“So...what do we do now?” asked Serena to the tall and yet thin and almost invisible man and the similarly tall handsome man with no expression.

They had left Sain leaving Miriel with her and now Lyndis left them leaving her with only these two. She felt that she could not return to Sain and Miriel right now. That would mean her resolve was only to that level.

Plus she was more worried that Lyndis decided on something rashly again to leave them like that.

“Well I'm going to follow her” said Shadow calmly with a shrug. His laid back attitude made Serena shocked and prompted her to ask, “Aren't you worried about her?”

“That is why I said I'm going to follow her” he said as if it was obvious. Lyndis was was emotionally unstable right now. She had a fight with Sain and left. That sounded so simple but she must have felt extremely hurt to the point she could not stay there.

Thus Serena worried seeing that Lyndis was hurt. Raven most likely followed for that reason as well.

But Shadow did not look like he was worried about Lyndis at all. In fact he looked amused of her being hurt and yet annoyed that he sticking near her.

“Why are you here?” Serena asked him.

“Why not?” he asked with a smile in return.

Before she was scared of him...and frankly a lot of people. But now, Lyndis was hurt and she would not let it become worst due to Shadow!

“Why are you here?” she asked again with a determined look on her face. If he was not going to tell this time...she would use 'other' methods.

“Because Sain wanted me here” he answered with a grin seeing my shocked expression right now and continuing to do so saying, “I'm on orders here so I can't leave her.”

This man...Serena once again...no rather finally understood why Miriel and Lyndis hated him. He played on others feelings for his own amusement. How could such a person be accepted by both Sain and Raven?

Both were kind despite what the former just did. Serena could tell on how he treated everyone gently making sure no harm came down on them when he could. Someone who had such gentle eyes could not be what Lyndis thought he was.

“Why did Sain want you here?” she asked.

“Don't know, maybe he expected this a few months ago? Or he just wanted me to keep an eye on her. Well if it helps, he was partly my responsibility that Aria died as well since I told Eden and not Sain of what I heard her say.”

“What?” She could not understand what he was saying.

“Aria was indeed the spy, there is no doubt about that but would Sain really kill a person that might have some guilt in them or when they were not at fault?” Shadow let out a small laugh.

Serena was gripping her staff right now and looked at Raven who did not. It really looked like Raven either knew or did not care.

“But I bet the real reason he gave me this troublesome order was that he was worried about her and....that I would follow it either way” he let out a sad smile which was completely different from the one before followed up by a sad laugh that Sain figured him out.

Serena was even tempted to think that Shadow was worried about Lyndis. Except that he was really good at acting to the point she doubt even Sain could tell what his true intentions were. She had no idea where his feelings lied at all.

“That reminds me, what happened to that shy and timid act you always had on?” Shadow asked mocking her again.

“....”

“Or is it that you don't need to use that act anymore?” asked Shadow once again.

“There is no need to hold my words back on you. That's all” Serena replied. She got along with Miriel and Lyndis. However she hated Shadow enough that it had the same effect on her speech with him.

Then there was Raven who she really didn't talk to. Without him talking back, there was no reason for her to be nervous around him. But then there was finally Sain...unfortunately Serena was not that close to him.

Thus with him, that shy and timid Serena would come out even when she did not want to.

“That's quite harsh. You hate me that much eh? Well I don't really care as long as my objective is in sight. What should we do now Miss not shy and timid Serena?” asked Shadow one finally time with a grin.

“In that case...” said Serena determined to figure him out later on, “Shall she follow Lyndis for now?”

xXx

Lyndis continued to walk. She did not hear footsteps behind her which really meant that they were not following her. Now that she thought about it, they hadn't been following her from the beginning.

It had been a while since she went into this forest to the point that it had been almost exactly 4 years since she started this game with the others and it had been a few days since she entered the forest though there seemed to be no end to it.

“Where should I go...?” she wondered looking around. She did not know where she was, where to go and was in a forest right now.

Was there any other words but lost that could describe her situation right now? Such a pathetic thing for her to be in after all this time.

Rustle Rustle.

It was then that she heard of something coming. Drawing her Katana immediately, she was ready to cut anything down. It looked like her training alone would start already. Becoming stronger was one of her goals and she would not like anything interfere with that at least.

“Come out and face me already!”

She was quite impatient. The reason was that when she fought, she would focus everything on fighting and nothing more. Thoughts on anything would be suppressed which was a good thing for her right now.

However what came out was not a monster.

“Huh?”

But a child, injured and was running away from something.

“Waaaa!” The child who she noticed was a young boy in some plain clothes covered in blood and with cuts all over the place. There was this one large cut on his forehead as well.

