A while back, when Riot approached the treasury he felt a wave of killing intent and stopped.
It wasn't his instincts though, he felt like he sensed it with his heart. He could even pinpoint the direction it came from by heart alone.
This made him cautious. He scanned the place for the tiniest sounds. Although, he didn't see anything he heard soft heartbeats and breathing. Alarmed he immediately knew that someone was there.
He stood in place on his guard, ready to draw his sword at any sound of footsteps coming towards him. But nothing came.
Not knowing what sort of danger was hiding before the treasury, he made up his mind to wait for the others and acted like he hadn't notice anything.
When they showed up he acted like it was too much trouble carrying the goods, to make whatever was hiding there underestimate him. So he could have some element of surprise. And even if the mysterious being was stronger than him he could work together with the newcomers to defeat it.
If the newcomers tried to harm him he would pit them and the one hiding against each other and take advantage of whatever opportunity came. If all fails he would try to escape. After all, the treasure wasn't worth his life.
Riot didn't think it was a grade D combatant that was hidden there though, as grade D's were more perceptive and could easily tell that he was a weak grade F. As a result, it wouldn't need to hide.
Therefore, he estimated the threat to be at the grade E at most.
When the newcomer's finally arrived he knew they were adventurers due to the bronze identity tags on their necks.
With a few targeted questions he also judged their grades. As stronger adventurers were usually richer, and with the spatial ring being a very convenient item for adventurers, it was extremely unlikely for a rich adventurers not to have one or two.
When one of the newcomers attacked him, he had already felt a wave of malice directed at him in his heart. But he felt no threat to his life from the incoming punch. So, he improvised and changed his plan in less than a second, wanting to pretend to have fainted.
But there was a problem. The issue was that he truly fainted!!!
He overestimated his constitution and got himself walloped so hard he lost consciousness.
If not for Nemesis' continuous yelling in his head for him to get up, he would have laid there for who knows how long?
By then, he would already been laid to rest...
As soon as he regained consciousness Nemesis quickly explained what had happened.
Seeing the assassin's back turned at him he got up and struck!
***
Slice splat! Blood and fingers rose into the air. As the the assassin jumped back.
"Arrgh!" Blood sprayed from his left hand.
The assassin noticed he couldn't dodge on time and made a hasty block with his blade. But his fingers where then targeted instead of his neck.
Riot narrowed his eyes. 'His fast! He protected his neck quite well. I had no choice but to go for something else.'
On the ground, three fingers and a half laid amidst the glistening red blood. Two rings were on one of them.
Huh? Isn't that my spatial ring?
He picked up the finger and easily recognized his ring, but not the other. 'Could this be the assassin's?'
He then kept them as he made an attempt to run. Even with one hand he didn't underestimate the strength of a grade E combatant. Nemesis also said he was quite skilled.
Since Riot's ambush had failed he immediately tried to flee. He ran towards the assassin and swung his sword at him.
The assassin evaded to the side giving Riot enough room to run past him.
[What are you doing!? Fight! You might still have a chance.]
'Hush Nemesis! I don't have a death wish.' Riot said as he ran, rounding a corner and jumping into a hole on the floor.
[If you can eliminate him, you can take all the treasure!] Nemesis frustration could be felt.
'I don't need treasure anymore. I can just get a normal job.' He replied.
Suddenly, he felt a pressured as the energy fluctuation of the assassin emanated behind him. When he looked back down the hall, he could see the assassin sprinting rapidly towards him.
His eyes were furiously locked on Riot. It seemed like he would catch up really soon.
'Shoot! He's gotten serious. At this rate i wouldn't be able to escape.' Riot's heart sank.
He then shouted as he ran. "You've got gold and valuable items behind you, so why do put in so much effort to chase me a mere bloke?! Did I hurt your pride too much or is it the rings? You want them back?!"
Riot didn't hear a reply though, rather the assassin became more manic with his chasing and was quickly gaining on him.
Seeing his situation he immediately turned around and ran towards the assassin.
During situations like this, he knew that making quick decisions determined the difference between life and death. This belief saved his life a lot in the army, he hoped it would also save him now.
