78: Chapter 78 Sister Linglong, don't be afraid, I'm here!

Had Sister Linglong encountered an assassination?

Lu Chen did not delay, immediately summoning his mount, the Calamity Flame Spirit Skeleton King, and rushed rapidly toward the location Sister Linglong had sent.

It was already night, and as the Calamity Flame Spirit Skeleton King charged along the way, it left behind brilliant flame effects.

"Holy crap! Such a cool mount, which guild's big shot is this?"

Nearby job-changers who saw it couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

But the Calamity Flame Spirit Skeleton King was too fast, and with its flame effects, they couldn't see clearly whose mount it was, only feeling that it was incredibly cool.

"This is at least an SS-Rank mount; anything below SS-Rank wouldn't have such cool effects!"

A fourth-Rank expert analyzed.

Meanwhile, inside a mountain forest.

Yu Linglong was fleeing desperately, with a stealthed seventh-Rank Advanced assassin following behind her!

Although Yu Linglong was a legendary class Crimson Radiance Archer, her Rank was only fifth-Rank. Facing an assassin, the bane of Archers, and a seventh-Rank one at that, she had almost no power to resist.

"Yu Linglong, give up your resistance. Our Leader of Haiying admires you greatly. As long as you obediently come with me, I guarantee you won't die!"

The stealthed assassin suddenly appeared and struck, depleting a small portion of Yu Linglong's HP.

"Hmm? Her defense is this high? My strike should have depleted at least half of her HP! She truly deserves to be the legendary Genius who achieved the world-announced first clear of the five-star Hell difficulty secret realm!"

The assassin was inwardly surprised. The Leader of Haiying had ordered them to capture Yu Linglong alive, not to kill her!

It turned out that the actual power-holder of the Jinbao Pavilion, Jin Nihuang, had spent a large sum of money to contact the world's number one nine-star assassin guild, [Skeleton Shadow], requesting them to assassinate Yu Linglong!

Upon hearing the world announcement, the Leader of Haiying also wanted to recruit Yu Linglong, so she ordered her subordinates to bring her back first after finding her!

If she was obedient and willing to join Skeleton Shadow, the Leader of Haiying could make an exception for her and cancel the employer's assassination mission.

But if she was not obedient, she would use every means to drain Yu Linglong of all useful value, then kill her, and finally hand her head over to Jin Nihuang!

These past few days, Yu Linglong had failed to acquire the advancement Materials for a fifth-Rank Beast Tamer elsewhere and had to take the risk of carrying Lu Sen's gold card to the Jinbao Pavilion branch in Yunlan City to make the purchase.

Originally, everything was going smoothly, but she encountered someone causing trouble inside the Jinbao Pavilion, which led the branch's Pavilion Master, Tang Hai, to appear in person and observe the entire scene!

And just like that, Yu Linglong's identity was discovered.

Under the escort of Aunt Ying, they quickly evacuated.

Tang Hai immediately gave chase. With Night Shadow present, although it was difficult for him to kill Yu Linglong, tracking the two women was not a problem.

He sent the news to the First Lady, Jin Nihuang. Upon learning that Yu Linglong had appeared in Yunlan City, Jin Nihuang immediately sent this intelligence to Skeleton Shadow.

After the three-person assassin squad that had arrived in the Yunlan City area received the intelligence, they immediately pursued them. They were all seventh-Rank expert assassins.

Night Shadow had already been held up by two seventh-Rank assassins, while the third assassin, the captain, had set his sights on Yu Linglong.

Seeing the three great assassins from Skeleton Shadow make their move, Tang Hai knew that Yu Linglong was undoubtedly going to die, so he just watched from the sidelines. Once they completed their mission, he could collect Yu Linglong's corpse in time and trade it to the First Lady to receive his reward.

"Dream on!"

The Haiying Guild was a world-famous, brutal assassin guild; going there would mean spending a lifetime in Hell. Yu Linglong would never go there, even if it killed her.

Her only hope now was to hold out until her younger brother, Lu Chen, arrived.

Although it would be difficult for her younger brother Lu Chen to kill three seventh-Rank expert assassins, protecting her should not be a problem.

"Since you refuse to obediently submit, then I can only make you suffer a little."

After saying this, this seventh-Rank Phantom Assassin quickly attacked repeatedly, beating Yu Linglong into a critical health state and breaking her legs and arms, making it impossible for her to run or resist any further.

Yu Linglong could only collapse on the ground, powerless to resist, like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.

"Obediently come with me, and you won't have to suffer this pain!"

The Phantom Assassin was about to take Yu Linglong away. At this moment, Aunt Ying suddenly lunged over, forcing the Phantom Assassin back with a single strike.

"Trash! Two against one, and you still let her get away?"

"Captain, her speed suddenly increased significantly; she must have a very high-level equipment effect!"

