An arrow had struck the back of a wounded Chakarie’s head, piercing through the other end of their skull and sticking out, dropping the dead warrior. “Ha! I got one of them!” An archer shouted with excitement, as she and her pals hunted the rest of the Chakarie that were running away.

  “Seriously, that one was mine!” Another guy complained, he was just about to get the kill with his rapier before the archer beat him to the punch. “Why do you keep spiting me.”

  “I didn’t see your name on him, sucks to be you.” The archer mocked, sticking her tongue out.

  The two were a part of a group of 15 people that came from Haglethorn with their own gear, volunteering to join the city’s enforcers on their mission to eliminate the Chakarie that ravaged their home. And since they had received the quest about these, “Nightwalkers”, they have been hoping to find them so they would be rewarded for slaying them.

  One of the people that was in the center of the pack was Judas. This time, he wore a white and gold mantle cloak with a hood over his head, with a light armored tunic underneath to offer some protection. In his hand was a brown and gold holy bible of some sort with cryptic symbol designs around it. “Treating this as some sort of competition, are you Abby and Lucien?”

  Abby, the archer, notched another arrow and drew back her bow string. “Yeah, you could say that, Judas. A girl needs to have some fun now and then.” She then released, her aim being true and landing a direct hit on the leg of a fleeing Chakarie, hindering their movement and allowing the rest of the pack to gang up on them.

  “It’s not fair that your Class specializes with a bow, fencing may have been my life and pride, but I can never reach them fast enough to deal the killing blow because of you.” Lucien barked, he hated that she would always still his kills.

  Judas didn’t criticize, they had been given free equipment by the city and were simply taking the opportunity to farm experience points by joining the enforcers in their fight against the Chakarie. “Whatever keeps you two motivated, as long as we’re all rewarded handsomely.”

  Their group would continue to advance through the ruins where the Chakarie were leading them. It all seemed a bit too easy for them so far, not thinking much about how far they were straying away from the others.

  Eventually, Judas and his group would be led to a broken down street after exiting a dilapidated building. “Huh?” Abby was shocked to see an empty street with no Chakarie in sight. “Where did the rest of those rats go?”

  They moved out on the street, curious as to where their enemies had disappeared to. “No way, they couldn’t have managed to get away from us. We were on their asses like glue.” Lucien grouched.

  For a moment, the group would ponder as to where they all could have gone with nothing happening. Until they heard the sound of something crackling in the air, “Fireball!” One of the people warned.

  A ball of fire whizzed over their heads and struck the entrance of the building they had exited from, causing it to crumble on impact, sealing their way back inside. More fireballs rained down upon them from above, there was some debris to take cover behind, so that was what they did.

  “Hey! Go find your own cover, there's no room!” One of the people told off another, shoving them away. Judas group was now being scattered away from each other, as they tried desperately to find any sort of protection.

  Judas sprinted away from the ambush, desperately searching for another way to escape the situation, but all the other avenues or paths were blocked off. ‘Damn to all this, why didn’t I think of a possible ambush?’

  He would then find a building with an open window, his ticket out of the mess he was in. Judas hurried over and dove inside before another fireball could hit him. “How fortunate am I to find shelter, I’ll just wait it out inside here and let my group handle those varmins.”

  Deciding to explore the building inside to find a better spot to hide, Judas got back on his feet and roamed about. Cobwebs and dust covered any remaining furniture inside, albeit broken down, along with other trinkets and homely items that were scattered everywhere as well.

  As he searched through each room, Judas would come to hear some sort of pounding noise, followed by scrapping on what could be the walls. The doctor was startled by the ominous sounds and quickly hid within a locker that was nearby, closing the locker just enough to give himself a bit of vision of the room outside. His heart was beating rapidly due to fright.

  What was a minute in reality, would appear to be longer from Judas’s perception of time passed. He was scared of what was lurking in the building with him, he hoped who or whatever it was would go away at once.

  The 2nd floor he was on trembled, his instincts told him to leave the locker and run, but the fear inside himself caused him to remain. ‘What the hell is going on!? What is out there?’ He messaged Abby and Lucien to find him as the tremor kept persisting.

  And just then, the floor collapsed, causing the locker and everything else on the floor to plummet and land on the 1st floor. Judas’s body banged against the walls of the locker, his body aching somewhat from the impact before being rolled out of his hiding spot. Now exposed to anyone that could be there.

