There was no time to browse around the city any longer, the city alarms blasted out all across Haglethorn. Someone was speaking through the speakers, informing everyone of a dire emergency going on that required them all to seek shelter and hide until the matter was resolved.

  Anna and Kat rushed through the rowdy streets, weaving through the opposing crowd of people swarming passed them. Anna had received directions from someone a couple of minutes before the alarms went off.

  The city guards scattered elsewhere after receiving more intel about the unknown threat that appeared, via from a magic insignia etched into their helmets, which was their own version of a walkie-talkie.

  Worry rose from within Anna, hoping that her sister would be safe till she arrived. She traveled on the roofs of the building and sprint all the way to their destination but also didn't want to leave Kat behind.

  Kat, knew how badly Anna wanted to break away from the traffic and from her so that she could reach her sister faster. “Anna, leave me. I'll be alright, go find your sister.” She insisted.

  Anna hesitated for a moment, wondering if Kat would be alright on her own. Kat then nudged her on the back, encouraging her to leave. “Go! I promise I'll be alright; now go and big sis, your little gremlin is waiting for you!”

  Her words uplifted Anna, motivating her to fly full speed ahead. She took one look at her surroundings and immediately figured out a path up towards the roof.

  Stepping up on to a stack of crates that served as stairs before leaping at one of the streetlight poles and swerving around before hopping off to grab the edge of a balcony. Pulling herself up and jumping once more to get on top of a building and rushing the rest of the way towards the direction of the park, feeling free from being restrained by the crowd below.

  The air breezed past her face, as she made haste on top of the roofs, desperate to make it in time before anything drastic happened. She was sure that this was a way faster method of travel then it would have been on in the streets. And actually, her and Kat, happened to be on the same side of the city where the park was.

  She would soon receive a message from her sister, explaining that she had decided to leave the park with someone to find a place to hide. As much as Anna didn't like someone she didn't know looking after Luna, she knew that Luna was smart enough to know who to trust. So Anna sent a quick reply back, telling her they would meet again later.

  Anna kept going in the direction of the place, until she spotted a park that had to have been what Luna was talking about. The park was dead, not a person in sight was there, she believed that her sister really did leave like she said.

  She gave one last good look around the park to make sure her sister was not there and confirmed it.

  Anna would then receive an unexpected message from the system. A sub-quest had now been given, reading.

  ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

  Sub-Quest

  Title: A Warm Welcome to Surface Dwellers!

  Description: Subterranean residents, known as Chakaries, have decided to visit the people from above and remind them of their existence with love and kindness, bringing their cuddly mounts known as Moldbreakers with them!

  Objective: Give back some love to the residents of below and survive until either the time limit runs out or enough of them are defeated.

  Time Limit: 2 Hour

  Reward: 10,000 Exp; 5,000 gold

  Penalty: None

  ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

  Then Anna heard something behind her, her body was sending off tingles of alertness. So when she observed her surroundings again, Anna almost flinched for a moment that could have ended bad for her, had she not ducked the fireball that was hurled at her.

  “What the hell?” She quickly got back up, only to have to dodge once more to the side from the same projectile. Anna would then look at the direction that the attack came from and discover who was threatening her.

  It was a tall, oddly disfigured gray colored humanoid with blind looking eyes, wearing light armor with decorated trinkets and charms around them, almost like a shaman. They wielded a staff with a skull on top, swirling it around as it prepared another spell. A mystical streak of raw magic, that had a red color, swirled around a manifested orb of inferno. She assumed this was one of the city invaders called the Chakarie. ‘Is this one of those guys that can cast spells? Like from Harry-’

  The shaman then released their spell, Anna expected another fireball to be launched at her, but received something else instead. A spray of ember like needles shot out from the ball of fire that was on the tippy top of their staff, as it was aimed in her direction.

  Instinctively, she got moving, running off to the side to avoid getting caught in the attack, while also closing in on them. And once she felt like she was able to close the gap between them with a use of her Class skill, Blink, she pulled the triggered.

  Anna teleported from behind the shaman with her daggers, leaving a puff of black smoke at her previous position, ready to drive into the gaps of their armor and took two stabs at them. What she thought would be an easy kill, would soon realize then that good spell casters always have a form of countermeasure against melee fighters.

