It was noon when we moved. We got as close as we can to the duo outside and readied our crossbows. As we planned before, I and Felicia targeted the brute while Eli targeted agile. We waited for a few seconds before Eli released the bolts and we followed her lead. All bolts hit true. Eli’s bolt hit agile’s neck while mine and Felicia’s hit brutes stomach and heart respectively.

We got in front of the cave and after hiding the bodies, we went inside. Inside was a spacious corridor leading further in. We followed the passage and came upon a three-way split. We stopped as one and looked at each other. After a second Eli sighed and said “Let’s split up. If you find something you can’t take on return here and wait.” Felicia and I nodded then went in our own way.

***

I brandished my sword and started following the passage slowly while thinking. ‘I hope Victor won’t do something stupid or got himself killed. Not that I care, just that it would make Eli sad.’ I walked for a while and noticed the passage started getting wider. After a few seconds, I came upon a spacious room with a man sitting on a table. The man was wearing civilian clothes and reading something. Since his back was towards me, I slowly put the sword down and readied my crossbow.

I aimed and fired in just a few seconds. The man somehow noticed it and threw himself to the side but still bolt caught him on his shoulder. He dropped with a pained cry but quickly stood up. ‘Another agile. Joy.’ I picked up my sword since there was no way I could shoot an aware agile with a bow and took my stance. The agile for her part looked at me and the bolt sticking out of his shoulder and started screaming. I was afraid of reinforcements for a second then I remembered Eli and Victor. ‘If they couldn’t manage to take down their targets until now, agile’s scream would be enough distraction to finish it.’

Not wanting to wait anymore, I started running towards agile, and when in range, swung the sword horizontally towards his belt. He saw the sword coming and easily stepped back.

He took out a dagger and took a stance though his pain was obvious. ‘If I can’t take him on with a wound like that then I am hopeless.’ Agile rushed forward, far faster than I was capable of, and thrust his dagger towards my neck, obviously to finish the fight as quickly as possible. ‘Bolt must have harmed him much more than I initially thought.’ I casually side-stepped enough to let the dagger pass harmlessly and bashed my sword towards his arm. My sword connected with a crack and agile screamed a second time, this time more painful. He dropped his dagger and tried to turn around but I stopped him with a well-timed swing.

He jumped back, significantly slower than before. He looked at the dagger then at me and sidestepped towards it. ‘He will go for it.’ I got ready for him.

After a few tense seconds, he dashed towards me. I swung my sword to intercept him, he rolled to the side towards his dagger. So I changed the direction of my sword mid-swing and caught him behind his knee. He screamed painfully but still managed to hold on to his dagger. He stood on his good leg, obviously giving his everything to balance himself. He looked at me with some apprehension and said “Why are you doing this? If you want money I can give you all the money I have.”

I looked at him, shocked. “You have money.” He nodded. “Good to know,” I said and attacked with my full power this time. He tried to block but he just wasn’t strong enough. I wiped my sword and started looking around to find the man’s money.

It was behind a loose rock on the wall. There was over one platinum. I put the money in my money pouch, took my crossbow, and continued to the next passage. I walked for a while and came upon a big, metal door. It was locked. I tried to forcefully open it but it didn’t budge. I clicked my tongue and turned back to see four passages leading out. I guessed which one Eli and Victor went and picked the remaining passage.

I started walking through the passage and came to another room. There was a bed on the side, a table on the other side with a chair and at the far end a rather big chest. I carefully took a few steps forward. Just when I was about to get inside, the hair behind my neck stood up. Sign of my Skill activating. I quickly dodged back and saw a blur pass by me and lodging on the cave wall. Coming close to my death I started hyperventilating but a second knife put an end to it. I dodged to the side and the knife flew away.

“Ah. You have a Skill. Too bad. I was sure I could surprise you.” A woman showed herself. She was a short woman with auburn hair and brown eyes. She smiled. “I am guessing you took down Gert. Correct build but wrong mindset. He just didn’t know what to do with his agility other than running around.” She twirled her daggers. “I know better.” I didn’t do anything, just took my stance and waited. The woman raised a brow. “What are you waiting for? Do you think I would die of old age?” ‘She trying to lure me. There must be a trap.’ The woman sighed. “It seems you saw through my trick.” She opened her coat to the side to show an assortment of throwing knives. She continued “No matter. I am more than ready for this little confrontation.”

The woman threw the knives she was holding to me. I squatted quickly to see two blurs pass by above my head. I looked at the woman and smirked. “You won’t be able to hit me like this. Maybe you should come closer a little.”

Woman chuckled. “Hmm. You are right.” She took a few steps forwards and took two more knives to her hands. “Is this close enough?”

