Chapter 127

About five hundred meters ahead, close to the airport hangar, a blockade had already been formed. Standing right in the center was a beautiful woman. Even from this distance, her appearance stood out.

She looked to be in her mid twenties. Her delicate yet sharp features were a striking blend of Korean and Western heritage, giving her this sort of exotic beauty that would attract attention everywhere she went.

Her hair was black, her eyes were siren shaped with light blue pupils, her nose was cute yet elegant and her lips were plum and juicy. At her right cheek she had this sexy red star tattoo that added to her charm.

The beautiful woman had this melon shaped face and as for her body, it was a standard S shape that looked incredibly tempting. But of course in terms of appearance she couldn’t compare to the cold woman in his arms or Jade. Though she seemed to almost be on par with Celine.

Around her stood over thirty armed men dressed in black tactical gear that made them look more like mercenaries than assassins. Each one of them carried high caliber guns ranging from assault rifles to mini sub machine guns.

And stamped across their uniforms was a stylized Korean symbol of the Heukryeon, the Dark Lotus or at least that’s what Alex could think of, since their presence suggested that they might have been waiting for their arrival for quite sometime now.

The men were spread out carefully across the area in strategic locations that could catch even a vanguard Realm Awakened by surprise. It was a good thing that his vision was sharp even in the dark.

Alex’s eyes narrowed while observing their every position. Already formulating a plan to handle them. But the tiny chibi suddenly popped into existence in front of him with a serious expression on her cute face.

[Alex be careful, the beautiful woman leading the squad is a genuine Vanguard Realm Awakened. However, you didn’t need to panic about the other’s. At best they are all just highly skilled mundane humans]

[But their weapons still make them dangerous, okay]

Alex’s face turned entirely serious. He dug his heels into the ground, bringing his rapid sprint to a sudden stop behind the broad cover of a large tree nearby.

Nyx felt the sudden stop and slowly raised her head from his hard, yet warm chest.

"What happened? Why did we suddenly stop?" She asked calmly.

"We’ve got some serious company. The bastard Lee Joon woo anticipated that we might also escape. Now exactly five hundred meters ahead, there is a blockade positioned not too far from the airport entrance. The leader seems to be a mixed blood woman, and she has over thirty heavily armed subordinates guarding that area."

Hearing his detailed description, Nyx’s face turned dark. And for the first time since Alex had known her a curse slipped past her lips, surprising him completely.

"Damn it..." She hissed. "Lee Joon woo must have prepared a tight backup plan just in case they don’t meet us at the hotel, his other people would meet us at the one point he knew we’d go if we try to escape. What a cautious and terrifying man."

After stopping she seemed to remember something and asked Alex.

"Wait, did you just say mixed blood woman?"

"Yes, why do you ask?"

"Dammit. Okay Alex, tell me carefully... from what your eyesight could pick up, does that woman happen to have a distinct, red star tattoo painted across her right cheek?"

Alex closed his eyes briefly, recalling the image his eyes had caught earlier.

"Yes," he nodded firmly. "There was a small red star on her right cheek. Who is she?"

Nyx’s face turned even more grave.

"That woman is Annie. She is known as one of the most ruthless killers within the Heukryeon syndicate. Though she is only a grade A killer she has completed several top tier assassination mission across Asia and has a confirmed kill count of at least a thousand."

"She is famous in the underworld for her sheer destructive ability. I don’t really know the exact mechanics of her power, but I heard a news two months ago that she had killed a wealthy oil tycoon by her ability that destroyed the entire mansion he was residing in with one attack."

Alex’s eyebrow shot up in surprise. A building level destruction with only one attack? That was a massive step up from the other vanguard Realm Awakened he had dealt with so far. Even someone like him would at least have to put in quite some effort to destroy a building.

Alex glanced back toward the city lights of Seoul behind them with a calm face. He knew that escaping the country without Nyx’s private jet would become extremely difficult.

And If Lee Joon woo discovered that they weren’t in the hotel, then all airports, train stations, shipping ports, and every major transportation spot would most probably be monitored.

Their best chance right now was still ahead. Which meant... The obstacle had to be removed.

He looked down at Nyx and gave her a reassuring squeeze.

"Don’t worry I’m not letting them take you. You see that spot." He pointed toward a cluster of jagged decorative rocks and thick grasses about fifty meters back from their current position. "Hide behind those rocks. Make sure you stay low and please don’t come out until I give the signal that everything is okay."

