Starting with One Piece, a Multiverse Simulation

Chapter 536 Rudy and his men fall into a trap and are ambushed.

"The magical barrier I used for defense was not triggered. It seems that there are mages among the people who came to assassinate me this time, and they are quite skilled."

Upon hearing Alice and Gilead's words, Rudy immediately picked up his wand and quickly entered battle mode.

As for Sylphie in her arms, she appeared before Ariel at top speed, wand in hand, looking around warily.

The forest was vast, and due to the night, visibility was extremely low, putting Rudy and his companions in a very passive position.

The other party were all skilled assassins, and the darkness was their best camouflage. Or perhaps they were already used to this environment, which is why they chose to strike at this time.

Compared to their opponents, Rudy and his group only have three people with rich combat experience: Rudy, Alice, and Kyrie Irvine.

Although Hilfi and Luke were guards, they didn't have much experience fighting people, and most of the time they were in open and fair confrontations. Faced with this real life-or-death battle, they were obviously at a loss.

As for Ariel... well, she's just a second princess, someone who's supposed to be protected. She has her own methods, but you really can't expect her to have any fighting ability.

"Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—whoosh!"

With a series of whooshing sounds coming from the forest, several arrows shot towards Rudy and his group at tricky angles, with Ariel being the main target.

If Rudy and Silphie hadn't both been able to use spells without chanting, given the speed at which arrows fly, an ordinary mage might not have even finished chanting the spell before meeting their demise.

"This can't go on. We're constantly in a passive position, and the situation will become increasingly unfavorable for us!"

Rudy first used magic to defend against the arrows fired by the opponent, and then retaliated with a "rock cannonball".

The terrifying power of the "rock cannonball" was so great that it snapped a tree that two people could barely encircle in half, but the archers had already left the place long ago.

Faced with the enemy's behavior of fleeing far away after failing to strike once, Rudy quickly understood the enemy's intention.

After realizing that their team was quite strong, the opponent was planning to wear them down!

The forest was pitch black at night, an environment where the enemy excelled at fighting, but Rudy and his companions were not.

Currently, the only one in this forest capable of pursuing these people is the werewolf Gilead, who possesses a keen sense of smell and is familiar with fighting in the forest.

Alice, with her powerful swordsman's five senses, might also be able to do it, but if Alice and Gilead enter the forest to pursue them, their defenses will become weak, which could very well be a diversionary tactic by the enemy.

Blindly sticking to the old ways is not a good solution for them at the moment.

The enemy is in the shadows, while they are in the open. The enemy can wait in comfort, while they must remain constantly on high alert, guarding against any possible assassination attempts or attacks.

Even if Rudy and Sylphie had enough magic to burn, the constant harassment and attacks from their opponents were a huge blow to their mental state.

Being a mage is a very mentally taxing profession. If you're constantly under mental strain, even a god of magic wouldn't be able to withstand it in the long run.

Moreover, Rudy was quite worried that this was just the beginning, and what if the other side continued this harassment and attack every night during their rest periods...

Even the most powerful prey, after being thoroughly exhausted, will eventually fall into a state of fatigue and weakness.

"Honestly, I hate this feeling of helplessness the most. Kyrie Irvine, come with me into the forest and kill these rats."

"Rudy, you stay here and protect them. Taking all the hits isn't my fighting style."

Alice glanced at Rudy, who was still deep in thought, then drew her Demon Sword: Finger Fold and Demon Sword: Throat Flute. She called to Kyrie Illusion beside her and then dashed into the dark forest.

Under normal circumstances, Alice is willing to follow Rudy's orders. Although she knows that Rudy is not as good as Wood, she has to admit that Rudy is far more outstanding and intelligent than most people.

But now, a short while has passed and Rudy still hasn't come up with an effective solution, so Alice has no choice but to solve the problem in her own way.

Seeing Alice acting on her own and Kyrie Irvine following along with a helpless expression, Rudy reached out to stop them, but Alice and Kyrie Irvine were nowhere to be seen.

