Chapter 8: Progress of The Weak [Prey Turns Predator]: Part Two

He then started to throw daggers at me mid-charge. There were three of them coming at me one after the other, I dodged the first by turning sideways then the second by bending over backwards then went on to do a sideflip to avoid the last dagger which resulted in the dagger stabbing my sheath away from my waist. Wielding two daggers, one in each hand, he attacked from above after jumping so he could launch a cross slash. I blocked the attack with my blade and was pushed back about a metre and a half. I couldn’t help but look back afterwards and saw my sheath with a dagger stuck to it start to decay. All the daggers I had previously dodged flew back to their user.

“Poisonous Mana.” He said afterwards.

“A really nasty Skill of mine, can even melt your bo-”

“Should you really be telling your opponent that kind of info?”

“What does it matter when said “opponent” is weaker than me. I mean, not having a handicap or two really takes the fun outta this, y’know?”

“’Weaker’ he says. That’s rich. Considering how your Class shouldn’t have allowed this fight to last this long, I’d say I’m doing pretty well.”

“What are you talking a-”

“Your Class stupid. You’re an Assassin right? Then isn’t your whole deal about making sure you take out your opponent in one move. An insta-kill. Considering how you haven’t managed to do that regardless of your claim that I’m “weaker” than you then, aren’t you a failure of an Assassin?” An annoyance inducing smirk formed on my face as I said that. And it really did make him annoyed, like a lot.

“You’ll regret saying that, you bastard. Alright then, you want me to go all out, is that it?”

“Oh please do.”

“Fine, I’ll show what I’m really made of. Hold on to your ass.”

“Ew….? What in there?”

He disappeared. It came at a slight surprise at first but I quickly reorganized myself and activated my Treasure Hunt Skill.

“My Treasure Hunt Skill is now B-Rank so I doubt whatever Skill this guy just used to hide himself can bypass it, it’d have to be A-Rank or higher for that. There we go, found him.”

“Wait, are you for real? An attack from behind? That’s so cliche I’m starting to think I didn’t even need to activate Treasure Hunt to catch you.”

I launched a horizontal slash as I said that. Landed right on the money. A large horizontal blade mark formed across his chest as it bled.

“H-How did you-”

“Doyle! What the hell is taking you so long!? Don’t tell me this nobody is giving you a hard time.” That bastard who couldn’t read a room even if you gave him glasses, Zeke Reinhardt was it? Started spouting nonsense.

“I’m sorry brother, this guy. He’s a lot more troublesome than we thought. If I stop holding back completely, I might end up killing him.”

“Oh? So he initially didn’t wanna kill me. A show of strength to coerce me to to bow my head then. What a bunch of tryhards they are.” I thought.

“And? You’re an Assassin aren’t you? Then maybe you should start acting like one.” Zeke said with a cold glare.

“Wuh-oh, now it’s a party.” I thought as I listened to their back and forth attentively.

“But brother! Won’t we get in trouble!?”

“Look around Doyle, we’re in a Dungeon right now. Lots of things happen in a Dungeon. Multiple Warriors have gone in only to never return, what would make this any different?”

“Heh heh, I understand brother. Hey F-Rank, what’s your name?”

“Raid. So, you were still holding back, huh?” I asked.

“Yeah, but don’t worry. Raid. That ends for real now. You’re the one who chose to resist us, this is simply the price you should pay for being so daring against a Reinhardt of all people.”

“I pay with my life for not wanting to join his dumb brother’s party? What a kiss-ass.”

“Dang, you’re one hell of a boot licker huh? Is the Archer and Mage the sa-”

~Clank!~

The sound achoed through the surroundings as my blade and his daggers clashed. He wasn’t kidding when he said he’d stop holding back, the speed and force in his attacks increased significantly but I also had decided to start taking things serious so I wasn’t necessarily lagging behind. He did a sideflip to jump over me then throw a dagger mid-air, coated with his Poisonous Mana Skill, I parried it away with my blade and it flew back, only for me to be met by another dagger thrown horizontally, aimed for my stomach. I positioned my blade vertically in front of my stomach and the dagger bounced off of it then flew back also. I then charged straight at him top speed seeing as he was about to throw another dagger I guessed. I activated my Bladework Skill which increased my Speed Stat by 500 and my Strength Stat by 400 putting them on 1550 and 1335 respectively. My overwhelming speed surprised the heck out of Doyle and he couldn’t react in time. A downward slash took away his left arm.