  Judas’s head swiveled around, trying to locate what could have done such a thing to break the floor he was on. He found nothing, absolutely no one was there for him to find. His breathing was irregular, his body shivered all around, now jumpy at the slightest sounds that were made. ‘I-I need to get out of here, whoever did this, they know I’m here and is just toying with me.’

  Quickly, he scurried out the nearest doorway and entered a stretched out hallway. He could see a double door at the end of the hall that he could only hope was his exit. ‘T-There, that has to be my way out.’

  Then, the wall next to him exploded, sending debris and dust his way, spooking him into a haste towards the supposed exit. ‘They know I’m here! I need to get out!’

  As Judas rushed down the hall, the walls next to him would continue to be punched through by his unknown stalker. “Leave me the hell alone!” He shouted in both a mix of fright and anger.

  He would reach the double doors and anxiously try to open it, but it would not budge. Judas looked behind himself to see if his assassin had caught up to him, which wasn’t the case. He then pulled out a morning star weapon with a free hand and began banging on it.

  The sounds of consistent banging against the metal doors would muffle the sounds of an unseen presence that loomed behind the doctor. Who then felt the back of his head being grasped, terror shot up all over himself, unable to look behind to see who it was. “Allow me.” A spine-chilling voice whispered in Judas’s ear.

  His body would then be used to bash against the doors, bringing to Judas a world of hurt each time his face came into contact with the doors, busting it down bit by bit until eventually the door was brought down with a thrusted kick from the stalker. Afterward, Judas’s body was then thrown outside the building, skidding across an alley and coming in contact with another building wall.

  Blood was seeping out of the wounds on the doctor’s face due to being used as a battering ram against the doors. His endurance stat was not high, feeling pain all across his body from the trauma inflicted. “Who…who are-”

  He stopped talking once he took a glance at the person responsible for giving him a great scare. “No…no, no, no…” Judas backed up instinctively, only to realize that there was a wall. “W-Why are you here!?”

  Stomping out of the building was the madman himself, a person who was always hell-bent on getting payback on Judas for how he treated him since the beginning. “Why am I here? I just am, and damn is it good to fucking see you down here as well.” Barry replied in a fit of rage, carrying a war hammer on his shoulder.

  From Barry’s perspective, he couldn’t believe that Judas’s appearance resembled that of a pure, righteous priest. But aside from his disgusting look, the only thing that Judas had on him that Barry was curious about, was the odd bible that he had in hand. It was a Rare item with the name, “Sacred Text of Falsities”.

  Judas looked to his right, which was a path that was in the direction of his group. “I-I don’t understand why you’re targeting me!? Just let me be!” He cried before running towards the alleyway.

  The doctor would sprint for a couple of moments before feeling the impact of something hitting his back and falling over, knocking the air out of his lungs.

  Barry had thrown a chunk of stone at the doctor, as he took his time to approach him. “You don’t understand why I’m so pissed at you? Wow, you may remember my face, but not that you left me to die since the beginning. And here you are, dressed as a benevolent priest, you snake!”

  Judas tried getting back on his feet to escape again, but another rock was thrown at him from behind, stopping his movement. “Dammit boy! How can you still hold a grudge against me when we’re all just trying to survive. I’m sure you would have done the very same in my shoes.”

  “Don’t give me that shit and try to flip the script around, I would have tried to work together, if you had stayed to help. But I guess your selfish desire to stay alive was all you cared about!” Barry was getting closer to reaching him.

  “Yes, I’ll admit that I was focused on staying alive at the time. The world went to shit back on Earth, I had no clue what was going on, and so I panicked and ran-”

  “NO! That’s all bullshit!” Barry cut off, slamming his hammer against a wall, shattering a chunk of it on impact. “You had this shit eating grin on your scumbag face as you told me, ‘Survival of the fitness’. It was as if you enjoyed watching me struggle trying to rip that zombie off of me. And not only that, but the woman that was zombified, she didn’t die from a zombie attack. She died because YOU sacrificed her to save your own skin.”

  Judas was silent, he wasn’t expecting for Barry to piece together what he had done previously before meeting him. Deep inside, Judas knew that Barry wasn’t going to stop at tormenting him, he could feel the underlying pressure of hatred against him. “And are you saying you wouldn’t have done the same-”

  His body was flipped over before being lifted by his throat, Barry had Judas in a choke hold, with his other hand now equipped with a short sword. “Quit trying to compare me to trash like you! You’re not getting out of here alive!”

