Tough Battle

A while later, five figures appeared in my field of view. 'Five of them. All of them are at the Inner Limits stage, I can feel that they are strong' I thought. I checked for any other people trying to hide their presence, but I found none. 'Let's see how strong Royals are' I thought to myself, and started walking towards them.

The five in front of me, slowed down, and also began walking towards me. They were all men. All of them wore armour, and all of them were older than me. What seemed like their leader, stepped forward and said, "Give up. You can't run away now. Come quietly, and you will receive a fair trial". I snorted, and replied "Are you people blind? It was the Royals who hunted down Roland. I even saved his life, from your attacks. Talk about being a hypocrite".

The guy shouted "Silence! The filth like you, have no right to slander the Royalty! You are under suspicion of using the Filthy Arts! If you can prove otherwise, you will be free to go!". I walked forward, and said "You know, I always wanted to witness the strength of the so called Royals. Let me have that experience then". "Swoosh!", I launched at the group in front of me. They weren't even surprised, and had their weapons ready. 'Two archers, and three swordsmen. Not a bad combination' I thought, and chose my first target, the archers.

These soldiers were no idiots. Archers immediately fell backwards, and began shooting arrows. I had a hard time evading them, but only because I used the basics skills I had. 'I hate to admit it, but these archers have skills way above my archery skills' I thought. I could tell that both sides were trying to test the waters. Although archers went all out, I was able to evade their arrows. The three swordsmen including the leader surrounded me, and released their attacks. I jumped upwards evading all of them, and released my String Hidden Weapon skill.

Ten daggers appeared out of nowhere, and floated around me. The leader shouted "So it's true! Kill that filthy bastard!". I smiled, and said "Too late", then released my skill at the three. The daggers created afterimages due to the speed. This was the most powerful attack, I could muster. The strongest skill, I learned.

The two swordsmen took a lot of damage, but managed to stay alive. The leader was not stupid, he immediately backed off, and received no damage. His men backed off too, but the damage was already dealt. Although my counterattack brought some results, the archers didn't just sit quietly. At least ten arrows arrived, and blocked my path of escape. I controlled my energy, and twisted my body in an unnatural way. Most of the arrows missed, but I still had to deal with one, which I couldn't evade. I used my right hand to deflect it.

"Boom!"

The arrow shattered, while I felt my right hand became a bit numb. 'They are quite strong… But, with their formation broken, I have my chance now' I thought, and rushed at the archers while taking out my bow. The archers backed away, and the swordsmen chased after me. I shot one arrow after the other, but the archers were too skilled.

'No choice then' I thought, and hid the bow back to my bag. The archers constantly shot arrows, and backed away. Even though they couldn't kill me, they could slow me down. I decided to care less about evading, and just go for the kill. I increased my speed, and used my right arm to deflect anything that could threaten my life, or seriously injure me. The scales on my right arm were very durable. Deflecting the arrows was possible, stopping them not so much.

Thanks to abandoning my defence, I managed to close the gap. They also managed to inflict some minor wounds on me, but my speed didn't suffer. When I got in range, I began throwing daggers.

"Swoosh!", "Swoosh!", "Swoosh!"

My daggers flew through the air. The archers didn't panic, but they overestimated their abilities. The daggers thrown by me, were not only tricky to evade. Stopping them, was impossible in their cases. Soon one of my daggers pierced right through one of the archer's legs. "Arghh!", the archer screamed in pain. Due to that injury, and moreover because it was my dagger, his fate was sealed. My Aura was attached to those daggers. Thanks to that, the archer almost stopped moving. Soon more daggers arrived, and killed the archer.

But before I could kill the other archer, I felt something approaching from behind. I quickly stepped to the side, and evaded the attack. It was some sort of sword skill, released by the leader of that group. The archer managed to back off, and started running further and further away. He no longer shot at me, his main concern was to back off. 'They want to kite me back to the city, where more soldiers would engage me' I thought. I tried chasing after him, but the leader of that group made it difficult.

'Fine, I will deal with you guys first' I thought, and turned around. I was aware that the archer who managed to escape, would call for reinforcements. That was why I needed to finish the battle quickly. The swordsmen tried to surround me again by releasing their skills at once. 'This is bad' I thought, while constantly backing away. 'No other choice' I thought, and ran at them. They welcomed that, and rushed at me as well.

The soldiers released their Sword Forms, and attacked from three different directions. I twisted my body, and evaded the attacks. With their attacks cleared, I released my Stringed Hidden Weapons skill once more. The leader, and another soldier managed to back away, but the third soldier was too slow. The barrage of attacks connected. "Boom!", "Boom!", "Boom!", "Boom!", "Swoosh!". The soldier was almost ripped apart. The skill I released, created many holes in his body. His lifeless corpse fell to the ground with a thud, and silence filled the area.

My daggers were still floating around me, with the exception of the colour. They were now mostly red, thanks to all that blood. The leader exclaimed "You filthy bastard! Just wait, soon more of us will arrive. We will end you and your revolting ways!". I didn't answer, but simply rushed at them. The leader ordered the soldier to back off, and released a beam of sword light at me. 'This is dangerous' I thought, and tried to evade that. But before I could, his Aura locked onto me. It was sharp, and made me lose my focus for a second. I was slowed down as a result. 'Shit!' I exclaimed in my mind. I couldn't evade the attack anymore, so I opted for something else. I used my right hand to punch the beam of light.

"BOOOM!"

The beam of light shattered, but I wasn't unscathed. My whole arm was bleeding, and I was barely able to move it. The daggers fell onto the ground, lifeless. The leader saw his chance, and shouted "Attack!". He released another beam of sword light, while the soldier rushed at me with his Sword Form. 'You think I'm that simple?' I thought, and released my Aura. This time, the leader's Aura wouldn't work again. I evaded the sword light this time, and rushed at the soldier, while utilising my Natural Path skill. I moved like a ghost during the moonlit night. The soldier lost his head, as I appeared behind him.

My instincts took over, and my Natural Path skill evolved again. Due to my mastery in energy control, I was able to make sharp turns and weird movements, impossible for me in the past. The leader was stunned. I on the other hand, approached like a ghost. He tried to defend, but he was no longer my opponent. "Swoosh!", "Thud!". His head fell to the ground, after I swiped my dagger.

I was tired, and wounded. I quickly took out some medicine and drank it. I also smeared some of it onto my right hand, and any larger wounds. 'Can't my clothes last more than one battle?' I asked myself, after I noticed how damaged my clothes were. Although I didn't pay as much as I did for the mask, I still hoped they would last longer. 'Oh well. I will have to ask Suly and Alicia to make a new set, when I return' I thought.

The battle was over, but this was not the end. 'The archer managed to come back with the reinforcements… I'm in no state, to fight larger amounts of people. Especially this strong' I thought, and ran away. The amount of people I would have to face next, was not something I could handle alone, moreover in my current state. 'I still have my last trump card. If they push me too far, I will use it' I thought.