Hazel and the rest of the group soon left the Tavern building. Once out, they headed North, to the Northern District of the City Island where Soren and the rest of her group believed a Boss resided.

The group cautiously walked down a desolate street in the city. Soren and Ben took charge at the front while Mya and the Rogue were positioned at the back of the group, leaving Hazel in the middle. All of them kept their eyes trained on their surroundings to watch out for any enemies that could attack them.

As they continued their trek, Hazel stealthily messaged Astrid.

[Hazel Thatcher: Are you and Nycteris in position?]

[Astrid Skogr: We’re right ahead of you. Ready and waiting.]

[Hazel Thatcher: Good. Wait for my cue and begin.]

[Astrid Skogr: You got it.]

Putting the Chat Room panel away, Hazel glanced over at Soren as she led the group forward.

“H-how far is the Northern District...?” she asked, maintaining her act.

“It shouldn’t be far,” Soren answered. “You’ll know you’re there when you see all of those Fractured humans shambling around the area. It’s the biggest horde we’ve seen in this place. It’s like a sea of Fractured just blanketing the area.”

“R-really...?”

Despite only acting nervous, Hazel started to feel a bit anxious now after hearing about the Northern District. If what she said was true about that area being a sea of Fractured humans, then what exactly was at the center of all that?

What kind of Boss would Hazel and her party be up against when they finally confronted it? Just the thought of such a thing sent chills down her spine. But, one problem at a time.

For now, she needed to focus on dealing with the party of human scum surrounding her. And that was where Astrid and Nycteris came in. Especially Nycteris.

The party moved closer to the designated spot where Astrid told Hazel she was. And just as they got there, she initiated their plan.

Nycteris, now!

As soon as Hazel gave her familiar the order, the sound of a screeching beast could be heard around them. Soren and the others were instantly alerted, readying their weapons as they searched their surroundings for the source of that noise.

“W-what was that?” Hazel stuttered, playing her part.

“It has to be that beast,” Ben stated with a wide grin. “It’s here.”

“Beast?”

“The flying bat creature we saw flying in the sky before,” Soren explained. “Aside from finding the Boss, we also tried to locate this one.”

Hazel held her staff tightly, fearfully looking around. Just then...

“Over there!” Mya told the others, pointing to the roof of a building to their left.

As everyone else including Hazel turned to follow the Ranger’s gaze, they then saw a black blur as it flew toward another rooftop. A second later, another loud screeching sound could be heard.

To keep Nycteris from being seen and thus exposing Hazel as his master, the Nightwing needed to stay hidden while only giving the party glimpses of his figure. Just enough to urge them to chase after him.

“Let’s go after it!” Ben declared eagerly. “If we kill it, we might be able to level up.”

Hazel spared a glance at the warrior, narrowing her eyes with anger and disgust. If it wasn’t for the fact that she was playing alone, his head would’ve fallen off his shoulders from her baneful sickle spell.

Holding back the urge to kill him, Hazel focused her attention on Soren, who was the one to make the decision. The blond warrior stared in the direction where Nycteris went. Her expression was stern and pensive as if contemplating whether she should go after him or not.

Hazel did her best to stay calm, praying that she would take the bait. Because if she didn’t, then they would have to do something more drastic.

“...We’ll chase it,” Soren declared. “This will be a good way for Hazel to properly be a part of the fold.” She turned to stare at Hazel.

The mage nervously nodded her head, making it so she agreed with Soren. Seeing her reaction, Soren smiled before turning back.

“Let’s go hunt us a Bat monster.”

Making this declaration, Soren then led the group toward the direction where they saw Nycteris fly. They soon turned a corner to see another desolate street. However, when they stared at the rooftops above them, a black blur could be seen, zipping from building to building.

“It’s getting away!” Ben shouted before charging forward.

“Stay in formation, Ben!” Soren chided.

The rest of the group followed behind, trying to keep track of the beast. Just as they were about to turn another corner, Soren and Ben stopped in their tracks while raising their weapons.

