Chapter 118: A Deadly Mission
Three figures advanced across the ground with deliberate, lethal intent. In the center walked the dark-skinned woman with a black sword drawn at her side, flanked by the man gripping a heavy black bow and the younger woman armed with a pair of black daggers.
"They found us," Rebecca muttered, taking a nervous step back into the dirt.
Tyler released his hold on the captured arrow, letting the wooden shaft drop to the earth.
Glowing translucent system panels materialized instantly in the air above the approaching trio. Above Naomi's head, the glowing text burned bright:
[HUMAN LEVEL: 100]
Tyler’s posture stiffened. A violent jolt hammered against the inside of his ribs as his eyes registered the triple-digit rank.
His gaze darted to the other two. Floating above Ben hung the indicator [HUMAN LEVEL: 88], while Lucy bore the marker [HUMAN LEVEL: 85].
*The levels are pretty high,* Tyler thought, feeling every muscle in his frame lock with rigid tension. *They're B-rank. And that one is an A-rank. She's the deadliest among all of them.*
"What the hell did you drag me into?" Tyler muttered under his breath, stepping back until his shoulder aligned with Rebecca's.
"It's not my fault. You got yourself in this mess when you decided to attack the vice captain's son," Rebecca said.
Tyler snapped a sharp glare toward her face. "He was the vice captain's son?"
The air detonated. Naomi surged forward in a blur of motion, the earth cracking beneath her boots as a concussive shockwave ripped through the dirt. Her black blade cleaved the air in a vicious, horizontal arc to the right.
Tyler drew in a sharp breath, channeling the entirety of his energy through his limbs in a split second. His hand clamped onto Rebecca's shoulder, shoving her with explosive force. The momentum launched Rebecca sideways, sending her body flying over ten meters through the air to clear the kill zone.
Tyler dropped his weight, arching his spine backward until his torso hung parallel to the earth. The black steel swept across the space, passing a fraction of an inch above his skin.
Rebecca crashed into the dirt, tumbling across the terrain before catching her balance in a low, defensive crouch.
Tyler sprang backward onto his feet. The edge of the blade had grazed the surface of his throat, leaving behind a sharp, burning line. He pressed his fingers against his neck, pulling them away to find a thin streak of crimson on his fingertips.
Naomi's eyes widened slightly. A flicker of genuine impression settled across her stern features.
*He dodged my attack,* Naomi thought.
"You must be an A-rank," she said aloud.
Tyler parted his lips to answer, but a new system alert flashed directly across his field of view:
[LEVEL 85 HUMAN ACTIVATED SKILL: TRANSLUCENT VISION]
Across the clearing, Lucy tilted her head. A vibrant green glow illuminated her irises as she scanned him from head to toe.
"Funny," Lucy said, her lips curving into a smirk. "His badge says it's a C-rank."
*How can she tell?* Tyler thought.
A sudden realization struck his mind. *Wait. Can she see... through my clothing?*
His pulse surged violently into his throat. A deep crimson flush spread hot across his cheeks, igniting a volatile mix of raw embarrassment and fury behind his eyes.
Ben took a heavy step forward, his face twisted into a mask of pure, murderous rage as he locked his glare onto Rebecca's crouching figure.
"She's the one," Ben snarled, raising his bow. "She's the one who killed Gene."
"Yeah, I can feel it," Lucy said, closing the distance to Ben's flank as her glowing eyes settled on Rebecca.
Lucy's gaze fixed onto the metal pendant resting against Rebecca's chest, taking note of the engraved letter C. A look of sharp curiosity crossed Lucy's brow.
*Is she also a false ranker?* Lucy thought.
The memory of Catherine's earlier words returned to her. *If she's not, maybe her ally weakened him first.*
Rebecca’s pulse slammed behind her ribs, each beat a hot pressure in her chest. Her hands trembled as she pushed herself upright from the ground. *He saved me again. If he hadn’t intervened, I would have died twice by now.* Her brow furrowed, the skin between her eyebrows pinching tight. She stood slowly and fixed her gaze on Ben’s bow.
*Is that supposed to be a bow?* Ben looked at the warped curve of Rebecca’s bow. *So she’s also an archer class. She doesn’t even have a quiver on her. She’s completely defenceless.*
“Why did you suddenly attack me? I have nothing to do with you people!” Tyler said, his voice sharp and edged with anger.
