The adventurers in Mill Town were boiling with rage, like a volcano erupting, when they saw the Poison - thorn Mercenary Corps randomly grabbing people on their own turf. A group of them rushed towards the door at once, trying to make an escape route for Sasha. But when they got there, the hulking, enraged man blocked the entrance. Some brave adventurers charged at him, but the big guy just swatted them away with a casual flick of his hand, sending several flying. Some of the adventurers with better defenses managed to get up, but those with weaker resistance to blows were already lying on the ground, and it was unclear if they were dead or alive.
The main door was blocked, so Sasha tried to escape through the small window in the tavern. She ran to the window and reached out to open it, but suddenly a hand grabbed her wrist. Sasha turned her head and saw it was the goatee - bearded thief.
The moment the goatee grabbed her, Sasha's heart sank. But she didn't give up. She quickly reached for the dagger at her waist with her other hand. However, the goatee was much faster. Sasha had just touched the dagger, and before she could pull it out, the goatee seized her wrist.
"Stay still!" The goatee grabbed Sasha's hands and twisted them outwards. Sasha's body lurched forward, and she couldn't move.
"It's all over." Sasha's heart was filled with despair. She knew she couldn't get away this time. Tears streamed down her face, but she soon toughened up again.
"I'd rather die than fall into the hands of these monsters." Sasha told herself. Then she pushed the tip of her tongue against the gap between two molars in her upper jaw and pushed hard. A tiny pellet, smaller than a grain of rice and needle - like, popped out from between her teeth.
This was the venom sac of a stone - tailed wasp. If she swallowed it, the venom could kill a strong - bodied person with abilities within a minute. In the wild, many mutated creatures had a habit of torturing their prey. Instead of killing them right away, they'd make the prey lose their ability to resist and then kill them slowly. So, many adventurers prepared a quick - death option just in case, and hiding poison in their teeth was a good way.
Sasha was ready to die. She didn't want to live a life of being unable to escape or die. Her fear of the Poison - thorn people far outweighed her fear of death, so she chose to kill herself. But just as she was about to swallow the poison sac, a familiar voice suddenly rang out behind her.
"Since she doesn't want to go with you, let her go." The voice was deep and a little hoarse. Sasha stopped trying to take the poison, and big tears rolled down her cheeks.
"Who?" The goatee whipped his head around towards the sound and saw a man standing about a meter away from him, seemingly out of nowhere.
The man was about 1.8 meters tall, a bit on the thin side, and not particularly handsome. But his short hair and angular face made him look steady and a bit intimidating. The goatee felt a chill run down his spine when the man stared at him with those intense, aggressive eyes.
"Kid, you got a death wish or something? We..." The goatee was getting nervous. He was really scared of the man in front of him. He was a mutant, and his mutation ability was perception. Even though he was only an eighth - level controller, usually even a superhuman would be hard - pressed to get this close without being detected. Thanks to his amazing perception, he'd escaped danger many times. But this time, his perception failed him.
The goatee's words died in his throat. Literally. His throat had been cut, and blood spurted out like a fountain from his neck.
"Gurgle..." The goatee let go of Sasha's hands, clutched his throat, and fell to the ground, looking at the dagger in the man's hand in horror. He was an eighth - level ability user, but he didn't even see how the man had slit his throat.
"I hate being threatened." Those were the last words the goatee heard before he closed his eyes.
"Finn, thank you!" Sasha's voice was soft. Her shyness made her forget her fear for a moment.
"Thank you too." Finn smiled sincerely. Even though he'd never spoken to Sasha, the thief, before, he knew that whenever she was around, he always got the biggest smoked chicken, and his plate of beef was almost twice as much as anyone else's. It had been like that for months.
"Oh, damn it! That guy killed Ossie!" The warrior who'd been chasing Sasha with the goatee roared angrily and charged at Finn.
"Watch out!" Sasha gasped when she saw the warrior pull out his huge two - handed sword. In the wild, thieves hated warriors because they were good at both offense and defense.
"Warriors who can't charge properly are useless!" Finn chuckled, unfazed by the warrior's angry shout. He pulled out his other dagger and charged straight at him.
Forward Slash!
The warrior rushed forward and swung his greatsword from the right rear to the left front, creating a semicircular arc of silver light in the air as he slashed at Finn's head with all his might.
Forward Slash was a skill warriors learned when their strength reached 50. It was very powerful. A level - one Forward Slash had a 50% damage bonus. It was a common skill for early - stage warriors in field battles.
"Idiot." Finn just muttered these two words when he saw the warrior use Forward Slash right away.
Although Forward Slash was powerful, this skill had two big flaws because of its wide range of motion. One was that it took a long time to execute, and the other was that if it missed the target, it was hard to stop and change to another move.
Finn's assessment of the warrior was spot - on. If they were in the wilderness fighting huge mutant creatures, the warrior's bold Forward Slash would be worthy of praise. But facing a fast - moving thief like Finn, using the same tactic he used on mutant creatures was suicidal in Finn's opinion.
"Since you're asking for it, don't blame me." When Finn saw the warrior's greatsword coming at him, he sidestepped to the left with a small movement. He easily dodged the warrior's deadly attack without even using a skill.
The warrior tried to stop after missing, but the greatsword looked to be forty or fifty pounds. He'd swung it with all his strength, and it wasn't easy to pull it back halfway. With the old - fashioned move and the sword's inertia, the greatsword slashed into a bench behind Finn. It easily cut the wooden bench in two. The remaining force of the sword made it scrape on the stone floor, sending up a shower of sparks. The warrior himself lost his balance and stumbled forward.
Backhand Thrust!
As the two of them passed each other, Finn raised his arm. The dagger in his hand traced a strange, curving path in the air, like a snake chasing its prey, and stabbed towards the back of the warrior's neck.
"Pfft!" The Backhand Thrust was so fast that the warrior had no time to react. The sharp dagger pierced through the warrior's neck, and the tip of the dagger came out from under his chin. The warrior didn't even have time to make a sound before he died.