The Fractured Warrior once again rushed toward Hazel while releasing a guttural battle cry. Before getting close, she jumped to the side again, watching the monster barrel pass before stopping after a couple of feet.

She didn’t give the monster a chance to turn around and try again as she raised her staff to cast Baneful Sickle at it. However, her movements abruptly stopped when her senses warned her of danger.

She quickly switched gears and cast Mana Shield instead, just as half a dozen throwing knives were launched at her. Despite harmlessly rebounding off the barrier, Hazel didn’t get rid of it as her eyes shifted back to the Rogue still on the roof.

The Fractured Rogue stood there patiently, carefully watching the fight, and waiting for another opportunity to catch Hazel off guard. She clicked her tongue while angrily glaring at the monster.

So, that was how they were going about this fight. With Hazel occupied with the warrior, the Rogue would use that opportunity to catch her off guard and weaken her with its daggers. It was a solid plan. One that should be impossible for Fractured creatures to do.

Then again, the description for both stated that despite being empty husks, they still retained their former life experiences in battle. Which meant that they were even more dangerous than Hazel initially thought.

“I’m okay with fighting one but going up against two wasn’t what I had in mind,” Hazel mumbled to herself.

If she was bound to fight two Fractured Class monsters, then she would’ve preferred to go up against two of the same class. Having to deal with a Rogue and a Warrior put Hazel in a difficult situation. Not only was she outnumbered, but her fatigue was slowly getting the best of her. Her hands slightly trembled as they tightly grasped the gnarled magic staff for dear life.

She wanted to fight the Warrior, but that Rogue was in the way. And even if she wanted to go after the Rogue to take it down, it was obvious that the warrior wasn’t going to let that happen. Realizing her predicament, Hazel felt that she was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Despite her situation, a part of her felt eager to fight. She was bored of killing the Fractured Humans and wanted to test herself. And now, she had that opportunity right before her. And it would be stupid to waste such a chance.

Hazel whirled her staff at the Fractured Warrior, prepared to fire off a spell. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as the Rogue also readied itself to attack. While observing it, her lips curled into a slight smile.

“Mana Bolt!”

As soon as she cast her spell, she was filled with mana once again. But while the energy transferred to her staff, Hazel changed targets and directed her attack at the Rogue.

The spell shot out of the staff and zoomed toward the Rogue on the roof. From what Hazel could tell, the Fractured creature was a bit taken aback by this but still managed to move out of the way of the attack, narrowly dodging it.

Thankfully, she didn’t fire that skill to hit the Rogue. After all, her main focus was still on the warrior.

With the Rogue still composing itself after getting attacked out of the blue, Hazel used that chance and shifted her attention back to the Fractured Warrior. She whirled her staff at the creature, then fired off her Baneful Sickle Skill.

She soon conjured up a purple crescent blade and hurled it at the Warrior. Surprisingly enough, it stopped charging at Hazel and raised its weapon to block her attack and succeeded. As soon as the purple sickle clashed against the sword, the warrior was pushed back slightly as its feet slid across the concrete road. But other than that, it was unharmed.

Hazel was a bit annoyed, however, she expected something like that to happen and was simply testing the waters. Since the Warrior was level eight, it stood to reason that it was still a tough opponent to deal with.

She wanted to cast Decay on the Warrior and see if that would work, but she felt hesitant, especially due to her current mana reserve. She used quite a bit of her mana before the two Fractured Classes arrived, and she wasn’t certain that Decay would be effective against them. It may have worked on the Fractured humans, but something told her that these two wouldn’t be the same.

But that didn’t mean Hazel didn’t have a plan in mind.

“This place seems a little bit too open for us, don’t you think?” She said aloud, catching both the Rogue’s and warrior’s attention. “How about we take this little dispute somewhere a little more enclosed?”

Hazel whirled around and scurried off, making it a break for it. Behind her, she could hear the Fractured Warrior roar in anger while chasing her. While running, she turned her head to see if the Rogue would follow, and sure enough, it was.

While the Warrior chased her on the road, the Rogue stuck to the rooftops, following the mage that way. Hazel was simply glad that both of them were chasing her just like she wanted.