“Nothing to do with us?” Lucy stared at him, her head tilting slightly.
Ben’s knuckles whitened around the grip of his bow. “You killed Gene!” His voice dropped low and hard. “And I’m going to make sure you suffer for it.”
Flame swallowed the tip of Ben’s arrow, throwing orange light across his hand and the curve of the bow. Rebecca’s breath caught. She already knew the kind of skill Ben had activated. A system panel blinked into existence in front of Tyler:
[LEVEL 89 HUMAN ACTIVATED: EXPLOSIVE ARROW.]
Rebecca stepped back, her weight sinking into a faint crouch, her thighs tensing as she readied herself to dodge the projectile. *Fuck... I don’t have a bow or any arrows. I’m completely defenseless. Judging by the intensity of that skill he might be a B-rank. I’m not even sure if I can dodge this.*
“Don’t kill the girl,” Naomi said, pointing at Ben with her sword. “The captain said we should take her. Let’s kill him instead.” Light slid along the blade as she angled it toward Tyler.
“What?” Tyler breathed, taking a step backward.
Tyler felt the pressure of her gaze before anything else. Naomi's grip tightened around the hilt, and her eyes pinned him in place, unblinking. The flat certainty in her posture made his breath catch.
The system panel vanished, replaced by another in large, bold letters:
[WARNING, THE USER HAS GONE FOR A MAXIMUM OF OVER 42 HOURS WITHOUT INCREASING THEIR LEVEL. A NEW MISSION HAS BEEN CREATED.]
Tyler’s chest tightened as the key details appeared in red.
[ELIMINATE ALL THREATS LINKED TO THE KINDRED FLAME. REWARD. DIFFICULTY HIGH]
[REWARD: LEGENDARY ACCESSORY RECIPE. FAILURE: THE SYSTEM WILL MOVE ON TO CHOOSE ITS TARGETED HOST.]
*What the hell? It wants me to kill these people.*
“Enough talk. Let’s get this over with,” Lucy said, walking toward Naomi.
The system panel disappeared. Tyler took a few steps back. His eyes jumped from the empty air where the panel had been to Lucy, then to Naomi. Another panel flickered into view:
[A POSSIBLE HOST FOR THE SYSTEM HAS BEEN DETECTED IN THE AREA.]
At the edge of Tyler’s vision, a small panel hovered just above Rebecca’s head. White digital text floated written.
[POSSIBLE HOST 68%]
*There's no way. She's the possible host?*
"Make sure she doesn't escape," Naomi said. She shot forward, her boots pounding the ground as she closed on Tyler. He turned his head to meet her, and the Terra Dagger materialized in his hand, its weight appearing as if it had always belonged there. The guild members startled at its sudden presence.
Naomi's sword came down in a hard arc, and Tyler caught the blade against the dagger. Sparks scattered, bright and brief, across the space between them.
The collision sent a tremor through Tyler's forearm. He felt Naomi's surprise in the way her blade hesitated against his, but she saw the strain in him too. He took a step back, and before he could pull in a breath, she swung again. Tyler struck the side of her blade with everything he had, and the force knocked Naomi off balance. Her body tilted. He surged toward the opening, but her boot slammed into his abdomen before he reached her.
The kick threw him backward. He coughed hard, landed on both feet, and skidded across the ground, dust scraping beneath his heels. At his side, Lucy broke toward Rebecca, her blade already sweeping. The edge flashed toward Rebecca's face. She activated Archer's Flight and slipped sideways, the air brushing past her cheek. "Not bad," Lucy said, a smile touching her lips.
Rebecca stepped back, but Lucy dropped into a crouch and swept her leg across the ground. Rebecca jumped to clear it. Lucy's hand hit the earth and launched her upward, her body twisting into a spinning kick. Her boot caught Rebecca in the stomach while she was still midair.
Rebecca coughed, her eyes bulging as the breath left her. She fell and tumbled across the ground, and in the same instant, Ben fired. The arrow struck her leg, the shaft buried deep. Rebecca screamed and grabbed at her leg, her fingers curling around the wound as her body curled in on itself.
"Oh no," Tyler said, the words tight in his throat as he saw Rebecca go down.
