Sliding his right leg across the muddy floor, Logan came to a dirty halt as he arrived at the spot where Marcus was laying in wait for a signal.

“Marcus, heal me, quickly!” Logan demanded, his eyes darting in the direction he had just ran from.

“Got it! Orb of all I call to thee, Pondress heal your children. Heal Shot”, Marcus responded, conjuring up waves and orbs of yellow light to heal his ally’s wounds.

The first healed for 15, Marcus continued to do so at Logan’s behest as he was close to death and had plenty to recover. 18, 16, 17, 17 health was restored to Logan, bringing him back to a comfortable 85/86 HP. All the while, Logan clicked his fingers to try and pre-empt the arrival of Dena if she were to approach.

“You need to get up high, let me deal with her-” Logan began to command.

However, behind the Spellthief, Marcus saw a waft of wispy shadows whirl and twist out of the air, following a dagger that dug deep into Logan’s back. With an explosion of thinly-veiled shadows, the full form of Dena emerged, using a skill that Logan had not yet encountered.

“Warning! Logan you just took 35 damage, you’re at 50 hp”, the System cried out in his mind.

“I got it!” Logan replied in his head as he pulled away.

Kicking back, Logan dealt a swift blow to Dena’s stomach, using the platform to jump away from her reach for a small distance. Looking over Dena, he could see her in full detail. She stood at 5’11”, long raven hair that was tied into a low ponytail at her back with strands flowing over her forehead. Her eyes were a piercing red, marking two deathly lights against her pecan-brown skin colour. Her garb was a mash of yellow and black, with dashes of soaked blood patches across her sleeves and tunic. Wielding two daggers, Logan was puzzled as to why she didn’t use both. “Identify.”

“Dena Mor: Rogue 10, 129/134 HP, 0/0 MP. A skilled assassin who has accrued enough crimes on her list to warrant a wanted poster, from 20 murders to several thefts, offering 2 gold for her death and return of stolen goods. Once an adventurer, Dena left the organisation when she found that killing adventurers and villagers alike pulled in more money.

Skills: Backstab**, Dastardly Backstabs, Dash**, Multi-Backstab, Multi-Dash**, Shroud of Shadow***, Substitution. Wields: Haunt's End 13-17 dmg, Assassin Dagger 10-12 dmg. Wears: Sain’s Wrap.”

“Crap, that health looks insurmountable, she has another Backstab in the bank probably too. How am I going to handle this?” Logan worried in his head.

Looking her quarry up and down, Dena spoke to her prey, “A quarter-man, by the look of your gear a Rogue to boot. Who hired you to take down my crew? Or you in it for the hunters?”

“You could say it was divine intervention”, Logan replied, trying to act cool and turn the situation to his advantage.

“An above proclamation ey? I am far from high enough on any list to warrant that, or… is it the kaevock? I knew that dungeon was some sort of sacred ground.”

“Is that the lock device she had? I heard her say that name before… let’s try and twist this. System, take Backstab off hiatus”, Logan thought.

“Yes, the kaevock was not meant to leave its hold. Return it now and see your mark as removed.”

“You killed all 5 of my crew, half I can’t even find the remains of. Aside from that magi behind you who I think had that elemental who else do you have backing you up?”

“Does it matter our numbers? Just hand over what you took and we’ll be off.”

“If I thought I could handle you all myself, you’d be dead from my stealth ambush and I’d be onto your matey there. I held off my barrage so we could chat. If there aren’t more of you, my assessment was too high.”

“You got Echo Radar, right? Try it again, see what it picks up.”

Dena stared Logan down for a few seconds, obviously thinking over his suggestion. Slowly, she moved her left hand to sheath her secondary dagger. Moving from her hip to her tunic, she pulled out a small bell. A quick motion had the bell ding again, allowing Logan to start his assault against the Rogue who had only a single weapon drawn.

“Gaia Shot!” Logan shouted, thrusting his hand out to Dena, a chaotic mass of roots and earth shot down from his shoulder and erupted from his palm as a large shard of rock barreled into Dena’s shoulder, dealing 28 damage as well as causing his foe’s darker skin to take on a greenish overtone as she was sickened by the earthly strike.

