He wasn’t surrounded. Out-numbered, yes, but definitely not surrounded. Aiden held his sword to the side and lowered his stance. If blood would be shed today, he would have to shed it fast.

But there was no ifs about it. Blood would be shed.

The man in front of him raised his arms like an archer and drew it back. Knowledge is power, they always said on Earth, and Aiden had enough knowledge to know how true the saying was.

He darted forward, stance kept low. He did not use [Dash]. The man taking aim released his back arm. Aiden trailed the direction of his front hand and ducked to the side. The ground exploded in a pop of sound behind him but was left wholly unscathed.

It was interesting to see the skill [Formless Bow] in use so soon. It wasn’t necessarily rare, but it was interesting. In early levels and mastery, it was an invisible bow drawn from air and wisps of the person’s mana that fired air shots. At higher levels and mastery, it was something significantly greater.

A high perception stat was needed to truly see it. Or you can just follow the aim of the forward hand.

The man with the skill was not the one in front, however. So Aiden didn’t punish him for his action immediately. The one in front was a different opponent. He wore his handclaw in a tight fist. As Aiden approached him, he watched the fist turn a deep stone-grey.

[Stone Being] was an interesting skill. But like all skills, it had its limitations and flaws in early levels. The man stabbed forward, then turned into the stab with a wide slash. Aiden sidestepped the stab, then parried the slash. An echo of metals clashing rang out. Against someone of equal level with the skill, he would’ve probably been sent staggering back and into the wall. But this man was not his equal.

He was barely forced to take a step back.

The man scowled as he stepped into Aiden with a shoulder check, attempting to send him flying with his entire weight.

With low strength stats in comparison to his other stats, Aiden wasn’t in a hurry to go into a test of strength. So he slipped to the side and moved his swords gracefully. [Stone Being] was a skill that did as its name implied. In slow steps it turned its user into a body of stone that gave a very high defense. It also gave them a level of resistance to fire damage.

The problem, however, was that its progression level was slow and only extended to the arms in lower levels and mastery.

Aiden’s sword took the man’s arm at the shoulder. In a single cut, the man dropped to his knee screaming and wailing, blood dripping from his shoulder.

[You have dealt Dlane a Fatal Blow!]

Silence filled the tunnel as Aiden stepped past him, taking his head from his body in a second swing. The sound of the head hitting the ground was loud in the silence.

[Congratulations! You have slain Dlane Lvl 19]

“Next.”

The rest of the group stepped back in horror. Or perhaps it was blatant shock.

“He… he killed him,” one of them stuttered, looking at the others.

The group leader frowned at the body then at Aiden. On Nastild, murder was a greater crime than it was on Earth. The explanation was simply because there was an actual benefit to killing a fellow human on Nastild. The level gain was greater than killing a monster.

Here the punishment for a leveled murderer was always death at the hands of monsters. Unless the murder could be proven to be justified or system sanctioned. You could legally get away with almost anything that was system sanctioned.

To see a noble break such a rule so easily had to be worrying, especially one as young as Aiden currently was.

“If you won’t come to me,” Aiden said. “Then I’ll come to you.”

Before he moved, the leader roared. “Get him!”

A flurry of movements followed. All nine remaining men charged forward, together. Aiden’s hands moved quickly, fingers interweaving the magic of enchantments and casting it upon himself.

[You have used Weave of Lesser Speed]

[Effect: 30% increase in movement speed.]

[Duration: 00:08:10.]

The moment the weaving came into play, Aiden felt lighter.

The first skill that came at him was a blast of molten rocks. They came to life in the air above one of the men, burning as if they’d been taken directly from an active volcano.

They shot forward as the others came running at Aiden. With [Weave of Lesser Speed] coursing through him, he evaded the first rock with a simple step. The speed of the fired rock was slow, so slow that he probably hadn’t needed the weaving for it.

The first man caught up to Aiden as he dodged, along with the second and third. Three skills came alive at the same time. A less trained man would’ve thought there was strong teamwork at play, but there was none. They were simply jumping Aiden, counting on numbers over strategy.

This was nothing more than a street fight, but with skills instead of fists.

The ball of molten rock was as large as Aiden’s head and it shattered on the ground behind him. Of the three men on him, one became a bright red. Aiden’s mind flickered through the possibility of skills it could be but couldn’t come to a specific conclusion. Too many skills could make a man turn bright red.

