As he was halfway there, another ball of fire headed his way, but even if the distance of when he noticed it was smaller than before. Even so, he avoided it, but barely. He quickly calculated that if he hadn't passed the 15 Agility, the chance of preventing that attack would be much more complex, and he most likely would have gotten hit by it.
As he was within striking distance of her, he swung his new weapon, but this time he aimed at the face once more. His swing with the torch was slower than his attack with his fist, but still, it wasn't a speed Oriel could keep up with.
The torch still had some warmth in it, as he didn't use too much cold energy on it and seemed to have caused some minor burning at the skin it stroke.
Also, three teeth were seen flying in the air; two were artificial ones.
Zarin didn't stop there and quickly moved closer and raised his knee over to hit her stomach. He once more felt some resistance, but only at the hit on the stomach and not the one on her head.
Of course, there could be resistance at both, since the first one he didn't directly impact her, meaning he could just not have felt the resistance as with his hist and knee.
But nonetheless, no sparks of electricity appeared this time. Still, Zarin jumped back, while at the same time, he used the other Skill he hadn't had the chance of full using yet—- [Burst of Frost].
But he didn't aim it directly at Oriel but at the ground between her feet. A ball of blue energy formed and shot at great speed towards where Zarin pointed. The spell's speed was clearly slower than that of his [Wind Rocket], but since he was right next to the target, it was impossible to miss.
As the ball of energy hit the ground, there was a small explosion of the energy that formed the ball, and it froze the surrounding space. The frozen area wasn't large, but it included both legs of Oriel and stooped a little under her knees.
A grin appeared on Zarin's face as he knew that he had partially won. Unfortunately, Oriel wouldn't be able to avoid his attack for some time, meaning her only chance to survive was to surrender.
Zarin was ready to tell her that she should stop finding, but what followed he didn't expect.
Oriel raised her hand as a sign of surrendering, which wasn't that strange. The unexpected part was that blood started flowing out of her mouth, ears, and eyes when she raised her hands.
Zarin also noticed that the flames of the remaining torches were flickering like something was making the fire disappear and reappearing for just a second.
Then a burst of dark devil-like laughter was heard like the air transmitted it, and Zarin felt a coldness passing through his spine like electricity. Unexpected fear appeared in his heart out of nowhere, but as with the flickering of flames, it didn't last long.
In a matter of a couple of seconds, everything was normal.
Two corpses were on the floor. One headless, still dripping blood from where the head used to be. While the other looked to be dried of blood and any fluids, while it had fallen on a small lake of the blood that got drained from it.
But the small lake blood wasn't expected as the blood was much darker than what it should be, making it look more like oil. Still, there was a strong smell of blood emitted by it.
Zarin got himself back to his senses fast as he focused on Eddie, still chained up. It didn't take him long to find the keys on Oriel.
It didn't take him more than two minutes to find the keys and free him, and doing so, he noticed Eddie giving him a look of appreciation.
At that moment, Zarin noticed another unexpected thing. Eddie was level 16.
'Is everyone able to hide their level? '
Oriel being able to hide her level was surprising, but not that unexpected, as she looked to know people. But Eddie was supposed to be a simple villager.
But then Zarin remembered the mysterious chest he found at Eddie's place and one of the Knowledge he earned from it — the one for the Rune of Concealment.
At first, he thought it meant that it would be something that would make him invisible. Still, maybe one of its applications was just to hide his Power Aura, also meaning his level.
"Can you walk? "
Zarin asked him, as he didn't want to stay here longer than he needed, and he didn't think he was strong enough to carry him.
Eddie just nodded as he raised himself.
"Let's move then. But try to be quiet. There is a sleeping guard outside, and I prefer to keep it that way."
Eddie's eyes had a brief look of surprise, but he nodded and followed Zarin's instructions. Zarin slowly reached the basement door and started raising it just slightly enough so that he could check what happened outside.
Not that long had passed since he entered, but lots could have happened in that short time.
As Zarin got a view of what happened outside, he quickly let go of the basement door, which fell close, making some noise but not too much.
"What happened?" Eddie questioned, seeing the sudden move of Zarin.
Eddie was seeing the back of Zarin and couldn't see his face, as if he could see it, he would notice some redness at it.
'Is he that constant client of that place? '
He saw the guard when he checked outside, but he wasn't asleep. Nonetheless, he was completely awake and busy 'playing 'with another of the girls of the local brothel.
Zarin didn't know what to do, as the guard looked too busy to notice that the lock and chains were gone from the door he was supposed to guard. But that didn't mean they could get out without noticing, as even those useless guards would see the door opening.
Zarin took a deep breath and raised the door to check what was happening outside. He tried to keep his eyes away from them, as just the noises they left were enough.
With the door open, even that slightly, Eddie could also hear what was happening outside, even if he couldn't see it. Without the slight opening, no sound passed, meaning they couldn't know when they would have a chance.
The guard wasn't that far from the door, almost one meter, and he faced towards the left, with the middle-aged woman he 'played 'with to be down at four in front of him. Zarin wasn't an expert in this situation, but he didn't think it would take that long.
And minutes passed, but they felt like hours, while the guard didn't seem to get any weaker.
'Are they only having good endurance for that? '
Zarin didn't think that any of the guards left behind were anything much, but that guard looked to be more than an average man.
"Do you think we need to wait for long? "
Zarin asked Eddie for his opinion.
"Most likely. He most likely paid for an hour and plans to use it fully. "
Zarin didn't know what to say. He had watched the same guy yesterday walking with a similar person, if not the same, and she had mentioned that he had paid for one hour with her, too.
And now, the next day, he repeated the same thing? Is that his daily routine or something?
Zarin couldn't stay there waiting that long, as he wasn't sure if they were out of danger yet. The mysterious way Oriel died had him on guard, and he wanted to move as far as possible.
He opened the door enough to make some opening for his hand as he used his [Wind Rocket] once again. He didn't use it at full power, though, as he didn't want to cause damage since his target wasn't the guard.
He aimed at a space further away from the guard but within hearing distance. The impact was powerful enough to make some noise, which the guard had noticed.
There was some reluctance from the guard, but after Zarin made the same move, the guard went to check it out.
As for the woman left behind, she seemed to look intensely at where the guard went. After all, if there was any danger, she had to get out of there as fast as possible.
Zarin used this chance to get himself and Eddie outside. He told Eddie to make his way back to his home as he started putting back the chains and the lock.
He activated [Stealth], which helped finish that task quickly without producing much noise. He didn't think that the guards would never check the basement, as at some point would notice the long disappearance of Oriel, but that would help to increase that time even a bit.
After doing so, he also headed to Eddie's place, hoping he would get some essentially needed answers.