Kaiz shot up and immediately scanned his surroundings. His closet was clear, but he expected that. He swiftly dropped to the floor and checked under the door.

Huh?

It was the chameleons.

He quietly slid the door open and poked his head out. The white glow of their innate invisibility spell flickered out as they spotted him. His mind briefly wondered how they had avoided the traps, but that question quickly died. Outside his building, he saw why they’d come.

Three men were skulking around the houses he boarded up.

He ducked low, heart suddenly thumping. Slow breaths brought him a bit of calm, but his anxiety couldn’t help but build as he crawled to peek through the window.

Did Viz get caught? Was he still alive? Had the Baron’s men come for them? Could it be Ernst's men? Emmrich’s? Their presence could mean anything. He didn’t know what to think. Even if he put the greater implications to the side, the immediate was a box of unknowns too. They all glowed green.

Green titleds were the worst. Without knowing their specialty, fighting one was as dicey as it gets. Their range of abilities went from simply blowing a gust of wind to melting the armor straight off your body to plunging a whole village into a sinkhole. The latter two were rare of course, but there were ‘high level mercenaries’ around. The trio had some sort of white sheen around them too. Who knew what they were capable of?

Thankfully, all three of them prepped to show him their cards without him having to do anything. They stood around the houses, equidistant from one another, and extended their arms forward. Each of their palms held some blue chunk. As the chunks started to glow, the tell-tale signs of spell emerged. It was some kind of water-based spell. A layered one.

Kaiz had never seen group casting in the flesh, but he had read about it. Whatever they were about to do, it would be magnitudes stronger than if an individual cast it.

He weighed his options. The opportunity to preemptively blitz them seemed appealing, but learning what their discipline was would be invaluable. Plus, if he waited until after, they would have less mana and be more complacent. That hinged on the idea that whatever spell they were about to cast couldn’t be redirected towards him, though.

The major downside to group casting, besides obviously needing a group, was the incredibly slow cast time. They progressed at snail speeds, giving Kaiz time to think, and a perfect view of the spell’s workings. Unfortunately, his knowledge regarding spellcraft was still highly specialized. He knew some of the patterns and shapes the mana shifted into, like the symbols that marked the creation and movement of manawater, but most eluded him. The complexity of the spell was impressive.

The display pushed him to wait and see. He reasoned to himself that it was best to at least see what they were capable of before he made a move. It may just sway his decision to attack them at all. Retreat was still an option.

After a bit of time, the wait proved to be a wise choice. The spell spawned a massive pool of manawater and then morphed it into an almost ten meter tall dome. It only stood stagnant for a second before twisting into an accelerated whirlpool. It instantly reached devastating speeds.

Kaiz had never seen water move that fast, even along the waterways. Pits, he wasn’t ‘seeing’ it now. It moved far too quickly for his sight to register anything besides a white spherical object. His mind could fill in the gaps though and the thought of being caught inside it made him shudder. He, with everything else, would have been ripped to pieces.

The tiny possibility that the men weren’t hostile vanished. He hadn’t seriously considered it, but it was a vague hope at the back of his mind. The effects of their spell erased any of that.

For as destructive as the spell was, it must have been just as taxing. One of the three men fell to his knees soon after they finished casting. One rushed to his side, while the one closest to Kaiz stood staring at their creation.

He paused for a moment to think, but ultimately decided this was too good an opportunity.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

[Wings of Liberty]

He stepped out the window and flew towards the one still standing. The combination of their close proximity and Kaiz’s speed left them no time to react. His outstretched foot crashed into them before they could even process they were under attack.

For a brief moment, he met resistance.

It’s a barrier.

The white sheen shattered within a second, inviting his boot to a feast of flesh and bone. His kick sent the man careening across the ground, taking multiple face fulls of sand and smacking into a building fifteen meters away.

Kaiz trusted that the kick was lethal, but the fact the man had a barrier concerned him. That meant the other two did as well.

He turned in their direction, but within half a stride he halted and glided to his right. Six lances, made entirely of manawater, whizzed by his shoulder and into the air he previously occupied. Kaiz repositioned and approached again, but then ten more lances flew. This time, they spread out to catch him as he glided to the side. c

Quick reactions.

He just ducked instead.

Easy as it was to avoid the second set, he didn’t like the progression. In open space, the ability to shoot out so many projectiles, at such high speeds, put him at a massive disadvantage. Even if he could rapidly make ground, it was simply a matter of time before he got hit and he did not trust his gear to withstand it.

Instead of renewing his sprint, he took cover behind the largest building around. They clearly didn’t have any detection abilities, or he’d be long dead, so he just had to stay out of their line of sight as he approached.

Simple. Hopefully.

He broke into the building through an open door. Whatever it was before it was abandoned, it was a large, empty space now. Kaiz quietly dashed through it. When he got to the other side, he glanced through the window, then immediately broke through.

They were trying to run. And even worse, he could spot their chameleons in the distance.

Ernst?

The chameleons were what led Rieka’s squad to assume Viz, Red, and him were part of Ernst’s number. Apparently, there was a shortage of them so they used them sparingly. Rieka’s sixteen man squad only had four.

The duo ran toward three.

Kaiz stepped up his pace. They wouldn’t necessarily get away if they got to their chameleons, but it would make getting both of them near impossible. Especially considering Kaiz fought mostly bare handed.

He wanted to get both of them and with his upped speed he would. It didn’t take long for them to realize that as well, though. One peeled off to face him directly, launching a plethora of lances his way.

Kaiz immediately recognized what their plan was. The one that turned back would be a sacrifice to let the other get away. If these lances were the extent of his arsenal though, he’d fail.

He diverted paths, taking a wide route around. He didn’t need to confront them immediately, If he got to the chameleons first, he’d trap them. Then he could take his time.

They were quick on the uptake again. The one that was meant to get away veered off his path and intercepted him. Kaiz tried to avoid him, but he found himself tumbling to the ground instead. Two bolts had pierced his thigh.

Unlike the lance thrower, the bolts didn’t just come by the dozen. They changed direction mid flight too. Kaiz should have expected that. He cursed his complacency as he scrambled into a building and into his medicine pouch. He hastily applied the bandage patches and burst back outside.

To his surprise, the lance thrower waited for him. He thought they’d both try to make their escapes, but it seemed they really wanted to ensure the bolt thrower got away. Kaiz could still make it to the chameleons first, but he no longer liked the odds of facing both of them at the same time.

The lances were a bit annoying. The bolts would be a lot annoying. Both? He’d take the lances.

Kaiz zigzagged as said lances zipped toward him. Their speed and number were still troublesome, but now that Kaiz no longer had a time limit he could patiently observe the underlying spell.

He approached incrementally, frequently baiting more and more lances. As he witnessed the symbols over and over again, he learned to read them. It was rather easy actually. The man was clearly a novice, or a recent one. There was little adaptation or variance to his spell casting.

I got it.

Kaiz absorbed all he needed to know. He stopped baiting and charged with intent. With clear understanding of where, when, and how many were coming his way, the lances could do little besides chase after shadows.

He thought that would be the end of it. Without more advanced spellcraft, it was only a matter of time before Kaiz ran through the man. He was wrong. The moment Kaiz got within 5 meters of him, manawater burst forth from his hands. It instantly reshaped into a greatsword.

Kaiz internally cursed.

You weren’t specialized in ranged combat to begin with.

Instead of bearing down on a ranged fighter that was caught out of his element, he approached a close quarters specialist. Because of course he did.