The puppets moved in front of Noah and formed a barrier around him.
"You were pursuing Robert’s son and appeared before me with only three men. Has my reputation in Charlemagne fallen to this extent?"
The assassin replied:
"Hmph. Our target is to kill the boy, and all we need is to keep you occupied."
He jumped from above the height.
His feet struck the ground, then a wave of earth and stones rushed toward the puppets. Two of them raised their arms and received the impact, while the other two assassins moved from the sides.
Averitt faced the first.
A dense layer of wind appeared around his arm. He struck the fire released by his opponent with it and redirected it toward the side of the road.
The soldiers fired at the second attacker, but the bullets stopped in front of an earth barrier and then fell to the ground.
The third reached one of the carriages and cut off a soldier’s head before heading toward Noah.
A defensive puppet intercepted him.
The assassin struck its chest. His arm ignited and pierced the wood and iron. The puppet stopped functioning in place, but he lost a moment pulling his hand out of it.
That moment was enough for Noah to escape.
But he did not move.
Averitt was capable of facing one of them, but the soldiers and puppets could not withstand the other two. If Noah escaped, they would follow him after killing the rest, and he would find it difficult to find a way to explain his escape from the pursuit of two low-grade mages.
Thoughts began following one another inside his mind. At this rate, Averitt would lose sooner or later, and if Noah intervened, he would have to risk revealing his current strength.
The assassin reached him.
He extended his burning hand toward Noah’s neck.
The mana returned from Noah’s marrow to his blood all at once.
Frost spread beneath his feet.
An ice blade appeared in his hand. He moved to the assassin’s side and cut off his arm at the elbow. He did not give him time to scream. He drove the blade beneath his chin until it pierced his head.
The assassin’s body fell before him, with signs of disbelief in his eyes.
Absolute silence prevailed in the place.
Whether the assassins, the soldiers, or Averitt, everyone looked at Noah in shock.
One of the assassins said:
"The information was wrong. He is a low-grade mage!"
Noah made three ice needles and launched them.
The assassin raised his earth barrier. The needles shattered in front of him, but he did not see the defensive puppet that moved behind him.
The puppet grabbed his shoulders.
He tried to free himself from it, but frost spread around his legs and fixed them to the ground. Noah reached him before he could destroy the puppet and drove a short blade into his neck.
Averitt was bleeding from his mouth, but he continued facing his opponent. The wind collided with the fire repeatedly until sparks spread between the carriages.
The assassin looked at his two companions, then retreated.
Noah did not allow him to escape.
A layer of ice extended over the ground and caught one of his feet. The assassin released a wave of fire and melted it, but he exposed his back to Averitt.
He caught him off guard with a powerful gust of wind, sending him reeling to the ground. In that moment, a stone spike emerged from the earth, hurtling towards Noah with unrelenting speed.
Averitt stepped in front of him.
The spike pierced his side.
At the same moment, Noah launched an ice needle that pierced the assassin’s eye. It was not enough to kill him immediately, so Noah approached and made another blade before cutting his neck with it.
The battle ended.
Noah looked around him.
Two of the puppets were destroyed, and most of the soldiers were killed. A number of servants and three soldiers remained alive. They were looking at him instead of the assassins.
Averitt sat beside one of the carriages and placed his hand over his wound. The injury appeared somewhat serious. Although Noah was stronger than everyone on the battlefield, his lack of battle experience had played a role.
"Sir, we need to stop the bleeding immediately."
One of the servants approached him, but Averitt pointed at Noah first.
"Are you all right?"
"Yes."
Averitt laughed, ignoring his wound.
"The low grade... and a very high mana level... at fourteen years old... What exactly are you planning, Robert?"
Despite Averitt’s pride, he did not notice that his final words caused Noah’s expression to become colder.
Averitt removed his hand from his wound for a moment. The bleeding was heavy, but it was not fatal if he reached the city quickly.
"Boy, make sure to hide your current strength under any circumstances. If the Charlemagne elders learn about your current level..."
Averitt’s face changed before he finished speaking.
"Noah... why... did you do it?"
With a disbelieving look, ice shards pierced the back of Averitt’s neck in a moment of carelessness.
He had never imagined that his life would end at the hands of the person he had risked his life to protect.
As soon as Averitt’s scream spread and the sound of his body striking the ground was heard, the servants rushed out all at once.
Before the servants had a chance to make any reaction, an ice spell spread, targeting their hearts and leaving them as lifeless corpses.
Noah continued looking coldly at the bodies before taking the burning lamp, setting the carriages on fire, and throwing the servants inside with Averitt and the assassins.
Noah did not want to leave any evidence of his current level of strength or any evidence of the magic used to kill Averitt and the servants, which would leave traces that might point to him as the killer.
A wave of regret and sadness spread. In the end, Averitt was someone who had sacrificed his life to protect him. In his life, this was the first time he had repaid kindness with betrayal.
Noah closed his eyes and adjusted his mental state before concentrating the mana in his bone marrow again, then fled on one of the horses toward the Imperial City.