It happened too quickly for her to comprehend. One moment they were just casually patting down a weak party for their stuff, and the next, the entire floor exploded in dust before they found themselves in a dangerous situation.
It wasn’t like she had any intention of harming the party. Sure, one could say that she was callous enough to demand compensation when they barely did anything, but that was just how it goes with adventurers. Sometimes, one needed to take their tiny opportunities as much as one could to get ahead, and that involved taking from others.
She wasn’t even asking for anything crazy like all of their gold or valuables. Half the time, the wording itself could make the party give out something they believed was valuable enough to be worth the effort. In other times, it would barely be anything at all.
So after seeing just how incredible that sword was, Nicky was expecting to be given some pretty valuable items, but what they found instead was the owner attacking them on the spot.
She knew things went sideways the moment that dark-haired girl spoke. It was as if the very mood turned tense as her hostility practically caked the environment. It looked like she had ticked her off, forcing her to start showing her hand, so the party had no other choice but to react.
It wasn’t like they weren’t used to things going sideways with other adventurers. That just meant they could take more of their stuff in return.
Bill already dashed away, heading straight towards the singular Mage crazy enough to attack all of them at once. Even without scanning, Nicky knew it was a Mage from the way he controlled his sword, so the first thing on anyone’s list was to tackle the Mage in close-quarters combat before doing anything else. Bill unsheathed his daggers and went in for a strike, aiming right for his neck.
The man, supposedly named Aidan, reacted quickly by dodging away, but Bill kept at him like white on paper. He swung his dagger, bringing out another one to double the attacks, but Aidan kept up with him. That’s when Nicky noticed something was off.
The Mage was way too fast for their liking. Even if he wore equipment that would boost it, he was too fast for even Bill, with his Agility-focused build, to handle. Nicky kept her distance, noticing that it was only Aidan attacking and nobody else.
That girl who demanded Aidan to fight was just off in the distance, watching the scene unfolding with that smug grin on her face. The other two around her kept their distance, the man guarding the woman with clear hostility in his eyes at the party. Nicky recognized in an instant that while the dark-haired girl was rather dangerous, the two hanging off to the side were nothing to consider.
She pulled out her great bow, and pulled along a large arrow. Once it was in place, Nicky waited patiently as Bill kept the man on the backfoot, eventually reaching enough distance between them for him to switch to his favored weapons.
He pulled out twin crossbows already loaded, and shot bolts straight at the man. Aidan dodged them, but quickly came to realize that he didn’t have time for the expected loading. More arrows kept shooting, forcing Aidan to keep dodging, but one of them managed to graze his skin to leave a deep cut across his arm.
Bill’s specialty was his bombardment of arrows at mid-range, his specialized enchanted bowguns ensuring that he could keep shooting arrows without worrying about loading them. And each of the arrows Bill meticulously prepared were enough to incapacitate monsters with tough hide or skin, making them a terror to face.
Aidan dodged the arrows, then swiped his sword across to intercept some of them, but the arrows kept coming. Soon enough, a giant wall of earth was conjured from the ground, blocking all the arrows that came for him. Bill stopped the pointless assault, but Aidan definitely wasn’t safe from their party’s onslaught.
A streak of light flashed across, slicing the stone wall in half and almost decapitating Aidan right off the bat. To Nicky’s surprise, Aidan managed to dodge Ander’s strike by twisting his torso just in time. Ander landed to the side, now right near Aidan with his sword coated in bright electricity.
Lightning coiled around the blade before Ander kept going at it, his eyes fully set on Aidan and turning off everything else. Aidan fought back with his sword, summoning more earthen constructs to distract Ander, but it was no use. Ander closed in with deadly precision, and even though Aidan somehow managed to get away from getting swept up by his swordsmanship, Bill was also at his back, shooting arrows to pepper him as much as he could.
All the while, Nicky watched for the solid moment when Aidan was distracted long enough, and when she finally spotted her chance after Aidan had to take some distance from Ander’s feint attack, she launched her very own attack by shooting an arrow straight at him.
It was precise, and no matter how much Aidan could move, he wouldn’t be able to dodge in time. The arrow would punch through Aidan and leave him gasping for air.
At least, that was supposed to occur. However, Nicky didn’t expect to see the arrow actually pierce through Aidan.
And leave nothing behind.
Her eyes nearly popped out of her skull when the arrow pierced right through his torso, but it just kept going before eventually landing on the other side of the wall, creating several cracks from where the impact left it.