The assassin was furious not only did he have to use voltage against a grade F, he even lost his left hand. Now many dual dagger techniques he knew couldn't be executed, and he'd have to pay dearly if he wanted to get his fingers to grow back.
'Don't believe i would let you die a simple death!' His eyes gleamed as he watched Riot charge at him.
Seeing that he was within range the assassin activated a skill.
Rank One Skill | Burst!
The assassin's speed increased exponentially. Riot's eyes dilated seeing that the dagger was already before his face.
VOLTAGE!
Immediately, his chest warmed as his heart pumped with energy. Energy rushed through his blood vessels, across his muscles and organs. His eyes glowed as lightning flashed violently within his blue eyes, like a glass orb containing a storm.
Swing!
Riot released the pressure on his backbone and bent his head back causing him to slide under the blade with his knees bent forward.
Like a slow motion video his eyes watched the enchantments glowing with mana at the side of the dagger, as the tip of his waving hair was cut.
He fell rolling to a stop. He looked amazed.
'I dodged it!' He was surprised not just because it was a close one, but because the feeling he got from activating voltage was completely different from how he remembered it. There was more energy being converted and his mana was being consumed faster than usual.
At this moment, he didn't even realize that his eyes were glowing.
'He evaded?!' The assassin turned to see Riot standing there unscathed, holding his sword defensively. But what shooked him more was his glowing eyes.
'This! A Deman?! No, it can't be! He's doesn't have the horns... Either way, he is not human, that's for sure.'
The assassin narrowed his eyes. "...What are you?"
"Huh?" Riot didn't understand his question.
[You need another opening. It doesn't seem like you can take him head on.] Nemesis appeared at the side. It didn't seem like the assassin could see him.
'Well, do you have an idea. I can't think of any other than taking him head on.' Riot didn't want to waste time on chit chat, he didn't have much time after all.
[You know how you send energy through our psychic connection to me, right? Try it with just mana.] Nemesis then went to the other side of the assassin.
'...I don't even do that actively! Haah~ Forget it, there's no time. I'll just have to try.' He made an effort to calm down.
Riot then channel mana through the thin invisible thread he could feel connecting them. Mana flowed through him and suddenly a lot of mana was pushed out trying to follow the path of the thread, but only a small amount managed to make it to Nemesis.
The assassin seeing that Riot wasn't answering continued his attack, rushing at him. "Don't worry. I'll slowly pry the answer off your mouth!"
Riot braced. Ding! straa!
The dagger glanced off his sword producing sparks.
The assassin made use of the momentum seeing that his slash was deflected.
He pressed the tip of his foot on the ground to stop, angled his waste to create a torque as he turned fast while bending low.
The dagger quickly came around towards Riot's waist. Riot immediately stabbed his sword down on the ground.
The dagger struck the blade like it was hitting a steel pillar.
Putting pressure back on his knees the assassin stopped spinning and launched up towards Riot, stabbing at his chest.
Riot let go of the blade, taking a step back. He turned his body sideways.
The assassin seeing that he would miss completely if he continued with a stab, changed his grip to a reverse grip while continuing his launching attack.
Changing from a stabbing to slashing attack in less than a second!
Seeing this, Riot release mana into his armor causing the previously hidden enchantment symbols to appear. In a moment, the entire armor hardened, even the way it glistened changed slightly.
The assassin shoot past him as blood sprayed into the air.
A long diagonal cut not too deep could be seen on the armor's chest guard. Black blood stained the armor, but Riot ignored the wound and took a defensive stance with his sword.
All this happened in less than five seconds.
The assassin didn't stop. He turned back and continued his barrage. Even with one arm he was still faster than Riot, pressuring him with his heavy attacks, easily pushing Riot into a passive state.
Not good! Is there really that much of a difference between a grade F and grade E combatant!
His arms were getting numb. He felt like he was fighting a gorilla instead of a human.
Krring! Riot was given another slight wound but he remained calm trying his best to find an opening.
The dagger cut through his armor multiple times making small cuts. Blood started to paint his armor black.
The assassin frowned. 'What's with this guy, he always managed to deflect critical hits and with every step he tries to reduce the damage incurred by shifting a bit at the last moment.'
