AN: Battle between Kalim and the hidden enemy.

I had to rewrite the chapter right when I was reaching the end because the enemy that was supposed to be strong wasn't that strong.

That killed my motivation and decided to read Magi's grandson on Japtem instead. Thinking about it, how come one who was a working member of society (finished highschool and college) still act like a naive teenager who doesn't know caution or planning?

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Blood sprayed on the ground as Kalim rolled after jumping backward. He pressed his hand on the deep cut on his throat as he got up and cast a powerful healing spell on himself. He was still wary of his surroundings, but the strong feeling of dread he got before the attack was gone. During that time the rest of the soldiers regained their balance as well.

“You bastard! Whoever you are, that was quite nasty!” screamed Kalim. “No mana, no sound, no smell, not the slightest hint of motion. You had started to cut my neck before I could react. That's one hell of a stealth ability you got there. I don't even know what it is you used to cut me.”

Kalim was screaming his words to warn the 2 girls that were supposed to support him from afar. The ennemy that wounded him would easily notice them and kill them if they were to attack now. As for the attacker, this person was very surprised and impressed by Kalim. The attack was supposed to kill him, yet his increadible reflexes allowed him to survive, and he had already completely closed his wound with magic.

The hidden person realised it would have been dangerous to attack the young intruder on close range when it carried a corpse like it was a feather, and this intruder had incredibly sharp senses and instinct. He even noticed when it was ready to attack. But the person had no intention to reveal itself despite the apparent taunting of Kalim. The person would make full use of its comrade to take the dangerous intruder down, no matter how many would die for that sake.

'The attack that sneaky bastard used on me wasn't a physical one. However, if it was a magical one I would have noticed the build up of mana. Magic item with passive abilities don't have mana build-up, but the ones with active abilities do. And this attack was definitly the result of an active ability. That can only mean that whatever is hidding him to my senses also conceal the build-up of mana. If I want to get him, I will have to target something of importance for him: the leader of the group, the old woman.'

When the soldiers moved to attack him, Kalim went straight for the wounded woman who was still trying to get away from him, she had covered a fair amount of distance despite the circumstances. As he moved toward her, he also gathered a large amount of mana. The other soldiers noticed his aim and rushed to protect her. The closest ones to Kalim attacked him, half aiming for the lower body, the other half aiming for the upper body. And the archers at the outskirts aimed at his back.

As the soldiers made contact with him, 3 muffled screams were heard from the outskirts of the ruined camp. Only a few people heard them, the closest ones to the outskirts, Kalim and the hidden enemy, who also rushed to protect the old woman. From her position, Elody simultaneously struck 2 archers in the neck, while Alinee struck another one on her side. Then they retreated and concealed themselves.

At the same time, a powrfull whirlwind devastated the camp once more. At the center was Kalim. The soldiers who tried to stop him were blown more than 10m away in all directions. The gusts of wind created a cloud of dust in the area. Then Kalim cast another spell, and the temperature in the area dropped at a fast rate, creating a deep mist within a few seconds. Then he launched the final spell. An electrical discharge spread in the area filled with dust and water droplets. Nobody could dodge it.

Everyone was on the ground, spasming and moaning in pain. Except for 2 figures. One of them was Kalim, the other was a humanoid shape with a thin waist, barely visible, with dark clothes, in a protective stance above the old woman. There was something that was clearly visible though, the eyes. They were not humans, they were not the eyes of beastmens. They were the eyes of something different, yellow toward the center, and turning red toward the edge. From the small pupil spread thin black paterns in an irregular fashion. Some electric arcs were still dancing around it.

“There you are... A demon? No, I don't think that's right. What are you?”

“...”

“What? You're no longer hidden, why don't you speak?”

“...”

“Or maybe you can't? Whatever. You're a tough one though. Everybody here got knocked out by the lightning, yet you're completely fine. It didn't even completely destroy your cloaking. Still, that's enough to keep you from hidding from my senses. Now that I got a hold of you, I won't lose you.” said Kalim as he redied his spear.