Catching him, the child looked around frightened until he saw Lyndis.

“Help me!” he shouted but before he and Lyndis could say another word, a wolf came out of nowhere. It was large and its fangs were covered in blood, this child's blood.

Thus Lyndis' blood also boiled seeing that this creature would dare harm a child. She had enough of people dying already and thus was not going to hold back on protecting this child at least.

“Flame Strike!” she shouted forming a spear of fire and shooting it at the wolf. The wolf could not even react due to the speed and power of the attack and perished immediately, turning into ash in one blow.

That wolf was at best level 50 while Lyndis was four times it's level. This kind of result was only natural. Even a single strike from her sword could kill this wolf in one shot.

“It's okay now, the wolf is dead” she said to the boy. However there was still a hint of fear in the boy's eyes.

“Please help me!” he shouted pleading to Lyndis.

“....”

Lyndis frowned, was this the start of a new quest?

“My parents were captured by a troll with the rest of my village! They're in a cave nearby...you have to save them before they get eaten!” the boy shouted crying.

Save the Parents of the Child

A child had come to you requesting you to save his parents after showing your power to him. The enemy is a troll that had kidnapped an entire village only to eat them one by one. Kill the troll, save the parents and any other survivors.

Quest Rank: E

Restrictions: Must save the parents before the troll eats them

Reward: Unknown

“I accept” she accepted the quest without hesitation. It was only one foe and plus it was an E rank quest.

You have accepted the quest

Since she accepted the quest now, she needed to go all the way. Plus as someone who had a the class called Flame Samurai, she could not not help other people in need.

However there was one basic problem first...

“Where is the cave?” she asked looking around and yet not seeing a cave.

“I'll show you..” said the boy though he was already shaking of the thought of being near that place.

Seeing this, Lyndis felt some sympathy to this boy. She patted him on the head gently and said in a assuring voice, “Don't worry. Everything will be all right.”

The boy nodded seeing the confidence that Lyndis was showing. The amount of strength that Lyndis showed him, frying a wolf that almost killed him in an instant made him think that she would be the one to help him.

Soon enough, the boy guided Lyndis to the cave.

“....”

There was this oppressive feeling coming from the entrance that made even her to consider on whether to go in at all. However the though of fighting came into her head again. To fight, to forget that was what mattered right now.

“Is it in here?” she asked to which the boy nodded.

“Wait here” she said starting to walk into the cave but stopped and returned to the boy saying, “Make sure you hide from any enemies. I don't want to return with your parents to only find you were dead.”

“Okay big sis” the boy nodded and ran off into the bushes, to hide.

With that done, she entered the cave this time. The first thought she had with it was that it was dark. Really dark to the point she couldn't even see anything a few metres in already.

However she had a way to counter this.

“Pocket Fireball” she chanted creating a small ball of fire that really had no use but to light small fires and light up dark places. She let it hover a bit further in front of her to show her the place. Looking around, though there wasn't much, there weren't any enemies around.

“Be wary, there may be enemies around where you aren't looking even if they don't attack you.”

Sain's words of wisdom was stuck in her head after so much. It pissed her off that even now, he was 'with' her with his advise even if it was a good one.

Was the troll the only enemy? She had hoped so since this darkness was dangerous enough for her to consider even backing out to get some supplies like torches to light the way.

“What am I joking, I'm a fire user so I am literally a torch here” he laughed at that thought. There was no one to counter her words or thoughts right now.

“Supplies are necessary since one person or a group of people cannot do everything.”

Once again Sain's words were in her mind. She should have asked for directions for a nearby village or town first even if there was a time limit on this quest. If she died...well she would die and just that.

There was no penalty except for lost time for her upon dying now.

“Dying even though there is less penalty than other is-”

“Shut up!”

She banged her head on the wall to get 'him' out of her mind. His words filled with wisdom were like poison due to recent events. She did not want to follow him anymore. And so the words never came back.

“...Hahahahaaahaaha!”

What she was feeling was freedom from so many things. She could not express how happy she was to be alone. No more need to be friendly, no more need to consider her relationship with others.

Now all she had to do was kill the troll and save those parents and return to the child with them.

How simple was that? There was little planning it was so straightforward that even a child could tell. She would complete this quest and move on, like so many things right now. This would be a good distraction for her.

xXx

“What is with this smell...rotting flesh?” she wondered though she could not find the source of it. This cave was one path only so the source must be deeper in.

She walked in for around 10 minutes but this cave already seemed endless.

