Messages about the successful elimination of her first target finally appeared outside her vision near her resource-bars.
Not giving the others any more time she engaged her second enemy, the level 23 one. Unfortunately the surprise had already worn off with the slight delay after her first attack and her slash was blocked. The two also didn’t seem to be completely inexperienced as the level 22 human woman used the opening from her attack to strike.
As Sera wasn’t interested in taking the damage, though gaining access to a tank class could be interesting, she quickly stepped back, dodging the blade. While she avoided it, the attack was faster than anticipated. The attribute points seemed to have a greater influence than she had initially expected, yet it wasn’t to an extent where it would be dangerous to go up against the two remaining enemies. Taking out the archer as her first move was the right choice.
Getting the swordsman between herself and his female partner, Sera then again lunged at him from the side. It was unfortunately again blocked, yet with quick footwork she kept the women behind her currently engaged enemy so the other target couldn’t do much.
At least that was what she thought.
Having forgotten the existence of magic, she could only dodge an incoming fireball at the last moment. To make matters worse, using the opening the level 22 man created a flash of light that blinded her.
Not missing that moment, her two enemies attacked her, yet now much more carefully, as only the man got into close range, while the woman supported him from a distance with another fireball. Sera still somehow managed to dodge the attacks through her experience and intuition, however she didn’t think she would last until her eyes were fully functional again. The thought of involving her sister crossed her mind, but then remembered another skill she had: Aura. It seemed more reliable to her than her sister, who had basically no combat experience.
Similar to her body enhancement, it was one she tried out in her sisters laboratory. But as nothing much happened, besides her sister getting angry, since apparently that skill used up a ton of mana, she had quickly dismissed it as useless. But now, as it manifested as an actual skill, she was unsure, if that was actually the case. Maybe she was just missing something.
Instead dodging the next attack she charged in. Worst case, she would take the hit and while she wasn’t exactly sure where the attack was coming from, her intuition was telling her, that she would be able to block it with the armor on her left arm.
Fueling the skill with most of her mana and desire to burn her enemies to the ground, she let her instincts handle the rest.
[Your Intuition skill evolved into Perfect Intuition.]
[Perfect Intuition]
[Some people use a complicated plan, others rely on experience or techniques to fight their enemies. You, however, trust in a rare gift. You do not think about the battle, but feel its flow. An ability similar to beasts. To some this may seem like an insult, to others it is a compliment, to you, well, you probably did not even read this text. Improves abilities and understanding of the environment based on perception and knowledge. Slightly improves mental abilities based on perception. Slightly reduces the effect of mental attributes.]
[Your Aura skill has reached Lv 2.]
[Your Fire affinity has reached Lv 1.]
[Your Fire affinity has reached Lv 2.]
Her sister would most likely scoff at her for using such risky maneuvers while she was simultaneously trusting her instincts and intuition, but in the end it worked, at least for her. Flames enveloped her. Her desires were given form by her affinity. Yet the mana fueling the aura was much more than needed for such a low level skill. With more and more flames created they burst out, not unlike a small explosion. Surprisingly, Sera as the skill user didn’t feel much, aside from a certain warmth around her. However her opponent wasn’t as lucky. His attack got weakened by the burst, his stance crippled and his unprotected regions like hands and face scorched.
The roles had reversed. Slowly regaining her sight, she stabbed her sword at the blurry silhouette near her. Resistance informed her that she hit a target, yet it wasn’t enough resistance to stop the attack. Having confirmed that her opponent was wounded, the girl dislodged her sword with a kick. She would take care of him later.
Evading a bright object, probably a fireball from her remaining opponent, she quickly closed the distance. A metal sound informed her that another one of her attacks was blocked. The woman had switched back to her sword.
Neither of the two could finish off the other in the next couple of exchanges. However Sera’s eyes were slowly getting better and her opponent had to not only fight against her sword, but also against the heat from the slowly receding aura of flames.
Then the girl suddenly sidestepped the attack from the woman. Kicking against her legs let the weakened stance of her enemy collapse, before Sera decapitated her level 22 opponent.
Having finished off her last opponent she checked her log messages, which she had mostly ignored against the end.
[Your Aura skill has reached Lv 3.]
[You killed a Human Lv 23.]
[Your Swordsman class has reached Lv 1.]
[Your Fire affinity has reached Lv 3.]
[You have reached Lv 1.]
[You killed a Human Lv 22.]
[Your Warrior class has reached Lv 2.]
[Your Assassin class has reached Lv 2.]
[Your Swordsman class has reached Lv 2.]
[Your Gladiator class has reached Lv 1.]
[You have reached Lv 2.]
[Your Body Enhancement skill has reached Lv 3.]
“Nice.”
She paused.
But then remembered why she was here in the first place. “Damn, i should have left one alive.” Even the one she stabbed had died during her fight with the last enemy, though it would have been questionable, if they could have asked questions with a burned face and destroyed lung.
Sera was about to turn to her sister, when her intuition focused on a dark spot near a tree. Nothing unusual in the very shadowy forest. Though, the longer she looked the weirder the spot appeared. It was a bit too dark… A bit too big… She definitely wouldn’t have noticed it, if it wasn’t for her intuition.
Getting closer there was still nothing to see, nothing, but darkness. However using her other senses she could roughly guess where her opponent was. Her experience in fighting various stealthy agents who wanted to her sister or other family members showed its worth.
She followed her instincts with a lung of her sword, yet a shadowy figure quickly dodged the attack.
In an attempt to defuse the situation, Nia, still a bit flustered after being suddenly discovered, dismissed the veil of darkness around her. “Hey, hey, you can stop! I’m not your enemy!”
Sera paused in the middle of her next swing. She wouldn’t present such an opening normally, however her opponent, a level 16 human girl, didn’t show any signs of attacking by herself and the sword fighter had her speed and intuition. “Tsk…” Attacking an opponent who neither posed any danger through it’s mere existence nor fought back wasn’t fun. Also her task was still to gather information and she was admittedly a bit tired from her last fight, so pressing on wouldn’t be a wise choice. Especially so, after she had killed their first information source. She moved her sword back into a neutral position, still ready to strike. “Fine. But we have a few questions…”
Sera kept an eye on her caught informant while looking around for further surprises. Logically one should probably disarm their catch first, but she was secretly hoping the girl would attack her, so she would have a reason to fight her.
After making sure that there were no further surprises, at least as far as it was possible with her abilities, she turned back to the caught girl, who unfortunately didn’t attack. She seemed a bit shorter than Sera and had dark brown hair. Contrary to the twins her eyes had a normal appearance with a light blue iris. As for clothing, she wore a leather vest over a black shirt with short sleeves. Her arms were covered by fingerless elbow gloves. Multiple daggers as well as a short-sword could be found on a black leather belt around her waist. The same belt also held her dark brown hot pants in place, while the rest of her leg-wear consisted of black tights and leather boots.
Dark colors seemed to be predominant in this world, though it wasn’t that surprising as blood and dirt wouldn’t be as visible on them as on clothes in lighter colors. Furthermore, in this case it probably also helped the girl with her concealment through darkness.
The sword fighter forced her thoughts back on track. She was here to gather information, not make wild assumptions. Her sister, who had meanwhile stepped next to her, was better at the latter anyway. Though Sarah’s face was now hidden by her hood.
“So… why were you here anyway? Since you didn’t attack us even after i killed those three, you don’t seem to be affiliated with the dead ones.” A normal question to break the ice. Sera didn’t expect any useful information from the answer to it, yet maybe Sarah could get something out of it.
