--- [Shin’s perspective]

“You already know about his ability, but you need to know about hers too. She can breathe out a pink gas. I don’t know what happens if you touch it or breathe it in, and I don’t plan on finding out. Just try to avoid it.” – Shin

“Got it.” – Illian

“You, with the black hair… Illian, was it? What’s your specialty?” – James

Shit, they’re gonna find out…

I guess it was inevitable though; with an ability like his, you can’t expect to keep your specialty hidden.

“I can make what I like to call a ‘shadow clone’. Any damage I take is transferred over to it, leaving me completely unharmed. Once I would have taken enough damage to kill me, the clone dies instead.” – Illian

“There has got to be some kind of limitation to it, otherwise you’re unstoppable…” – James

“You’re absolutely right. I can only make three of these clones in a single day. After that, I’m left without a specialty.” – Illian

“I see… Thanks for telling us. We appreciate it a lot.” – James

“I can assure you, I didn’t do it of my own free will.” – Illian

“…” – James

We can’t let more information slip, it’s time to fight back.

This time I’m not alone.

I couldn’t win against both of them by myself, but with Illian here, we can.

However, we still need to be careful.

They have a big advantage here; we’re fighting in our base.

Their goal isn’t to beat us, it’s to steal our flag.

If we get too reckless, they might be able to snatch it right under our noses.

We should try to keep them as far away from the flag as possible.

Instead of letting them come to us, we’ll go to them.

As I rush in, an ice sword appears in each hand.

I try to attack James, but as expected, Nellie lets out her mysterious gas.

I get out of the way, but Nellie tries to follow up her attack.

She predicts where I’ll dodge, and attacks there.

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At the same time, James attacks me from my flank.

Had I been alone right now, this would have been extremely dangerous.

Luckily, I’m not.

Illian blocks James’s attack, letting me avoid Nellie’s.

For the first time in a long time, we’re fighting as a team.

Illian holds James off, but it doesn’t seem easy.

From the looks of it, they’re roughly equally skilled in hand-to-hand combat.

While he holds him off, I launch an array of attacks at Nellie.

A swing, a slash, a stab, and a chop.

Despite trying my hardest, she managed to avoid them all by the skin of her teeth.

Just then, her ability is ready to be used again.

She doesn’t waste any time, and immediately tries to get me with it.

I quickly leap away from it, but I don’t have time to think about landing, so I crash into the ground face-first.

I brush the mud off, and get up on my feet.

Instead of going after her again, I go for my real target.

Finally, me and Illian are both able to go after James.

They were evenly matched before I entered the picture, so everything quickly fell apart for him.

A cut here, and a punch there…

He tries his best to avoid our attacks, but it’s inevitable for him to get hit by some.

“Why are you going after me instead of her?! We already know your specialties; my job is done! She’s the one with a combat-oriented specialty!” – James

“Because I want to avoid leaking any more of our plan.” – Shin

“Because I can’t risk Alex finding out.” – Illian

What?

Alex finding out what?

The hell is he talking about?

“Watch out!” – Nellie

I turn around and see a cloud of pink smoke quickly approaching.

She’s trying to use it on us to get us away from him.

Just before it touches me, I let my body go limp, and drop down to the ground.

Illian however decides not to dodge it.

Or rather…

He doesn’t have time to.

Instead, he grabs James’s arm, and braces for whatever is about to come.

“Oh shit!” – Nellie

She tried to warn James to get out of the way, but it was a double-edged sword.

While he was warned, we were alerted.

Illian pulls James in; they’re surrounded by smoke.

James instantly dozes off, yet Illian remains unaffected.

He lets go of his arm, and James collapses to the ground.

“How… How are you still awake?!” – Nellie

“Like I said, any harm that befalls me is transferred over to my shadow instead. For it to go away, that damage needs to be enough to kill me. Sleep is not deadly.” – Illian

We got him!

It’s both of us against her now, and her ability is useless against Illian.

This will be a piece of cake!

…

However…

That’s not really what I’m interested in anymore.

Illian has a secret; something Alex can’t know.

I need to figure out what.

--- [Lett’s perspective]

It won’t be long before he catches up to me…

I can’t keep this up; I’ll have to fight!

I shove the flag into my pocket and get ready to attack.

“So, you’ve decided to fight instead of running away like a coward!” – Hector

“It can’t be helped… If I can’t run away, I’ll just have to beat you up instead.” – Lett

“Hah! Good one! I’d like to see you try.” – Hector

He swings his massive fist at me; if it wasn’t for my specialty, it would have been unavoidable…

Normally when you think about giants, you think about strong, but slow, creatures.

This guy is nothing like that…

He’s just as fast as he is normally, except his fist is more than 10 times larger.

It’s like if a dozen people all attacked at once!

His ability is undeniably strong, but the potential of teleportation is endless!

Even if his attacks are unavoidable for regular E-rankers, it isn’t for me!

Right before his fist connects with me, I teleport on top of his arm.

As I climb up his shoulder, he tries to swat me away.

Yet again, I teleport before his attack lands.

I appear right in front of his face.

“Hi.” – Lett

I kick him in the nose, and he instinctively flinches, closing his eyes.

I continue to dish out attack after attack to his nose until it’s broken and bleeds.

I’ve gotten a lot stronger these past few months.

My attacks can even hurt a giant like him!