How the hell do we deal with this bastard? We can't really run away; he'll keep raining arrows down on us. Eventually, one of those arrows is going to slip through our defenses.

  If we chase him down, we might end up with more enemies surrounding us. He could also just run away. Fighting this guy in a field would have been ideal... Scorched forest it is then.

  "Fergus, Alex. Try clearing a path!"

  Alex was engulfed in a bright light and pulled out her sword. Stepping to the side, she brought her sword down with incredible speed and shot out bolts of earth in the direction they last saw the arrow shoot up. Several trees in a line began to tumble.

  Her earth shots tore through them like cheese, but even then, it wasn't enough to clear a path all the way to the archer. Ten trees fell to the combined attack, impressive, but that didn't amount to too much in a forest.

  "You good for two more?"

  Alex lifted her dadao and swung it twice more. More trees along the path began to clear, revealing the area where they had seen the arrow shoot up. Not a trace of their archer, but by clearing a path, they could try to narrow down where they could be. If their pursuer ever attempted to cross the open gap of trees, Frey would hit them with her Scorched Laser.

  It was quiet, too quiet. The lone arrow was still hanging in the air. Not yet receiving a command. Damian's party had their eyes peeled, looking for any source of life.

  The arrow hanging in the sky then turned and started to head toward Alex. It wouldn't be too difficult for them to destroy it, but Damian had a different idea.

  "Fergus, shield."

  As the arrow closed in, Fergus summoned his earthen shield, and they ducked behind it. It was big enough that the arrow shouldn't be able to sneak around the edges and reach them, but just in case, Higgins was prepared to summon a secondary shield.

  The arrow slammed into the solid earth and pressed against it. It kept ramping up its force, and the shield grew brighter and brighter until it reached a critical point.

  Lightning arched off the shield, but not in the direction any of them suspected. Instead of shooting off into the forest, the bolt of lightning arced backward toward the group. Not even Higgins was prepared for the surprise turn of events.

  But instead of striking any member of their party, the bolt zipped around them and traveled into the forest behind.

  "AAHHHGG", a scream was heard from behind.

  "Alex, Fergus!" In one fluid motion, Alex spun on her heel and swung her sword while empowered. She shot off earth bolts at rapid speed. More trees fell, and the figure of a man could be seen in one of the falling trees.

  He was clocked in green garb that blended in well. Even his head was completely covered with fabric.

  As the man was riding the tree down, Frey started to charge up her Scorched Laser. Damian felt certain that her aim would strike true, but something was bothering him in the back of his mind.

  How the hell did he get behind us so quickly? He even appeared on the other side of the road...

  The dots were rapidly connecting in his mind, and he started to move toward the back of their group. It was just a guess, but he didn't feel that it was wrong. Alex and Frey were standing side by side, and Damian slipped by to hide behind Alex, facing the opposite direction.

  "!!!"

  Right in front of Damian's eyes, the green-cloaked individual appeared in an instant, his bow was already knocked back, ready to fire an arrow at Alex's back. With lightning-fast reflexes, Damian slashed out with his new blade.

  It was charged with lightning from defending against two powerful attacks and cutting down two arrows. Blades of wind danced on the saber's surface with arcs of lightning streaming through them. The bright light from the lightning made them appear solid.

  His sword sliced through the man from right to left, cleaving the bow and arrow in two.

  "Chwaaak!" *crackle* *crackle*

  Damian's sword had struck the front of the archer, digging into him and cutting bone. Blood began to erupt in a spray, and lightning danced between the red droplets.

  The lightning crackling wind blades danced along the man's body, spreading out, cutting deeper, and forcing him to seize from electric shocks.

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  He would not let this chance go. Getting to the teleporter again would be a near-impossible task. Damian whipped his hand around and struck the man from his shoulder to his hip. Another deep wound guaranteed that his life would come to an end. But an eventual death never satisfied Damian; he would always ensure his opponent's pulse had stopped before lowering his guard.

  If he held a sword instead of a saber, he would have stabbed the archer through the heart to ensure his demise, but the curved blades didn't have the means.

  Damian also had to be careful about how he killed him, or they would have to deal with another powerful wraith. The thought of having to deal with the teleporting archer again brought a shiver down his spine. He'd gotten lucky predicting his movements.

  Would a wraith be more or less troublesome to take on? On one hand, the undead charge at the living with reckless abandon. They didn't account for strategy beyond taking cover and using their skills.

  To ensure the man's quick demise, Damian placed his boot on his neck and pressed down. I didn't feel good, but the alternative was worse.

