The Journey of the Demon Hunter

"Ahem... Yusuf? What's the situation here?"

Zelin raised his arm to block his face, and the thick smoke made the corners of his eyes sour. He could only half-squint, avoiding the wind. The open flame has been extinguished, but the smoldering flame in the dark brought more smoke. Yousef’s appearance is much more embarrassed than the others. He has no scars on his body, but his clothes are smoked black and gray, his fluffy hair is covered with a lot of dust, and his face is also dyed black, making him look like It is someone who smokes accidentally lit his bed and cannot find enough water to put out the fire.

"Those Templar **** saw that the situation was not good, and they set the stronghold on fire. These **** guys, this is close to the residential area, are they planning to burn this area!" Yusuf coughed heavily, he The palm of his hand was a little red, Zelin could see it, it was a trace of burns. There are many assassins nearby who are busy putting out the dark fire, but Yousef is the only one here who looks particularly embarrassed.

"The other Templars are surrounding here, and Ezio is leading people to set up an ambush on the way they must pass. He may need some manpower."

"I know." Yousef wiped the corners of his mouth. He waved to the assassins who were carrying the bucket. "Kasim, Heredin, you bring your own people to support Master Ezio."

"Let them go, let me deal with the dark fire in the stronghold." Zelin glanced at the stronghold gate, which was still smoky. The black smoke came out of the main entrance and floated to the sky, as if one was spitting. The flame-bearing beast temporarily ceased, but at any time it may spew out flames again and take the lives of others. "I have encountered this situation before. Let them all come out to support Ezio. After a while, I will be able to hand over the stronghold without a trace of flame to you."

"It's dangerous."

"The Templars can't deal with me, nor can they set fires. Hurry up, this stronghold is not important. The important thing is to make the Templars think that we are still extinguishing the flames of the stronghold and let them send more reinforcements. We can take the opportunity to wipe out the power they can mobilize in the city in one fell swoop, and then the Brotherhood can regain the initiative in Constantinople."

It is the best plan to keep the stronghold closest to the palace and destroy the Templars. Send all the assassins out to deal with the Templars, Zelin stay here, even if the Byzantines still have a reserve team left to besiege the stronghold, they will only hit their heads and bleed again.

"I'll take people there. Be careful yourself. If the flames start to burn again, blow up the wooden wall that is linked to the stronghold so that it won't burn to other places."

Yusuf blew a whistle, and more than twenty assassins immediately appeared nearby. Zelin immediately understood why the Templars would choose to directly set fire to the stronghold and ask nearby colleagues for help. Yousef took this attack very seriously, and almost brought all the assassins from the headquarters except for the Byzantines and sentinels. There are not many traces of battle on the ground, but there are more than 30 corpses. The demon hunters can imagine in their minds that when these assassins are ready to attack at the same time, the Templars have not yet reacted. Almost three-quarters of the population was lost.

Under Yusuf's orders, the assassins swiftly advanced to the predetermined ambush position.

Zelin held a damp cloth to cover his nose, bent down and walked into the smoking stronghold.

The sewage mixed with ashes on the ground of the stronghold gathered together in the lower part to form a puddle. Looking left and right, the demon hunter's ears can still hear the cracking inside the wood. The flame here may burn again at any time, but it is difficult for water to extinguish the flame inside the stake.

He walked to the middle of the stronghold, raised his hand, the rune of Alderfa Seal appeared in his palm, and then grabbed the rune and slammed to the ground. The bitter wind swept Alder, and for a while, Zelin's ears were only left with the clash of wooden boards dumping and the crackling of ceramic pots.

The temperature in the stronghold dropped suddenly, Zelin took a long breath, and a cloud of mist formed in front of him. Direct cooling is much more effective than splashing water on burning wood. There is more black thin ice on the ground and walls, but it quickly turns into sewage again. A few more times, he will be able to completely extinguish the open flames in the stronghold, but for one thing, Yusuf wants to use the stronghold again, it may take a lot of effort.

