‘They really planned this well… To go back from this intersection, I either have to take the long route through the busy business streets or continue straight but that would mean passing by the arena where there are probably a lot of people. Essentially, I am guaranteed to be spotted by the opportunistic bounty hunters.’

The streets were starting to become a little bit livelier and my anxiety kept rising. I could be attacked at any time and I had a hunch that the Healing Temple was going to allow the attackers to strike first. With their strength and knowledge, I had no doubts that they recognised the amulet tied to my belt as a protection amulet. They already knew that I could survive a lethal blow and as a result, would not voluntarily waste resources.

Second, the Healing Temple would probably want to play the card of self-defense to strike the bounty hunters. And for that, I would need to take a hit first.

On the positive side, I believed that the bounty hunters would not aim for my life. The only reason they had to aim for me would be the point rewards and according to the announcement, a living human was worth a lot more than a cold corpse.

After weighing the pros and cons, I made the decision to take the shortest path. Soon, the noisy arena came into view. I hastened my steps, wanting nothing to do with this place. The arena was one of the most popular places of the city. Its insignia depicted a simple empty cage.

The arena’s purpose was to host the battle of monsters. It was one of the main forms of entertainment in the city. The most popular monsters involved were Black Hounds and Cockatrices, the two main monster species that lived on the first floor before being conquered by the races of the Union. Most people came here to watch and bet on the winners. A select few raised their own pet monster and brought it here to fight to death.

Like on Earth, any place that involved gambling was not particularly safe. There were many shady individuals lurking around this place, aiming for the lucky winners. I stayed away from this sort of establishment in my past life and so did most of the humans. To force the monsters to fight was often seen as animal cruelty, especially since the battles had many similarities with cockfights on Earth.

Fortunately, none of the people there stopped me. I held my breath as I walked past the arena and only released it after it was no longer in my line of sight.

However, I soon stopped dead in my tracks. Something felt wrong. The streets’ arrangement was different from what I remembered. The street came to an end and I was forced to either turn right into a smaller street or return on my steps. This straight turn did not match with my memories and also did not make sense from a city’s planning perspective. A normal street would never come to such an abrupt end and force me to enter a smaller alley.

‘Something is not right… Why is there a wall here?’

‘Could it be… I already fell for it?’

I started to panic. I looked around me and found a few people moving away from me; the streets were gradually becoming emptier.

‘Something is definitely wrong!’ I said to myself as I took a step back. I was about to turn back when I felt my back hitting something. “Who?”

“Get him! We are losing too much time. He saw through your illusion.” A voice exclaimed behind my back.

“Don’t kill him though. Use Paralyse!”

The next second, my vision blurred. I saw several silhouettes standing around me suddenly appear out of thin air. I gasped in surprise but at the same time, my body shook uncontrollably. I felt a sharp pain on my shoulder as a powerful electrical current travelled across my body, overloading my nervous system. I felt a chill run down my spine as I almost lost consciousness.

My arms and legs became unresponsive. I could only watch in terror as a Lycan in bestial form appeared in front of me.

“Pick him up and go to the hideout. Hurry up, the Healing Temple should not be very far from here.”

The Lycan picked me up and tossed my stiff body on his shoulder. Despite being paralysed, I was tickled by his fur. Struggling was futile; I knew I was affected by the Paralyse spell, a first circle spell that could last up to a whole minute against an opponent at the same circle.

The Lycan broke into a run, completely oblivious to my discomfort as I heard several shouts in the distance. The situation turned chaotic as the bounty hunters and the nearby passer-bys screamed, several explosions sounded and the ground started shaking.

Meanwhile, the Lycan kept running. I was still unable to move a finger and was forced to stare at the Lycan’s hairy butt and swinging tail.

Boom! Another explosion sounded, not too far away us.

“Continue ahead, I’ll do what I can to delay them. The Healing Temple never kills anyway. The bounty we’ll get from this guy will be more than enough to pay for the medical fees.”

“Alright. I’ll try to lose them in the slums. The streets there should be narrower but also more lively.” The Lycan answered.