Two assassins appeared shortly after. One was a Silver Blade Assassin, and the other was a Gale Assassin; both were top-tier SS-Rank assassins, and neither of them was inferior to Aunt Ying in strength!

"Young Miss Linglong!"

Aunt Ying's eyes revealed a resolve to die. She had just activated the effect of the legendary boots obtained from the first clear of the Corrupted Temple, which could increase movement speed by 50%, allowing her to temporarily shake off the two great assassins.

Now that the effect was on cooldown, she had no other choice but to fight to the death to buy more time for Young Master Lu Chen to arrive.

"Aunt Ying, don't worry about me, you must leave! This is my order!"

"Apologies! Young Miss Linglong, this order of yours is ineffective on me. My final mission is to protect your safety with my life!"

At this moment, the three great assassins attacked together. They wanted to first eliminate Aunt Ying, this death-sworn protector, and then take Yu Linglong away!

Facing the siege of three assassins of the same Rank, Aunt Ying erupted with unprecedented combat power, fighting for her life, but in the end, two fists could not fight four hands. Her HP bar was dropping rapidly.

"Am I going to die? If the legendary equipment Rank reached the seventh-Rank, if my Rank had broken through to the eighth-Rank, perhaps Young Miss Linglong could have escaped this disaster!"

Aunt Ying's eyes suddenly flashed with a fierce light; even if she died, she would cripple one enemy.

[Final Dance — Night Owl Instant Prison Kill!]

This was a skill that could ignore distance against a marked target, blink behind the target, deal 300% critical damage, and imprison the target for 1 second!

Swoosh!

Pfft!

Aunt Ying had set her sights on the Gale Assassin; his speed was the fastest, and crippling him could reduce the pressure on Young Master Lu Chen.

"Not good!"

The Gale Assassin's expression changed, but the damage had already arrived. His HP bar instantly dropped by a large chunk, and immediately after, during the 1-second interval while the opponent was imprisoned, Aunt Ying used the dagger in her hand to sever one of his legs.

"Ah!!!"

He screamed in pain. The Phantom Assassin and the Silver Blade Assassin saw this and were shocked and angry; they hadn't expected that even with three against one, they could still have one of their own crippled by the opponent.

"Finish her off!"

With her powerful skill on cooldown, Aunt Ying's combat power was greatly reduced. Facing the other two assassins who were in good condition, she could no longer hold them off.

"Young Miss Linglong, no matter what, never give up hope. Hold on, the dawn will shine upon you!"

At the very last moment before she fell, Aunt Ying did not forget to admonish Yu Linglong; only by surviving would there be a future and hope!

"Aunt Ying!"

Yu Linglong cried sorrowfully. Ever since her mother died, it was Aunt Ying who had accompanied her growing up, giving her motherly care and warmth. Now, even Aunt Ying was dead, and her body and mind were suffering a violent, shattering impact.

But she did not break down. She had to survive. Only by surviving could she take revenge!

She swallowed a bottle of recovery potion; the effect was mediocre, but she had to try to fight for a chance.

Thud!

Seeing that the situation was settled, Tang Hai appeared: "You two, please quickly kill Yu Linglong so I can report back to the First Lady!"

"Who told you that our mission was to assassinate Yu Linglong?"

The Phantom Assassin did not have any emotional fluctuation because one team member had been crippled; they were, after all, killing machines. If they were crippled, so be it; they would just take them back and make use of the waste.

"What? You!"

Tang Hai realized something was wrong and wanted to retreat. But the two great assassins, who had long been prepared, had already launched their offensive in advance. Unable to react in time, he could only desperately defend himself.

He wanted to send a message to the First Lady to inform her of the situation. But the Phantom Assassin had long been prepared; a one-time information-blocking barrier item was released, shielding this area, and no one would be able to send any messages within 2 hours.

"Do you want to breach the contract?"

Tang Hai panicked. If he had known the assassins from Skeleton Shadow were this brutal, he wouldn't have waded into these muddy waters.

Phantom Assassin: "That is not something you need to be concerned about!"

Tang Hai was a seventh-Rank Elementary Paladin. Facing the full-force attacks of two top-tier assassins, no matter how much HP he had, he couldn't hold out. Before long, Tang Hai also reaped what he sowed and died on the spot.

"Yu Linglong, it's your turn!"

The Phantom Assassin's sharp claws tore through the air, five streaks of ghostly blue cold light aiming straight for Yu Linglong's throat; Yu Linglong was unable to dodge.

Just at the moment when the sharp claws were about to touch her snowy neck—

Neigh!

A streak of crimson flame descended like a falling star, the scorching heat wave burning cracks into the night sky. Lu Chen arrived just in time:

"Sister Linglong, do not fear, I am here!"

PS: I'm broke, absolutely broke. I beg for more updates, beg for support, and beg for five-star care to give me the confidence to complete the 5 million-word plot! It will only get more exciting and wonderful later on!