Assassination Attempt

Hearing his voice, the thugs turned around and faced him with a menacing smile, a smile that signified something wrong. Then, without giving Ernest a chance to reason again, one of the thugs unsheathed a dagger in the scabbard affixed to his waist and charged at him with full speed while declaring: "I'll kill you!"

Ernest managed to dodge him easily by paying attention to his movements. For some reason, he just knew that he'd be able to dodge his attack. He could see everything, from the man's movement to the dagger's trajectory.

That had to be the result of learning a skill from the system, hand-to-hand combat. Bolstering his body and his senses. Ernest bent down and swept the man's legs from under him. He collapsed to the ground face-up, and he drove his fist into his body in one swift motion.

"Gah…!" He passed out right on the spot he had knocked him down with one final grunt. It seemed that the move he'd gained from the system had come in handy. There's no need to shoot the man down, he'll have him arrested later and interrogate them.

"Why did you attack me suddenly? I thought you were harassing that child?"

"Are you the lord of this city?" One of them asked, their faces concealed by the hood. "

"Why would you ask something like that?" Ernest asked.

"Then that's the confirmation…" Under his hood, there was a menacing grin that warned Ernest senses.

Suddenly, the remaining thugs lowered their hips and unsheathed their swords.

They're coming to cut him down without any hesitation. It seems like they've cut people down before.

He dodged the falling sword, dived under his chest, and chopped his hand barehand. And when he let go of his sword, Ernest performed a shoulder throw. This one also fell to the ground on his head and no longer moved.

The last remaining guy also came and swung his sword, but since he was probably cautious of being thrown, Ernest couldn't jump in front of his chest. Since it can't be helped, Ernest dodged and countered it by hitting the heel of Ernest's palm to his chin. When he did that, his eyes turned white and he fell down on his knees and collapsed.

Those who have fallen were writhing out in pain and agony as Ernest hit them on their pressure points. But they are conscious enough to be taken into custody.

He slowly wades through the alley which blocked the alley as he walked toward the little child. Her figure is covered by ragged robes, it seems that this child is homeless.

Still, he consciously reached his hand to his gun for safety purposes if the fallen thugs were to do something stupid behind his back.

"Hey child, are you okay?" Ernest asked as he shook them, but there was no reaction, though he could feel some body heat through the robe.

Ernest relaxed for a moment and tried to peek at their face through the gap in their hood.

Suddenly, the person, a girl, he realized, opened her eyes; they emitted a faint, murderous intent. Ernest directed his gaze at the girl's hand, only to see a knife with a long blade clutched in her hand.

The girl thrust the knife towards Ernest's body, but he twisted himself around with a flinch, avoiding the attack. The girl's knife had swung through empty space, narrowly missing him. However, it seemed as though she had read his first evade as she seamlessly moved to use a follow-up attack.

With a heavy puff of breath, the girl blew at Ernest's neck. In her mouth was a small flute-like pipe, a blowgun.

Ernest felt a sting at his neck, making him frown. But he knew he had to create distance between them, first and foremost, and reflexively shoved the girl away, while taking a step back.

The girl's hood fell back, revealing a very cute face and pale orange hair

that reached down to her shoulders. She appeared to be between eight to ten years old, but there was a terrifying amount of cold-blooded murderous intent lurking in her scarlet eyes. Two fluffy fox ears grew out of her head, strongly demanding attention to their presence.

A werebeast?! Ernest's eyes widened at the girl's features. Suddenly, all the strength in his body drained away as he fell to one knee.

To safeguard his body, Ernest drew out his pistol and aimed it at the blurry world.

The dart from her blowgun had been covered in a fast-acting poison, Ernest determined. He pulled the dart out of his neck with a trembling left hand. Then, before the poison could travel throughout his body, he covered the wound with his hand and secretly began to neutralize the poison without the girl noticing.

Despite his world in his vision still blurry, Ernest could see her reaction through every glimpse his vision came to focus.

The girl's eyes widened as he saw the weapon he was handling while assuming he had no form of antidote and watched on, waiting for the poison to circulate through him.

Meanwhile, Ernest's system prompted, notifying him: [Poison resistance skill activating. Neutralizing poison in ten seconds.]

At this point, Ernest realized what was going on. This girl was part of this group of thugs pretending to harass her, luring him into the alley. And when he relaxed for a moment the girl took the opportunity to strike and kill him. But luckily his senses tingled and prevented all of that.