Eventually she reached the end of the cave. Her health was naturally at 100% but her mana levels through using 'Pocket Fireball' so much was reduced to 90%.

However she was still in top shape or so she thinks to face this monster.

“Come out you big ugly thing! You better not have eaten those parents that I need to save!” she shouted trying to provoke that troll to come out. If it were Sain, perhaps he would have laid a trap first. But that was the act of a coward.

Fighting head on, without mercy, without fear was her style.

The walls of the cave rumbled. The ground as well. The troll was here...and was very large.

“Wow.”

Sitting at almost 4 metres tall, this was one of the larger creatures she had to face. Most of them were at best 3 metres tall with few exceptions. However the most important thing right now was that there were two figures it was holding in it's hands.

Lyndis bet that those were the parents she needed to save.

“Hohohoho, little human. Little female human. Good to eat, good to eat!” the troll cried in happiness to see her. As a man eater, it found eating females humans much better than males.

It immediately threw away both people in it hands and prepared to capture her as well. Those two people did not move even though they were thrown aside like that...

She hoped they were still alive...

“Let's do this!” she shouted drawing her sword, “Fire Bl-”

BANG!

She was sent flying back with a punch she did not see. What was going on? Was the troll that fast?

You took 444 damage

She had a total of around 8800 health by being at level 215. She had just lost 5% of her health which was not a big deal but what surprised her was that she was hit without her realising it. What was going on?

It didn't matter, such a thing could not happen if she was right next to this troll. Larger creatures have more trouble attacking what is next to them than smaller creatures.

“Hohohoho, slow human.”

The troll sent out another punch, but this time Lyndis reacted and spun out of the way.

BANG!

She barely dodged it even though it was a simple punch. Was it because of her not being able to see right? She needed to brighten this place up.

“Flame Strike!” she shouted sending a spear of fire at the troll.

She aimed at the face of that monster. The giant beast used its arms to block the attack and flames shattered around the place. Lyndis thought of it as strong right now considering it took on her attack like that.

“Flame Strike! Flame Strike!” she fired off another two rounds but both of them were blocked as well.

However with the attack allowed her to see due to the remains of the flames being all over the place and then allowed her to realise something.

The troll in front of her was completely covered in dry blood and bits of rotted flesh! What the hell was going on here, how many people did it eat and for how long as well!

“Pitiful flammmmmeeee!!!” The troll laughed leaping at Lyndis and slammed its hands down on her.

BANG!

She dodged this attack, it seemed her agility was high enough to not get hit yet but the entire cave trembled to the impact.

“This troll is definitely strong...the rotting smell comes all the people it ate...” she muttered. It was time to get serious since she definitely needed to save both those parents and she didn't think she could carry both of them away at the same time.

Using 'Speed Stance', Lyndis was 50% faster and moved quickly in between the legs of the troll.

“Fire Blade! Power Strike!” she shouted as she swung to hit the legs. She missed with the troll jumping in the air and then kicking her deeper into the cave. It looked like it didn't intend to let her escape.

BANG!

You took 1732 damage

She was knocked back shamefully like that and didn't even get one proper hit in. From just looking at both sides, you could tell who was superior to the other.

“DAMMMMNNNNN YOOOOOOOU BOOST!”

Boost has been activated. All stats, effects and consumption will double

Effects of the 'Mark of the Lion' is now active. 'Genesis Flame' is now active.

Her body covered in flames, the entire section of the cave lit up brightly causing the troll to cover it's view of her in fear of blindness from the sudden light.

“BUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRNNNNNNNN!!!!”

In rage now, Lyndis sent out flame after flame at the troll making it seem like a series of flame-throwers were being shot at once at the troll. However it looked like her flames had little to no effect on the troll.

“What?! Impossible!” she shouted seeing the troll fine after taking a direct series of hits from her flames. Even a Boss Monster of level 250 was threatened by it thus she could not believe that a mere troll could not be harmed by it.

However what Lyndis did not know was that a troll's regeneration was truly frightening. It's high speed regeneration was so fast that sword wounds would in mere seconds close up. What's more is that their muscles were extremely tough as well.

Mere flames that could only start by burning the skin would heal even faster than sword wounds, almost instantaneously. Thus only truly powerful flames over a long period or dense flames could harm it properly.

But Lyndis did not know this, all she knew was her flames were useless. Plus there was a good chance she would kill the mother while attacking with flames this intense as well.

“Weak fire, weak fire!” the troll chanted angering her even more.

“But I still have my sword! Flame Coating!” she screamed as she charged head on covering her body in a protective flame barrier. If the troll even got near her, it would be burnt.