How did it just pass through him even though she managed to accurately shoot him? Was it some kind of ability? He didn’t just have the ability to control swords remotely with his mind, but can also ignore certain attacks?
There was also the strange way he used earth magic. The Mage’s level was too low to have such a variety of magic at his disposal, so how did he manage to–
Her thoughts stopped when she realized that they weren’t alone. She managed to get away in time before another sword plunged straight down to where she was just at. It struck the ground, but it recovered by pulling itself out and following after Nicky. She wasn’t the only one being targeted either.
Three other swords came flying in, each one aiming for Bill and Ander respectively while the last one came for Aidan. Aidan picked it up with his other hand, two swords now at his side while the three others were dealing with her party members along with herself. The swords were almost alive from how they kept attacking, swinging left, right, and over and under to keep them on the back foot.
However, one of the swords trying to go after Ander, who was having it easy thanks to his masterful swordsmanship, flung itself straight towards Bill as Aidan moved to interrupt Ander, both swords in hand and keeping him in a deadlock when the two collided with their swords. Lightning sparked and exploded around them, but Aidan wasn’t taken back at all as he kept slamming against Ander’s blade with his own, the metal clanging ruthlessly against it.
Aidan knew who the real threat was. While Bill was a contender in his own right and Nicky was more of a supporter at best, Ander was the real damage-dealer in the party. It wasn’t solely due to his masterful swordsmanship, but his powerful control over lightning thanks to the talent he was born with.
Which eventually gave Nicky the answer she was looking for; Aidan must also have a talent, and it was a talent powerful enough to use in combat just like Ander.
Ander’s eyes glowed bright as lightning covered his body, giving him a boost in speed and power as he kept up with Aidan, but to Nicky’s shock, Aidan also kept up rather easily, becoming stronger and faster as he countered Ander’s attacks with his own strikes. And whenever Ander would have the upperhand and manage to swipe at the right timing to cut Aidan, the blade just slipped right through him as though there was nothing at all, leaving Ander to get disrupted hard and pushed back by Aidan’s counterattack.
Nicky wanted to help, but her build focused on supportive range turned useless as the singular floating sword kept slashing at her with a mind of its own. Bill was also kept back, having two swords to deal with instead of just the one like her.
Right now, the only one capable of pushing Aidan back from outright killing them all was Ander, and with him being at Level 42, it should’ve been an easy fight against a low Level 22 Mage.
But despite that, Aidan wasn’t backing down at all. Normally, facing Ander would be impossible. His small size and increased speed was capable of putting down enemies quickly and easily. But it was as if Aidan knew exactly where and how Ander would strike. He managed to block an attack from above when Ander interrupted his sword’s strike, and when lightning began to form, something exploded in between them, forcing the two to jump back from the aftermath before Aidan kept attacking.
She didn’t like how this was going for them. Normally they could handle something like this with some improvisation and planning beforehand, but this just came out of nowhere, and dealing with an adventurer with a variety of powers is always unpredictable to handle.
She dug deep into the spatial pouch by her hip, avoiding a swipe from the sword, to reveal a small metal sphere glowing with ephemeral azure light. A rare item that they picked up which usually saved their asses from heavy onslaughts, and if she knew how the swords work, this should also work on them as well.
“I’m going for it!” Nicky shouted to both Bill and Ander, and they knew instantly as she willed the sphere in her hands to activate.
A sudden pulse of pressure echoed from the sphere, and in that instant, the swords flying around and disturbing the two dropped to the ground, having no will left to fly back up. Aidan looked in surprise which finally got the two to make their move.
Bill rushed in to support Ander who kept attacking, using only physical strikes and natural speed when the sphere disrupted the magic in the area. It was a powerful tool capable of paralyzing anything that had magic in a wide 100 meter radius, but it required a large cooldown of several days to recharge the specific mana needed in order to activate again.
A costly item, but effective in unpredictable situations. Nicky charged in, replacing her great bow with a long spear as she plunged her blade straight at the paralyzed Aidan.
Considering that he was using magic to fight, when the wave of distracting energy hit him, it forced him to act without mana for a while. She could feel him weakening and getting pushed back by the other two men, and with her along with it, they finally managed to pin the man down.
They were just at the cusp of cutting him down, clearly too distraught from having his magic taken away. But despite the overwhelming disadvantage, Aidan didn’t falter.