  The doctor’s amber eyes locked with Barry’s, he had a feeling since the moment Barry saw his eyes, that he was nothing but trouble. “I-I c-can feel your rage inside of you.” The doctor croaked. “I-I understand your hatred, s-so please, I-I’m truly sorry f-for what I’ve d-done.”

  Suddenly, just as Barry was about to stab Judas through the chest, he felt his mind becoming distorted. His vision was becoming shaky abruptly, seeing twin doubles of Judas. ‘What?’ He was confused.

  Barry tried brushing off the feeling to drive his blade into the person he hated most, but wasn’t able to concentrate all his strength into it. The tunic that Judas was wearing underneath was what prevent him from receiving a grave injury. The feeling of his mind splitting a part was becoming unbearable, in that he had let go of Judas by the neck and fell to a knee, placing his hands on his head.

  Now free from his clutches, seeing that his magical influence of words had bought him sometime, he at first turned to runaway but then realized that this could be an opportunity to end him…or possibly do something worse.

  “Listen, I apologize for how I treated you like bait. But I hope that you can come to an understanding that we need one another to get through these challenges that the gods are throwing at us.” Judas’s words were seeping through Barry’s ears as he tried to endure his mind being altered from the doctor's influence.

  Is…is this his doing? It has to be…I…I just need to shut him up…’ Barry thought, eyeing the short sword that he had dropped on the ground. ‘If only…I can…’

  Judas noticed his gaze on his weapon, but also saw that his influence was restraining him from reaching it. “I know it’s hard to forgive what I had done, I also can’t imagine the struggles that you faced along the way. But I assure you, that if we work together, we’ll be able to overcome anything.”

  Barry tried moving his body with the intent to attack Judas, yet he could not do so. He looked up at Judas and faintly saw his Mana bar with his enhanced eyes, which had been depleted by roughly half. ‘Is it the book…or is it that he has some sort of ability to…manipulate me with his words…mind control perhaps?’

  Judas stuck a hand out, as if offering help to stand back on his feet. “Please, accept my deepest apologies and join my cause in making it through this hellish game that the gods have placed us in.” He then thought of another thing he was wanted to ask. “Why don’t we clean the slate by introducing each other’s names, you may call me ‘Judas’, and you are…”

  His words echoed in Barry’s head, the question of what his name was continued to play over inside. ‘My name….I borrowed the name “Barry” from that mysterious swordsman I keep seeing in my memory fragments…my whole reason for fighting and pressing on….is to recover my memories…’

  “What is your name?” Judas asked again, in a soothing tone.

  ‘My anger and rage is not only towards this asshole…it’s also directed at the gods themselves…because they’ve taken away my memories. I have no clear idea of what sort of person I was before and that….that….’ Barry’s heart began pounding faster than usual, he felt his blood boiling inside. “THAT ANGERS ME!”

  In a swift motion, faster than Judas’s eyes could catch, Barry grasped the short sword off the floor and slashed across Judas’s chest. A streak of blood splattered across the walls, his sword managing to cut through Judas’s tunic. “AAAAAH!” The doctor cried in pain, backing away from Barry, yet falling on his ass in the process.

  “Your cheap hypnotism trick won’t work on me!!” Barry then stowed away his sword, wanting to vent his wrath on the doctor with his hands instead.

  Judas was in total fear, he had thought his influence would overtake Barry, but was completely wrong once he lashed out. “I-Impossible!? I was sure that I had you, how is it that your will was able to overcome my powers!?”

  Barry saw the fearful doctor try to get back up and sprint away, but he stopped him with a simple leg sweep and grappled him to the ground. “You wanna know why, you scumbag! I’ve got all this pent-up anger inside that reminds me of my goal, and I’m about to give you a fraction of it!”

  The doctor tried squirming fresh from his restraints, but it proved to be useless as he felt his neck being strangled. “SO CHOKE ON MY FUCKING RAGE!” Barry roared out, transferring his temper into choking the doctor out.