Of the other two, one raised the ground beneath him. However, the ground only trembled slightly. Whatever his skill was, it wasn’t strong enough to break the seal of the Fharanal’s body fluid that glossed the entire tunnel. That he had been stupid enough to try said volumes about just how experienced the members of this group were.

Aiden stepped into the man with the red skin and ducked a bear hug. The fact that the man had chosen a bear hug instead of stabbing with his handclaw helped Aiden narrow down the skills. It was either a physical strength enhancement or something that affected the enemy by touch.

Aiden ran the man who’d tried to raise the ground through the chest with his sword.

[You have dealt Beraro a Fatal Blow!]

[Congratulations! You have slain Beraro Lvl 17!]

The smell of burnt flesh wrinkled Aiden’s nose and he drew his blade free almost immediately. He moved just in time to avoid the third man, only to realize that he hadn’t needed to.

The third man had thrown a punch at his face only for something to smack him behind the head with an explosive pop. He staggered forward, struck by an attack from the man with the [Formless Bow] skill.

Aiden turned his sword into a reverse grip, grabbed the man’s head in both hands as he passed him, and broke his neck in a single twist that carried all the weight of his strength stat. The sound of the neck breaking filled the room but Aiden kept moving forward, leaving the man glowing red behind him.

Three down, eight to go.

[Congratulations! You have slain Devoi Lvl 21!]

[Congratulations! You have Leveled Up!]

[Level 36 --> Level 37!]

[You are now Level 37!]

The sound of heavy footfalls rang out behind Aiden. The red man was coming after him. He could give him credit for not being loud and roaring in anger. It gifted him some element of surprise in the fight.

But not enough.

Aiden moved to the side, dodged another grab. He raised his sword a moment after just in time to parry the man’s swing. The claws of his handclaw slammed into Aiden’s sword.

Weak, Aiden noted.

The air around him was also growing hotter very slowly. It hadn’t been hot a moment ago. His eyes moved to the man and he watched the air around him simmer and distort. That gave Aiden his answer.

He caught movement out of the corner of his eye and moved his sword to defend. Its orange blade clashed into a ball of molten rock and turned it aside and into the wall where it shattered on impact.

The red man took a swipe at him again. Aiden stepped back, slapping the blow aside so that it continued on its trajectory. It sent the man stumbling to the side, thrown a little too far by the weight of his own punch.

No martial arts training, Aiden noted as he stepped out of the man’s reach. He ducked low, stepping to the side so that the next molten ball missed him.

“How hard can it be to kill one NOBLE BRAT!?” the leader roared.

Aiden turned and raised his sword. Guided by instinct, he buttressed the flat of the blade with the palm of his hand just in time to take the blow that came. Something struck his sword so hard it sent him three steps back. He held his own against it for the space of two breaths before the force disappeared.

Then he watched a spear—the one the leader had been carrying—rebound through the air to return to the man’s hand.

The man looked to a man on his side. “If I have to kill him myself, one of you is dying after this.”

Ruling with a tyrannical fist, Aiden thought, smoke rising from the point on his sword the spear had struck.

Curious, he checked his stamina.

[Stamina 86%]

With someone over level fifty waiting for the others to tire him out, maybe wasting his stamina on grunts wasn’t the best idea. Besides…

Aiden paused and deflected a blow from the man that glowed red. Sparks flew as metals clashed. They ignited the air where the metals met, creating a small flash of fire. Aiden moved, placed the man between him and the enemy with the [Formless Bow] skill.

The man that controlled the molten rocks had a partial view on him, but Aiden doubted he would be taking any shots soon for fear of hitting his teammate.

He moved back again, luring the red glowing man with him.

His eyes moved to the leader. Why is he standing back?

The men Aiden had killed weren’t even up to level thirty, yet they continued to charge after him. Was it because of fear?

Aiden’s eyes flickered to those that remained around the leader as he parried another blow and stepped away from a thrusting stab from the red man.

The others remained standing around their leader.

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Why?

They wouldn’t win, but they stood a better chance at victory if they all rushed him at once. Then again, they lacked order. If they all rushed him, there would be too much chaos. With just the three that had attacked him someone had already suffered the pain of friendly fire, and had proceeded to lose his life for it.

They weren’t just weak in level, they were weak as a team too. Aiden had seen teams like this before. Coupled together by some strong person. They were like bandits in the forest, versed in violence but not strength.

