It took Torwin roughly two minutes from when he heard the first explosion to when he got a visual on Velik and the three Slokarans he was fighting. It only took a moment to assess the problem: the archer. The man was picking his shots carefully, each one infused with magic that made them too deadly to ignore. The swordsman and spearman were trading off, keeping Velik busy while leaving a clear avenue for the archer to harass him.

It was obvious that the three men were experienced even without [Identify], though Torwin used the skill as a matter of course to confirm their levels in the low to mid 40s and their classes—[Indomitable Spear], [Arcane Surge Archer], [Moon Whisper Traveler]. Those were all rare, at least. The archer and swordsman might even be epic, though Torwin wasn’t confident enough to bet any real money on it.

It was almost unthinkable that such a strong force would be here by coincidence, but Torwin couldn’t see an immediate reason for it. If he had to bet, the trio were probably bounty hunters, and they weren’t looking for him and Velik specifically, but rather following some skill similar to Jensen’s [Treasure Hunter] that led them to high-value targets.

Considering how well they worked together against a human opponent, they obviously had a lot of practice. The theory fit enough of the pieces that Torwin was willing to accept it for the moment and turn his attention to more important matters. He wanted to say he was saving Velik’s life, and maybe that was true, but the way things were going, he was probably just speeding up the inevitable victory.

The easiest way to end this fight was to disrupt the enemy team’s rhythm. They were obviously used to playing off each other to overwhelm a single opponent, and Velik was seeing the most success in counter attacking whenever he managed to toss someone far enough away to give him a few seconds to focus on fighting just one person. He’d be doing even better if not for the archer.

Let’s fix that, shall we?

His bracer generated the first arrow, and he drew the next two from his quiver. Each one was imbued with [Shred], not to mention being guided by a constellation of a dozen skills distilled down into [Ranger’s Lore] that helped him adjust for distance, wind speed, coverage, and predict how the target might try to dodge.

The first arrow lodged itself in the Slokaran’s collarbone before triggering its payload and ripping the man’s shoulder apart. The second and third arrows finished off the job, both sinking into the man’s chest. He was blown off his feet and slammed into a bush behind him. A cloud of meat and bloody scraps drifted down to the ground leading back to his body.

[You have helped slay a human arcane surge archer (level 42).]

[You have been awarded 1 decarma.]

Torwin saw the [Moon Whisper Traveler]

twirl in place, his single sword flashing through the air in repeated slashes. Mana popped out of the blade with each pass, a concentrated frenzy of power directed at Torwin with no thought given to the cost.

The entire attack was easily defeated by stepping around the other side of the tree. It covered him, taking a few hits that left deep scars in the woods, but it was too old and too thick to be so casually destroyed. Even if the mana slashes had been strong enough, Torwin was already around the other side with another arrow ready to fire before they hit.

The swordsman was gone, hidden beneath the cloak of some sort of skill, and Velik was too busy clashing with the last man, the [Indomitable Spear] to assist. Fine, if you want to have a proper hunter’s duel, we can do that, too.

Torwin took to the trees and pulled on [Ranger’s Lore] to protect him from prying eyes.

* * *

The spearman seemed to have stolen Velik’s strategy now that the archer was laying sprawled out in a bush with a quarter of his body sprayed out across the forest floor. He was all aggression, perfectly willing to take two or three hits as long as he got one of his own in. The wounds weren’t healing, either, but some skill kept the man on his feet.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

That might have been a problem, except that the third member of their group had disappeared. Velik was wary of ambush, but he was pretty sure that guy was busy with Torwin. He didn’t let himself focus exclusively on the man in front of him, but the longer the fight went without interference, the more obvious the inevitable outcome became.

The spearman was good; there was no doubt about that. Despite being grievously wounded, he was still standing firm. His attacks came without faltering, and when he couldn’t deflect or dodge an attack, he took the hits needed. Three times, he’d tagged Velik with those weighted collars, but Velik had figured out exactly what fluctuations in the man’s mana preceded that attack now.

