Shin weaved through the forest under the heavy scrutiny of the leader. He made an effort of turning his head to look around, though just shifting his eyes would have sufficed. None of the five trailing behind had spoken a word, leading to building of palpable tension. Shin walked into the clear and a bit to the right, turning to face the others, eyes taking note of their positions.
“Richard…” The warrior man seemed to have not accepted the ranger’s death until he saw the body, energy and vigor left him.
Barnes gave Shin a look as he walked towards the body, first gleaning what he could from a distance, then inspecting things more closely. He took note of the ranger’s hand resting near the shaft of an arrow buried in the giant bat’s neck and push the creature away to see the area of the neck ripped out.
His eyes then turned down to the ranger’s belt and he froze. The spatial bag wasn’t there. He grabbed the body by the shoulder to turn it over, to check if it was on the other side or at the back and the ranger’s neck creaked, shifting over at an unnatural angle. Nerves ablaze he jolted his head back just in time to see Shin snap the neck of the rogue and sprint back into the forest.
“Get him!” Barnes roared as he charged in pursuit.
Mendez and Zhang were the first to react, but the two new warriors caught on to the situation quickly enough. However, they couldn’t catch up. Shin cut through the trees with a speed and deftness unthinkable of a priest. There was no hesitation in his movement, no second guessing or assessing the path. He just flew.
Shin grabbed a spatial bag hidden in the bushes as he lunged out into the camp clearing, to Grace’s surprise. Shin’s eyes only met hers for a split second before checking his sides and sprinting to the right. The priestess froze at the sight of the boy dashing straight for her, half confused. Before she could understand what was happening, a hatchet appeared in his hands and cleaved through her neck.
Before her body could even hit the ground, Shin pivoted and burst back in the opposite direction with no loss in speed. Grace’s knees gave out as she slumped down in shock and terror, but Shin rushed right passed her without a second glance, barreling straight for Milton.
“Jolene!!!”
Shin ignored the howl of grief, his eyes trained solely on the mage, and hurled the hatchet with all his might. The hatchet sailed right over the mage as he tripped over in his clumsy fright back. A second hatchet appear in Shin’s left, unfazed by the failure of the first and hurled again. Milton yelled pathetically, arm raised as he shot a ball of mana in desperation, striking the hatchet off course.
Shin couldn’t help but be a little impressed by the skeevy mage’s luck but that’s all it was, and it would run out. He slipped a second mana ball without lowering his speed but a whistle in the wind made him roll away as two hatchets sailed through the air where he had been.
“Murderer!” The new warrior man charged towards him in blind rage.
Shin glanced at the mage who had taken the opportunity to scamper off in the direction of the rest of the party just crossing through the tree line. Without a second thought, Shin turned his attention to the enraged warrior. Not getting the mage was less than optimal but he had taken care of the biggest problems already. It was just a matter of time now.
Shin dodged a swing of the axe and then another and another. A barrage of blows coating in the mana Shin knew to be the Enhanced Strike skill. The warrior raised the axe above his head and Shin took the opening, a bow and arrow forming in his hand as he jumped back, releasing a shot into the large warrior’s throat before he could react. The warrior stayed on his feet through blood filled gurgles and took a step forward, but a second arrow through the forehead ended his fight for good.
Shin turned a third arrow’s aim at the rest of his enemy’s approaching, but Barnes and Mendez were out in front, shield’s raised. Shin wasn’t confident enough in his archery skill to hit the small target of their eyes on the move, and the remaining five were properly coordinating now. He stepped forward to touch the greataxe and place it in his spatial bag then fled into the forest.
“Don’t let him escape! He’ll pick us off one by one!” Barnes spurred on his remaining party. They rushed into the forest after him but came to a halt finding no trace of him.
“Crowd together. He has the bow.” The soldier ordered, himself still on edge. He and Mendez held the front, shields frantically held towards every direction an arrow could come from.
Zhang had their left, the side of his good arm, and the warrior woman had the right, longsword in one arm and her teammate’s armor in the next, held out like a shield. All protecting Milton who had been given a helm and forced to join.
They moved, the sudden lull in action dragging on too long. The silence of the dark forest ate away at the adrenaline that had fueled them into it and with each passing moment the anxiety of facing a shot from the shadows grew worse. Barnes cursed in his mind.
The boy he thought to be nothing was not only far too physically adept to be normal, but he was also experienced in fighting, in killing. Two days of madness isn’t enough to take away all of someone’s hesitation, nor could it explain the judgement and skill he displayed. He was trained, before all of this. That or ranking up held more secrets than he expected.
Barnes remembered that the boy had said he received stat points for ranking up. He cursed himself as a fool for believing that he hadn’t put those 50 total points into physical stats. From the start, the eerie priest had given him a bad feeling. Had he known what he was capable of, he would have came at him with everything from the start.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“What do we do?” Mendez asked, anxious for a good answer.
Barnes snapped back into focus. This was no time to be crying over what was done. He had to give everything to the fight in front of him. “Fireball, over there now.”
“But-”
“Do it! We need the light!” Milton flinched under the intimidating order and shot a ball of fire at the cluster of bushes as he was told. The shrubbery went up in a blaze as soon as the fireball struck, the newly made bonfire clawing away at the darkness.
“Find him!”
Barnes’s eyes darted around at his own command. They needed to kill this demon now or they don’t stand a chance. A figure in the shadows, just barely in sight, caught his eye but before he could speak, a massive axe hurled out from the dark, catching his shield with enough force to knock him on his back, over the mage he crashed into.