Instead, his eyes seem to lit up with multiple colors flashing before suddenly–he vanished.
“What?”
Just when Nicky was about to stab deep into his gut, she hit nothing but air. The man just disappeared into non-existence, leaving the entire party stumped.
“He’s gone!” Bill shouted, quickly looking around. “I thought he couldn’t use magic!”
“Only active magic,” Ander simply answered, flipping his sword into a practiced defensive stance as his eyes sharpened. “He must have more spells on hand to use.”
“Are you serious?”
Nicky growled, wondering if she needs to pull out another tool to try to find invisible foes. She just knew that he was still around here somewhere, her instincts screaming that she was still in danger from all her years as an adventurer.
Ander, quick as lightning (bad pun but screw it), flashed forward and struck down at a random location. He hit the earth, blasting it to smithereens and leaving a dust cloud, which he used to scatter all over the place and leaving the entire field filled with the dust.
It was a good tactic to find invisible enemies that often used spells that disguise their physical surface, but it only served as a distraction as Nicky couldn’t find the man anywhere even with her impressive Perception. Then she felt the air bend and distort, and she knew for certain she was the target.
She lunged to the side, and the entire ground that she stood on suddenly turned into a massive crater. It happened in a heartbeat, as though it was twisted away rather than just exploding on impact. More craters followed, this time aiming for Bill who flung himself away every time they came around.
It happened all over, completely separating the party and leaving Nicky in a daze. Just when she was ready to pull out another tool, she found her feet encased in stone too fast for her liking.
“Damn it! Magic’s back!”
She tried to move her feet, but the stone was too strong for her Might to break through. Bill tried to respond but he was also caught, both legs ensnared and leaving him stranded. Then his body was twisted around unnaturally, only to reveal that the invisible Aidan kicked him there, finally revealing himself from his invisibility.
Ander, with magic back on the menu, flashed forward with lightning coating his body again to deliver a powerful thrust right where Aidan was still dealing with Bill, but it was already too late.
Aidan’s swords flew up into the air, and each one flew right at Ander. He knocked one over, but the other three struck him down and pinned him to the ground, the blade stuck deep into his flesh and leaving him hopelessly impaled.
Then all of the sudden, Aidan’s eyes landed on her. Nicky felt a chill run through her back as she forced her feet to move, but the rock refused to budge. More and more stone kept covering her, leaving her further entrapped as Aidan's cloak flared before flying forward, his sword in his hand and raised to end her life.
“That’s enough.”
A voice suddenly called out, and right before her eyes, Aidan stopped in mid-air, the blade just inches away from her face.
Sweat dropped from her brow at the close distance, her heart hammering against her chest. She could see the intent forming in his mind from the way his eyes stared daggers at her. He aimed to take down the most annoying supporter before fully facing both Bill and especially Ander. By trapping them both, he could put all his effort into taking out the supporter before they could do anything to stop him.
But instead, Aidan just let out a tired sigh as he landed on the ground, stretching his neck and shoulder as if he just did a ridiculous exercise. Nicky was just left there staggered before the stone covering her feet dispersed, freeing her. The others were also freed, the swords pulled themselves off of Ander with Bill running top speed towards Ander to see if he was alright. He was bleeding quite a bit, but they weren’t so serious as to be life-threatening.
The dark-haired girl that called the fight to start appeared herself, a pleasant smile on her lips as she watched the scene with clear satisfaction. Seeing Ander still on the ground, the girl turned to the man who also noticed his situation.
“Go ahead. It’s not nice to leave them suffering.”
Nicky’s heart raced, thinking the worst to come. Aidan nodded as he simply walked towards Ander and Bill. Bill quickly reacted, pulling up his dagger to defend his friend, but the girl spoke up.
“Don’t worry, he’s just going to heal him.”
Nicky’s eyes widened at that. Not only was the mage capable of fighting off three veterans by himself, he could also cast healing magic? Just when she thought the girl was just blustering, actually tricking them to go and finish Ander off, Aidan knelt down beside him with Ander just staring at him.
Normally Ander knew instantly when his life was in danger, having a keener sense of survival than any of the party members, but he just stayed there as Aidan put his hand forward, mana covering his body.
The wounds that were dripping blood slowly closed up, making it clear to their eyes that it was a true-blue healing spell.