My heart sank. The bounty hunters were a lot more resourceful than I expected. They were purposedly dragging the innocent citizens into this mess. The Healing Temple could retaliate against the bounty hunters for kidnapping one of their members, but they needed to act with caution in the presence of the citizens.

A whole minute went by and the forces of the Healing Temple had yet to catch up. On a positive note, I regained control of my body as the effect of Paralyse faded away. However, as my body was no longer stiff, my face fell directly towards the Lycan’s hairy waist.

I grunted and struggled to escape the Lycan’s grip. The Lycan noticed that I was free to move but only chuckled. In his bestial form, he was unable to use any spells but his speed increased tremendously. It was thanks to this insane speed that he was able to distance himself from the forces of the Healing Temple.

“Don’t waste your energy little healer. The physical strength of a human is not enough to break my grip.” The Lycan taunted as he took a sharp turn into a smaller alley. He jumped on the walls and parkoured his way through a series of obstacles effortlessly.

‘F*ck! Where are the forces of the Healing Temple? Did they underestimate the bounty hunters to the point of only sending a small team?’

At this rate, the Lycan was going to succeed in escaping. If the Healing Temple ever lost track of the Lycan, I would be doomed. I would be sold to the city lord and my life would come to an end. I knew far too well the fate of those sold to the city lords.

All the captured humans in the early days of the human era ended up as test subjects. The races of the Union had no information about the human race and needed to prepare for their arrival. They needed to find the humans’ strengths, weaknesses and limits in case the humans would be a hostile race. At the same time, the Union’s secondary goal was to get rid of the Rights obtained by the humans.

The Union was aware that billions of humans were entering the tower which meant an additional major competitor for the limited resources of the tower. If it did not take the necessary measures against the humans, they would very quickly be outnumbered and perish as the races of the Union only had a few million members each.

I could not allow this to happen. I had to escape but the Lycan was simply too strong for me.

’F*ck! And they said it would be a very safe operation… My *ss… The Forbidden Hall must have been slacking.’

I gritted my teeth as I racked my brain for a solution. Eventually, I focused and used a spell: [Light Shield].

It was the new spell I obtained from the codex: Light Shield, a first circle spell of the light element. It allowed the user to deploy a shield made of light to absorb shocks and damages to some extent.

A thin yellow membrane quickly covered my body, giving me some warmth and comfort. The Lycan immediately noticed my actions but simply brushed it off. The Light Shield would not be enough to break his grip.

However, at the same time, a tiny bottle full of red liquid appeared in my palm. I pulled it out of my storage belt that had been overlooked by the bounty hunters.

I closed my eyes. After taking a deep breath and preparing for the impact, I mercilessly smashed the bottle against the Lycan’s back.

Boom!

The bottle cracked as it came into contact with the Lycan’s back. The red liquid flew out and instantly burst into flames.

The Lycan was stunned. His eyes widened as he felt a powerful force push him from behind and an intense heat attempting to swallow him whole. He instinctively let go of my legs and tumbled forward as he desperately attempted to put off his burning hair. He roared in pain, attracting the whole street’s attention.

My Light Shield was instantly destroyed by the explosive potion. The flames licked my body as I tried to protect my face using my arms. My arms turned black in an instant; my eyebrows were completely burnt away and part of my hair caught fire too. Fortunately, I did not have to endure the flames for very long as the Lycan released his hand and my body fell on the cold hard ground.

‘D*mn. The Light Shield did not even last for a second. Who would have thought the explosive potion was so strong. If I did not have the protection amulet on me, I would not have dared to use that item.’

I cursed loudly and glanced at the Lycan who was rolling on the ground. His fur was still on fire as most of the red liquid ended up there. The flames were showing no signs of stopping.

Heal Heal Heal!

I used Heal three times , focusing the mana flow on my arms and face. Then, I carefully scanned my surroundings. There were several people looking at us with terrified expressions. I knew I could not stay here for too long.

The Lycan may succeed in putting off the fire at any time. He was still in his bestial form and had yet to realise than if he changed form, he would be able to use spells to take care of the fire.

‘F*ck! No signs of the Healing Temple anywhere. I don’t even know where I am right now…’

I bit my lips and after a brief moment of hesitation, broke into a run. I ran in the direction we came from, doing my best to remember the path the Lycan took.