Oh, Mr. Grey...

When Kleon pulled her dagger out, Aidan's body fell backward and Vincel took two quick steps forward and caught him before he hit the ground.

Aidan gave one last gasp and his body flopped right in Vincel's arms.

Vincel was still in shock at it all when Kleon reached forward and grabbed Aidan's pouch from his waist. She reached inside and pulled out the Dog-head Bat core to observe it with a grin before she put it back.

Vincel looked from Aidan's lifeless eyes to Kleon's cruel ones.

"Y-you killed him"

Kleon rolled her eyes as she put Aidan's pouch into her own.

"You're slow. Haha, he should have known better than to turn his back to an Assasin"

Vincel remembered how Aidan had said being an assassin did not necessarily make someone a killer.

Clearly, he had been deathly wrong.

Vincel slowly went down to one knee to gently lay Aidan on the ground and as he did, Kleon began to do a nauseating impersonation of Aidan's voice.

"'My dream is to become a mighty Knight who specializes in swordsmanship'.

He had such lofty goals only to never challenge himself.

He picked a sparsely populated Forest Gate that many others would ignore just so he would not have to battle with other groups for the prize and even then, he still needed me.

And then, he has the guts, the absolute audacity, to claim I had no stake in the Beast's core!

He wouldn't even consider the idea that I share in the profits of the second one."

As she spoke, Kleon brought out a vial from her pouch. When she pulled open the cork, a terrible stench wafted out from the liquid within.

Vincel wrinkled his nose but Kleon appeared unbothered and sprinkled drops of the liquid all over Aidan's body.

"Ugh, what the hell is that?" Vincel asked with Aidan still in his arms.

"Beast lure. Disgusting to you. Enticing to them. They should be here to devour his body in minutes.

But of course, I should make sure they don't find just one dead body when they arrive--"

Vincel was looking down at the wound in Aidan's chest when his instincts warned him and he listened to them to instantly lean back and avoid Kleon's kick.

Vincel's eyes widened as her slick legging-covered leg swung over his head but Kleon was not done and she brought down her foot to stomp his chest.

Vincel rolled out of the way but as he did, he closed his hand around the handle of Aidan's sword still sheathed at his hip, and pulled it out.

Vincel got to one knee and held Aidan's sword horizontally in front of his chest which was good because Kleon's dagger made strong contact with it almost immediately after.

*Clang*

"Ngh"

Kleon swept Vincel's legs to knock him down.

"Umph"

On the ground, Vincel hurried to make a wide swing with Aidan's sword and forced Kleon to take a step back.

That step back allowed him to get to his feet and get into a proper fighting stance only for Kleon to vanish from his sights.

She appeared right by his side a second later with a smoky dark aura around her as she stabbed her dagger toward his neck.

As the dagger came at him, Vincel's heart skipped a beat in fear but he easily took comfort in the increase in agility he had gained after his stat increase.

He reacted fast enough to save his neck but Kleon still managed to stab him in the right shoulder.

"Ahh"

[HP: 8/75]

Vincel winced at the pain as it trickled down from his shoulder to his hand so that he was unable to properly wield the sword he was holding.

'If my Resistance wasn't up to Five, my HP loss would have been much worse' Vincel thought before he let out another painful yell.

Kleon was grinning and twisting the dagger in his shoulder.

"Never liked you. There was always something unsettling about you. You're the only loose end I wish to take care of and fortunately, you ARE the only one I have to take care of"

"Ngh"

With a groan, Vincel raised his left hand and grabbed Kleon's right wrist as she tried to pull out her dagger from his shoulder.

'Activate Arcane Augmentation'

[Arcane Augmentation Activated]

[-50 Arcane Mana Reserves]

[+10 to all physical stats]

Vincel felt the boost instantly...

... And so did Kleon.

Her eyes widened as Vincel's grip on her wrist became tighter.

Vincel pulled her dagger out of his right shoulder and slammed her away with his left shoulder.

*Bam!*

The slam caused Kleon to slide back on the grassy forest floor and by the time she raised her head, Vincel had transferred Aidan's sword to his left hand and tried to run her through with it.

The sword was an inch away from Kleon and she still showcased an impressive feat of agility to avoid getting stabbed in the ribs and just settle for a deep cut to her side.

