Chapter 224 – Chloe vs Quinn, the Third Assassin

  Chloe Evenhart:The explosion hurled me into the water with brutal force. I had tried to form an ice barrier at the st moment, but the spell hadn’t pleted in time. The heatwave and shards of wood struck me like bdes, cutting through my skin and tearing muscles. When my body finally hit the surface of the water, pain exploded through me, as if every nerve in my body was afme.

  I sank immediately, the force of the fall draggio the depths of the subterranean river. The icy water pierced my battered flesh like needles, its shock almost as intense as the pain from the debris embedded in my body and the bohat had cracked uhe impact. The overwhelmiion of suffocation began to take hold as my lungs screamed for air.

  “Ah!” I cried out in a desperate effort as I mao resurface. My head broke through the water’s surface, and I gasped for air, coughing violently while fighting to stay afloat amidst the waves f around me. Debris floated everywhere—shards of the ship, fragments of ice, and charred wood mixed with smoke.

  Then, I noticed a piece of drifting ice, likely formed by my inplete spell. With effort, I moved my injured body toward it, struggling against the treacherous current. My legs felt heavy, and each stroke seemed endless. Finally, with a final push, I grabbed the edge of the ice ptform and dragged myself onto it.

  Lying atop the ice, my breaths came in desperate gasps, eae sending a sharp pain through my chest. My left side was severely injured. My arm, burned and bloodied, was nearly useless. Patches of my skin were scraped raw, and blood trickled down, mixing with the cold water. The warmth of the viscous liquid trasted starkly with the biting chill of the ice beh me.

  I g my wrist and realized, with a jolt of panic, that my ste bracelet was go had probably been lost to the dark depths of the subterranean river. My mind, still foggy from the explosion and the desperate fight for survival, tched onto one painfully clear memory.

  In the final moments before the explosion, amidst the chaos ing everything around me, a name had echoed in my mind—a hat now anchored my growing rage and thirst for vengeance.

  “Quinn… the third assassin,” I murmured.

  “Kinue!” I screamed, panic surging through me as I searched desperately for my friend amidst the fming wreckage. Each sed without seeing her increased my despair. If Kinue had been knocked unscious, she would have sunk into the dark, deep waters and drowned.

  “Please, no…” I whispered, uo finish the thought.

  “Kinue!” I yelled again, frantic, using wind magic to push the ice ptform closer to the wreckage.

  Nothing. I couldn’t find her anywhere.

  “You really survived…” A voice cut through the noise of the river, cold and dripping with disdain.

  I turned, still leaning on the ice, and saw hazy figures on the ship’s distant deck, looking at the water in panic. But it was him who caught my eye: Quinn, standing on a piece of drifting debris, watg me from afar like a predator studying its prey.

  “Quinn!” I shouted, my voice burning with hatred.

  He raised an eyebrow, a sarcastic smile curling across his lips as his sharp eyes assessed me. “Even after surviving, you look… pathetic. Your arm’s burnt, and that wound on your stomach looks deep. You’re in terrible shape. How did you mao escape?”

  His gaze drifted to the piece of ice supp me, a out a low chuckle of uanding. “Ah, I see. You must have jured an ice wall at the st sed. Clever. But even so, my bomb hit you squarely. The impact was lethal, just as I expected. Such a shame your little animal friend… wasn’t as lucky.”

  Hatred surged like a tidal wave within me. "I’ll kill you!" I growled, blood dripping from my wounded arm onto the ice beh me.

  Quinn smirked, pulling out two gleaming daggers from his ste bracelet. His eyes carried something darker—a twisted blend of vengeand madness.

  “These daggers…” He twirled them in his hands, admiring the bdes as if they were sacred relics. “They beloo my sister. I’ve always kept them with me. And now, with these very bdes, I’ll end you.”

  In one swift motion, he unleashed a cutting wind ssh with one of the daggers, the air r as it raced toward me. Without thinking, I leapt to the side, freezing the water beh my feet as I ran across the surface. Each step left a trail of i its wake while the wind ssh narrowly missed me, slig through the water like an invisible bde.

  “Wind Ssh!” Quinn shouted again, and another razor-sharp arc surged toward me, so close I could feel the air tearing at my skin. I dove to the icy ground, rolling before struggling to my feet. My body was weak, but my mind screamed at me to keep moving.

  When I stood again, I saw him. Quinn was closing the distah arming speed, gliding effortlessly over the floating debris as if the chaos around him was merely aension of his will. His daggers glinted menagly, eager to strike.

  I had to find Kinue, but Quinn refused to relent.

  I pointed my hand at the water, summoning pilrs of ice that shot up with explosive force. They rose from the river, creating a maze of obstacles between us. Quinn’s wind bdes strue of the pilrs, shattering it intments. He didn’t slow down.

