This was not at all how the encounter was supposed to have gone. Cyrus had not gauged how quickly one of Serence’s followers would push the information out, they must’ve run into the forest without hesitation while they had been walking here. Otherwise there’s no way him and Peluna would have been caught so quickly. Though it didn’t help that they had been yelling.
That was a matter for another time, the most important thing was right in front of him. Grim did an excellent job of getting these guys here and surely he’d get a ton of money from the bodies once he was done. A quick scan of the people in front of him only elevated his hopes.
*Elf [Serence] – Level 33*
*Dwarf [Billo] – Level 29*
*Human – Level 31*
From what Cyrus could pick up, now that he knew the names of who he was identifying, the System was filling in their name along with their race and level. Serence and several of the party members seemed to have gotten their classes with Billo at the bottleneck of getting his. Not that the dwarf was going to survive long enough to see his options.
“You’ve been waiting for me?” Serence laughs, it’s cool and confident like he has no doubt in his ability. “That’s cheap, I vaguely remember cutting you and that party to pieces last time. I’m impressed you didn’t die in the dungeon, but I’ll damn make sure you die this time.”
“I think you’ll find that I’m more than your match this time. When I’m done, you’ll beg for mercy and answer every single question I have.” Cyrus couldn’t help himself from smiling, the feeling is entirely different from last time. In the dungeon, Cyrus had been able to feel the sheer difference in aura between himself and Serence as they faced off, it had been a mountain. Now, there was nothing. The mountain had been paved over.
He unsheathed the rapier on his belt, facing off against the 8-person group with no fear in his eyes. Sweat dripped lightly off his own face, despite his confidence there were still 8 people and that meant he could easily be overwhelmed. For now, there was the advantage that everyone was underestimating his abilities. Billo gave him that opportunity as he drew his axe and advanced on him.
Cyrus hadn’t been expecting a ton but this was honestly lower than his expectations could’ve imagined. The attack felt like it was in slow motion, the axe descending towards his chest set off no alarms in his head. His instincts were silent as if telling him that there was no real threat coming from this man.
He easily sidestepped the axe, making Billo stumble forward from the momentum. He allowed his Void magic to swallow the shape of his sword and swiped lazily in the direction of the dwarves face. Cyrus didn’t even need to turn when listening to the death cry of the axe wielding man, his body hit the ground and Cyrus was instead rewarded with a notification confirming the kill.
The best part of the kill was not how easy it was, nor the fact he just trimmed one of the party members. Rather, it was the reaction from the rest of the group. Serence’s eyes were wide as he drew his knives, many of the other members also prepared themselves for a fight. There was even a hint of fear mixed in with all those complicated emotions. Cyrus was having a hard time putting how all these reactions were making him feel. In this situation he was feeling powerful, feared even. And those feelings felt good. Peluna would surely criticize him on those feelings later, but he wanted to live in the moment a little bit longer.
One of the humans behind Serence shot a magic bolt at him, it was slow but powerful nonetheless. A shot like that would knock him down, but it would do nothing to slow him down. Unfortunately, compared to Albus it was like he was facing snails. He weaved around several magic bolts that were shot, flanking the right side, and avoiding direct combat with Serence for now. Just as he got close to a caster one of the swordsman made a swing at him, a golden barrier blocked the blow, shocking the man and causing him to stagger. That stagger was all the time needed in a fight to die, the Void aura cut right through the chain mail the swordsman was wearing and the upper half of his body disconnected. No healing spell was repairing that injury and he would die soon.
Without stopping even during the swing, he ducked under the magic bolt following their comrades death. Peluna was blocking most of the bots shot at him from the left flank, but the remaining 6 members were surrounding him as to drive him in a corner. This was short lived as the farthest man on the left flank let out a guttural scream, ribs could be heard cracking and his face was slammed into the dirt by a third party. Grim stood over the body triumphantly, having taken his que to enter the field himself.
The surprise of a new enemy gave Cyrus all the time he needed to reach the caster at the rear. He began to charge a new spell but Cyrus activated [Grip of Death] causing the lower leveled man to pause in fear, paralyzed while his head was promptly removed from his body.
Peluna was becoming quite a force with her barrier’s the remaining 3 members along with Serence couldn’t group together or attack because barriers kept appearing to block their path. There was no true way to fight with her in the fray and causing confusion. It almost felt like a joke, the other 3 members were panicking and showed no signs of teamwork while Cyrus and Grim closed in on them. They were torn apart and killed in the same manner as the party he had been a part of all those weeks ago.
Without mercy.