While he was still in motion with the sword cutting into Kleon's side, Vincel swung his right arm widely, despite his injured shoulder, and was satisfied when it connected with the side of Kleon's face with the force of a well-placed punch.

*Bam!*

The blow forced Kleon a few feet away from Vincel and there she spat out the blood she had in her mouth while she and Vincel had a stand-off while staring into each other's eyes with hands tightly gripping their weapons.

Kleon chuckled. A wicked little sound.

"You are putting up more of a fight than I expected you to"

Vincel smiled cautiously.

"I can't let just let you do me in as you did Aidan, now can I?"

Kleon shrugged.

"I did the Old fool a favor. Death now is better than the unavoidable disappointment he will face in the future"

Vincel furrowed his brows and looked at the portal out of the corner of his eyes.

'I can't last in this fight. It is not my place to take revenge for Aidan. I mean, he was nice and all and what happened to him is tragic but I need to survive.

Kleon is fast. Very fast.

I've seen what she can do and she will no longer underestimate me.

Arcane Augmentation might not even be enough. Especially considering how good she must be with that dagger of hers.'

Vincel raised the sword in his left hand with the tip pointed in Challenge at Kleon.

Kleon looked from the sword to Vincel's face.

"Haha, a lucky cut and you now think you know how to use that thing?"

Vincel said nothing.

'My priority is to get out of here but to do that, I need to give myself at least a bit of breathing room. I can't risk turning my back on her.

Knowle, Jilan, and Lea are just on the other side of that portal.

Kleon can't win against all of us!'

A part of Vincel's mind wondered if those three would even fight by his side against Kleon but he decided not to focus on that for now.

The smoky aura around Kleon got denser and then she dashed toward Vincel.

The Assasin was so fast that despite currently having 17 in Agility thanks to Arcane Augmentation, all Vincel saw was the dark trail she left behind before she got close enough to attack.

*Clang*

*Clang*

*Clang*

Despite being unable to see her, Vincel was still able to rely on his instincts to always barely parry her attacks.

He was stuck with defense as he could not even see her well enough to counter-attack.

'This won't last'

Almost as soon as Vincel had that thought, his luck ran out.

Kleon disarmed him of Aidan's sword with her barrage of fast attacks and then finished it all off by stabbing him in the stomach.

She did it all with her usual wide and wicked grin.

[HP: 2/75]

Vincel ignored the notification he received from the system as well as the pain in his stomach and right shoulder to grab Kleon's wrist with his right hand and pull the dagger out of his stomach.

And then he wielded every bit of the strength he had due to Arcane Augmentation into his left hand so that he could strike his opponent's dagger-wielding arm.

*crack*

The small sound of a fracture caused Vincel to smile even before Kleon yelled out.

"Ah-"

*Bam!*

Vincel cut her yell of pain short by jumping and connecting his knee with her jaw.

The force of the knee strike sent Kleon flying back.

Before her back even hit the ground, Vincel was already running toward the portal. By the time she came to enough to try to stop him, he was jumping out to the dimension on the other side.

It was like going through a doorway.

Vincel definitely felt impacted by the energy of the portal but he ignored the fascinating feeling all in his haste and worry that Kleon was not far behind.

Immediately after his feet hit solid ground on the other side of the portal, Vincel started talking.

"Kleon- she- She killed-- W-What is this?"

Vincel had to pause his recount of why he was late.

He saw Knowle, Jilan, and Lea right in front of him but they were all on their knees with subdued expressions on their faces.

Men and women of different sizes stood guard behind them and then Vincel heard a voice speak to him only a foot or two away.

"Oh, Mr. Grey. I was just on my way to fetch you myself."

Vincel whirled around to face the speaker. He was a black-haired trim-bearded man whose actual clothing was covered by a cloak.

"Who are you? How do you know my name?"

Rather than answer Vincel's question, the man held up a syringe and stabbed it into Vincel's arm.

Vincel's eyes widened. Even though he was injured and only had 2 HP left, Arcane Augmentation was still active and yet, his augmented Agility did him no favors in avoiding getting stabbed by a needle.

The man pushed the plunger and the liquid in the syringe entered Vincel's body.

Vincel's vision went dark.