  A sudden pulse of purple energy would emit from the shaman, once Anna's daggers came into contact with them, instead shattering an invisible barrier. “What!”

  She was then pushed back from the unexpected pulse, skidding against the roof but managing to recover herself. There was pain she felt all around her body, ‘Was my attack…reflected?’

  The shaman turned to look at her, a sly grin could then be seen on their face as it waved their hand up and down their body while chanting some words of jargon, Anna could faintly see a shimmer of purple aura layered over their skin. ‘So you casted another layer of protection, huh? That's okay, I'll break it apart and land another swift attack once it's gone.’

  The fight was back on, another flurry of embers was fired at her again, but it did not matter. Anna zeroed in on them and threw a knife, aimed at one of their exposed areas, striking them with enough force to shatter the invisible layer and expelling the pulse of magic it contained. ‘You're dead.’

  Anna would then teleport again, but this time, above them instead of right behind, believing they would expect her to do the same thing as before. And she would be right, the shaman spun around, expecting her to do another ambush, ready to counter but failed to look up.

  However, another unfortunate turn of events would occur. Her senses would go off, alerting her of something else she was hearing close by. From the corner of her eye, she teleported instantly out of fear, what she saw was another Chakarie who instead had the appearance of a rogue. They would have struck her with their daggers, had she not reacted in time to avoid it.

  Reappearing on the other side of the roof, with full vision on both of the Chakarie, the shaman and the newly self invited rogue. They started communicating with each other by using clicking noises, it creeped her out the way they were speaking, sounding almost alien. ‘These things are so ugly to look at, did they really live their whole lives below the surface?’

  Her enemies would be finished talking, Anna assumed they were discussing a type of strategy to take her down. She wasn’t going to let them have their way if that was the case, so instead of sticking around to find out what they had in store for her, she decided to book it in the opposite direction. This sort of reaction from Anna actually caused the Chakarie to be surprised, believing that she was going to try and take the both of them on.

  Anna ran away, not wanting to continue fighting anymore, since she wasn’t sure what sort of scheme they were planning as they talked. Sprinting away, she would take quick glances behind herself, checking if they were tailing her. The rogue gave into chasing her down, while the shaman remain still where they were, seeming as if they were no longer interested in her, but still looking at her from a distance.

  This was fine, she would try to shake off the rogue by dropping into an alleyway by sliding down in between two walls and carrying on down the alley. She could hear the sounds of all sorts of battles being fought as she sprinted. ‘Just how big is this invasion?’ She wondered.

  She would then hear the cries of women and children from down a path, leading into a wide open area with a statue of a king riding on a horse. Anna couldn’t help but be drawn to the noise, hoping both that Luna was there, but also not in critical danger at the same time.

  Anna would take a detour there, entering what appeared to be a large public square area with what was once a pleasing and decorative place to chill at, which had turned into a battleground.

  There were city guards all around, each engaged in their own mini fights with the Chakarie and, what could be assumed, were their mounts, Moldbreakers. Huge hulking armor shelled beasts with claws capable of breaking through stone, along with a pointy black horn that served as both a weapon and a tool.

  Giving a quick search around the area, she found the source of the cries. There was a woman and a group of children, possibly about 10 of them, in a corner of the area. What it looked like to Anna was that they were on some sort of field trip before disaster struck. From among the rest of the guards, two of them were doing what they could to protect them from three Chakarie that slowly approached them. ‘I suppose I should even the playing field.’

  Deciding to play hero before witnessing a massacre of slaughtered children, she joined the fight. Taking one of the rider’s by surprise with a couple of stabs from the back with her twin daggers, executing them on the spot before blinking onto the next target, giving them a few good cuts, but not able to finish them off because they reacted fast enough to retaliate back with their sword and shield. Anna backed away, joining side by side with the two guards.

  One of them spoke, surprised to see another supposed ally arrive to join them. “Rogue, we were not expecting an adventurer such as you to arrive! Your help will be most appreciated with subduing these wretched monsters from down below.”

  Anna looked at the guard who was talking to her and gave a slight nod, feeling a bit awkward being called a rogue, rather than being called by her name. She thought she was in some sort of role playing act or something. “Uh, yeah sir. I’ll do my best.”

