The Masked Assassin
“Yuan Yao! Today I finally get to claim that head of yours—the one I couldn’t take from you back in Xu Province!”
I shouted at the top of my lungs as I chased Yuan Yao’s cavalry with everything I had.
He was, after all, Yuan Shu’s son and the legitimate eldest heir carrying the prestige of four generations and three lords. He led armies in his father’s place, yet his military talent was utterly pathetic.
This was the second time we had met, and both times I had crushed him.
If his ability had matched that of Cao Cao’s son Cao Ang, Sun Jian’s son Sun Ce, or Ma Teng’s son Ma Chao, history truly would have taken a different path.
But since he was Yuan Shu’s son, he could only rise to Yuan Shu’s level.
“Young master, take cover! We’ll hold them—”
Schlick—
“Guh… ack!”
Words like that are not spoken at this range. You block me first before you open your mouth.
I cut down the Yuan army officer who had tried to bar my path and kept chasing Yuan Yao.
If I captured him here, Yuan Shu—having lost his heir—would collapse far faster than in the original timeline. The powers in Huainan and northern Yangzhou would crumble on their own.
That meant we could swallow the entire Yuan Shu faction without lifting a finger.
So I pursued him with even greater desperation.
You will die sooner than history demands, and by my hand!
“Stand still! Is fleeing all the eldest son of the Yuan family knows how to do?”
I would ride up the hill, part the tall grass, and drag the hiding rat into the open.
At that moment…
Swish—
Clang!
“Did you think I wouldn’t notice a cheap sniper hiding in the bushes?”
“Commandant! Looks like an ambush!”
“Then hold your positions properly.”
Judging by the size of the woods, it wasn’t a large archer detachment. This was a small team of elite assassins lying in wait.
“Come out!”
Another volley of arrows flew in quick succession. I knocked them aside by reflex, but what sank into the tree trunk was not an arrow.
“Throwing darts?”
The moment I realized they were darts and not arrows, a shadow burst from the undergrowth and charged straight at me.
I raised my spear to sweep them away, but I could already hear horses screaming and the heavy thuds of soldiers being dragged from their saddles.
“!!”
I whipped my head around, but in that instant another shadow exploded outward.
The killing intent was overwhelming. Dodge and you die.
I thrust my spear forward and met the attack head-on.
!!!!!
It was only a single strike, yet the power behind it was monstrous. It had been a long time since I had faced an assault of this caliber, and something about it felt distinctly alien.
This was not the work of a soldier. These were the movements of a professional killer.
Moreover, the person who had just traded blows with me wore no helmet—only a mask covering their face.
A masked figure dressed entirely in black, sword at their side. They did not appear to be part of Yuan Shu’s army. Someone had hired proper assassins.
More shadows sprang from the bushes on both flanks.
“No choice, then.”
I rose in the stirrups and leaped straight off my horse.
“Crazy bastard. You dismounted just to die on your own feet?”
“You clearly don’t understand what it means that I got off this horse.”
I slammed my spear into the ground and roared.
“Commandant of Cavalry Cao Xiu declares! From this moment forward, our entire force will focus on eradicating the assassins hidden in these woods! Kill every last one of them!”
The fifty Tiger and Leopard Cavalry behind me answered with a thunderous battle cry and immediately crashed into the hidden killers.
“We only need your head.”
“How amusing.”
Clang!
Another surprise attack from the side. Now I would show them exactly why I had dismounted.
I blocked their blades with the shaft of my spear and studied their movements. When the next assassin swung, I deflected the blow, stepped inside his guard, and swept his legs out from under him.
“What—?!”
The second assassin staggered. As I brought my spear down to finish him, the first assassin rushed in to block.
I simply pressed down with raw power.
“Ugh…”
I kept pushing, then suddenly let go.
“Catch.”
“?????”
The moment I released, the assassin’s own momentum sent him lurching forward. I drew the sword at my waist and unsheathed it in a single lightning-fast motion.
Slaaash—
In that instant the assassin’s head flew free, spraying blood across the grass. The green undergrowth turned scarlet in the blink of an eye.
“You—!”
Clang—clang—thud—
He drew his sword and tried to resist, but this was a frontal clash on open ground. No matter how skilled the assassin, their true nature was to strike from the shadows.
Did they really believe they could stop me—Cao Cao’s own blade and spear—in a fair fight?
I spotted the opening and drove my sword into his flank.
“Urk!”
After stabbing, I pulled the blade free without hesitation. The goal was to make them bleed as much as possible.
The second assassin collapsed, twitching. I flicked the blood from my sword and advanced on the masked leader.
“Too bad. You seemed so well prepared, yet here we are.”
