Chapter 184 Crushing
Jack lost it, yelling, "You useless idiot, where are you looking?"
In the team, he had two female seniors, one of whom was his idol and the other a respected professor. Jack, feeling disrespected, grabbed his knife and stepped up.
"Come here, I'll kill you," he said coldly.
Jack was usually the team clown, but he was fierce with outsiders, except for Natalie. Today, William wanted to train the team, so Jack didn't hold back.
William frowned. It wasn't that Jack shouldn't talk back, but he knew Jack couldn't beat Philip.
Jack was just a one-star Evolving person, while Philip was not only an Evolving person but also a pro, a Blade of Shadows.
A close-combat Swordsman class known for speed and elusiveness.
In his past life, William had struggled against this class. Even as a dual-class Swordsman and Archer, he couldn't keep up with them.
"This kid is ours to handle!" Dariu and Lancaster stepped up, pushing past Philip.
They noticed the Edge of the Moon in Jack's hand.
Even in the Royal Guild, white weapons were rare. Only Philip, who was well-connected, had one.
Seeing Jack with such a high-level weapon, they felt a surge of greed.
Royal Guild members had the right to claim exclusive loot. If they took down William, the white-level weapon would be theirs.
Philip's eyes widened at the sight of the white Warblade Jack was holding, excitement clear on his face.
Now that Dariu and Lancaster were trying to steal his opponent, Philip was furious.
"Impatient? Don't be, I have one too," Michelle said, giggling as she pulled out her knife.
The expressions of the four opponents changed immediately.
Philip's greed was evident, whereas Dariu and Lancaster were cautious.
A team with two white weapons was no joke.
Archer scanned William and his team, eyeing their backs and waists. No one knew what he was thinking.
"Together!" Candice shouted.
She pulled out her Edge of the Moon and stood beside Jack. She couldn't let her teammate fight alone.
Archer, usually expressionless, finally showed emotion when he saw the third Edge of the Moon in Candice's hand. His eye twitched, realizing tonight's events might be spiraling out of control.
The Royal Guild was a semi-secret regional group, mostly made up of businessmen, nightclub owners, mine owners, and others with shady businesses. In peacetime, they ran gaming, entertainment, and modeling companies, hiring tough fighters to handle problems.
Their aim was to make large sums quickly by exploiting loopholes.
After the apocalypse, they adapted faster than most, using their profit-driven instincts to grab roulette resources. They had their fighters hunt zombies and take over other people's bases, quickly growing stronger.
Archer and DariuLancaster were fighters, while Philip was a Royal Guild member's descendant. Archer, who used to make money with his fists, had a sharper sense of danger than Philip. Seeing three white weapons at once gave him chills.
Archer stepped forward to join the fight, but as he tried to take another step, he felt immense pressure. He saw the opposing team's leader staring at him.
It was an unpleasant feeling familiar only to him, from the guild's big boss.
He knew William was warning him. If he stayed put, his three companions might win. But if he moved, he'd face a fierce attack.
Clenching his fists, he chose not to move.
The sound of clashing weapons broke the standoff, signaling the start of a life-and-death battle!
Philip's willow-leaf knife clashed with Michelle's Edge of the Moon.
Michelle chuckled, gripping her knife with both hands and pushing forward.
The Edge of the Moon was a Warblade, while the willow-leaf knife was a dagger. Michelle knew her advantage.
Philip stepped back, looking grim.
He felt a strange force diverting his attack. He growled, flipped his wrist, and the glow of the willow-leaf knife disappeared. His body shifted.
"Ghost Assassination," William suddenly said, causing Philip's smooth movements to pause for a split second.
The pause was brief, almost imperceptible, but in battle, it was enough for Michelle to prepare.
With a deft move, Michelle positioned the Edge of the Moon beside her. Almost immediately, Philip's willow-leaf knife struck the blade of the Edge of the Moon.
Both stepped back.
Michelle remained shaken; had William's words not affected Philip and alerted her to the danger, the almost imperceptible strike would've pierced her neck.
Philip, who had just been leering at her, suddenly wanted to kill her!
Philip was shocked. The apocalypse had just started, and professionals were rare. The Royal Guild had many because they got lucky with a Colorful Roulette. Among other survivors, professionals were extremely rare, let alone those who knew the names of professional skills. He hadn't expected someone to call out a skill name that even his companions didn't know.
