A man emerged from nothing as he jumped in the air catching the attention of everyone on top of the roof. His arrows were shot and seconds later he threw his Steel Dirk in continuation. Four kobolds howled in response bleeding with arrows on their bodies and one of them with a dagger embedded inside their furry body.

The kobold who was left alone jumped up as it assaulted Jason in mid-air. But Jason didn’t finish yet, he swung both of his open arms as green crescent shape projectiles flew in the air as it hit the jumping kobold at a close distance. The last one received the most fatal attack. The wind cutters ripped the kobold apart until what left of it was just a corpse riddled with deep cut wounds. The kobold fell on the roof turning into a fresh corpse.

The four which were in pain but still living understood one thing, now they were facing against the real deal, the one who decimated almost two-third of their squad sent to kill these humans breaching upon their new territory. Now, it was time for them to get serious.

One of the kobolds howled, and the loud howl stunned Jason and the man fell on the roof on both of his feet but left immobile. The three other kobolds rushed at him in unison. Two were vanguard and one a scout. Two hammers slammed across Jason’s body and a blade of jambalaya dagger struck Jason by the leg.

Jason braced for impact, although he didn’t feel the pain but he gritted his teeth knowing he couldn’t do anything while being stun.

Meanwhile, Hakeem and Scott also experienced the sensation of not being able to move. A hint of realization just struck them as they noticed the fight they just won before, the kobold didn’t use the stunning ability of the howl, their body shivered in fright since they knew they would be dead if the kobold managed to howl.

One second was up and Jason was about to move, yet another howl came once more coming from the vanguard kobold that just attacked him.

Fuck!

Their teamwork was terrifying. This time all four kobolds struck in unison as his energy guard dwindled once more. This time his energy guard rose to level four, but he was still in a big pinch. Another second was up and another howl was coming.

Shadow Sneak!

Jason was faster and he disappeared into nothingness. The howl spread in the air stunning every being in the area. These four kobolds attacked at the empty spot where there should be a person hiding in plain sight. But hammers and daggers clashed together as all four hit nothing but their own cold weapons.

All four turned into like wolves raising up their noses into the air searching for the invisible human. Unlike before, Jason was moving freely under Shadow Sneak. One the best perk for being better than Shadow Hide was the ability to not be affected by the status ailment type ability during hiding. A perfect way to fight against those pesky stunners. Jason stood behind one of them and aimed his glowing arrows right behind their head.

“Triple Strafe,” he said.

Three arrows pierced the skull of that kobold leaving it dead. The moment he released the arrows, he muttered those two words hiding immediately. He had no more points to spare to go toe to toe with these furry creatures. No matter if it was cowardice or not, he still needed to live.

Another kobold howled once more trying to catch Jason in its stun but it failed miserably. Those three watched the dead kobold which was just among the living a second. Now, these three kobolds knew they were in deep shit. Then one of them, saw those two humans petrified by the howl.

It grunted to two of its kin and they moved in unison. They sprinted like mad dogs as they bared their weapons and fangs at the vulnerable two humans. Yet one went down instantly with three arrows in its head but the other living two didn’t stop rushing at the two immobile humans.

It was either them or these two humans. They didn’t care about living or dying at the moment as their only purpose were to just to take another one of these weakling humans. Humans that they easily trampled just a while ago.

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Jason didn’t move his legs as his bow was already drawn with shining white arrows. Three flew away as two of them struck one of the kobolds by the head, and the only one left was struck by the one arrow.

The one who was shot with two immediately wounded up dead but the one-shot by one arrow still lived holding on to its last breath, it stood in front of Hakeem as it swung its sharp claws at the man. It gave out halfway during its swing but enough to deal heavy damage at the defenseless Hakeem.

“Argh!” the black man screamed as the claw went from his upper torso down to his loin. Blood poured out like a fountain as Hakeem couldn’t believe what just happened. He was losing consciousness by the second as his knees fell, striking the hard-cold roof with his own blood pooling underneath him.

Scott watched in horror as it could be him if it wasn’t for his damn luck. Jason let go of his bow and rushed at his dying friend. He grabbed Hakeem’s body right before he could fall, he muttered.

“Heal,” glowing green light engulfed Hakeem's entire being as Scott watched in awe. The man who could conjure pointy icicles had an assumption in mind.

Heal? This guy can use heal? Thought Scott.

An ability that can heal was definitely something to be sought over. Even in the Canadia Special Ops team, the Awakened that were conscripted had none of Jason’s abilities. At first, he was impressed by the ability to shoot three arrows in unison, after that he was dumbfounded that he had a second ability to turn invisible, that single lone skill of turning invisible was valuable in a sense of espionage, attacking and retreating. But what happened next only blew his mind away, this man showed numerous more skills afterward that only left him dumbfounded. He was an all-rounded man that could do everything.