The forest smelled of blood and death, all but one-party member was dead. Cyrus could see that Serence’s hands were shaking and the knives held by his hands were no longer sturdy. That air of confidence had dissipated like smoke, no longer present in his once dangerous eyes. Serence’s eyes were darting all over the place, looking for a way out when there were no longer any options. Now he would understand how it felt to be on the other side of the slaughter.
“Now why don’t we begin talking about your conditions of surrender?” Cyrus told him with the same cool smile he had been given. Grim was already looting the corpses and from the looks of it, quite happy with all the money and loot he was finding. While the party itself wasn’t impressive, they had killed a number of people and likely accumulated enough for it to be worthwhile.
“Y…You really think I’m stupid enough to come in here without some real backup? I hired someone that should handle you just fine.” Serence replied, while his voice portrayed his fear, there was still some resilience in it.
Cyrus went on full alert, while this could be a bluff he didn’t want to take any chances. The party itself had been fairly worthless, but if Serence actually came in here with a higher ranked adventurer then the game could just as easily change.
He looked over at Grim for some advice. “No, I don’t think anyone else is here or I should’ve seen them. Let’s just take Serence to your spot.” The tank said with a shake of his head. The large demon walked over to Serence and bound his hands, holding him like he were a flimsy piece of paper. Then again, you could call anyone that way in comparison to the large man.
Cyrus gestured his head forward and began leading the way for Peluna and Grim to follow, it wasn’t a long way back to where the garden was but it was still hidden. He constantly looked behind him, half expecting for someone to attack out of nowhere just as Serence had warned, though he loathed believing anything the backstabber would tell him. Strangely enough, he really did feel as if there were eyes on the back of his head, someone was watching but it was hard to tell who it was.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Thankfully for one of them, that question was answered when he heard the whistling of an arrow. His instincts screamed as he dropped to the ground, narrowly avoiding the shot by just a fraction of a second. The three of them whirled in the direction that it flew from to find…nothing. The forest was just as quiet as before, Peluna moved to stand behind Grim for protection and set a barrier at their back.
Cyrus watched carefully in the direction that the arrow had flown from, waiting for even a hint of movement or a snap of a single twig. He began slowly creeping forward, his senses were anticipating another shot going for his face but one never came. Rather, it did come just not for his face. His senses cried out again but he never saw the arrow coming as it embedded itself in his left leg, making him growl in pain and stumble to the ground. Thankfully, it didn’t go very deep at all thanks to his high constitution, pulling it out was a simple matter and it wasn’t a bad wound. However, this didn’t change the fact that the assailant was slipping past his watchful eyes, moving in the forest without being seen.
Another arrow shot out from the side before he could sense the direction and by the time he saw it, he wasn’t fast enough. Thankfully this one didn’t imbed itself in his shoulder but he still winced as the tip cut along his shoulder, drawing some blood. He ran forward in the direction of the shot and found nothing, the perch where the archer definitely had shot from based on the angle was nowhere to be seen. Cyrus was alarmed, the movement was undetectable to him and there was no trace of someone living around. He didn’t know whether it was a stealth skill or simply incredible movement techniques, but this was becoming a problem and fast.
Arrow after arrow was shot from different directions, leaving no pattern or trace of the assailant. Every time Serence would make even the slightest noise Grim would silence him with a smack or two, but things weren’t looking good. Peluna couldn’t react in time to save him from any stray arrows if she didn’t know where the attack was going to originate either, coupled with that she had to protect herself and Grim, he was on his own. He had been able to dodge the majority of the arrows, but not every single one. The arrows had been precise enough to just hit in places where there wasn’t any armor, as they would not be able to breach the ant skin that had been forged for him to wear.
However, all this was becoming far too frustrating as the archer seemed to constantly evade his line of sight. “GODAMNIT! COME OUT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!” Cyrus yelled in frustration. Behind him he could hear Grim snickering despite the situation but he chose to ignore it so he wouldn’t lose focus.
Just like that, the arrows stopped flying as if his command actually meant something. He kept his guard up, waiting for the next arrow as if it were a promise just waiting to be made good on, though it never happened. Rather, the only response that came back was a voice.
“Here I thought our meeting was a one-time thing stranger. Looks like you got caught up with some fun.” A female voice called out, likely belonging to this archer.
Cyrus whipped his head around and saw that instead she was approaching from the direction the last arrow came at him. He held his rapier at the ready, hoping he would get a chance to attack and end this whole ordeal. Only, that was the plan until he saw who it was… and what she was holding in one hand.
The woman, he remembered her name was Farah and a quick identify was able to confirm it.
*Elf [Farah] – Level ??*
Strangely enough, he wasn’t able to see her level even though it couldn’t be too much higher than his own. That wasn’t the weirdest part, that belonged to the fact she was carrying a head in one hand and a broken bow in the other.
