A loud bang echoed through the dead man’s apartment, and Colin stood just in front of the dried husks remains. It seemed as if both were waiting for their intruder to make his way inside and do something. The next attack rattled the door, and it came partially free from its hinges.

“It’s open!” Colin yelled with a smirk twisting upon his face at his own attempt at humor.

Holy crap, was he enjoying himself? The man asked himself. If he were truthful, the answer would have undoubtedly have been yes. When he was a contracted killer for hire, Colin had always made a point never actually to enjoy the act of taking a life. In fact, He hated taking the lives of the weak people who couldn’t provide him a challenge. The dead couldn’t learn after all. The reason he stayed an assassin for as long as he had was a simple one. He loved the contest of putting oneself against another and winning against someone skilled AND ready.

Most of the killing in the building had been unsatisfactory in that regard. These simple, untrained grunts barely knew which end of a weapon to hold and weren’t his ideal targets. That vampire might have been a good contest if he were even mild sure he could take it. But no, with no class and the willingness to spend his attribute points, Colin was positive that even with the potshot on its head, he would have lost in the end.

BANG!

But, hopefully, Harvey was a different story.

CRASH!

With one final blow, Harvey had completely dislodged the door from its hinges and sent it to the floor with a whoomp. The man stepped through the now open doorway and looked at Colin with a mix of curiosity and annoyance. His eyes looked over Colin appraisingly, and he didn’t seem impressed by what he saw.

“Seriously? Are you the one Hoz told me was fighting Mota? No way,” he said, smirking at Colin’s form and ready stance. “Well shit, the classless man is going to fight. I have to say, you’ve got balls but not a whole lot of brains.”

“Are you gonna try and talk me to death? I gotta say, that isn’t something any of your grunts have tried,” Colin goaded. “Who knows? keep trying, and it might just work.”

“I’ll admit,” Harvey said, continuing as if Colin hadn’t spoken. “Mota was a Brawler of decent skill, so the fact that you beat her was mildly impressive. However, Roshi was a Desert Vampire, and I doubt you managed to beat him. Did you sneak past him? Throw a sticking sunlight grenade at him?

What?”

Rolling his eyes, Colin gripped his daggers tighter to avoid trying his luck with the man now. “Neither actually. I threw an enraged Jotun at him.”

Harvey groaned. “He did tell me we should have killed that thing, but no. Mota said we could harvest him for parts later to sell. I should have known, but It’s too late to worry about now.” He sighed and shook his head. Then he looked at Colin again, “So tell me, why are you here? Maybe we can be reasonable, and you can quickly be on your way.”

“I doubt it,” Colin told him truthfully. Observing the man’s face, he continued, “I’m here to get the Clairvoyant Ring.”

The man’s eyes flashed to his right hand for only a moment. It didn’t linger on his hand for long, but it was long enough that he had the ring’s location. At least that meant that Colin wouldn’t have to find it upstairs. “Also, bring you in alive, but that ring takes priority.”

Harvey smiled maliciously at the man opposite him and raised his right hand. With a waggle of his fingers, Harvey showed off the ring on his finger to Colin. “Well, here’s the ring,” Harvey smirked. “And here I am. What are you going to do about it?”

Sighing, Colin’s shoulders drooped. “Seriously? I was hoping for more from you. I mean, come on, man. I spent so much time getting here and prepping for this incursion, and you find me and parade the ring’s location. It’s like you aren’t even trying to make this difficult for me. I was hoping for a challenge,” Colin pouted.

“Are you shitting me?” Harvey scoffed, his voice rising almost to a yell. His incredulity and condescension was was so thick in his tone that Colin could practically smell it. “You seriously think you can fight me, and win, with those pansy-ass daggers? I repeat, are you shitting me?”

The disappointment in Colin’s face intensified to disgust. “No, I’m not and can you please stop pandering about like a monkey. I doubt that you’re even halfway decent at fighting, and all that effort I used to get here feels like a waste.”