  This wasn't the first time Damian had killed a man. He and his party had joined larger-scale parties in the past to hunt down problematic bandit groups. Every member of Daffid had claimed a life before. But it still didn't change the disdain for the act. Killing a person was different...

  Damian stared into the assassin's eyes as he struggled to move Damian's boot from his throat. They held fear. A desperate plea for life. Should have thought about that before hunting us. Eventually, they glazed over and became murky. He was dead.

  'sigh'

  "Shit!" Alex commented after all was said and done. Her life could have come to an end if Damian had mispredicted the archer's actions. He had figured that Alex would be the primary target.

  She had shown impressive power, cutting down dozens of trees and the archer's cover. Even a graze from one of her empowered earth shots could cause serious damage.

  Honestly, it felt closer to a skill a tier 6 would use. The attack was the combination of a specialized tier 4's burst empower, another tier 4's enhanced strength, and equipment that you might see a tier 7 use.

  "Keep your guard up!" Damian cautioned. They had killed only a single archer. After seeing that he was a teleporter, Damian didn't think that his allies were far behind. Although this man had likely specialized in assassination, he wasn't sure whether they worked in teams or separately.

  Damian bent over and started to pat the body to make sure there weren't any surprises. There was a surprise, however. The man didn't have anything on his person. Everything he had must have been stored in a skill.

  The bow was useless; it had rune markings throughout, but with the way Damian's empowered wind blades tore through it, he wasn't sure if even Dobby could restore it without starting from scratch.

  The garb he wore was more like a single long cloth he wrapped around his body. It had a long, black rune chain running down the center of the fabric. Despite numerous blade cuts, a bit of mana forced into the fabric activated the enchantment, and it began to change color to match the dirt road.

  "Donna." Damian passed everything on the archer to her for storage. He didn't know if the Valkyrie could still use them for clues. It wouldn't hurt to bring it just in case. Plus, they could always try to sell or use it in the end.

  That just left the man lying in the road in his underwear. Fortunately, he was a man; otherwise, Damian would have felt like he was committing a crime.

  Donna then took out a long rope and tied him up. Damian guessed he was a tier 6, maybe newly tiered up. He's never heard of someone at a lower tier being able to teleport freely.

  Usually, those types of skills require more restrictions at lower tiers. That you must set an anchor like Alex, shoot off a spell to the target destination, or have a longer channel time to teleport. It was anyone's guess when the man would return from the dead to enact his revenge.

  What next? Wait for Elaina? Go searching for her? Keep going and trust that she finds us down the road?

  Damian didn't have to make a decision; some of the bushes on the side of the road started to rustle, and she popped out, dragging two bodies with a red rope. One was a larger man in black leather armor, as tall as Alex. The other was much smaller and already tied up in a bundle of rope. His face couldn't be seen since he was wearing a helmet.

  "Big Sis!" Frey yelled.

  Despite Frey's words sounding like she'd jump into her sister's arms, no one had left their formation. They still weren't sure if more assassins could be around. When you finally lowered your guard, that was the perfect time to strike.

  "I'm fine, Frey. This big lug kept me a little busy. Despite his intimidating appearance, he was a healer and a bulwark." She kicked the corpse.

  "I'm glad to see that you all managed to get through things unhurt." Elaina paused and looked at the naked man lying in the middle of the road. "Even more surprised you managed to take that bastard down. I almost had him and his buddy both, but before I could act, he was gone."

  Despite her claim, she only seemed to walk back to us. If she were truly worried, she would have rushed back without taking the other bodies.

  She may have a large-scale sensing skill. That would explain why she disappeared first and why she took her time coming back. She would have known we took care of the other threat.

  Even though Damian was convinced that she held a sensing ability, he wouldn't lower his guard until they met with a Valkyrie. Maybe even beyond that.

  As with the lie detector fiasco, there were always methods to circumvent skills. Even his own wind sense could be tricked. If someone could move through the air without disturbing its flow, he'd have no idea that they were there.

  Damian was making a game out of guessing Elaina's skills. He was now sure of two. When he looked at her, he noticed that the rope she was using to drag both bodies wasn't rope at all. It was a red cord that extended from her hand.

  Is that blood?

  Mark that three of her six abilities: Speed, Sensing, and Blood Control.

  "This big guy was carrying this body over his shoulder. Do any of you recognize him?"

  She took off the helmet, and what greeted them was a plain-looking man with brown hair. No one in their group seemed to know who he was.

  *Gasp* It took a moment, but Higgins recognized the man.

  "That's Reginald... He was one of the guild staff who worked under Betty. You remember the guy I told you about who spilt weapons oil on her? I thought that he went with her into the tower."

  Shit... What the hell is going on?