"Really, two years have passed, and Alice's strength and figure have both improved, but her impulsive personality and intelligence have remained almost unchanged."

Hopefully this isn't a deliberate plan by the other side to lure them away, otherwise...

"Otherwise, you'll be in danger, won't you?"

Before Rudy could finish speaking, a middle-aged man's voice came from a shadowy spot in the forest and continued his words.

"The famous orc swordsman king of the Boreas territory, and that dangerous little girl, they must be the most dangerous guys in your team."

"It's great that we were able to lure them away; otherwise, our assassination operation would have been quite difficult to succeed."

Accompanying the voices were about twenty people dressed in various styles of black clothing.

These people varied in height and gender, and their professions were not discernible from the weapons they carried.

The man leading them was a burly man with an eyepatch over one eye and a cross-shaped scar on his left cheek; he was the one who had just spoken to Rudy.

"I'm curious, if you were hiding nearby all along, how did you manage to evade Gilead's sense of smell and Alice's sense of perception?"

The number of people appearing before him was greater than Rudy had anticipated, so his expression turned somewhat grim, but he still asked the question that had been on his mind the most.

"Please, we're a professional assassin team, okay? Our mages can dispel the initial magical barrier."

As for the orcs' keen sense of smell, this isn't the first time we've encountered such creatures, so we naturally have corresponding countermeasures.

That little girl's perception was indeed very sharp and troublesome. Sean had previously used his stealth ability, but she still discovered him and killed him with a single sword strike.

So we have to use special potions and magical artifacts to conceal our presence and figure. You know, these things aren't cheap at all... but compared to your prices, they're nothing."

Just as Rudy had predicted, the leader of the assassination team had long sensed that Alice and Gilead were not to be trifled with, which is why he laid bait further away in an attempt to lure the keen-nosed Gilead and his companion away.

Their team consisted of about fifty people, not more than twenty. The reason why Gilead only smelled the scent of more than twenty people was because they had initially planned for Gilead to discover that many more.

If Alice and Gilead hadn't been lured away, the leader of the assassination team planned to use the same method Rudy had previously devised: to continuously wear down Rudy and his team until they were exhausted, at which point they would reveal their fangs from the darkness.

After hearing what the other person said, Luke and Hilfi realized how naive they had been. They had always thought that attackers came from the front, but they had overlooked the fact that the attackers were assassins, and that killing their targets by any means necessary was their job.

"I can pay double what you paid to hire your people! Just give up on assassinating me."

Assassins are a group of desperate people who pursue profit. Seeing that they had fallen into the enemy's trap and that the situation was now one of being outnumbered, Ariel, who was being protected at the rear, spoke up at this moment.

"Oh, then I'd like to know, how much money is Her Highness the Second Princess of the Kingdom of Asura willing to pay to buy her own name?"

Upon hearing the other party's reply, Ariel breathed a sigh of relief. Since they could negotiate, they didn't necessarily have to fight. Besides, given the current situation, they might not have the upper hand.

Were Wood and the Dragon God secretly protecting them all along? Ariel couldn't be completely sure about this, and since it could be resolved with money, Ariel thought it was fine to let Wood and the Dragon God continue to be their trump card in the shadows.

"Since you were sent to assassinate me, you should also understand that I am now a strong contender for the throne of the Kingdom of Asura."

If you're willing to leave now, I can guarantee that once I become queen, I will not only pay you double your wages, but I will also reward you with land, and more…”

"Is Your Highness Ariel playing us for a fool? Putting aside whether you have a chance to become the Queen of the Kingdom of Asura, even if you do become the Queen, will you still keep your promise today?"

Forget it, we were just teasing you anyway. We're an assassin team with some professional ethics, do you really think we'd do something two-faced?

Whether you have money or not, once you're dead, you'll all be ours. After all, the employer only said they wanted your lives, not anything else.