  Barry could see that doctor’s Health bar was rapidly depleting, he felt a sense of joy as he watched the bar go down. He was finally getting the revenge that he always wanted, the bastard that left him to die was getting what he deserved. The strange feeling that he felt before that stopped him from doing what he wanted by doing right instead, was not surfacing, and he was glad for that. ‘Finally, I can put an end to this scum-’

  He then felt something strike the top of his head, the sound of a twig breaking apart was what he heard, two ends of an arrow fell down on the ground within his view. ‘The hell?’ Barry thought, rubbing his head as he looked up to see the direction it came from.

  Having high endurance made his body tougher, since each point in the stat score not only increased his Health and Stamina, but it also boosted his Armor rating. Which was what caused him to tank the arrow that was shot at him like it was a light scratch.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “What the- that was a headshot! My arrow should do more damage than that!?” A short light brown skin, teenage girl with short brown hair yelled out, she wore an archer’s outfit. “Back away from the old priest, you crazy!” Abby warned, notching another arrow and sending it his way.

  On instinct, Barry narrowly dodged the projectile, pissed that someone arrived to interfere with his revenge. “Crazy!? I’m doing everyone a favor by getting rid of this guy!” Judas was passed out, so he bolted in her direction, pulling out his hammer once again. “And I don’t need someone like you getting in my way!”

  The archer panicked, startled by how fast this guy was approaching her. She began rapid firing multiple arrows at him as she hopped backwards to make some distance of her own. Barry would weave through the attacks, as well as blocking some with his hammer. “Lucien! Where are you!” She cried out.

  In less than 15 seconds, Barry had closed the gap between his opposer and readied his hammer to knock the daylights out of her. “You should have never interfered in something you know nothing about, now go to sleep!”

  Abby flinched in response to his swing of motion, not ready to feel the blunt trauma that would be unleashed upon her.

  Suddenly, a guy with dark skin and scruffy black hair with ear piercings, wielding a rapier, intercepted Barry’s attack with what seemed like an instant parry in his eyes. Lucien had arrived on time, launching a quick thrust of his weapon, pushing Barry back. “I’m here, I’m here, you big cry baby.” He assured, sounding as if he had a French accent.

  ‘Did he really just parry my attack? Why is there another person showing up to defend this asshole!?’ Barry was getting annoyed by these random people that just showed up.

  “Who is this guy, Abby?” Lucien asked, preparing to challenge Barry if he came any closer.

  “I don’t know, I just got here in time to stop him from choking the old man.” Abby informed, then decided to question Barry about his reason for attack Judas. “Hey, crazy, what do you have against Judas? How do you know him?”

  The question irritated him. “This old man abandoned me to die! I should be asking you two, why the hell are you defending his sorry ass!?” Barry barked back.

  The two were puzzled to hear his response, believing that he must have been from Earth like the rest of them. “Left you to die? He doesn’t seem to be the type of guy to do such a thing, but if you know him…are you saying that you are from Earth like the rest of us?” Lucien wondered.

  Barry couldn’t believe what he was hearing, that there were actually people that trusted the doctor. He was also not expecting to find more people to be from his world. “And, so what if I am? Fuck off and let me be, him and I have business to settle.”

  And just as Barry was about to turn back to finish ending Judas, he caught sight of Abby drawing another arrow into her bow and Lucien inching forward to charge. “You can’t be serious…”

  “Move any closer to him, and we’ll riddle you with holes, dude.” Abby warned.

  “Care to try your luck again?” Lucien mocked, feeling a bit overconfident from parrying Barry’s attack on Abby. “Or would you perhaps like me to make a fool out of you.”

  Barry was silent, there was no reasoning with these two idiots. His temper rose drastically, he was not having any of their nonsense today. ‘I’ll be the one making a fool out of you two.’

  And in a flash, the two witnessed Barry darting back at them, primarily targeting Abby. Abby tried backing away down the path she came from, but was blocked off by Barry, who expected it.

  Lucien, startled by his display of speed, reacted lately to try and parry his attack once more. Barry anticipated this, not wanting to repeat the same scenario again, and shifted the direction of his swing by flipping over and slamming his weapon downwards on his head.

  This caused Lucien to mix-up by simply blocking the attack with his blade with no chance of parrying. He felt the strains on his arms and legs, not expecting his strike to have so much power behind it. Barry could see that his attack had costed Lucien to expend about 20% of his stamina just to block, based on the Stamina bar he was reading about the fencer’s.