  Both guards split off into two, covering more space between the innocent and the enemies surrounding them. Anna figured it was her job to try and pick off the enemies one by one now that they could focus on defense, seeing how she had eliminated one of the riders with a surprise ambush.

  However; the mount, with the dead rider on it’s back, realized that it’s owner had died the moment it saw it’s corpse slide off and land in front of it. This would drive them into a frenzy, focusing on Anna and charging head on, determined to avenge their rider.

  Anna could easily evade the attack with a simple use of her, Blink, skill. But if she were to do that, she would be endangering the innocent that they were trying to protect. That was when one of the guards decided to intervene, placing their tower shield upfront, blocking the beast with all their might. A big dent could be seen from the other side, formed by the beast’s amazingly pointy horn. “It’s belly, Rogue! Cut it from underneath, while I hold it at bay!” The guard advise, giving it his all to halt the beast.

  Anna understood and sprinted for a brief moment, transferring the momentum into a slide, slashing at its vulnerable spot. It growled in pain from her attacks and decided to lay drop flat on the ground to crush her. That was her cue to dip out with a simple Blink, warping back next to the guard. Although she may not have killed the beast, she saw that she was able to inflict the bleeding effect that her dagger, Wolf’s Fang, had. The Moldbreaker's wounds were seeping out blood more intensely than it should have, being applied tick damage every couple moments.

  The city guard that ordered her to take down the lone beast, would then finish the creature off with a couple of thrusts with their spear, gouging it through the eyes while it was momentarily down and distracted from the grievous wounds Anna had dealt. He would then move on to helping his partner out afterward.

  The other guard, who looked more like a paladin with their holy symbols engraved into their armor, was doing his best to prevent the other two riders from getting closer. The children behind could be heard sniffling, afraid of the scary looking foes that planned on killing them all.

  The paladin manifested a magical yellow shimmering shield out in front of themselves, as a means to divide their enemies from them. It was being bashed by the Moldbreakers, in an attempt to break it down, cracking it bit by bit.

  With only the two riders and their mounts left, Anna figured this was the perfect time for the woman and children to make their escape while they were busy with the city guards. “Leave now! Go, go!” She ordered, the woman didn’t need to be asked again, quickly getting the kids to move on out of there.

  But suddenly, she felt alert once again, looking around a bit before eventually looking up to find her pursuer once again. The Chakarie rouge from before was trying to get the drop on the innocent she was protecting and had to do something about it fast.

  Once again teleporting, she did so and appeared above the Chakarie, hoping to launch a counterstrike, but her move was expected. Their blades clashed as they fell, until the moment they landed back on the ground and disengaged, with Anna’s back against the woman and children who paused in uncertainty of whether they should continue going or not.

  “Go! Get out of here, I’ve got this.” Anna said, reassuring them that no harm would be done to them. They would give her thanks before continuing their escape, successfully making it out of the area.

  The guards could do nothing at the time, their attention was already occupied with the other Chakaries and their mounts. It was up to Anna to take this enemy down on her own. They circled around each other while behind the guards, eyeing each other from head to toe, waiting for the first one to make their move.

  “Your appearance grosses me out, “ Anna said to the Chakarie. “How long do you have to live underground to look this way?” She joked.

  The tall, gray disfigured humanoid responded to her comment with its usual weird clicking noise, and yet still, she could not understand what he was saying. “Right, you sound like a cicada, still can’t fucking understand you.”

  She darted towards the Chakarie to get the ball rolling, Anna not only wanted to reserve mana to use Blink, but also had a plan for gaining the upper hand against her opponent.

  The two danced in their small space of combat, the scraps and nicks of their blades sliding off each other. Anna's adrenaline rose from the intense brawl they were displaying, both sides trying to slip the other one up with a planned trip or action of disarming the other.

  Meanwhile, the Paladin's barrier looked as though it was going to shatter, but had been channeling their magic into their sword a couple of moments ago. Probably preparing to smite their aggressors back to whence they came. His buddy was also occupied with keeping the other Chakarie rider occupied on his own as well.

