My identification failed, but I could tell even without it that this guy was strong. I blinked few meters away to create a space between us. Staff appeared in my arms, and a purple sphere of fire flew out of it. The crowd had already started to disperse as they noticed that a fight started. Paladin swung his sword on my [Death Flame Firebomb]. When they came into contact, it exploded in purple flames, but they quickly dissipated. Few of the people in the crowd got ugly burns as a result.

“[Holy Light]” the man raised his sword, and brilliant light engulfed his blade.

“Die and suffer for your sins in the afterlife” man sprinted towards me at a surprising speed. I quickly blinked out of his way and fired [Death Ligtning] on his back. Purple flash hit and dissipated as it touched his armour. Paladin staggered as he took a portion of the damage that managed to get through his armour.

I started to laugh. “Fool you are. You can’t reach me with your stupid sword”.

“Your overconfidence will become your doom, [Holy Jugment]. I felt the energy around me, and suddenly a pillar of white light with a slight tint of gold shined from the sky as I dodged at the last moment. A beam of lighting started to pour out of my staff. Paladin ran towards me, deflecting my beam with his shining sword.

“Arggg” grunt of pain came out of him as lightning kept damaging his body. Before blinking into a new position, I interrupted my channelling and cast [Death Flame Firebomb] and [Flash]. Purple explosion and flash of light temporary confused my enemy and gave me time. Flames covered my whole body as I cast [Flame Cloak], and under it, layers of ice formed, giving me the appearance of a burning crystal knight. Shine covering paladins sword brightened even more. He was swinging a sword through the air, releasing wawes of brilliance on me. I dodged most of them and tanked rest with my barrier. Arcs of purple lightning and balls of purple flames were constantly flying on him, creating a deadly crossfire of projectiles. He dodged some of them while blocking the rest with his glowing blade. Few of our attacks hit surrounding buildings, damaging them. As a fight continued, my mana started to drop, and no one was talking as we both were focusing on a battle.

‘This fight is too even for me. Should I use my stronger attack spells?... No, what if he gets some reinforcements, and I would be low on mana… Odds are on my side, but it would be a close one… And there is still the possibility of me running out of mana before defeating him. I still have unspent stat points… No, the retreat is a correct option. I will get better equipment, craft my new ultimate spell and win another day. There is no need to risk my life here today, especially with a chance of his reinforcments coming.’

Bright flash came out of my staff, and space warped around me as I blinked at the rooftop. I concentrated on casting once more as I blinked further away. Space around me warped few more times as I kept increasing distance between us. I looked behind me, and I couldn’t see anyone pursuing me. I breathed out in relief before casting a [Camuflage]. My body turned into a transparent one right before my eyes. It wasn’t totally invisibility it was more like my body being made of some transparent glass-like material. Someone would consider this escape cowardly, but only fools would risk life in battles they are not sure to survive.

‘Just wait, I will get new equipment from Bif, finish my new spells, and I will kill you. Should I go to a hideout? What if they are following me somehow? ’ At the end, I decided to return to the hideout as there was nothing else to do. I jumped down from the roof with a thud. I was in the middle of the dark back alley. I looked around me for the last time, and there was no one except for few rats. I had no idea where I was, so I started to walk in a random direction.

I met a bunch of men in dirty clothes with rusty daggers in their hands were surrounding a man. ‘Wow, after I met stereotypical bandits, I got that honour of meeting back-alley thugs too.’

Occupied with their business, they didn’t even notice when I approached them. I swung my claws at the first thug. His skewered head fell to the ground accompanied by a small fountain of blood.

“What the…” I stabbed my clawed hand towards another thugs heart. Two remaining thugs froze after they witnessed what had just happened to their friends.

“Nothing personal, but this city will be mine, and you are just garbage dirtying it.” I immediately rushed toward two remaining thugs and bisected them with my claws.

Ding!

System Announcement

You killed LV 9 [Human] x 2

You killed LV 8 [Human]

You killed LV 11 [Human Novice Rogue]

You obtained 474 XP

You obtained 620 XP

You learned a new skill [Claw Mastery I]

I looked towards a man in stupidly looking clothes. He was trembling.

“Today is your lucky day. Spread the word about my goodwill to others”. I said as I walked away.

Finally, I managed to leave the dark back alley as I appeared in the middle of the wide street. There I realised something ‘ I should have just gone the whole way through the roofs. It would be safer and easier to navigate.’ I cast [Blink] again as a space around me warped, and I appeared on top of the roof. Covered in camouflage, I blinked or jumped from one room to another. As I kept jumping over the streets, I noticed guards roamed streets under me in numbers greater than usual.

‘So they are searching for me.’

I spotted familiar streets with a hideout. ‘It would be a stupid idea to walk through the front door. I will get inside through the roof. My surroundings warped for the last time as I blinked on its roof. There was a roof window, which I approached and placed my hand on it. It wasn’t locked, so I just opened it.

“Anybody home?” I shouted to announce my arrival as I climbed down a ladder from the attic. The sound of steps came from a stair leading to the first floor. They were approaching. Still careful, I prepared myself just in case that it was an enemy.

Two people appeared on a staircase. One of them was Rose and the second one was an unfamiliar man with a chubby face and short black hair.

“I am glad that you are safe. I believed that they would not catch you.” Rose smiled at me.

Man with her was much more pragmatic, “Did you confirmed that no one was following you?”.

“Glad to see you safe. And yes, I made sure that no one followed me. That was a reason that it took me so long to return.” It was partially true as I ensured no one was tailing me, but it took me so long, mostly because I got lost.

I gazed at that man, trying to remember where I saw him as his voice was familiar to me. He noticed it. “We already met, I am Gregory, and there is some stuff we need to talk about.”