Raph’s entire being tensed up in that moment, his hammers appeared in his hands while Leah sidestepped and assumed a combat stance with roots bursting out of the ground around her. Raph’s eyes were darting around the immediate vicinity looking for the speaker, he couldn’t see anything.

“Leah, I haven’t got eyes on him.” Raph said anxiously.

As he spoke the opponent made a move for Leah, he was fast. Raph barely saw it, the next thing he heard was Leah’s scream. A small older man appeared near her with a rapier in his hand.

Identify

??? -- Assassin Lv.181

“It’s you, from last night.” Raph said through gritted teeth. He looked at Leah who was standing to one side with a hand over a bloody hole in her shoulder, thankfully it looked as if the Assassin had missed her heart.

“Ohh, you can analyse me? Now that is interesting.” He said. As he turned towards Raph and began to walk towards him.

Raph saw Leah who looked to be in bad shape after taking the hit from the rapier, he had to kill this man. He felt an analyze used on him, presumably from the assassin.

“Level 63? Is this some kind of joke?” He chuckled. “You might as well just die, and then I will send her to join you.”

“I have died enough for one lifetime.” Raph spat as he activated everything; Destruction, Forged Hammers II, Eruption. He bolted forwards opening with Amplified Sound which briefly stunned the assassin, but he was fast, he backed away as soon as he realised what happened. Raph continued his charge even with his stun failing putting him on the back foot, Raph was hyper focused on the assassin. He could feel something as the pressure from his opponent mounted, he was more focused and the area around him felt… different.

Leah, who was currently on the sidelines of the battle trying to collect herself from the damage to her lung, was watching Raph with rapt attention. She looked on as the area around him became blurry, almost hazy. The color seemed to wash out ever so slightly around where he was standing, her eyes widened as she realized something.

“Flow,” she whispered.

Raph, unsure of what Leah was seeing, continued his attack. He closed in on the assassin, he noticed that when he was close enough his opponent seemed to slow down slightly. He could feel it now, the area around him where the effect was apparent. He was connected to it, he felt it. Destruction.

“You killed them all.” Raph spat, he was empowered by this new feeling.

The assassin didn’t respond as he seemed to be struggling to escape from the area around Raph. He put considerable effort into keeping out of Raph’s reach, he might have the levels but his class wasn’t one for direct confrontation. He tried to attack while moving away from Raph, but his strikes were easily parried away by the hammers. His skills were failing as he tried to use them, this weird area around Raph was strange.

Once again Raph went to use Amplified Sound, but just before he did so, he jumped. This created a small change in the battle proceedings, while he was in the air he used Amplified Sound which did as intended. The stun caught him off guard and the sparks that came from the hammers gave him an opening. Raph brought his hammers down full force on the assassin and they struck clean. Much to the surprise of Raph, the assassin began to break down when the hammers landed. It was as if he was blown away by the wind, the blast from the impact scattered him; when it was over all that was left was a small pouch and his rapier.

“What the…” Raph said, right before he collapsed.

---

Raph woke up to Leah’s face obscuring his view. “I must be in heaven,” he said absentmindedly.

Leah blushed a little bit from his comment. “Raph, how are you feeling?”

“Weak,” he said. His whole body felt empty, like he had nothing left. “Wait, your shoulder? Are you ok?”

“Yeah Raph, I’m ok.” Leah said as her eyes began to tear up. She moved him around and hugged him tightly, she was crying hard now.

“It’s alright Leah,” Raph said as he returned the hug. “We’re alright.”

They stayed like this for a while, Leah eventually stopped crying but the hug continued. “I thought I’d lost you as well.” she said.

“Don’t worry, I won't die that easy.” Raph said with a bitter smile. He broke the hug and laid down, staring up at the sky. It was now just before noon so he must have been out for a few hours. He took some more of the rations out from his ring and began to eat more food in one sitting than he’d ever eaten in both of his lives.

“Leah?” Raph said gently.

“Yes Raph?” her eyes were very red now.

“Do you know who they were?” Raph asked.

Leah stared off for a few moments, “No, I’ve never heard of or seen him before.”

“What do we do now?”

“We have to alert military command, they are about to be compromised.”

“How do we do that?”

“We...We need to get to Adaes, it’s the closest place now that we can send a message to the main base.”

“I don’t think they killed the figuin’s so we can take a carriage.”