Kicking forwards, Logan charged at Dena whose body was sluggish and unresponsive, instead of dodging she instead threw up green inner-sewage on the floor in front of her. Spinning around his target, Logan turned to her back, landing a strong palm into her spine and called out, “Flame Grasp!”, forming large flames in his hand that exploded over and around Dena’s body, inflicting a further 67 Backstab fire damage.

Recovering, or fighting back, the sickness within her, Dena gave a swift kick into Logan’s face to make him back off, dealing a dizzying 8 damage to him. Throwing her bell to the side, Dena swiftly moved her hand into her tunic to pull out and down a vial of liquid, healing herself for 18.

“A bloody grasp expert? Fuck my luck”, she called out as he took a few backsteps.

“Surprised you survived that, c’mon, one on one, take me out and you can leave”, Logan tried to goad.

“Honour? You should know it is lost on thieves, but if your buddy can keep his staff in check I’m all up for it, sparkly hands.”

Grabbing his own healing vial from his pouch inventory, Logan downed it for 14 healing. He now stood at 56/86 whereas Dena was at 52/134 HP. Seeing, and feeling, the damage that both sides could deal, Logan started to realize how quickly fights could end if people had all their resources at hand.

Whipping back out her second dagger, Dena made a crossing stance with them in front of her, almost as if she was street brawling. Logan studied his target, thinking of how she would use her skills or how she would fight. She’d already given up her invisible strategy, thinking there were more adversaries, what else could she do.

Yet again, Dena’s body started to speed up and gather afterimages, her mouth moving to the style of “Dash” but far enough away to not be audible. Like several hares hyped up on caffeine, she darted towards Logan who only just had enough time to react and cast a spell. Waving his hand over the floor in front of him he chanted, “Gaia Wall”, which caused the earth beneath him to split, crack, and viciously produce a large wall of rock.

Dena’s face was filled with shock as she couldn’t slow down enough to avoid it, kicking upwards, Dena did a half frontflip as her legs landed on the wall, pushing off of it just in time to dodge the grappling hands of mud and vines as well as finishing her frontflip away from the wall.

Behind the wall, Logan was clicking as it appeared to get a good angle on his foe, with the aid of Echo Radar he incanted again, “Flame Shot”, circling the wall of rock his arm enflamed with a torrent of hot energy, shooting it at a recoiling Dena. Sadly, Dash was still active, and Dena was barely able to duck under the fiery spell.

“I wish I had prepared Lightning for this, she’s too fast”, Logan started to worry.

Returning to a charge down of the Spellthief, Dena’s speed started to fade away as Dash was coming to an end, but it had enough duration left to reach Logan and slash out with dual blades. Logan was able to dodge a strike to his head by ducking, rotating his body to the side to dodge one to his arm, but following strikes into his other arm and leg left him taking 23 and 19 damage.

Retaliating with a wave of his arm, Dena started to backstep to avoid the oncoming spell but anticipated the wrong orientation, as Logan called out, “Flame Wall”, his arm motion made the wall form away from him rather than in a wide wall, causing it to be a long line behind Dena to which she dodged inside of. Moving through so much of the fires caused Dena to take 17 and 16 damage before she moved out of the flames.

Both parties were low on health once again, Logan at 14/86, Dena at 19/134 HP. Both of them breathed heavily under the weight of their wounds, sweat and blood coating their clothes in the signs of battle. Logan was out of spell slots, activating his periapt would require him to touch it but he didn’t want to leave any openings just yet. A single strike could deal with either of them at this point.

“So… what’s the deal. Enhancement specialist? Magi can’t normally take that kind of beating, at least no low ranked ones. Haven’t seen a second-level spell from you yet either, were they all used on my comrades?” Dena called out.

“Either way, you think that’d give you the advantage?”

“So, yes, no seconds left, I doubt you have any firsts left either with all that quick casting you’re doing. How about we call this a draw, I hand over the kaevock, and we go our separate ways huh? Rather cut my losses than my throat.”

“No honour amongst thieves, didn’t you say? How could I trust your word?”

“Can trust mine as good as yours, most of my inners are on the floor, your ally could easily mop me up if they wanted I’d wager. ‘Least this way, we all go away with our blood still warm.”

The cracking and eventual collapse of the Gaia Wall was quickly followed by that of the Flame Wall dissipating, revealing charred earth beneath. “What should I do? She’s no doubt going to attack me, but how could I return that?”

