-meanwhile-

-outside the cave-

-Elly-

I stare at Kanna neatly sitting on the throne without a care in the world.

Her waist long twintails flows lightly from the air which makes my focus shift on them unknowingly.

(I wonder what happened to her.)

My hand moved slowly towards her hair to give her pats when I heard something. I look towards where it came from and I saw a bunch of men creeping towards the cave. I quickly summoned my weapon from inventory and stand infront of Kanna to protect her.

"HEY ARE YOU SURE THEY WENT INSIDE HERE?" The fat man full of tattoos in his body ask.

"YES BOSS I SAW THE OLD MAN CARRYING A BAG OF GOLD WENT IN!" The fit man behind him replied.

"Hehe." The other men following the boss grinning widely as they move closer and closer.

"Oh look at that." The fat man licks his lips. "I love them young and look what we got. Two of them." He raised his hands as if trying to hug the heavens for the treasure infront of him.

The others are now laughing as if they are about to have a festival.

"ALRIGHT LASS HOW ABOUT YOU SURRENDER AND COME TO DADDY SO I WON'T HURT YOU!" He screamed towards me.

(Damn it... That bastard is planning to take us. What do I do?)

I asked myself as I look at the group of men around 20 and Kanna behind me.

(Should I do Gerald's plan already? But they are already inside? At the very least they will know something is happening outside.)

*Gulp*

I felt my sweat on my face now dripping from fear and panic. My grip on my sword now loosing strength and my eyes tearing.

I look at Kanna staring into nothing hoping she woke up and help me.

Then as if I accepted my fate I hold my blade towards them and shout back

"O...OVER MY DEAD BODY!" Even if I panic, I still manage to keep myself from breaking.

I love Eris. I won't let harm go to her. I am her friend, her party member and I was trusted to protect this entrance so that will I do!

"HAHAHAHAHA ALRIGHT MEN LET'S CONQUER THEM! TAKE ALL THEIR ITEMS AND TONIGHT WE FEAST!" The fat man raised his gang's motivation in which I think is very effective as they all now holding their weapons and starting to run towards us.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

I anchor my legs and ready myself. With a gulp, I unleashed my new skill.

"SOLE FIELD!"

-Sole field is an area restriction type skill that is useful for duelist. There is actually no debuffs in this field and it has short range. But only the user and a single enemy can enter one at a time.-

in this case Elly standing at the center of the entrance unleashed the skill enough to cover the whole entrance with it's short range completely halting the rampage of the bandits. The leader observed the situation and a smirk appears on his face.

"ALRIGHT! THE BITCH WANTS TO TAKE US ONE BY ONE. LET'S ENTERTAIN HER SHALL WE?" The leader screamed at his members in which he is replied by cheers and laughter.

"Let me go first boss! I want to end my virginity today!" A teenager boy bows infront of the leader. He is holding a short sword.

"Oh you are the new member right? Oh well you got it. Just don't damage her face!" The leader smile widely and allowed him.

The young man eagerly stepped inside the circle and ready his weapon.

My head are still in panic but I tried to focus myself. All in all there are so many of them. At most I can do is take them one by one. Granted that I still have the stamina to remain standing. But.

*Gulp*

(I won't let Eris down!)

"RIPOSTE!"

A red aura covers my body.

-Riposte is a fencer skill in which the user will receive increase agility and higher chance to counter with a weapon upon receiving a hit instead of receiving damage.-

"MIND'S EYE"

My eyes lights up in blue hue making my senses stronger.

-mind's eye is a fencer skill in which increases the user's visual prowess. Allowing the user to see things in slower rate.-

"INDOMITABLE SPIRIT!"

I felt my body's muscles strengthening from the effect.

-Indomitable spirit is a basic tier skill that increases user's strength and endurance for a duration of time.-

I ready my self by doing my most basic stance which is by stretching my legs behind and pointing the tip of my blade as I lean my body. After breathing in and out I release the power on my legs, kicking the ground enough to launch me forward.

(Step and dash!)

I find myself flying towards the smirking young men as he prepares to intercept my leapt. As I find myself closer he suddenly raised his short sword before stepping on his side to dodge me.

Luckily thanks to my mind's eye, I saw his action so I quickly bend my body and with my two feet together I stomp the ground making me leap upwards. I roll in the air then land behind him before proceeding to stab his back only for him to dodge the blow and let his short sword flow as he proceed to do a vertical slash towards me. I flex my body and with my blade I block the attack. Despite my buff indomitable spirit, his attack are so strong that it made me flew few steps away from him just by receiving its full blow. Thankfully with few flips I managed to land safely and still inside the sole field. I release a deep breath and regain my focus before dashing onwards again. This time I did not use my step and dash but run towards him instead.

I approach him sideways as he watch my moves. After making a circle on him I dashed onward and lunge with a piercing strike. He parried my attack using his short sword allowing me to dive on his side then he kicked my stomach making me grumble in pain as I tumble backwards. I quickly regain my step only to saw him already running towards me. I spit on my side and stab my blade on the floor.

"Ground pierce!"

I used my skill and countless spikes emerge from the ground. The men reacted and starts jumping backwards effectively dodging the spikes. He changed his stance. This time a drawing stance and he stand still. Waiting. Without removing his vision on me.

I dare not approach because I saw someone in academy fighting with that stance before. Instead I used my ground pierce again. Spikes appeared below him so he broke his stance just to skip away. He didn't bother returning to his drawing stance. He probably knew that I am experienced fighting against such stance. This time he simply raised his blade again from the air. However unlike before, this time he slashed in the air sending a wave of aura towards me.

Surprised from what I saw I quickly used ground pierce to summon spikes and make it receive the attack.

Thankfully what I though was effective. Instantly blocking the attack but due to the impact the spikes blow up creating dust cloud in the whole area covering our vision. I didn't let this chance go to waste.

"Discerning eye!"

-discerning eye is a basic skill. The user's eyes will be able to see people's colors. The user will be able to tell if the person is lying or not based on the color the target emits.-

However i used this skill jist to see his color despite the cloud smoke which is effectively useful. Now even if I can't see his figure I can tell where he is thanks to the color his body emits.

(Step and dash!)

I used my skill once again towards him. This time charging towards where he is. Dumbfounded, he can't tell which noise is which thanks to the crumbles he can hear around him. And with that I finally managed to land a stab behind him once. But I didn't let go. In that single connection I unleashed my ultimate.

"Assassinate!"

-assassinate is a middle tier skill in which the user will deal instant kill of the target is attacked multiple times in a row-

With the activation of my skill I quickly unleashed ground pierce as my blade is stabbed deep on his back. Countless spikes emerged on the ground stabbing him in every direction. And with the skill assassinate, even if my damage is low I still managed to stab his body multiple times inflicting instant death.

His body dissipate after death which made me sigh in relief.

(My skills are limited but good thing I already planned it before. I only use step-and-dash, ground pierce, riposte, indomitable spirit, mind's eye, and assassinate. Yet if used effectively I can still defeat them somehow.)

Is what I thought and those thoughts disappeared right away when I realized...

"19 more to go..."

*Gulp*