I roll away sideways, overturning a table with a kick, thus making it something like a barricade needed to protect me from arrows.
Meanwhile, the snow leopard is already rushing into battle, having dodged the bolts fired at her.
Yeah, judging by the bear's last phrase, they won't let us live, well then, always glad to open up a couple of bastards!
A strong kick sends the table straight at the bear, who dodges playfully without being distracted from reloading.
Twang! Twang!
Shots again, a roll, and they pass by.
I wonder why these idiots decided to attack like this, and use crossbows at that? Is this really some kind of problem for other masters? In the cartoon, all the shown Kung Fu masters could catch arrows and bolts without problems, and dodge if needed too...
Comparing with the Furious Five is, of course, wrong—they are the elite of the elite, comparable to the strongest masters, even if they are young for now, but I don't remember anyone having problems with this...
But this whole thing is alarming—better not touch the bolts.
CLANG!
A bolt fired from another roof hit the edge of my cover, piercing the thick wood through, and splinters dug into my shoulder.
Wow, that's some power! Looks like these are not ordinary crossbows at all.
I peeked out from behind the table. Xue Xia was already in the thick of the fight, and this time she clearly had problems.
These twelve unknowns in masks moved... coordinately. They were almost like a single organism—covering each other, understanding what and who should do in a split second, which is why the snow leopard simply couldn't finish any of them off...
They weren't strong masters, I didn't feel powerful Chi in them, but they were trained to kill masters, which is why the panther had problems.
Xue Xia was forced to constantly shift; her Panther style was fast, but the enemies didn't give her room to maneuver. They weren't trying to defeat her in a duel. They were trying to wear her out and catch her on a mistake, while working in threes, constantly changing, not letting her focus on anyone.
TWANG!
The damn guy in the bear mask reloaded.
Fine, sitting here any longer makes no sense, and since our Lady "Shadow" can't handle it, then...
"Time to end this game!" I roar.
I kick the table again, but this time not up, but to the side.
The table, like a battering ram, flies into the nearest trio of assassins who were just turning toward me.
They didn't expect this, and because of this, two managed to jump back, but the third was knocked off his feet.
I flew out from behind cover in a roll.
Twang! Twang!
Bolts hit the cobblestones where I was a second ago.
"Kill him!" wheezed the "bear."
The group split up. Six remained on Xue, six, including the one I knocked down, instantly surrounded me.
And here I finally understood their tactics.
One, in a boar mask, threw dozens of steel needles at me—a weak attack, and I just brushed them off, knocking them down, but it was a trick.
Two with long spears immediately struck at the same point, trying to pierce me while I was busy with the needles.
I moved off the line of attack, crouching, and found myself face to face with three others armed with paired butterfly swords.
Schwing! Schwing! Schwing!
They attacked simultaneously. These are assassins—they had no warrior's "honor."
One aimed at the throat, the second—under the ribs, the third—at the legs.
It was... dirty. And effective...
Against weaklings!
I roared, releasing Chi and thereby raising my already incredible speed even higher, thanks to which I dodged the attack and caught the wrist of the one aiming at my throat, immediately using him as a living shield against the second.
His partner's blade plunged into his back.
The third jumped back, but I was faster. My punch pierced his spear and chest through, and I felt it again—the smell of fear!
Minus two.
But even experiencing fear, they didn't run away, for they were assassins, not a pack of jackals...
A guy (or not a guy, can't tell by the figure) with a cat mask shot at me from a hand crossbow, but I dodged again, while the two with spears kept me at a distance again, and the one who threw needles now pulled out a short sword and waited for a moment to attack.
They didn't let me breathe. They constantly moved, came from behind, changed, not letting me catch a rhythm.
Their strength was not in skill, but in coordination.
TWANG!
Damn! The bear!
I jumped back, and the bolt plunged into the ground at my feet. Need to be distracted less by my thoughts.
"Don't stand still, Tai!" shouted Xue Xia.
She was also fighting a fierce battle, somehow snatching one of the six pressing on her and slitting his throat. She managed to wound and knock down another, but the remaining four circled around her, wearing the girl out and not letting her finish off the wounded comrade.