Scott just watched seeing Hakeem being healed. A minute later the green light faded away and Hakeem was good as new albeit, there was a huge vertical claw scar on his torso down to his groin. Jason didn’t know why but he couldn’t heal such a scar even though he healed Hakeem’s previous old ankle injury.

The heck?

“Hmm?” Hakeem woke up as his eyes slowly opened. He saw the face of his friend which was frowning about something.

“Jason? Wait? I’m still alive?” Hakeem asked.

Jason dropped him to the floor knowing there wasn’t much need to hold him on.

“Oof,” Hakeem said as he felt his back ached.

“Dude, can’t you be a little bit gentler,” said Hakeem as he propped his body up.

“Sorry but I can’t heal your scars,” said Jason.

“Scars?” Hakeem looked down and saw there was a huge tear over his clothes. His eyes turned up wide seeing the claw mark scars baffled by it. Then he remembered what just happened, again he knew what just went down. Jason just saved his life again.

He glanced upwards at Jason and gave a slight smile.

“Thanks, man, I owe my life to you,” said Hakeem.

“Don’t get sentimental, we still need to get out of here and recuperate,” said Jason.

While Hakeem agreed with Jason he didn’t remember something important.

“Wait! Dude, your sister!” Hakeem said as he remembered Esther was badly injured.

While his eyes went around searching for Esther’s body, a voice sprang up.

“I’m fine,” a feminine voice responded.

Esther came out appearing behind a wall. She looks better than ever as if she was never injured. That clueless look that Hakeem had was begging for an explanation.

“Jason healed me up, afterward he hid behind a wall while telling me that there’s something fun to see,” said Esther.

Esther broke the news and something dawned on Hakeem.

“Wait, you were here from the beginning? Why the heck didn’t you help us out? We almost die fighting against that thing,” said Hakeem.

“But you won right? So congrats,” Jason replied as he gave a congratulatory pat on Hakeem’s shoulder.

“You,” Hakeem restrained himself as he knew why Jason did it. He realized himself of what it meant by fighting for your own life and that fight to the death he had with the kobold taught something precious to him.

He watched as the man who is his friend walking around the dead corpse who was picking up something.

“Hey, you did a great job,” a voice gained Hakeem’s attention. It was from Scott.

The man who he worked together to take down that undying kobold. Scott reached out his hand for a handshake and Hakeem watched and just stared at it.

“You too brotha,” said Hakeem as he ignored the hand and went in for a hug. They were strangers but they fought like they were brothers.

Scott was dumbfounded a bit by the unexpected hug but he replied with a hug of his own. It had been a long time since he shared a hug together a hug that had meaning in it.

“So what’s your plan?” Hakeem asked.

“I don’t know, my squad was wiped out and I…” before he could finish his words, Hakeem had an idea.

“You can come along with us,” Hakeem said.

Scott was smiling all over as he too felt worried about surviving in this place all by his own self. But that smile only lasted for a few seconds as someone opposed that opinion.

“He’s not coming with us,” Jason said while he was still hanging around with the dead corpse of the kobolds.

“Dude, you got to be kidding me? He can’t survive here all by his own,” said Hakeem as for once he felt it was right for him to stood up at Jason. For someone who fought together with him, he couldn’t let it slide.

“Still a no,” said Jason nonchalantly.

“I’m not leaving him,” said Hakeem as he was firm about it.

“You’re misunderstood, he’s not alone. There are two more squads of special ops running around in the city, he still can rejoin with them,” said Jason.

Hakeem was left speechless but that didn’t make him stop defending for Scott. He knew it would be hard to let Scott go search for the other squads while alone.

“He’s alone, he can’t…” Hakeem felt someone pat him on the shoulder. It was Scott as he flashed an awkward smile.

“It’s fine man, I appreciate the concern but I’m better off on my own,” said Scott. Although he felt it would be better to stay with this group but seeing the top dog didn’t want him made him retreated before anything else happen.

“But dude,” Hakeem wanted to help Scott.

But Scott just waved his hand off in decline.

“Relax Hakeem, you don’t have to worry about him,” said Jason as those words only irked the frustrated Hakeem.

“Dude, I know you’re powerful and all but now isn’t the time to be a dick and…” while Hakeem was giving a piece at Jason, the man himself intervened Hakeem who was getting a little bit heated.

“I’m going to bring him to the other squad,” Jason said while leaving the other three people on the roof dumbstruck by the sudden helping hand.

This change to a good heart was a surprise for both Hakeem and Esther. But the man had his own reason.

I still haven’t got that fire-element axe yet. Hehe.