These Fractured Class monsters may have retained some of their experience in battle to the point that it makes them a bit dangerous to deal with, but that didn’t mean they regained all of their intelligence. Sure, the Rogue used the advantage of Hazel’s fight with the warrior to catch her off guard and kill her that way, but now it was following her after she declared such an obvious ploy.

Hazel continued to run through the streets, making sure that the Warrior and Rogue were still behind. Turning around, her eyes widened when she saw the Warrior right behind her. They were only a couple of feet apart, and the distance was closing even further thanks to the Warrior's superior speed.

With its sword in hand, the Warrior swung at Hazel, attempting to decapitate her on the spot. Hazel ducked just in time, but that was a mistake because she wasn't paying attention to what was in front of her. Because of them, she tripped over herself and tumbled across the cracked stone road.

While on the ground, Hazel watched as the Warrior stood over her, raising its sword in the air. The mage knew what was about to happen next and hastily raised her staff. Not to deflect it since she wasn't strong enough to fend off its attack, but to cast Mana Shield.

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Just as the Warrior swung its sword down on Hazel, a blue transparent dome materialized around her. Making contact with the barrier, the warrior was pushed back from the rebound, forcing it to lose its balance for a moment. Instead of letting the barrier remain active, she quickly got rid of it before directing her staff at her enemy. Just then, a blue bolt of pure mana was created before hurtling toward the Fractured monster.

The Mana Bolt pierced its side, leaving a large glass-like gash in its wake. Not even a second later, Hazel cast another Mana Bolt, aiming her staff at the Fracture monster's leg instead. Her aim was a bit off and only carved out a chunk as it tore through its knee. Despite her bad aim, Hazel still managed to cripple the Fractured monster.

Just then, several throwing knives appeared and pierced the ground near Hazel, startling her. She didn't even have to look to know who it was, and simply pulled herself off the ground with the help of her staff and continued to flee for her life. Behind her, she could hear the warrior roaring in anger, but she didn't try to look back and just focused on running with all of her might.

Thankfully, she soon arrived at her destination. The Tavern from before. She wanted another, more confined space, but this building would do since she knew the layout of it. Plus, with what she planned to do; this was just perfect.

Hazel quickly got to the door and entered the Tavern. Before going further in, she shut the door. She knew that wasn’t going to do anything against the Warrior, since it could very well easily break it down, but that didn’t stop Hazel from trying to keep the monster busy, even if only for a second.

While rushing toward the stairs, it didn’t take long before she heard the door she just closed get busted down as the Warrior emerged through the entrance. It growled and snarled like a rabid dog, and as soon as it spotted Hazel, it continued its chase.

Hazel didn’t waste any time and climbed up the stairs, not even sparing a glance at the warrior that was right on her tail. She soon made it to the second floor, just in time as she turned to the left and saw the Rogue climbing through the window at the end of the hall.

Their eyes locked on to one another before her attention was pulled away from the roar of the Fractured Warrior. She saw that it was still climbing the stairs and nearly at the top, but before it could reach the second floor, Hazel smiled.

“Have a safe descent!” She maliciously grinned while pointing her staff at the stairs.

She then hurled a couple of bolts of mana at the stairs, destroying the wood and foundation supporting it. As soon as the warrior took a step, the rest of the stairs couldn’t maintain their structure and collapsed from the pressure of the monster, making it fall through and crash with a loud thud.

With the warrior taken care of for the moment, Hazel turned her attention back to the Rogue, only to see the sneaky figure close the distance between them while thrusting a dagger at her. The mage shifted to the side to dodge. However, the dagger still managed to cut her, ripping through her cloak and cutting her skin as well. Hazel grimaced in pain while trying to put some distance between them.

Meanwhile, the Rogue continued its assault. Slashing at Hazel, more wounds were inflicted on her from her shoulder, arms, and torso. The Rogue's attacks were shallow, but the pain was still enough to cause the mage to stagger. Just then, as if attempting to finish the fight, the Rogue raised its blade and brought it down on her. Hazel didn’t have enough time to cast Mana Shield and raised her staff to defend herself.