Another fist came at her which she had to blend in a difficult position to dodge. There was no point in not using all her skills right now. It was foolish enough she realised to even hold back against this monster that she found strong.

“Dancing Dragon Art: Fourth Slash!” she shouted the name of the skill allowing it to activate. All of a sudden, Lyndis' body blurred and turned into several illusions that attacked the troll on all sides.

However this was merely an illusion and there was only one true body in the end.

Unfortunately, another thing that Lyndis did not realise was that everything in the cave smelled like rotting flesh but she did not. The troll's sense of smell was enough to allow it to track her down.

BANG!

A giant fist hit her stomach unexpectedly for her.

Critical Hit!

You took 2509 damage

The damage she took was doubled due to the attack she did not predict to happen and thus her health fell to below half now.

“This is bad...” She didn't get a proper hit in and yet she was getting trashed. She held her stomach with her left hand as she pointed her sword in her right hand. She felt that her legs were about to give in right now.

But she could still fight!

“Fire Bomb!” A single glowing ball of flame appearing in her hand and landed next to the troll when it exploded.

BANG!!

The explosion caught the troll in surprise as she took this chance to attack.

“Speed Strike!” she sprinted and attacked while running around the troll.

Her high speed and the fact that she was a relatively small target made her hard to hit plus with only one arm to use with the other holding the second person she needed to save. Plus she had seen enough to see through the troll a bit.

However each strike that hit Lyndis took down at least 5% of her health.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

And it was extremely hard to not get hit when the troll was rapid firing attacks at you and at the same time, he sworn that she was being hit when she clearly dodged. But eventually her health decreased to around 10%, just high enough that she wouldn't lose health but low enough that a hit would get her to critical health or a critical hit would kill her.

“.....”

Lyndis figured there was little chance on winning against this troll and needed to complete part of the quest at least. However the troll didn't allow her to even do that.

Seeing Lyndis in her current state, it didn't even look at her as an enemy anymore; it picked up the woman and crushed her before eating her.

“Ahhhhh!!!!”

Lyndis was in complete shock seeing this. This was the kind of thing that would give you nightmares. It did the same with the man though was more rough with him. He died before being eaten.

You have failed the quest

That ringing sound of when the game messaged her snapped her out of it. Since she failed the quest, since she had no reason to be here anymore, she didn't need to fight.

“Right, there's no point in fighting anymore....”

But it looked like the troll wouldn't let her go.

Plus there was another thing she realised.

She was alone and therefore she would die alone...there was no one to help her, no support, no tank and no advise for her. Lyndis had no idea how to beat this troll...at the very least she should find those parents and save them at least.

“ROOOOOOOOOARRRRRRR!!!!!”

The troll suddenly let out a roar and beat it's chest and puffed up it's muscles and seemed to have gotten larger.

“No...when was it this big?” Lyndis quickly realised that it only seemed to have gotten bigger when in reality it was the same size though it's muscles were a bit bigger. This was one of the known effects of fighting spirit. She was scared now even though she knew this.

To her, it grew a size larger and had this menacing aura around it.

To be beaten.

To be eaten.

There was nothing to gain here but her pride and even that seemed useless right now. Her health was low, she could barely swing her sword with her hands shaking.

Therefore she had to choose the one option that would allow her not to suffer from all of this...else the one with the least suffering from first glance.

Therefore she chose to run away. Turning around, not even bothering to look at that troll that was much stronger than her, she ran.

She ran without fighting. She ran without giving it her all.

It was a disgrace to her to be forced to do this. But it felt like she was willingly running away like a coward. Her efforts did not work, she failed and ran away.

But did she give it her all in the first place?

“What if my last attack couldn't kill it?!” she shouted to no one in particular.

Her final attack, Dancing Dragon Art: Final Slash was the most powerful attack she had. It could be equal to a Dragon striking at you directly and exploded in all directions. But it cost almost all her health and all her mana and stamina in return to use once.

It was literally a last shot attack.

But as she ran away, the troll followed her and it was damn fast when it wanted to be.

“Damn...get away from me!” she screamed in desperation at the troll as if it could understand her.

She directed her flames that was coming out of her body at the troll again but like before, it had no effect on it. Just how strong was this thing?

Or...was she that weak? She heard that trolls level ranged from 200-300 on average. Since this was a generally weak area, the troll should be weak right? Around level 200 was her thoughts when she first came in this cave.

However with her stats and boost on, her abilities should be around level 250. Does it mean that she was weaker than a level 200 foe?

She grinded her teeth thinking of this possibility.

However she needed to get the troll off of her. Remembering the cave shaking from one of the troll's attacks before, she decided to make a cave in.

