Thick and dense black mana stuck to my eyes like tar. The grove’s washed-away colors were swallowed by darkness. I tried to use my mana sense to navigate through the graveyard, but my surroundings were completely opaque.
“Close your eyes!” I yelled.
I raised the Lightstone and overwrote the ‘instantaneous’ rune on the ‘gradual’ rune. Then, I overcharged the enchantment. A violent flash of light enshrouded the grove and dispelled the shadows. Then, the Lightstone exploded in my hand, and blood dripped down my fingers. Astrid peeked over the curve of her arm, her hair bristling. For an instant, I thought I was the target of her rage. Then, I noticed the shadowy figures standing at the other side of Mister Lowell’s grave, covering their eyes and wincing in pain.
I instinctively used [Identify], but the skill seemed to bounce off. The people behind the black robes didn’t want to be identified. An incomplete prompt appeared before me.
Assassin Lv.31
Sentinel Lv. 33
Thief Lv.26
[Awareness] sent me into tactical mode. In a fraction of a second, I had a clear picture of the situation. This wasn’t a robbery attempt. What I had in front of me was a strike team carefully designed to kill. I channeled my mana, readying myself for a one versus three. With Astrid’s Quest still bugged, the System wouldn’t give her any helpful skills. The ass-whooping Elincia had imparted was proof enough. I had to protect her.
I expected a little more time to counterattack, but the intruders were unwilling to give me the courtesy—not that I needed it.
I used [Intimidate]. White Fountain mana flowed through my body in a display of raw power. My presence grew to the point I must’ve seemed a monster to them. But it was an illusion.
Following that up, I used [Minor Illusion]. I formed multiple summoning circles–or at least my artistic depiction of summoning circles–on the ground. The wind and crackling of my mana hid the illusions' lack of sound, and a moment later, two huge Wendigos emerged from the void. The shock lasted only an instant because the Assassin threw a dagger through the Wendigo’s forehead, revealing its illusory nature.
Did he know they were illusions?
[Minor Illusion] was a cheap spell, so I didn’t bother dispelling it. The attackers might have known on a rational level that the Wendigos were illusions, but no man alive was completely rational. The Wendigos charged forward as I summoned a swarm of mana blades. My heart raced, hammering against my chest, yet the movements came naturally to me.
My opponents scattered. My eyes followed the slowest one—the Sentinel.
I used a quarter of my mana pool to summon a thick barrier behind my back. Not even the best swordsman in history could go unscratched against a three-man ambush. Whether I liked it or not, numbers had the advantage.
“Astrid, run!” I said, using my swarm of blades to attack the Sentinel and the Assassin simultaneously.
[Awareness] sent my brain into overdrive; otherwise, I couldn’t control every blade.
In the corner of my eye, I noticed Astrid frozen among the gravestones.
I cursed yet again as the Assassin fended off my mana blades. His arms were surrounded with dark mana, from his elbow to the point of his blades. He moved like a monkey, using every surface available, horizontal or vertical, to dodge while parrying with his daggers faster than my eye could follow. The Sentinel wasn’t as agile. He was pinned to the ground, wielding a short spear surrounded by mana.
I looked around, searching for the Thief. He was nowhere to be found.
Then, I felt a stabbing pain in my lower back. I summoned a mana blade in my uninjured hand and violently turned around. The Thief jumped back, his shortsword gleaming with a bright light. [Awareness] informed me the wound was superficial. The overcharged mana shield had blocked most of the attack. [Identify] told me I was looking at the [Puncture] skill.
I cursed for the third time. My previous fight with a Lv.20 Thief hadn’t prepared me for this. The power gap within those ten levels was greater than I expected. The Thief before me was faster, stronger, and deadlier than the one I had fought alongside Firana and Zaon months ago.
I threw my mana blade like a dart, causing the Thief to jump back, giving me enough time to reach for Astrid. She remained in a state of shock, but it wasn’t the moment to take care of her. I had misread the situation. Every single one of my enemies had the potential skills to kill me, but I couldn’t reduce the amount of blades chasing the Assassin without risking giving him an opening to attack.
Even with [Awareness] supporting me, I could control around a dozen blades. It had been easier against Kellaren because I was focused on a single target. The Assassin wasn’t making things easier. I needed something that required less mental processing. I dug deeper into my mana pool, directly into the Fountain. The corners of my mana pool burned. My body was at the limit of how much mana I could channel.
The world moved in slow motion. My brain burned, but I didn’t stop. I drew mana from the Fountain and turned it into long, needle-shaped projectiles. I aimed at the Thief and shot a quick burst that impacted a nearby tree. The bark exploded, leaving small scars in the trunk, but the Thief was miraculously unscathed. He was too fast, and my aim too precarious.
I clenched my teeth. The one day I had requested the Guardsman to retire early, a squad of three trained combatants ambushed me in the middle of the night. This couldn’t be a coincidence.