‘Is it?’ I raised my finger towards the woman. “I don’t think so but it’s good enough.” I pushed my mana to spell and magical lightning started streaking towards her, far faster than her knives. Seeing the lightning going towards her, she tried to jump to the side but she still got caught. She screamed painfully and looked at me angrily but I was already sending another bolt. This time, she threw one of her daggers towards the lightning, faster than before, and started running towards me so fast that she was a blur.

I pointed my finger at her running form but a knife came flying towards me so I had to dodge to the side. Luckily I was fast enough to dodge without a problem. I looked at her and saw she was already on me. I took my stance and started waiting for her next move. She screamed and jumped on me two knives in hand. I parried her knives to the side and tried to bash her with the hilt of my sword but she casually took a step back.

The woman looked at me and smiled. “So Strength and Dexterity. That’s a good close quarter’s focus but you will learn that it’s not good enough.” She finished chuckling.

“Really?” ‘She is too fast. I won’t be able to hit her with my sword and she won’t let me use a lightning bolt, with my hands.’ I smirked. “Too bad you won’t get the chance to teach me.”

The woman watched me carefully, but her focus was on my hands, I noted. I smiled and dashed towards her. I swung my sword vertically to the left of her body and she dodged to another side. I smirked again and raised my head then spit on her face. She seemed to be surprised by my move since she couldn’t dodge. As soon as spit landed on her face, she started screaming. The spell was so powerful the cave started smelling burnt meat.

I inhaled, careful to take a breath through my mouth, and finished her off with one move. I looked at my hands which were very blue and plopped down on the ground. ‘Let’s rest a bit then look for others.’

***

I walked the winding path my crossbow in my hand and great sword in its sheath. After a few seconds, I came upon a wide room with lots of beds. There weren’t too many people though just… four of them. Three of the four were sleeping while one of them maintaining his sword. I aimed towards the one awake and shoot.

The bolt hit his neck and he fell gurgling. I quickly took out a knife and slowly made my way to the closest man on the bed. I stopped before his bed and slit his throat and held him until he died. After that done, I took down the other two the same way finishing every enemy in the room.

Just when I was about to move on, I heard a booming voice. “Wake up fools!” I hid quickly behind a dresser. The owner of the voice came from further passage. He was a big man clad in steel armor. He continued without looking at the very much dead men. “Wake up! It’s time to train!” He said and turned to look at the closest body to him.

I started to edge towards the passage I came from. I was about to reach my destination without being seen before someone said “There is a woman here.” The big man looked at the blood on his gauntlets and with me, turned to the owner of the new voice. He was a short, pale man with a dagger on hand. He looked at me and took his fighting stance.

The big guy on the other hand said “So you killed my students. One of them was very promising too.” I looked at him from the corner of my eye. He was holding his chin with his previously bloodied hand. He looked at me and continued. “Yes. You must die.” He brandished his sword and shield then started to slowly come towards me.

I sighed and regarded the short man. He seemed to be focusing on preventing me from escaping. Not having the time to think, I rushed at him with my top speed. The scenery went in a blur and I raised my sword. Just before I swing the sword towards his head, he took a step back. I held my off-hand towards him and put mana to my gauntlet. It lit up and a bolt hit the short man’s head from point-blank. The man had no chance as he fell to the ground and started convulsing. I gave one last look at the now closer armored man and finished off the other.

After I was done with the dagger wielder, I glanced at the armored man. ‘He might be a knight. There is no way I can deal with him myself.’ I quickly turned tail and started running away, intent on finding Felicia to deal with the knight with.

I was about to get away when I heard the voice of the knight. “Charge.” I quickly glanced at the knight that is just a blur and threw myself to the side. The knight passed by me and hit the cavern wall with a sound like a hammer to the stone. The cavern shook and the cavern wall crumbled. Seeing this, I started to sweat coldly. I quickly got up and started running the other way. I heard him again. “Charge.” This time I didn’t need to look at him to know what he was up to. He was close enough to make the ground beneath me tremble. He passed by me again but this time, he stopped as soon as he did that. He slid a bit and turned to me. “You can’t run away. Stay and fight, to your death.”

I clenched my teeth. I was thinking of screaming when I heard another one doing it. It was the voice of a man. The voice cut soon enough but I noticed the knight’s attention was still on it, so I rushed him. I raised my sword and just before I reach the knight, I hit him with magical lightning. He lights up but didn’t as much as twitch. I swung down the sword with all the speed I can manage. The knight bring up his shield and blocked. The strength of the block was so great that I felt the clash pry my sword off my hand, making it fly unbelievably high, behind me. Leaving me unarmed.

