Left of the Fork

I had learned from Jahk that the other 10 men that made up their "Mercenary Guild" had gone to the left path at the entrance. The boss had been confident that the dwarf had gone to the left but had sent Jahk and the other men to double-check the right path.

To get back to the spilt, I decided to try to use Shadow Walk. I wanted to test and see what its limits were in terms of distance and mana consumption. I discovered I could travel to shadows up to 400m away, but the farther I travelled, the exponentially more mana each jump consumed. It took me about half of my total mana capacity to make my way back to the entranceway.

The right pathway had been lit by bioluminescent moss that had been cultivated in chiselled alcoves, so I had not needed to concern myself with lighting to be able to see. The left path, however, was pitch black. All I could make out from the fork was that the pathway was a smaller path, hewn directly from the stone without any of the architectural garnishes that lined the pathway I returned from.

Shadow Walk had the ancillary ability to allow me to see in low-light conditions. However, it looked like there was no form of natural light. Rather than fumble with a torch, a bit of light magic allowed the large jewels on my gauntlets to solve the issue. The gems glowed a dull bluish-white with the energy coursing through them, providing enough light for my low-light vision to allow me to see my surroundings as simply as if it were midday.

The pathway was what seemed to be an excavated shaft meant for some form of mining. Every 30m (100'), the sloped cave floor would flatten for a few metres before continuing in another slope. Some of these "landings" would have an alcove chiselled into the one wall with what looked to be a stone picnic bench.

After passing 40 or so of the landings, I came across the first sign of people being ahead of me. A couple burnt-out improvised torches sat on the table. Touching the torch, it was cool to the touch. I had figured it would be, as the mercs had a ten-hour head start by this time. I suddenly felt a sinking sensation in my stomach. I decided to trust my stomach as I picked up the pace and broke out into a run. Feeling it still wasn't fast enough, I grabbed two wooden planks from my storage and some leather straps. Continuing to run, I used some iron fasteners to mount the leather straps to the wooden planks before using some wind magic to shape the wood into smooth skis.

Slipping on the skis, I felt a sense of nostalgia for my childhood on the wintery slopes with my friends. I went to the edge of the next slope and bending into a downhill racer's squat, I positioned my hands to shine the light of the jewels forward and the palms of my gauntlets backwards. I then projected wind magic from my hands to propel myself forward. I kept gaining speed until the point that I was hurtling down the slope at over 100 kilometres per hour. (60mph)

Thanks to my Hardened Skin, I was able to keep my eyes open as its protection covered even my eyes. Thus preventing my eyes from being irritated by the wind or damaged by any possible dust or rocks that might get kicked up via the high-speed method of transit I was using.

I kept my minimap overlay transparent and in my field of vision as I precariously descended. The bottom of the slope opened into a cave system. I got a 200m (665') heads up thanks to my minimap range. I prepared myself as I saw a red dot just inside the exit from the slope. As I reached the bottom and slowed myself slightly with some wind magic, I jumped and stored the skis from my feet. Now hurtling through the air at over 60kph, I tucked my body into a midair somersault to get my feet pointing forwards to deliver a flying jump kick to the back of the bandit who was unfortunate to be in my way.

As my feet connected with the mail covering his lower back, I used several consecutive blasts of wind to complete a 270-degree backspin before landing on my feet in a readied combat stance. Though my strike had no follow-through, the sheer kinetic force of my strike with my fully armoured weight behind it wreaked devastating havoc on the man's body. A dry snap resounded through the cavern as his spine gave way under the sudden force. The snap was quickly followed by a dull moist thump as his body completed its fifteen-metre arc into a nearby wall. The man's status changed from injured to deceased in a few seconds; a suitable punishment for a man with so many heinous crimes to his name.

In the few seconds it took for his body to complete its flight, I analyzed the composition and capabilities of my enemies. Before I could take stock of any of the enemies, my eyes were drawn to the figure of the very person I had come here looking for. The far side of the roughly 30m open area of the chamber in front of me, near the far wall, held the area that Cecelia had been working on excavating. Sitting behind the partially removed wall was a large stone tablet with what look to be ancient inscriptions chiselled into the surface.

The bits of the artifact that were still concealed were covered with what looked to be some sort of concrete that had come to be identical looking to the typical cave wall over time. This must have been what the Dwarven Runesmith had been so excited to discover. However, her excitement must have been destroyed when these men had shown up to kidnap her. The culmination of which was that she now was prone on the floor, unconscious and bleeding. She had a stab wound straight through her armour and lower abdomen from which blood pooled on the ground. Her status showed she only had about 25% of her hit points left, a status of fainted, was suffering anemia from the blood loss and had the bleeding debuff.

Judging by the mace and shield still clutched in either hand, she had put up a valiant fight against the brigands, but alas, she had been overpowered. Looking to the man next to her who had a cut on his cheek, I judged that she must have gotten a glancing blow in on him, and it had upset him enough that he had not restrained himself in his retaliation. I could not think of another reason he would 'damage the goods', so to speak.

The men around us were nothing impressive, levels 3-7, all Bandit, Thief and Warrior class, with more essential skills and only equipped with steel blades, iron cudgels, and iron-banded wooden shields. They would be no problem. The angry man standing over Cecelia's near-death form was another story altogether. His stats were something else, and he looked to be the first real challenge I would have to face since getting here. Time to see how well the Trickster/Magebreaker combo class build works.

Name: Skud

Gender: Male

Race: Human (Half-Orc, Concealed)

Age: 34

Class: Crime-Lord (Minor), Weaponmaster

Level: 17

Stats

HP: 385/390

MP: 120/135

Strength: 16

Agility: 18

Stamina: 17

Intelligence: 14

Wisdom: 10

Charisma: 16

Skills

Passive

Combat Vision (Natural, Mid)

Sword Mastery (Level 4)

Dagger Mastery (Level 3)

Blunt Weapon Mastery (Level 2)

Weapon Adaptation (Level 2)

Acrobatics (Level 3)

Active

Quickstep (Level 3)

Phantom Slash (Level 3)

Disable (Level 2)

Blade Wall (Aura) (Level 2)

Threaten (Level 3)

Intimidate (Level 3)

Leadership (Level 2)

Items:

Vampiric Blade (Steel Alloy) (Blooded)

Dagger of Missed Perceptions (Enchanted)

Swordhandler's Armour (Drake Leather) (Enchanted)

As the first man finally collided with the wall, all the bandits' attention was now focused on me. I saw anger and annoyance flash across Skud's face as the already bad situation of killing his target was now aggravated by this unknown enemy who had arrived undetected and slaughtered one of his men in the blink of an eye. I shot him a grin as I used Shadow Walk to step behind the man who had the worst crimes on his record, after Skud himself, of course.

While most of the men looked around to relocate me, Skud immediately traced where I had moved to in a split second. As we made eye contact again, I gave him a coy wink before I straightened my right hand into a dagger fist and punched it through the heart of the man behind who I now stood.