Endless World: The Rise of Leonard Lawson

The rain in Velastra continued to pour down on the bloodied ground, effectively washing away any evidence of a murder.

Despite the rain hindering her vision, Claudia remained focused and wary of Jeff’s presence.

The sword cut from earlier was extremely fast.

She was certain that she would have died under the sword if Jeff had intended to kill her from the start.

Instead, Jeff chose to kill the city guards first.

As for the reason behind his choice of targets. She had no idea.

The only thing she knew was that the man in front of her was potentially even more dangerous than Redflow.

Redflow was a clear, emotionless assassin who only had missions in his mind.

However, Jeff was capable of expressing his emotions and integrating himself perfectly into the life of a city guard.

”Who sent you here?” Claudia ignored the heavy rain and asked cautiously. Her clothes were drenched and stuck to her skin. Such an effect made it hard for her to maneuver properly.

Thus, she hoped to stall and searched for a way out.

Although the East Exit Gate no longer had many people around because of the lockdown, there were bound to be patrols from the Crimson Guards arriving soon.

As long as she could stall till their arrival, she still had a chance to escape.

Alas, Claudia failed to realize her question was a mistake. No, it was more correct to say that the moment she opened her mouth to speak, it was already a mistake.

”It seems like you’re injured or weakened. Otherwise, an assassin such as you wouldn’t have bothered to strike up a conversation.” Jeff chuckled in amusement.

His mana shield had deflected the rain from drenching his clothes.

Yet Claudia, on the other hand, allowed the rain to drench her.

Thus, he held his suspicion that she might be critically injured to the point that she couldn’t afford to waste mana.

So he chose to kill the city guards first to eliminate any witnesses.

Simultaneously, he could take the chance to verify Claudia’s condition.

And now that she raised a question, it helped confirm his suspicion to be true.

As Jeff held the hilt of his sword, seemingly ready to strike, Claudia quickly threw a few small daggers.

Afterward, she turned around and began running in the patrolling direction.

”Trivial tricks.” Jeff snorted and swung his sword. The aura of his sword deflected the small daggers and continued to advance.

Alarmed, Claudia hurriedly tried to use her tiny bit of mana to form a shield.

CLANK!

Unfortunately, like fragile glass, the shield shattered in an instant. The sword aura also made a clean cut on her back.

”Cough!” Claudia vomited a mouthful of blood. She crashed to the ground, unable to move her limbs.

The sword aura was laced with a paralyzing effect.

”Go on. Keep running.”

Jeff held a nonchalant expression and urged her to resume escaping. ”The Crown Prince is soft-hearted, but that’s alright. I was told to eliminate the threat around him anyway.”

’He was told to eliminate the threats?’ Claudia’s pupils constricted. She quickly realized Jeff wasn’t a part of Leonard’s enemies.

But rather, he was someone who was on the Crown Prince’s side. Except that this particular person was someone whom Leonard might not know about either.

’Hah, the Crown Prince let me go, but the people protecting him in the dark are unwilling. How ironic that was.’ Claudia didn’t think Leonard failed to anticipate that there might be someone intercepting her escape.

Perhaps this was part of his plan to lure out those in hiding from the beginning.

As expected of the Crown Prince of Aldros!

Such was the means that befitted a future emperor.

’How boring.’ Jeff thought to himself when he saw her stop resisting.

”Whatever, my wife cooked me dinner, so I can’t be late anyway.” He unleashed some of his aura into his sword and prepared to end her in one slash.

Swoosh!

As the slash rushed forward, Claudia closed her eyes, seemingly accepting her fate.

’No matter how much I struggled, this is still my end.’ She was truly exhausted.

Meanwhile, Jeff was about to leave the scene, only to pause midway.

”Hmm?” His eyes narrowed toward a certain direction.

In the meantime, the space fluctuated slightly.

The sword aura that threatened to take Claudia’s life was simultaneously dispelled.

”Apologies, but the Crown Prince has said to let her go.” Logan emerged from the fluctuating space.

”A Shadow, huh.” Jeff remained indifferent to Logan’s presence.

”My order was to eliminate those who had threatened or harmed the Crown Prince. I hope you won’t interfere with my duty.” He continued, hoping to persuade Logan. If anything, he had no interest in confronting the Shadows.

Logan stayed silent for a brief second.

The fact that the other party recognized his identity right away made him understand they might belong to another division in the Crimson Guard.

Upon further pondering, the keywords in his order to eliminate those who threatened or harmed the Crown Prince were aligned with one particular division.

’The Crimson Talon Division...’ Logan deduced internally.

The Talon Division, otherwise known as the Executioners, was responsible for the elimination of political or physical threats.

Their specialty was fast, high-impact assassination and fear tactics.

Added to the sword aura and lightning-fast attack from earlier, Logan was positive of this deduction.

”You must be an executioner, right?” Logan kept his guard and asked calmly.

Jeff clicked his tongue and realized the situation was more troublesome than he initially thought.

”Ugh, I should have targeted her from the start.” He sheathed his sword and responded, ”The Eyes Behind the Curtain.”

”The Silent Sentence.” Logan swiftly replied in kind.

The statement uttered by these two was the other party’s division nickname.

The Eyes Behind the Curtain referred to the Crimson Veil Division, whereas The Silent Sentence referred to the Crimson Talon Division.

Just when the two identified each other, the situation continued to escalate with the arrival of another group of people.

”Surround Jeffrey immediately!” Wesley ordered and had Jeff surrounded.