At the edge of his vision, a blade dropped from above. He threw himself sideways, boots scraping against the ground as Naomi's sword cleaved the air where he had stood.
"You look away while fighting me?" Naomi spat, already charging toward him again.
A system panel surfaced in his vision:
[LEVEL 100 HUMAN HAS ACTIVATED SKILL: STEP]
In that instant, Naomi became a blur. Her sword thrust toward him, and Tyler's body reacted before thought. He activated the Coat's Rush and barely slipped aside. The blade pierced through the side of his tunic and emerged on the other side of the coat. He caught her hands before she could draw back, but in the same breath, Naomi bent forward beside him. Her right leg swept behind her and rose, and her heel slammed into his face as she wrenched him closer.
Tyler stumbled back, his head ringing. Naomi's eyes narrowed. Her gaze dragged over him, then to the space between them. She saw it then, the way he braced, the way he never stepped forward. He was holding back. He hadn't attacked once.
"You could have killed her!" Lucy yelled at Ben.
"Shut up. I'm stopping her from escaping." Ben's gaze snapped toward Rebecca, and his eyebrows lifted.
Rebecca pulled the arrow from her leg with a trembling hand. Blood slid down the shaft and dripped from the tip. Slowly, she stood on her right leg. Her left leg, still bleeding, touched the ground only with the tip of her boot.
"Wow, she can still stand?" Lucy said, the wonder clear in her voice.
Pain pulsed through Rebecca's leg. She clenched her teeth against it. Her mind pulled her back to Gene. She remembered the arrow she had used on him, how it had detonated, and the overwhelming pain when her palm had blown apart. The thought of using the skill again sent a chill down her spine.
She looked to her side. Tyler parried Naomi's strikes, each block shoving him farther back. He looked overwhelmed. Still, Rebecca couldn't believe he was keeping up with an A-rank assassin.
Naomi's rage sharpened. Tyler kept giving ground, defending, never pressing forward. She activated her skill, Assassin's Footwork. Mid-motion, as her dagger swung, her legs shifted. Her feet glided over the ground, never lifting, as if the earth itself carried her.
The erratic movement caught Tyler off guard. Her blade cut across his chest. He groaned, teeth clenching.
"Take this seriously," she said.
Her attacks grew more unpredictable. A blow sliced across his waist. Then her blade came down across his shoulder, finding the open cut she had made earlier and biting deeper. Tyler's eyes flew wide as the pain seared through him. He threw himself backward, his breath ripping from his chest.
*Shit, he can't keep up,* Rebecca thought, watching him.
But when she turned back toward her own fight, Lucy's fist connected with her cheek. The impact lifted her off her feet. In the air, Rebecca swung the arrow. Its point grazed Lucy's hand. She activated her skill and released the arrow immediately, just inches from Lucy's palm.
"Watch out!" Ben screamed, sensing the skill.
The arrow detonated.
The blast hurled Lucy backward. Rebecca hit the ground hard, and a scream tore from her as the shock traveled through her wounded leg. Skin peeled away from her palm, raw and wet. Lucy caught her balance, her chest heaving. The armor on her forearm had been torn away, leaving the skin beneath red and slightly burnt.
Tyler froze as the explosion bloomed and Rebecca hit the ground. The chaos of the last moments pressed in on him. He didn't want to kill these people. The one he had already killed had left a guilt that still sat heavy in his chest, cold and unrelenting. But now the choice narrowed, it was his life or theirs.
"Damn it," he muttered.
He activated his own rush skill, stacking it on top of Coat's Rush. His eyes blazed an intense blue as he exploded forward, the air snapping around him. Naomi, already mid-charge, had only a split second of surprise before he was on her. She swung her sword wide, but Tyler parried with a force that sent the impact ringing up her arm.
Her hand rebounded as if the blade had struck stone. Before she could reset her stance, he drove his fist into her gut.
The punch forced the breath from her lungs in a harsh cough. The impact lifted her off her feet and hurled her backward through the air. She landed on both feet, skidding across the floor, her boots scraping against the ground. Her balance wavered as she came to a stop, and she nearly pitched forward before catching herself with a step.
Ben and Lucy were left stunned. Tyler turned to face them, his gaze filled with determination and pure malice.