We had to plan, and we had to do it fast.
Roana had to be hidden away. Alistar would have to do it; he was the weakest among us and the only one that would be dead weight in a fight against the Sunguard, especially since he had exhausted his transformation Skill.
With much of Alistar’s protests, Jane convinced him to take Roana and hide upstairs.
Instead, I would hide at the end of the corridor and prepare the heaviest possible artillery I could unleash.
Jane would hide near the entrance and take him on with a surprise attack if it was possible.
She had by far the highest level among us, and although she didn’t have the best equipment nor the best Class mix, she could indeed give somebody like a Sunguard the most trouble among us three.
If I had shined up to now, it was because I could carry out surprise assaults and had the best equipment to unload a massive amount of damage on our enemies. But taking that away, I would be no match against a Sunguard. Not up close, not reduced like this.
In a few seconds, after we had made our harsh preparations, we took our places with hearts playing drums in our chests.
I could hardly contain my breathing, but I could feel him coming at us.
His steps resounded on the wooden porch, and I could feel them on my skin. It was the worst possible thing at the worst possible moment. However, it somehow helped me trace his movements.
I knew he had crossed the door even without peeking from behind my cover.
My hand was sweating. The Piercing arrow I had readied almost threatened to slip away.
The dark corridor grew a few shades clearer when his shiny frame that seemed to glow with his own light made its way through it.
The contraposition between the light his armor brought inside of this small dark angle of the world and the monster that hid inside of that armor almost left me speechless.
The humble abode was not enough to welcome that man’s presence. If the burrow could kneel to him, it would have already done so.
I heard him sigh, “Damn, you’ve made a mess out there,” said the man.
His voice was pleasant to the ears, soothing almost.
“Might I ask you why? Just so that I know who ruined my side income business.”
“Why, you ask?” Answered Jane, leaving the shadow of one of the slave traders’ bedrooms, “Slave traders are a disease in these lands. They steal our children, kill us in our sleep, rape us, do you need any more reasons?”
The man smiled, “Ah, a murk-blood, of course. But, to answer your question… I don’t mind, not really, no. Business is business, and this one is- was, profitable. I guess you can understand that, even with your, surely poor, upbringing.”
I had yet to dare to take a look at him, in fear that he would see me, but my hearing saw his sword leaving his scabbard, its frame hissed from the peculiar sound of air burning.
A form of echolocation had started working. I hoped I could hold it as much as possible as I prepared to strike. But in the meanwhile, I focused on the sword.
A Sunguard edge of the sword was covered in Evercrystal. An extremely rare form of Crystal that could be found in Dungeons. It produced Flow energy continually and without pause emanating the power of the Sun, and was capable of heating up every material, given time.
The Sunguard’s could regulate it by feeding ulterior Flow into it thanks to the Crystal sockets built into the hilt. The sword was a Khopesh, and to us, villagers, it was a symbol of death.
The man continued his speech, “Just as I guess you’ll understand, that as you’ve had your revenge… I shall have mine. You’ve just cost me a great deal, murk-blood.” He raised his voice slightly then as if calling someone from afar, “And you, Hunter hiding behind the corner, I’ll come for you too once I’ve dealt with your mother here, be sure of that.”
My heart almost exploded in my chest hearing those words, the echolocation disappeared just as it had come.
He knew I was here? How?
Damn, what kind of questions were those? Was I sleeping? Of course, he knew. There were damn arrows everywhere; who else could have done it if not a Hunter?
But how did he know where I was? Was he guessing to scare me, or did he actually know I was here thanks to some Skills? Would he know about Alistar?
I needed to know, and I’d wait for the moment his battle with Jane started.
The Sunguard’s assault was sudden and mighty; I could feel the whistle of the air cut apart from his sword descending on Jane, then the snap of her Gnoll’s buckler, with her grunting.
I chose that moment to come out and Track and Trace him.
Haatim Ayasun, ? Level ?, Trader Level 45
Health: 100%
Stamina: 99%
Strengths: Agility, Strength, Willpower
Weaknesses: None
Race: Human
Sex: Male
Height: 186 cm
Weight: 84 kg
Age: 43
Origins: Sundoor
Family: Unknown
Was he an Ultimate Class? For Sun’s sake, whether he was or not, with that equipment he had, we would be done for all the same. Although his Sub-Class had yet to reach the fifty, Trader likely increased Focus and Willpower, adding to the power he could feed to the sword.
The Sunguard’s trusted round shield, ever-present on their left arm, protected him from Jane’s punch, the power behind that punch, and the mighty defense of the Sunguard’s armor, celebrated their encounter with a dong. But his arm did not even waver.
