“Kelsey. Wake up. Wake up. Kelsey!” she heard a voice shouting in her ear as she shaken away by a frantic set of hands.

“What's going on?” she asked as she opened her eyes and adjusted to the room around her. It was morning, and she could see sunlight illuminating through the fabric of their tent.

Thadius was the one she had heard shouting her name, and she could see Lisa and Gregroy hurriedly getting dressed and equipping their gear.

“Owen is missing. We found this note sitting on a chair in front of the fire pit outside the tent.” Thadius said as he handed her a small piece of paper with a short message written on it. "Owen must have gotten up early and gone for some breakfast or something."

‘If you want your friend to return to you safely, come to the 13th floor with all the monster cores you've collected and plenty of gold. We will take your payment there.’

“Floor 13, that’s the night canyon floor, right? The one with all the Mountain Lions that use smoke magic? Why do they want to meet there?” she asked pensively while the others continued getting ready.

“I was wondering that too. They probably have some sort of advantage at night.” Thadius said, his eyes hard and serious. “Good timing on your advancement by the way.”

"Thanks. These morons probably couldn't have picked a worse time." Kelsey said as she summoned her armor and saber to her body.

She quickly tied up her hair and waited for her friends to finish getting ready. Now that she was up, she realized how incredibly sore she was. The advancement had really done a number on her body it seemed. But she would be fine, she wasn't sore enough that she felt it would impact her ability to fight.

A few minutes later, Lisa and Gregory were wearing their armor and they both seemed ready for a fight. The moment Kelsey stepped outside of the tent her domain spread across the floor and she could see that there was a seemingly normal woman watching them from inside a nearby tent. The moment Kelsey’s group walked out of the tent, the woman reached into her pouch and pulled out a monster core that started pulsing with light briefly before she placed it back into her pouch.

Probably their lookout...Some kind of communication device, maybe? Doesn’t matter. I don't particularly care if they know we're coming.

The group began walking down, and as they got closer and closer to the 13th floor, Kelsey became more and more angry. She was ranting inside her own head, wondering who these assholes thought they were. She was going to tear them limb from limb if she had to; No one fucks with my friends.

Forcing herself to calm down slightly, she asked Gregory “Hey, you mind doing the talking? I think If I talk I’m just going to say something to piss them off.”

“Aye, of course. Negotiation is one of my specialties after all.” he said, his eyes filled with a barely contained white-hot rage.

Upon arriving at the door to the 13th floor, Gregory was the first to enter, and the group followed, with him as their leader. They assumed that none of the kidnappers would have a way to determine levels, they may not even know Kelsey existed considering how long she had been down fighting the drakes.

Kelsey’s domain stretched across the floor as she scanned for her potential targets. Floor 13 was set in a long, but relatively narrow red dirt canyon. Based on her domain and her eyes, the canyon was roughly 700 meters wide, and a few dozen kilometers long. Long enough that her domain didn't reach anywhere close to the end of the floor. It was nighttime on the 13th floor, but the area was somewhat illuminated by an imitation full moon directly above them.

It only took her a few moments of searching inside her domain for who to find the ones they were looking for. There was a group of 6 people, 4 men and 2 women. They were all wearing fully black leather armor with black cloaks. On each of their cloaks they had an embroidered image of an open silver book and a quill. She saw Owen tied up with his mouth covered standing next to one of the women who had a knife ready, placed gently against his throat.

The group seemed to be speaking casually, everyone except the woman with the knife. She seemed to be on edge, wary, and nervous. Whatever was going on, she clearly didn't like it very much.

Kelsey explained what she saw quietly as they made their way to the group. “Any ideas?”

“The Librarians.” Lisa said with disgust in her voice. “They’re one-part assassination guild, nine parts information brokers. They used to just be information brokers until a few years ago when they suddenly started doing things like this, assassinations and kidnappings.”

Gregory chimed in next. "They were put on the Guild's watch list recently. I believe the information docket said that they were worried about possible escalations."

“Got it, Immortal guild?” she asked.

“No. Run by an Immortal likely, but not exclusively an Immortal Guild.” He responded quickly.

A few seconds later, Kelsey saw the group with her own eyes and identified each of them.

[Warrior - lvl 118]

[Mage - lvl 152]

[Mage - lvl 257]

[Warrior - lvl 219]

[Mage - lvl 133]

[Warrior - lvl 271]

After seeing their levels, Kelsey wasn’t worried about being able to beat them if it came down to it. She was however worried about being able to rescue Owen safely if a fight did break out. The level 271 warrior was the one holding Owen hostage, and at her level, she would be able to use that knife more quickly than Kelsey could react to stop her. Kelsey immediately assumed that the woman with the knife was their leader.