His eyes moved away from his opponent again. He took in the two ranged attackers at a glance as he deflected his enemy’s attack again. In front of him his opponent was growing into a maddening rage.

Aiden ignored him, taking in everything else. The leader was watching him with his complete attention. It led Aiden to thinking.

And he came to a conclusion a moment after. The leader was not experienced. He had his level going for him, maybe even some skills. But he lacked experience and he knew it.

With that, Aiden ducked a hot claw, came up behind the red man and thrust his sword into his neck. It was a quick strike. A straight jab. The sword was out as quickly as it had gone in.

The man fell silently to the ground, body crumpling like a puppet that had lost its puppeteer.

[You have dealt Guaron a Fatal Blow!]

[Congratulations! You have slain Guaron Lvl 22!]

Aiden set his eyes on those that remained. The man that had been using the balls of molten rocks and the man with the [Formless Bow] skill looked worried. Considering the fact that they were the only ones who’d attacked from a distance, except the leader, it was safe to say that they were the only ranged attackers the team had.

Six more remained.

The leader opened his mouth to speak but Aiden cut him off with a raised hand.

“Here’s what’s going to happen,” he said, loud enough for all to hear. “For the safety of those currently passed out behind me, I will not be taking any offer of surrender.” He reached for one of his pockets and opened it. A small orb fell in his hand. “I will also not be allowing any retreats.”

He tossed the orb on the ground in front of them casually and it activated.

[You have used Orb of Lesser Solitude.]

The men watched in confusion as the dome spread around them, swallowing them and banishing away the rest of the world around them. None of them moved, their leader’s scowl deepened.

“You do not want to do this,” he warned. “You have no idea who we are.”

Aiden didn’t care. He knew all the major poaching crews currently operating in and around Bandiv. None of them was beyond reproach. None of them were truly powerful. One would emerge in the next four years but that was not a problem since Aiden had no intentions of going into the poaching business.

And if this was the crew that was supposed to be it—he doubted they were—then there would be no rise to power in the future.

“More people will die here,” Aiden continued, interlacing his fingers, weaving a new enchantment onto himself. “And I don’t intend on being one of them.”

[You have used skill Walking Canvas]

…

[You have used Weave of Lesser Lightning]

The air crackled around him. Lightning coursed through him and streaked from his skin to charge the air. With [Weave of Lesser Speed] still coursing through him, Aiden felt light on his feet. With the lightning, he was like a child on a sugar rush.

Placing a finger against the red hot blade of his sword where the symbols for the enchantment that currently kept it burning, he—

Aiden took his hand away and twirled the sword with a flick of the wrist. He stepped to the side immediately and his blade smashed into another ball of molten rock.

His eyes settled on the man who had used the skill.

The man took a hesitant step back before regaining his wits about him.

“If you want to go first,” Aiden said, voice calm and intimidating by choice, “then I will be happy to oblige.”

Aiden took a single step forward and activated [Dash]. In the space of a breath he was amongst them, sword swinging, dancing with death in hand just as the Order had taught him.

The first man, the wielder of the molten rocks, saved himself from death with one of them. Aiden’s sword slammed into it shattering the rock but did not harm the man. Aiden ignored it and ducked low into a pivot. When he came up for an attack the entire group was surrounded in the colors of activated skills.

Aiden’s eyes darted about in his socket, catalogued every attack. Skills of yellow and blue and purple and pink filled the air. None were auras. He knew this as surely as he knew he killed without remorse. Aura had a weight to it, a weight that none of these had.

Aiden stepped forward, distanced himself from a man with a skill that spread like pink fire and rushing into a man with what looked like a sword made from shadows. He stuck his blade in the man’s neck before the man could strike.

Blood didn’t spray when he drew his sword free, the heat from the sword cauterizing the wound almost immediately. His interface popped up in front of him.

[Congratulations! You have slain Attus Lvl 18!]

…

[Darinus has received lightning damage!]

[Darinus is stunned]

Aiden turned not knowing who or where Darinus was. He went to the left, went for the leader who leveled his spear immediately at him. The act was nothing but a feint, and Aiden took the left arm of a man to the side. He had short hair, shaved clean on one side with a tattoo of a snake.

The man screamed in pain as Aiden’s interface told him what he already knew.

[You have dealt Bari a Fatal Blow!]