  Lucien did not like the fact that Barry was wielding a hammer against his thin blade, he feared that his weapon's durability might break from the blunt impact of his weapon if he kept blocking.

  Abby had readied an arrow and saw this as a perfect opportunity to land a clean hit on Barry at close range, seeing as he was already in midair. “You dumbass, there’s no escaping this shot!” She decided to use a unique skill of hers that she was waiting to use, empowering her arrow with lime-green energy, morphing it into an arrow of nature and released it point-blank.

  Barry, completely in the zone of crushing these annoyances, double-jumped with his unique boots to evade the shot, which then struck the wall of a building. The impact of the arrow caused it to sprout a cluster of vines with thorns that covered a wide area on the wall, that could have restrained Barry had he not jumped out of the way. “WHAT!” Abby was shocked.

  He would then use the momentum to twirl around with his hammer to try and sideswipe them, passively applying his ability, “Kinetic Output”, as always with each physical attack. “Who's the dumbass now!”

  Lucien intervened again, stunned to see that he had avoided Abby’s special arrow and lately came to her aid to block his attack. But it was enough to send both of them tumbling backwards.

  Barry inspected the vines that were on the wall, he was not expecting the archer to be capable of such a flashy move. ‘She must have some sort of special archer Class, I assume? Then what sort of cheesy Class does the fencer have? Has to be something related to fencing, or is that too obvious…’ He wondered, he decided to figure it out as he went through the motions.

  He observed their equipment with his eyes, the only things that stood out to him from his eyes was the fencer’s rapier and the archer’s bow that were both Uncommon items. Which were the following: “Cold Steel Rapier +1” and “Harpies Silver Bow”.

  “H-He dodged my arrow!? Point-blank by jumping in midair!? How can he do that?” Abby panicked, rising up from the ground.

  Lucien steeled himself, taking their foe more seriously than before. “It could be a part of his Class, so far we haven’t seen anything unique about him aside from him evading in the air. Let’s not take him lightly, Abby.” He took a deep breath, focusing his gaze on his opponent that marched towards them.

  Drawing another arrow into her bow, Abby agreed and hyping herself up against Barry, she would pick the perfect time to try her special move again. “We’re in a narrow alleyway, if I land one good shot with my arrow of vines, it should be over for him. Make me an opening, Lucien.”

  And with their plan set, Lucien awaited for Barry to make the first move with patience. He figured that Barry planned on taking Abby out first and wanted to remain close to her in case that were to happen. “I underestimated you, that was a pretty good feint you showed.” Lucien complimented.

  No reply was made by Barry, as they watched him continue to stomp closer and closer. His cold and focused gaze fixated on taking them down sent an uneasy feeling at the two of them. “I see…you must really be concentrated on getting rid of us. Perhaps, you-”

  Like before, Barry dashed forward with quickness that triggered the two of them to immediately engage combat once again. Side stepping the volley of arrows delivered by Abby, while also blocking Lucien’s pushback of thrusts and slashes with his rapier from a distance. Abby was very keen on knowing where Lucien would move, timing her shots so as to not hit him from behind.

  Barry tried getting tricky with his own strikes and pummels of his hammer, but each time Barry did, Lucien would anticipate it and perform a staggering counter before pecking at him with his thin blade, Abby’s arrows would also sneak in a few direct hits as well.

  His hammer would get shifted to the side by his opponent’s rapier, receiving a few scratches in return for being deflected. Barry was not being given the chance to land a proper hit on Lucien and it irritated him. Especially since he was always keeping a bit of distance from him.

  ‘I don’t get it.’ Barry was getting frustrated as his attacks kept getting countered by his opponent’s toothpick. ‘How is he able to do this? I'm faster and stronger than him despite using a heavier weapon, yet he’s still deflecting me. Is he really using technique, or is it maybe a skill of his?’

  That was when the spirit woman from before whispered into his ear. ‘Seems like you are having a bit of trouble.’

  Barry diverted the thrust of Lucien’s rapier to his shoulder with a nudge of his hammer’s handle. ‘Well, yeah, this guy is bothering me with his parrying skills. I can’t make any sense of it, and I have to be conscious of not slipping up or else I could be ensnared by vines from that pest in the back shooting twigs.’ He responded, hearing the whistles of Abby’s arrows flying by.

