Ambush

'Holy crap! It's really a magic item of Imperial Tier?!' When Marcus read the information about the Eye of the Scarlet Queen he was quite surprised. He didn't expect the artifact to be a magic item of Imperial Tier.

On the Austra continent, the amount of top-tier magic items was quite scarce. Although magic items of medium and lower tier were still relatively easy to obtain, those of High tier and above were rare.

The reasons were various, such as the shortage of materials for their manufacture, the lack of the designs and production methods, as well as skilled people to manufacture the artifacts. In the port city of Neima, the highest tier magic items were only of Medium tier and there was only one Royal tier item in the entire kingdom.

Although some of the information from the Eye of the Scarlet Queen was inaccessible, Marcus was still able to draw certain conclusions about the magical item's capabilities.

The Eye of the Scarlet Queen could amplify the power of entomancy spells, as well as having the ability to allow the user to control a large horde of 30,000 arthropod monsters. However, if the user-controlled too many high-ranking monsters, the artifact's control capability would be greatly reduced.

'Sigh, it's a pity that the requirements to use it are so strict. I can't even use it to upgrade the system.' Marcus thought as he stored the Eye of the Scarlet Queen in his [Inventory]. If he could use a magic item of imperial tier, his strength and combat ability could reach a whole new level.

However, for the Eye of the Scarlet Queen to work, the user's entomancy mastery rank had to be quite high, so people who could use the item were few. Furthermore, the item was not compatible with him or the system, so it could not be used for the upgrade.

Marcus then turned his attention to the Minor Space Ring, which probably contained all the belongings and valuables that the priest carried with him.

Space Rings (also known as Storage Rings) were magical items that could store any inanimate object inside. Of course, this was as long as the object did not exceed the carrying capacity of the ring.

Although Storage Rings were not particularly rare compared to other magic items, they were ridiculously expensive. Just one inferior Space Ring, which had a storage capacity of 10 kg (22 pounds), cost several tens of gold Raels.

Marcus had originally been interested in acquiring a Storage Ring. But after seeing the exorbitant price of these he decided it wasn't worth it. Besides, he already had the [Inventory] so he didn't need the ring.

But just as he touched the ring, he received a notification from the system.

....

{The artifact [Minor Space Ring] is compatible with the system}

....

{System upgrade is possible}

....

{Do you want to upgrade the system}

[Yes/No]

Since the Minor Space Ring was almost destroyed and since it was of no use to him, Marcus didn't think twice about using the ring to upgrade the system.

....

[Yes]

....

{Upgrade in progress}

....

{[Inventory lv:4]>>> [Storage lv:1]}

....

{intelligence increases 9 points}

....

{Upgrade completed}

....

'Wow, I didn't expect that.' The effects of the upgrade had far exceeded Marcus' expectations.

As the ring was only a Low tier item he had only thought that his intelligence would increase a little and that his [Inventory] would improve a level or two. But he hadn't even thought that he would get a superior skill.

Immediately after the upgrade ended, Marcus opened his [Storage] and was more than surprised with the skill.

The [Storage] turned out to be a small pocket dimension with a size of a couple of square meters. Moreover, the moment Marcus used the skill he noticed that both his belongings and the items that were stored inside the ring were also there.

'Hoho, the priest profession sure must be a lucrative one.' Among the things that had belonged to Aylinor were items of great value such as spell scrolls, Rehi crystals, gold, some magic wands, the Moonlight Reflector Pendant, and other things that Marcus didn't know what they were.

Just out of curiosity, he took a small vial with yellow fluid and used [Analysis] on it. Only after using the skill, Marcus knew that it was a catalyst component.

Spells of elemental magic and other magics from this world only required the thaumaturge to use the Rehi (mana) of his body for their proper activation. However, the spells of the evil arts were different.

The evil arts were magics and techniques brought by the Five Calamities at the beginning of the third age from another dimension. Therefore, their basis and rules were different from those of the magic from Genaerrsis. Many of the spells of the evil arts required other components besides Rehi to be conjured.

Necromancy was a perfect example of this, as many of its spells used corpses as components.

