Sarah pivoted on her right foot, able to feel the footsteps of a man fast approaching in her direction, most likely the [Assassin] considering his closer proximity to her. Adrenaline coursed through her veins, her heart thumping like the beats of a marching drum as she turned around to face her attacker, the balding man dressed in black leather vestments charging at her with a slight hesitation in his eyes; Qi flickered under his footsteps, and as far as she could remember, it was likely the [Assassin] skill [Qi Steps] at work.

However, the next second Sarah’s vision was obscured with a wet, viscous red liquid, spraying over her eyes and temporarily blocking off her vision. She hurriedly tore off a part of her undershirt with her right hand with her enhanced strength, while she hoisted her spear in front of her defensively. Using the small piece of torn shirt to wipe off her eyes, while flailing the spear around her defensively, utilizing sound to track any footsteps. Eerily enough there were none directed in her direction, the ones that she felt were distant.

A second later she finally opened her eyes.

She wished she hadn’t. Sarah just stood there gaping, as if her brain couldn’t process what her eyes were seeing. The Assassin was dead…. bisected in half. She had heard of Jack’s new [Qi Projection] skill, but she hadn’t expected it to be so powerful…. She didn’t think Jack expected such a brutal display, either. By the end, the man was only three meters away from her, the frightening of [Qi Steps] on full display. If he had gotten a little closer, or Jack’s aim had been a little off— She might be powerful when it came to stats, but she doubted she would be able to survive a point blank dagger to the neck, and her spear wasn’t exactly equipped for parrying bladed weapons.

‘I should be vomiting,’ Sarah thought to herself, averting her gaze from the gory sight. It was not a matter of willpower, but of basic physiology— she was a sheltered woman who had never been in a real fight, let alone been part of killing someone else; but she didn’t feel the horror welling up, and neither did she feel any revulsion. There was only guilt, depression and a melange of jumbled emotions that were too fragmented to individually point out. Jack had theorized that [Qi] somehow desensitized them to gore and bloodshed, and she had considered it but deemed it unlikely back then. Now, she was convinced.

A part of her felt repulsed by what Jack did, but when she realized that the Assassin would have done the same to her without hesitation, she realized how her thoughts were. A part of her hated herself, for not being more proactive, more alert. Why was she completely oblivious to the chilling plot against their lives, while Jack had been suspicious and cautious from the start. Sarah Jackson was many things, but incompetence had never been a flaw attributed to her. She was a driven, motivated and most of all, competitive woman who never shied away from a challenge, graduated among the top five in her class and had displayed excellence throughout her corporate life.

Another wave of guilt washed over her when she realized she had made Jack an outlet for the negative emotions she felt, when in reality she was touched by his gesture. A stranger had gone out of his way to soothe her trauma when Andrew died in front of her, even when he seemed shaken himself. He had guided her, shared his knowledge, and when she was on the verge of death without even knowing it, protected her from harm, even if that meant killing the person that was about to harm her. Even then, he had acted in self-defense— only attacking when they made their ill intents clear, despite repeated attempts to warn them off.

Why did she even feel guilty in the first place?

If someone tried to kill her, why should she feel guilty when they got what they deserved? Jack didn’t hesitate—

‘Wait, Jack!’ His name was the catalyst she needed to extricate herself from the state of shock she was in, snapping out of a daze she didn’t even remember getting lost in.

Another sound of an arrow tearing through air echoed out, and Sarah could reflexively tell that it was headed for her this time. She instinctively dived for cover, biting her lip so hard that blood started dripping out. She needed to help Jack….

Jack panted from the exertion at successfully firing off his [Qi Projection] skill, the process of layering two synergistic skills not only draining his Qi, but also chipping away at his stamina and making him feel exhausted. He cringed when his sword tore cleanly through the man, but the outcome was better than missing. Thankfully, there was an imminent and pressing distraction charging right at him— the blonde-haired man’s face was as pale as a ghost, but Jack’s eyes flickered with surprise when the man manifested a small circular shield that he tightly held against its vitals, before charging straight at him. He had finally got to witness the [Swordsman Defensive] class paired with the [Qi Shield] skill.

Jack realized that the moment he had used [Qi Projection] he had left the man no choice but to charge at him. He didn’t know how taxing the skill was and that Jack couldn’t afford to use it a second time because he was down to 1 point in Qi, and neither did he have knowledge about its effective range. For him, exposing his back to Jack was the same as an early death, and due to his [Qi Shield] skill he didn’t necessarily need to fear his skill. Though from the jitters that ran up the man’s sword arm, he figured that fear for his skill was already ingrained deep within his mind.