“Fire Bomb! Fire Bomb! Fire Bomb! Fire Bomb!...!”

She used this skill as many as she could exhausting all of her mana in the process and threw them at the walls a bit in front of her so they would explode a bit after she passed them.

BOOM! BANG! BOOM! BANG! BANG! BOOM!

A rapid series of explosions was heard behind her. She did not even dare to turn around to see if the troll was still chasing her. All she wanted to do was get out of this cave.

“It might follow me via sight...” she looked around and found herself still using 'Boost' and was lit up like a candle. She deactivated it and continued to run.

Trip!

However not seeing and without a way to see since all of her mana was used up, she tripped on something and hit her head on something sharp. She felt something warm come out of her forehead...

“Blood...I'm bleeding...” she muttered, “Need to stop the bleeding..skill...bandages...”

In the deep darkness of the cave she took out some bandages from her inventory and wrapped it around her forehead closing the wound.

Bandaging used, bleeding will stop, health increased to 15%

With the bleeding, her health increased a bit as well. If she used another 15 or so rolls of bandages on herself, she would probably be at full health though will look like a mummy. However even though her health increased, she at the same time calmed down and regained some of herself.

“I failed the quest.”

She stopped attacking and the troll took the chance to eat those two people in front of her.

“I ran away.”

She had no choice but to do that. She was too weak both physically and mentally against that thing alone. Facing a man eater that wished to capture you and eat you while it being stronger than you was extremely stressful.

“I didn't give it my all...”

Her hands and body were shaking when she faced the troll after it's roar of dominance...she could not endure it and thus ran away.

“Ha...puhahahahaha.”

Thus she let out this laugh at herself. Four years of constant hard work and it ended up like this the moment she left the others. What 'I will leave alone'? She couldn't even kill a simple monster alone at all!

Furthermore, this was the group's first failure, no HER first failure. There was no one to back her up, this was all her fault in the end. She was a failure in the end, hard work simply did not mean results.

And without results, she could not be recognised for her hard work. Once again, like the time her image as a genius back then, something inside her was in pain.

Tears came down her face the more she thought about it.

The results were everything and Sain displayed results no matter what. She on the other hand went with her own methods and lost. If that was the case, Sain was right and she was wrong.

“NO! That can't be right!” she hit the wall with her fist causing it to bleed as well. She thought her path was right. Other people different paths than her but she thought this was the right one for her.

“Are you all right? Do you need me to heal you?”

“Hurry up and get on with it! We can't wait for you forever.”

“Do you need any help? If so, you can always ask for it.”

Lyndis looked around but saw no one. There was no one around but she still heard their voices even though she left them. It had not even been a full day and she was already in this state.

She could not endure it any longer and simply sat down on the wall of this cave.

“I don't know what to do...what to do....” she sobbed not sure on how to get out of this state and how to proceed forward. Everything seemed pointless right now ever since she left them. What was the point for her to work hard again?

“....”

She looked to the entrance, it was near now.

“Right...I need to tell that boy..that-” she failed and it cost them her parents lives. She did not want to say this. Not for the child but for herself. She failed and it cost lives and she had to say this, admit this to the world that she failed.

She did not want to do that. However she had to...it was her responsibility to do so. Therefore when she walked out of the cave, the appearance of that boy was not a happy thing for her to see. He was all dirtied and such from hiding for so long.

And filled with so much hope that it would pain her to break her.

“Sis! Where are my parents? Are you fine?” the boy asked with those innocent eyes that pained her heart even more.

She took a few deep breaths in and said, “They...died.”

“....”

The boy looking stunned simply stared at Lyndis. He had just lost his parents for a 'second' time. The first when he had to escape from the troll leaving his parents and the second was right now when Lyndis told him they were truly dead.

“Why?” The boy asked with tears finally flowing down his face. Lyndis would cry with him but all of her tears were gone already.

“WHY?!” The boy hit her dealing some slight damage. The level difference was too much to do any damage.

He hit Lyndis again shouting at her, “Why did you let them die?!”

He continued to hit her. His punches were extremely soft but hurt so much more than the troll itself.

Lyndis simply looked up in the sky....and said, “That troll was just...stronger than me...”

Finally after hitting her for a full minute, the boy lost his strength and fell onto the ground weeping. Regret, that was the thing that was stabbing her seeing this. Regret and hatred to herself on causing this.

“....”

With no words, she left the boy and headed further into the forest, to see if she could find something else, now that there was no meaning on her staying here.

She was alone.

