Long minutes passed with no sign of my hunter.

Either he had been unwilling to give the trio the assurances they wanted, or they had deliberately delayed releasing him. Either way, I was grateful to the three players for the unwitting part they’d played in my plan. Although I was sure they were less than happy with the role I had thrust them in.

At the creek of a downstairs floorboard, barely heard above the background noise of the quarter, I jerked upright and returned my attention to my surroundings.

Straining my ears, I listened intently, but heard nothing. I raised my head and sniffed delicately at the air. The faint odor of unwashed cloth and sweat wafted up towards me.

Someone had entered the building.

Making certain that I remained concealed, I cast my buffs.

You have cast reaction buff, increasing your Dexterity by 2 ranks.

You have cast lighten the load, reducing your total armor penalty to 5%. Net effect: +1 Dexterity and +2 Magic.

Then I set myself to waiting again. Soon enough, I would find out if the intruder was Wengulax.

A minute ticked by. Then another.

Still, no one appeared. I didn't shift from my alert pose though. My hunter was closing in. I was sure of it.

A hostile entity has failed to detect you! You are hidden.

I almost smiled. There he is.

A smudge of green inched around the doorway—at floor height. It hung there for a drawn-out moment, temptingly revealing itself, almost as if to spur a reaction.

But I wasn’t about to be baited. With my target’s appearance, my impatience had fled. My eyes glinting in anticipation, I watched the patch of neon green with the infinite patience of a stalking predator. Wengulax didn’t know it yet, but our roles had reversed.

This time, it was he that was the prey.

After another heartbeat, the smudge grew larger. More green appeared and then, finally, a pair of eyes narrowed to slits.

Wengulax.

My foe was suspicious. Stretched out flat against the ground, and making no attempt yet to cross the threshold, he scrutinized the room.

A hostile entity has failed to detect you!

A hostile entity has failed to detect you!

A hostile entity has failed to detect you!

The blade dancer’s eyes passed over me multiple times, but time and again failed to spot me. He obviously sensed something was amiss, but it was equally clear he was uncertain as to the cause.

Scarcely daring to breathe, I gave my medallion the final bit of mana it needed. Having come this far, I did not expect my hunter to retreat.

He is going to enter soon. He must.

You have fully charged a medallion of the stygian brotherhood. A summoning rift ready to be opened.

Warning: Your mana is low at 20%.

At the Game alert, my attention shifted downwards to the enchanted item clutched in my sweating palm. It was brimming with magical energy that begged to be used. If I didn’t release the medallion’s spell soon, its mana would dissipate unused.

Wengulax’s head drew back.

My shoulders sagged in disappointment. Is he retreating? But before my worry could grow, my foe reappeared. Standing tall, Wengulax took a slow, cautious step forward.

It was exactly the wrong thing to do.

A hostile entity has triggered a trap!

Wengulax’s head whipped downward, and he jerked his foot back. But even his quick reflexes failed to save him this time.

The blade dancer’s foot made contact with the unseen tripwire.

The cord broke.

The bear clamp materialized and snapped closed.

Jagged metal teeth pierced leather armor, skin, and bone.

Wengulax has failed a physical resistance check!

Your target has been injured.

Your target is hobbled for 10 seconds.

Wengulax shrieked and staggered forward, instinctively bringing his left foot down beside his injured right to relieve it of weight.

Snick!

A hostile entity has triggered a trap!

The sound of the pressure plate activating was almost inaudible beneath my foe’s surprised yelp.

A heartbeat later, dancing white energy sparked into being and crackled across the room. Wengulax’s head jerked back up, the whites of his eyes showing as the bolt of pure light careened into his midriff.

Wengulax has failed a magical resistance check!

Your target has been injured.

Your target has been stunned for 3 seconds.

Now, I breathed, now was the time for the final blow.

Releasing the enchantment in the stygian medallion, I directed its spell weaves to appear at a location almost atop the hapless Wengulax.