Flustered, Harvey started defending himself. “Come on, man. I have worked hard to create this outfit. Sure, It’s not much now, but in a few months, I was going to get control of some supply lines for some grass, and from there, I could only grow. That was the plan, at least until you came and killed most of my crew. I mean, grunts in this game are a dime a dozen, but still, they’re-”

“Wait!” Colin interrupted. “Game? Does that mean you’re a player?”

“No shit, Sherlock,” Harvey said, sarcastically. “Why did you think I am so annoyed? I only get to play for around four hours a day for now, and you’ve ruined a month’s worth of work. So, I’m going to kill you. Then I’m going to loot your body, and-”

“Well, I guess that makes this a whole lot easier for me,” Colin told the man, a slightly manic smile playing across his face.

“How so?” Harvey asked, irritation grinding through his voice.

“The first player I get to wreck, and it’s a budding crime lord. How perfect,” Colin sneered.

“Son of a bitch,” he ground out. “You think you can?”

Colin shrugged. “Let’s just say I’ve hedged my bet on the answer.”

Eye twitching, Harvey finally shut up and crouched, left hand on the pommel of the short blade on his right hip. “Drawing Thrust!” he announced, hand now grasping the handle loosely.

In the blink of an eye, Harvey drew the blade from his hip and practically flew towards Colin with the blade pointed firmly at his neck. Colin bent low and swiped his left dagger at Harvey’s knee and the other at his extended left arm. Both strikes missed as Harvey twisted around and out of the attacks field of movement, only for the outstretched sword to swing around and narrowly miss Colin’s neck.

Staying close to try and negate Harvey’s reach advantage with the sword, Colin stepped closer and thrust into Harvey’s ribcage. Only the slippery man twisted out of the way again and slammed his pommel into Colin’s head above his ear.

You have taken a pommel strike from Harvey Regic and have taken 21 points of damage and are stunned for 4 seconds. You now have 109 out of 130 health remaining. Stunned is a temporary debuff that makes it impossible to do any function that requires movement until the effect wears off.

Ears rang, and vision swam in Colin’s head as he felt the blow take effect. It was disorientating enough that he honestly felt sick to his stomach like he was on a roller coaster from hell. In the real world, Colin was sure that he might have at least been able to fall to his hands and knees and crawl away. Here in Rosengard, if you were stunned, you can do nothing.

Seeing that the stun had taken effect, Harvey took the opportunity and slashed Colin first in the abdomen, letting the blade hack into Colin before pulling it free. Continuing the movement, the next attack was aimed for Colin’s right thigh, striking before the stun effect wore off.

You have been hacked into by Harvey Regic for 47 points of damage. You now have 62 health out of 130 remaining. You have been slashed by Harvey Regic for 31 points of damage and have had your right leg hampered. You now have 31 health out of 130 health remaining. Hampered is a debilitating debuff that lasts until healed. While hampered, you have a harder time moving the named appendage (Your right leg in this circumstance) without risk of further injury or pain.

Colin removed the prompts almost immediately and rolled away from Harvey, quickly discovering what it meant by ‘debilitating.’ The wound on his leg burned and ached with pure agony as he stood and barely succeeded in doing so.

Before this injury, he’d had a plan, and he thought it was a decent one too. Now he was standing between Harvey, the window behind him, with the corpse of Roy Clyde to the side. Colin took a step backward, and Harvey took two towards him.

“Wow, you come in here with such bullshit bravado, and now you’re backing down? Oh no, you’re not getting away that easy.” Harvey said, taking another step closer to Colin.

Harvey turned the blade around in his hand and crouched down, his stance reminiscent of a track sprinter with one leg ahead of the other and the fingertips of his free hand maintaining his balance. “Hopefully, you’ll try this again sometime. I’d love to kill you again.” Harvey said, a confident smirk playing across his face.