He snapped his fingers, and he was very familiar with the use of the Ignatius Seal to extinguish the flame, as easy and natural as breathing. The stronghold of the racecourse was much larger than the stronghold of the Grand Bazaar. The Templar's banner was burned in half, and it was shaking with the burst of air in the stronghold on the roof. Most of the fighting traces in the houses were destroyed by flames. The inner hall was the most severely damaged. The ground was burnt to black, and the walls were blackened in heavy smoke.

Suddenly, a piece of metal reflection on the charred ground attracted Zelin's attention. He narrowed his eyes slightly, stepped across the burned wreckage, and the rest was stained with a scorched black color. Zelin could only judge from the outline. The debris in front of him should have been a round wooden table in the past, but Now only half is left lying on the ground.

Zelin walked over and squatted down. He stretched out his hand on it, feeling the cold metal touch on the palm of his hand, and gently stroked it to erase the black gray on the top, revealing a touch of metallic luster below.

This is a metal cabinet, all three sides of the cabinet were burnt to black, only the side against the wall still has some cold metal color. The low cabinet leaned against the wall just now, blending with the scorched black on the wall and the ground, so that the demon hunter didn't notice him for a while. The vibration that Alder swept just now caused the low cabinet to fall to the ground, exposing the reflective part behind it.

"What is this?"

The only light source in the inner hall comes from a skylight in the deepest part. The glass of the skylight has been shattered during the battle. The sharp glass on the window frame looks like a hidden trap, waiting to scratch the prey that has crawled. Without the obstruction of heavy smoke, the sun shone in from the skylight, illuminating this messy room. The metal cabinets were **** with iron ropes, as if they were about to be transported out of the city in a wagon.

Zelin raised his eyebrows slightly, what would be in it that could be kept by the Templars like this.

The ebony blade waved, and the iron rope broke.

Pulling open the drawer of the metal low cabinet, the first thing that catches your eye is the coins shining with golden light. A large handful of gold coins spread all over the drawer, and it hummed with the sound of the demon hunter pulling the drawer. If it had been a year ago, the demon hunter would have been very happy to be able to reap such a fortune.

Zelin closed the drawer in disappointment, then opened the next one.

It's a letter.

He took out the envelope, which was stamped with an emblem he didn't recognize. It was an eagle with open wings. He looked at the envelope carefully. The envelope was plain and unremarkable. You can buy a copper coin in a roadside grocery store.

He sighed slightly, the strong burning smell made him a little irritable. Zelin tore open the seal sealed by the fire paint. There was only one letter, and it was neatly written in dense small print. He tossed over the letter paper twice, then raised the letter paper again, and then the sun checked to see if there was anything hidden, but it was a pity that he found nothing. He didn't get any information on this letter, the reason is simple.

He can't read the words on it.

"Forget it, just show it to Ezio."

He folded the letter paper and put it in his waist pocket. There was a sound of footsteps outside, he turned his head, and after seeing the figure walking in, he inserted the ebony blade into the self-made scabbard. Assassin Degan walked into the inner hall, and the disgusting burning smell made him cover the tip of his nose. He looked around, and immediately walked towards the demon hunter.

"Master, Boss Youssef asked me to tell you that he and Master Ezio are waiting for you in the racecourse."

"The battle is over? So soon?" Zelin turned his head and glanced at the sunlight outside through the skylight. The burnt down Templar banner was still wagging.

"The group of scum was ambushed and fled. Leader Yousef killed their captain, and they were all frightened."

"I see." Zelin heard more sounds of moving things outside, and Degan brought other assassins here to clean up the stronghold. "I'm going to the racetrack now. Also, there is gold in the cabinet that the Templars didn't take away. Remember to bring it."

Chapter 1273 The Goal of Topkapi Palace

The Templars are more mercenaries, and only a few people know what they are fighting for. When they are superior, they appear to be crowded and difficult to fight, but once they are inferior, they will immediately flee. Yousef has complained more than once that if the Templars can persist in the battle for a while, or muster the courage to fight against the Assassin Brotherhood that surrounds them, he will be able to destroy them all at once instead of in the city. Play hide and seek.

