She walked up to the collapsed Mesmir and asked. “Let's hear the offer Mesmir, how much gold are you paying us to defend your measly life?”

Locke's ears perked up when he heard that sentence. If these two were mercenaries, they might not be as committed to defending Mesmir. He didn't see them in the bar...they must have been nearby.

“1500 gold! If you get me out of here alive.”

“Not enough, 2500!” She snapped back.

Mesmir gritted his teeth. “arahhh fine, you get nothing if I die here though!”

Beatrix looked satisfied and turned towards Locke who had a large grin on his face. She couldn't see that though.

Locke's plan involved avoiding direct combat with those two as he finished off his target, he was confident in his speed. There was one snag, he needed to keep Mesmir in this area. Guards will be watching other areas which would put a stop to the assassination. Also based on the discussion they seemed to be mercenaries. Maybe a bluff would convince them to leave? It was worth a shot at least.

“2500 gold seems awfully cheap, if you attack or harm me the guards will intervene. Do you think this man's life is worth it? The guards will not let you off easily.” Locke took a few steps forward. “Also it will be hard to defend him with my friends nearby. The moment you drop your guard he will die surely enough. Then not only would you be branded a criminal, but you would have gained nothing.”

Locke made sure to remind Mesmir that he saw two shrouded assassins in the bar earlier. This would force him to think twice about running away outside of the protection of those two.

“We already agreed to the job, there is no changing it even if one hundred of you come out. As for the guards, they don't seem to be around. Quite convenient for you Mr. assassin, but it's also the same for us don't you think Beatrix?”

“Astute as always Flame. Very convenient indeed. Alright, Mesmir you stay there, we will deal with this.”

Looks like there is no choice but the fight, they called half of my bluff. It doesn't matter though as long as Mesmir remains where he is there is a chance. I am not allowed to kill those two, but I can injure them if need be.

Beatrix steadily moved towards Locke as Flamecaller positioned himself in front of Mesmir. Once she got close enough she leaped high up and positioned her oversized weapon to slam down on Locke. He dodged the attack by jumping to the side and was rewarded with two well-timed firebolts coming towards him. Due to his high agility, he was barely able to avoid them, but the danger was not over yet as Beatrix continued to follow up.

This flurry of combination attacks from the two of them continued for about twenty seconds before Locke was forced to disengage. He slammed into Beatrix's weapon will all his might to push her back, then jumped back himself.

Shit, they are used to fighting together, I need to stay out of her range and disable the mage.

Locke was wary of the firebolts from Flamecaller as they reminded him of his own. This meant they were most likely created with Sigils and not learned from a trainer. If those firebolts were paired with both high mana cost and the pyromancer class they could pack a wallop.

“Speedy little devil aren't you, though that speed won't save you for long. You seem quite afraid of our attacks. I wonder if I land a clean hit, is it going to cripple you? I can't wait to find out.” Beatrix had a sinister smile as she said this.

Charging towards Beatrix Locke drew the longsword from his inventory and feinted an attack while sneakily sending an ice spear towards her right eye. She blocked Locke's weapon using her sword and the spell with her left hand. The ice spear ricocheted off the gauntlet causing no damage. Even in such an awkward position, she was able to follow up with a swift kick towards him. Locke didn't attempt to dodge and took the hit straight to his chest.

He used the force from the powerful kick to launch himself towards his target. Locke landed a few feet away facing Flamecaller, but their coordination was strong and two firebolts were about slam into him. This might have worked against a normal foe, but it was actually what he wanted. Dodging to the side would cause him to lose momentum so he chose to do a front flip over them instead. This was important as Beatrix had to avoid the firebolts because Locke made sure to keep a direct line between the two. With that out of the way, there was nothing stopping him from attacking the caster in the back.

Closing the cap Locke lunged with his blade pointed towards Flamecaller's throat. However, just as the longsword was about the pierce it's target a circular wall of flame was erected. This barrier didn't cover his whole body, it was more like he was holding a large shield in his hands. Not only did Locke's weapon not break through the spell it actually exploded outwards causing some damage and pushing him back

Shit, can't break through here, need to cover my back.

Locke began to stealthily prepare his strongest ice spear and turned around to block the swing from Beatrix. Due to how fast-paced the fight was he only noticed her weapon glowing white at the last second. It was quite clear once his weapon connected that he didn't have the strength to block this attack. Locke angled his weapon to force the momentum to the side causing it to slide down into the ground.

He continued to dodge Beatrix's attacks while paying attention to the angle between him and Mesmir. The spell in his left hand was basically one step from being finished. Locke learned that once the spell was completed there was no way of stopping it from activating.

This is not going well. They most likely have more tricks up their sleeves and are still holding me back....there is only one play available to me.

Swords continued to clash on for a bit while Flamecaller held back to protect Mesmir. Locke was completely focused on defense waiting for the right opportunity. It eventually came when she went for a completely offensive attack that normally would be hard to dodge. Locke switched his free endurance enhancement to agility. He passed underneath the enemy's weapon and then thrust his foot upwards into her jaw. The impact made her step backward several steps.

Locke was already on his way towards Flamecaller at this point and threw his sword at the old man's face. As expected the fire mage blocked the oncoming projectile with his flame barrier. It was most likely a reflex, but it was something the man should not have done. The spell thwarted the attack well enough, however it blocked vision completely. As fast as Locke could he darted to the side and targeted Mesmir directly with the ice spear spell he prepared earlier.

With both boosts assigned to agility, the stat was now sitting at a whopping 80. Neither Flamecaller nor Mesmir saw Locke reposition due to how fast he moved. This meant Mesmir didn't even notice the ice spear before it slammed into his head. Locke quickly noticed that it didn't finish the target off as the spell didn't completely pierce through. However, Mesmir was stunned by the amount of damage taken and couldn't stop the second spell from killing him. Luckily Flamecaller could not react in time.

Didn't expect that to take two shots, he must have drunk a health potion of something without me noticing. Anyway, job's done, time to run.

“Flame you had one fucking job. I am done playing around, you're dead.”

Locke was already bolting in the opposite direction and wasn't going to give her the opportunity to back up that claim. He was almost home free until two firebolts flew past his head. Locke was thankful for only a moment that the old man's aim was off. This thought was quickly proven wrong as both projectiles detonated similar to the barrier previously. The force sent him flying backward a few feet, but he was still able to land upright. Locke took a lot of damage from the explosions as his endurance stat was no longer 38. He cautiously turned back to make sure no more projectiles were flying his way.

The first thing he saw was Beatrix slamming her sword into the ground. This caused a shockwave-like beam within the ground to shoot straight towards him. On top of that, there were also two firebolts sent out at such an angle that made dodging impossible if they were going to explode. Locke figured the shockwave would most likely do more damage and dodged into another firebolt while casting a healing touch.

The firebolt passed by and exploded behind him just like before. He thought about taking it head-on and using the momentum to push him back and hopefully escape. The issue was his health was extremely low and it most likely would have just killed him. The healing touch went off increasing his current HP somewhat, it was still too low for comfort.

Beatrix then took the opportunity to lunge forward and stab with her greatsword aimed at his chest.

She won't make it, I can dodge this.

Just as that thought surfaced he felt a sharp pain in his chest. Even though the blade was still a small distance away there was the unmistakable feeling of getting pierced by it flooding his senses.

She had a sinister and satisfied grin on her face was Locke's vision went white and then displayed.

“You have been killed.”