“Bursting Charge!” Harvey announced as his body flashed with a swirling white aura for a second. Then it was gone, and Harvey launched forward as if propelled forward with rocket boosters. A half-second later, he was in front of Colin, sliding his blade through empty air and looking and an opponent free spot.

The form of the attack was different than the one he’d demonstrated only moments before, but Colin anticipated the spot he’d attempt to hit. Anywhere above the waist. So Right as Harvey activated his ability, Colin activated his only togglable ability, Kinetic Vigor. Using the little extra speed it afforded him, Colin dropped to his back on the floor and kept his knees bent and tucked into his body. Keeping the agonized screams inside his head, He only had a few seconds before his mana would deplete again, and he needed the timing to be just right.

The instant Harvey stood over him, overextended with his weight pressing forward, Colin rolled backward and kicked upwards with both legs at the same time. Harvey may have more stat points and levels than him, but that meant little when physics was against you.

Colin’s legs became a fulcrum point as Harvey’s middle was pushed up and forced over his opponent’s legs. Then his entire weight shifted hard as Colin strained and growled as he rolled Harvey over his head and right out the window.

Glass crashed, and Harvey screamed in panic as he fell. There was a thud as Colin stayed on the floor, panting from exertion and health loss. “Grab him!” yelled a familiar voice, seconds after Harvey hit the ground, and there was an immediate chorus of affirmatives as the symphony of chattering steel armor floated in from the broken window.

You have defeated the player Harvey Regic! Since this was a player and not a monster or NPC, you do not get any experience for the win. Remember, Player versus Player is allowed in Rosengard but not encouraged. Let others have fun without the worry of player murder.

A beep sounded in Colin’s ears as another prompt appeared.

Exception found. This player was acting in a way harmful to the residents of Rosengard and became a quest objective. Return to the quest giver to gain your experience for HARVEY REGIC’s defeat. Congratulations! You have unlocked the skill ‘Determination’ through a unique action! Many can claim to be able to a stubborn as a statue in a staring contest, but you’ve at least proven that you will continue to prevail. Even through pain and agony. At the first level, this skill can provide bonuses to specific actions as long as your ‘Determination’ is strong enough.

This skill’s vagueness almost made him want to discount the new ability as a whole. But once he thought about it, he figured that there was a chance it could come in handy. Just because an ability was annoyingly unclear didn’t mean it was useless. Just unreliable.

A few seconds past and Colin felt his health start to rise on its own since combat was over. It was slow and tedious, but he did slowly start to feel better. Minutes passed as he waited to recover enough to be able to move without pain, but the wound in his leg refused to fade, and the ‘Hampered’ debuff didn’t go away.

“Well, shit,” Colin muttered as he stood up from his spot on the floor. While the wound wasn’t leaking blood or even appeared to be open. An angry knitted line of tissue marred his leg where the short sword had bitten clean through his jeans.

Gritting his teeth, Colin started his trek out of the room and into the hall when he heard the thundering of a metal shod boot crashing up the stairs and the yelling of High Guardsmen as they found the few he’d left alive on the lower floors.

“Thank you, Dante,” Colin muttered. A clenched grin as he was glad that his plan had come together smoothly if not painfully.

The favor he’d asked Dante for earlier was a simple one. Get the High Guard Captain Eldrin and tell him to gather some of his men and wait outside the building. From there, he was to wait until Colin sent Harvey to him. Out the window wasn’t his original plan, but he was glad it had worked out. He was afraid that the fall might kill him but was relieved when the prompt he’d received said he’d defeated Harvey Regic, not killed. Everything else before he confronted Harvey was supposed to be a continuing stream of adlib encounters since he didn’t know where anyone was before he’d entered.

All’s well that ends well; Colin supposed taking each step carefully as he moved to meet the High Guards.

He was a little surprised when the High Guards saw him and was immediately rushed, knocked to the floor, and held down. No rights were read to him, no warnings, just simple, brutal, and efficient use of force to subdue the target. The guard shackled him, dragged him to his feet, and bring him down the stairs without a word or complaint since he wasn’t even trying to walk. It hurt less that way.