The air exploded against Aiden’s shoulder and he spun from the force of the blow. He staggered to the side, letting the force take him.

[Antel has received lightning damage!]

[Antel is stunned]

Aiden ignored the pain in his shoulder as he hopped to the side a moment before something exploded there. His hand went to his bright orange blade just where he could still see the soft blue sigils that made up the [Enchantment of Lesser Flame].

He’d practiced his new skill enough in the past few days to be confident in what he was about to do. The sword was hot to the touch when his finger met it but didn’t burn.

He placed a finger on the edge of the sigils and runes and manipulated it. When his finger moved, so did the lines.

[You have used skill Modify Engrave]

The modification was done within the space of a breath. Aiden took a cut to the cheek from a sword stab to the head he’d failed to avoid properly for his worries. It stung and began to bleed almost immediately.

[You have used skill Modify Engrave on Enchantment of Lesser Flame]

[Enchantment of Lesser Flame is now Enchantment of Lesser Ice]

The skill was nifty. With it, Aiden could rearrange any enchantment he had power over to another at the cost of no mana. The enchantment would simply continue to feed off whatever mana had activated it in the first place.

With cold mist spilling from his sword, darkening its steel into a strong blue, Aiden turned and thrust at the man with the molten rocks. Unsurprisingly, the man summoned the rocks again as he staggered back in fear.

Aiden’s pushed forward and his sword pierced a straight hole through the molten rock. He knew when his blade slipped out the other side of the rock and stabbed into the man’s head. Aiden withdrew his blade the moment it did and was already moving. The rock broke into different pieces and fell from the air, dry and cracked in different pieces.

[You have dealt Antel a Critical Blow!]

[You have dealt Antel a Fatal Blow!]

[Congratulations! You have slain Antel Lvl 25!]

…

[Congratulations! You have Leveled Up!]

[Level 37 --> Level 38!]

[You are now Level 38!]

…

[Congratulations! You have slain Bari Lvl 22!]

Aiden could scarcely remember the name as he moved on, the energy of leveling up flooding him from his heart to fill his body. He stepped over a man slumped forward on the ground with only one arm.

A spear shot out from his side as he moved and Aiden threw himself to the ground. He hit the ground in a roll. Coming up to his feet, he scrambled to get behind the group as quickly as he could.

The leader was already moving now. Turning, he stabbed forward with his spear only to seize up for the briefest moment.

Lightning continued to spark in the charged air around Aiden.

[Voshret has received lightning damage!]

[Voshret is stunned]

The stun lasted for only a fraction of a second, but it was enough. Aiden was gone before the spear thrust was completed. It skewered only a part of his shirt as he escaped.

Then he was on the next man.

[You have dealt Bratvi a Fatal Blow!]

The poacher called Bratvi was bald and he cried out in pain as he lost his leg to the bite of cold steel. The cold from Aiden’s sword would not be enough to stop the blood flow. If not attended to, the man would die soon.

Aiden slammed a vicious knee into his head as he passed him.

[You have dealt Bratvi a Critical Blow!]

[Bratvi is stunned]

Aiden turned an attack from a handclaw to the side with his sword. Sparks didn’t fly when both metals clashed. He turned, hand shooting out, and grabbed the man by the face. He shoved him into the wall and heard a crack as the man’s head struck the wall.

It would not be enough to kill him.

Again, Voshret, the leader, came at Aiden with a spear thrust.

Aiden released the man in his hand in time to escape and Voshret’s spear impaled the man. Aiden’s mind ticked off the dead man. His feet moved beneath him and carried him out of Voshret’s range in a dance for survival.

[Health 96%]

[Mana 50%]

[Stamina 58%]

Voshret ripped his spear from the corpse and chased after Aiden. He proved himself of relative skill with the spear. It was in the way he followed, ran with it. He held the weapon like someone who knew what he was doing.

Aiden did not engage him. He could not. Not if he wanted to win. There were two more men to be dealt with. If he was to face someone as strong as Voshret, it would have to be one on one.

He turned so he could keep an eye on Voshret and his eyes widened as the tip of the spear made a straight line for him.

Aiden ducked his head to the side in time and barely survived the attack.

Could’ve lost the eye, he thought with a mild panic as he continued his evasion.

He kept his feet moving him around in a circle, martial arts guiding him so that he was difficult to hit. This way he kept them within the confines of the [Orb of Lesser Solitude].