  The fight between the two rogues got to the point where Anna decided she would test her luck by bluffing a use of her teleportation skill.

  She paused for a moment, right before her opposer would strike her with their weapon, and used her teleportation skill again, producing her usual black puff of smoke that she would leave behind that indicated she had disappeared. Expect this time, she didn’t move away from her spot, the Chakarie reacted upon sight of the black puff and spun around only to realize too late that she had not moved from her position.

  Anna grinned and shanked her enemy in the side, causing them to grit their teeth, muffling the sound of agony, immediately backing away from her in a defensive stance.

  She did the same trick again, using her skill but never actually moving. It was hilarious in her eyes, the Chakarie glanced back for a moment, trying to expect an ambush, but it never happened. Anna would take the opportunity and fling two knives at their exposed shoulders, driving them deep into their body, hearing another groan of suffering.

  The Chakarie began clicking at her, most likely cursing at her for using cheap psychological tactics. Anna just smiled and laughed, “Ever heard of fool me once, shame on you. And fool me twice, shame on me? That’s some life advice right there.”

  It then got so irritated that it gritted through the pain and dashed up to her, faster than she had seen before, with both daggers aimed at her neck. Anna was surprised at first by its speed, but simply smiled, teleporting once more.

  The Chakarie kept going, not believing that she would actually move away, and that would be their defeat. When the smoke had vanished, she was no longer there, but rather, she had teleported above them with both daggers wrapped around the Chakarie’s exposed neck. She swiftly slit their throat with ease, landing back on the ground without looking back.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Her enemy would slow down, stumbling a bit as they came to realize that their throat had been slit from the sight of their blood spilling out. They looked back at Anna for a moment, before collapsing to the ground and dying to their grevious wounds. “That was a bit challenging.” She commented about her fight, before looking at the guards situation so far.

  The paladin’s shield was literally about to be breached, just as the other guard was knocked to the side from the Moldbreaker’s horn thrust. The shimmering yellow barrier broke as expected with one final bash from the paladin’s own Moldbreaker, but was responded with a fully magical empowered swing of the paladin’s hammer.

  Their attack was so impactful that Anna could feel the shockwaves shaking her up a bit, unfortunately, although the attack was quite strong and did inflict a lot of damage, it was not enough to completely incapacitate the Moldbreaker. The beast’s horn had been broken off, along with a huge dent to its armor, the beast would become enraged after the attack and continue its act of relentlessness towards the paladin.

  ‘What to do now? Focus the rider’s or-’

  And just as she was about to plan her next move, a random Chakarie body could be seen soaring across the public square, slamming their head against one of the light poles and likely having a concussion. “You fucking lost, PUCK!” She turned to the direction of whoever was shouting out loud.

  When Anna looked towards where it came from, a look of surprise and shock formed on her face. “No way, he’s here!?”

  Stomping his way onto the battlefield after beating down on the poor Chakarie he sent flying with his war hammer, was Barry and Ron. “I gave you one fucking task, stick close to Puck and make sure he doesn’t get into any trouble! And what the hell do you do!?”

  He blocked an attack from a Chakarie warrior with the handle of his weapon before buckling their knees with a thrusted kick and caving in their chest with his hammer, sending them away. “You lose sight of him because of a few literature books?! Really Ron, REALLY!?”

  Ron was casting illusion’s left and right as he listened to Barry’s scolding, manifesting city guards to trick their enemies into believing more reinforcements had arrived. “I’m telling you Barry, I look away for three seconds, and he’s gone! Three seconds! And by the way, they’re books of profound knowledge that you don’t have!”

  Barry was already pissed at the fact that Puck had mysteriously disappeared at the worst time ever, but Ron’s back talk was about to take it up another level. “You want to go flying as well? Because I can make that happen.” He threatened, waving his hammer at Ron, who shut up real quick. “That’s what I thought.”

  Anna was watching the two bicker the whole time, still stunned to see the asshole that stole her place in first from the tutorial event back on Earth. ‘What are the chances that I meet him again…oh well, his help will be greatly appreciated here-’

  “Rogue! Look out!” The guard who was holding off one of the Chakarie riders warned, they had brushed past them and was making a beeline towards Anna.