“What’s wrong?” Mya questioned, readying her bow.

Before either player could tell her, the Ranger’s question was soon answered as she witnessed a horde of Fractured humans suddenly appearing before them. Seeing this, the rest of the party readied their weapons.

Soren and Ben backed away while taking down a couple of Fractured humans that got close to them. They effortlessly severed their heads and limbs, watching their bodies crumble to the ground before bursting into purple fragments.

But even when they killed a couple of them, only more took their place as the horde shambled its way over to the group.

Soren clicked her tongue. “Hazel, take down as many as you can!”

“R-right...!”

Following Soren’s order, Hazel stepped forward while raising her staff at the Horde. A second later, she summoned a purple crescent blade and hurled it at the horde. The cursed sickle tore through the Fractured humans, mowing them down like grass. And she was the lawn mower.

[Level 2 Fractured Humans has been defeated!]

[Level 3 Fractured Humans has been defeated!]

[Level 1 Fractured Humans has been defeated!]

[Level 1 Fractured Humans has been defeated!]

[Level 2 Fractured Humans has been defeated!]

A stream of panels filled Hazel’s vision, displaying all of her kills. But even her baneful sickle wasn’t enough to eliminate the entire horde. Just as she made a gap in the gathering of Fractured humans like Moses parting the Red Sea, that gap was closed in an instant as the monsters closed in on Hazel and the others.

“Move to the back, Hazel,” Soren stated, moving in front of her.

More Fractured humans approached the group, threatening to overwhelm them with their numbers. Soren and Ben slashed their weapons at them, cutting down any that got too close.

Mya provided support along with Hazel as they fired their arrows and spells at the horde. As for the Rogue, he zipped toward the horde and slew as many as he could with his daggers. When he got close to one, he slid his blade across his throat and killed it before moving on to the next.

The party continued to slaughter the Fractured horde, killing them one after another without rest. And yet, even when they killed dozens, hundreds seemed to appear out of nowhere. There was practically no end to them.

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“Dammit!” Soren swore. “Ben, Aura slash, now!”

“Right!”

Ben scrambled to Soren’s side as they prepared to perform a team attack. They raised their blades as they emanated a bright blue aura. Hazel momentarily stared at the glowing blades, as if enchanted by it.

Then, the warrior duo swung their weapons, delivering a devastating wave attack. The ethereal blue wave made contact with the horde before them and easily tore through them. Hazel and the others watched as the Fractured humans were eviscerated in an instant.

This seemed to have done the trick because the horde didn’t fill the gaps like before. This meant Soren and Ben’s attack significantly lessened their numbers.

[Hazel Thatcher: Did you have to bring out so many Fractured Humans?]

[Astrid Skogr: You were the one that said to put the group in danger so they could use their skills and see what we were dealing with.]

[Hazel Thatcher: Yeah, I did say that, didn’t I?]

Hazel wanted to know what kind of skills Soren and the rest of her group possessed, and she believed the best way to do that was by having Astrid bombard them with Fractured humans. And it certainly worked, considering that she managed to get both Soren and Ben to use one of their skills.

But she knew that out of the four, Soren was the most dangerous due to her obtaining a Skill Page. Depending on the page, she might’ve obtained a powerful skill that could pose a problem. Which was why she wanted Soren to reveal her skills so she knew what this warrior was capable of.

But she only got them to use one skill, which was that beautiful blue aura attack. Sadly, that was the only one revealed. She could have more skills in the arsenal and Hazel didn’t know what they were.

So, to make sure that Hazel could take down Soren without a problem, she needed to find the right opportunity to take her down. She’ll expect an attack from an enemy, but not from an ally like Hazel. At least, that was what she hoped for anyway.

“Move back, while their numbers are diminished!” Soren told the others.

The rest of the group followed her order and retreated. As she ran, Hazel watched as the horde slowly reformed, filling in the gaps in their numbers in mere moments. The mage grimaced at the sight. It reminded her of the various zombie movies she watched back home. No matter how many zombies were killed, there were just too many to kill.