Two minutes later, Colin was brought before High Guard Captain Eldrin and forced to his knees with a growl of pain. “Ow! My leg hurts!”

“Shut it, criminal!” one of the High Guards said, raising a hand to strike Colin across the face. The action made Colin look towards Eldrin with a warning in his eyes. Something about this guard made him believe a single bitch slap might send him to respawn, and he would not stand for it. “Eldrin? A little help, please?”

“High Guard Havoc. Please stay your hand,” Eldrin said, continuing before the man paused. “This is the man who practically gave us our chief criminal and the item he stole gift wrapped. It wouldn’t be due to injure him further.”

“Yes, Captain,” High Guard Havoc said reflexively, backing a step away from Colin. “Shall I take it that you also want him unshackled as well?”

“If you would,” Eldrin said, smiling at Colin. “So DevilWalker, what do you think of my men?”

“Impressive. So impressive, I wonder why you sent me here instead of a troop of these men.” Colin stated as the man known as Havoc moved behind him and unlocked the shackles.

“You fought Harvey Regic. In close quarters, my men here would have been at a disadvantage against him and his now apparent vampire. By the way, that vampire kill was impressive. How’d you manage that?” Eldrin asked, an eyebrow raised and a smile plain across his face.

“I didn’t. I found an ally,” Colin said, standing shakily as his leg threatened to collapse under him.

“What happened to your leg?” Eldrin asked, concerned.

“Harvey got me pretty good. I got a persistent debuff called hampered,” Colin said, a grimacing as a shock of pain came from the wound.

“You’re lucky we come prepared,” he told Colin. “High Guard Havoc, please fetch us an Initiate Mending Potion from the stash.”

The guard saluted and jogged away, not hampered in the least by his quietly clacking armor.

“I might as well tell you. Harvey lived through that stunt you pulled. He broke one of his legs, one of his arms, and fractured at two ribs. Nothing a competent healer couldn’t fix. We also recovered the ring so we can return it to the rightful owner. So you did well all around, we have nothing but thanks for getting him and the ring to us.” Eldrin said, a bit of a scowl playing on his lips.

“I think I hear a but coming,” Colin said with a smile.

“No, not a but. A, however. However, now you’ve put me in a hard position. It’s not within my power to JUST allow you into the ruins under the city. I have to go up the chain to get you the authorization.” Eldrin explained. “I promise that I will try, but I cannot make any guarantees, DevilWalker.”

For defeating Harvey Regic and completing the quest; The Theft of Truth. You have gained 500 experience points. You have gained 500 EXP and now have 1567 / 1200 EXP towards level 5. LEVEL UP! You are now level 5 and have 367 /1800 EXP needed to attain level 6. You now have a total of 20 unspent attribute points to spend. It is advised that you attain your class before you spend your points to ensure proper placement since all finalized choices are permanent. Just say LEVEL UP to access the appropriate menus.

“Eldrin,” Colin started. “Just do the best you can. I need to get down there, and you promised me that you’d let me down there if I succeeded.” Colin informed him, trying to keep the smile off his face from the level up.

“I know, but we have protocols, and if I am entirely honest, I didn’t think you’d be able to pull this off,” Eldrin admitted to his dismay. “I even lost a bet to this,” he said, letting out a sigh.

“Wait, you bet against me? Who bet for me?” Colin asked, flabberghast that someone bet for him. Shouldn’t everybody who could have known about this mission of his think it was unlikely, like Eldrin.

“Dante bet five copper coins that you’d succeed. I should have known better than to bet against that man. Bloody cheating time wizard,” Eldrin huffed.

Smiling at Eldrin’s dismay, Colin just told him. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Yeah, right,” he huffed as Havoc returned. “Here you go, sir.” The High Guard said as he set a small vial of purple-tinted fluid into Eldrin’s hand before saluting and taking a few steps away.