Knight chuckled. “You are fast, but speed is not enough. You have some potential to be a knight. It’s too bad you are an enemy. If not for that, I would love to break you again and again.” He swung on-air and continued. “You are without a weapon and your spell has no way of harming me. So, what are you going to do?”

I clenched my teeth. ‘He is right but I have a weapon.’ I held my crossbow and aimed.

Knight chuckled again. “A bow? An odd one but still, you won’t be harming me any time soon.”

I looked at the very arrogant knight, aimed with my crossbow then released the bolt hoping it would pierce the knight’s armor as Victor believed it can but there was no such luck. The bolt hit the knight’s armor, crumpled and fell. I took a deep breath and set the crossbow again. All the while, the knight made no move to stop me. I aimed again at his heart. I started putting mana to wooden bolt while silently chanting ‘Pierce’. I released when the bolt started crackling. It started flying towards the knight with a much higher speed than before. I held my breath, thinking the knight is done for but he did something I didn’t think he would.

He blocked with his shield. The bolt punched through his shield, armor, and skin but stopped before going further enough to cause a serious injury. The knight looked at me and started coming closer with sure steps. “Thaumaturgy. Damn witch.” For his every step forward, I took a step back, trying to maintain the distance while setting the crossbow a third time.

‘I need time. If Felicia comes here the fight shouldn’t take much time, then we can regroup with Victor too.’ Quickly thinking of a way to delay the knight, I smirked. “What happened? I thought you said there was no way for me to harm you.”

The knight gritted his teeth hard enough to make them crack. “That was before I learned you were a damn witch.” He took a step forward, I mirrored him in reverse. “Don’t worry, I won’t kill you… fast.” He took out his helmet and grinned at me viciously. I quickly aimed at his head and released the bolt. “Charge.” He suddenly became a blur and dodged the bolt without much trouble and started running towards me.

‘Too close.’ There was no way for me to dodge him quickly enough, so I made a gamble. I moved in a way to convince the knight I was going to dodge one way and sure enough, he changed his track. I quickly took a step the other way and he passed me by without any damage to me. I quickly started running the other way until I was sure he stopped his charge and turned back at him. He put back his helmet and started getting closer again. ‘It seems like this will continue for a while.’

***

I was between sleep and wakefulness when I heard the thunder. I quickly jumped on my feet and made my way to the start of four passages. I waited to see if I hear it again but I didn’t. That made me thinking. ‘Is it Eli or Victor? It was only once so it could be both.’ I looked at the passages again. I knew the two I used but didn’t know the other two. ‘Which one is Eli?’ I tried to fathom which one was the passage Eli took but then I remembered how much they are curved up-down and left-right. I sighed and decided to try my luck with the closest one.

I walked for a while before coming to a game of chase. Eli was running while an armored man following. I waited for a while to decide how to join but couldn’t find a good way. So I started jogging towards the duo. When he saw me, the armored man turned to me and said “Charge.” I felt my eyes widening but held my stance. Just when he was about to reach me I thrust my sword. The armored man tried to stop but it was too late. I heard the sound of metal hitting metal then squish and felt my sword plunging deep into the man’s chest.

Eli came to me fast and hugged me. “It’s great that you came. I don’t know how many times I came close to dying.” Eli sighed and turned to the now lifeless body. “He was very sturdy, probably focused on Vitality.”

I nodded. “And a knight.” Eli nodded back. So I asked. “Did you use lightning?”

Eli looked at me like she just remembered something. “No. So it was Victor. Let’s find him before he gets in trouble.”

***

I parted girls with some apprehension. ‘I only fought one battle and in that, I didn’t even give the finishing blow. Though I shoot the one outside, I only caught the guard on his stomach. Far from being deadly. What am I going to do when I see an enemy? I can’t back down since it would put the girls at risk.’ I shook my head. ‘Only way is forward.’

I walked for a while before I saw someone sitting on a chair beside one of the sconces dotted the walls of the cave. He was reading what I guessed to be a book. There was only silence while I took aim and with ‘whip’ the bolt was out. This time I aimed at the chin so it was no surprise that the bolt hit the man’s neck. He went down clawing the bolt sticking out of his neck.

I went forward while trying to put the man out of my mind. ‘He was a monster. It was either him or us.’ I continued while chanting and came upon another man. This one too, like the one before, reading something from a book. He was done the same way. But this time, just when I was about to continue forward, I heard a scream.

