My co-{Guard} scrambled up, eyes wide as he scanned the snow. "I-I can't find my bow!" he yelled, staring at me helplessly.

I shrugged. "Guess you better get digging then."

"What are you gonna do then?"

I rolled my eyes, already moving toward the invader. "Fight, duh."

Without another word, I activated [Charge] and sprinted away from him, my spear held tight in my hands. I saw the outline of the invader through the snow and [Battle Awareness] was on it.

Around level 5 or 6...A long weapon in hand...Their class involves spears or poles.

Another spear user? I wonder if I could loot their weapon off of them, like I did the {Archer} before. I felt giddy at the thought of getting a better spear and hastily used [Burst], cutting down the STR boost from [Charge] but getting closer to my opponent.

The invader was a woman, as evidenced by the breasts hardly hidden underneath her 'armor'. I didn't understand why she would wear a metal bra and a leather skirt to such a place, but I didn't care; it just made her easier to stab.

She did indeed carry a spear and held it with obvious unfamiliarity; the weapon was too large for her small, busty figure. When I came at her, [Burst] still in effect, her eyes widened as she tried to block my [Thrust], crying out, "[Parry]!"

Scowling as she just barely managed to knock my spear back, I retreated a couple of steps. I still don't have that skill, I thought, circling her warily. And I've never fought someone who uses it. This will be tricky.

I lunged and she [Parried] again, managing to block it just a tiny bit faster than the last time. She's still not used to the spear, though. I can't, for the life of me, understand why she would pick such a large weapon. I hardly want to pick it off her corpse.

Another, lunge, another [Parry], but I didn't retreat when she blocked, using my superior muscle to force her spear downwards. She struggled to pull up her spear, so I decided to help her out, whacking my spearpoint toward her face as I pulled away. The dull stone tore a deep scratch from cheek to chin.

She recovered rather quickly, bringing up her spear before I could hit her again. Lots of Agility, not much Strength.

Then the cut started to close before my eyes, scabbing over remarkably fast. Ah. Some Vitality as well. I didn't know it could do that...

The invader backed off, holding up her spear threateningly. We returned to circling each other, warily shoring each other up. Does she not have any attacking skills? How stupid must you be to not pick up an attacking skill? Whatever. This fight has gone on far too long.

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I triggered [Burst] two times in a row, darting around her guard. Using [Double Strike], I hit her two times between her ribs. By some stroke of luck, she turned before I could hit the same spot twice, missing the critical hit. She swung her spear at me wildly and I dodged back. She stabbed and I blocked, placing my spear between me and hers. Our shafts slapped against each other loudly and an ominous crack sounded from mine.

Stupid low-quality weapons! You'd better not break on me before I kill her!

She pressed against my spear, perhaps trying the same tactic I had before. Of course, with how short and thin she was, she couldn't manage the same result. Instead, the pressure only increased the spread of cracks snaking through my spear shaft.

"Not again," I growled, planting my feet. My resistance hardly helped, but I had no other choice. The invader's eyes gleamed as she heard the cracking through the howling wind, her mouth smiling to reveal perfect, pearly whites.

I need to end this, I thought.

So I did the only thing I could think of: snap the spear. I pushed it forward against her weapon, wincing at the agonizing shriek of betrayal from my spear.

It's not my fault you were made of such low-quality, I protested as it snapped into two. I let the invader's spear point stab at me, but she'd overextended, having misjudged how far she'd have to lunge in order to hit me. The spear cut through one side of my gambeson, missing my side by a precious few centimeters.

I didn't waste time relishing in the close miss, slamming one end of my spear into her cheek. Her head snapped to the side as she stumbled away, holding her spear loosely in her hands. The invader stood there dumbly, a dazed look on her pretty face. While she was distracted, I hit her again, eliciting a small grunt from her. She dropped to the ground, not dead but seemingly unconscious.

Pleased with myself, I tossed away my broken weapon and retrieved hers.

"Finally," I whispered, running my hands along the thick, black shaft. I caressed the glowing black symbols engraved in the wood, salivating over how beautiful it looked. The gleaming bronze spearhead gleamed in the winter snow, shining in my eyes. "A weapon worth defending with."

Smiling, I looked down at the drooling invader lying at my feet. "And thank you for being so terrible with it. Truly, I would have never-"

A whistling arrow cut me off, just as [Lesser Radar] rang in my head. I used [Burst] to dodge backward, spinning around into a crouch as I did so to scan the horizon for the approaching invader. Cursing myself for getting distracted, I brandished my new spear and waited for the {Archer} to show themselves.

Except [Lesser Radar] told me they were approaching from...behind?

I spun around to see the arrow had struck the invader in her bare thigh - I hadn't noticed her skirt had come up when she fell. She poofed into smoke when a second projectile hit her stomach.

I rose from my crouch, staring up at the green smoke rising into the air.

"Flake!" a voice called. "Flake, I did it! I-I killed the invader!"

My co-{Guard} was running toward me, waving his reclaimed bow. It took everything in me not to [Charge] at him and shove my spear into his chest. Eventually, my morality won out against my anger and I waited patiently for him to reach me.

He stopped a few feet away and bent over, panting. His arrow quiver nearly fell off his shoulders as he did so, but he nudged it back into place before standing up straight, beaming at me.

"I mean, did you see that? It was awesome! I don't know what you were doing just standing there instead of killing the invader but I'm really glad I got the chance to-"

He stopped, choking on his blood as he stared at me in shock. He raised his hands to cover the hole in his neck, dropping to his knees. His mouth made flopping motions but his pierced vocal cords produced no sound. He fell face-first into the snow, dead.

Wiping my bloodied spear point in the snow, I murmured, "Whoops."