The group turned around another corner, putting some distance between them and the horde. As soon as the horde was out of sight, they all collectively sighed with relief. But that moment of rest was soon put on hold when they heard a familiar screeching sound.

“The bat monster is still around!” Ben informed them with an eager smile.

“Then it shouldn’t be far,” Soren noted. “We’ll continue our pursuit. Keep an eye out for any more hordes.”

The rest of Soren’s group nodded in sync, acknowledging her command. Once everyone was on the same page, they followed the sound of Nycteris. It didn’t take long before they saw another flying black blur zipped across the buildings.

“It’s going over there!” Ben noted, pointing at a specific location.

Looking ahead, Soren and the others took a glimpse at the area where the Nightwing flew toward. It was the marketplace that Hazel and Astrid entered before. It was also the place where Hazel planned to part ways with Soren’s group. Violently.

Seeing Nycteris enter the marketplace, the group didn’t think twice before they followed Hazel’s familiar into the area, sealing their fates once and for all. Entering the marketplace, Soren’s party was greeted with dozens of empty stalls and broken barrels and the like scattered all over the place.

Soren’s group walked further into the marketplace, maintaining their formation as they carefully watched every empty stall out of fear that something would emerge out of one of them. As they walked through the area, Mya briefly looked up to see if anything was above them.

At that moment, she caught another glimpse of Nycteris through the fabric as they blitzed around.

“It’s above us!” Mya informed the others while raising her bow.

The others did the same and looked above them, trying to spot the Nightwing. And this was their first mistake.

[Hazel Thatcher: Astrid, you’re up!]

[Astrid Skogr: You don’t need to tell me twice.]

As the group continued to look up, none of them other than Hazel knew what was about to happen next. Just then, the sound of an arrow whistling through the air could be heard before one of Soren’s members was struck; the rogue.

The rest of the group turned their attention toward the Rogue before spotting the massive hole located in his side. All of them, including Hazel stared wide-eyed, unable to process what just happened.

Before anyone had a chance to react, Nycteris’s screech could be heard before he zipped toward the group, grabbed the Rogue, then escaped toward a nearby stall.

“Harkman!” Mya shouted as she fired multiple arrows in the direction where Nycteris took the Rogue.

Soren, Ben, and Hazel did the same and fired into the stalls in front of them, hoping that one of them was able to take down the Nightwing. Except for Hazel, of course.

Nycteris, are you alright?

I...am.

Hazel held back a sigh of relief knowing her familiar was still okay.

And the Rogue?

He was...quite delicious.

Well, I’m glad to hear that.

Hearing this, it seemed that Nycteris successfully took down one of Soren’s members. Just as they planned. And with one of them gone, there were only three left to go.

Mya frantically looked for Nycteris, her face riddled with anger and fear.

“Did anyone get it?!” The ranger frantically asked.

“No...”

“Not me...”

“I think we have bigger problems,” Soren stated, taking a defensive formation. “Someone else put a hole in Harkman before that bat creature took him.”

Hazel spared a glance at Soren, maintaining a poker face.

“Yeah, I know...” Mya uttered angrily. “That was the [Piercing Shot] skill.”

Ben turned toward Mya with widened eyes. “Wait, then doesn’t that mean...!”

“Yeah,” Soren spoke up. “There’s another player among us. And if I'm right, they might be the owner of that bat beast.”

Close, but not close enough.

“W-what do you mean?” Hazel asked, keeping up the act. “I-I thought the bat creature was a Fractured?”

“That’s what I thought as well. But it can’t be a coincidence that a player is attacking us after we tried to follow the Nightwing. Which means we were lured here by that player.”

Despite being human scum that kills other players, Soren was quite smart to put the pieces together. Especially in their current predicament. Then again, she likely made this assumption since it would be something she would do.

