“Chika what’s happening…” Mochi ground, her voice vibrating as she bounced on my back while my legs carried me faster than a horse through the forest and into the plains.

‘She didn’t cover her eyes quite fast enough, and this is her first time outside. I’m sure her eyes are burning.’ “Plutia gave us a way out of there. Now just hold on tight ok. We're almost safe.”

I used my magic to enhance my movement, burning my mana to empty over and over in a panic, but it just kept coming back thanks to the strange blessing she gave me. Finally, I could feel my hands growing cold from repeated mana exhaustion. “This should be far enough.” I panted, out of breath as I set her down. We were in the countryside halfway between White Light’s guild hall and Rothet’s main city.

“Naughty naughty,” Oceanie said as she suddenly appeared from the shadow of a tree next to me and squatted down as if waiting for the exact moment I stopped. “There you go, as promised I let you escape.”

I let out a groan, pulling my great blade from storage. ’I really don’t like the way she said that…’ “I don’t mean to be rude… But I was really hoping I wouldn’t run into you again.”

She shifted her weight, standing up and placing her hand on her hip. I couldn’t get a good look at her because of the lighting in the dungeon… But she was quite a bit different from how I thought she was. For instance, either she had changed, or most of what I had mistaken for leather armor was actually just her tattooed and dark blue skin.

Her helmet was real, made from intricate black leather that completely covered her face, but her body was… Well… I guess you could say it looked how you might expect from someone who was able to manipulate proportions, although she might have taken it a bit far. Then again I hadn’t seen many of her race, so I couldn’t say for sure.

To top it off, her thick leathery tail stuck out from her skin-tight leather pants, and her horns spiralled out from her head like ivory ram horns.

She loosened the laces on her shirt and placed a finger on an amulate underneath. Then a storage space opened up. Reaching inside, she slowly pulled out two long curved swords that looked like Dragon's teeth, a special kind of blade only used by spectral assassins, the deadliest.

‘I am so screwed…’

Mochi rubbed her eyes, “Are we not safe then?”

“I don’t suppose you have another prayer in you…”

“I-I can keep praying… But my whole body feels cold. I can fight with you too, or I can do both.”

‘Yeah… She’s shot… Her body wasn’t prepared to use divine power…’ “Figured as much…” I muttered out loud.

Stolen novel; please report.

“So, what’s that plan? I’m not a great fighter… But I can use tier 2 wind magic… And tier 3 earth… I’m not really any good but… It’s something.”

‘Tier three earth magic?’ “Hey… It’s better than mine…”

“I’ll tell you what.” the Oceanie said slowly, walking toward us. “If you strip naked and run through from one end of town to the other, I’ll let you go.”

‘What the…’ All three of us froze for a moment, but then I just turned back to Mochi. “Ok, here's the plan, we stall and look for an opening. Use wind lance to cover me, and if I’m in trouble use the earth wall to block for me, can you do that?”

She quickly unlaced her shoes, taking them off and rubbing her eyes as her vision finally adjusted. “Right, I got you’re back… Or… I’ll try at least…”

“Well, you better make up your mind quick…” ‘I’m going against someone wielding dragon teeth so… duel knives might be best, no I should assume she’s faster than me if she’s an assassin… But can I really win with pure force if I use the great blade or the ax?’

I pulled my great blade from storage and stepped forward. ‘It’s a gamble… but…’

“I-I… I’VE GOT YOU BACK!”

I paused for a second and smirked back at her. ‘Right, I’m not alone this time.’ “Ok then… Help keep her at a distance so I can abuse my sword range.”

I stepped forward and readied my stance. “You really are no fun, and yet…” Just before her next step she suddenly vanished, glitching like a poor magic circle. Before I knew it she was right in front of me.

‘Sparks…’ I pulled up my blade blocking her swords, but she quickly started redirecting her slashes. I pulled my dagger to help me block, but she slashed my left thigh, even through my armor. The attacks continued until I swung with all my might, only for her to duck under it and get a shallow slash to my stomach.

Somehow I managed to take the hit in stride and threw my knife, but she dodged, doing a backward handspring and kicking my chest, making my whole body shudder and… Honestly hurting way more than it felt like it should have… ‘She’s’ just toying with me… Is this my limit?’

I regrouped my sword as my hands began to shake. “Still there Mochi?” I said with shaky breath as my chest started to tighten.

“U-Uh… Yeah… I mean I can, I’m, yeah I’m here…”

“Just do you’re best. Even if you shoot me in the back you’d be helping, at least we’d get this over with faster.”

Her frightened expression told me she didn’t exactly share my sense of humor… But at least she was starting to cast some spells, readying them for a good opportunity. As for me, having someone to talk to was surprisingly comforting, at least enough to keep me breathing.

The assassin in front of me squatted down, resting her arms on her knees. “So how does it feel? Do you like your new body? Should I use more magic on you?”

I growled, “If you win you can do whatever you want.” ‘from what I can tell she’s using magic to move that fast, wind magic probably, a high tier. If I could stop her from doing that I could match her in speed, but… wait, those shackles. I only used two on the ogre mage.’

“Oh, is that a promise?” She laughed, making me a bit uncomfortable, but I wasn’t planning on losing so it didn’t matter… Even if it still gave me chills…

‘I just need to throw her off balance.’ I lunged forward thrusting with my great blade, she jumped into the air, but I sent the blade to storage before she landed on it, pulling my ax and swinging with everything I had.

It crashed into her sword and pinned her blades against her as she blocked and the force moved her to the side. I dropped the ax, pulling the blade back out of storage as I spun and brought it to her other side with all my strength. She jumped again, even higher than before, leaping towards me.

“Now… Mochi…” I said softly, despite trying to yell. I was so out of breath that she probably couldn’t even hear me.

As if she could read my mind a wall of earth sprung up from the ground between us blocking her line of sight for just long enough. At the same time, Mochi created a wind lance, and I cast boulder toss, taking a chunk from Mochi’s earth wall and pushing it straight through into Oceanie as she moved to dodge the wind lance.

It wasn’t much, it only made her take a single stager step, but that was enough to clasp a shackle around her ankle. We both created distance, and our positions were back to where we started, only now I had the advantage… At least… Hopefully…