Everyone looked at the person who just appeared.

They recognized him in an instant.

The NGU national competition winner?

Kailen Darkhaven?

This fellow was very powerful. With his help, if any unforeseen events occurred, this journey would be extremely peaceful.

"Hello, Mr. Darkhaven." The Titan extended his hand forward. "I’m Brushstroke, the one in charge of escorting the count to our HQ. Nice to make your aquantaince."

Kailen extended his hand forward politely and shook the man’s hand.

"Nice to make your acquaintance as well, Mr. Brushstroke."

The man nodded. He turned to look at the count.

"This is Count Vonte Cristo."

Kailen glanced at the count and nodded politely.

The count looked at Kailen with admiration. This was the winner of the NGU national competition. Not only that, he was a genius from the Venzula Empire Academy. Those there were all the cream of the crop among transcendents in the empire.

He felt at ease. If Kailen Darkhaven was the one escorting them, then things would be very easy for them if nothing untoward they had not made any preparations for, happened.

The count extended his hand politely and shook Kailen’s hand.

"It’s an honor to meet you, Mr. Darkhaven. I’ll be in your care."

Kailen simply nodded warmly. He was here for a mission, not to play the hero. If the situation turned unfavorable, his life was in danger and the only option was to forget about the mission and flee, he would not hesitate to do that.

But the man didn’t have to know what he was thinking.

"Let’s cooperate to make that happen sir," Kailen replied.

"Mmm," the count replied.

Brushstroke further introduced Kailen to the rest of the team. After that, an airship appeared in the air. Everyone headed towards the airship and disappeared into it. The airship bolted off, headed towards Veyrath City.

In the airship, Kailen was silent, seated somewhere in a sofa. Brushstroke approached him and sat by him.

"Mr. Darkhaven, how would you prefer we cooperate?"

A glint flashed through Kailen’s eyes. This was what he had been waiting for.

"I would like to operate covertly," Kailen said.

"Alright. My men and I will keep watch in and around the airship." Brushstroke nodded. "We look forward to cooperating with you."

"Sure." Kailen nodded as Brushstroke left.

A glint flashed through Kailen’s eyes. Inasmuch as he was now a student of the Venzula Empire Academy, he was not senseless enough to go around making enemies unnecessarily. He was here to complete a mission, not to show off.

He wanted to kill assasins covertly, instead of openly revealing himself to those who would target the count during the journey. If he revealed himself and openly killed someone with a powerful backing, his identity would be revealed as the one behind their death, and he would have more headache to deal with.

The Royal Family was enough of a headache to deal with.

His focus in the chaotic region was to grow strong enough and eliminate the six vimodial seats, not to intentionally stir up trouble anywhere he went. If keeping a low profile was a way to avoid the wastage of time that came with making enemies everywhere he went, then why would he choose to openly reveal himself when he could covertly deal with threats, unless absolutely necessary?

As for the crown prince, Kailen knew that getting the help of the Lotus Assassin Syndicate to handle him was not possible. Even though he was a guest elder, and his reputation had helped the syndicate to soar to higher heights, there was no way they would try to assassinate the crown prince of the empire for him. It was too much of a risk for them to take.

Plus, even if they could, the crown prince definitely had powerhouses protecting him in the shadows. This was why Kailen had decided to settle things with him openly in the death arenas when he got to the rank 5 novice stage Transcendent level.

Kailen disappeared from the airship.

He appeared in the skies on an icy mountain peak. Where he was at, was not too far from where the airship was. Also, he could use the principle of space to observe a large perimeter around the airship as it travelled from here.

Kailen sat down on the mountain peak. Several snowflakes fell on him. He was like a statue seated on the mountain peak at the moment. He eventually turned completely white, so much so that if one did not take a very close look, they could not recognise him.

"Perfect," Kailen thought. "Let’s begin the hunt."

Kailen sat still on the mountain peak, scanning the region with the principle of space. For some time, there were no unusual occurrences.

However, his eyebrows moved a little as a glint flashed through his eyes.

Several individuals had masked themselves with the principle of darkness. They were currently hiding somewhere far away from where Kailen was. They were in some icy plains at the moment, having a conversation.

"Boss. If we manage to complete this job, we will get access to the principle Fragment tower of Count Hesibergrn. I’m so excited," one of them, a fox looking Demihuman said.

"Keep quiet, Rundal. Don’t do anything impulsive this time. Because of your attitude on our last mission, we didn’t secure the target and they escaped." The boss, a human with sly eyes, rebutted the subordinate who had just spoken, Rundal, coldly.

"Yeah, Rundall, shut up."

"Yeah."

"Everybody stay quiet," the boss said. "The target is passing through this route. Prepare to engage."

Everyone looked towards the skies. A large airship could be seen from the distance, gliding through the skies. They were about to engage when suddenly, they felt the space around them meld and twist.

"What is happening?"

"Shit... have we been discovered?"

"How is this even possible?"

They felt the space around them suddenly constricted. They could not move. Each of them activated the principle of darkness, launching various attacks. Their attacks bended and twisted. Eventually, their attacks were snuffed out as if space itself had deleted them out of existence.

The group of assassins were extremely terrified. All they had in their hearts was regret. Who had Count Cristo gotten on his side? Did the Caravan Transport Agency have someone so powerful on their side? Why did they not get this Intel when they took on the mission?

Also, they could not even see, sense or perceive the person who was attacking them. No one was here. It was as if some ghost was attacking them. This was too terrifying.

At the moment they were rendered helpless, afraid, and unable to move or even speak. They felt their beings were being deleted out of existence. Spaces between cells, or to be more precise, atoms were widened from one another. It was as if some unseen fundamental force was pulling their atoms apart.

Eventually, the outcome was that their being had been so separated into tiny components that they ceased to exist.

Kailen left no traces of his actions.

"On to the next," Kailen muttered from the icy mountain peak.