On a dusty, sun bleached road far from any settlement, five thugs stood over a tied up man, taking turns beating him mercilessly. The victim choked out blood onto the dirt, his body trembling from broken ribs.
"Kekeke! Trying to act like a hero, huh?" one bandit jeered, driving a vicious punch straight into the man’s guts. "You should’ve seen what we did to her, kekeke!"
The beaten man glared up at them through swollen, bloodshot eyes, his voice trembling with unyielding fury. "I’ll kill you all... if it’s the last thing I’ll do!"
The thugs exchanged glances and burst into mocking laughter. "Look at this guy! He still doesn’t understand what situation he’s in."
Stepping forward, one bandit drove a dagger deep into the man’s thigh. A piercing, agonizing screech tore from the victim’s throat before a heavy boot crashed into his mouth, snapping his head back and rendering him unconscious. But they refused to let him escape the pain. One bandit channeled a crackling spark of lightning magic, shocking him back to consciousness. "You ain’t dying that easy, dude."
The leader smirked, gesturing to his companions. "Go bring her. Let’s play with her while he watches his loved one get violated."
"Don’t you dare!" the man croaked desperately before another blow silenced him.
Moments later, a frail looking woman was dragged out by her hair. She sobbed uncontrollably the moment she saw the bloodied state of her partner. "I’m sorry, Max! If I didn’t suggest we leave for the capital, maybe we wouldn’t be in this situation..."
A brutal slap echoed across her face, cutting off her cries. "Shut up, bitch."
The bandit standing over her laughed greedily, ripping at her travelling clothes to expose her undergarments as she struggled in terror. Max screamed for them to stop, crying that he would give them anything, but his pleas were met only with cruel laughter. Realizing she was about to lose everything to the thugs, a desperate resolve flickered in the woman’s eyes. She looked down at Max with tears streaming down her face.
’I hope you will forgive me... I know we promised, but if it isn’t you, then...’
Before she could bite down on her tongue to end her life, a whistling blur tore through the air.
’Thwack.’
The head of the bandit hovering above her suddenly detached from his shoulders, spinning into the air as a massive geyser of blood splattered across the dusty road. The woman blinked in sheer disbelief, her mind stalling. Before she could process the gore, the bandit beside him was decapitated in a single, silent sweep, and a third erupted into sudden, suffocating flames, screaming as he burned to ash.
The remaining two thugs panicked, drawing their weapons and spinning frantically. "Who’s there?! Show yourself!"
Before they could take another step, an invisible, crushing pressure seized their limbs. They froze mid motion, entirely paralyzed. A heartbeat later, twin flashes of silver sliced through the air, and their heads tumbled into the dirt.
Max stared blankly at the carnage, his mind reeling. What is going on? What killed them?
Before he could ponder further, a small, child like shadow stepped out from the tree line. ’Did he save us, or what is his goal?’
The shadow stepped forward, slicing Max’s bonds, producing a glowing restorative potion, and pouring it over his battered body, sealing his wounds in seconds. "Hide for now," the small figure instructed quietly.
Max stammered out his gratitude, rushing over to embrace his tearful partner in a deeply emotional reunion. When they turned back to thank their savior, the child like silhouette had already vanished.
...
Given dark cloaks and concealing masks to mask our identities upon crossing the threshold, the spatial portal deposited each of us into separate sectors of the syndicate’s expansive criminal base.
I materialized in the eastern sector. As I stood still for a moment to take in my surroundings, sharp, distressed screams echoed from a nearby alleyway. Moving instinctively, I slipped into the shadows and crept toward the noise.
Through the gap between two stone shacks, I saw a woman’s clothes being ripped apart while a bloodied man remained bound on the ground. This chapter was taken from novelping dot com without permission.
’They really are scum’, I thought coldly.
Activating Stealth, my presence plummeted to zero. I glided forward like a ghost, materializing right behind the bandit towering over the woman. A single clean stroke severed his neck. ’One down.’
I flicked my blade toward the second, decapitating him before he could turn, and casually unleashed a burst of Fire Mastery to incinerate the third. As the remaining two bandits panicked, spinning wildly into each other, I channeled my Basilisk core, releasing a wave of concentrated cold pressure that locked their muscles solid. Seconds later, their heads rolled into the dirt.
Stepping past the corpses, I slashed Max’s bonds, pulled a spare restorative potion from my belt, poured it over his wounds, and told him to hide. The man rushed to his partner, exchanging a quiet, tearful moment before looking up to thank me. I nodded sharply and vanished onto the rooftops.
My mission was to clear out the eastern sector while making my way toward the center. Ansel was assigned to the northern sector, Sitri to the western sector, and the senior guide alongside Aria to the south.
I leapt across the slate rooftops, dropping down to eliminate every syndicate scout and guard in my path. None of them offered the slightest challenge. As I neared the boundary of the western gate, I heard the heavy sounds of a chaotic battle echoing up the street.
That’s Sitri’s sector, I thought, pausing on a high ledge. Guess she doesn’t use stealth like me and has to attack head on.
Curious to evaluate her combat pacing, I followed the noise, cutting down any fleeing bandits along the way with such brutal, silent efficiency that any surviving witness would have thought a predatory beast had descended upon them.
Arriving at the western clearing, I found Sitri cornered by three armed thugs.