Jane continued her assault with a massive side uppercut directed to the man’s jaw, but he was faster; he smacked her on the temple.
The following kick he delivered on her abdomen sent her against the wall, the whole burrow shook.
I released my Piercing arrow at that point, but it was useless.
The man followed it with his eyes, then simply cut it in mid-air.
Just like that, as if it was a piece of paper flowing in the air.
As if he was expecting it already, the man cut my steel arrow, traveling at more than one hundred meters per second with just a swipe of his sword.
I felt the low “thud” of the two halves of my arrow fall heavily on the floor. I was so jittery that I hadn’t even used Trick Shot. Maybe it was for the best.
The Sunguard bolted toward me as I charged my arrow and he kicked me in the sternum. The kick came a bit too late to interrupt my next throw, but it made it useless all the same. The Piercing arrow traveled innocuously out of the exit door.
Instead, I flew for the rest of the corridor and crashed on the wall.
I had no idea how I even managed not to faint; maybe the fact that my spine hit against my solid quiver and the pain of receiving a kick on an already open wound was too strong to make me pass out; I couldn’t know. What I knew was that I spat blood.
I was a confused mess of aches when I raised my head toward the man that was about to decapitate me with a slight movement of his hand, yet it did not happen.
Jane crashed onto him. Pushing him against me, but only for a few moments, they soon started a confusing battle of hits that shook walls.
Thankfully for her, the corridors of the burrow were tight; it helped in not leaving enough space for the man to use his weapon. However, had he been at a disadvantage, he would have already left, but he hadn’t.
Even by only brawling, he was effectively having the better of it against a thorough and thorough Brawler.
However, I couldn’t stop there and gawk, I spit another mouthful of blood and raised my arrow, but I couldn’t use a Stone Blow arrow, not here. Not in this tight environment. It would certainly hit Jane too, and even if it wasn’t aimed at her, such an explosion would more easily kill her than the armored man.
I was about to nock another Piercing arrow when I noticed that there remained only two.
That was the lowest point of my day. All my other arrows but the Blow arrows were useless against that man’s armor. The only thing I could count to fight against him was a Piercing Arrow. Without those, there was no way I’d make it.
I imbued the Piercing arrow with Trick Shot as I threw it at the Sunguard, hoping it would have an effect.
If there was only one piece of that armor that could effectively stop a Piercing arrow thrown by me, it was the shield with its solid thickness.
The man raised his shield in defense of the side of his head, almost nonchalantly. Catching both the arrow and the Trick Shot on his round shield. The first with pure Skill, the second by sheer luck.
I could see the surprise in his eyes as the Trick Shot ended up hitting the shield, only to then disappear in a flicker of darkness. Banished faster from the world thanks to the inner qualities of the Sunguard’s armor.
The man who had sheathed his sword back, took Jane by the head and shoved her inside the wall; then he pointed at me.
“I thought I would kill you later, take this whore out first. But it seems you are the really troublesome one here, are you not?” He said, walking toward me with his unsheathed Khopesh.
I felt weakness in my knees, but at least now he wasn’t standing near Jane, so if I wished, I could draw my bow, uselessly, because he would get me faster than I could get him, but at least that was worth a try.
I was about to take a Stone Blow arrow from the quiver, and he was about to dash at me when Alistar jumped into the fright.
Spear aimed at the monster dressed in gold metal, Alistar’s granite skin reflected the Sunguard’s armor’s light, while his face was protected by his opened kite shield.
The man turned to swing his sword against him; Alistar’s intrusion gave me at least another moment to draw my arrow.
As I did, I followed their exchange with my eyes and other senses.
I could feel the heat from the edge of the Evercrystal sword bisecting Alistar’s new shield; I felt it as if it was grinding against my skin, just as I could see it with my eyes the heat coming from it. The portion of my sight that could see that heat, turned white because of how much of it had been generated in that instant.
The man had surely increased the power output on it. I couldn’t help but automatically Trace the sword at that point.
Evercrystal Khopesh of the Sunguard
Durability: 100%
Bonus: Strength + 35 ~ 135
Flow Capacity: 97%
Strengths: Enormous attack Power
Weaknesses: Everstone
This sword made of SunTitanium and finely worked in Evercrystal was made in Sundoor by an Ultimate or higher Class Swordsmith. It is a symbol of fidelity toward Sundoor and is bestowed only upon the Sunguard. Its edge is among the sharpest in the known world.
As Alistar’s spear barely grazed the man’s visor with its tip, he was pushed back, with a heavy kick that sent him crashing on the wooden stairs where he had jumped from, destroying them.
When the man, heading back toward Alistar in a fraction of a second, raised the Khopesh up in the air to finish him, I released the arrow I had nocked.
