The attackers stood still as they analyzed him, none of them wanting to move.
Kalen, however, did not have the same thoughts.
"If you all stay still, I'll go first"
Kalen ran towards one of the attackers who was not a challenger. It was best to get rid of as many as possible before they started to act.
But they didn't seem to be that inept, because one of the challengers quickly went to defend his partner from Kalen's attack.
Kalen snapped when he saw that it wouldn't be possible to take out some of the attackers. He had no choice but to change his plans.
The man didn't seem to want to attack him, but when he saw, that Kalen wasn't going to stay quiet, he decided to attack him as well.
The man carried a short sword, which he slashed at Kalen vertically.
Kalen dodged the cut of the sword and tried to strike at the man with his dagger, but he quickly backed away.
They both stared at each other, and Kalen smiled inwardly.
'Ah… the best way to train is to fight'
Since Kalen had received his Core, he'd only been in one fight, and that was with a homeless challenger. Nothing challenging, not even to test his newly acquired aura.
Somehow, he felt he could learn more from fighting than from meditating alone.
On the other hand, being surrounded by 8 unknown people with equally unknown intentions was dangerous.
Could Kalen take on 8 ordinary people alone?
He didn't know yet, but maybe he could take most of them before he lost. After all, he had never tried it before.
Kalen gathered aura in his legs and arms and as he was about to run towards the man, a hissing sound forced him to stop.
The attackers stopped as well, their bodies tensing.
Kalen looked in the direction of the whistle and froze.
On the roof of a nearby building, illuminated by the moonlight, was the most beautiful woman Kalen had ever seen in his life.
White hair, purple eyes, and milky skin. The woman watched the scene with a slight smile that revealed her pearly teeth.
'Who?'
The challenger facing Kalen stepped back several feet and lowered his sword.
"What are you doing here!?"
The woman laughed tenderly and immediately covered her mouth with her hand in embarrassment.
"Oh! Don't worry, I was just passing by and saw something interesting"
The man frowned.
"Don't lie, this is not your territory!"
The woman laughed again, but then looked serious.
"It's not yours either, you think because the lion is going away for a while you can sleep in his den. You play with fire... but you don't want to get burned"
The man gritted his teeth and snarled angrily.
"And what about you, you think nothing will happen to you because of who you are?"
The woman glared at the man with dead eyes, who was still glaring at her with hatred.
"No, nothing will happen to you. Because compared to you, I'm not trying to steal the lion's den, I'm just visiting her and saving her little cub"
Kalen was completely lost in the conversation.
'Lion? Den? Territory? What the hell are they talking about?'
Suddenly one of the men shouted:
"They're deactivated!"
The challenger suddenly grinned and, like the other attackers, raised his weapon.
"Kill them!"
With the challenger's cry, Kalen was suddenly outnumbered as the two challengers attacked him in melee and the others attacked from a distance with bows and some with crossbows.
'I can't...'
Just before all the arrows reached Kalen, purple flashes knocked them all down and the woman fell softly to the ground beside Kalen.
Kalen looked at her cautiously, not knowing her intentions. She had saved him for now, but Kalen had reason enough to mistrust her.
The woman looked at him too, but with a smile.
"Shall we take care of this and talk later?"
Kalen just nodded slightly and concentrated on the 4 attackers behind him.
The woman could easily attack him from behind, but it was either that or have all 8 attackers attack him at the same time.
Seeing the woman added to the equation, the attackers had no choice but to accept it and now focus on two different targets.
One challenger and 3 mortals each... something Kalen thought he could handle.
'First... the challenger'
Since he was the one attacking him in melee, it was the only option he had. If he got rid of him, the others would only be a matter of time.
The challenger lunged at him, attacking with his sword as three arrows came at him. Kalen decided to end the fight as quickly as possible or it would get complicated, so he parried the challenger's attack and in the time, it took for him to attack again, Kalen spun around, raising his robe and defending himself from the arrows.
The arrows stuck in the robe, but Kalen had already shed it and stepped out from underneath it, surprising the challenger.
With his left hand clutching the dagger, Kalen first reached out with his right arm and pulled the monk's bandage around the challenger's leg, then pulled to knock him off balance.
All this happened so quickly that the attackers had no time to fire any more arrows before Kalen buried his dagger in the challenger's neck. By the time they had reloaded their bows, Kalen was already covered by the challenger's dying body.
The arrows pierced the man's back, and Kalen took advantage of the fact that he was about to drop his sword to slip away, throwing the dagger at another attacker and ending his life.
Seeing that they were in trouble, the attackers decided to run. Kalen had nothing to gain by chasing them. So, he stood still as he threw the body of the man who had bled to death on top of him to the ground.
Kalen turned and stood in silence at the scene before him.
The woman was cleaning a short black sword of the blood that had stained it. The challenger lay at her feet, a single wound in his chest, while the attackers behind him... had killed each other.
One had an arrow in one eye, while the other two had stabbed each other.
'What did she do?'
Kalen thought he had finished off the men surprisingly quickly... but the woman, she was much quicker than he was.
Kalen studied her not once, but several times, so as not to make a mistake... but there was no doubt that the woman was a challenger just like him.
Since he was busy, he couldn't see what kind of skill she had, let alone how she had used it.
The woman smiled at him and approached him.
"So... shall we talk?"
Kalen quickly mistrusted her, and with the new sword he had wrested from the challenger, he stood a few meters away.
"Who are you and why did you help me?"
The woman tucked her sword into her black cloak and introduced herself.
"Don't worry, my name is Althea Bhassid, one of the five witches of the abyss, the witch of seduction..."
The woman's introduction simply raised the level of suspicion by a thousand percent.
'One of the witches?'
Kalen could only think of Adaire, someone incredibly dangerous and powerful, a being beyond what he knew.
And someone who bore the same title as her stood before him.
But... Althea was a challenger. So, she must be much weaker than Adaire... or so Kalen wanted to believe.
So far, at least, she didn't seem to want to attack him, so he decided to try to understand what Althea, the supposed seduction witch, was up to.
"You know Adaire?"
Althea shrugged slightly.
"Yes, I know the witch of disappearance, if that's what you're asking for"
Kalen frowned. Adaire's name was unknown to the public, only those close to her knew it, so Althea didn't seem to be lying... yet.
"What are your intentions... and those of these men?" Kalen looked at the bodies around him.
Althea crossed her arms.
"Me? I came to see your boss... Their purpose? They are mere parasites"
Kalen walked over to the body of the challenger he had killed and bent down to pick up the robe without never taking his eyes off Althea.
It was no secret that he was the witch's secretary... but not everyone knew that, and if she was one of the people who did, then she should have been watching him earlier in the day.
The problem was that Kalen had never felt that anyone was following him until he met Barret.
For that reason, he only increased his caution towards Althea.
The woman just stared at him with a gentle smile.
"So, shall we?"
Kalen looked at her and frowned.
"Go where?"
Althea tilted her head as if she didn't understand his question.
"Go where? to Adaire's house of course"