Healing magic was not easy to acquire. Even if you put aside having to join a religious order with strict practices, people also needed to do dedicated and careful study of the human body to accurately heal someone enough to be recognized as a spell. And to effectively learn healing spells, one needed to practice with mana, something that was normally done within specialized facilities and academies that required a hefty tuition to pay.
Yet this man, who was clearly built for combat, could also heal?
Just how versatile was this man? Not even Ander with his lightning-focused talent could have that many spells and skills under his belt.
“...Thank you,” Ander said when Aidan finished and lifted himself back up.
“No need for thanks. I was the one that did this to you in the first place,” Aidan answered, shrugging his shoulders. “So, we’re done?”
“Let’s see,” The girl said, turning to Nicky of all people. “Are we? Or are we going to continue having an issue?”
Nicky knew when a battle was done, and clearly, the battle for free loot was over the moment her ass was handed to her at the end. Even if the party kept fighting, even if Ander could easily ramp up enough power to completely take Aidan out, doing so would probably send both Nicky and Bill to the afterlife. Obviously, she didn’t want to die, and she didn’t have so much of an ego to fight against a low-level Mage who might have more tricks under his sleeve.
“No, no, not at all,” Nicky quickly said, raising both her hands. “In fact, I wanna apologize. I was lying when I said you stole our kill. We’ll gladly pay for the lies and the trouble we caused. We just wanna get away here with our lives intact.”
Just like always, Nicky would gladly give up whatever pride she had as a veteran to make sure she could get away unscathed. She even went as far as winking to the man who handed their asses, proving that she had no issue with calling it quits.
Aidan just raised his brow at her, but she could tell immediately that he wasn’t offended by that. The girl, on the other hand, just smirked at her.
“That’s good. I suppose I also need to apologize for taking things to this extent. You see, Aidan wished to improve himself and wanted to push his abilities to see how far he could go, and I wanted to see exactly how he would fare against a veteran party such as yourselves. Having the Wise Guys as opponents was something I couldn’t miss for myself.”
Nicky smiled, though it was through gritted teeth. “You happen to know who we are, huh? I’m sorry to say, but we really don’t know who you are in return. Mind telling me?”
“Of course,” The girl said with a pleasant smile. “My name is Nina Alcatroz. Perhaps you heard of me?”
…Fuck… me…
She tried to keep a steady expression, but her right eye twitched at the mention of that name. Nina Alcatroz. Of course they had to have such shitty luck to end up at the mercy of a woman who is known for having her way within the dark side of Forontia. The famous Key-Slinger that could get her hands on anything she desired.
Nicky usually found rumors and information that might be interesting or worthy to learn for the sake of getting ahead of the other adventurers. It was always a dog-eat-dog world in the city, and she always aimed to get ahead of anything to avoid hurting themselves with troubling matters, such as dealing with the Red Riot and the Chainlords that usually command their turf with an iron fist.
Of course she heard of Nina Alcatroz, the one who constantly tip-toed around the gangs’ turf and getting away unscathed. How such a young woman was capable of such actions was beyond her, but now she was starting to see how.
Having a man like Aidan on her payroll was definitely enough to open a lot of doors. Perhaps she had used her vast information network to get this man up and about, learning as many spells and skills as possible to make him some sort of monster under her watch.
She stared to the side, noticing Bill looking more than uncomfortable hearing the news while Ander, surprisingly, kept a cool face with his sword sheathed to his back. While Ander was a man of renown talent in the battlefield, he didn’t always seem to care about his surroundings outside of it, which is really his major flaw as an adventurer.
“Oh, I definitely heard of you,” Nicky said, her smile wide and forcibly pleasant. “I heard how incredible you are and how you could easily get around with your abilities. And I don’t mean to brag, but we’re pretty high up in the guild’s social circles and we often heard of your incredible feats even from there.”
Nicky kept lifting up Nina’s ego as she talked, hoping to sweet-talk her way out of this situation. Yet as she kept speaking, Nina approached her with a sway of her hips as she dug around in her pack. When Nicky finished, Nina got up close and personal with her with that smile that never faded, bringing out what looked like paper.
Nicky instantly froze and paled when Nina presented the paper to her.
“That’s great. So you also know what I want to ask from you and your party,” Nina said simply. “In short, I’d like you to work for me for a bit.”
There wasn’t really anything to say on the matter. Nicky could see it in the woman’s eyes that she had no intention of leaving them alone to be on their merry way. In the end, a single word escaped from Nicky’s lips as she felt her entire life up to that point crumble apart.
“...Fuck.”
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter