At the section of the fire burning most fiercely, where no one could possibly expect anyone to dare plunge in recklessly, Kirito chose an immensely perilous path. He quickly leaped down into a nearby water well to soak all his garments and body to resist the heat, then suddenly dashed straight into the epicenter of the towering sea of fire.
Immediately, Kirito swung his hand to throw a rope with a hook securing firmly onto the high balcony, then grabbed onto it to climb up at a dizzying speed before the flames could catch fire to the rope.
In just a fraction of a second, Kirito successfully infiltrated up to the fourth floor of the main building. Yet, the moment he set foot on the floor, he collided right with a defensive troop squad rushing over at full speed.
"Catch the intruder!"
Not giving the soldiers time to react, Kirito waved his hand to throw a series of smoke bombs in multiple directions, creating a thick blinding veil that completely obscured vision. Taking advantage of that chaos, he hurled a dense rain of shurikens and kunais, causing the soldiers to suffer tragic fatal casualties on the spot. Afterward, Kirito drew the razor-sharp Katana from behind his back, lunging forward like a whirlwind to slaughter and clean up thoroughly any remaining soldiers.
Clang! Crash!
The shrill sounds of metal clashing rang out as a majestic figure blocked the path. That was a grand general of the royal guards wearing a terrifying and imposing Yaksha demon mask on his face.
"Stop right here, assassin!"
Kirito did not waste words, instantly lunging forward to slash furiously. The two engaged in battle, sword auras surging and colliding consecutively.
Truly a samurai of the royal guard forces, his strength and sword stances were indeed immense! Kirito secretly knitted his brows, finding it extremely annoying to be held down by a heavy-weight general amidst a time when time was running out.
Suddenly, the general swung his sword to sweep across in a powerful line aiming to cut down his opponent. Kirito threw his body backward to dodge by a hair’s breath, then tumbled a circle backward. Quick as lightning, he threw a rope that tightly wrapped around the general’s ankle, putting force into pulling a heaven-shattering yank that caused him to lose balance, topple over, and fly off the window frame to fall to the floor below.
Not stopping for a second, Kirito instantly ran for his life toward the stairs to advance to the fifth floor.
As he rushed up the dark steps, the assassin’s instinct helped Kirito detect an anomaly. He leaped high into the air to avoid a thin fishing line strung secretly under the floor—that was a preset death trap.
The moment he set foot on the roof area and high-floor chambers, Kirito instantly fell into an ambush. Hundreds of Shinobis from the opposing faction had waited here beforehand, simultaneously unleashing a rain of shurikens and dark kunais pouring down upon his head.
Kirito did not flinch at all, quick as lightning spinning around to take a special umbrella from behind his back and snap it wide open. The skillful kunais were deflected back by his hand to counter-attack. At the same time, the umbrella body made of hardened alloy perfectly blocked the entire rain of concealed weapons descending upon him.
Right after that, a large iron net was thrown down from above to capture him alive, followed by hundreds of assassins rushing down to encircle him from all sides.
Kirito immediately unleashed another series of thick smoke bombs to obstruct their vision. Facing a vast number of enemies while being entirely by himself, initiative had to rely entirely on guerrilla tactics. Kirito utilized the black smoke to move flexibly, continuously slaughtering the Shinobi mob with far superior swordsmanship.
However, among them still appeared a few top-tier Shinobis capable of parrying his fatal attacks. Realizing that lingering in melee combat with these strong foes would waste precious time, Kirito was extremely smart to proactively dodge rather than recklessly engage in direct head-on combat.
Amidst the blinding smoke, he quickly pulled out a small wooden blowpipe, inhaled a deep breath, and blew out a burst of deep purple smoke—that was a lethal fast-acting poison.
Rustle...
Hundreds of Shinobis who inhaled the toxic smoke instantly succumbed to the poison, foaming at the mouth and dropping onto the floor continuously like kites with snapped strings.
Having swept away the assassin mob, Kirito collided yet again with another squad of royal troops rushing out to block the path. With lightning-fast sword slashes and a flexible physique, he swiftly disposed of them cleanly without leaving a single soul alive.
Kirito rushed to the end of the corridor, kicked open the door of a large room, and stepped inside.
Inside the room at that moment, several guards were still holding out. With supreme agility and peak reflexes, Kirito maneuvered through the sword paths, countering decisively. After only a few lightning slashes, the soldiers collapsed.
Yet, the continuous battle from earlier on left Kirito’s body covered in bleeding wounds, and fatigue began creeping into every muscle fiber.
Standing amidst the room strewn with corpses, Kirito spoke in a cold voice, a towering killing intent radiating so intensely that an old official trembling in hideously cowardly fear tucked away in the corner of the room was terrified to the point of peeing his pants:
"This is really troublesome..."
Seeing the old man’s cowardly attitude, Kirito frowned as he stepped forward, pressing the tip of the sharp, blood-dripping sword directly against the opponent’s throat to threaten him:
"Speak quickly! Why is there only you alone in such a large room?"
The old man wept and screamed, trembling violently out of fear of death, hurriedly stammering to spill out the entire truth:
"Spare... spare my life! Only I am alone here... all the other officials with high authority were divided and hidden in various large and small rooms throughout this area... to serve as decoys and prevent being slaughtered en masse by assassins all at once..."
Hearing the answer, Kirito grew extremely angry, pulled back his sword, and strode straight out into the long, dark corridor. If he kept groping through each room like this to find the empress’s true location, this endless stretch of long corridors would drag the time out until dawn. Once the morning light emerged, all his escape routes would be completely locked down.
Standing before thousands of closed room doors, Kirito gritted his teeth and frowned as he asked himself:
"Where on earth is the empress’s true hiding place? How can I find her the fastest?"