Ascension of the Master Assassin

Due to the high loyalty displayed by the Onis militias, Venn's troops took his orders very well and splitted into 4 teams of around 12 archers and 17 teams of around 10 footmen with Venn leading the largest team of 32 men and Vesra in a short amount of time.

Once Venn was done with the split, he proceeded to distribute the equipment provided by Ysera to the troops and told them of his plan of clearing out the lair of the Steel-tipped Tarantulas to strengthen themselves and avoid being dispensable cannon fodders in the war with the goblins later.

And with no objection to his crazy order due to their high loyalty towards Venn, the entire militias began trekking towards the lair of the Steel-tipped Tarantulas after taking a short break to assemble their equipment.

***

Venn silently stared at the complete darkness in front of him with a heavy heart. He only had one job to do after setting up everything, and only he had the capability to do so.

He had prepared all that he could to take down the entire lair of the Tarantulas in one go, and there was no going back from his decision.

If his plan turns out to be successful, he would be able to reclaim his own destiny from the others, but if it turns out to be a failure, that would spell the end of him and Rena.

He knew the risks perfectly. It was a big gamble to make, but he was willing to risk it.

In order for a poor person like him to save Rena, he had to risk everything he had. That was his only choice.

Biting his teeth down nervously as he waited, Venn's adrenaline kept pumping into his entire body. 

With heightened senses from the adrenaline, he noticed the dark silhouette of a Steel-tipped Tarantula appearing in his sight at the first possible moment, and his legs went into overdrive. 

Sprinting out of the cave as fast as he could with his improved agility after pumping all his free stats points to it, Venn's figure rushed towards the exit of the cave, making a beeline for it.

Following behind him were a bunch of frenzy Tarantulas behind his tail. If he were to be caught by them, he would be shredded into pieces within a second.

***

Vesra clutched her daggers tightly. The violent rumbling noise echoing from the cave was making her body tense. Fear was creeping into her mind as she could imagine the terror that Venn had woken up.

In the face of overwhelming danger, tears began to flow uncontrollably from her tear ducts no matter how hard she tried to stop them. She regretted ever listening to Venn's crazy idea and allowing him to implement his plan of provoking the Steel-tipped Tarantulas. 

She simply wanted to share Ysera's burden on her shoulders, not to die prematurely without achieving anything!

Through her teary almond-shaped eyes, Vesra could see that the others were feeling the same as her.

Their faces were wearing an ugly expression with their legs trembling from the fear of the Steel-tipped Tarantulas as the overwhelming fear spread across the entire troop like a violent tsunami.

"I knew it! This is impossible! I am just a weakling, nothing more!"

"I...I quit! I was wrong, so terribly wrong! Call me a coward, I just want to survive!"

"Fuck this! Didn't you say you will follow Lord Night Raid's orders till the end of the world?"

"I signed up to avenge my family, not to die in a ditch killing spiders that got nothing to do with the goblins!"

Before Vesra knew it, the militias' morale and fighting spirit started to crumble like a castle of sand. Small scuffles broke out in the ranks quickly and the situation was turning into something she could not control.

As the second in command, Vesra was helpless to stop the raging fire when she was in a poor condition like the others. 

Dropping to her knees, despair was rapidly taking over her. In this situation, there was no way she could restore the military discipline of the poorly trained militias. 

If only she was Ysera… she would be able to handle something as easily as this.

It was all over. 

Ultimately, in the end, she was just a burden to Ysera and the Shuten family. She thought to herself.

"En Garde!" Like a ray of light that penetrated the darkness, Venn's loud voice suddenly erupted and pierced through the ears of everyone in the vicinity. Providing hope to their clouded judgement, everyone stopped in their tracks as their ears subconsciously listened to his every word.

"Pick up your shields! Stop whatever you are thinking. I will do all the thinking for you, so shut up and listen up! We will survive this!" Venn's words were harsh, but it was effective. 

Shifting their gazes towards their beacon of hope, they even forgot to breathe in that moment.

"Didn't I tell you guys before! Fine, let me remind everyone here again! There's only three rules under my command!"

"Rule number one. Repeat what I say!"

"Rule number two. Follow my orders!"

"And the last rule. Die for my sake!"

"So pick up your shields now and act like proud men. Look at what you've done to my little Vesra! At least act like a man in front of a little girl! Listen up, the Steel-tipped Tarantulas are nothing to fear. We will drive them down the cliff and make them fall to their death! So who's with me to squash some bugs?" 

Venn desperately cried out at the top of his lungs. Never did he imagine that his plan would fail at this juncture. He had planned everything to perfection, but he had neglected people's hearts. 

Mixing in a little joke in his motivational speech, he tried to motivate the troops to spring into action. But his heart sank when he discovered that their movements were still sluggish.

Time was running out. At any notice, the Tarantulas would come bursting forth!