  He thought he heard a chuckle from the woman before she replied. ‘Setting aside the archer. You are correct to assume that this blade dancer is out playing you with a display of talent and finesse. Your simple and unprofessional fighting style that’s based on relying on your physical prowess will have trouble overcoming this fighter.’

  Barry felt that her last comment didn’t need to be addressed. ‘Well no shit, this guy clearly more skill than me in terms of swordsmanship, fencing, whatever. All I have going for me is a stronger build than him and her, but even so, all these small ticks of damage will add up eventually…’

  The spirit decided to throw him a bone, seeing as how he was trying to come up with a way to handle the fencer before proceeding to the archer. ‘If you haven’t already noticed, with those special eyes of yours, each time the fencer parries your attack, his counters tend to carry a bit of extra force. Perhaps his Class is specialized in countering his opposers, and nothing “flashy” as you might think.’

  After what she had said, Barry decided to look more closely at the way Lucien was deflecting his moves before retaliating back. He was surprised to see what the spirit was talking about. ‘I see…a faint shine of silver every time he parries me. He could see a sliver layer of aura emitting from his body. ‘And I think I know how to close the distance between us…’

  ‘Ah.’ The spirit sounded proud. ‘You see it now, don’t you. He gets stronger with each parry he makes, so what does that mean you should do? Personally, if you take my advice, I believe you should-’

  Barry had a plan that he felt was worth trying now that he knew Lucien was going to get stronger as he continued getting parried by him. He pretended to swing his hammer to trick the fencer into deflecting it, which occurred, and then proceeded to purposely get his hand stabbed by his rapier. ‘YOU FOOL! Why would you do such a thing!’ The spirit yelled in his head.

  To Lucien and Abby’s surprise, Barry allowed himself to get stabbed by Lucien’s thrust with his rapier. The blade stuck out the other side of his hand, Barry grinned as he felt the pain of what he could only describe as a pencil stab. “I’ve got the download on you, toothpick user.” He mocked.

  Lucien tried pulling his rapier out from his hand, but Barry grasped his blade with his injured hand tight, drawing himself closer. He could see the faint aura that Lucien had built up, fading away. “What’s the matter? Did you lose your tempo?” Barry continued to grin.

  There was silence on Lucien’s end, which caused Barry to smirk. “I’ll take that as a yes.” Then threw a kick out at him, causing Lucien to let go of his weapon in order to block his attack. He was then sent flying backwards at his partner’s side.

  Barry pulled the rapier out of his hand, enduring the small pain he felt, letting his body heal naturally. He was unable to stow away the rapier in his inventory for some reason, and tossed it behind himself. He would have liked to add it to his inventory.

  “T-This bastard is something else!” Abby got flustered. “Alright, you crazy, have it then!” She then began channeling her special skill, imbuing her arrows with mystical green energy before flinging them at Barry.

  This time, instead of the arrows sprouting their vines on impact, they would be sent out in the form of a net. This change of attack nearly caught Barry off guard, having to take wider steps to avoid being ensnared. “Yeah! How do you like that, huh!?” She laughed.

  ‘As annoying as it is that I have to waste more time avoiding these types of attacks…’ He then swapped his hammer for his greatsword. ‘I can see that her special arrows are costing her a lot of mana…’

  Abby was basically covering the alley with vines with ever shot that was missed, Barry sliced his way through each capture net, bouncing around off the air and off the walls. Her confidence would dwindle the closer he got to her.

  Lucian had recovered and was back on his feet, when he saw Barry dodge another one of her arrows and leapt at Abby with a swing of his sword.

  The archer tried sending another arrow of vines at Barry, but then realized that she couldn't. “What?” It did not occur to her that she had spent all of her mana.

  “Abby!” Lucien called out before diving to knock her down, protecting her from what could have been a nasty blow. A rush of wind following Barry’s path of direction afterward.

  Barry landed back on solid ground, now in front of the duo. “Just give up, you can’t stop me from getting my revenge. Surrender now, or I’ll really put you down for good.” He threatened, facing them, to see Lucien pick Abby back up on her feet.

  The two were hesitant about what to do, for the first time in a good while, they felt fear. In their eyes, they saw a guy who was so determined to get through anything they faced. Lucien had to admit, despite Barry’s amateurish or unorthodox fighting style, his raw physical prowess was something that he could not contest with. He had also disarmed him of his weapon, so there seemed to be no point of him continuing to challenge him.