Energy surged out of the item, and a second later the air was torn open.

You have opened a rank 2 rift into the nether! This rift is large enough for a single stygian beast between level 50 and 99 to pass through.

Summoning in process…

…

…

A level 81 stygian nightmare has answered your call!

The rift will remain open for five minutes, after which time the beast will be pulled back into the nether. Warning you have no affiliations with the Stygian Brotherhood. Your summoned creature will be hostile towards you.

Two hooved feet appeared.

Still dazed, Wengulax didn’t react. The rest of the summoned creature emerged, and a midnight black horse thundered out. The stygian’s outline wavered in the air, indistinct and blurry, concealing its full form, but I got a strong impression of a powerful torso, and muscular hindlegs.

A level 81 stygian nightmare has failed to spot you!

With only a single vulnerable target in sight, the creature wasted no time in flinging itself at my stunned foe. Head lowered, the beast crashed full tilt into the blade dancer.

A stygian nightmare has knocked down Wengulax. Wengulax has been stunned for 3 seconds.

Like a doll with his strings cut, the hunter collapsed. The nightmare was far from done though. Snorting in fury, the creature reared up on its hind legs, its immaterial body passing through the rotten timbers of the building without complaint.

A heartbeat later, the beast brought its forelegs crashing down on the slim green-clad figure at its feet.

A stygian nightmare has trampled Wengulax, dazing him for 10 seconds. Wengulax has been critically injured.

Exhaling noiselessly, I sagged against the wall at my back. Now I could relax. Wengulax’s death was a foregone conclusion, and I only needed to wait for the stygian to do its work.

~~~

The blade dancer took a long time to die.

Over and over, the stygian smashed its hooves into the delirious player, remorselessly pounding his flesh until nothing remained of him except a bloody mess of bone, blood and gore.

Wengulax has died.

You have gained in experience and reached level 84!

I didn't emerge from concealment. Warily eying the stygian beast, still dancing over the corpse’s remains, I decided discretion was the better part of valor and used the time to mediate and replenish my lost psi. The entire time, the summoned creature barely spared its surroundings a second glance, seemingly content to gloat over its kill.

Eventually though, the mana in the mana in the medallion ran dry.

A rank 2 rift has been closed. A level 81 stygian nightmare has been summoned!

Rising to my feet, I moved to examine my dead foe. After the nightmare’s messy work, the body was barely recognizable as humanoid. Stilling my rebellious stomach, I rifled through the player’s belongings.

You have acquired 3 x vials of viper’s venom, a rank 4 poison.

You have acquired 2 x full healing potions.

You have acquired a hunter eye.

You have acquired a rank 3 blowpipe. This item has 5 / 10 darts remaining. You do not have the necessary skill, exotic weapons, to use this weapon. None of the Game-gifted benefits and abilities pertaining to this item are available for your use.

You have acquired 2 x rank 3 punch daggers, +3. You do not have the necessary skill, daggers, to use these weapons.

You have acquired an ox ring. This is a rank 2 ring and increases your Strength attribute by 4. This item has no requirements to equip. Note, attribute bonuses from multiple items do not stack with each other. This excludes legendary and unique items.

You have acquired the band of the cat. This is a rank 2 ring and increases your Dexterity attribute by 4. This item has no requirements to equip.

Despite the gory mess, I recovered multiple items of worth. Curiously though, Wengulax’s body was absent his twin katanas and green outfit. The items had definitely been on him when he’d entered the room.

A chill passed through me. The missing gear could mean only one thing.

All three items were soulbound.

“Bloody hell,” I muttered. What was the so-called ‘mantis’ that he could afford three such priceless items?

Only now, did I truly understand the dread my assailants had inspired in the plague quarter residents. What did it mean for my own future that two such foes had been hunting me?

Nothing good, I expect.

Deciding not to waste more time than necessary for fear of Wengulax’s partner finding me, I quickly finished my looting and hurried downstairs.