Necromancer

A Royal Road Fan Fiction

By: Halosty

Chapter 92

Quietus was waiting. Patiently… would not be the right word. Lately, he hadn’t had much patience for anything. Rather, he felt annoyed at everything. This was of course why he was here, waiting for someone he had never met and didn’t want to meet. His profession, if not his class- assassination. Lately, he’d been doing more and more of it, mostly because it took his mind off of other things. Plus, it was exciting to fight other players, if only briefly. They all had different ways of fighting. That is, if they had a chance to fight back at all. Generally, he tried not to give them that chance. It was just as interesting to see how different people reacted to dying.

As for why he was after this particular mage, well, sometimes players committed crimes that weren’t enough for the guards to go after them, but other players wanted revenge for. Many assassination missions were like this. In this particular case… he’d done nothing wrong. At least, nothing of which Quietus was aware. However, someone wanted him killed, so Quietus would do it.

This particular target had been somewhat hard to track down. He didn’t have any obvious habits of going to the same places over and over, and was never really alone. He had friends, after all. Since it was a game, this meant that they would be able to fight, and that made Quietus’ job harder. However, Quietus had followed him long enough to find out some future plans. He was going to a particular store, and didn’t plan to have anybody come with him. Not that he would necessarily alone, but it was different from when he normally went with a group.

Quietus spotted the mage coming down the alleyway. Unfortunately, he wasn’t alone. He had an annoying habit of picking up friends along the way, but this time… it seemed different. A knight was with him, and one in rather fancy armor. Quietus recognized the protective stance. A bodyguard, then. Perhaps he’d somehow received wind of the price on his head. Quietus was pretty sure he hadn’t been spotted, but there were other ways for word to get out.

A bodyguard would make things somewhat difficult. However, there was just one additional opponent. This chance might not come again soon. The worst case scenario… Quietus died and possibly couldn’t complete the mission later. He decided to risk it. More precisely, he decided he didn’t care what happened. As his target approached what he deemed to be the optimal distance, he leapt out with a perforate artery.

*Clang* Quietus’ weapon was slightly deflected by the knight’s shield. Enough to make it not a critical hit, and enough to foil what would have likely been an instant kill. Quietus had been hoping the knight’s skills were somewhat lower, but it was too late to regret it now. The knight quickly stepped between Quietus and the mage. “Go, retreat!”

Normally, it would have been useful to have two people to fight against one, but the area was not suited for a mage fighting. In addition, it was actually quite hard to protect someone in a battle. Even with the skills a knight had, they couldn’t block all the attacks the target would receive. “Well then, assassin…” Quietus thought the voice sounded familiar for some reason. “Shall we- Huh? Mortimer?”

Oh, that’s what it was. He hadn’t seen the new armor yet. What a blunder.

Angelo’s surprise lasted only a moment. “Any excuses?” Quietus shook his head. “You know… I’m going to have to kick you out of the guild.”

Quietus shrugged and grinned. “Not going to give me the benefit of the doubt?”

“You?” Angelo sighed. “I’m really not surprised by this, actually. Well then, are we going to fight?”

“Oh, I don’t think there’s any way you’d let me go after I killed your protection target.” Quietus attacked, and at the same time the mage yelled out in the distance. Quietus rarely had to use his undead minions to help with assassinations, but there were a small few that were sneaky enough to help. At the very least, they could finish off an isolated mage.

Angelo’s face was completely covered by a helmet, but Quietus knew it wasn’t happy. Shield deflected dagger, and the other hand swung out with a sword.

After exchanging several blows, it became clear that Quietus was in a disadvantage for this type of fight. Though Angelo couldn’t really land an attack, his attacks were not going through either. After a particularly dangerous thrust, Quietus had to use Backslide to open up some space. Well, it’s not like the shield would be perfect against everything. Quietus no longer had any reason to hide anything.

Dark Fog! The spell filled up the area. It wouldn’t do any significant amount of damage, but could somewhat hinder vision. Unfortunately, it was daytime, so the Dark Fog couldn’t completely obscure vision. However, it did allow Quietus enough room to shoot some Dark Arrows that couldn’t be completely blocked.

Angelo didn’t looked particularly surprised at the use of magic. Certainly, not enough to slow down. Eyes scanned the area for signs of movement, ready to block any additional attacks, and counterattack if it became available.

There wasn’t enough room for Quietus to actually move far from Angelo, but that didn’t bother him. He wanted this fight to be relatively straightforward. Most people, he wouldn’t give that courtesy, but even though he had been in a bad mood lately, and still was, he didn’t have any particular reason to be mean. Besides, the magic wasn’t particularly effective either.

Quietus moved back into melee. He would move around Angelo, striking at any vulnerable point. Angelo would often block or deflect his attacks, and some counterattacks cut him, but he was specialized in fights where he could conceal himself, even a little bit, from his opponent. This was, after all, what he had been taught by Master Valarao.

Both of those engaged in the duel had dwindling health, but Quietus was adding bleed effects, which were giving him an advantage. He would have won some time ago, but Angelo actually had very excellent senses, and he couldn’t get in any real critical hits. However, he finally found an opening.

Angelo got a good thrust. In fact, it even pierced into his side somewhat. Quietus knew it wouldn’t be enough to kill him though. At the same moment, he caught Angelo’s shield with his free hand, and slashed toward the throat. He would have used the shield grabbing tactic earlier, but it would likely only work once. Angelo was much stronger, and thus could overcome his grip if ready. However, he only needed one good hit. Quietus’ Perforate Artery was on point. It was just enough to finish off Angelo. Meanwhile, Quietus had to act quickly to bandage and stitch his wounds, as he’d still fallen into the critical zone.

Well, it seemed like he was going to be stuck playing solo. Not that he particularly minded it. Dinner was going to be awkward, though.

//End Chapter 92