“Rush him!” Mendez yelled, and the three of them still standing charged forward. To his surprise, Shin didn’t retreat into the dark but instead stood firm. “I’ve been waiting to kill you, freak!”
The sword and shield warrior charged forth, mighty and fierce, and fell flat on his face. For an instant after he hit the ground, he was stunned speechless. Had he more time he would have realized his foot caught on the rope Shin had tied between two trees just off the dirt in the dark, but an instant was all he had. A foot nailed his weapon to the ground and a sword plunged through his neck, and all his fierceness and might was gone.
Shin let go of the sword and leap back, dodging a swing of Warrior Woman’s longsword. Behind him the monk lunged with a fist cloaked in mana and the warrior swung again. Shin spun low, kicking Monk hard enough in the side to break something as the longsword sailed clear over him, sending him rolling back.
Combat daggers appear in Shin’s hands as he closed the distance between Warrior Woman. A thrust nicked her neck as she lurched back just in time, swinging her sword recklessly to force a halt. She regained her stance quickly and swung down. A tap of the dagger against the flat of the sword’s center was all it took to deflect it harmlessly away. He couldn’t do the same against the weight and shape of a greataxe, but a sword was no problem.
Warrior Woman shouted away the chill down her spine and thrust her blade, but a dagger sliding along the edge pushed it away and another found a sheath in her neck. A quick twist gave a sickening pop and her body crumpled to the ground. Shin turned to face the monk, who had risen from the ground, clutching his side. Two broken ribs by Shin’s count.
He swatted the blood off his daggers and they vanished, charging the monk unarmed. Veins bulged across the monk’s bald head as he pushed every ounce of strength into a punch. Shin weaved around the fist with unnatural grace and crushed his throat with a chiseled fist. A guttural wheeze escaped the monk’s mouth but before he could gasp for air, Shin caught the top of his skull with a roundhouse kick, snapping his neck clean.
The monk’s body staggered but Shin held it up before it could fall and looked over to the two who had rejoined the fight.
Barnes and Milton stared in shock at the bodies of hardened players and the boy who stood among them unscathed. He glanced at them both before locking onto Milton, sending the man into panic. Shin snapped into motion, picking up the monk’s body as a shield and charging towards the sniveling mage. Milton raised his hand and a ball of flames swirled into existence.
“Wait!”
“Stay away!” The mage paid no heed to leader’s words, casting fireball after fireball at Shin.
The balls of flames struck Monk’s torso and wrapped around it, just out of reach of the hands that held it up. Each strike caused the blaze to grow larger and larger, but the fourth attempt caused nothing but spluttering mana.
“No, no!” Milton pleaded as Shin rammed Monk into him, setting the mage ablaze in an instant to ghastly wails of agony.
Shin looked to his right, where he had seen Barnes had turned tail and run out of the corner of his eye. He sped off after him, not bothering to confirm the mage’s death, whose fate was already sealed. The leader had fled in the direction of the camp and Shin could guess at what his aim was.
“Don’t move!” Shin came to a stop not two steps into the clearing, his suspicions confirmed at the sight of Barnes holding Grace hostage in front of him, dagger to her throat. “Try anything and she dies.”
Shin kept perfectly still, his ever present calm slight smile unchanged throughout it all. A dagger appeared in his hand as he slowly walked forward.
“Don’t test me, boy!” Barnes pressed the dagger into her neck enough to draw blood. “You think I haven’t been watching you?! Even a monster likes something.”
“I don’t like her, though?” Shin seemed genuinely confused, albeit in his own nonchalant way, to the man’s bewilderment and the woman’s dismay.
“Don’t try and bluff me!” He pressed the blade deeper, making a serious wound now.
Shin sprinted forward, not a single ounce of hesitation in his eyes.
Barnes shoved Grace out of the way, taking a trained stance, dagger out front. “You think you can kill me, boy?!” He roared.
Shin met him with a single dagger, weaving his arm around the warrior’s and slicing through his tendon as he pulled it back. The desperate leader drew a second dagger with his left and Shin snapped his arm in two. Barnes staggered back, arms hanging limp, and two knives thrown in his thigh makes him drop to a knee. Shin stepped on the hatchet Milton had knocked away as he drew closer, it vanishing and reappearing in his hand.
“De-” The hatchet cleaved off his head before he could finish the word.
[Acquired common tier skill Basic Martial Combat Lvl. 1.]
[Basic Martial Combat has reached Lvl 7.]
“You can learn skills on your own?” A significant revelation but one Shin would have to address later. He had more immediate priorities.
Tossing the hatchet away, he walked over to Grace, sat motionless on the ground, hand holding her injury. “Can you stand?” The hand Shin held out for her was slapped away. Tears ran down her face, her expression one of disbelief and betrayal. Shin paused for a moment to think.
“You’ll die out here alone.” Utterly blunt words from a casual pleasant voice as he raised his hand again, this time to cast Treat Wounds. “Stay with me until we find a party for you to join.”
That didn’t elicit a response as Shin hoped, returning him to thought once again.
“Stuff like this happens.”
Grace’s eyes widened slightly. She trembled, out of frustration rather than fear. Words tried to rise from her core but stuck in her throat, eventually settling into dull weariness. Shin waited for her response but the wound healed first.
“Wait. I need to loot some things then we’ll leave. It’s too dangerous here.” Shin strolled off.
Grace hadn’t replied but it seemed enough for him. He looked around and thought before heading over to ranger and rogue first. With his sight under control and the things in the way dealt with, he could explore this trial the goddess had called a baptism freely and wholly. Shin broke into a run again, the pain he had grown used to over the last four years still nowhere to be felt since the arrival of the Tower. Things were good.