The approximate plan is clear—twelve professional assassins distract us while their leader with a bear mask tries to catch a lucky moment for a shot. The assassins themselves also wait for the moment when we are distracted by their colleagues to shoot in the back from a one-handed crossbow.
The plan is workable as is, but they rely too much on these very crossbows—I'm sure there's some crap like poisonous bolts or something similar there.
"I'm tired of this!" I growled. "I'll deal with the bear!"
"You'll get shot while you climb!" she shouted, infusing her hand with Chi and blocking a chain strike.
"And who said I'm going to climb anywhere?"
Another dodge, and I grab the nearest assassin with a spear by the shaft.
He, naturally, jerks it toward himself, but I'm stronger... So, grinning, I just yanked the spear toward myself.
The warrior in the hare mask, not expecting such force, flew at me.
I dodged a blow to the side from his comrade and met the "hare" with a knee strike to the stomach, and while he folded in half, I snatched that very spear from him.
TWANG!
Shot from the bear again.
I, as always, didn't dodge, but simply sent the "hare" to intercept the projectile and immediately threw the spear at the "bear."
The spear howled in the air, spinning like a blue drill thanks to my Chi.
The assassin in the hare mask blocked the view for their main crossbowman, and the bright flash of Chi additionally blinded him, and as a result, the "bear" on the roof only managed to widen his eyes.
The spear pierced his huge crossbow, turning it into splinters, and nailed the bear himself to the chimney behind him.
Silence reigned. The assassins froze, seeing what happened to their, apparently, captain. Their confidence wavered.
I looked at the remaining three surrounding me and smiled predatorily.
"Well, will you surrender or should I kill you all, gentlemen assassins?" This was said as smugly as possible—I wanted to show them that my threats aren't a joke, and if they continue, they will simply lose their heads... Unfortunately, they didn't listen to me.
Their confidence might have wavered, but professionalism remained, so the gentlemen assassins decided to fight to the last.
The one in the boar mask and the one with the short sword rushed at me simultaneously, coming from two sides, while the third (in a tiger mask) jumped back, reloading the crossbow.
Their classic tactic—"two press, one shoots."
I didn't wait for them to pincers me, but chose the one on the left—the Boar, and rushed to meet him.
He didn't expect such a move and instinctively put up his butterfly swords in a block. Fool.
My fist, covered in Chi, simply smashed through his weapon and went further.
I heard the crunch of his ribs... "Boar" spat blood right into the mask and flew off like a rag, crashing into the wall of the noodle shop. Dead.
And I wanted to have some noodles so badly...
The second, with the short sword, was already behind me, his blade aiming at my kidney.
I spun on my heel, my leg, like a whip, described an arc, and the blow landed exactly on his temple. Another crunch.
He collapsed to the ground, not even having time to understand what happened. Dead.
The third remained. The crossbowman in the tiger mask. He had just raised his weapon, but seeing his two partners die in a second and a half, the assassin froze.
But I was already nearby. "Tiger" dropped the crossbow and tried to pull out a dagger.
"Sweet dreams," I growled, delivering a non-lethal blow to the neck—it will knock him out for a couple of minutes.
He went limp and collapsed onto the cobblestones.
Result: two dead, one unconscious. Interrogating him will be useful, and even though I myself don't know how to extract information from professional assassins, I have a personal "Shadow" by my side.
I turned to Xue.
Things were going... better for her than at the very beginning, but not ideally.
The four surrounding her (plus the wounded one on the ground) saw the death of the "Bear" and the lightning-fast defeat of the group "guarding" me.
Their coordination collapsed completely, and one of them, in a wolf mask, decided he had enough.
He threw a smoke bomb under his feet and dashed into a dark alley.
"Where to?!" Xue threw coldly. She didn't even chase him, but simply raised both hands. Is it really a Chi technique? But I don't know such a stance... "'Panther's Ice Claws'!"
She struck her palms against each other with force. Dozens of ice needles, breaking from her claws, flew in different directions with a whistle.
Part of the needles pierced the smoke and plunged into the fugitive exactly in the neck. He ran two more steps and fell dead.
Another part of the needles hit the chest of the mercenary closest to her, who was just trying to attack her from behind while she was distracted by the fugitive. He wheezed and fell dead.
And why the hell didn't she use anything like that before? The devil is hiding something, oh hiding...