The assassin was getting more annoyed. 'Although he would inevitably fall, taking this much time to kill a single grade F? Heh, if my comrades heard about this they would laugh till they fell into a gutter.'
Riot was at his wits end. 'Dammit, i'm not used to defensive combat. If I tried to attack now i would just expose myself to a lethal cut. Hey! Nemesis! How's things on your side?!'
[Hold on a bit! I'm still feeling around for an ability or something I could do with this mana.]
'You're taking too much time! It's not like you're trying to feel a woman!' Riot rolled as he saw an opportunity. He then slashed upwards.
Suddenly the assassin disappeared into a puff of black smoke. Appearing behind Riot from his shadow.
Rank Three Assassin Skill | Shadow wrap!
With a swing of his dagger Riot's shoulder was cut. His shoulder guard fell and a deep wound could be scene on his shoulder as he stumbled forward.
The assassin waved away the blood. "I admire your fighting prowess...creature. To force me into using high difficulty skills. You deserve a simple death." He then smiled menacingly, "However, that i shall not grant you."
[Get ready father.] Nemesis ran towards the assassin's back.
Riot was confused, but started gathering energy into his blade.
"Hm?" The assassin sensed something and turned. He saw a blade being swung at his neck.
'Huh? This event! It's similar...' His left hand throbbed with pain. He was still a little shaken about the ambush before. At that time, he was nearly frightened to death! Now, seeing a similar experience occur so soon after, he reacted on instinct.
Rank Three Assassin Skill | Shad—
He wanted to use an assassin ambush skill to escape the slash, but failed to activate the skill successfully due to his trauma and suffered a mana backlash. Causing a violent blast of mana to gush out of him.
He coughed blood as the blade passed through his neck.
But he felt nothing. He looked on in wonder. 'Huh? ...It was an illusion? And i'm still alive?! ha..haha.' He let out empty laughs.
He then remembered the creature he was fighting behind him and turned hastily.
Riot took some time to activate the skill, after all, he was working only on memory. He hadn't really done this kind of thing personally before and had to be careful, if not he would suffer a painful mana backlash.
He quickly transmitted energy into the blade intermittently, according to the practiced frequency needed to produce the wind blade skill.
A visible wind suddenly appeared around the blade.
Rank Two Skill | Wind blade
Riot waved his sword as an arc of wind flew out just as the assassin turned. It went through his neck effortlessly continuing on it's way making a long deep gash on the wall.
The assassin's head fell and rolled before Riot. He looked at it but he wasn't happy at all. "Nemesis..."
During Nemesis' false attack, when the assassin suffered a mana backlash the wave of blue mana that burst out of him hit Nemesis causing him to shatter immediately.
He instantly felt the connection between him and Nemesis destabilize. He couldn't sense his general location or hear his voice anymore.
Nemesis' fragments flew towards his head and entered in it.
Riot's chest became hot and his eyes burned. His aura darkened and caustic thoughts about life he hadn't had in a long time flowed into his mind.
He closed his eyes. "Life shouldn't be taken seriously. Take things as they come. Adapt and be happy."
He whispered some of his grandma's words, slowly took in a deep breath and suppressed his dark thoughts.
"Come back, Nemesis..." He couldn't help but whisper. For some reason he was sure that Nemesis was gone.
Cough!
He fell as he coughed out blood, his face became paler and his limbs quickly lost strength. 'It seems like my body has started acting up again... Furthermore, I've lost too much blood. Am i going to join Nemesis soon?'.
I didn't want to die yet. Those things I said to Nemesis about massages were jokes meant to pull his leg. I...wanted power. I have a dream I need power to fulfill and this world was my chance. How can I die now?
If i get another chance at life, maybe another reincarnation, perhaps...
"Ha..haha." He couldn't help but laugh at the thought of hoping for another chance.
His blood oozed out around circling him as life slowly left his eyes.
Suddenly, dark clouds formed over the entire kingdom, as destructive bolts of lightning struck down, falling barely standing towers. A voice then resounded everywhere.
"To think that you would get into so much trouble... after taking my eyes off you for just a bit."
The blood underneath Riot rippled like water that had a rock thrown into it. His entire body slowly sunk into it and disappeared.