“You have it with you?”

“Yes, in my small pack. Can I retrieve it?”

“Slowly.”

With that command, Dena slowly sheathed the dagger in her left hand again. Putting her hand behind her back Logan could see she was fumbling around in her bag without looking. “She’s gonna throw something isn’t she.”

Swiping out quickly, Dena tossed two small black spheres at Logan, exploding at the floor near his feet into a thick cloud of grey smoke. Using the pre-empted attack to his advantage, Logan quickly grabbed his periapt to grant himself 2 MP for the onslaught he believed was coming his way.

Crashing through the smoke was that of a leaping Dena, dagger raised high in her right arm ready to drive down. Sliding forwards, Logan jumped at his foe to parry her blade, clashing in a loud clang of metal, sparks flying from the scraping of silver steel on steel. Dena’s face was full of shock as she hadn’t expected a parry like that, nor the hand that was placed onto her stomach and Logan chanting, “Flame Grasp!”, to enact his final attack.

Flames ignited across Logan’s arm as they danced a happy jig of death through his limb and into Dena. Flourishing and exploding, the fires completely annihilated Dena’s form, causing Logan to gain a smile. The smile was quickly destroyed, however, as the fiery outline of Dena cracked apart, revealing a snakeskin of her body breaking away from the flames. Dena landed just beneath Logan and her shell.

Dena had most likely used her Substitution skill, the skin taking an attack for her and letting her real body retreat undamaged. Jutting his head down to meet his foe, Logan could see Dena preparing for a follow-up assault. Pulling his body downwards, the Spellthief was just barely able to clash his dagger with the Rogue again before landing.

Trying to feint once again, Logan waved his arm over the floor as he spoke, “Flame”, and in true fashion, Dena tried to dodge a wall of fire though was shaken when Logan lifted his arm to aim at her, “Shot!”, causing the fires to shoot out like a cannon at the Rogue, hitting her solidly in the face for 26 damage, sending her straight to -7/134 HP. Logan was curious as the damage was rather low, thinking she may have gained some fire reduction or resistance towards the end when he couldn’t see her.

Dena’s body was still on the ground, a portion of the dirt beneath her showing a trail as she slid across the earth from the final attack. Her breathing was slow, smoke billowing from her now scarred face. Logan was anticipating another trick, for her to spark right back up again to assault once more. Seconds bled into eternity as the adrenaline continued to circulate within the Spellthief and onlooking Devout. A low exhale followed the calming sight of experience numbers appearing above the body.

Falling to a knee, Logan started to breathe heavily as the energy left his body alongside the dripping blood from his right limbs and back. “Thank g-the above, it’s over. Marcus, come heal me would you?” he spoke through gasps.

“Logan, that was close. Why did-”

“Heal now, explain later.”

“Right. Orb of all I call to thee, Pondress heal your children. Heal Shot”, Marcus chanted, getting cut off by his ally who could do with the healing.

Getting a spell’s worth of 17 and then 3 Healer’s Caress for 12 more, Logan was restored to 43/86 HP. Scanning the local area with both his eyes and Echo Radar, Logan couldn’t see any more threats to the pair. Not surprisingly the quest hadn’t completed itself just yet, as it demanded that Dena be killed, though it did update with the first and third additional objectives having been completed.

“Why did you want to fight her alone? I thought you just wanted to deal with her allies in a stealthy manner? This was far too rash, you almost died, again!”

“I was given a command, alright? Vokka sent me the request to deal with this gang, on my own if possible”, Logan half-lied, thinking it was entirely possible that the quest was given to him by his benefactor or at least that she had some role to play in it.

“Truly? Didn’t you say you had no contact with Vokka after gaining your oracle powers?”

“It surprised me too, but there it was, a command from the above.”

“I won’t question it if so, just more heads-up ahead of time would be nice. Had me worrying more than I had to, it was terrible having to stand on the sidelines and watch you get hurt like that.”

“More than normal? I swear I’ve become quite the target for monsters ever since becoming an adventurer.”

“Well normally I can at least cast a healing spell on you to keep you going, I wish I had more use outside of that.”