“Um… Farah? Have you been shooting at me this whole time?” Cyrus asked carefully, not wanting to anger the head carrying woman.
She shook her head and instead held up the one she was carrying for Serence to see. The smile on her face was calm and collected, as if this exchange was normal. “No, that would be this girl instead. I was prowling the woods when I noticed she was attacking, so I decided to lend a hand. She was very fast; I almost couldn’t believe it.”
Cyrus honestly wasn’t sure how to respond, he met this woman once for like an hour and now she killed one of their enemies for them. On top of that, he couldn’t get a read on her abilities at all, she was here but it almost felt like she wasn’t. His first meeting with her left much to be desired compared to now. On closer inspection, her hunting outfit was littered with sharp objects. While most of them looked like hunting and skinning knives… there’s no reason they couldn’t be used as primary weapons. They were soaked in fresh blood, likely identifying them as the murder weapon, not that he was complaining or anything.
“Well, thanks for your help I guess. I can’t believe you were able to catch her, I thought she was teleporting around us.”
“Oh no problem Cyrus, you and your friends seemed to be in a bit of a bind. It’s been a while since I killed anyone, so this was a fair opportunity.”
That was a hard sentence to chew on, there were a few ways he could take that. Cyrus had to remind himself that he didn’t actually come from this planet and maybe this wasn’t such a bad thing.
“I’m also an [Assassin] so this helped my class a lot!”
Never mind she was batshit crazy. Albus had briefly mentioned that you shouldn’t just flaunt your class out and about, this chick just threw it out there like it was nothing. Not to mention that she literally admitted to being an assassin. A quick glance behind indicated that he wasn’t alone in his thinking. Grim’s eyes were wide and he seemed more guarded than when there was someone shooting arrows and Peluna was not completely behind him.
Farah didn’t seem to notice at all and just kept smiling. There had to be some screws loose here and there because it was a very nice smile. One that you would give after having fun or enjoying a wonderful meal, not while you were holding a decapitated head and talking about murder.
But what did he know?
“I’m glad that this helped you too, now if you don’t mind we really have to be on our way.” Cyrus laughed nervously and motioned for his companions to follow him into the forest.
They only got a few feet ahead when they could hear the sound of the archers head smacking the ground. Farah followed as well, but no one could hear a single step she made, the leaves didn’t crunch, the twigs didn’t snap, it was as if she were floating across the ground without touching it. This must be one of the passive skills of her class, along with blocking out his identify skill. It was making him nervous but he also didn’t want to tell off an assassin.
“So where are we going? Ole’ Serence over there is looking like he’s in a bind.” Farah asks with a giggle.
Cyrus doesn’t even know how to respond to her. Should he tell the truth and just say he want’s to torture him for information? There weren’t any ways to roundabout the way this looks, especially since she seems to know who he is. Lucky for him, Grim makes the first move.
“We’re just looking to assist Serence here on his way to the afterlife, so your help is no longer needed.” Grim simply replies, practically dragging Serence with his massive hands.
“Sounds like something I wanna watch, so I think I’ll tag along anyways. Plus I’ve been itching to get inside of that cosmic space that Cyrus came out of, since that seems like where you’re going.”
“Cosmic space? What are you talking about? Cyrus?” Peluna finally speaks up for the first time.
Oh, so now that it’s about where he came from Peluna finally speaks for the first time. This also showed that Farah making an appearance was anything but coincidental, she showed herself on purpose. She must’ve seen him come out of the cosmic space garden and decided to act like any old hunter until she determined more about him. He had no desires to even try and find her off so it seemed like she was coming along too. On the bright side, she didn’t have any quarrels with what they were doing, in fact, she might be able to help given her skill set.
Even with that, he still groaned in response. “What she said is true, I have a cosmic space here in the garden. It’s private and won’t open for anyone but me as far as I know. I guess Farah will be joining us.”
The smile that Farah gave back at the trio only sent shivers up his spine. “As long as you know, besides, I wouldn’t want to miss out on any fun you might be having. It’s proper to include a lady such as myself.”
“Some lady.” Grim grumbled under his breath.
She chucked in response and innocently flipped her hunting knife. “Care to repeat that handsome?”
Grim straightened immediately and shook his head. “O-of course I meant that you were a hell of a lady! You must’ve misheard me.”
“That’s what I thought I heard.” Farah responded with a smirk, catching up with the group like it was a stroll in the park.
The bickering went back and forth between Grim and Farah, though it was mostly witty remarks backed by unsaid threats. While the elf was scary, she didn’t seem all that bad and even Peluna wasn’t cowering away. In the end, it was just that their little band of misfits was becoming even more rowdy.
“God this walk can’t be over any faster.” Cyrus sighed to himself.