"Kekeke! We’ll kill you, but first, we’ll play with you," one bandit sneered, licking the edge of his blood stained blade.
Sitri glared at them with undisguised revulsion. "Scum."
The bandits unleashed a barrage of earth spikes and searing fireballs. From my vantage point on a nearby roof, I watched quietly to see how she would manage. True to her rank, she exploited their footing, trapping them in thick glacial sheets before shattering their defenses one by one.
As she finished off the last opponent and pressed onward toward the center, I trailed behind her in Stealth, clearing out any remaining stragglers.
Moments later, I arrived at the central plaza. The senior guide and Ansel were locked in fierce combat against the syndicate boss, a massive, hulking brute who looked less like a human and more like a rampaging barbarian.
The senior moved with lethal grace, weaving sword strikes together with precise Gravity Manipulation fields, while Ansel flashed around him like a streak of golden light. Yet, despite their combined assault, the towering boss was laughing boisterously, deflecting their blows with casual arrogance.
"How long has it been since I had this much fun?!" the boss roared, swinging a massive iron club that sent Ansel skidding backward.
Aria stood safely in the rear, maintaining a constant flow of golden support shielding, while Sitri arrived just then, slamming her hands into the ground to encase the boss’s ankles in thick ice.
"Oh? Another rat?" the boss grinned, shattering the ice with a flex of his massive legs.
Perched invisibly on a high stone archway overlooking the plaza, I analyzed the unfolding exchange. ’They’re struggling because he’s toying with them. If he’s a true Tier 3 combatant, he’s fully capable of utilizing Spirit Manifestation, and they have no idea what that entails. The only way to end this without unnecessary casualties is to sneak up behind him and deliver a fatal strike straight through his heart.’
I dropped silently from the archway, carefully timing my movement to mask my footsteps beneath the concussive shockwaves of their ongoing battle.
’’Show me more... hahahaaaaaa!’’ the boss bellowed, swinging his club at the senior.
I materialized directly behind the hulking brute. Channeling every ounce of my spiritual energy into the edge of my blade, I coated the steel in a dense, shimmering layer of condensed mana. I hope this works.
With a sharp thrust, I drove the blade straight through his back, aiming directly for his heart.
The moment the steel pierced his core, a localized wave of Basilisk frost locked his nervous system, freezing him in place mid swing.
Ansel’s eyes widened. Recognizing the opening, he channeled pure light manipulation along his rapier and lunged forward to cleave straight through the boss’s neck.
The blade sparked off the brute’s hardened skin. Roaring with sudden fury, the boss violently shook off the paralysis, throwing a massive backhand punch that sent Ansel crashing across the plaza.
The boss laughed darkly, coughing up a small splatter of blood. "Heh... there was still another rat.’’... ’Crap... if he uses spirit manifestation right now, we are doomed,’ I thought, instantly shifting my footing.
Recognizing the danger, the senior guide threw out both hands, invoking a crushing wave of gravity that forced the giant back onto his knees. Sitri slammed her gauntlets down, flash freezing his upper torso in thick blue ice, while I channeled a roaring surge of Fire Mastery directly into the frozen shell to amplify the thermal shock.
Seizing the opening a second time, Ansel lunged forward with a piercing cry, his light infused blade slicing cleanly across the brute’s neck.
Thump.
The massive head separated from the shoulders, tumbling into the dust as the headless body crashed heavily to the stone floor.
Silence descended over the plaza as the four of us stood panting, chest heaving from the exertion.
Ansel wiped blood from his cheek, turning his gaze toward me. "Took you long enough, Ares."
I looked back at him, spattered with light dust and soot. "I was busy."
Ansel barked out a breathless laugh. The senior guide walked over, offering a nod of deep approval. "Good work, everyone. Especially you, Ares. I didn’t know you had a stealth based ability."
I shook my head dismissively. "It’s just a sub element. Not worth mentioning."
"Well, it saved our skins," the senior admitted grimly, wiping his blade. "And frankly, the opponent was arrogant and overly confident in his durability. If he had gone all out from the start..."
Ansel interrupted, raising an eyebrow. "Wait, didn’t you say earlier that our squad could handle this? One or all of us could have died if Ares hadn’t intervened."
The senior winced, rubbing the back of his neck. "We calculated based on intelligence reports that exaggerated his status, but I didn’t expect his actual tier adaptation to be that refined. My apologies, it’s my fault. Regardless, you all pass."
Before anyone else could speak, a hooded faculty proctor stepped out from the shadows of the plaza.
"Good job, kids," the instructor droned, holding a sack filled with looted artifacts and core materials, implying he had spent the entire fight collecting spoils from the syndicate vault. "If you’re done catching your breath, we’re heading out."
We all nodded tiredly, and the instructor ripped open a spatial portal, leading us back toward the academy.
...
Far away, in a hidden alleyway in the capital, two figures clung tightly to each other as the distant sounds of screams and chaos finally faded into absolute silence.
"Is... is it over?" the woman whispered, trembling.
Max held her close, staring out into the empty street. "I don’t know. Let me go check it out."
"No, don’t go! What if they capture us again?"
"You’re right..." Max murmured, his mind drifting back to the terrifying, child like savior who had vanished into the shadows. ’Who could our savior have been? He looked like a child... but he was terrifying.’ "Let’s just wait here."