I quickly went into a corner and started waiting. After a few seconds, someone showed himself. He was a tall man with long blond hair. I quickly aimed at him and released the bolt. He suddenly stopped and threw his hand towards the bolt and a transparent energy field came to be in front of it. Bolt broke the energy field with a sound like glass shattering and continued its way to hit the man on his shoulder. ‘Not deep enough.’ The man took the bolt out of the wound casually, broke it while looking at me, and threw it aside. He smirked. “Tell your boss to send a better assassin next time.” He pointed towards me and magical lightning shot out of his finger. I quickly drew my mana and fashioned a lightning rod with it. Magical lightning hit my makeshift lightning rod and grounded. The man saw this and looked at me open-mouthed. “What did you do?” I answered with a magical lightning bolt of my own. It hit true but the man only lost control of his body for a second. He stood up chuckling and said. “Let me give you a tip. If you have enough Vitality, lightning doesn’t harm you.”

‘Damn Attributes.’ I took a step back unconsciously the man laughed but I remembered something. ‘He said lightning doesn’t harm him. What about flames?’ I put on a stoic face and started summoning magical fire. Where I summoned magical fire, there was only a very slight shimmering and nothing else.

The man grinned at my retreating self and took out a crystal-like knife. He held on to it and looked at me savagely. “We can’t harm each other with lightning.” He twirled his knife in his hand and continued. “This fight can only go towards a single way.” He started coming towards me, though after a few steps, he hurriedly started retreating but it was far too late.

He was a charred corpse in the next instance.

After resting a bit, I took the still intact crystal blade from the corpse and started walking forward. I set the crossbow and aimed forward just in case someone shows themselves. I walked for a while and reached a bigger room. There was a double bed forward and to the left a dresser. I crouched down and started moving forward. I took one step forward, another step, and a feeling hit me.

I quickly jumped back and saw a blur get past me. Blur hit the wall of the cavern and pulverized it. I took a deep breath. ‘If I get hit by it, I am dead.’ I quickly released the bolt towards the man’s neck but it hit his armor harmlessly. I quickly put my crossbow on the ground and took a few steps back watching the armored man trying to free himself from the debris he created. I quickly opened my Status and looked at my stats.

Status

Name: Victor

Age: 18

Strength: 10

Dexterity: 10

Agility: 10

Vitality: 10

Charm: 20

Attribute Points: 25

Class: Linguist-5(%47), Scientist-5(%47), Crafter-5(%47), None

Blessings

Blessing of God of Purity: Immune to all mundane curses. 99.99% increased defense against curses invoked with a God’s name.

Blessing of God of Lightning: 10% effectiveness to all lightning spells.

Blessing of God of Humanity: Able to take four classes with four quarters.

‘How should I use my Attributes? If I put points on Vitality can I shrug off a hit like that? No. The best way to use Attributes should be dumping them all on Agility, thus increasing my ability to dodge.’ I quickly used my Attribute Points and started channeling magical lightning towards the armored man. ‘He wears metal armor. It should be conductive.’ I channeled lightning for enough time that the man’s armor started to glow with heat, but the man didn’t seem to get affected by the attack otherwise.

So I changed tactics. I started channeling magical fire and sure enough, I got a grunt for my troubles. For a few seconds, I channeled fire and watched as he tries to free himself. He then with a painful grunt, freed himself and turned to me. He took off his helmet to reveal a very sweaty head. He had dark green hair with dark blue eyes. He frowned and said. “It won’t work. It doesn’t matter how much fire there is.” I snorted beside myself. ‘You didn’t see what fire can do then.’

The man scowled at me and threw his helmet to the side. I watched as the helmet fly which was a big mistake. I felt something hit me with the force of a truck. I heard the sound of snapping bones. I flew a few meters away and hit the wall of the cavern. I parted my eyes with some difficulty and with grunt tried to stand. At that moment, all my nerves flared with pain. I fell back and watched as the armored man walks towards me. I sighed but even that was painful. I pointed at the now smiling man and used the last weapon in my arsenal.

Lightning hit the man.

After the ringing of my ear passed I looked at the man and saw him trying to stand. All his hair singed and one side of his face charred. And his armor, it was heated so much it was liquid. That gave me an idea. I didn’t close my eyes for the fear of not opening them ever again, so I looked at the man and raised my hand towards him. I imagined my mana diffusing in his armor and taking the heat away to collect it on my palm.

It worked. Armor cooled in a way to inhibit the man’s movement. He must have been as spent as me since he didn’t even make an effort to free himself.

I slowly dragged myself to him. I took out the crystal knife and moved to slit the man’s throat. He tried to bit my wrist. ‘It’s good that I put my points on agility.’ I softly chuckled myself and with one move, slit his throat. I laid on my back and as soon as I did, darkness claimed me.