The remaining two froze in horror, seeing that their opponent could have killed them long ago.
This second was enough for her, the girl rushed forward: a chop with the edge of her palm to one's Adam's apple—he grabbed his throat but received a blow to the head, losing consciousness. A heel strike to the temple of the second—he collapsed like a sack, seems alive...
The fight was over.
So, what is the result of the attack on us?
The street was littered with corpses. I have one unconscious prisoner, and Xue has three: two just knocked out and that one wounded, who now looked at us with horror, pressing against the wall.
Four prisoners in total. Not bad.
At that moment, the wounded one did something and... lost consciousness?
"Poison." The girl simply answered, noticing my gaze and the lying "raccoon."
"The assassin in the wolf mask didn't just try to run away, but to deliver information that their mission failed. The other three stayed to cover him but didn't expect me to be so skilled in using Chi..."
"Yeah-yeah, tell me how cool you are." I interrupted Xue, receiving a condemning look in return. "What? You were taking a beating for half the fight yourself, I was starting to think you might die here, and you were just holding back for some reason."
"I wanted to see what you are capable of, and if they found out they couldn't handle it—they would have run away immediately and attacked at the most inconvenient moment, but this way the assassins still had hope that everything would work out."
"And for this very reason you didn't warn me about such things? Or do you think that if I were serious from the very beginning, they wouldn't have run away?"
"I was sure you would kill their leader first and not let those dealing with you escape."
"'Was sure' she says..." I spit, grimacing. I, of course, already said I don't care if she tries to "use" me, but I hate manipulator-puppeteers, and both Tai Lung and I-the-engineer hate such people. Unpleasant experience. "What now?"
"I think we need to interrogate these assassins first and..."
"Why?"
"In what sense 'why'?"
"In the literal sense. We know our enemy, we know where he is, and we can just go and kill him... More precisely, 'conduct a trial over him', tie him up and only then ask where the master hunters came from."
"And what if there are a hundred more like them in Peng's palace?" The snow leopard sighed, raising an eyebrow.
"Then we'll kill them all and do the same thing." I didn't fall for it. Not to mention that such specialists are practically unique goods and just insanely rare and expensive. "You possess high-class Chi techniques, and I am the Dragon Warrior generally, so what danger do likes of them pose to us?"
"Dragon Warrior, huh?..." The girl whispered. "Tai Lung, did you know that one hit would be enough for them to kill us?"
"In what sense?" I frowned.
"Their weapons. Bolts, swords, and spears were coated with Black Lotus poison—the rarest poison called 'Kung Fu Killer'. It was banned throughout China because a simple touch is enough to paralyze anyone. Including a Kung Fu master who has mastered Chi."
"But... Poison can be expelled using that very Chi. Even I know how to do that, although I'm not exactly great at Chi." Never heard of this "Kung Fu Killer"...
"It's about the principle of its work. It paralyzes by completely stopping Chi circulation through the body, because of this the heart continues to beat, blood continues to flow, but Chi doesn't move, and here not only can you not apply some techniques, you can't even move. And just one touch to the skin is enough."
Very similar to what I experienced in Chorh-Gom prison while that damn shell was on me, now I understand what the Wise Old Freak was inspired by...
"... Fine, question them, but try to be quick."
"Good, thanks for allowing it." The girl smiled sweetly, dragging the bodies of the assassins she knocked out.
The "questioning" didn't last long—five minutes.
Five minutes was enough for her to crack seasoned assassins...
I am... Just shocked, this was definitely some Chi technique or... Just cunning, and she didn't "question" anyone, but quite possibly set up this attack.
In that case, her "weakness" at the beginning of the fight is also explained...
No, this is, of course, all just guesswork, but... She is very dangerous.
Perhaps, as soon as we finish with the local lord—I'll leave immediately, and... If the opportunity presents itself—there will be one less snow leopard in this world.
"Well then, since there is no one there except ordinary guards, is it time to solve the problem at the root?"
"Yes, I'm glad it ended so quickly, I thought Peng would be much cunning, but look how it turned out..."
"Lucky—and that's good, now let's go to the culprit of the celebration... I wonder if his cook knows how to make noodles?"
"I think he does..."