'Uh!' Almost as Marcus was about to retreat from the town, his [Energy Sense], which he had activated after killing the priest, detected something moving at full speed and heading towards where he was.

****

'But what the hell has happened here?' Thought Night Fox, who was hiding on the roof of a house as she observed the dozens of mangled bodies of Naragor parasitic worms and the state the town had been left in.

Fearing that the loud explosion she heard in the jungle was something bad, she had completely abandoned her state of stealth and headed for the abandoned town at full speed, managing to arrive in only five minutes. However, the scene she encountered left her completely bewildered.

In the town, which was supposed to be abandoned, there were traces of a great battle that had occurred just a few moments before.

Houses reduced to rubble, craters of all sizes on the ground, felled trees, corpses of parasitic worms next to those of other creatures, and traces of sinister energy that withered all the plants in the town and made her break out in a cold sweat.

'This remains... and this sensation that gives me goosebumps, this is undoubtedly necrotic energy. Was it someone from the Church of the Living Corpses? But why would they attack someone from the Church of the Deadly Plagues? A territorial dispute perhaps? But, the reports I read from the Clan said that the "Five Great Dark Churches" had reached a truce. Something doesn't add up…'

Just as the Forest Church (which was directly under the control of the Great Church of the Natural Elements) was the main religious institution on the Austra continent, the Church of the Deadly Plagues and its affiliated sects had the most influence on the continent compared to the other Great Dark Churches.

The mere fact that a member of a dark cult not affiliated with the Church of Deadly Plagues attacked one of its priests in its territory was an act of war declaration.

Even the Church of the Living corpses, which was much stronger than the Church of the Deadly Plagues, had no reason to attack them and even less now that they had agreed to a ceasefire.

'If it wasn't someone affiliated with the Church of the Living Corpses then… Does this mean the priest was attacked by an unaffiliated necromancer?' Night Fox began to think that possibility was quite logical.

Even if the attacker was a necromancer, that didn't guarantee that he or she was a member of the Church of the Living Corpses or the organizations under its control.

The fact that someone practiced evil arts did not necessarily mean that they were associated with some demonic sect. Some only learned the evil arts because it was the easiest way to gain power.

At that moment, Night Fox recalled the incident in which the Giant Clan's warehouse had been raided. Although the Giant Clan had tried to hide the fact that they found traces of necrotic energy in the warehouse, she found out about it anyway and began to investigate the incident.

However, after a while, there were no new reports related to the incident, and not much progress was made in the investigation. So Night Fox was forced to postpone the investigation due to the disappearance of monsters in the vicinity of the city.

'If a necromancer of this level infiltrated the city without anyone knowing, even if it's not affiliated with the dark churches it can't mean anything good. I have to contact Lord Silver-'

*Xiu... Xiu... Xiu... Xiu...*

Before she could pick up the communication sphere to contact the governor, Night Fox heard four whistling noises crossing the air and heading straight towards her.

*Clang Clang Clang Clang*

With a quick movement, Night Fox unsheathed her twin daggers and managed to easily block the four arrows. A second later, she noticed four skeletal figures in dark armor carrying bows and quivers full of arrows, which were on the roof of a two-story house a hundred meters (109 yards) away from her.

The next second, the skeleton archers raised their bows and fired more arrows at her.

'Skeleton archers! How did they detect me?' thought Night Fox as she dodged the skeleton arrows. Since she had entered the town she had made sure to move in such a way that no one could detect her presence and had remained hidden even when she confirmed that there was no one in the place.

However, Night Fox had not only failed to detect the undead despite her keen senses, but they had detected her.

Wasting no time, Night Fox climbed down from the roof and used quick footwork, managing to evade and block all the arrows as she approached the skeletons. Her movements were incredibly fast and agile, like a swallow in mid-flight.

"Graaaakh!"

But when Night Fox was just a few yards away from the skeletons, a huge centipede came out from behind the building and charged toward her at full speed. Although she was a bit surprised by the creature's appearance, Night Fox did not lose her calm and ran towards the centipede without slowing down.

Just as the large centipede was about to strike her, she used her left palm to press down on the creature's head and curved her body, managing to climb onto its back.