“Damien! Kill that bitch!” he hollered at the top of his lungs, his command no doubt directed towards the archer. Jack’s expression darkened, his grip over his sword tightening with anger. Jack had been thinking of ways to offer the man a way out, since his tone conveyed frustration and terror rather than grief at Max’s death, guessing that the blonde-haired man didn’t personally know him before the apocalypse. HIs theory made sense— their age groups were too far apart, and their act of camaraderie was likely just an act. But they continued to display their hostility even now, and perhaps both sides had gone too far for there to be any possibility of a ceasefire.

So be it.

“I told you, there would be consequences. Do you believe me now?” Jack asked the man, but there was no mockery or judgment in his voice, only cold, hard facts.

He braced himself in a defensive posture, trying to hide how exhausted he was by throwing out a few intimidating words. His right limb burned from exertion, but he grit his teeth and willed it to move. Mentally, he had already frightened the party half to death and that was half the battle won right there. He just had to hang on until he found an opening to burn up his last point of Qi in one lethal strike.

The blonde-haired man just ignored him, covering the remaining distance in a matter of seconds and slashing out in a wide arc from behind the safety of his shield. Jack mentally swore, finding it a pity that the man was not one to be easily riled up, raising his sword to parry his strike. Jack’s arm slightly jerked back before he managed to stabilize it, thanking his stars that the man did not have his own [Qi Sword] skill. A screeching sound rang out as metal collided with metal, the blonde-haired man pulling back and following through with another arcing slash from a different angle.

Jack seemed to forget time as the blonde-haired man rained down a volley of sword blows at him— slash, parry, slash, interspersed with the occasional feint. The man’s swordplay was unskilled, but the theory behind his attacks was sound and each of his blows were sufficiently powerful to pressure him. Jack found himself panting, each blow wreaking havoc on his stamina reserves, his hands getting heavier and heavier with each passing minute. The one time he managed to sneak past the man’s guard, his stab harmlessly bounced off the man’s [Qi Shield]. Jack was tempted to just ram his [Qi Sword] against his shield, but knew that he would run out before managing to crack through it. [Qi Projection] was a different matter, but he didn’t have the reserves for such an attack.

Jack was on the verge of making a last-ditch attack, the only thing keeping his sword aloft was sheer willpower alone. An image flickered in his mind, the visage bringing back painful memories and a hatred that would persist for as long as he lived. Even on the door of life and death it tormented him, how ironic it was to have all this power and still be unable to exact revenge. To others, his inherited fortune was an object to be coveted and desired. But only he knew the price it had cost him… only he remembered.

His eyes flashed as he detected movement from the corner of his vision, his eyes flickering with surprise. An arrow whistled past where she had been seconds ago, but Sarah moved unhindered, unafraid. This was good, if she could subdue him then they could convince him to call his archer friend off….

Jack recoiled in surprise as Sarah continued on unhindered, [Qi Spear] flaring at her Spear’s tip before ramming the Swordsman from the side ruthlessly, puncturing through his ribs and then continuing to barrel forward with anger flaring in her eyes. The Swordsman coughed out a mouthful of blood, continuing to be pushed backward step by step, trying to prevent the spear from completely piercing through his chest.

But while the swordsman might be fairly competent, he was no match for a [Level 4] Sarah that spear charged him with both momentum and her enhanced strength on her side. She finally stopped her charge as the spear completely punched through the side of his chest, the blonde-haired man’s mouth sputtering blood on her face as he tried to eke out his final words, but ultimately failing as his body went limp. Sarah retracted her spear from his collapsed body, her expression stoic as she looked in the direction of the archer with wariness in her eyes, an arrow already poking out from her right forearm.

Both Jack and Sarah remained poised to dodge out of the way of any projectiles in their way, but none came. Jack surveilled the forest, realizing that he could no longer make out the arrow’s tip poking out from behind the tree.

“He ran away,” Jack muttered with a sigh of relief, completely spent.

“Yeah,” Sarah replied calmly, walking over and standing in front of Jack protectively in case the archer came back.

“Sarah…. You-,” Jack began to speak, but Sarah uncharacteristically cut him off.

“I finished him off before he had a chance to kill you. Simple," She shrugged, her expression a façade of strength, but ultimately a façade that was needed in this new world. If you weren’t built for it, you feigned your way to survival.

'You sure you're okay?' were the words Jack really wanted to ask, but he just lightly shook his head and muttered, "Nevermind."