Chapter 394: Matthew Pierre [2]

Spurt!

Another body dropped to the ground with a thud, as a man with blonde hair walked through the corpses lying across the hallway.

The floor was tainted in blood, and so were the walls that surrounded Arnold on both sides.

Wiping the blood off his blade, Arnold walked with an expression of disgust on his face.

Killing these many innocents only to assassinate a single person sickened Arnold to his core.

And... there would have been more of them, had Remzi not pulled some strings in the shadows to reduce the forces stationed near the target.

Moving stealthily was out of choice, as it wasn’t Arnold’s field of expertise.

Direct combat was what he excelled at, and that was what he was currently doing.

The security around Matthew was strong but not strong enough to truly threaten Arnold.

Matthew didn’t like to be protected all the time, so he had only kept the necessary forces in his mansion out of formality.

It was a stupid choice, but for Matthew... it might have very well been a matter of his pride.

Gold cores, however strong they might have been, were no match for a Platinum 5 ranker like Arnold, someone who was one of the very best in his rank.

"There it is."

According to the map that Remzi had provided him, the room to the right should have been the one where Matthew generally spent his time.

Arnold wanted to confirm the presence of his target, but using mana sense would have been counterproductive, as Matthew would have sensed Arnold in return.

And though Arnold was confident in killing Matthew... he had no interest in taking unnecessary risks.

Lowering his back a little, Arnold crouched down before moving with quiet steps.

His huge frame was proving to be somewhat of an obstacle for him, as the sound of his steps was too heavy for him to completely silence.

But the good thing was that almost all of the soldiers in the mansion had been killed, and the door of Matthew’s room had already been tampered with by Remzi’s men.

That was the sole reason why Matthew had been unable to hear or sense the fight that had been taking place all around the mansion for quite some time now.

Still, no matter how hard he thought about it, Arnold couldn’t help but be confused about Remzi’s way of operating.

If he could send his men to tamper with the door to Matthew’s room, then couldn’t he have sent some skilled assassins to kill Matthew?

That could have saved Arnold from the hassle that he was going through at the moment.

And after the assassination of Matthew, Arnold could have simply taken the blame on himself.

But, Remzi... the guy had to go out of his way to force the task on him.

Walking closer to the door, Arnold gently pressed it, and—

The door moved.

Stepping in through the small space, a huge room greeted his sight, with Matthew sitting on a chair, his back facing towards the door.

The formations or whatever that Remzi had employed seemed to have dulled Matthew’s senses by a lot, or why would a Platinum 4 ranker still be sitting at ease even when the door to his room was opened?

Loosening the grip on his sword, Arnold relaxed his wrists, gearing up for the fight.

He felt the need to make a bold declaration of his visit and then kill Matthew, but even for Arnold... it would have been a foolish decision.

So he moved with the same silent footsteps, closing the distance with Matthew, with his blade ready to behead the target in the first strike itself.

"Something had felt off, and guess what... everything about the night had been off from the start itself."

"..."

Arnold’s pupils dilated as he held his breath with widened eyes.

Matthew’s unhurried voice was followed by a sigh, as the guy stood up from the chair, before turning around to look into Arnold’s eyes.

"I enjoy socialising with people, but trust me... being visited by a guy at night could never be pleasing for my mind."

Saying the words, Matthew began to walk toward Arnold, as a sword materialised in his hand.

From the looks of it, the blade seemed to be an ordinary one, but Arnold wasn’t one to be fooled by it.

"Tell me... Prince Levaith... how can I be of help to you?"

The smile on Matthew’s face never disappeared; on the contrary... it only went on to deepen itself, as the guy adjusted his hair in a smooth motion.

"Help? Nothing much... just came to see the face of the dog trying to sniff me out, to... please his masters."

Channelling mana through his body, Arnold began to power up the circuit of his spell, while at the same time, he closed the distance with Matthew.

"Dog, huh... the word doesn’t suit a traitor, does it—"

Swoosh!

Clank!

"Just die, bastard!"

Arnold roared as his blade clashed against Matthew’s, resulting in sparks flying between them.

"I could say the same for you."

Matthew calmly answered, though upon closer look, his teeth were tightly clenched, as he tried his best not to lose in the battle of raw strength.

But... the difference of a single tier within the Platinum rank wasn’t something that could be overcome through determination alone.

"Call for your backup, old man... you ain’t winning the fight against me."

Changing the angle of his attack, Arnold smiled, as the circuit of his spell had already been formed, ready to devour his opponent in his entirety.

"Such petty tricks."

Matthew wasn’t flustered by the sudden appearance of the formation of a spell before his eyes.

On the contrary, it felt as if he had already calculated the entire fight in his mind—

After all, Matthew was a strategist before being a warrior.

And a head strategist at that.

"Let me show you what true combat is."

Raising his left hand in the air, Matthew’s own spell had already materialised in reality, and the appearance of its circuit seemed to have brought some realization to Arnold, as his earlier smile entirely vanished from his face.

BOOOM!