Blackpearl stopped immediately when he saw those three huge figures materializing before his eyes.
His leap was halted, and with his body outlined by the light of the fire burning the forest, he smiled nervously for the first time and waited silently for a few moments.
The red orbs on those knights' helmets finally glowed, and an unmistakable crimson aura completely enveloped them.
They assumed different combat positions, but they had the same target: Blackpearl.
"Ghahaha! Boy... were you saving that for later?" Blackpearl asked me, who was standing just behind Laufus, Odran, and Selrik.
"I think you've called me 'kid' enough for one day. If we're going to settle this like men, I want you to call me by my name from now on."
"Call you by your name? What an unusual request for someone who will be dead in a few minutes, but fine. I'll shout your name when I'm smiling and crushing your neck, Brandon!" Blackpearl exclaimed, flexing both arms forward and apparently ready to advance.
"Before we start, I have a question," I said, preventing the battle from beginning.
"Huh? What do you want to ask?"
"What did you do to Anton Wilxes?"
"GHA! Are you worried about that guy? He was ready to betray you at any moment!"
I just gave Blackpearl a stern look, not answering his question. Blackpearl then adjusted his posture and scratched the inside of his ear with his little finger.
"The boy will die, that's obvious. That wasn't the original plan, but things had to be changed since you revealed our plan. The boy's family is rich, so we'll propose a ransom. We'll ask for an exorbitant amount in exchange for releasing the kid, but that will never happen. Of course, I wouldn't tell you this if I intended to let you live, but those are just details."
"People who live only inside the Tower of Babel are really disgusting," I said, without hiding the tone of my voice. "But the practices are not very different from what I saw on Earth."
"Don't let your guard down while you're in my presence!" exclaimed Blackpearl, suddenly appearing behind me with his huge fist clenched.
I raised my eyes coldly, and a blade appeared between my face and Blackpearl's hand.
"I've known about your Blessing of Illusion for a long time..." I muttered as I was protected by Odran's axe.
"Blackpearl is only the most famous name you carry, but the title Blood Chameleon is also yours. Or am I getting ahead of myself?"
Blackpearl's punch hit the blade of the axe, making a clanging sound. Immediately, Laufus moved and swung his swords toward the enemy.
Blackpearl felt a chill run through his entire body. It wasn't just from looking into Odran's eyes, who, even though he was so large, moved so quickly to block the attack, nor from the slender, noble-looking knight who now aimed at him, but rather from the absence of the third black knight.
Were there three? He probably wondered.
By the time he came to the conclusion that there really were three knights, it was practically too late. A shadow appeared behind Blackpearl, ready to slit his throat. In an instant, my three strongest Summons surrounded Blackpearl completely.
With no time or space to react, Blackpearl could only watch as Laufus' blade cut off one of his arms while Selrik was about to use his two daggers like scissors to cut off his head.
The battle was over, or so I thought. Hadn't it been too easy?
Yes, I was right. There was no way it could be that easy to defeat a Rank-B. When Laufus' sword tore off Blackpearl's arm, no blood came out, and when Selrik cut off Blackpearl's head, the rest of his body disappeared like smoke blown away by the wind.
I immediately turned my attention back to Blackpearl, with whom I had been talking, and saw him applauding.
"You really know about my powers, yet you still can't tell what's real and what's not," Blackpearl said as he spread his arms.
The moment he spread his arms, several clones of himself appeared on each side. All of these clones were identical to the original in appearance and apparently in personality as well, but they made different movements and expressions.
"Now I know that your Summons can protect you effectively against a single one of me, but what if there are several of us? They won't know which one is the original until their master is dead on the ground."
Blackpearl's fame was not for nothing. In addition to having a great blessing for his profession, he was a great user of his blessing.
If I underestimated him, it wouldn't matter that this battle was four against one. He would win in the end.
"Come on... Think, think about what you need to do to win... Calm down! I don't need to think. If he wants to kill me, I'll just let him try. The first attack he lands won't kill me, but it will reveal which one of them is the real one."
