This silver dagger was clearly a Magical Item, its surface radiating a keen silver glow.
Wade's own innate Wizardry had instantly transformed into a vine armor that shielded his front, but the silver-white dagger still pierced through it.
Wade collapsed with a look of unwillingness on his face, staining a vast area of the ground red.
The earth-yellow floor rippled and twisted, finally taking on the humanoid form of Black Shadow.
"You only paid attention to Thousand Face's transformation, but you forgot that Black Shadow can shift into a shadow state and cling to anything..."
Wade was gravely wounded, with no excess Spiritual Power or mana to sustain himself. The vines that had been binding Thousand Face naturally unraveled.
Thousand Face rubbed his wrist and spoke with a cold sneer.
Crack!
In the next instant, a blood-red beam of light pierced through his neck, and scalding blood gushed out ceaselessly.
"Too bad! You underestimated our Seasonal Group too!!!"
Pfft! A Seasonal Group member who was obviously a squad leader drew a blood-red longsword and pointed it toward Black Shadow's position!
A blood-red beam of light shot out instantly. The thorn cage from before reappeared, enclosing Wade within it.
The thorn cage could not only be used to trap and kill enemies — it could also protect one's own allies!
"Protect the Commander! Leave him to me!" The leader gave a sharp shout, and in the next moment, four blood-red streaks tore through the air, appearing outside the thorn cage.
"Thousand Face — dead just like that?!" Black Shadow looked around in disbelief.
The office was in utter disarray. Many Wizards had been rendered immobile by the high-energy bomb from earlier. However, the Seasonal Group members, protected by their blood-colored armor and innate Wizardry, had clearly not been seriously injured. By now, they had gradually closed in, sealing off every escape route Black Shadow could take.
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"
Black Shadow kept scanning his surroundings, letting out furious roars: "Hateful! We've been deceived!!! Where are the backup and reinforcements the organization promised? Where?!?!"
Judging by the situation, the Thousand-Leaf Hand had assigned them the mission but withheld a great deal of information, perhaps even making false promises along the way.
"Hmph! A Black Wizard after all! They can only think of saving themselves the moment things go south!!!"
The leader of the Four Seasons squad snorted contemptuously, then pointed at the seal formation: "Second squad, hold that position! Don't let a single person through!"
A squad of Four Seasons members immediately rushed to the seal formation's location. A ring of crimson thorn-like light blazed to life once more.
The leader raised the blood-red longsword in his hand and pointed it at the Black Shadow.
"You've made me furious!!! This is the first time in fifty years of carrying out missions that a target has actually wounded me! Are you ready to pay the price for that?"
Rings of luminous energy particles flickered continuously across his body, and a tremendous wave of Spiritual Power radiated outward, enveloping the Black Shadow.
His gaze in particular was like that of a predator locking onto its chosen prey, sending a chill down the Black Shadow's spine.
"W-wait… wait… we can talk! I know a great deal of intelligence about the Thousand-Leaf Hand — we can cooperate…"
The Black Shadow shouted words meant to stall and draw attention, utterly devoid of sincerity. Meanwhile, an almost imperceptibly thin shimmer of magical light flickered into existence around his feet.
Whoosh!
His figure instantly dissolved into a streak of black shadow, his speed nearly breaking the limits of the naked eye. In a flash he burst out of the encirclement of the four Four Seasons members.
The Black Shadow flickered several times in rapid succession, splitting into several identical shadows that charged in different directions to break through.
Crack!
Facing this, the leader merely smiled coldly. Then he drove the blood-red longsword deep into a wooden plank before him.
Ripples, spreading outward like ocean waves, rolled across the floor in every direction.
An earth-yellow human silhouette was launched into the air, ejected from the floorboards by the shockwave.
Boom! The leader appeared before the Black Shadow in an instant, the blood-red longsword carving a brilliant white arc through the air.
Crack! The transparent chest armor and a pendant on the Black Shadow shattered into fragments. The blood-red longsword followed through mercilessly, slashing across his chest as blood sprayed into the air.
Thud! The Black Shadow crashed to the ground. The Four Seasons squad leader strode forward and planted his iron-booted right foot squarely on the Black Shadow's chest. "Run? Why aren't you running anymore???"
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Fine, grating sounds of bones cracking continued to erupt from the Black Shadow's chest.
Blood laced with white foam spilled from the corners of the Black Shadow's mouth as he tried to say something.
The entire sequence of combat had unfolded with breathtaking speed, all of it playing out in barely a dozen seconds — so fast that some of the Wizards who had been knocked to the ground still hadn't processed what had happened.
And now, wisps of faint black mist still lingered, not yet fully dissipated.