And she was weak.

xXx

Shadow watched from the trees of Lyndis walking out and confronting that boy. Her forehead was wrapped with a bandage that was dyed red with her blood. Her hair was messy and the state of her body was bruised and injured.

He and the other two watched as the boy screamed and shouted at her and even attacked her before he started weeping and Lyndis leaving him.

“What do we do now?” wondered Serena, she had an unease look on her face.

“....”

Shadow got down from the tree and said, “Don't speak and don't follow” as he walked to the boy. He waited a while for the boy to stop wailing his voice out, something he found highly annoying in fact before the boy realised Shadow was there.

“W-Who are you?!” the boy screamed crawling back away from him. The boy didn't seem to trust anyone right now, maybe due to Lyndis' failure in that quest or maybe because he appeared out of nowhere to the boy like a ghost.

Shadow pointed at the cave and asked, “What's in there?” All he knew was that Lyndis went in fine, went out not fine and failed a quest judging from it.

“....”

However the boy did not speak. But eventually the boy asked, “Will you help me on something?”

Shadow did not nod and asked again, “What's in that cave?” while frowning. He did not like where this was going.

“I asked that person to save my parents from that troll. But she failed and my parents are dead. That person is a murderer. That person should die! Kill that person for me! You are an assassin right?!”

Take Revenge for the Boy

A child had come to you requesting you to take revenge for his parents after another person saw that they would save his parents from the troll and failed.

Quest Rank: D

Restrictions: Must kill the player that failed the original quest

Reward: Unknown

“....”

Shadow stared at this quest. The target in this case would be Lyndis right? However this quest must have be due to 1. Lyndis failing that quest and 2. Himself being an Assassin.

“So there's a troll in there that Lyndis couldn't beat...” Shadow wondered. She was someone able to solo a level 250 Boss Monster...how powerful must this troll be for her to be forced back?

“KILL HER! TAKE REVENGE FOR ME!” The boy shouted all of a sudden. He was latched onto Shadow’s side and would not let go. It seemed that he was quite stubborn.

However the bigger problem was he was trying to cause trouble with Lyndis...someone part of the group even if she thought she left. In his mind, the only way to leave this group was to leave the guild and that meant leaving the guild...and Eden would not let them go that easily.

Therefore someone causing trouble with Lyndis would cause trouble for the guild...

“I refuse this request” he answered.

You have denied this quest

The moment he did that, the boy's eyes flared with hatred towards him as well. Shadow could tell that this boy was about to cause tolerable for him as well. This one was nothing but a brat that had no power and could only beg.

It was better for everyone if this boy was dead though it didn't matter since he 'died' the moment Lyndis left without him-no, the moment his was forced to give a quest to Lyndis who was in no state to do anything right now.

“Backstab.”

His dagger went to the back of the boy and stabbed through, killing him in one shot.

Critical Hit!

You have killed an Innocent Person! Infamy increased by +100

“....”

He looked at where Serena and Raven were when they came out. Serena looking pale and panicking picked up the child and checked for signs of life.

“Don't bother, he's dead” said Shadow in a colder tone than he thought. Serena shot a glare at him before asking in a shout, “Why did you kill him?!”

“Would you rather have him hire people to kill Lyndis?” he asked back in return. This woman was truly a child thinking that there would be no repercussion for failing a quest. Naturally people who had lost people after some hope of recovery would want revenge on those who failed them.

A Hero that failed was no Hero in the eyes of the people but only when they succeed at everything.

“....”

“Don't glare at me like that, I'm an Assassin remember. I do kind of thing as my job.”

Serena let down the child and offered a small prayer to him and then asked, “So do we continue to follow Lyndis or take out that troll?”

“Take out that troll? You mean that one that caused Lyndis to even run away. Seeing her come out, I bet that hurt her pride a lot” said Shadow in a mocking tone though said, “She must be extremely hurt though...but getting near her again so soon would only make her push us away.”

Shadow looked at the cave and then said, “We have time to kill...I got a nifty item from Sain that allowed me to track down a target for a certain distance or general direction. It's only has a 10 Kilometre range though.”

“Isn't that a rare item?”

“Yeah...Sain made me do some really annoyingly difficult tasks for it though. Worth it since I can still track Lyndis with this.”

“Seems like a stalking tool...” said Serena with a frown. Shadow laughed and said, “It IS a stalking tool.”

With that, the three went into the cave where Lyndis failed to kill a troll. The first thing they all noticed was that this place was really dark. Only Shadow who had night vision skills could see at all and eventually he took out a torch and lit it up.

“Because not all of us are able to be a human torch” he said while handing it over to Serena to hold. He and Serena were the only ones to hold a torch since Raven needed to have both arms in case they needed to fight.