But that still didn’t change the fact that she didn’t have all the pieces together. And that’s exactly what Hazel wanted. She wanted to keep Soren from realizing that she was the one pulling the strings. That way, when the time was right, Hazel would strike.

“We need to leave,” Soren declared. “If we fell into the player’s trap, then escaping is our only option. Otherwise, we’ll only be killed off one by one.”

Once again, Hazel was amazed at Soren’s quick thinking. Since they were at a disadvantage, their best chance at surviving was retreating. But Hazel wasn’t going to allow that.

“It’s only a Ranger and a bat monster!” Ben snapped. “We can still kill them!”

The Warrior, Ben, was quite hot-blooded and rash. But Hazel knew better than to underestimate her foe even with such a flaw.

“Don’t be stupid!” Mya snarled. “We already lost Harkman and we can’t locate either enemy. If we stay here, we die!”

“You think that’s enough to sto-!?”

Before Ben could finish his sentence, the group was suddenly assaulted by a barrage of arrows raining down on them. The group took evasive actions and hid behind the stalls. Meanwhile, Hazel grabbed Soren and cast her Mana Shield spell.

The arrows bounced off the barrier, keeping Hazel and Soren from getting riddled with holes. Before the group had a chance to collect themselves, something crashed into the ground before them, resulting in an explosion of dust and smoke. The misty cloud blanketed the area, obscuring everyone’s vision.

“We need to leave now!” Soren shouted.

In the foggy smoke, Nycteris’s screeching could be heard once more, followed by a familiar scream from Ben before he was abruptly silenced.

“Move, now!”

Soren didn’t even hesitate and started to run away. Hazel followed behind along with Mya. The trio rushed toward the place where they entered, hoping to escape.

Just as they finally emerged out of the smoke, Hazel waved her hand in Mya’s direction, activating Telekinesis. She then suddenly tripped on the ground with a harsh thud as her bow fell out of her hand.

Hazel and Soren noticed her collapsed with widened eyes.

“Mya!” Hazel shouted before attempting to rush toward her.

“Leave her!” Soren hissed while pulling Hazel back. “She’s only dead-weight now!”

The ranger then watched as Hazel was dragged away by Soren before she was inevitably dragged away by Nycteris. The player duo could only hear Mya’s scream before it was silenced in an instant.

The pair were getting closer to the exit, but before they could escape, Soren turned to Hazel.

“Use your Baneful Sickle spell and weaken it! That’s the only way we can escape!”

Liar. Hazel knew exactly what Soren was planning. While she was busy trying to wound Nycteris with Baneful Sickle, Soren would’ve used that opportunity to abandon her. It was so obvious that Hazel couldn’t help but look disgusted.

However, she maintained her facade and nervously nodded. “O-okay...!”

Hearing Hazel’s reply, Soren deviously smiled, knowing that her little plan to sacrifice Hazel had worked. And in that moment, she continued to run away, leaving Hazel behind.

Hazel watched as the blond warrior rushed toward the exit, feeling that she was going to make it. That was until the mage finally dropped the act and took action, hurling a Baneful sickle spell toward her.

Soren didn’t notice until the last second as she turned around and witnessed the menacing purple sickle zip toward her, severing her legs by the knees. The blond warrior howled in pain as she tumbled to the ground, her skin painfully scraping across the stone surface. As she landed, her sword fell out of her hand, clattering on the ground in front of her.

Soren attempted to reach for her blade. But just as she was about to grab it, it suddenly flew in the air before darting over to Hazel’s hand. The blond warrior looked behind her and witnessed this unfold, completely shocked at the sight.

The warrior lay there flabbergasted as Hazel slowly approached her. Her nervous demeanor was no longer present and was replaced with a cold and menacing glare as she looked down at the wounded player.

“H-Hazel...?!” Soren muttered in disbelief.

Hazel stayed quiet for a moment, keeping her eyes trained on Soren with the same cold gaze. She then spoke softly, yet with words filled with venom. “You really should’ve planned this out a little more, Soren.”