  She quickly came back to reality and got to sprinting away, but this time, she planned on gifting them to Barry as a welcome gift. ‘Hope you like my present, Barry, I’d like to see how you handle one of these on your own.’

  Ron looked to his side and a face of terror appeared, quickly constructing a wall of fire to conceal him from the rider and their mount that Anna was pulling towards them. Ron’s illusion worked, not only convincing the rider, but also Anna. ‘What? Fire!?’ She quickly teleported past it, reappearing on Barry and Ron’s side while the beast tried slowing down, diverting its direction away from Ron, but still couldn't stop itself in time before coming into contact with the illusion.

  “Why would you cast a wall of-” Barry stopped talking as both Ron and Anna witnessed Barry getting hit by the Moldbreaker and taking him along for a ride. Barry felt like he was hit by what was equivalent to a truck.

  Anna felt a sense of joy when she saw Barry get hit, she couldn’t help but laugh a little, finding it too funny. Ron had witnessed Anna appearing in front of him and wondered who she was. “Did you purposely lead them over to us?” He questioned, thinking that she almost got him hurt.

  She glanced back, wiping away her grin first before responding. “Yeah, I intentionally did so just for that jackass. Sorry for almost getting you involved, by the way.”

  This was news to Ron, he didn’t know that Barry had a friend from back on his world. “You’re friends with Barry!? For how long have you-”

  Irritation was written all over her face when she heard the word, friend, from his lips. “Friend? I’m not his friend, he’s just some guy that pissed me off back on our world!” She then realized what she had said, about her and Barry being from another world. “Uh, forget that last part.”

  Ron laughed a little, he had found another person that shared the same opinion about Barry. “Haha, friend or not, we can at least both agree he’s a jerk. And by the way, I know you and him are not from here. There’s no need to hide it from me.”

  Anna was confused, but relieved at the same time. “You know we’re not-”

  A blast of fire had erupted near them, startling both of them and ending their short conversation. Showers of mini fireballs would fall from the sky upon them, Ron casted an illusionary fog that covered a wide enough area for him and Anna to move to another location without being in sight of whoever was targeting them.

  Barry had been carried over near a food stand, tumbling into it as soon as the beast came to a complete stop. It was a grill stand with a variety of delicious meats sprawled out all across the ground. “I am not in the best mood right now.” Barry told the rider and his beast, as he got back up, still looking pissed off.

  The beast could smell the food that was on the ground licking the scent that was in the air, while the rider smacked his mount while also making a clicking noise, presumingly trying to get it to focus on the enemy in front.

  Barry readied his hammer, patting the end on the palm of his left hand. “Come on, fugly, l have someone to look for now!” He then charged at the duo, who responded in turn the same way.

  In a moment before contact, and just as the Moldbreaker tried ramming his horn into him, Barry dove to the side of the beast while locking eyes with the Chakarie riding on it. He then double jumped, shifting directions, catching the humanoid by surprise with a hefty swing, negating their attempt to block his attack, knocking them clean off their saddle and crashing them on the ground, badly hurt.

  The beast then made a roundabout turn in order to attack Barry again, who was now in front of the fallen Chakarie that was clutching their chest. “You want to know what’s worse than dying by me?” He asked the being.

  And when the beast almost reached Barry, he finished what he was going. “Dying by your mount.” He then jumped up, avoiding the Moldbreaker’s horn attack that punctured the surprised Chakarie’s body and sending it soaring in the air and watching it splay against the ground.

  Barry would then land on the creature’s back, taking control of the reins and trying to manipulate its sense of direction. “How do handlers do this shit?” He wondered what the secret was to making a mount follow their order. “I guess I’ll try to control with physical force.”

  Anna and Ron had found cover behind a building through the illusionary mist that Ron had manifested, fireballs were still being rained down on it from on top of a building, they realized. “It’s that shaman looking Chakarie from before, looks like they caught up to me in time. And they brought friends with them too” She told Ron, seeing not just one, but three other shamans that were showering projectiles of fire at the rest of the guards in the area that were fighting their own battles.

  “Ah, more spell casters, with fire affinity too at that. Still, they shouldn’t be a problem for you…well, a good spell caster would usually have some form of protection against physical attacks.” Ron was right on the money.

