The fifty masked killers touched down on the damp black loam without making a single sound.
Shadow-Leader Gui crept within thirty paces of the massive Star-Gold base of Pylon #1. His green-poisoned dagger gleamed in the faint moonlight, casting a greasy sheen across his knuckles.
Behind him, two hulking assassins set down the lead-lined chest.
They began carving activation runes into the soil with bone chisels, preparing to detonate the Core-Rot Leyline Bomb.
“Quickly,” Gui hissed through his viper mask. “Jam the poison spikes into the grounding leylines. Once the tower falls, the commoners will freeze, and Minister Qian will wire the ten million Jade to our guild.”
One of the assassins chuckled under his breath. “To think Lin Mo left this vital relay unguarded in a common cabbage patch. Provincial merchants truly have no military sense. They think money can replace armed garrisons.”
“Do not speak,” Gui snapped, his voice sharp. “Set the runes. The sooner this abomination is destroyed, the sooner the capital returns to proper order.”
Right at that moment, a loud, collective clearing of throats echoed through the dark fog.