But he was running out of time. Aiden reached into his pocket and pulled out a prism. Activating it with a sliver of mana, he threw it in the air.

Voshret reacted immediately. His spear shot upwards, lightning fast, and skewered the device. Aiden turned his face away at the last moment.

[You have used Prism of Lesser Flash]

A blinding flash of light filled the entire cave. It lasted for less than a heartbeat but worked for its purpose. Unlike most enchanted items that were actual enchantments, this one was simply light trapped within a prism. What the enchantment did was release the light in a flash.

An instructor in the Order had once claimed that supporting classes like [Enchanter], [Blacksmith] and [Alchemist] were classes worthy of being feared should they ever possess active combat capabilities.

Aiden knew why. You did not want an enemy with a device for almost everything.

He tried his luck on Voshret, stabbed forward, sword aimed for his heart. Even blinded, Voshret moved quickly, diving away. Aiden doubted the man had actually dodged his attack. He was likely simply moving to avoid a possible attack.

Smart, Aiden thought as [Dash] carried him forward, and he ran his sword through the man who’d possessed the [Formless Bow] skill.

This is a massacre, he told himself as the man scraped at his sword in pain. You can’t justify this.

Aiden did not intend on justifying it. He knew what he was doing. He knew what he was. He could claim self-defense and get away with it, but this was...

Anyone with a good eye that saw this would know that it was too precise, trained. Aiden had broken no laws but Valdan might look at him differently... He frowned.

Why did that matter?

He pulled his sword free and swung it in an arc, ridding it of any blood on it.

[You have dealt Darinus a Fatal Blow!]

[Congratulations! You have slain Darinus Lvl 20!]

Aiden ignored the notification and turned in time to watch the last man stagger back with horror on his face. He was pale, white as a sheet. His mouth moved in barely formed words. Fear painted him like a clown. It danced in his eyes and held his tongue greedily.

In the end only a weak croak spilled from the man’s lips as he pulled himself back and away from Aiden.

“Please… no.”

Aiden’s heart tightened at the words. It was unexpected. He didn’t think of himself as a monster, but he had considered himself cold blooded when he needed to be. He’d thought he’d needed to be cold blooded here. He thought he had closed his heart to the pain and the suffering he was about to create. To the madness he was still painting with the corpses of others who had tried to take his life.

The man was still shaking his head, pulling himself back. His mouth moved but no sound came out. He could’ve been praying. Pleading. His eyes were wide in horror.

He could’ve been...

A spear ran him through the forehead and everything went silent.

Voshret stood next to the man’s body, spear in hand. He spat to the side in annoyance, eyes red in anger. He fixed the eyes on Aiden.

“It was slow,” he said, voice bitter. “But I was trying to build an empire. These riff-raffs were to be the first of my crew. Then I would grow them one by one. Those that would not grow would be replaced. But this is what you have made of them. Such quick work.” He looked at him, shook his head. “And all they were able to do was land a scratch or two. But this is their state.”

He gestured around with a sweep of his hand. Around them the tunnel was still cast in blue light. At some point the light of fire from their torch had gone out. The stick lay barren in one corner, discarded at some point.

Aiden did not turn his head to look at the scene around him. He did not take in the corpses or the chaos he knew himself capable of. He had fought weaker men than him and killed them. They had come for him first. That was his justification. They had threatened to take his life.

But he knew himself. It was not his justification. It was his excuse.

“At the risk of sounding cliché,” Voshret continued. “I will make you an offer. As the son of a noble, I would rather not have your death on my hands. So accept me, finance me, and I will regrow a network of men that will serve me. I will build you power in the underworld where you have no hold so that when you rise to power, your power will extend to every reach.”

Aiden watched him and waited. Then he let out a tired sigh.

Everyone is always working an angle. He ran a hand through his hair. Even me.

Voshret paused at his action. “I see I have wasted both our times,” he said. “I would apologize for it, but an apology is beneath me.”

Aiden agreed. “Shall we just bring this to an end?”

“From your lips to my ear, boy.” Voshret’s frown did not falter. He raised his spear and pointed it at Aiden’s chest. “From your heart to my spear.”

Aiden took an offensive stance and held his sword in both hands.

For the corpses, he would do something about them, maybe he could hide what had happened here long enough--until he and the princess and Valdan returned to the capital. But for now, he needed to win, to walk out of this cave alive.

There was no other option than that.