"Maybe the Templars recruited these mercenaries to allow them to escape quickly to preserve their strength when they are disadvantaged."

Constantinople is so magical. Yousef said that no one can really control the city. No matter what happens, the city will exist forever. What people do is for this city. , It's just a drop of water dripping into the sea. Zelin now fully realizes the correctness of this sentence.

Only three hours after a battle that swept through five streets, the city has completely restored calm, except for the sun turning the sun into a fiery red from the west, two houses were burned down, and a few more gossips in the streets and lanes. The situation today is no different from yesterday afternoon. If a traveler sailed by the Golden Horn at this time, looking at the evening view of Constantinople, he would be moved by the beauty of the city, rather than surprised that a street battle broke out here.

He can't see anything.

As always, like the calm Bosphorus.

"But we taught the Templars a tough lesson. They should know that they haven't defeated us." Ezio clenched his left hand into a fist and beat the stone wall rhythmically. "We want to take the opportunity to expand the results. Our gypsy friends provided a location, a Templar stronghold near their camp. We can take the opportunity to completely drive the Byzantines out of the southern city."

"And when they focus on the stronghold outside, we can start the real plan." Yusuf shook the map in his hand, he unfolded the paper and spread it on the stone table in front of him. Zelin and Ezio surrounded him. When the map was unfolded, Ezio only showed some confusion. He was thinking about where the place drawn on it was, but Zelin was a little surprised. Yousef did not need to introduce him, he recognized the location of the map at a glance.

Imperial city.

"We got the exact news. Tomorrow night the Templars are going to infiltrate the Topkapi Palace and assassinate Prince Suleiman who has returned from the pilgrimage. Our task is to protect His Royal Highness and kill the Templars who infiltrated the palace."

Ezio tilted his head slightly, carefully studying the map of Topkapi Palace "Why is it tomorrow night."

"Tomorrow night, Topkapi Palace will hold a social party, inviting Venice and Seljuk musicians from all over the city to play in the palace, exhibiting famous paintings and artworks, like the paintings of the Bellini brothers, Seljuk The sculpture of the pillar artist, oh, I heard that musicians from Florence have also been invited. Prince Suleiman will attend the banquet and address the guests."

"What is our plan?"

Yusuf raised his head tangledly, and shook his head at Ezio. "Our task is to protect the prince, Ezio, not to interrogate him."

"The Templars found the key to the Altaïr Library in the basement of Topkapi Palace. I am very interested."

"But we..."

"Don't worry, Yousef, we don't need to alarm the prince." Zelin stretched out his finger and clicked on the map. "I don't think the Templars will send a group of mercenaries recruited from villages outside the city to carry out the task of assassinating the prince. They must send well-trained warriors, real Templar knights, not the so-called Byzantines. They are. We must know some secrets that the Byzantine mercenaries cannot touch. We can catch a Templar by the way while protecting the prince. Those Templars don't know that we already know their plans. This is our advantage."

Zelin could see that Yousef was an Ottoman. He hoped to protect Suleiman from the Byzantine assassination plot, but he was worried about whether Ezio would do something extraordinary. After all, Ezio was A Florentine, he might not consider the royal struggle within the Ottoman Empire, but directly resorted to the simplest and rude means to find the key to the Altaïr library.

But the Demon Hunter knew that Ezio would never do this. If there is any difference between Ezio and the Templars, it is probably the same goal. The Templars will do whatever it takes, but Ezio will not.

"These Templars won't be like the Byzantines. They will tell all their secrets with a whip." Yusuf put his hands on the table and looked down at the map. "But it's a good idea. Our plan is like this. At that time, we will pretend to be invited musicians to enter the banquet, and then find the Templar killer hidden in the banquet."

Zelin immediately heard the question from Yusuf's words, "In other words, the Templars have entered Topkapi Palace in advance?"

"Yes, they have already entered. Someone in the palace joined them."

This is bad news again. The only people in Topkapi Palace who can arrange for the Templar killers to enter are the Forbidden Army commander Tariq or the second prince Ahmed. If they join forces with the Templars, it will not be good for the assassins. News.