  “I found out quickly about that, they should all have some sort of invisible armor layered over them. I would need to break their armor first before stabbing their necks afterward.” She had to be cautious of the pulse that the armor would emit after being shattered.

  Ron thought for a moment, whipping up a plan of trickery. “I’ve got an idea, keep still for a moment, will you.” Anna wondered what he had cooking in his orange curly hair of his, but listened, remaining still. Mystical magic began to swirl around her. “This will only take a second…”

  Barry was experiencing first hand of what it was like trying to ride a rhino, or at least, something that was close enough to it. His Moldbreaker was jumping all over the place, giving it their all to try and shake Barry off of it, but he wasn’t going to let it happen. “I’m no good at this, but I’m not about to give up on trying!”

  He tried steering his beast into another group of Chakaries, who were unaware that one of their mounts had been hijacked by a human. Ramming them with his beast while they were still engaged in combat with the city guards, who were just as surprised as their enemies. Some of them actually cheered Barry on, watching him bulldoze their invaders.

  His fun would soon come to an end as two other riders focused on him, responding to the chaos he was causing and colliding their beasts with his. Barry would leap off towards the riders before the collision would occur, the Chakarie riders did the same, both wielding spears in hand and aimed at him.

  Their beasts would flip over, while Barry double jumped again, narrowly avoiding their thrust of spears and bringing the hammer down upon one of them. His attack would quickly be deflected by the other’s partner, resulting in neither side getting hurt besides tipping over their mounts.

  Barry was now in the center of attention of the two Chakaries, both of which adorned separate, yet similar, colored helmets made of leather and iron. Red and black were their colors of identity. “What are you guys supposed to be? The commanders of this sorry looking bunch of earth dwellers?”

  The two Chakarie warriors would take offense to his comment and be the first to make their move, “Perfect, right to the point.” Barry steeled himself once more.

  And as Barry went head-to-head with the two higher ranking Chakarie, a lone Chakarie rogue would appear on top of one of the buildings that had a shaman on it, hurling fireballs down below.

  The rogue casually moved up to the shaman, who took notice of their presence, but looked away, continuing their mayhem.

  Completely unaware and with their guard dropped, the rogue threw a knife at them with precision, shattering their protection barrier and triggering its effect. And within a few seconds, the rogue vanished for a moment, only to reappear behind the shaman, assassinating them.

  It was Anna who had been disguised as one of them by Ron, she would then continue on down to the next few shamans that remained. All of which were too distracted with raining fireballs upon their enemies.

  She had eliminated two more before the last one finally became aware of the reducing amount of fireballs being thrown. The final shaman turned to check on their companions, but found them dead. A single Chakarie rogue, however, was on making their way over to them, which was confusing to them.

  As Anna drew closer, the shaman tried speaking to her, but she didn't respond. This raised concerns to shaman, believing that either this was a traitor, or an imposter, before aiming their staff at her, channeling a fireball. ‘Covers been blown, I guess.’ She assumed, Anna had also noticed that it looked like the same shaman she first encountered.

  She threw a knife at them, missing, but still interrupting their focus, which delayed their spell. She threw a few more to keep them on their toes, while also trying to break their mage armor, trying to keep them from casting anything at all.

  Anna would eventually be in close reach of the shaman without having to teleport, yet, right before she could do anything. The shaman rubbed their medallion that was on their neck, a sparkle of purple light emitted from it, prior to Anna's assault.

  The shaman had disappeared from plain sight, warping away to some unknown location elsewhere. “Where did they go now?” She wondered, observing her surroundings, but the shaman was nowhere to be seen. Her disguise wore off, shaping back into her usual self.

  She decided that it was the end of the shamans' attack, and went back to focusing on the fight inside the public square. From above, it looked as though the city guards were winning the battle. Anna would then spot Barry's 1v2 match against two Chakarie warriors with different colored helmets. ‘Shall I even up the match up?’ She thought, unsure if Barry deserved her help. ‘I suppose…’

  The fight seemed to be even at the moment, Barry was holding his own despite being outnumbered, but his resilience and instinct for battle was what was keeping him from being beaten. Compared to all the other Chakarie warriors that were probably basic infantry, these supposed commanders had definitely earned their title.