This is the first time his life was threatened, their attempt of assassinating him was all for naught as they have performed the worst possible way of killing a target. They might have no information about him and assume that he can't fight back. It's a relief that it was the case.

The two stared at each other as Ernest's system continued to remove the poison from his body. Once he deemed himself ready — and checked the strength of his grip — he gave the girl a small smile. The girl finally noticed that the color was, for some reason, returning to Ernest's face. Surprise flickered across her emotionless face.

Ernest kept an eye on the girl for any movements while aiming his pistol at her small body. Now he was ready to fight.

In the next moment, the girl burst into a run towards Ernest with tremendous speed.

She's really fast!

Ernest was shocked at how fast her burst of speed was; of all the people he had met, until now, she was definitely the fastest. Despite her young age, her natural abilities as a werebeast had probably awakened. Troubled as he followed her figure with his eyes, Ernest performed a mathematical calculation in his mind. In two seconds, she will land on the wall.

Two seconds later, it happened, Ernest pulled the trigger and the pistol let out a roar, spewing a piece of lead that would ultimately kill anyone, this girl is no exception.

Clang!

Ernest's gape as he saw the bullet that bustled 381 meters per second was deflected by a swift swing of her knife.

'That's a fantasy world for you.' Ernest remarked inwardly.

But the blade of the knife bent from impact, rendering it useless. A shocked expression was to be seen on the little girl's face as she had witnessed something different.

Ernest looked down on the girl's body coldly as he fired another hail of bullets. The gunshot sound was loud enough to be heard from the street, making those around them run amok and yell for Protection Squadron.

The three bullets were evaded again with her quick and nimble movement. Just how can this little girl evade his shot? He complained inwardly.

The world is really a huge one, and it is fantasy meaning something beyond human imagination is to be expected.

He tried shooting his M9 Beretta again but this time, the werebeast didn't give him a chance. As he was about to pull the trigger, her dagger flew straight at his gun, disarming him. Then using the wall as a platform, she leaped towards him at full speed.

Ernest lowered and bent his body 90 degrees as if he was in the matrix, dodging her attack. He fell to the ground, a perfect opportunity for an enemy to finish him. Ernest looked for something he could do in a short amount of time, the gun that slipped in his hand was one meter away to his left. The girl raised her knife above her head and descended. Ernest rolled to the left, dodging his demise, and hurriedly grabbed the pistol and pointed it at her. Concurrently, she was about to land her knife again, Ernest didn't roll this time but blocked her descending blade with his arm. The tip of the blade was centimeters away from his retina. However, in this scenario. Ernest had the upper hand.

"This is the end." Ernest coldly announced her death with his pistol aimed at her head. This point-blank range would definitely kill her. Pulling the trigger...the gun clicked.

He pulled it again but it didn't roar. He realized the reason since it was disarmed and fell to the ground, it somehow messed something up inside the pistol's interior. Simply put, the gun was jammed.

"You're one lucky son of a…."

Ernest withdrew the pistol, stood up, and grabbed her by the arm. He then threw her over his shoulder and onto the ground with force.

"Guh…!" She received the brunt of the impact against her back this time, making her groan in pain. The strength in her limbs gave out, making her let go of the knife. Ernest kicked the knife away and straddled the girl's body, holding her down.

"This time it's already over." He said, pressing his weight down on her. He didn't miss the brief flicker of fear in the girl's emotionless eyes.

"Uuh... Uwah! N-No! No! Nooo! I dun... I dun wanna die...!" She struggled, shaking her head about in violent discomposure.

"H-Hey, calm down!" Ernest said, trying to soothe the desperate girl.

"E-Eek! S-Save me! Mom! Mama...!"

It was hard to believe this was the same girl who had just fought so calmly before. She was in no state to hold a conversation, once he determined that, Ernest knocked her out by bluntly bashing the gun on the girl's head. The girl was knocked out, unconscious. Ernest heaved a sigh of relief.

Then on the alley, there were five Protection Squadron that arrived with their M1 Garand. Ernest signaled them to lower their weapon.

"Take those five men and this girl. We'll interrogate them later."

"Yes, sir!" The Protection Squadron performed a salute and picked up the body of the unconscious assassins.

Wiping the sweat on his forehead with the back of his arm, Ernest successfully survived his first assassination attempt.