However, she was not the first to speak. The level 257 mage stood out from the group in the front and began speaking first. “Good, you’re here. Did you bring the goods we requested?” The mage was a gentleman in his early forties, slightly pudgy with a thick full brown beard. He was wearing long black robes and had the symbol of the Librarian’s in silver embroidery on his chest.

Gregory spoke up. “We did. Listen, just give us our friend back and we’ll give you whatever you want.”

Kelsey was impressed, Gregory’s voice was carefully controlled despite the rage she was sure he felt at seeing his brother being held hostage with a knife to his throat.

Shockingly, Owen seemed almost bored, as if he didn't have a worry in the world being in such a stressful situation. Kelsey wasn't sure how much of it was acting and how much of it was trust, but either way, she was thankful that he was so calm.

The man in front began laughing, “Oh I know you will. But the deals changed slightly.” The man then paused for a few seconds for added effect as he looked at each and every one of them.

“See, we didn’t know about that pretty redhead girl you got in the back. We’ll give you the old man for all your cores, and a few hours of fun with the redhead.” he finished as he burst into laughter at his own wickedly evil ‘plan’.

Gross. This guy isn't all that bright, is he?

Seeing the perfect opportunity to disarm the kidnappers a bit, Kelsey put a bit of cheer in her voice. “Sure, I’d love too. You seem like a pretty fit group. Should be fun. Who's first though? I think it should be that one. He's cute." She said, pointing randomly to one of the kidnappers she was pretty sure was male.

Everyone looked at Kelsey with bewildered expressions on their faces as they heard what she said. The Librarian mage was the first to recover though. “See, now this is someone who knows how to make a deal. Alright, drop the cores and gold on the ground and we’ll hand over your friend.”

Gregory looked back at Kelsey and gave her a small nod.

Kelsey then walked up to the group of assassins and began withdrawing cores from her vault, pretending that she was summoning them to her hand via the ring on her finger. The entire time she was doing this, the woman with the knife to Owen’s throat was staring at her intently. Not with suspicion or hate, but some sort of emotion Kelsey didn’t instantly recognize. Hope? Pleading, maybe?

Then, once she had dropped down a few hundred lower-level cores that she still had, she dropped a small pouch with a few hundred gold pieces on the ground next to them. She figured that would be enough to satisfy them.

“There. That's everything.” she said with a bit more venom in her voice than she intended. “Now give us Owen.”

“Sorry babe, another change of plans. We’ve decided that we want the tall blonde one too.” He said with a wicked smile and eyes of a man who had gotten away with this and so much worse during his time.

Then, Kelsey’s Senses of the Magus spiked, and without warning the high leveled warrior woman jammed the knife into Owen’s shoulder, causing him to howl in pain through the rope binds covering his mouth. He then collapsed, falling down to the ground below as the woman shouted, “Kill them all!” While looking Kelsey directly in the eyes, almost as if speaking to her, rather than about her.

Kelsey was faster than anyone else on the field. She activated Warp, appearing next to Lisa, and Gregory before activating Warp again and sending them to the entrance of the Floor. Neither of them had time to try to resist and were thankfully now out of harm's way. Every single one of their opponenets was over level 100, and she was worried about them getting hurt.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

She didn’t send Thadius away, mostly because she didn't have time, but also because he was quite strong compared to most of their opponents.

The kidnappers were slowly reacting to what she did, but their leader was fast enough that Kelsey wasn’t able to reach Owen before she was able to pull out another dagger and put it against Owen's throat, who was still on the floor, groaning in pain. “Don’t come any closer!” she shouted with a hint of fear in her voice.

“Drop the knife, or die. I’m done playing your games.” Kelsey said seriously.

“Oh come on, this is ridiculous. We know you’re bluffing.” the mage said as he started walking towards Kelsey. “She and I are both Immortals. Just because you have some fancy teleportation skill doesn’t make us scared of you.”

“Don’t care. You don’t need to be scared; you just need to listen. Drop the knife, hand over my friend and you can keep the cores and the gold, I don’t need it.” she said simply.

The woman that was holding Owen hostage looked at the Librarians surrounding her with a pointed look on her face before looking back at Kelsey, nodding once, and screaming “Do it now!” before throwing the knife far away from Owen.

The moment the knife was away from Owen’s neck, Kelsey warped next to him and sent him over to Lisa and Gregory who had since moved up the canyon's walls and were watching them from above.

