<h4>Chapter 584</h4>


    <i>Bang!</i>


    A gunshot ripped through the air, startling the pedestrians and causing them to run back toward where they hade from.


    “Who the hell are you?” Siegfried asked, looking at the gentleman who had fired the gun. He already had his +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp out, ready to pounce at the assassin at any given second.


    Surprisingly, he waspletely fine. He managed to react just in time by twisting himself the moment the tip of the umbre spat fire; the reflex he had just shown could only be described as shocking.


    “Are you an assassin?” Siegfried asked.


    However, the gentleman who had fired the gun did not respond to his question. Instead, he just grabbed the end of his hat and gave a short bow.


    “What the hell is that?” Siegfried grimaced and grumbled.


    <i>Chwaaaak!</i>


    Then, a chain with a sharp w attached to its end shot out from out of nowhere and tried to bind itself to Siegfried.


    <i>Bam!</i>


    However, Siegfried swung his +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp to block it.


    “<i>Eh...?”</i> Siegfried muttered in disbelief. The one who had thrown the chain was an old woman pulling a cart.


    However, that was not the end of it...


    <i>Bang! Bang!</i>


    Bullets came flying from a third-floor window of a nearby building, and one of the bullets struck Siegfried in the forehead.


    “<i>Ack!” </i>Siegfried screamed and was flung back. Then, he crashed to the ground.


    <i>Thud!</i>


    He could dodge bullets that were just fired from the gun, but it was impossible for him to dodge the bullets that were already flying toward him.


    “<i>Ugh...!” </i>Siegfried shot up to his feet and rubbed his forehead.


    <i>Badump! Badump!</i>


    Arge bump formed on his forehead.


    “<i>Argh... </i>I got sniped again,” Siegfried growled, recalling that he had almost lost his life while he was in the toilet.


    “<i>Kyaaaak!”</i>


    “Gun! He’s got a gun!”


    “Run for your lives!”


    “Call the guards! Hurry!”


    The pedestrians screamed and scattered like cockroaches, but...


    “Oh? <i>Haha...” </i>Siegfriedughed in disbelief after seeing that the street was not cleared.


    There were still many people in the street.


    A peddler on the floor, a vendor selling cotton candies, a young woman in the middle of shopping, a young man carrying briquettes, a hunchback old man, etc.


    There were many people on the street, and they were from all walks of life. However, the problem was that all of them were looking at Siegfried.


    ‘<i>There seems to be around a hundred of them,’ </i>Siegfried thought, roughly counting the number of assassins. He was all alone, but he had to fight against thisrge crowd of assassins.


    “What do you want? Do you want to die together?” Siegfried asked the assassins.


    He didn''t cower despite getting surrounded by one hundred assassins. It didn''t matter whether there were one hundred or one thousand assassins, as the quality of the assassins was what mattered the most.


    Siegfried could tell that the assassins surrounding him weren''t that strong.


    In other words, he was confident they could not harm him.


    “So none of you wants to answer? Then I guess all of you have to die,” Siegfried said with a smug smirk.


    A cloud of green fog seeped out from him, but that was not the end of it.


    <i>Swoosh!</i>


    Siegfried used Irradiate and Shadow Hell at the same time to make sure that none of the assassins would manage to escape.


    “<i>Eh?” </i>Siegfried tilted his head in confusion after seeing that the assassins were unaffected by Irradiate and Shadow Hell.


    It turned out that the assassins were no ordinary assassins; they possessed the same immunity ability as one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Church of Osric, the Immutable King, Feinz.


    The only upside to the current situation was that the Night Stalkers were fighting the assassins, giving Siegfried enough time to think.


    ‘<i>Did the Church of Osric send them after me?’ </i>Siegfried suspected that the assassins had been sent by his nemesis, judging by how they had immunity against status ailments.


    Immunity against status ailment was very rare, so it was impossible for this many assassins to possess it unless they had a backer like the Church of Osric.


    ‘<i>Then I guess I have no choice,’ </i>Siegfried thought, tightly gripping his +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp. He was nning to use the exact same strategy he used against the Immutable King, Feinz, which was smashing his head open.


    “Get ready to have your heads smashed,” Siegfried growled before lunging at them.


    ***


    The assassins were stronger than expected. They excelled in the art of assassination as well as in the art of close-quarterbat. These assassins were more like hitmen rather than assassins, judging by how they could fight so well.


    However, Siegfried was much stronger than them. His recent training with Bruce heightened hisbat senses to their limits, and it was more than enough for him to massacre the assassins.


    <i>Smack, smack, smaack!</i>


    Siegfried smashed the heads of the assassins with just his +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp without any help from his debuff fields. He reduced the number of assassins down to fifty in almost the blink of an eye.


    ‘<i>Should I just sweep them away all at once? No, we’re in the city. I can’t do that,’ </i>He thought of using Splitting Heaven and Earth, but he was currently at the center of arge city.


    He could control the area affected by Irradiate, but Splitting Heaven and Earth would cause massive destruction to the area in front of him, so innocent civilians could get caught up in his skill.


