Witch, Fireball and the Evil God of Steam-Chapter 795 - 138: Born Killer (Part 2)

"Who... what are you really? No, what kind of thing are you!"

She poked her head out from the bushes, her eyes full of vigilance.

She originally thought Ethan was just a negotiator deciding to stay here to help Lance in negotiations with the upcoming Imperial Army, but who would have thought he would eat people! Although he didn't eat good people, the scene was really terrifying.

"As I said, I am an Elemental Shaper."

"What is an Elemental Shaper?"

"Simply put, it's a profession that practices elemental magic and befriends elemental elves in nature."

Ethan explained, "What I just used was a shadow arrow from Elemental Shaper magic."

The full name of the spell is Shadow Arrow - Black Hole.

"Miss Evelyn, you can rest assured, I am definitely not a suspicious person, and certainly not a murderous psychopath."

"Hard to say..."

Once again, Ethan's attempt at clarification failed.

Ivory suddenly realized something and felt a little embarrassed since Ethan had just saved her from a Skinner, even if he was a creepy monster in human skin, he might temporarily be considered a friendly monster.

Her vigilance and suspicion were indeed somewhat impolite.

"Sorry, it's just... you're too skilled, it doesn't seem like your first time doing this."

Evelyn came back to her senses and suddenly realized Ethan seemed to have never paid attention to the feared Skinner from the start. Their battle seemed more like a game of cat and mouse, where before devouring prey, a cat always lets the prey run a certain distance.

"Let's head back to the camp first."

Ethan awkwardly changed the subject, and Evelyn wasn't wrong; his elemental shaper magic, although basic entry-level spells, was extremely proficient.

He picked up some additional information from the Skinner's words.

People seem to have a misunderstanding about Skinners, mostly thinking they are brutal executioners, but now it seems they are an organization. Each member of the organization is known as a "Skinner" to the Silver Radiance Empire people, trained by Duke Ash, used as family Death Warriors, and given opportunities to unleash their brutal nature.

Besides "Teleportation," "Throwing Knife," and "Shadow Diving," Skinners can disguise themselves with the skinned human skin. This was the purpose of her tying Evelyn up here, and if he had been a step slower, perhaps soon another "Evelyn" would have appeared in the camp.

He had to admit Skinners were almost born for assassination.

Then the new problem arose.

How many Skinners did Duke Ash send, and where are they now?

The Rebel Army in the camp didn't know the Skinners' abilities, and after Lance issued the order, everyone was busy preparing to evacuate Imperial supplies. Even if a few people suddenly disappeared for a while, others would not notice.

Facing Skinners head-on is not frightening, but terrifying is not knowing where they went.

This reminded Ethan of shapeshifters mentioned in "Understanding 100 Dark Creatures," even though their individual destructive power is not strong, they become the nightmare of every Demon Hunter. When they disappear for a while, they might become anyone you see.

In contrast, Skinners are more deadly and powerful; wearing human skin without the weaknesses of dark creatures, they cannot be identified by Life Divine Teachings' magic.

...............

Meanwhile, a hurried Rebel Army ran towards Lance.

He was sweating profusely, panting heavily, yet before getting close, he shouted to Lance, "Lord Lance, it's bad! Evelyn is missing!"

"Evelyn!?"

Lance was startled, immediately putting his giant sword down and heading towards the breathless Rebel Army, "What happened?"

"We were just counting people and supplies with Evelyn, then came out and found she was missing! Along the way, she kept saying she could hear strange sounds and always felt someone was watching us in the forest..."

"Don't hurry, speak slowly."

"Evelyn suspected someone snuck into the camp, certainly went to check by herself when we counted the supplies. If she encountered an attacker in the forest, I'm afraid, I'm afraid—"

As Lance glanced towards the distant forest, the anxious Rebel Army suddenly switched conversation and, with a hidden dagger in his sleeve, stabbed towards Lance's lower back. All this happened in a flash; although Lance avoided immediately, the dagger's blade still stabbed into his side.

"I'm afraid that stupid woman has been skinned and thrown away like trash."

While speaking, he retreated several steps, grinning and saying, "Your vigilance is much higher than that stupid woman; for someone else, just that attack would have already damaged their internal organs... Lance, the empire's strongest man, in this state, how long can you last?"

Lance retreated to his giant sword, using it to support himself, his waist hurt, making his vision a bit blurry. Ordinarily, such an injury should not put him in this state; the only explanation is the dagger was coated with poison.

"Did you notice? But you're lucky, they want you alive to return to the Imperial Capital."

Lance heard more footsteps.

Another three Rebel Army approached, his expression growing dour.

This was not reinforcement; the four occupied different directions, blocking all his retreat paths, familiar with the swordsman's combat style, wary of his giant sword, never allowing him to close the distance.

Thrown daggers were blocked by battle energy, but they were adept at exploiting the gaps poison provided, resulting in wounds from flying blades on Lance's thigh and arm. More poison seeped into his body.

This was absolutely the most humiliating battle of his life.

Not only did they understand his combat style, but they also devised tactics specifically against it.

His vision grew more blurred, footsteps heavier, battle energy failing to maintain whole-body protection with all flying blades aimed at his limbs—the attackers intended to completely incapacitate him.

Due to the toxin's effects, this ordeal did not last long.

Treating him like a large magic-creature, amid ongoing attacks, his over two meters tall body toppled.

"Tsk, seems we've overestimated him."

Before approaching Lance, the attacker pulled out threads from his sleeve to entangle the giant sword beside Lance, flinging it aside.

The other two took out a device similar to handcuffs.

This was specifically for dealing with high-tier transcendents by Duke Ash, the released current quieting any transcendent.

They mocked the fallen giant; everything was settled.

Duke Ash only wanted Lance and Solan alive to be taken back to the Imperial Capital. As for others in the camp, they could deal with them as they pleased.

However, in the next moment, everything changed.

The giant who supposedly fainted suddenly opened his eyes, those bloodshot eyes showed killing intent. Having lost his giant sword, he restrained the attacker attempting to cuff him, his arms bulging veins, forcefully smashing the attacker's head towards the ground.

Yet the force enough to smash a head seemed ineffective.

The attacker suddenly burst out with an irresistible force, breaking free of his restraint, under the bright moonlight, Lance saw a scene deeply memorable for life.

Underneath the damaged human skin, the original visage of the attacker appeared, with wounds deep enough to see bones.

But he did not perish because the wounds revealed something resembling metallic material.

"Lance."

That face spoke in a cold voice, "Your hero games are over."