  “You ’t hide behind your ice tricks!” he roared, hurling another wind bde. It missed me but struck the frozen surface, sending cracks spiderih my feet.

  I slipped but mao stay upright, juring more ice as I ran. The relentless current of the subterranean river worked against me, its unyielding flow turning every step into a battle for bance.

  “Bzing Breeze!” Quinn’s voice thundered as a fiery gust surged forward, ravenous fmes advang toward me. Instinctively, I raised a barrier of ice, molding it quickly with the mana I could still muster. I pushed the barrier forward with a gust of wind, but my mind was elsewhere, distracted by my desperate o find Kinue. I didn’t want to fight here. I had to find her.

  “Where do you think yoing?” Quinn’s voice carried a feral growl as he propelled himself toward me with a burst of wind magi the blink of an eye, he ohe csh of his daggers against my ice bde echoed sharply across the subterranean river. My sword shattered into shards, leaving me defenseless. With no choice, I spun my body, narrowly evading his strike and delivering a wind-powered kick to his jaw. The impact sent us both flying apart, but it wasn’t enough to gain the upper hand.

  I was ered, running out of options. My ste bracelet was lost to the river’s dark depths, taking with it all my ons, potions, and any hope of support. Each passing sed, the blood p from the wound in my stomach drained my strength further. Pressing my hand against the injury, I eled my magic to freeze the area and slow the bleeding.

  “Get back here, you bitch!” Quinn roared, charging at me with uing fury. He hurled spheres of wind that exploded around me, f me to weave and dodge with desperation. Every move was a frantic attempt to survive.

  I o escape. The open water was my only ce—to find Kinue before it was too te.

  My mind was in chaos, haunted by thousands of terrifying sarios. Each step I took, the weight of fear and uainty pressed harder against me. “Kinue!” I shouted, my voice eg through the vast subterraunnel as I ran among the floating debris. My heart ched tighter with every passing sed.

  In the distance, Quinn was closing in again, his cruel smile a clear indication that he wouldn’t stop until I was eliminated. But I couldn’t let that happen. If Kinue was still alive, I had to find her before he did. She was my priority, my only focus. The river was deep and treacherous, and I feared the worst.

  Suddenly, a guard on the ship’s deck shouted firmly, “You there! Are you responsible for this attack?”

  Quinn, wearing a ical, disdainful grin, turo the man. “Screw you! Stay out of my way!” In one swift ahal motion, he hurled a fireball that exploded as it struck the sails. Within seds, the ship began to transform into a bzing inferno.

  The water mages aboard scrambled to tain the fmes, their voices eg frantic orders amidst the chaos. I took advantage of the brief distra to reassess my situation. I o draw Quinn away, lead him far from the ship, and most importantly, buy time to search for Kinue.

  “I’ll burn you alive, just like my sister was burned!” Quinn roared, his voice dripping with urained hatred.

  The weight of his words struck me like a blow. Suddenly, everything made sehe assassin… she was his sister.

  “Eliza was your sister?” I asked, struggling to keep my voice steady as I dodged the relentless onsught of his wind-infused daggers.

  His eyes narrowed, bzing with insane fury. “She was!” he bellowed, hurling another volley of wind bdes, their edges cutting through the air like invisible scythes.

  I eled wind magiy feet, propelling myself into the air. Eaent was swift, narrowly avoiding the scorg heat of his fiery gusts as they rushed past me. Quinn was relentless; his io kill was unmistakable.

  He lunged again, his daggers glinting with elemental energy. I blew on my finger, releasing a cloud of frost that quickly spread around us. The water beh us began to freeze, transf into an arena of ice where our footsteps echoed ominously.

  Quinn hurled anger in my dire, but I slid across the iarrowly avoiding the attack. In one swift motion, I jured a spear of i my hand and charged. With precision, I struck his hand, earning a guttural cry of pain.

  "Die, you bastard!" he roared, the pain fueling his fury even further.

  “Ice Art: Small Iceberg!” I shouted, raising my hands to summon an enormous block of ice. The iceberg came crashing down like a hammer, colliding with Quinn with a thunderous impad plunging him into the water.

  Wasting no time, I pressed my attack. “Frost Breath!” I exhaled again, freezing the water’s surface around the spot where he had fallen. Ied in rapid yers, sealing the area like an improvised prison.

  But my heart was heavy. No matter how desperately I wao keep Quinn submerged, I couldn’t shake the thought of Kinue. Where was she? Was she still alive? The uainty cwed at my chest as I cast another spell to reinforce the ice around me.

  I pced a hand over my stomach, where the mana gem of my soul rested.

  Are you awake? Get ready… I’m going to need your help.

  I reached out to my Soul Golem, knowing I couldn’t take any further risks in this fight.

  “I’m summoning my Soul Golem and killing this son of a bitch!”