The enemy party consisted of five members: one scout, most likely with a rogue-type build, a tank, two mages (one of whom was the leader), and one healer. I commended their discipline. No one seemed to be speaking out loud, but I had no idea if they had some sort of communication ability like we did that allowed us to talk without actually making any sound. The party did perhaps seem a bit distracted, and only the rogue was truly alert.

From the first moment I saw them, I never looked at any of them directly, as I learned long ago that people can tell, even back on Earth, when someone is looking at them. Observing them from the edges of my vision was difficult, as I was quite used to trying to figure everything out using my different sights. But then again, when was the last time I tried to assassinate someone? My window to observe them was quite short, as I didn't have much choice in where I was hiding.

The rogue did stop everyone for a moment, which caused me to hold my breath even more than I currently was. That, of course, was physically impossible, but I still felt I somehow accomplished it. The very next moment, the rogue started to move again, and I knew that I had succeeded at least with the first part of the plan.

They continued to walk further in, and I tried to stop my heart from starting to beat faster. The moment for explosive violence was starting to come closer and closer, and I was completely prepared to murder all of them.

Whether I attacked depended on how many were hurt, as I wasn’t crazy enough to try to fight all of them at once. "Stop!" one of them yelled. My stone was already flying as I threw it with as much speed as possible without causing too much movement.

It looked like I wouldn’t be able to remain completely unnoticed. I saw a magic barrier appear behind the party, protecting them from any attack from behind them. Fortunately, my stone had already passed, and I heard the trap activate.

I heard three distinct cries and the magic barrier broke. Immediately, I rushed in, this time not trying to hide myself but moving my energy as fast as possible and preparing my defenses and my attack.

My first target was the healer who was currently working on weaving a spell. I saw how he looked towards me when I was too close for him to do anything. The way his eyes widened when he saw the sword coming at his throat was a mix of complete disbelief, fear, and resentment.

Whatever defensive talisman or equipment he had, they weren't good enough to defend against my attack, but he was able to cast one spell before I split his head in two. It was a powerful healing spell targeted at the rogue who had been able to dodge most of the spikes that now filled the hallway.

One of the mages and the tank were dead. The leader of this party, the mage who cast the shield spell, had been able to defend himself completely. So, I had one really angry mage and a recovering rogue I needed to defeat.

Immediately, I started to send out flying slashes imbued with core energy. Even before they hit, I activated my call of the ancestors and sent all of the ghosts to attack the rogue who was still recovering.

My flying slashes started to impact and noticeably damaged the shield, but the mage was filled with anger and righteousness. And I felt some sort of a spell hit me. The next moment, I was floating in the air and starting to move towards the spikes. I continued to attack with my ranged attacks and I seemed to find quite good success with my throwing daggers as I was able to wound the mage.

While attacking, I was also making myself heavier, and I could see the strain my opponent was in trying to move me. Unfortunately, even before he was forced to drop me, he used his other hand to instantly cast a lightning spell towards me.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

I saw how thick the mana was in the spell and knew that he must have an ability for that spell. The pain was mind-numbing, but the damage wasn't there as my defensive abilities were working overtime to keep me safe.

Two of the ghosts returned to me, but I was once again free to move. I suspect my enemy didn’t think that I would be able to move after that attack. Still, I was attacking someone who was incredibly good at fighting and, to my surprise, also had a sword.

Still, I had surprised him, and the weak block he was able to produce after I shattered his mana shield with my sword sent him flying into the wall. I tried to follow through, but my danger sense spiked, and I dodge-rolled towards the mage instead of going for an attack.

The place where I had occupied just a moment before now had two daggers that would have hit my lower back. The rogue must've used some sort of an instant movement ability. The mage was still a bit stunned, but all I was able to do was send one flying dagger towards him without even seeing if I hit, as I needed to defend against the rogue who was pressing his surprise attack.

For some reason, the rogue was smiling, but when our weapons met, I knew why he was smiling. He had the shatter enchantment on his weapon and a powerful one, but nothing happened to my blade. His smile faded, but mine had never wavered.

But he learned quickly from his mistakes and another dagger wasn’t coming for a slash. Instead, he was trying to pierce my armor, and the amount of energy inside that blade made me believe he would be able to do it. Not only that, I also felt a magic build-up from behind, meaning I hadn’t managed to finish off the mage.

There was no time for a new attack as our blades were still connected. The ghosts were still too far away to help me. I decided to use my superior strength and turn the block I made to stop the first dagger to push the rogue as far away from me as possible and as close to the ghosts as I could.

It seems that I was still underestimating my own strength because when I stepped into the attack and then used all my strength to push the sword forward, I ended up sending the rogue flying backwards into the spikes.

My ghosts were already waiting, and even before he hit any of the spikes, he flew into multiple weapons that my ghosts were wielding, killing him instantly. Then the lightning hit again, but this time it didn't stop.

"You fucking bastard, where are the rest of you, I will have everyone you came into contact killed, and the only thing I will be sad about is that I couldn’t bring you out of here and make you watch it all happen. Insects like you are the reason the cleanse must happen again," he continued to talk, but it was hard to hear. He also didn't seem to be running out of mana, which was bad news. But why was he getting closer and closer? I wondered if this was just my imagination or was this bastard truly that confident.

I was on my back, barely able to move, and I needed to keep pumping my core energy into my defenses so that damage wouldn’t get through. The damage lessened for a moment as he needed to use one of his hands to kill the rest of my ghosts, but he soon returned and started to pour even more mana into his spell. "You are a particularly resilient bug, but I think I actually like that about you. Your screams are wonderful, and please keep resisting for as long as you can. I do enjoy when my prey fights back."

Through the haze of pain, sudden clarity came over me when I understood that he was villain monologuing. I let more pain through my defences, which did cause me some physical damage, but I also attempted to speak to him, which of course didn't work as I was barely able to control my body. He got even closer.

As soon as he was close enough, I dumped basically all my remaining core energy into my defenses, which momentarily blocked all the lightning, making me regain control over my body. I immediately reached for his hands, and he was too surprised to do anything about it.

Being so close to the source of the spell started to destroy my hand, but as soon as I was grasping his hand, I activated another one of my abilities, crushing hand, and with my strength, all that was left of the mage's hands was meat paste. The scream he made was wonderful, but with my other hand, I crushed his other hand as well as it was still casting lightning.

Before he could do anything else, as I knew that mages did have spells that they could use without hands, I crushed his neck and face with both of my hands. I was covered in blood and bone bits, but the job was over, and I laid back down to rest for a few moments. That had been incredibly close to not working out, but the smile on my face didn't disappear even though I had just murdered five people and was about to loot everything I could from them.

Getting back up, I was reminded of my older self as I groaned and every joint hurt to move. I started with the mage as he was the closest, even though I usually liked to keep the best stuff for last. He was wearing a mix of armor and mage robes, and while they looked incredibly powerful, I wasn’t going to take them as they had his house insignia all over them and who knows what enchantments these items held. His expanded bags were a different story, and while I wouldn’t use the main one, I did empty it out into the other storage items he had, and there were more than expected.

I carefully went over every item, and if it looked like it might have house insignia’s, I just left them on the ground for the dungeon to absorb. I drank one of the healing potions they had to get myself back into fighting condition, although my core energy would be depleted for at least a day. To set up the fight and the looting took about three hours, so I had plenty of time to return and cook up some breakfast for the others.