  He believed he could overpower one of them on his own through raw force, but together, they were in-sync with each other. “You two rehearse with each other or something every day?” He mocked.

  He dodged a flurry of slashes and combos, receiving minor cuts here and there, but never anything fatal. Barry blocked and shoved one of their spears to the side, creating an opening for himself to drive his hammer into their chest. But his momentum was put to a stop early by the other Chakarie's spear, pushing down on his hammer's handle. ‘That guy is really ticking me off even more.’

  It was the 3rd time that an opportunity to land a clean hit was canceled because the one with the black helmet would always prevent him from doing so.

  Then, from out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flying knife that passed by his cheek, landing dead center into the palm of one of the commander's hands, recoiling from the sudden pain as the blade cut deep, retracting their arms and weapon back. The two subterranean warriors retreated to gather themselves, seeing that a new guest had arrived.

  “Looked like you were struggling there, Barry.” Anna said, now standing side by side with him, tossing a knife in the air, playfully.

  Barry looked to his left, taking notice of the slender woman with light pale skin and crimson hair. Her appearance made him feel a sense of familiarity, but he couldn’t quite remember where or how they met. “...do I know you?”

  His response riled her up with anger, gripping her knife intensely before turning to face him. “You don't remember who I am, asshole!?”

  Upon hearing her cussing at him for forgetting, he was able to recall clearly who she was. “Oh yeah, you're the sorry person who I snatched their quest items from, back during the tutorial.” He said, nonchalantly.

  Her face looked like she was about to explode, “Sorry person!? That's who you remember me as!?” The two Chakarie commanders then re-engaged, taking their arms and dashing forward.

  Barry ignored her ranting, getting himself ready to fight back, but then saw Anna walk up looking frustrated as all hell. “I don't need your help-”

  “Oh, shut the fuck up, bArRy!” She mocked, making fun of his name, before dashing ahead to meet their enemies halfway.

  Barry just sighed and followed along, unsure of how their teamwork was going to play out.

  Anna was the first to make contact with both of them, flipping over them while flinging a row of knives at them from above and gracefully landing on the other side. Despite her attack being deflected by them, it did open up an opportunity for Barry to catch one of them off guard with a swing of his hammer. He impacted against their side, knocking them over a decent distance.

  Anna kept the other busy, applying constant pressure with hit-and-run tactics, dancing around him while trying to sneak in a few grazes with her daggers.

  It was just the red helmet commander against Barry, the same one that kept getting lucky every time Barry would try to connect a hit before being stopped by their partner. “It's just you and me, a fair 1v1 like it should be, buddy. Now, let's make this quick.”

  The Chakarie clicked at him for a moment, likely cursing at him, before charging at him.

  Their duel began, with the Chakarie maneuvering around Barry while utilizing the reach of his spear to cause harm from an adequate distance.

  Every step that he took forward, the Chakarie would take two steps back, it would come to Barry’s attention that his opponent was doing all he could to try and avoid being so close to him. Barry had a feeling that he sort of feared what he would be capable of if he ever got his hands on him.

  He decided to make a gutsy play, ‘If you're going to keep playing chicken. Then I'll just have to draw you in closer.’

  Barry would then stand still, being struck by in the shoulder by his enemies spear. They tried pulling their spear back, but Barry gripped it before it could retract. He took the hit on purpose, tolerating the pain so that he could pull the bastard closer. “Get over here!”

  He yanked the spear towards himself, bring the Chakarie along with him by surprise, drop-kicking them into their body, pushing the all the air out of their lunges as they flew back. Now in possession of the spear, and finally taking notice that it was an Uncommon weapon, he stored it into his inventory. “Free weapon, thank you.”

  Then, entering from one of the paths leading to the public square, were a group of people armed and ready to assist on the scene. From among them was Kat, wielding her shield and mace, looking around for whoever to help out. She would then spot Anna fighting against one of the commanders from a distance, “Anna! I’m here!”

  Anna heard her name, creating some distance between her opponent before looking in the direction her name was called out. Realizing that it was Kat, she smiled. ‘Good, glad to see that she was able to take care of herself.’