One of the two new Stones in my bow’s sockets was drained entirely when I used Trick Shot.
Please let him intercept it, I found myself thinking as I saw the man’s weapons descend on a still stunned Alistar. At least that way, he would have to interrupt his killing blow to stop my arrow’s flight.
The man did exactly that.
Surely with his Skill’s help, the sword changed its target, and he rotated at an ungodly speed to slash the arrow mid-flight.
It wasn’t enough this time.
Both the arrow and the Trick Shot exploded in a barrage of ice, so dense that it could perforate even his armor.
It did.
The man ended up skewed to the walls from his left shoulder by a huge spike of ice. But that was all the damage he had taken.
The ice spikes had not perforated his armor, I had been a fool thinking that they could, but I had been lucky enough for one of the spikes to hit him where his armor did not reach.
I hadn’t even finished drawing another Piercing arrow when the man shook free of the ice by slicing it and melting it with the edge of his sword.
If he could kill me with his eyes, he would have; however, Jane surprised him by throwing herself at him and locking his arms in a grapple.
“Shoot!” she shouted at me.
And I did.
A Trick Shot Piercing arrow flew at the man’s open visor. It meant death.
But the visor immediately closed itself shut, and both the arrow and the Trick Shot barely hit it.
The first arrow slid upwards on the visor’s surface, encasing itself between the visor and the upper portion of the helmet, probably where the visor slid down from.
Our last hope was shattered at that moment.
The man turned toward the wall and pushed with his foot on it, his intention to free himself of Jane.
He did.
Jane was launched at the ice spikes still that blocked a part of the corridor, shattering them.
She screamed in pain before the man’s heavily charged punch hit her in the face, cracking her nose and sending her into the lands of dreams, hopefully not to the Abyss.
“Your heavy halfling body will save part of my lost crowns, bitch.” he said to the fainted woman.
He turned toward me then.
“Finally, we’re all alone, kid. You know you’re a troublesome one, aren’t you?” he said.
Then I heard a clunk and saw him fiddle with the visor; the arrow might have damaged its mechanism as the man had to open it by hand.
“See? I’ll need to have it repaired now. Some trouble you are. You almost remind me of a guy I knew. He was a member of the Sunguard once, and like you, he was a damn Shade-cursed. Yeah,” he continued, lost in his memories, “I have no idea how he even got in the Sunguard, but he was removed from duty in the end, so I doubt he lived to tell the tale.”
I was immobile waiting for a moment, anything to draw my next arrow, and when he spat, I knew it was the last moment I would ever have.
He turned his face to do so, probably spitting in the memory of that man, I nocked my arrow at that moment, but I hadn’t even finished drawing it when he flashed forward and cut through me.
Bow, arrow shaft, my left shoulder, they were all bisected at the same time and fell on the floor in a multitude of sounds.
I couldn’t help but widen my eyes; I had yet to register that I had lost my left arm, this time cut at the shoulder. I had yet to feel the pain from the burning wounds.
The world became one painful wail of emotions for me.
Shattered dreams, bleeding tissues, sizzling fresh, fear for my sister’s future, and what this man would do if he discovered where we came from and took his revenge, all of them exploded in my head at the same time with a terrible cacophony of misery.
Synesthesia made me see my screams as waves of red emotion washing over myself and the man in front of me. It was wild.
His laughter was instead orange, much weaker than my wailing, but that much denser, maybe, I couldn’t properly tell.
However, that vision disappeared when he took me by the neck and pinned me to the wall.
“You really believed I was going to kill you right away? You will die slowly for what you’ve done, you and your friends, and whatever stain on the map from which you come from. Be sure of it.”
No… I could not allow that, anything but that.
I started seeing the man’s hypothetical next few movements. It was the newer effect from Tracking, but what could I do with that? What could I…
I could kill him, of course. What mattered if I died now?
“Let’s stop that bleeding, won’t we?” he said when, still holding me up by the neck with his left hand, he neared his Khopesh to my wounds, and they started sizzling from the burn.
I screamed as I had never done before, to his much-amused bouts of laughter, but I did not lose my mind, no.
I took the time when his laughter distracted him to grip one of the Stone grenades at the bottom of my quiver.
What I had to do next was clear.
I shoved my hand, not where his open face was, but where I saw it would be.
When I moved, he instantaneously moved slightly away, but exactly where my hand would be hitting.
The charged Stone crashed against his mouth and exploded; what happened next was a chaotic mess of which I had barely any recollection of.
I felt pain, and most importantly, a soothing coldness.
Pain seemed to have become my friend now. Then I felt whispers, many different whispers.
They cradled my eyes shut.