Plus Raven was sticking next to Serena while Shadow was at the front of the formation. This was mainly due to Shadow's own confidence that he could dodge whatever would come at them.

A few minutes in, they found part of the cave to be caved in. There were definitely marks of a battle all over the place.

“So Lyndis fought here...?” Shadow touched the side of the wall and muttered, “Seems to be still warm from her flames...”

“The troll seems to be stuck on the other side of the cave. I think we should leave” said Serena turning around to get out of the cave and to get back to following Lyndis.

“I don't think it is that easy” said Shadow to which Serena turned to see why he said those words. And then she saw it. A large hand was not completely covered in the debris of the cave in and furthermore it was twitching.

“It's alive?” said Serena in surprise, she took out her staff which made it harder for enemies to target her as Raven went to stand in front of her.

The hand moved and then a large body crashed up from the debris showing it's tall figure. It was 4 metres tall and had little burns here and there but otherwise was completely fine. It looked down on the three and then saw Serena...

“Female snack! Female snack!” It clapped it's hands happily seeing more food in front of it.

“Damn we just had to go in when it was about to wake up” Shadow cursed his luck and drew his weapons. Raven did the same though his main objective right now was defending Serena from the troll if it decided to try and snatch her.

“No need to hold back on something like this! Boost!” Shadow shouted attracting the attention of the troll.

Boost has been activated. All stats, effects and consumption will double

Effects of the 'Mark of the Reaper' is now active. 'Real Illusions' is now active.

His body flickered with shadows going in both directions as the troll attacked him. There was certainly a grin on his face as he saw the speed of the attack. All he could think of was slow...but he didn't even move to dodge it.

BANG!

The troll hit empty ground as Shadow switched places with one of his clones.

“Be careful!” Serena shouted, “This creature was strong enough to beat Lyndis! Boost!” She also activated 'Boost' and her 'Sage Mode' power that increased the strength of her body and nature based spells.

Likewise, Raven silently activated 'Boost' as well and that powerful 'Gravity Force' ability of his. The three started to battle against this troll that even Lyndis could not beat.

But...

“Take this!” Shadow threw the torch he had in hand at the troll and as expected, it moved to hit it away.

“Divine Shadow Art: Assassinate!”

Shadow's body moved quickly and as he passed the troll's body that seemed to have been frozen to him, he slashed at one of it's vitals.

You have dealt a fatal blow!

“Roooar!” The troll let out a scream of pain though Shadow knew that he barely touched this troll's vitals. It's muscles were simply too thick for him to get a proper hit in.

“Root Bind!” chanted Serena at the same moment, the troll's defences were down. Several vines sprang to life and charged at the troll and wrapped around it.

There, Raven started to charge at the troll head on with his halberd already in the position to strike and said, “Double Strike” attacking twice and causing two sharp cuts on the chest of the troll before retreating back with that attack.

But three seconds later, the wounds completely disappeared.

“Looks like it's true that a troll has an insane amount of regeneration” commented Shadow. He moved behind the troll since it foolishly decided not to pay attention to him and used “Backstab” to dig his short sword into the back of the troll.

STAB!

You have dealt a Critical Hit!

The troll let out that same reaction, that scream but this time at the moment Shadow's attack went in it, the troll suddenly leaped backwards towards a wall.

“Ah shit!” Shadow quickly moved to one of his other clones to avoid the damage.

BANG!

The troll slammed the wall with his back and the cave rumbled a bit. Shadow felt a sweat seeing the impact of that body slam. If he didn't move out of the way in time...would he have even survived?

“Powerful...” Serena realised this as well and said, “No wonder why Lyndis was forced back. This creature is not ordinary at all.”

“I'm guessing it's over level 250 and also a boss class monster as well. Considering Lyndis once soloed a level 250 boss monster....plus there's compatibility between her and this guy as well. I say that this guys is-wow!”

Shadow dodged using one of his clones again and teleported to it as the troll attacked him using a rising uppercut from that insane position.

Woose~

Next it turned it's body in mid air and did a descending drop kick down on Raven who blocked using his Tower Shield and his 'Gravity Force' as an outer layer as well.

BANG!

“-the worst thing for her to fight alone. Man that troll is rude” said Shadow continuing before he was cut off.

“Critical Eyes” muttered Shadow moving back into the shadows with his 'Dark Deception' skill that made it harder for him to be detected in the dark. In this cave, other than the light source with Serena, there was no light at all.

Meaning this troll probably had bad vision to begin with. But none of us had a way to use a sudden flash of light so that kind of thinking was useless. Shadow guessed they had to do this the old fashion way.