“Arrgghh!” He squealed as blood poured out and he fell on his knees. He looked up at me, I looked down on him. He then tried to attack me with his right hand, dagger in tow. I showed no mercy then sliced off his right arm also.

“Argh!!!”

Yikes. Not gonna lie. That looked painful.

“You really like these daggers of yours don’t you?”

He had about a dozen pockets inside his black jacket and ten had daggers in them.

“Wow, that’s a lot.”

I took all of them including the ones stuck in his sliced-off arms.

“Since it seems you won’t be needing these anymore, I’ll make sure to put them to good use.”

“Urk, n-no please don’t, heuk…”

~Cough~

“Hey now, why do you care? Whether I leave you to bleed out or finish you off myself, you’re gonna die anyway, right? Give or take a few minutes. Now then, I wonder if I can put these in my Item Space, carrying twelve daggers by hand seems too much of a chore.”

~Whoosh~

~Slash~

As I was lost in thought, I saw a beeming light from the corner of my left eye approach me, I didn’t look to see what it was, instead I just launched a downward slash as slight sparks of flames washed over me for a bit and decipated as if in response.

I didn’t need to look to see what that was as my Treasure Hunt Skill was still active. A fireball spell. An attack by the Mage.

“Do you mind? I’m busy over here.”

“You bastard, what did you do to our party member?” He said pointing his magic staff at me.

“What did I do? As you can see, I cut his arms off. No wait, was that a rhetorical question? Sorry it just sounded so stupid, so I thought it was genuine since it kinda suits you, y’know?”

“Erk…jerkward. You must think you’re real smart don’t you?”

“Yeah nah I don’t think, I know I’m a genius. See that’s the difference between me and you.”

The Archer then chimed in.

“Harold, we shouldn’t underestimate this guy. He took down Doyle, so I think I should back you up and help you take him down for good. Let’s avenge Doyle together.”

“Okay, then I’ll be counting on you. He’s a close-range fighter so our long-range attacks will keep him at a distance so we can finish him off easily.”

“Right, then brother, don’t trouble yourself with this fella, We’ll deal with him. He’ll pay for looking down on us.” The Archer said looking at Zeke.

“Good, Harold, Niel, show that bastard what the Zeke Party is made of! What the Reinhardt family is made of!” Zeke shouted. It was beyond me why but whatever.

I then put the daggers in my Item Space and they went in without a hitch. I felt stupid afterwards since I realised that if the daggers can go in the Item Space then that meant that First Dawn can also go in, meaning I didn’t need a sheath. What a waste of time, honestly, and that sheath looked pretty cool too. But there was no time to lament on my past dumb choices. Harold and Niel were attacking. Three fireballs significantly bigger and more powerful than the one before flew at me, I launched a horizontal slash decipating them all, but that revealed a numerous number of arrows flying straight at me faster than even bullets. I dodge most of them performing varous different acrobatic displays while parrying and slicing the rest in half with my blade. I then noticed gusts of wind form around me, as my body was starting to be lifted upward. The Mage Harold had created a small scale hurricane with a limited radius that focused only on me, in response, Niel The Archer then launched three arrows simultaneously at a time, all were coated with grey coloured Mana. My guess was that it was for the purpose of increasing their force and speed so they don’t get swept away by winds surrounding me.

“So this is what fighting against Warriors feels like. I’ll admit, it’s a lot more challenging than fighting monsters.”

I parried each arrow while floating mid-air due to the hurricane, Niel was baffled, he must’ve expected me to have trouble navigating my body mid-air but my Bladework Skill showed him otherwise. He thus started running around the hurricane area while sending arrows at me.

“Good, keep it up Niel! Now Hurricane Wind Blade!” Harold uttered and slashes made of wind started forming around me and attacking me, toppled with the superpowered arrows coming from every direction.

“Yeah, a lot more challenging than monsters for sure. And yet…I still don’t feel threatened.”

As if feeling an obligation to prove that claim I tightened my grip on my blade and what I would do next sent shivers down the spines of my enemies.

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