The arrow flew whistling with monstrously destructive force behind it that no doubt, could even pierce through a hard rock judging by the sheer ominous sound of slicing the air that it made.

However, suddenly an unexpected thing occurred that no one noticed, including the assailant who shot the arrow.

Ethan's soul fluctuated and the Temple inside it rumbled turbulently as if it was being strained to its furthest limits as Afriel could be seen standing in front of a small bluish-white sapling made up of Frost inside the Garden.

Ariel had lightly made contact with one of its leaves, his eyes were closed as he murmured a chant in the Arcanic, incomprehensible language of Gods.

Miraculously, just as the arrow was only a few hundred meters away from Ethan, a strong breeze blew slightly shifting the trajectory of the arrow a bit upward.

Yet the strange thing was that there was no breeze in reality. There was but not a slight movement of wind at that time. The breeze that seemed to have shifted the trajectory of the arrow was but an illusion that somehow actually influenced the arrow tilting it upward.

Merely two seconds after the dagger left Ethan's hand—the arrow finally reached him. However, it went just a few inches from over his head only making his hair flutter violently.

"Zzzsh!"

"Thunk!"

"Aghh!"

The arrow shot passed by Ethan's head without harming him, but unfortunately, shortly after it pierced through the carriage creating a gaping hole on the carriage's side just behind him as if a knife cutting through butter.

Two ear-piercing shrieks of sorrow, pain, and despair soon followed from the carriage along with the noise of something tumbling down as scarlet blood flowed out of the carriage dripping on the ground slowly.

Ethan might have been in overdrive mode of his mind as he had momentarily experienced time relatively slowly, but the others around him were not.

From the viewpoint of the pedestrians, Ethan suddenly threw a dagger at the seemingly injured girl on the ground instantly killing her, then just two seconds later an arrow went from over his head piercing through the carriage.

Blood was everywhere! On the ground and inside the carriage!

Everything and everyone became silent momentarily as only the sorrowful wails and screams of two girls rang in the surroundings.

Anicia was stunned, frozen at the spot as she saw a dagger plunged into the little girl's chest and the blood pool around the corpse. She could simply not comprehend what the hell had happened.

The masterful archer who had shot the arrow also raised their brows in amazement and bewilderment as they saw the arrow miss their mark for the first time.

"Tch, lucky little brat! How the hell did I miss it?" The person muttered in a muffled voice through a mask covering their face.

If even after Ethan shouted 'Watch Out!' and his bodyguards were to not realize that something was up—they would better kill themselves to save the embarrassment.

Fortunately, their battle-forged instincts had kicked in as soon as Ethan warned them and when the sound of the arrow being released rang out.

Just as everyone was trying to cope with the existing, bizarre situation—four of the many pedestrians on both sides of the street suddenly dashed forward at Ethan as each of them took off their outer cloak-like clothing that was covering most of their bodies such as the torso and arms.

Ethan already knew that there were assassins hidden in the crowd. After the dagger pierced through the carriage; he had already turned his chilling gaze toward the assailants who were dashing out of the crowd straight at him.

The four cloaks fell on the ground and the assassins were fully revealed to the public as it could be seen that they had been concealing hidden weapons beneath the veil of the cloaks.

Abruptly, multiple daggers and knives shot out from the assailants in random directions as realization finally dawned on everyone as it was now quite obvious exactly what was going on.

The crowd erupted in complete chaos, the street that was cheerful and peaceful just a few minutes ago was now filled with ear-piercing screeches, chaotic screams, and painful groaning as everyone ran for their life all over the place.

While most evaded the hail of knives and daggers coming at them—some of them, unfortunately, could not do so. Consequently, becoming the victims of a brutal assault.

The daggers approached Ethan rapidly as he stood unmoving without fear and simply looked ahead.

"Shing!"

"Zaap!"

Wilkie, Jason, and Fred who were cautious and prepared with their naked longswords unanimously made their move as with brisk, quick, and precise movements they slashed their swords in the air knocking off all the daggers coming at Ethan into pieces.

Meanwhile, Earlene promptly used her blessings of the wind as she swayed two daggers off their course saving Anicia who was frozen in place.

"Anicia! Snap out of it, NOW!" Ethan yelled loudly noticing Anicia a few meters away from the carriage frozen in place without any guard.

Anicia jolted awake from her confusion hearing Ethan's familiar voice and finally realized the situation she was in. Ignoring the dead little girl in front of her, she quickly chanted focusing her powers,

"Daggers Fly, Souls Cry! Darkness Arises, Life Perisshes, O' Holy Spirit! Invoke Thy Protection And Guard His Life—Barrier of Light!"

For the first time ever, Anicia used her Blessing of Light in public as golden specs of light particles appeared around her.

Contrary to what one might expect, a transparent golden barrier of light converged—but not around Anicia. Instead, the barrier manifested around Ethan adding another layer to his protection.

"Wha-? You idiot!" Ethan exclaimed in sheer disbelief and frustration seeing the barrier around him and Anicia still unguarded.

Albert saw this and made eye contact with Jason who was on the left of Ethan, Jason nodded in understanding as he swiftly got off his horse and moved in front of Ethan standing firmly in a defensive stance.historical

Albert's face became serious as all the muscles in his body loosened, his figure suddenly flickered in a flash as he moved with incredible agility and speed disappearing from Ethan's side and shortly after appearing beside Anicia.

All this transpired in just a matter of a few minutes. The crowd on the street was still pretty much in chaos, the assassins were still dashing forward at Ethan—this time with swords in hand, and the City Watch had been alerted of the disturbance.

'These small fries are nothing.. But that archer is dangerous.' Ethan thought inwardly secretly heaving a sigh of relief.

The most important aspect of an assassination that is the surprise attack, had failed. Ethan knew that apart from the archer in distance eyeing him like a venomous viper, there was no other threat.