“I need you here, Astrid!” I said.
The lapse in my concentration was enough for the Sentinel to parry by blades and raise his short spear over his head. The tip gleamed. Puncture. Panicking, I dispelled the mana shield around my back and rematerialized it before me just when the Sentinel threw the spear. I wasn’t the target. The short spear crossed the grove like a white tracer. I angled the mana shield at the last moment to maximize the thickness. It was almost enough.
The short spear bounced to the side, grazing Astrid’s cheekbone. Before I could counterattack the Sentinel used a skill to pull the short spear back into his hands. [Awareness] screamed in my ear. My back was unprotected, yet I couldn’t dispel Astrid’s shield due to the Sentinel’s ranged attack.
The Thief seized the moment and lunged. I aimed my shard minigun toward him, but a mesh of blue mana protected him against the occasional hit. I lacked the power to penetrate his magic resistance. The shard gun wouldn’t cut it, so I reused the mana to cast a long rapier in my hand. I turned around, pulling the mana shield between me and the Sentinel, and faced the Thief.
I blocked his attack, standing my ground, but I lost sight of the Assassin.
It only took a second.
The Thief thrusted against my chest. I raised my rapier to block, but a dagger hit my elbow at the last moment. The edge didn’t break the mana shield, but the impact was enough to misdirect my sword. Such a trickshot wouldn’t be possible without the assistance of the System. The Thief surpassed my defenses, and he was already upon me when I straightened the blade.
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I braced for the impact.
Out of nowhere, Astrid pushed my shoulder down and kicked the blade away. Then, she jumped over my head and landed between me and the Thief. Astrid didn’t need a moment to recover. With superhuman agility, she propelled herself upwards and heel-kicked the Thief’s head. It sounded like a coconut smashing against a rock.
Power surged through Astrid’s body—bright and pure Fountain mana.
The Thief rolled away and jumped to his feet, dizzy. Blood spurted from the wound on his forehead, but otherwise, he seemed combat-ready. He wasn’t a lowly grunt like the last Thief but a trained combatant. I silently thanked Astrid as I pulled back my mana blades and examined my surroundings.
My headache almost disappeared without the mental pressure of [Awareness] helping me control two dozen swords. My mind studied our possibilities. My gut told me whoever was behind this attack was responsible for all the previous little incidents we had suffered through the year. We needed one of them alive to figure out who was behind the attack.
I didn’t get to ask Astrid about her new powers because the Assassin appeared out of nowhere and tried to behead me. Astrid was faster and pushed me aside while she propelled herself towards a tree. Using her nails, she clung to the bark and pounced over the Thief. I focused back on the Assassin. Despite having the Fountain at my disposal, I would rather use my own reserves. It was quicker and easier to control, but I was already down half my mana pool.
The Assassin studied me, his cold eyes the only recognizable feature beneath his black mask. They knew who I was and the extent of my powers, yet they underestimated me. I took a moment to assess the situation. Assassins were too slippery to be captured. The Sentinel was my best chance to capture one of them alive.
Not having to worry about Astrid’s security opened a whole new range of possibilities for me.
Astrid fought with claws and fangs against the Thief. Whatever set of skills she had suddenly gained allowed her to move at a superhuman speed while parrying stabs and cuts with her bare hands. The Sentinel defended against my mana blades, occasionally using a skill that nullified a blade, creating a blast of mana sparks. As soon as a mana blade shattered, I replaced it with another. My mana slowly dwindled, but theirs did as well.
I summoned a swarm of mana blades and sent them against the Assassin. I didn't get my hopes up about the attack's effectiveness; I just needed an opening to disable the Sentinel. My opponents weren’t going to make it easy. The Assassin jumped to the tree branches and bombarded me with a flurry of dark mana knives. I raised my shield just in time, but the daggers cracked it.
The shield rapidly siphoned my mana to maintain its integrity. I grunted, knowing that it would not be mana-effective in the long run. Then I remembered the Book of Classes. Assassins were an advanced class specialized in movement, deception, illusions, and piercing magic. Luckily, my best skill was a hard counter to their tricks. No matter what he tried, [Awareness] was a step ahead.
The Assassin disappeared in a smoke explosion. [Awareness]’s danger detection stabbed my brain like a red hot needle. Above. I didn’t bother summoning my shield. Instead, I used my mana blade to deflect the knives. Sparks of mana exploded around me, momentarily blinding me. Then I noticed the threads wrapping around my wrists and ankles. It was too late to dodge.
I attempted a sudden mana expulsion, but the threads resisted, burying deep into my skin. The Assassin was good. His skills were efficient, and his fighting style was effective against martial classes. However, I was a magician disguised as a swordsman. I didn’t need to move to control my swords.
