand. Along with every step that she took, an air of elegance was emitted by her as well. 

Against the large hobgoblin, she wasn't fazed a bit. Instead, she launched the initiative by attacking first.

With the simple twist of her wrist, her long sword flew across several metres towards the hobgoblin, and before the hobgoblin could intercept the sword with its club, the long sword split into seven longswords within a second, surrounding the hobgoblin in all directions in mid-air.

Then, as if she was dancing around the hobgoblin elegantly, she appeared towards one of the swords and grabbed it before she strikes at the hobgoblin.

Meanwhile, the sounds of drum beats could be heard again.

After every slash, the sword she was holding would disintegrate, making her move on towards another floating sword. It went on until the 7th sword with the first fourth aimed at the hobgoblin's limbs, the fifth and sixth sword aimed at its chest and the final strike aimed at its head.

Within less than three seconds, the huge hobgoblin fell without even putting up a decent fight. As if it was a strawman for practice, its large torso collapsed to the ground making everyone that saw the scene speechless.

"Fuck. This is just the in-game cutscene for having completed the tutorial isn't it?" Venn thought as he finally realised why he was given ten days to complete the blood serpent quest.