“What do you think you’re doing!?” the man said, his voice filled with rage as he turned towards the woman who had been holding Owen hostage. “Why the hell would you let him go?”

“I’ve been trying to get away from you creeps for years now. This woman here is my opportunity to pay you assholes back for trying to turn our Guild into a bunch of worthless assassins!” the woman shouted back at the mage as loudly as she could. “It looks to me like you kidnapped the wrong person this time you morons.”

Kelsey let the silence hang in the air for a few moments before interrupting. “So, is that offer of a few hours of fun still on the table? Now, I’ve got to warn you. I don’t have the patience for anything that lasts more than a few minutes, so why don’t we get started right away.” she said as she summoned a steel saber from her vault.

“You bitch! I’ll kill you!” the man screamed as a large halberd appeared in his hands and his entire body became engulfed in electricity. His movements sped up and he began charging towards Kelsey, lightning arcing off him and striking the ground nearby as he launched himself at her. Mage primary class with a warrior secondary class then? Weird choice, but whatever.

Thanks to her high mental speed and her new Body of the Magus skill, it was like watching someone walk towards her in slow motion.

Without using any other skills, she walked towards the man keeping a normal walking speed relative to her perception, but she felt the pressure of the air in front of her break as she exceeded the sound barrier while just walking normally. This was with her Wind Resistance skill at level 9 which meant that she was moving somewhere near four or five times the speed of sound. Damn, there is certainly a qualitative difference between someone at 249 and an Immortal, I was already quite fast, but now... It's like I'm on a whole different level.

As she began getting closer to the man, she looked at the rest of the assassins, who were all in various stages of drawing weapons, or moving in to assist the mage. Everyone except the leader, who was just following Kelsey with her eyes. Unmoving. She had a look of satisfaction in her eyes.

I cannot wait to find out what her deal is.

Once arriving at the mage, Kelsey lashed her saber out towards his throat, but as she did, the electricity coursing through the man’s body increased in power as he sped up even further and reflexively blocked her saber with the butt of his halberd. Interesting. She continued attacking him for a few more seconds with her saber, which as fast as they were moving meant that they traded several hundred blows.

No matter what she did, she was simply unable to land a clean strike against him. She had gotten close a few times, cutting into his black robes, but no matter what she did her sword was unable to find flesh. Once again, I’m just not as skilled of a fighter. I seriously need to find someone to teach me to use this sword long term. Melody was great, but I need a bit longer than a month. She thought as she attacked the mage.

The lower leveled assassins had tried getting close to their fight, but Kelsey and the other mage were moving at such high speeds that the wind generated from their fight kept pushing them back.

Eventually, Kelsey gave up on her attempt to do this with her only sword and enhancements. It wasn't as if she were in any danger, it was extremely clear that the mage was completely outclassed, doing everything in his power just to keep her blade from biting into his skin.

She started thinking of the best way to end the fight while also using the least number of her skills. It wasn't that she wanted to hide her skills, no, she was more interested in how much her core, non-mage skills had changed from her advancement.

She eventually landed on simply adding her Warp.

Moving as fast as she could, Kelsey feinted, and then struck, overextending her sword intentionally to bait the electricity mage into striking her. It worked and his halberd lashed out, more quickly than it had moved before, aimed directly at her skull.

Kelsey quickly activated her warp, appearing behind the lightning mage who was still in the middle of his strike. Hitting nothing, the force of his failed attack knocked him off balance and rocked him forward slightly. Knowing that she now had the perfect opportunity, Kelsey lashed out with her saber and sunk it deeply into the back of his neck, piercing his throat, and killing him instantly.

*ding* You have defeated a [Immortal Lightning Manipulator of Speed - lvl 257]

From an outsider’s perspective it looked like she was just a warrior with a teleport ability. Perfect.

She then looked over at the non-immortals who had once been trying so hard to assist their leader in the fight. Unfortunately for them, Thadius had cleaned them up easily, killing them before they were able to do so much as sneeze in Kelsey’s direction.

She then turned to the final assassin. The woman who was still sitting silently, unmoving, while staring at Kelsey.

“What are you?” the woman asked, her voice tinged with a hint of fear.

“Sorry, can’t say.” Kelsey replied honestly.

“Listen, before you kill me. I have a favor to ask.” she said, sounding resigned to her fate.

Kelsey paused briefly. Did this woman think I was going to kill her? Didn't she just release Owen, or am I going crazy here? Although... she did stab him...