The Sentinel threw the spear, but I summoned a shield at the last moment so the Assassin couldn’t destroy it with his mana knives. I was a porcupine with mana blades instead of needles, and they were reluctant to come close. It was a good call, but they had overlooked my ranged capabilities. We were at an impasse, but I had the advantage of having a deeper mana pool. In a prolonged battle, I would get on top.
The threads tightened around my wrists, but the mana blades couldn’t cut them. I used my mana sense. The threads weren’t binding my limbs to the Assassin but to the tree roots beneath my feet. Smart but not perfect. With a single movement, two blades buried in the ground and cut the roots.
The Assassin was busy dodging my mana blades, so I focused on the Sentinel.
The Sentinel adopted a defensive stance as his eyes jumped from the mana blade in my hand to the ones floating at each side of my body. I moved first, slicing the spear's shaft, but the wood withstood my blade. The Sentinel was using some sort of fortification magic on the weapon.
I used my flying swords, aiming at his hands and legs, but he moved unnaturally fast. Without [Awareness], I would’ve had trouble following his movements. Not even my Lv.5 [Swordsmanship] was enough for me to keep up with him. Lv. 30 combatants surpassed human limits, but that didn’t stop me. The Sentinel parried, dodged, and retreated, keeping my three blades at bay.
The exchange could’ve continued until one of us died of exhaustion, but I had one last trick up my sleeve. I summoned another mana blade, then another, and a fifth one. The Sentinel’s eyes shot wide open. They might have known the Wendigos were fake, but they couldn’t distinguish between illusory blades and the real ones.
“Retreat!” The Sentinel yelled, but his words were cut short by a scream of pain. One of the real blades had reached his hand and cut cleanly through every bone, tendon, and ligament in an arc leading to the base of his thumb. The battle was half won.
Or so I thought.
Suddenly, a piercing sound broke the silence. I instinctively turned around. The Assassin had a metal whistle in his mouth. An enchanted item? Out of nowhere, another whistle responded. [Awareness] set off all the alarms in my brain just as the grove was illuminated with a reddish light.
“Astrid! Look out!” I yelled, just as the fireball impacted my mana shield.
My body shivered as the barrier used more and more mana to contain the explosion. I wasn’t fast enough to switch over to Fountain mana. I cursed as my joints stiffened. So much for foiling a stealth assassination mission. Whoever had orchestrated the attack wanted me dead so badly they had brought a siege team. Another three cloaked figures appeared among the trees.
Flame Mage Lv.??
Brawler Lv.27
Mage Lv. 28
Before I could react, I felt a fist burying against my ribs. [Awareness] informed me a [Aerokinesis] spell just hit me. I turned around. The Mage moved his hands rapidly before slamming a palm forward, and a gust of wind violently slammed me against a tree. I fought to bring oxygen into my lungs.
My mind raced. The explosion and roaring wind gusts should’ve awakened half the Northern District. I needed to hold up for a few minutes before help arrived. With the nobility in town, the Guardsmen were on maximum alert. Dozens of patrols had to be approaching the orphanage at full speed. I just needed to tap on the Fountain, damned be the corruption.
Out of nowhere, a round brass shield rammed the Brawler like a sixteen-wheeler against a confused deer. The Brawler's neck twisted at an odd angle before disappearing beneath the trees. The cracks were disgusting, but relief washed over my chest. One enemy less, five to go.
“Risha!” I greeted him.
The giant orc bellowed and threw the shield at the Mage, who could barely raise a mana shield to cushion the impact. Then, the fight became chaotic. Daggers, spells, and mana blades flew through the grove. Trees fell. Gravestones exploded into smithereens. Fire sizzled.
[Awareness] could barely follow the action.
Blood covered Astrid’s face. Risha had a knife stuck in his shoulder blade. The flaming spells had burned more than half of my left arm, and the only thing my left ear heard was a constant, high-pitched ringing. My mana faltered. The pain prevented me from focusing on my mana manipulation.
I didn't know how the Sentinel’s spear ended up in my hands or how the spear's point ended up embedded in the Thief’s ribs. It was better than remaining unarmed. I tugged, but it got stuck. When I turned around, I encountered the Flame Mage face-to-face. His nose was broken, and his mask torn apart. I didn’t recognize him.
He raised his arms, and his body caught fire. I got goosebumps. Mana pulsated around the grove. The Flame Mage was preparing an area spell.
I pulled mana from the Fountain, but my consciousness drifted toward my burned skin, and I lost the mana's reign. The mana blade in my hand flickered like a weak lightbulb. [Awareness] told me to run, but my feet didn’t move. The heat singed the hair on my good arm.
There was a detonation, and the Flame Mage crumpled like a puppet whose strings had been snapped. The black splotch in my eyes, product of the bright flame, prevented me from seeing what hit him. I blinked repeatedly, letting [Awareness] run wild.
“Line!” Elincia yelled as she aimed toward the gravestones.
As Astrid dove behind a tree, Elincia blew a hole in the Assassin’s chest.