Who was this guy? How did he know these things?
Of course, William knew. In his past life, he had suffered from this move. That eerie willow-leaf knife could strike with incredible speed over a short distance. While it consumed a lot of mental energy, it made the move almost like teleportation, making it nearly impossible to defend against.
However, Ghost Assassination consumed a significant amount of mental energy. If Philip didn't have any equipment or encounters to boost his mental energy, he could only use it once a day.
Without Ghost Assassination, even though Philip was a professional, he was no match for Michelle, an elite Evolving person from the police force. The situation instantly reversed, with Michelle gaining the upper hand.
On the other side, the battle between Candice and Jack against Dariu and Lancaster had also begun. Unlike Michelle, Candice and Jack used the improved Evolution Elixir, making their physical attributes superior to those of their opponents. Combined with the sharpness of the Edge of the Moon, they immediately had the upper hand against the siblings.
Dariu and Lancaster were in a tight spot. Seeing that Archer wasn't helping, they gritted their teeth and used their professional skills.
First, Lancaster suddenly flashed behind her brother, and then a large amount of white mist spread out, causing their figures to disappear in the fog.
Candice and Jack stood back-to-back, alert to their surroundings.
A flash of light shot out from one side, and Candice immediately blocked it with her knife. At the same time, a cold light attacked from the opposite direction. Jack didn't hesitate and blocked Candice's back, slashing the Edge of the Moon towards the shadow behind the cold light.
Just as they thought the professionals' attacks were nothing special, a phantom appeared beside Jack. The long dagger in its hand slightly lifted and stabbed into Jack's heart.
"Mist Walker, The Thief of the Void?" William, watching from the side, called out the names of the two professions in his mind. He hadn't encountered these two in his previous life, so he didn't know their professions before.
Mist Walker was a secondary profession mainly used to assist in combat, not particularly impressive. However, The Thief of the Void was decent, with a high success rate for ambushes.
"In front of professionals, ordinary Evolving persons are fragile," Dariu said with a cruel smile, ready to thrust the dagger in.
This was a gray-level weapon, not as effective as Philip's, yet sufficient to puncture an Evolving individual.
A strange look flashed in Jack's eyes. He suddenly retracted the Edge of the Moon and slashed it across Dariu's neck, the sound of flesh being cut filling the battlefield.
Jack scoffed, "My captain said you guys are just a bunch of self-righteous fools. Now I believe it."
Dariu, clutching his severed neck, fell to the ground in disbelief. As his gaze passed over Jack's body, he saw the bulletproof vest flashing gray under Jack's coat.
"Dariu!" Lancaster cried out.
The mist thickened suddenly, but this cry of anguish revealed Lancaster's position. Candice's knife cut through the air at lightning speed. After a brief scream, the mist dissipated, revealing Lancaster's severed body.
At that moment, Philip felt a chill in his arm. His hand holding the knife was cut off, and before he could scream, a sharp blade pierced his eye.
Archer's hands began to tremble uncontrollably.
This group's strength was too formidable. They had easily taken down his three companions without using any skills. This...
He had never thought Barry's delay was a problem, but now, he desperately hoped for their arrival.
"Who is the president of the Royal Guild?" William walked slowly to Archer and asked the question he most wanted to know.
Even in his previous life, he didn't know who the mysterious leader of the Royal Guild was.
Archer looked at William, his lips tightly sealed.
"Your life in exchange," William stated coldly.
As Archer heard this, his expression changed. He suddenly swung his fists at the close-by William, and his fists took on a strange metallic sheen!
The team members all took a step forward, then stopped.
They saw that William had already grabbed Archer's wrists.
William mocked, "Iron-handed Master, huh? Not much."
With that, he exerted force with both hands, crushing Archer's wrists. Archer couldn't withstand the pain and the double blow of losing his hands, collapsing to the ground while screaming.
"If you don't want to talk, that's fine. I don't really care that much," William said icily.
His knee suddenly lifted, slamming into Archer's throat. The future eight-star powerhouse's head snapped back and then fell into an awkward position, resting against his back.
William glanced at the corpse on the ground, squatted down, and reached for Archer's waist.