The masked assassin was trembling. Fear? No—it was laughter.
“Heh… hehehe… Saving that halfwit son of old man Yuan Shu was never worth it anyway.”
“!?”
The voice that had been low and muffled before was now a clear, high-pitched tone filled with emotion. This was no man’s voice.
“Still, you have to die.”
“!”
Clang!
Sword met sword again, scattering sparks. Each time I countered, she retreated, using the trees and terrain to strike and withdraw. Her martial skill was genuinely refined.
Annoying, but not unbeatable.
What I truly wanted was the face behind that mask. When she attacked again I dodged and slammed a low kick into her thigh.
Thwack—
“Ugh…”
The kick broke her balance. I followed with a downward slash at her head. She barely avoided it by tucking into a desperate roll.
“Just as I thought. You’re not—”
“Tsk!”
“—a man. You’re a woman.”
A female general in the Three Kingdoms era, and an assassin bold enough to hunt commanders on the battlefield? What kind of combination was this?
But in that moment they began to withdraw.
“Protect the young lady! Full retreat!”
The assassins who had been clashing with the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry realized their leader was in danger. They swarmed around her and fled.
“Commandant, are you unharmed?”
“I’m fine. Casualties?”
“Two dead, three badly wounded. We killed fifteen assassins in total.”
“The numbers don’t add up… they really don’t add up…”
I had let Yuan Yao escape. In the forest that followed, masked assassins had ambushed my Tiger and Leopard Cavalry. The leader I had nearly captured was a woman, and her men had shouted to “protect the young lady.”
“In this era, what female general is called ‘young lady,’ possesses outstanding swordsmanship, and has the insane courage to step onto a battlefield?”
I muttered to myself, retrieved my fallen spear, and brushed the dirt from it.
“No—the real problem is that I let an enemy commander slip away.”
I mounted my horse again and reluctantly turned back toward the main camp.
“Uncle, I am deeply sorry. I allowed the enemy commander to escape.”
“Hahaha, enough of that. Stand up!”
“This incompetent general has failed his mission.”
“You fool. You only let Yuan Yao get away, but you completely annihilated his prized cavalry, didn’t you? After a feat like that, how can you call yourself incompetent?”
Cao Cao laughed heartily and personally lifted me from my kneeling position.
“I watched your fight closely from the main camp. You predicted Yuan Yao’s movements, cut him off immediately, crushed his cavalry, and chased him all the way into the woods. Capturing him would have been ideal, but destroying the cavalry that served as his limbs and eyes is a significant achievement in itself.”
Rather than blame me for missing Yuan Yao’s head, Cao Cao praised me for eliminating the cavalry instead.
“My lord, the enemy will no longer be able to harass us with cavalry raids. Their usable cards are disappearing one by one. At this point, all they can do is support the White Wave Bandits on the Luoyang front.”
“I agree, Zhongde,” Cao Cao replied.
That was certainly how things would play out.
But the real question was the identity of the assassin group that had attacked me in the woods and allowed Yuan Yao to escape.
Were they elite killers raised by the White Wave Bandits? Or was it something else…?
“Haa…”
The assassin unit that had been hiding in the undergrowth finally caught their breath once they had put distance between themselves and the enemy.
“Young lady, are you injured?”
“Get away from me. I’m not hurt. I only tripped.”
The girl irritably slapped away the deputy’s hand and snapped at him.
“I still don’t understand why I had to save that pathetic son of the old man who calls himself a duke. What does it matter to me if a man like that dies?”
“Young lady… this was the mission you personally begged our lord to let you join.”
The masked assassin quietly removed his face covering and gently admonished her. Beneath the mask was a dignified face and the sturdy build of a true warrior.
“I didn’t know I’d end up doing assassin work. I wanted to ride a horse like Father and mow down enemy soldiers by the hundreds!”
“Haha… You can do that once you’ve grown a little more. Even now, our lord is probably worrying himself sick over you.”
“Hmph!”
The moment the battle ended, the cold assassin transformed into a spoiled, petulant young lady. Frustrated, she ripped off her mask.
Jet-black hair and crimson eyes. Skin as white as snow. An extraordinarily beautiful girl.
“Lü Fengxian’s daughter from Wuyuan couldn’t even kill a single enemy general!”
“We still completed the mission. Let us report to our lord and prepare to withdraw. The main camp is waiting.”
The warrior disguised as an assassin continued to speak to her in calm, soothing tones.
She stared at the place where she had fought and muttered under her breath.
“Commandant of Cavalry Cao Xiu…? I will remember that name. His skill left a strong impression… I need to taste it again.”
She gripped her sword tightly, burning the name she had heard during the fight deep into her memory.