The dagger dug into the bark of the wood while forcing Hazel back. Instead of trying to push the Rogue off, she moved her staff to the side, forcing the Rogue away from her as its daggers pulled away from the staff and struck the ground in the process. Hazel's chest heaved as she felt her lungs ache and burn from the running she had done before getting to the Tavern. Thankfully, her Endurance stat mitigated the pain a little, allowing her to push through despite how winded she was.

With the Rogue on the ground, Hazel hastily cast Decay on the monster. A split second later, a sharp pain assaulted her head, as if someone jammed a needle inside her brain. The mage groaned, clutching her head in response. Even with the Endurance stat, Hazel could tell that this pain wasn't going to fade away any time soon. She must've used too much of her mana by casting Decay. It was painfully clear that she was hitting her limit.

If Hazel didn't end this fight and soon, it was either going to be her mana depletion or one of the Fractured monsters that would kill her.

Meanwhile, Purple tendrils slithered out of the staff and latched onto the Rogue, enveloping its body in the ethereal energy. She then watched the Rogue stagger in pain. Looking closer, the cracks on its body started to spread, but not as much as she wanted. It was practically going at a snail’s pace compared to the Fractured Human.

Although Hazel expected Decay to not fully affect the Rogue, she was a bit baffled by how slow the spell was on it. Could it be that it was resisting Decay? Or was it just its physiology compared to the Fractured Humans that was the culprit?

She wanted some answers, but wasting the opportunity while the Rogue was injured and distracted wasn’t the best call. Saving her questions for later, Hazel aimed her staff at the Rogue, quickly casting Baneful Sickle as her head throbbed painfully as a result.

Since it was still affected by Decay, albeit slowly, its vessel should be weakened enough for Hazel to take it down with her other curse skill. Or at least she hoped that was the case.

A purple crescent blade burst from the staff, barreling toward the Rogue. The Fractured monster composed itself before raising its dagger to block. However, the purple crescent sickle of Bane shattered the dagger then carved through the Rogue, severing its body in half. The two halves fractured more and then erupted into particles of purple light.

[Level 5 Fractured Rogue has been defeated!]

[You have leveled up! You are now Level 6!]

[Baneful Sickle is now Rank 2!]

[Decay is now Rank 2!]

Hazel took a moment to catch her breath, her body still exhausted from using up too much mana. She leaned against her gnarled staff, feeling her legs slowly turn into jelly, barely being able to support her weight from the fatigue.

She couldn’t yet relax though, since the Fractured Warrior was still around. Even now, the brute was groaning and growling while under the steps. Hopefully, it was in a daze from the fall and couldn’t move for the moment.

She slowly went toward the stairs, glancing through the hole where the Warrior fell into. Taking a look in the hole, Hazel saw that the Warrior was standing up and looking around, trying to find a way out. Hazel found it odd that it didn’t just burst through the stairs like it did the door. Then again, the description did say that they only retained some of their previous intelligence from when they were alive. But not all of it.

Of course, she wasn’t going to let the opportunity slide and quickly cast a mana bolt as it burst forth and tore through the warrior's head. Watching it shatter to pieces from the numerous cracks enveloping its body, Hazel turned away and sat down, leaning her back against the wall. She then grimaced in pain, pressing her hands against her head. It felt like someone was pounding a drum in her brain, making her entire skull pulsate violently.

Hazel stayed there for a little bit, resisting the urge to pass out. A part of her wanted to put all of her increase her Endurance stat to try and mitigate the pain, but she couldn't do that. She couldn't risk wasting any more of her points. Even if the pain went away, Hazel knew that she would regret it. So, through sheer will, Hazel did her best to ride out the skull-splitting headache from her mana deficiency.

Seconds and minutes passed by in the blink of an eye as she continued to suffer. But after a little more time passed, the throbbing headache slowly faded away, allowing Hazel to relax a bit after enduring such a horrible experience.

“Well, that was eventful…” She groaned, gazing up at the ceiling with glossed-over eyes.

Now that...was something Hazel couldn't allow to happen again. Not if this was going to happen every time she used up all of her mana like just now.