“We should arrive soon, at least before the sunset. Keep your guard up, we never know when an enemy could appear.”

A full plate armored guard told this to his subordinates and allies. Their bodies were suffering from fatigue from constant fatigue and lack of sleep, since they’ve been walking since this morning, but they were about to reach their goal, thus, he was a bit impatient to arrive at their destination.

He had been requested to escort this carriage to Archon by his chief. This task wasn’t an easy one. They had to go through Deastch region. Due to its high population in common and core class monsters, they couldn’t get any good sleep there. Although their group was composed of skilled individuals, fighting constantly and always being on guards made nearly wrecked their nerves. This would have been less problematic if they didn’t have to deliver their package in such a short amount of time.

Now that they’ve left it, their armor and weapons felt heavier than before. They all wanted to just throw everything, and lie down on a bed for whole day. This task took a much larger toll on their body than what they could have ever thought.

“Sir, I think it would be wiser to take some time to rest. We’re all exhausted, and if we continue like this, it would take only a few goblins to overpower us.”

One of his subordinates walked to his side and asked him with a pleading tone. His steps were a bit unsteady and his face was pale.

Seeing the weary face of his subordinates, the one leading the expedition decided to allow everyone to take a rest for an hour at most before resuming their journey. Hearing his words, many just fell on their ass letting out a sigh of relief.

After checking on everyone situation and arranging a few groups to scout the surroundings to prevent any surprise attacks while they were resting, the leader went inside the carriage.

Inside, there was only a small box, just big enough to contain a human’s hand. His chief didn’t give him any details about what was inside, he just told him that if he were to fail, no one could save them from getting killed.

Remembering the hell he’s been through because of this box, he just wanted to curse the sender.

Fuck! Did you think we were some kind of delivery service!

He took place inside the carriage and rested his body. In less than a few breaths of time, his eyelids started to feel heavy, and he could feel the fatigue taking advantage of his body.

A fresh and warm feeling started to circulate in his body as he was using his mana to improve his recovery. This ability saved his life multiple times.

Letting himself enter this state of regeneration, he recalled about his hometown and those who were waiting for him there.

Meanwhile, outside, the guards and adventurer who weren’t on a patrol duty, gathered together and enjoyed their break.

“Man… I swear on God’s name, I will never do this again. Fuck! We should have waited for more people before setting off!”

“The package needed to be delivered by tomorrow… We couldn’t risk it. And we will be paid in gold coins! Shit! Who thought that I will be able to touch some in this life!”

“Don’t worry, I’ll take them from you so you won’t get too emotionally attached to them… I still need to rent some high-class prostitutes when we get there.”

“What the fuck?! Touch my money and I’ll cut your arm! You don’t even need a gold coin to rent ten of them and you want mine? Do you want to buy the brothel or what?”

“Not a bad idea… Hey, how about you give me your money on your own will? I promise I’ll let you try the girls first and you’ll be my henchman!”

Those two men started to laugh between themselves while those surrounding them were just shaking their head with a wry smile. Spending their time like, helped them loosening their body and mind a little.

The mood was good overall, everything was about end. They could finally enjoy their life after all of this. This was a good day.

If only that was true.

“HELP! We’re being attacked!”

A high-pitched voice disturbed their rest.

Those who were about to take a nap cursed in their mind. They finally got a break and it hadn’t even last 10 minutes.

A scout was running toward their location his eyes bloodshot and sweating profusely. His body was aching all over, his mind was still in disarray from what happened earlier.

Their leader left the carriage, black lines appeared on his forehead. His sixth sense could tell him that what they were about to face something worse than monsters.

“By what?”

His voice was cold and his expression was serious. They were still exhausted, having to fight an enemy right now was disadvantageous for them. Whatever it was, they needed to deal with it quickly, or they were doomed.

“Not what… who… two persons… those who were with me… all dead…”

Fear. His body was trembling, his vision started to blur. The bloody scene repeated in his mind. Each of his teammates’ head suddenly exploding after being aimed at that thing. The eyes of that person.