“Here you go, DevilWalker. Drink this, and you’ll be right as rain in a minute,” Eldrin said, holding out the vial for Colin.

Grunting, Colin limped the few painful steps towards Eldrin and snatched the vial away from him. Pulling the cork free from the vial, he swallowed the whole thing in two gulps and waited. Moments later, the pain in his leg eased up, and Colin could feel his posture fix itself as he managed to put more weight on his right leg again.

“Thank you, Eldrin. I appreciate it,” Colin said, sincerely thankful that he hadn’t left him to stew in his pain.

“Not a problem, Healing potions do more the higher the grade they are. The one you just took is considered a low-tier healing potion, but it can remove some debuffs like ‘Hampered’ or ‘impaired vision,’ make sense?” Eldrin asked, some kind of mentoring attitude coming over him. “I’d suggest getting one or two of those potions if your funds allow.”

“I will. Thank you,” Colin said gratefully. “Now, would you like to see the other piece of good news?”

Leg fixed, Colin was able to lead Eldrin to the sewer entrance in the basement and gestured to the manhole cover. “They should be just in there, May I?” Colin asked.

“Better you than me,” Eldrin grimaced, withdrawing a step from the manhole.

With a little effort, Colin pulled the cover free from the floor and pushed his head inside. “Good, you are still here. Come on out, Harvey is in custody, and we have guards out here to help you.”

Colin stepped away from the sewer entrance, and seconds later, Vivian Wattier stepped out of the sewer with a relieved breath as she reached to less foul air. One by one, the people he’d had hide down here climbed out of the sewer with relieved looks and disgruntled muttering escaping their mouths. Last out of the sewer was Rothar, his sizeable gray visage just as intimidating as it had been when they’d first met.

Eldrin raised his fist into a fighting stance upon seeing Rothar climb out with the other captives and mutter some unknown words into the air. His fist started to vibrate and glow with an orange light when Colin rushed in front of Rothar.

“Stop! Rothar’s friendly!” Colin cried, attempting to stop Eldrin, a powerful fighter, from going against his Jotun helper.

The High Guard Captain looked at Colin with a stern look in his eyes. “DevilWalker, are you sure? Jotun’s are as savage and cruel as the frigid tundras they call home. Leaving this frost giant alive could spell trouble eventually.”

“You know everything about us but nothing at the same time,” Rothar growled. “DevilWalker is my Swordmate, and I shall not dishonor him by making trouble for those he helps,” he sagely told Eldrin.

Colin let out an internal breath at Rothar’s words. He was nervous that Rothar might say something to add weight to Eldrin’s worries. Now, Colin was glad that the strange gray humanoid that had helped him out might be fine now, given the dangerous situation from a moment ago.

“Besides,” Rothar continued with a grin. “I have been living in your city for months without tearing out any spines or eating any children like you people seem to think we do. Why would I start now unless provoked?”

“DevilWalker, was this the friend that you said helped you defeat the vampire?” Eldrin asked, his eyes never leaving the smirking Jotun.

Colin nodded.

Eldrin sighed and let the power ebb out of his fist. “I guess I’ll have to trust that you won’t make armor out of our bones, right?”

“Heh,” the Jotun chuckled once. “Common misconception. We only do that with Surtr bones. Human bones are too small.”

Electing to ignore Rothar, Eldrin looked back to Colin. “Alright. We will take these survivors into our custody for the night so we can get their stories in print for Harvey’s trial in a day or two. I’d like to get yours too before you go…” he paused, unsure of what to say. “Wherever you Outworlder’s go, for the night.”

Looking towards the sky, Colin blinked. The sun was nearing the horizon, maybe an hour or two off at most. Colin knew that he’d been in that apartment building for a little while, but had it been this long?

“Sure, while we’re at it, why don’t we talk more about how you owe me a trip into the ruins,” Colin said with an all too cheery smile.

Eldrin groaned. “I’m looking forward to it.”