“You want me to do you a favor? I'm pretty sure I just saw you stab my friend.” Kelsey said sarcastically.

“I know, listen. My sister is sick. She is also an Immortal. She got poisoned by some creature a few decades ago and hasn’t been able to function normally since. When I became an Immortal, shortly after it happened, I was recruited by this Guild. They used to be exclusively an information broker guild and they promised that they would use their information to help heal her. That’s why I joined.” she said, her words rushing out of her like a waterfall. “I don’t kill innocent people; I’ve avoided it at all costs since the Guild changed direction. Once I saw that you were using a personal storage space and not the ring like you were pretending to, I paid closer attention and realized that you were genuinely completely unafraid of us. I could tell that you ‘knew’ we weren’t a threat to you.”

“So why did you stab Owen then?” Kelsey asked angrily.

“It was part of the plan... That's what he was expecting me to do. But once I saw that you could teleport your friends away, I knew you'd be able to get him away if I let you.” she answered quickly. “That’s why I threw away the knife.”

“I mean it makes sense. I’m not deaf. I heard what you screamed at the mage before he attacked me.” Kelsey said.

“Please, I’m not asking you to let me live. I’m only asking you to take my sister to somewhere safe. A city, or a town nearby. She can’t travel alone, and I don’t want someone to hurt her on the road. Please!” she begged. Tears started forming at the corners of her eyes, but it was hard to tell what she was thinking because of the mask she was wearing.

Well shit... She seems quite genuine. I’m going to need Gregory and his Oath skill for this one, I think.

“Listen. I’m not going to kill you, relax. It would be cruel to kill someone who has so clearly surrendered. At worst I’ll just turn you into the authorities or something.” Kelsey said, trying to stop the woman from crying.

After Kelsey finished trying to reassure the woman, she looked at Thadius, “Watch her for me. And thanks for your help with the rest of them.”

Thadius nodded at her in understanding. Once he did, she warped herself next to the group. “Hey Gregory, I need you real quick. Also, hey Owen, I love you, glad you’re safe, I’ll be back in a few.” without waiting for a response, she touched Gregory’s shoulder and warped them down to stand in front of Thadius and the assassin woman.

Kelsey briefly explained the situation and said “Would you mind making an oath for me? I just need to make sure she's telling the truth.”

“Sure, so you’re planning on letting her live?” He asked neutrally.

“Yeah. There’s been enough death today, and I refuse to kill someone who has surrendered. She also hasn’t tried to kill me, or anyone else yet, so that's a decently good sign.” Kelsey responded casually. Kelsey wasn’t feeling very casual though. She was feeling a bit emotional at having been forced to kill yet another person in Anoura. Once again, she was dealing with it better than she would have expected, but it was still weighing on her mind somewhat.

The woman was still crying gently as Gregory finished his Oath and sent it to her. Kelsey could tell when she received the notification, because her crying abruptly cut short and she stared ahead in stunned surprise. It was only a few moments later that Gregory looked at Kelsey and nodded. “She’s telling the truth. The whole truth too. I was very specific that each and every word and implied meaning had to be true as well.” he said confidently.

“Great. Alright, assassin lady, let's go get you and your sister out of here.” Kelsey said as she reached down and grabbed the woman by the arm, helping her stand up.

The woman was looking at Kelsey, a mix of emotions running across her face. Then her eyes hardened and all the emotions were replaced with determination. “I need to change first. They’ll have people looking for us.” she said as she began removing pieces of clothing. Kelsey, Gregory, and Thadius turned away to give the woman some privacy while she changed, but with her domain, Kelsey noticed that the woman’s back was covered in pale scars that indicated some very rough treatment in the relatively recent past. All of the scars were scabbed over or healed, but some of them looked as fresh as the past week or month.

As the woman took off her mask, Kelsey got her first real look at the woman’s face. She looked to be young, maybe in her early to mid-twenties which meant that she had achieved immortality at a very young age, even compared to Kelsey who had become an Immortal at age 29. She had long black hair that flowed down the middle of her back, and her eyes were the bright blue color of a lake.

After she was dressed in some normal traveling clothes that she had packed in her bag, the woman walked up to Kelsey’s party. “I’m ready. The guards will be looking for your group too, but there's not much we can do about that.”

“Before we go anywhere. What's your name? I can’t keep calling you ‘the assassin lady’.” Kelsey said.

“Oh right. It’s Gwen. Yours?” the woman answered as she pulled her bag onto her shoulders.

“That's a nice name. I’m Kelsey.” she responded with a small smile on her face.