Kill steal.

The thought left a bitter taste in my mouth. I stood at the edge of the shelf above the broken Primal Rock Lurker, unable to loot it for the sweet rewards we deserved.

Paz put my emotions into words. “Oi. What the fuck?”

A party of three rankers marched out of cover in the direction of our cave. One of them had a shield strapped to his back, while the other wore a bow. The final member carried nothing save for the robes on her back—a Warlock, then.

I used [Identify] to discern their levels: 15, 16, and 18, for the Guardian, Ranger, and Warlock respectively. All three looked human, blessed with the light-colored hair and olive skin common among Bargherians.

The Ranger smirked as they approached and looked at the swamp in distaste. “See? I told you to follow the sounds of fighting. We wouldn’t have found anything otherwise.”

The Guardian snorted. “I concede your victory. But, I didn’t expect anyone to hide out in this filth. Gods, it reeks.” He spat off to the side. “I'll never be able to wash the stench out of my boots.”

“Sorry about the kill steal,” the Warlock shouted to us, raising her arms to show she meant no harm. “I didn’t want to intervene, but my teammates were getting angsty. They thought you could use some help.”

“Bastards,” Paz said, taking a step toward the newcomers.

I shifted to block him.

Something about the newcomers bothered me, and it wasn’t in the way they bantered among themselves despite knowing what they had done.

It was the fact that all three had only decided to reveal themselves now that we had exhausted our resources. It made it seem like they had merely stolen our kill—an action that encouraged our indignation and made us willing to listen to any offers of compensation.

However, if kill steals were all they’d wanted, they would have taken off immediately after succeeding.

These rankers were here for us, whether by opportunity or intent. And, the only reason they hadn’t tried to snipe us from out of cover was greed. They intended to milk every ounce of XP they could get.

The Warlock smiled genially, showing off dimples on both sides of her cheek. Her soft features offered a moderate distraction—if I ignored the fact that she was here to kill me.

“I don’t mind giving up the loot," she said, "if you will have it. I think it's only right, considering that we are the ones at fault.”

“Paz,” I whispered. “We’re not engaging them.”

Paz growled, eyes turning back to normal with the expiration of his [Draconic Aura]. He thankfully didn’t rebel.

“Aye, you’re right,” he said. “I think they have another member hidden nearby too. Probably, a caster or a second Ranger. That’s standard practice for approaching an unknown party.”

“We go over the ledge, then?”

Paz grimaced as if the idea of retreating put ulcers in his belly. “Yes, Damien. Over the ledge.”

The Warlock narrowed her eyes.

Nicola peeked out from cover, having been smart enough to advance closer to us the instant the Primal Rock Lurker had fallen.

I nodded at her.

She didn’t hesitate.

A magic sigil opened up between the two parties, bearing the last spell Nicola had been charging.

The Warlock barked a command at her companions, but the [Bloom of Crimson Desire] halted their advance. One giant tentacle wrapped around the Guardian and slammed him into the ground.

I didn’t wait to see the outcome. Paz, Nicola, and I put the scene behind us and sprinted over the ledge.

“Watch out!” Paz said and shouldered Nicola out of the way of an arrow imbued with Compassion.

We landed clumsily on the remains of the Primal Rock Lurker, and then we raced for the trees amid a barrage of magic and arrows.

The rough terrain helped hide our escape. But, my heart kept thudding in my chest.

We stopped running once we were sure our attackers had lost our trail, but only after we had taken stamina potions and burned even that.

I led the team through the bushes and back into the stream, which was our best shot at hiding our tracks.

Nicola fell to all fours the instant I called for a halt, down to her last lick of stamina.

Paz helped her to a sitting position before she could collapse into the water.

He rounded on me. “If you let this slight go unanswered, Damien, I would quit the team.”

“If you have enough stamina to talk,” I replied, “go survey the perimeter. We need a safe place to [Meditate].”

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For one terse minute, Paz looked like he would toss the order back in my face. I wasn’t superior to him in any way, after all. And, we might have been named Damien's Party, but leader I was not.

However, Paz once more showed a surprising amount of restraint. He swallowed his dissent and waded off to do as I asked.

I gazed down at my shaky fingers and leaned against the slope of the bank. The events of the past few hours infuriated me, but what did I expect? Vizhima was a dog-eat-dog world, much like mine. And, the powerful seized whatever they could from the grasp of the weak.

Yet, why did I feel so angry?

“Damien,” Nicola said in a quiet voice. “We are going to seek revenge for this, right?”

The vehemence in my reply surprised even me. “Yes.”

“Good,” she said, and her voice hardened. “I’m done letting people walk all over me.” She took a deep breath. “I’m just done.”

Paz returned a few minutes later with information that we were in the clear. We meditated in turns, leaving one person on the lookout each time.

After three hours, we switched locations and repeated the cycle until the day wore on into the evening. All three of us rose with full reserves of renewables, though even that did nothing for the cloud that hovered over our heads.

Nicola offered The Ring of the Mana Conduit back to me, but I let her keep it. It was empty now, anyway. Plus, as the sole caster in our team, she needed it more than I ever could.

Paz had hit level 14 after the demise of the Primal Rock Lurker. But, a palpable anger simmered within him, enough to boil the air.