Nyx nodded, but she hesitated, her snow white hand lingering on his arm for a second longer than usual.

"Alex... Be careful. Annie isn’t a joke."

Alex smiled, feeling a brief, warm touch of emotion at her rare show of concern.

"I know. Just stay safe."

"Mm."

He waited until Nyx was securely hidden before he turned back toward the hangar, his gaze becoming cold and analytical.

He needed a plan, because charging in blindly against a Vanguard Realm Awakened whose single attack was capable of at most destroying a building and dozens of high caliber guns was a recipe for disaster.

What he needed to do first of all was to thin the herd first, before going after the main boss.

Using the deep shadows of the late night as a perfect cover, Alex began to move. At this moment right now Alex was like a silent ghost, because of how he navigated the gravel and metal debris around without making a sound.

He circled wide, coming at the blockade from the darkened eastern flank where the floodlights didn’t quite reach.

’Alright Alex you have thirty Deathfrost Blooms in total,’ he reminded himself. ’Better make them count.’

He spotted the first assassin leaning against a wall with his rifle slung over his shoulder as he lit a cigarette. With a flick of his wrist, Alex sent a shard whistling straight through the air.

It struck the man’s throat with perfect accuracy. Then it burst out through the other end and embedded itself deeply against the wall. The man slumped silently into the grass without even knowing what killed him.

’One down.’

Alex moved quickly and appeared behind a tree where two more Assassins were whispering. He sent two shards of Deathfrost Bloom killing them in an instant before moving on to the next.

Like a god of death he continued his dance through the shadows, picking them off one by one.

By the time he had reached his thirty shard limit and exhausted all thirty of the Deathfrost Bloom, almost all of the Assassin’s there had been killed like it was some sort of death day bargain sale.

The remaining five people finally noticed the eerie silence. One of them turned to look for his partner, who was also his brother, and found only his corpse.

"Contact!" He screamed while raising his mini sub machine gun. "We have a breach! The Target is in the darkness!"

The men turned serious and immediately formed a tight defensive circle around Annie.

"Leader, we’ve lost over thirty men," One of them reported, his voice shaking. "We didn’t even hear a thing. The culprit must be a special person like you, leader."

Annie didn’t even look bothered by the fact that most of her people had died. Instead she just smiled coldly with a faint predatory glint in her light blue eyes.

"I know, number nineteen. I had already long since noticed that the intruder was here, but I didn’t act. Do you want to know why?" 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

"Why?"

"Hmph. It’s because I wanted to let him think that he was doing a good job killing those weaklings only for me to crush those thoughts later and kill him. But, Alas, I’m done toying with him. It’s time to act."

Alex meanwhile heard everything clearly. He raised his eyes in surprise before quickly recovering. Since stealth was no longer an option, he decided to finish the remaining humans quickly and deal with that bitch of a woman.

So bursting out of the shadows from behind, with a speed that made him look like a blur in close range. He reached the nearest assassin in a heartbeat, his hand closing around the man’s throat to use him as a temporary shield.

But Annie was faster than he anticipated.

She didn’t even turn her whole body, she just simply snapped her right palm toward Alex’s location. At that instant, a sphere of glowing, blood red energy, the size of a grapefruit, condensed in her hand into a dense orb of energy and shot out with a blinding speed.

Alex could hear his internal alarm bells warning him not to let that ball of energy touch him. He shoved the Assassin toward the attack and threw himself backward.

He was lucky, he reacted in time, but the moment the energy ball made contact with the frightened Assassin, there was a massive explosion as the concentrated ball of energy released all of its power at a single point, before spreading outward.

BOOM!

The air was instantly displaced by a shockwave that sent Alex flying backward through the air like a rag doll. He crossed his arms instinctively over his face to protect his vital, but the sheer heat from the blast was nothing short of staggering.

The heat from the explosion had reached a terrifying 1000°C burning everything around it within a twenty meter radius, burning everything to ashes in its wake except for Alex, Annie and Number nineteen who had hidden behind Annie.

Alex slammed into the ground, sliding several meters through the charred earth before stopping. With a painful groan, he pushed himself up.

His right cheek was scorched with a painful red burn, and his forearms that he had used to shield himself were filled with burn marks. His shirt had burned leaving his well defined upper body naked. It was a good thing that his pants weren’t affected much, so it wasn’t too bad.

Looking up, Alex almost had the urge to curse his luck. He saw the damn woman, Annie gathering more energy in both palms with a beautiful smile.