With his 'Critical Eyes' skill, he saw several weak spots on the troll. Unlike a certain panther, this creature did not look impossible to get a fatal wound or two in.

“Divine Shadow Art: Triple Slash!” said Shadow while moving in onto the troll while it was once again not paying attention to him. Man this stupid creature should really learn how to pay attention to people.

As such, he easily slashed at three different fatal points at once with ease. Even if the muscles are thick, when relaxed they aren't that much compared to normal fat.

You have deal a Critical Hit!

You have dealt a triple fatal blow!

A critical hit doubled damage and a fatal doubled it again plus reduces the ability of the enemy in a certain way. This time, Shadow hit the backs of both legs where it was weak as well the side of it as well.

This way, it's movements would be a bit slow-

BANG!

You took 924 damage!

“Wah?!”

Suddenly, Shadow was hit from an unknown direction. It didn't use any of it's arms or legs, heck none of it's limbs. So why the hell did it feel like he was punched by it?!

“Moderate Health Regeneration!” Serena chanted quickly seeing Shadow being hit.

Health will regenerate for 11000 Health over 100 Seconds

The first thing Shadow thought was that this skill combined with her Mastery was way overpowered. He believed that Sain said before that her spells were several times stronger due to both her magic mastery and nature magic mastery skill. This only made him realise how useful Serena was.

But...

“Isn't this a bit overkill?” he shouted at her.

Thus Serena shouted back ignoring Raven being crushed in front of her, “This is when you get hit again.”

Something spiked in Shadow at that moment. Did she mean that he would get hit due to his lack of skill? Impossible, it was an attack that even he could not predict that hit him...else his eyes might have wavered a bit for a moment.

“Let's finish this guy off in one go!” Shadow suddenly decided and shouted as he prepared to use 'that' skill.

Raven used his 'Gravity Force' to knock the troll off it's feet literally and flipped it off the ground. There, Shadow found the chance to attack.

“Divine Shadow Art: Final Assassination!” Shadow teleported at the perfect position and at the perfect place to attack. Namely the largest weak spot of the troll. The eyes.

STAB!

You have dealt a Critical Hit!

You have dealt a Fatal Blow!

A 4 times increased in damage from these two effects of his attack plus the 5 times increased in damage from the skill itself combining to a total of 9 times more damage than normal. It was certainly a frightening move to be hit with all of a sudden.

But at the same time, his health decreased to 1 which at the same time increased bit by bit due to Serena's regeneration spell, mana went to zero as well as stamina.

“Finish it off!” shouted Shadow while falling to the ground like that.

Serena already started chanting that spell when Shadow shouted he was going to finish this and chanted, “Blood Burst!”

A red orb shot out and hit the troll at several places before...

BANG!

Burst into pieces with blood going everywhere, the troll was extremely injured with no way to block the spell. Even if it was made of mainly muscle, it still had lots of blood in it's body which meant this was a deadly skill to it or any living and large creature.

With Serena chanting to use a Stamina Regenerative spell on Shadow, the three took their time to finish off the troll that could no longer move or fight.

And when he dealt the final blow...

You have killed an unusual and rare Shadow Arm Troll

“Hmm?” Shadow looked at this message and sighed, “This wasn't even a Boss...but was so strong at the same time.”

Serena inspected the troll corpse and said, “This troll seemed to be able to use Shadow Magic to make an extra arm to attack...”

“Seems useful” commented Shadow thinking of having an extra arm to suddenly attack while moving, “But for Lyndis to lose to this thing...from it's reaction to the battle it may be only about level 250.”

“Hey it took the three of us to kill it and we almost died several times in the process!” snapped Serena back at him for insulting Lyndis.

“You mean who me and Raven almost died several times. Raven like a good boy always guarded you” said Shadow that made Serena growl at him.

The three collected the loot they got which wasn't much and went out of the cave to chase after Lyndis again.

xXx

At the same time...

“Tree...more trees....” sighed Lyndis wobbling a bit as she walked. With her fight and running away, her stamina was quite low already and her health was still at a low level.

She needed to eat but her food supplies was quite low to begin with. There was only enough food for her to last another small meal. At this rate she would starve to death if she didn't find a food source.

But then she saw a rabbit...But it was large...taller than her at least. A giant rabbit and...

“Purple?”

Onwards?PreviousExitNext

Author's Notes:

- Word Count: 8300~

- First chapter done...at last...finally...

- Also, Uni is coming really soon for me...therefore my writing speed will decrease at certain times. Well it shouldn't drop too much.