A shiver ran down his spine. They couldn’t even do anything. The only reason he could escape was that he couldn’t kill all of them at the same time. But, he knew that they were coming.

The mood in the camp got heavy once again. Everybody stopped what they were doing or were about to do and took a defensive stance. Their eyes were locked in the directions from which the scout came from. They could only blame their luck to encounter bandits here.

Archers readied their bow and aimed at the entrance from where the scout came from. All their muscles were tensed, ready to fire their arrow at the first living being that dared to show even a shred of his hair. The five of them could take down the enemy if they could see him. Once again, those were wishful thoughts.

An unknown sound was heard, and at the same time, the head of one archer exploded. Leaving only a quarter of his skull still attached to his body while its insides were drifting from its body. The stench of blood penetrated their nostrils and attracted their attention to the archer’s corpse.

Seeing this, the scout let out a shriek. This was something he already saw. The other all wore a shocked expression. They all have already seen someone being shot in the head. However, at best, the arrow would pierce the skull, not destroy it. And using magic to destroy someone’s head wasn’t really effective at long range, unless one had incredible aiming skills and could hide his mana. Even a wind blast couldn’t fly so fast that one of them couldn’t react to it. However, the moment they heard that strange sound, his head was already in this sorry state.

Death. Their throat became dry sensing its grip on their neck.

And, they heard it again. Another archer was shot down. This time, the leader sensed the imminent danger.

“Mages! Raise a mana shield around the group! Quick! Don’t let those bastards shoot us all down like livestock!”

Hearing him, the mages among the adventurer returned to their sense and started to raise a shield, but before they could finish, another archer was shot down.

Seeing this, the other two archers left their positions and went behind the guards.

The leader cursed in his mind. They had no information on their enemy and he was using unknown means to kill them. He searched in his breast plate for something, and took out a scroll. He infused his mana in it and tossed it in the air.

Few seconds later, the ground started to shake. A hand made of stone came out of the ground. Then few more of these hands appeared in front of their group.

The scroll was engraved with a spell array. ‘Summon 5 Earth golems’. These types of scroll weren’t given for free. It could be said that it pained him a bit to used it, but the lives of he and his subordinates, were more precious.

The magic barrier had been fully deployed, the five meters tall golem were standing in front of the guards. They were ready and waiting for the enemy. And they didn’t have to wait too much.

Soon, two hooded figures appeared in front of them. They couldn’t see their face but they could see the symbol on their chest. A headless snake.

Headless guild?! Fuck!

The leader eyes narrowed. There could only be one reason for them to appear here. They knew about what they were transporting and their information must have been leaked.

“Be careful everyone! They’re from the headless guild! Watch out for the shadows, don’t get too close to them! And don’t let them time to cast any spell, as long as the barrier is up, the archers can take them down! If we can get those two out of the way, we will be fine.”

The last sentence was half a lie. Escaping from the headless guild was easier said than done. But he needed to boost the spirit of his subordinates.

Seeing that their opponents were only two people, they let out a sigh of relief. Though, the headless guild was famous for its shadow corps, if they stayed far from them, they shouldn’t get backstabbed out of nowhere. And, the fact that they could see their enemies made it possible to kill them.

One of the archers didn’t even think twice and fired an arrow at one of them. However, the arrow stopped just in front of them, before falling covered in a layer of ice. Seeing this, the leader’s mouth twitch. He glanced at the mages, and they nodded their head. If the enemy was using magic, they just needed to make him use it until he runs out of it.

Feeling more relaxed about their situation, the mages took in a deep breath and started to cast an offensive spell. But, they hadn’t even finished that it happened.

Eyes icy cold looked at them and flashed in a blue light from one of the hooded figure. The next moment, the barrier shattered and their spell were interrupted.

The mages fell on their knees as they couldn’t muster anymore mana. Their body became weak and their strength was leaving them. The glimmer of hope they saw few seconds ago, seemed like a wild dream.

The barrier being shattered made all of them startled. The air became bitter ice in their surroundings, and the ground seemed to be uneven suddenly. And then, shroud of darkness surrounded them.

The leader cursed in his mind.

Fuck! Why now?!