I met my teammates’ eyes and nodded as slowly as I could. “We've rested enough. It's time to hunt those fuckers.”

Paz grinned.

We made our way back to the camp, picking our route with the careful use of Nicola's [Eldritch Eyeball].

The ability allowed her to conjure a floating eyeball with a visibility radius of up to two hundred meters. It required the closing of one of her eyes to properly interpret the information, a clause that left her distracted. That distraction paid off in the fact that we could assess the nature of our camp before we finally returned.

The enemy had violated it.

The Primal Rock Lurker’s corpse had long since been looted, leaving an imprint in its place. The other party had taken umbrage with Nicola’s spell because they hadn’t been satisfied with leaving things at that.

They had destroyed every single one of our possessions that they could reach. Ripped beddings lay strewn across the cave floor, alongside pieces of metal that once belonged to our cooking pots.

Our clotheslines hadn’t been spared either. All three of the constructs lay dismantled, leaving washed clothes inch-deep in mud.

They didn't need to do that. I only had a single change of clothes!

Nicola frowned at the remnants of our sheets, which lay ripped up and coated with urine.

She didn’t say a word because nothing needed to be said. Our displeasure would be communicated to them via violence.

“They haven’t gone far,” Paz said, holding his nose at the smell that issued from the sheets. “These are still fresh.”

“Can you track them?” I asked.

“Not without a [Hunting] skill. And, although my senses are good, they aren’t much better than yours. All I can tell you is that they chased after us before returning to commit this atrocity.” He paused. “Less than half an hour ago, judging by the smell.”

I looked around the swamp. Even if the enemy party lingered nearby, we had no way of knowing what direction they had traveled in. Bumbling blindly after them could also land us in trouble, seeing as they had at least one ranger on their team.

“I might have something,” Nicola said, stirring from her thoughts. “It’s not much, but whenever my Eros meter is supercharged, my abilities leave residual Eros on surfaces they touch. I can’t see this residue with normal sight, but I can if I activate [Eldritch Eyeball] . . .”

Paz and I shared a look.

“Why am I not surprised?” Paz said. “Sex solves everything.”

I gave the go-ahead to Nicola who rolled her eyes at Paz's barb.

Her eyebrows crinkled as she summoned the magical eyeball again and sifted through the information it provided.

“Too much residue,” she muttered.

Nevertheless, she pointed in a random direction, and we followed, waiting for her to pick up a trail. Paz led from the forefront as an off tank, while I silently brought up the rear.

The waning Eros that Nicola pursued wasn’t the best of guides. We had to stop and allow her to reorient herself a few times.

After what felt like an eternity, during which we left the swamp and entered sturdier ground, her golden eyes dimmed with rage. “Found them.”

I swallowed a cheer.

Nighttime had fallen during the pursuit, putting us at a disadvantage, though all three of us had ways to compensate.

The combination of elven senses and feather walk meant I could travel through the dark forest floor with barely a rustle. Paz had his blessings from [Dragon Touched] to help him navigate, while Nicola directed the proceedings from behind, relying primarily on our movements.

We had spared a few breaths to discuss strategy earlier on in the hunt. The other team might not expect retaliation, but they wouldn’t be easily snuck upon. Paz’s [Sanguine Return] had come off cooldown, buying him one shot at a risk-free diversion.

The onus of taking out the soft targets fell on me, however. I needed to remove them from the equation before the fight even began.

Nicola believed she could handle the Ranger, leaving the Warlock as the prime choice for first blood. We decided to ignore the Guardian for as long as we could. He worked best by taking attention off his teammates and would be easier to kill once he had no teammates left.

Sadly, our entire plan hinged on battlefield awareness and control. If we failed to uncover the locations of all four before we moved, well, we best prepare for a bloody fight.

“Got any visual yet?” I asked Nicola, from behind the safety of a deridum tree.

The grasses here grew short and sparse, but the trees stood taller than was usual in Dreadwood. A good location for a party to keep an eye out. But, none of that mattered to an Assassin of Fear.

“I’ve got . . . visual?” Nicola said, struggling with the wording. “They are setting up around a campfire a few hundred meters away. But, I only see three of them in the vicinity.”

“The fourth’s on the watch, then,” Paz said. “Another Ranger. They shot arrows at us while we fled.”

I digested the information, surprised at the calmness in my heart despite what was certain to follow.

I spun The Blackreach Dagger in my hand. “I’m pretty sure I can do good damage to that Ranger before the others notice, but I’ll need you to confirm their location, Nicola.”

“Working on it,” she said through gritted teeth. “The Guardian’s the only one with any residue on him. The others need to be picked out by skill alone.”

We waited patiently as she directed the [Eldritch Eyeball] to hover over their camp.

“There,” Nicola said, pointing northeast. “There’s someone situated on a tree just beside the tallest in the area. You can’t miss them. It’s a short distance away from the campfire.”

I blinked in that direction, unable to spot anyone even with elven sight. The light of the campfire was visible enough, however. I could use that.

[Stealth] and [Dark Stalker] enwrapped me like a cloak and pulled me into the night.

I dashed toward my target, brooking no hesitation.