  Kat and a few others would come to her aid, running towards her to help out. The commander and Kat seemed to be on par with each other, at least in terms of reaction time. But when it came to stamina, Kat was looking more exhausted than the commander, probably because of all the exercise she had been doing all day. “Rest up, Anna, we’ll take care of things here. Did you find your sister by any chance?” Kat asked.

  The Chakarie commander was now being occupied from all sides by some of the reinforcements that arrived with Kat. “No, but she did say that she was with someone at the time and went to go look for a place to hide, apparently.” She was resting up as much as she could to recover her stamina from behind with Kat.

  Kat observed the area entire area some more, eventually spotting someone that sent chills down her spine. “I-It’s him! It’s the crazy guy!” Referring to Barry, who was still messing with the other Chakarie commander. “I can’t believe he’s actually here.”

  “Yeah, me neither. I thought it would be the last time I’d ever see him again, yet here we are.” Kat replied, sounding almost irritated. Kat wondered why she talked that way, but regardless, Kat felt a sense of relief when she saw Barry again.

  It was then that Anna would catch sight of someone moving on top of the rooftops. Focusing her sight on them, her expressed turned into shock, she was astonished of who she saw, resting on the person’s shoulder. “It’s my sister! It’s Luna! HEY, THAT'S MY SISTER! STOP!” She called out to the mysterious cloaked person that was running away.

  Kat looked up at who Anna was staring at, but quickly shifted her attention once she saw that the commander that was fighting the other people, was weaving their way towards them, injuring everyone in his path until he had a clear shot. Whipping out a couple of throwing knives from his satchel, flinging them towards Anna’s way, who was still focused on the mysterious person carrying her sister. “ANNA!”

  Kat got in front of Anna, placing her shield in front of them to block the projectiles that were delivered exclusively for her. Kat believed that she had gotten all of them, hearing the clang of the knives bouncing off her shield. But then heard a yelp of pain from behind, ‘Anna?’

  The commander was then pushed back by the rest of the people, along with the arrival of a couple of city guards after finishing up their side of their fights.

  Kat looked back and gasped, “No, no, no!” Anna’s side had been struck by one of the commander’s knives, embedding itself deep.

  She comforted Anna, who gripped her side, “My sister, she needs me, Kat. I need to-” She groaned in agony, her skin was starting to lighten up a bit more than her usual color. Kat wondered if the knife had been poisoned beforehand and was weakening her.

  Kat wanted to help her somehow, but didn’t know what to do. “Medic! Is there anyone her that’s a medic! Please, she-”

  Anna bared through the suffering she was feeling and stood up to look towards Barry’s direction and shouted in desperation. “BARRY! PLEASE GET MY SISTER, SHE’S ON TOP OF THE BUILDINGS!” He was the only person that she knew, she could call upon for help in the area. Even though she didn’t like him, she knew he was capable.

  Barry had just got done defeating his opponent with a slam of his hammer to their chest, bashing them into a building wall and cracking it. He heard his name being called out and faced its direction, seeing a wounded Anna on her knee’s coughing. “Sister? Why are you-”

  Suddenly, it seemed like time had stopped at that moment to Barry. Since the beginning of his awakening back at the crematorium, he dreamed of having a chance at meeting the first person that fooled him, rage fulled inside him to the max at what was the cause for his immediate fury.

  “J-Judas! Over here, please help! Anna’s looks like she’s been poisoned!” Kat called out, realizing that he was a doctor and must know of a way to help her friend.

  Judas, the sly bastard that treated Barry as a sacrifice for his sake in the beginning, stood in the distance away from him. The doctor approached Kat and Anna in response to their call at first, but would slow down, his eyes soon meeting Barry’s menacing gaze. The doctor halted, his expression now looking to be in terror. “Judas! Help, please, Anna’s veins are starting to show!” Kat called out again.

  The traitorous doctor, Judas, would then turn around and sprint away like a coward, in an attempt to leave the scene. “Judas!” Kat cried out, tears filling her eyes.

  Barry felt like bolting forward towards the doctor, allowing the rage he was feeling to control is next course of action. He wanted to close out the world around him so that he could focus on chasing the doctor down like a bloody hungry monster. ‘I’ve finally found you, doc.’