“If we go now we can probably make it to Adaes by this time tomorrow, can you drive a carriage Raph”

“Kind of.” Raph said, Clark had shown him the basics back in Langreth, but he was no expert.

“Ok.” Leah said as she stood up and took a deep breath. “We can do this.”

Raph got up with some protest from his body, everything was sore but he would be able to manage with some more food.

“Grab anything that could be useful from the other carriages Raph, I’ll get ours ready to move.” Leah said.

Raph first picked up the assassin's Rapier and stored it in his ring, it was a good quality sword. The next thing he grabbed was the pouch the assassin dropped, it was only small and made from leather. He would look at the contents when they got to Adaes. Raph proceeded to search the other carriages and pick up a few useful items for the fast trip. He found some spare straps for the figuins and some feed just in case they needed them, he also found a few more items they might need. Once he was done he walked over to Leah who had the carriage back in order, it was packed up and the figuins were ready.

“We’re going to have to move quickly and we can’t stop before we get there.” Leah said.

“Got it,” said Raph as he got onto the seat at the front. Leah hopped up and sat next to him, surprising Raph. “Not sitting in the back?”

“No, I- I would rather be here.” She said with a small smile.

“Alright, off we go.” Raph said as he whipped the reins.”Hyaa.”

They moved off at pace, leaving what remained at the campsite behind. There was a somber atmosphere on the journey to Adaes, the whole caravan was wiped out save the two of them. Raph though Leah was critically injured, Leah thought Raph was going to die after the fight.

On the way Raph realized he hadn’t checked his screens since he killed the assassin.

You have slain: Assassin Lv.181

You are now: Destroyer Lv.64

…

You are now: Destroyer Lv.76

You are now: Metallurgist of Isaac Lv.60

…

You are now: Metallurgist of Isaac Lv.73

Your skill Bronze skin becomes: Steel skin - Your skin is hardened by battle, increases physical resistances by 20%

Your skill Eruption becomes: Eruption II - Increase the power behind your swings by 75% for 8 seconds.

You have gained Flow: Destruction (basic)

‘Huh, flow?’ Raph thought as he looked at the notifications, I will have to ask Leah about that. Later I guess.

They talked little on the way to Adaes, eventually it became dark again which made it harder to see where they were going so they slowed down.

“Leah.” Raph said quietly.

“Yes Raph?”

“I’m-” Raph didn’t really know how he should say this. “This is probably not the best way to put this. But I’m glad I came with you.”

Leah looked over at Raph with a hint of confusion on her face. “I-” She was also stuck for words. “I’m glad you did too.”

They ate on the move with Leah holding the reins while Raph ate, the sky eventually turned bright again and they began to see some more traffic in the roads.

“What do we do when we get to Adaes?” Raph asked.

“Well, the army only has a very small branch office there so they won’t be able to send a message. We will have to go to the Adventurers Guild, they will have a messaging stone.” Leah explained.

“What’s a messaging stone?” Raph asked, he’d never heard that term before.

“Oh, it’s like a magic crystal that can send messages to other crystals that are linked to it.” Leah said.

“Huh, like a magic mobile.” Raph said absentmindedly.

“A what?” Leah had never heard that term before.

Raph realized what he’d just said. “Nothing, nevermind. So these crystals, how will that help?”

“Well the Adventurers Guild will have a link to the military base, all the Guilds with crystals do for security.” Leah went on. “We just need to get there, explain what’s happening and get in contact with the main base. I’m not sure what they will do with the information however, it is a major security breach. A general might move to try and intercept them, but it’s above me to speculate.”

“Alright, good plan.” Raph said as they continued on the road towards Adaes.

It was a few hours later, now just before noon, when they arrived at Adaes. The city was spectacular, it was situated in a mountain pass with sheer cliffs holding it in on both sides. It looked like there were buildings in the cliff walls, extending all the way up to the top of the cliffs. Raph assumed there was some kind of internal structure in there holding it all up. There were massive walls containing the city on both sides of the pass, reminiscent of the wall of Langreth but made from a darker stone. The buildings in the city were made from stone in the majority, clearly it was the most abundant material here and they had builders who were adept at using it.

“Wow.” Raph exclaimed in awe as they approached the gate

“It is impressive, isn’t it?” Leah said.