A strong killing intent washed over him as the figure took a stance with something looking like a short sword in one hand and a dagger in the other. Kalim released his own bloodlust in response. The pressure generated by the 2 fighters was so strong that Elody and Alinee got paralised for an instant from more than 100m away. Shanira unconsciously retreated, and Eryween, Amarok and Asena had heir ears drop as they cowered in their hidding place.

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Kalim and the figure disappeared from where they were in a burst of dirt and reappered 20m away, sword and dagger clashing against spear. Kalim winced at the moment of impact. He could stop the 2 handed strike from a well built fighter with one hand, but a single one-handed strike from the opponent in front of him had more power than that, and the 2 almost simultaneous strikes numbed his arms and nearly made him drop his weapon.

They constantly kept moving, the figure trying to get closer, attaking with the dagger and defending with the short sword. It was fighting at a range where the spear was harder to use. Kalim was more on the defensive than the offensive, pushing his muscles to their limits to match his opponent, both in strenght and speed. The only real advantage he had against this opponent was his reaction speed and constitution, their strenght and agility were at a similar level.

They were moving away from the camp, Kalim wanted the girls to finish the soldiers, the figure wanted to keep Kalim away from the leader. The old woman had already been struck by powerfull attacks as the figure wasn't able to protect her from the lightning attack. And fighting near her would probably kill her. It could only hope that the other soldiers would recover fast enough to take care of the hidden pests that came with the intruder.

The figure was quite a powerfull opponent for Kalim, he couldn't even muster the concentration to cast a spell, his opponent was just to dangerous on close range, fast, strong and skilled with its weapons. He was also curious about what kind of being it was. Somehow, it reminded Kalim a bit of himself, an oddity, and because of that, he got excited by the battle even more.

Slowly, Kalim went more on the offensive, disregarding defense. The dagger of the enemy came into contact with his skin more often. Each time the cuts got deeper, but the amount of blood released didn't increase as much as the figure would have liked. And with Kalim more on the offensive, the figure started to feel a bit pressured by this abnormal opponent, nearly as abnormal as it was itself.

They had gone quite a way away from the camp, damaging trees and rocks on their way, and the few monsters that were still in the area ran away at full speed before the 2 fighters got close. Both started to use their legs more, trying to kick or trip the opponents while they moved, and it often ended in a mutual block or counter. And then, Kalim felt a subtle magic build up within the figure. The little smirk of excitation he had on his face disappeared to be replaced by a dark frown.

A second later, the figure disappeared from his senses and Kalim frantically retreated, gathering a large amount of mana once again. He wanted to create a dense mist before launching an electrical discharge,like he did before, but before he could, the same sense of dread he felt when his throat was cut washed over him. Pushing his muscles to their limits he jumped toward the branch of the nearest tree.

He hadn't completely left the place where he was standing when the toes of his left foot separated themselves from the rest of his foot, along with the tip of his boot. Kalim quickly stopped the bleeding, but still couldn't relax. Once again the dreadfull feeling overcame him and a deep cut appeared on the trunk of the tree where he had been a split second earlier.

Kalim was forced to run at top speed, constantly changing directions, jumping on tree branches or rolling on the ground. With part of his left foot missing he had become slower, and with an attack coming at him almost every 2 seconds from a different direction each time he was in a bit of trouble. He was certain the figure would no longer stay in the open, always attacking froma hidden location despite being invisible. This way, if he used lightning again it would still remain concealed.

Kalim had to think of a new spell on the fly to accurately locate his opponent. The answer came from the nature of the attack used against him. It was probably an attack based on space manipulation, so he had to developp a detection magic using chaos mana. And with space perception, he would be able to accurately detect the invisible attacks of his opponent. He would not need to run away anymore

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AN: Next chap, the end of the mission

Also, failed my driving exam because of a mistake at a turn around. It was empty so I dropped my guard and didn't slow down too much. When I was about to enter the turn around a car appeared from behind the central reservation, in the inward way. I could stop to safely avoid the collision without problem, but due to the excess speed, I was halfway engaged in the turn around on the outward way when the vehicule stopped. My only mistake, but a disqualifying one. Next try in December.