    ‘<i>I’ll just have to smash their heads one by one.’ </i>Siegfried decided it would be best to y it safe even though it was going to take some time.


    It was then.


    <i>Thud, thud...</i>


    The sound of steppinging from afar caught his ears.


    He stole a nce at where the footsteps wereing from and immediately recognized the individuals, as they were very famous people on the continent.


    One of them had arge stature and a rough-looking expression. Siegfried had already met him once—Mercenary King Dreyfus.


    There was another man walking in front of Dreyfus. He looked fragile at first nce, but the aura he was emitting showed that he was a very dangerous man. The man was also a Mercenary King, and his name was Casis.


    The third figure belonged to someone wearing a field coat and armed with all sorts of firearms. He was a German Adventurer famous for being a Mercenary King—Mercenary King Guderian.


    In other words, the three Mercenary Kings of the continent had gathered in one spot today.


    ‘<i>What’s going on?’ </i>Siegfried was baffled by the appearance of all three Mercenary Kings.


    “What do you want?” Siegfried asked Dreyfus while swatting away the assassins with his +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp as if they were flies.


    “We received a request,” Dreyfus replied.


    “A request?”


    “This is nothing personal, just business.”


    “That sounds like you’re already reserving a get-out-of-jail card,” Siegfried sneered.


    “I don’t mind if you seek revengeter. I just felt that I had to tell you that this was nothing personal, that’s all. You’re wee toe at meter if you want.”


    “Really? I like how you do things,” Siegfried replied, seemingly satisfied by the response he got. Then, he thought, ‘<i>Yeah, you should be ready to get hit if you pull your sword.’</i>


    “Hey, bro!” Guderian called out.


    He was the first Adventurer to be crowned a Mercenary King in all of BNW. He was not affiliated with any guild or pro gaming team, as his only goal in the game was to earn money. In other words, he was what was known as a Dark Gamer.


    Of course, the term Dark Gamer was already obsolete, as items in the game could be traded for cash in reality.


    “You can seek revenge six monthster since you won’t be able to log into the game for that long once you die.”


    “<i>Oh?</i>”


    "Stop the unnecessary chatter, Guderian," Mercenary King Casis warned.


    “What’s the problem? He won’t be able toe here for six months, anyway.”


    “Do you have a hobby of causing unnecessary conflicts?”


    “<i>Tsk... </i>That’s your problem...”


    Guderian and Casis started bickering, which told Siegfried that the two didn''t have a good rtionship with each other.


    Guderian and Casis'' quarrel allowed Siegfried to assess his current situation as well as his chances of winning.


    ‘<i>Three Level 299... This won’t be an easy fight.’ </i>Siegfried got ready to fight seriously.


    Was he confident in his chances of victory? Frankly speaking, yes, he was confident and certain that he would win. It wouldn''t be easy, but he could kill two with Torrential Flower Rain and deal with thest one with Touch of Death.


    In addition, the Mercenary Kings didn''t seem to have immunity against status ailments, which meant that the Debuff Master’s bread and butter was going to work against them.


    Thus, Siegfried was confident that he could defeat the three Mercenary Kings, even if they attacked him at the same time.


    <i>Kwachik!</i>


    He tightly gripped his +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp and prepared to fight, but....


    “...!”


    A chill shot down his spine after seeing a gray shadow appear in the distance.


    “Long time no see, Siegfried van Proa.”


    A tall man emerged in the distance, and Siegfried had already met him a year ago.


    “dimir...” Siegfried muttered.


    He was none other than the Red Cardinal of the Church of Osric, dimir. He was also the culprit behind Weapon Master Shakiro’s death in that abandoned mine in the City of Pleasure, Dondegiri.


    ‘<i>Crazy...’ </i>Siegfried cursed inwardly upon realizing the seriousness of his situation. He btedly realized that this was a setup. They wanted to kill him so that he would miss the tournament, which meant getting banned from the game for six months.


    ‘<i>I should’ve forced Hamchi toe with me...’ </i>Siegfried regretted not bringing the giant hamster with him.


    The three Mercenary Kings and dimir were too much for him to handle by himself.


    “Shakiro managed to protect you at the time, but nobody’s here to save you this time,” dimir said, revealing an insidious smile.


    “...”


    “You seemed to have been having fun interrupting our church’s ns while I was away. The time hase for you to pay for your sins,” dimir added, licking his crimson-red lips and shing a grin that would send chills down most people’s spines.


    dimir grimaced and growled, “Let’s see how long you can go against our—”


    <i>Swoosh!</i>


    dimir couldn''t continue his words as Siegfried decisively turned around and ran like the wind, activating his title—Pesky Brat.


    "<i>Heh.</i>"<i> </i>dimir merely smirked in response. Then, he turned to the assassins andmanded, “Chase him down.


    "You guys go, too," dimir added while staring at the mercenary kings. The Mercenary Kings didn''t like the fact dimir was ordering them around, but they were forced to listen and chase after Siegfried.


    “You can run, but you can’t hide. <i>Kekeke!” </i>dimir said, cackling. The Red Cardinal walked leisurely down the streets after sending the assassins and the mercenary kings after Siegfried.