“Healing is leagues above useless, and your crossbow has aided me several times before. And that Gaia on the hob? Remember? You’re a valued member of this partnership, Marcus”, Logan replied, trying to lift the hopes of what seemed to be a disheartened friend.

“I have to do something, you take on the ogre’s share of the work here, an inferno of strength leading me forward.”

Standing tall, Logan placed his hand on Marcus’s shoulder, “I wouldn’t have made it this far without you, Marcus. I can absorb all the pain I have because you’re there to stitch the wounds of my failures. If I am to be a roaring flame in your eyes, see yourself as the fuel that keeps me burning.”

Corny as it was, Logan felt he needed sweet words to dissuade the negative thoughts of his new friend. Having spent half a month together had done wonders in making them close enough that Logan was half-tempted to spill the secrets behind his powers. Marcus gave an affirmative nod and smile, the Devout having heard words of wisdom that coated his woes in a warm blanket.

“I’ll deal with the body, mind checking on their camp to make sure it isn’t burning anymore? Dena killed Celsius so you shouldn’t be able to find him.”

“You got it, Logan”, Marcus responded, a pep in his voice as well as in his step as he jogged northwards.

With Marcus clear out of view, Logan scanned the area once more and clicked his fingers to make doubly sure that no one was peering at him. Confident that he was alone, he approached the body of Dena who was still breathing and knelt to her side. Her health wasn’t dropping, surprisingly, though her face was burnt beyond recognition at this point and would require quite the high-ranked healing.

“With this death, I prevent further killings. Essence Absorption”, Logan thought in his head, commanding his ability to activate once more as he placed his hand on Dena’s neck. The same black and dark-green lines shot out from his palm and across Dena’s skin. Forming around the Rogue’s head a shattering of glass was heard as the lines penetrated her unconscious mind. Absorbing her essence, the lines flowed with blue and purple energies. Finally, her body was whisked up like a black hole in the centre of Logan’s palm, leaving only her effects behind.

“Absorption of foe complete. Calculating reward…”

“1,040 absorbed experience, target has no spells to absorb.”

“That was quite the jump in reward, I gained almost double what I would normally for defeating a level 10 enemy. Sad to say, Marcus will be falling behind even quicker if I do these kinds of things without his aid”, Logan thought to himself. There was more to think about as another window appeared, detailing his success of the quest.

“Quest - Kill Dena Mor, has been completed. You achieved 3 additional objectives during the mission and as such your rewards will be increased. Distributing rewards…”

“The reward for your quest completion is as follows:

Logan - 2 Skill Points. Marcus - 2 Skill Points, Grasp Alteration Mastery, +3,000 Experience. Celsius - Ember Shard Skill, +3,000 Experience.”

“Wow, those bonuses are amazing! I didn’t expect my summon to gain such an increase either. I guess the rewards were tailored to my party? But they didn’t help that much, why is the reward so high for them?” Logan pondered as he investigated the window alongside his status.

Putting the gear of Dena away within his inventory added even more information for Logan to process as he had reached the weight limit, quickly depositing the chopped wood to the floor to make space. He’d later sift through the acquired gear when he had all of the camp’s stuff together, so he requested the system not update his inventory just yet and just keep the new stuff in its own section.

“System, can you search the skills for Dash, Substitution, and Shroud of Shadow for me?”

“We can do so, Logan. Please wait a moment… It appears that the two latter skills are not available to you at this time, Dash, however, is available.”

“Is it because I am too low level perhaps? It looks like Dash increases my speed, I could have guessed that from seeing it in action. Any suggestions, System?”

“From observing you in combat, it seems you value the Backstab skill highly for dealing with dangerous foes. Dagger Toss, as you found earlier, would be a strange skill to have as a Wizard, so we advise against that if you aim to form larger parties. Dash would be a valuable asset, though as it is another Rogue skill it might be hard to utilize within larger parties. With this in mind, Multi-Backstab sounds like the best course of action.”

“My thoughts too, I can disguise the Backstab spells as just me using Grasp alterations too. System, place both of my skill points into Multi-Backstab.”

The System did as Logan commanded, Multi-Backstab rose to tier 3 and with it two more uses of his Backstab skill with their own cooldowns. This meant that Logan could now use four Backstabs with a nine-minute cooldown each, much more viable for stealth assassinations like he had just undergone in the camp.

“Let’s go see to our allies.”

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