At the leader of the assassination team's command, the twenty-odd people behind him, all wearing cruel smiles, charged towards Ariel and her companions.

These assassins weren't particularly strong individually, but even if they weren't as good as S-rank adventurers, they were still top-tier fighters in the Kingdom of Asura, and they were also extremely skilled at teamwork.

Seeing the group of assassins rushing forward, Rudy reacted the fastest, and arrogantly raised his wand, the Water Dragon King, and fired a "Rock Cannonball" that completely pierced through the body of the swordsman at the front.

The opponent's armor, made of refined iron, was as fragile as paper in front of Rudy, offering no resistance whatsoever. Rudy didn't even realize until his death that the magician didn't need to chant for his spells, and yet they were so powerful!

However, just as Rudy used an instant-cast spell to kill one of the assassins and intimidate everyone on the other side, he was about to unleash a shotgun-style "Rock Cannon" to take down more people when a sword light suddenly grazed past him.

"Looks like I misjudged you before. Not only is that red-haired girl dangerous, but you're also a formidable character, young man."

What's wrong with kids these days? They all look like they've just turned 18, but are they all this amazing?

Without a doubt, the person who attacked Rudy and was able to dodge the attack was the leader of this assassination team, the one-eyed man from before.

Unexpectedly, the opponent was also a 'Sword Saint' level expert, and his use of the Northern God Style swordsmanship was quite skillful. At this moment, he was almost chasing after Rudy and slashing at him, not giving him any chance to use magic.

Don't assume that "Sword Saint" is weak just because Alice is the Sword Emperor and Wood and Rudy's family and friends are either Sword Kings or Sword Saints.

Whether it's magic or swordsmanship, once you reach the "Saint level," you've already stepped into the ranks of the strong.

Don't forget, Paul was just a "superior swordsman" before he became a well-known S-rank adventurer guild leader in the adventurer circle.

Of course, this is also related to the fact that Paul has mastered three sword styles, and his strength far exceeds that of ordinary advanced swordsmen.

However, it is undeniable that humans who can reach the "Saint level" are already considered outstanding individuals, and it would be entirely possible for them to serve as the commander of a kingdom's knight order.

In fact, Rudy's current opponent is named Razan. He was originally a soldier instructor in a kingdom, but due to some events, he was abandoned by the kingdom and, disheartened, he took the path he is on now.

The reason why these assassins present cooperated so perfectly and had such outstanding strength and combat experience was because they were all former subordinates of Razan and were also soldiers.

In terms of strength, Razan, who is only at the level of "Sword Saint", is far from being a match for Rudy. Randolph, whom Rudy faced in the Dragon Kingdom, was the real troublesome opponent.

The key issue is that Razan was not alone; he was joined by two other high-ranking swordsmen and an archer in attacking Rudy.

Rudy tried to distance himself from his opponent to buy time to use his magic, but Razan and the other two high-ranking swordsmen knew his intentions and kept chasing and intercepting him.

Even if Rudy uses his "precognitive ability" to temporarily exploit a weakness in the three-man attack and just manages to create distance to use magic, the archers in the distance will immediately fire arrows, interrupting Rudy's spellcasting.

In addition, due to the influence of the night, mages are far inferior to warriors in terms of physical abilities and intuition. Therefore, Rudy was only able to defend himself against Razan and the others for a while.

Chapter 537 The Summoned Demon Wolf King

Rudy's "precognitive eye" only has the ability to predict the short-term future and does not have night vision, so many times the "future" Rudy sees is an embarrassing darkness.

Now, let alone offensive magic, Rudy is finding it extremely difficult to even use defensive magic.

There is a way to break out of this predicament: completely abandon defense and, when the opponent attacks, risk being cut while simultaneously casting attack spells on them.

Simply put, it's a so-called trade of injuries, just like the method used by the Demon King Buddgandi when he fought Wood.

With Rudy's magical skill, even if the opponent is a "Sword Saint" level expert, Rudy is confident that he can take them down with a single spell.