[Judgment of Penance] was the skill that was going to win the fight for Velik. With every strike, he felt himself speeding up and saw the spearman slow just a little bit more. The skill’s special ability hadn’t triggered, but it honestly wasn’t going to matter. Velik had taken some hits, but they were minor and his Life Giver’s Ring was hard at work healing those injuries.

His spear spun in a blur, the butt end swinging up to smack against an overhead strike the spearman was leaning into. Unlike Velik’s weapon, the hunter’s spear couldn’t shift its shape. That made the angles of attack a lot more predictable, and his spear’s tip wasn’t designed for slashing. He was only attacking this way as a feint to pull Velik’s guard up so he could form another of those magic spears that morphed into weighted collars.

Velik parried the ineffectual swing, then pushed left. The magic flashed into existence, coalescing over the span of half a second but not becoming visible to his normal sight until it was fully formed and driving at his stomach. Without [Mana Sight], he’d have been relying on pure reflexes to dodge the attack. With his new skill, it was simplicity itself to step out of the line of fire before the skill even finished triggering.

Velik whirled, finishing the parrying movement and bringing the sharp end back up. The spearman had left himself completely open, trusting in his skill to land and slow Velik down long enough to let him retreat and set his defenses. Instead, Velik put his spear through the man’s throat. The tip ripped out through the back of the hunter’s neck, taking a chunk of spine with it.

[You have helped slay a human indomitable spear (level 44).]

[You have been awarded 2 decarmas.]

‘Helped?’ I’m pretty sure this one was all me. Torwin’s not even here anymore, though I guess he did kill the archer and draw that other guy off. Where are those two at, anyway?

A second later, another notification popped up.

[You have helped slay a human moon whisper traveler (level 43).]

[You have advanced to level 50. +2 Physical, +1 Mental, +2 free points.]

[You have unlocked a new class skill slot.]

Oh. Guess I don’t need to worry about that one either.

Velik let out a great sigh and grimaced as he reclaimed his throwing knives. A few of them were looking pretty rough, either not enchanted with [Mending] or not drawing in the magic needed to activate the enchantment. At the rate he was going, they’d need to be taken in for repairs. Three of them still looked pristine, so there was that, at least.

He returned the last one to its bandoleer and leaned over the spearman to relieve him of his valuables. The man’s weapon was obviously magical, and thanks to [Mana Sight], Velik was able to easily spot a few other trinkets. A ring on one hand was enchanted, as well some sort of medal pinned to the corpse’s shirt. It was covered with a black crust of burnt blood, but still glowed to Velik’s sight.

The boots were enchanted, as was the man’s belt. Without a specialist with access to something like [Appraise], it was impossible to tell what it all did, but Velik doubted any of it would be a serious upgrade over his current gear. Every single thing he was wearing was rated at epic, at least.

Maybe the belt, if it doesn’t interfere with my shirt and pants.

Enchantments couldn’t overlap too much without bleeding into each other, or at least that was what Velik had been told. That was why he didn’t have enchanted gloves on top of enchanted rings or bracers wrapped in bracelets and bangles. Even having a cloak and a pendant at the same time was pushing things, which was why his Invoker’s Pendant only had a single enchantment on it.

Velik pulled the magic gear off the body and stowed it all away in his spatial storage. They could figure out what was what later. A pouch was tied to the belt, which he was going to leave behind at first—it wasn’t like a few coins made much of a difference—but then he heard something clink in there.

That’s not metal.

Velik uncinched the pouch and peered inside. There, sitting on a nest of silver and gold, was an oblong alabaster white seed. Only the faintest wisp of magic drifted around it, just enough to hide how magic it actually was, something Velik hadn’t even realized it could do.

We never would have found this, which begs the question, how did you?

He glanced down at the corpse again and frowned. Closing and cinching the bag, he tossed it to the ground behind him. Then he took up his spear, flipped it so that the point was facing down, and positioned it over the body’s stomach.

The spear tore through dead flesh. In the same instant, the bloody red slime form of an agent of corruption leaped out of the body.