Then, Night Fox pulled out a cylindrical device from between her clothes, stuck it into the neck of the zombie centipede, and immediately put all her strength into her legs jumping off the creature's body. She propelled herself skyward and landed right in front of the skeletons.

*Slash Slash*.

Night Fox swung her daggers nimbly and the four skeleton archers were decapitated in the blink of an eye. In the next instant, the decapitated bodies of the skeletons lost stability and became a pile of inert bones.

*BOOM!*

A moment later, the cylindrical device she had placed on the centipede's neck exploded, destroying its tough skin and killing it instantly.

All this had happened in just a few seconds. Both the reaction time and Night Fox's movements and actions had been perfect.

'Tch, this guy knew I was coming!' Due to the undead's behavior, Night Fox deduced that somehow the person who had fought the Priest of Disease had become aware of her presence and had set up an ambush to kill her. Knowing this, she sharpened her senses and began to search for clues as to the whereabouts of the one who controlled the undead.

*Creack Crack*

But at that instant, the wood of the roof she was standing on began to crack and break. Upon noticing this, Night Fox immediately jumped off the building and landed on the ground at the same time as a black mist shot out from the roof of the house.

The black mist soon enveloped the entire house and spread around it. Everything the mist touched quickly withered and died only to turn to dust and disappear.

*Whoosh*

When her feet finally touched the ground, a figure emerged from the mist. The figure wore light armor with a hood, a black mask, and in his right hand, he wielded a short sword that had multiple runes engraved on the blade.

*Slash*

The masked figure moved quickly placing itself behind Night Fox and launched a diagonal slash towards her back. She turned around and raised her twin daggers to parry the masked figure's blade.

*Clang!*

The weapons clashed with a loud metallic sound flashing sparks in the process. But as soon as the weapons clashed, Night Fox's twin daggers began to rust and deteriorate at an abnormally fast rate.

'Necrotic energy!' At that moment, Night Fox noticed the layer of purple energy covering the masked man's blade. She immediately dropped her twin daggers and used her footwork to distance herself from him.

'This guy! Does he know the techniques of the Death Executioners?!'

The "Death Executioners" were a special unit of assassins affiliated with the Church of the Living Corpses, skilled in weapon combat and necromancy. However, unlike most necromancers who focused on resurrecting and controlling the undead, death executioners used spells specially designed for combat and destroying magical defenses.

This style of combat made Death Executioners known as the worst nightmare of elemental wizards who were ranged attackers and whose spells were weak against necrotic energy.

'Even if he's just imitating Death Executioners, this guy is too dangerous to let him live. I have to kill him!' Although Night Fox specialized in sneak attacks and not direct combat, now that the masquerader had discovered her, she had no choice but to attack head-on.

Although she could retreat, her instincts told her that if she didn't kill the masked man that night, then she would regret it later.

*Xiu...Xiu...Xiu...Xiu...Xiu...*

Night Fox immediately took all her throwing knives and threw them towards the masked figure. Then, she cast a spell to increase her movement speed, unsheathed her short sword covering it with an edge of transparent magical energy, and charged towards the masked figure at full speed.

*Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang*.

The masked man swung his sword and easily deflected all of the assassin's knives. But before he could realize it, Night Fox was already upon him.

* Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang *

In a few seconds, the energy blades of both swords clashed hundreds of times, flashing sparks in the air. Although at first, the masked man seemed to have the upper hand, he was soon overwhelmed by Night Fox's movements and techniques and was forced to retreat.

'I see. So he's an amateur!' After exchanging a couple of blows, Night Fox realized that her opponent's sword mastery was far inferior to hers. So it didn't take her long to predict and get used to the masked man's simple attacks.

'Now!'

*Clang*

With a swift and smooth movement, Night Fox struck the masked man's sword, causing it to fly out of his hand rendering him completely defenseless.

At the same time, she aimed her sword at her opponent's heart, and the layer of energy coating the weapon became brighter and sharper.

*Shik*

A split second later, the energy blade penetrated the masked man's chest, piercing through his armor without any resistance, until the sword blade exited through his back.