Ascension of the Master Assassin

"Ahhhhhhhhhh! Forgive everyone, I retreated because I was too afraid. But please, please rely on me!" 

Right at this desperate time, Vesra shouted loudly with all her strength, her voice penetrating everyone's ears. 

Holding up a tower shield that was higher than her, she came running to the front line out of breath. 

As the princess of the clan and the second in command trusted by Venn, she was agonising over her pathetic behavior that had put the entire troop to danger, and thus, she picked up the tower shield that was dropped to the ground by one of the soldier and decided to put her life at stake.

It was her duty as the second princess of her clan. And she believed that Ysera would have done the same thing. 

Then, like a broken recording machine, she shouted as loudly as she could, trying to reach everyone.

"En garde!"

"En garde!" 

"En garde!"

With all of her might, she remembered and kept repeating Venn's order until her throat turned sore. But even so, she continued to persevere. She wished that she could better help the situation, but that was the only thing she could do.

They had to fight! She understood clearly that if they flee now, the chance of surviving from the nimble Tarantulas would be a complete zero!

Amidst the defeating rumbling noise, Vesra's relatively soft voice echoed clearly and reached everyone's heart instead.

Watching the tiny and lonesome figure of their princess holding a large shield with trembling hands because of her lack of strength, and hearing her desperate cries, the soldiers on site became ashamed. 

How are they going to lift their heads up high the rest of their lives if they abandon a girl to her own demise? 

They have done that before, are they going to do the same thing again?

No! Absolutely not!

In a split second, all of them woke up from spiraling down the abyss of fear and sprang into action as fast as their feet could move.

This was the first time they could call themselves a soldier and a proud man of the Oni Clan!

Forming two lines of steel walls intended to deflect the Steel-tipped Tarantulas' attacks like they had practiced previously, they completed the formation just in the nick of time.

Within seconds after their formation was completed, the Tarantulas burst forth from the exit of the cave in large numbers like a torrential that had broken through the fortified walls of a dam. 

Like giant waves of Tsunami, the huge number of Tarantulas crawled out of their lair with frenzy eyes, looking for the culprit that disturbed their rest with great momentum.

Amounting to the thousands, the Steel-tipped Tarantulas began branching out to all directions once they were out of their lair.

However, with Venn's entire plan hinged upon diverting the traffic of the Tarantulas to the cliff, the Oni militia had to stop them from breaking away from their lines of shields. 

If the Tarantulas were to destroy the Militia's formation or if there's a gap in their defense line, all of them would die a horrible death with the eventual fates of being surrounded and outnumbered from all sides.

"HOLD THE LINES!" Venn gave out his last order whilst overlooking the battlefield for the last time with him being pursued. It was now the critical part of his plan and everything lies upon the shoulders of the Militias.

"Cling! Cling! Cling!"

The sounds of metals violently clashing filled the tense atmosphere. 

With nowhere to go but straight towards the direction of the cliff, the bulk of the Tarantulas proceeded to the cliff's direction but there were still many of them trying to escape and climb over the tower shields that the troops were clutching with their dear lives.

Digging their boots into the ground and defending all the strength they had, they were trying to contain the immense force generated by the Tarantulas. With the Tarantulas much higher in height than them, the only way to contain them was to tilt and angle their towering shields to prevent them from going over.

To effectively carry out Venn's plan, the soldiers were only carrying tower shields as their only equipment since all other equipment like the bows and spears would be useless in the plan.

And for a moment, everything was under control. Until it wasn't.

"Ah! My shoulder hurts!" 

Venn seemed to have underestimated the number of the Steel-Stipped Tarantulas. Very soon, the powerful legs of the Tarantulas have pierced through a tower shield and injured one of the soldiers, creating a temporary gap in the right wing.

"Shit! Close the gap! Quick!" The soldiers beside the injured soldier ordered to close the temporary gap that was left open. Due to their quick thinking, no further injuries were incurred but their number of combat ready soldiers dwindled.

Thankfully, there were spare soldiers taking the place of the ones that were injured, but nonetheless, the situation was happening everywhere. It was only a matter of time before the balance was tipped.

The number of Tarantulas had to be reduced!

Meanwhile, Venn was in a pinch of his own. As the bait to lead the Tarantulas to the cliff, he was doing a great job. 

The majority of the Tarantulas were pursuing after him but he had run out of place to go as the distance between him and the Tarantulas shortened and the only place he could go was down the cliff.

If he were to escape into the ranks of the tower shields, then the Tarantulas followed behind him would crush the soldiers in mere seconds.

The only reason why the Tarantulas hadn't crushed the weaker Oni Militias despite having supremacy in power and numbers was only because their hatred was focused on Venn as he taunted them alone in the lair.

Due to their nature of having great hostility towards their target, Venn hatched this plan. Their hatred would only divert to others if the original target dies and that was why he acted as the bait.

The last part of the plan was only something he could do.

With a giant leap from the force generated from his feet, his figure jumped down the cliff.