  “Abby…” Lucien whispered. “I think this is a lost cause, we should retreat. Our lives are more important at the moment. He has us beaten, I don’t even have my weapon.”

  The archer gritted her teeth, despite feeling cornered and intimidated by Barry’s presence, she didn’t want to quite yet leave Judas behind. “No, we can-”

  Climbing up over the rubble that was behind Barry, was a Kobold and young brunette woman that appeared. “Barry!” The Kobold shouted with joy. “Puck came to find you!”

  The sound of Puck’s voice caused Barry to stiffen up a bit before turning his head. “Puck!?” His eyes then turned to Kat, he was utterly irritated to see that they had chosen to follow him. “Kat! I thought I told you to keep-”

  Suddenly, the very ground began to tremble, like an earthquake was happening at the moment. Rocks began to fall from above, the buildings on the sides looked as though they were about to topple on them at any moment, given how rundown they were.

  Lucien decided to take this opportunity to make their escape while the three were focused on what was the cause of the tremors taking place. “Au revoir, Barry!” He said, before throwing a couple of smoke bombs from his equipment.

  Barry struggled to maintain his balance, activating his scanning pulse with his eyes to try and spot the duo, he could see a highlighted image of them struggling to escape back the way the doctor was at. He would have wanted to chase after them, but the falling rocks proved to make it difficult for him. But not only that, his sudden urges to ensure the safety of those that needed it would arise. He could not budge an inch towards Lucien and Abby’s direction.

  “No! NO! Dammit!” Barry shouted, enraged that he had lost his chance once again to kill the doctor. His attention then turned to Kat and Puck that were confused as to why he was mad. “Why the hell are you two here!”

  Kat was too scared to reply, but Puck explained. “Puck thought you were in trouble and Puck was right, you were fighting bad guys without help!”

  The tremors persisted, and so did Barry’s rage. “I’m fine, Puck! I left you by the gateway because I didn’t want you getting involved with what I was trying to do! That was the whole fucking point!”

  The Kobold then barked back at him with unanticipated anger that Barry was not expecting. “Why you no trust Puck with helping you!? Is Puck worthless to you, Barry!? Aren’t friends supposed to help each other!”

  His words resonated inside of Barry, he didn’t want Puck’s help because his revenge to get back at Judas was his own business and not Puck’s. “Puck, you don’t understand-”

  Barry would stop talking, he was now seeing something unbelievable up at the ceiling. “Are those…roots growing down here!?” He pointed out, causing Kat and Puck to look above as well with surprised expressions.

  From the underground ceiling, sprouted massive, thick roots that began extending all the way down to the city. The tremors would slowly subside, but the growth of the roots would continue to expand everywhere. “What is going on.” Barry wondered.

  And as if by coincident, a system notification would appear in front of Kat and Barry’s eyes. It was another event quest that was being shown to them, which was the following:

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

  Event-Quest

  Title: Thou Shall Know the Wrath of Nature!

  Description: Mother nature has decided to join in on the fun between the city of Haglethorn and the Chakarie. The ever so beautiful garden that surrounds the city, has now awakened due to an unknown force with the sole purpose of dominating Haglethorn!

  Objective: Survive the continuous waves of deadly, yet luscious, gardens of plants until the last second. Maintain control of the majority of the city before time runs out.

  (Should you escape the city with your life intact, you will not be permitted to enter back inside and will be excluded from receiving the rewards)

  Time Limit: 12 hours

  Reward: 25,000 Exp; 25,000 Gold

  Penalty: The Abduction of Haglethorn

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

  ‘Could this be the big event that Ven warned me about?’ Barry assumed.

  Blasts of purple lights beamed out across the city in the air as they looked up. Barry would then hop on top of the tallest building nearby and looked in the direction of the purple lights, realizing that it was coming from the gateway that the witches were working on. ‘The portal…’

  He would then receive multiple messages from the rest of the group, asking about his whereabouts and that he should return as fast as possible.

  And to his surprise, he witnessed an abundance of vegetation growing across the city. As fields of vibrant colored flowers spread all around. Barry didn’t like the situation at all, despite the city looking more lively than it was before, he was not looking forward to what sort of wrath mother nature had in store for everyone. ‘Ven, what sort of crap did you just start.’