“Very, do they use mages to make the buildings in the cliffs or maybe some kind of builder?” Raph asked as he looked at the cliffs.

“I believe they are hybrids of stone or earth mages and some kind of stone builder or architect.” Leah added.

“That’s cool.” Raph said as he continued to look up.

They rolled the carriage up to the gate in the front of the city, they were stopped by the guards.

“Halt.” the guard on the left said as he looked them both up and down. “In’t there sup’osed t’ be more o’ yus’?” Clearly he had been expecting the army to arrive.

“Our caravan was attacked, we need to speak to; the captain of the guards, the mayor, and whoever is in charge of the Adventurers Guild in this city.” Leah said with a voice of authority.

“Ah.” It took a moment for Leah’s words to sink in, he then turned to one of the other guards at the gate. “Turner, get the Cap’n. Tell him t’ meet us at the mayor's place.”

“No, we’re going to the Guild first.” Leah explained.

“The Guild then.” The guard said to the other guard called Turner.

“Please follow me ma’am.” The first guard said as he led them into the city.

They rode down the main road for a few minutes until they came to a square with some important looking building on it, one of these was busier than the others. Raph looked at the sign in front of the building: Adventurers Guild Adaes. He parked up the carriage in front of the building, he and Leah got off and walked inside with the guard in tow.

Leah led them into the building, it was clear she knew what she needed to do. She spoke to one of the assistants who offered to take her to the woman in charge.

“Raph, I will sort this out. Coordinate with the guard captain and the mayor if he turns up as well. The city needs to be on high alert, we also need to organise a clean up of the campsite asap.” Leah said in a hushed voice so only Raph could hear her.

“Got it Leah, I will deal with this.” Raph said in an affirming tone.

Leah left with the assistant to talk with the director of the guild as Raph heard a commotion at the entrance to the guild. He looked over and saw the guard Turner enter, with a new group of guards. There was a large man at the front of the group that gave Raph a dangerous vibe, he was of similar stature to Saxon with cropped ginger hair and a heroic looking face.

Identify

??? -- ??? Lv.???

Your skill: Identify II becomes: Identify III

Identify III: Fully identify targets 200 levels above your own, Only very high level targets will detect identify.

‘Huh, good timing.’ Raph though as he tried again.

Identify

Randolph Day -- Bulwark of Adaes Lv.243

“Phhewww.” Raph whistled lightly as he watched Randolph approach. ‘Damn he’s strong. Maybe not quite as strong as Bishop though.’ Even though he didn’t know exactly, he could judge the strengths of others. ‘And not even close to Isaac.’ He chuckled.

Randolph walked straight up to Raph under Turner's guidance.

“You’re part of the military caravan?” Randolph said with disdain.

“Yeah, Lieutenant Smith. I’m here with Major Raycraft, she’s currently talking with the director.” Raph explained, ignoring the man’s tone.

Randolph apparently didn’t like Raph’s tone either and growled while his face began to twitch. “I need to speak with this Major then.”

“No.” Raph said bluntly. “You’re going to deal with me.”

The guards behind Randolph all tensed up while the man himself began to get redder in the face.

Raph continued in a lower voice. “Look, I know this is your city or whatever. But we’re talking about the safety of all of Ustral here, I’d be happy to fight you after we sort this out.”

Randolph took a deep breath and seemed to calm down a little. “I might just hold you to that. However, tell me what happened.”

Raph breathed a sigh of relief, they really didn’t have time for any problems. He began to explain what happened to the caravan and that they needed some guards to help clean up and move the bodies, they couldn’t just be left for the wild animals.

Randolph relaxed as Raph was retelling the story, and so did the rest of the guards. Eventually he turned the group behind him and began barking orders, get carriages, call their buddies and so on and so forth.

Leah eventually came back with a middle aged woman next to her. She was a little shorter than Leah with ginger hair and a face that looked very familiar.

Identify

Ramona Day -- Grand Heliomancer Lv.236

‘Ah, right. I see the resemblance.’ Raph began to laugh at the coincidence.

“Raph, I’d like to introduce you to Ramona Day. She’s the director of the Guild in Adaes.” Leah explained.

“A pleasure ma’am.” Raph stuck out his hand to greet her.

Ramona returned the gesture. “Likewise Raph, I do hope Randy hasn’t been too much trouble.”

‘Randy?’ Raph could barely control himself and burst out into laughter.