I tried not to appear confident to Blackpearl, scanning each of his clones with a certain nervousness to deceive him. They smiled broadly and simultaneously.
"Don't act until the real one reveals himself," I whispered to my Summons.
All nine Blackpearls advanced at the same time to attack me, and I raised the sword that had been with me since I killed the first Hollow Knight. That sword would probably break with Blackpearl's first attack, but theoretically, I only needed to protect myself from one attack. Blackpearl's clones were just illusions, so they couldn't hurt me. Protecting myself from multiple simultaneous attacks was the problem, but if I managed to defend myself correctly, I would defeat Blackpearl.
I didn't have to worry about anyone coming to Blackpearl's aid since he himself had deliberately revealed that Sun was keeping their winning ticket—Anton.
I just had to focus on protecting myself from a single attack. That was all I had to do.
When the barrage of attacks began, Laufus stepped aside and got out of the way of the first clone who tried to punch me.
I raised my sword to protect myself from the blow, but it passed right through me before the clone disappeared. The second was a kick, which I wouldn't have been able to defend myself against if it had been the real Blackpearl.
The accurate clone attacked with his open palm, using it as a lasso to stab toward my chest. Odran must have found this attack especially dangerous, because he went against my order not to move and put his own body in the direction of the attack.
The hand seemed to pass through Odran, but no damage was done.
I almost breathed a sigh of relief, but I didn't have time because an attack was coming from above. With his leg pointed toward the treetops and higher than his own head, Blackpearl aimed a vertical kick that would have split my skull.
"You're mine!" Blackpearl shouted.
I raised my sword and immediately realized that this was a real attack.
"Now!" I exclaimed to my knights.
A moment later, Selrik appeared as a blur above Blackpearl, who frowned when he sensed a faint presence behind him. However, as Blackpearl himself was in midair, there was no way for him to suddenly change direction, nor could he change his target because his kick was already set. Blackpearl felt cornered, with no options. It wasn't the first time he had felt this way, because his life as a criminal had often put him in situations like this. However, it was the first time he had felt as small as he did now, under the sights of those three horsemen.
How did I know that? Well, people's eyes can reveal a lot more than their facial expressions. On the outside, he was smiling as usual, but I could see that deep down he was afraid.
That moment when Blackpearl was surrounded and his attack was coming at me was agonizingly long, but in a short time I realized what I needed to do — nothing.
So that's exactly what I did. Standing still and taking that attack was the best I could do to get out of this situation alive. Whether I could withstand the impact or not was up to my body and vitality. But I knew I had to take that attack, otherwise, the others wouldn't have time to kill Blackpearl.
The moment Blackpearl's heel struck my sword, the old, rusty blade inevitably shattered into dozens of pieces, each smaller than the last. His strength and endurance as a Rank-B were naturally immense, but the age of that blade did not help its resistance.
In the end, just as a bullet continues its trajectory even after passing through a wall, Blackpearl's heel continued to move towards me and hit me squarely.
I was not only thrown to the ground by the infamous assassin's huge, heavy right leg, but also brutally crushed into the damp earth of the Forest of Thorns.
The sensation that spread through my body was not just pain, but a profusion of sensations that tasted like death. My skull was crushed, the blood that rose up my throat was now stuck, and my thoughts forgot the paths they were supposed to take inside my brain.
Fortunately, in the midst of all this, my most basic senses still miraculously functioned.
Yes, it was awful to taste the earth pressed against my lips mixed with blood, but it was tempered by the sound of Blackpearl's cave being torn apart by Laufus and Selrik's blades. The bad news was that I couldn't see the scene because I was bearing Blackpearl's weight on me while my mind grew darker and darker.
The last thing I saw before passing out was a player system notification.
[Your Summons have eliminated 'Assassin Blackpearl (Rank B)!]
[You have received +3000 Soul Fragments!]
[Your Summons have learned the skill 'Partial Concealment'!]