Right as Sarah let out a whistle to begin, Bue pulled out a thin, nearly transparent boomerang, sharpened on all sides to the point of being a blade. It was the only one in existence within Fallacy, arriving in her inventory upon advancing an achievement in blades to a new level.

[Extended Mastery in Blades: Thick skin. Skin on hands is tough enough to grab the sharpest blades without being cut.]

Of course, this skill didn’t apply to the rest of her, only the hands, but when handling as many weapons as her, it wasn’t much of an issue. She hadn’t had any issues with injuries of misuse in years.

One twirl and release later, several exclamations were heard as arrows dropped to the ground, the compound bow strings cut and rendered useless. The boomerang, unable to complete its rotation back to Bue, lodged itself into wall of the alley.

“Boom,” she whispered happily, watching her handiwork with a grin.

In an instant, her and Slooky were racing forward, toward the remainder of the distance hunters, falling into step with one another without any extra effort.

“L,” Bue said as they sprinted.

The response from Slooky came quick.

“R.”

A fist bump of acknowledgement and Slook raced forward two steps before he dropped to slide across the ground, using a skill that extended the distance he could by ten-fold, catching the attention of one of the two remaining crossbows while Bue leaped high and far into the air, collecting her boomerang from its place stuck in the wall. Her feet touched onto the same spot it had been, and she flipped out of the way of two swords. They clanged against the stone building, the arms of the assassins jarred, hitting the solidly built wall with such force.

Slook, grabbing the end of the crossbow aimed his way, slid beneath the legs of the person holding it. He twisted his body around as he did, tugging and twirling the bow into his own grip, turning the weapon against its master, and firing a single shot before hopping up and swinging the whole of it at the man next to him who held the last of the bows. It slammed against the side of their head, ending their battle. He slipped back into place next to Bue, who was dodging swords and maces, all while slowly incapacitating those holding them, their legs and arms beginning to look a mess as they all dropped their weapons one by one.

For the two of them, it was hard to be sneaky in such a big group of attackers, and yet, as if it were part of their DNA, they didn’t seem to know how to move slowly. Fast-paced situations were their ideal for a fight.

The largest man, standing even above Lott, with muscles thicker than his own head, swung his fist at her. Not flinching, not even blinking, Lott snagged his wrist, halting his movement just an inch from her, the spikes almost grazing her face.

Surprised, yet angered by this, he swung his other fist. She ducked, pulling the wrist she held in her grip, throwing his balance off and launching him over her shoulder, all before kicking him aside in the air and turning to her next competitor. Chest partially caved in, the other just lay there dazed.

The other four, Lott, Sarah, Exel, and Magnice, all stayed at the other end of the fighting, letting Bue and Slooky run rampant near the alleyway. Though the two of them were smaller than everyone else, they required more room to move around. The others were used to being tucked tightly together ever since they had to fight elbow to elbow in series of underground tunnels a few years back. They even trained in such environments within Fallacy, such that they wouldn’t have an issue with being thrust into similar circumstances. Of course, this was plenty spacious and open compared to that.

Charged by a woman with a spear, Sarah turned sideways at the last moment, letting them shoot past her, feet stumbling at the lack of contact, and ending in stance right next to her. Sarah, without much flare, threw a hand at her neck and the woman crumpled to the ground. A sword drew in an arc as she reached down to grab the spear that had just been aimed at her. She thrust her hand up, lance blocking the strike, and wrapped her fingers around the end of the spear before swinging it around, slicing through the air in front of the attackers. Most jumped back, just in time. Some, weren’t so lucky and quickly exited the fight.

Sarah, taking on the full role of the Captain, continued keeping an eye on her comrades among the crowd. As Vice-Captain she’d learned directly under the one leading them, had watched and followed the quick instructions they gave to help the others out. Without them here, the difficulty had only increased.

“Go to the one on the other side!”

Her gaze flicked to the voice and then to the person it was aimed at. She pushed hard, throwing back the swings aimed her way, and spun around, sending the tip of her lance into the very person moving toward Magnice. He was staying near the edge of their group of four, preparing to make his move when the time came, to head back to the market. She tore up and free of the body she had caught with the sharp point before focusing back on those closely following her, swinging it their way to halt their momentum forward, stopping a couple from heading into the space behind Lott with the sheer length of her weapon.

Exel’s swords danced through the air, colliding, sweeping. Whenever they landed and he tugged them free to block a new attack, mist seemed to fly from the tip. But even a dual-wielding swordsman can encounter trouble. As a few distracted his front, two slipped around behind him, unnoticed.

On the reflection of his blades, raised high in an x to block them, Exel saw it. Them preparing to strike in the next moment. For the first time in a few years, a chill raced over his body. There wasn’t anything he could do to stop the them, to protect his backside. Vulnerable. Open.

He braced for the hit, only to feel the ground rumble. The swordsmen who’d been attacking his front stepped back, startled, gazing behind him.

Lowering his swords, he glanced at the area of interest. Three feet behind him, the ground was caved in, going down six or seven feet, the two men sitting in the crater, one with a gaping wound in their leg. There was an expensive-looking spear lodged deeply into the dirt at the center.

Immediately, he looked to Sarah, knowing.

“By your hand I live,” he called to her. Giving her a salute and a smile, his swords sung back into action.

[Special Skill: Crater

Description: From climbing the top fifteen most difficult cliffs without any safety gear, all across the land of Fallacy, you’ve been rewarded. You can create your own mini cliff by making a crater wherever you strike the ground. Can be made by a weapon thrown from your hand, that strikes the ground hard.

Available Uses: Once

Cooldown: 24 hours.

Duration until next use: 23 hours, 59 minutes, 57 seconds.]

Sarah barely paid the golden words hovering in the air next to her, invisible to all others, any mind.

Though it made less of an impact in townships which were partially protected by Fallacy’s system, the skill named Crater would be able to devastate an area the size of four houses combined if she did it outside the town lines. Could dent the ground up to a few hundred feet deep.

There was a very specific crater in Fallacy, 200 feet down below the land at the very center, that had been discovered five years ago. Unfortunately, she’d had to pretend to not know how it got there, every single time someone asked about the shocking current news.

The Crater Auspa.

Like auspicious.

Because that day happened to be a crazy day of achievements all around. The highest number recorded in one day.

She had nothing to do with either. Not the name, nor the achievements.

Upon turning back, she caught a flash of movement out of the corner of her vision and stepped, her back arching away from the attack, only to feel a sting from the sharp hooked side of a mace. She flipped around and snatched the shaft, throwing her lance high into the air while she pulled it free from their grip and shoving it back at them, the impact throwing them back into the group, weapon protruding from their middle. Heaving out a breath as she extended her arm, palm up, letting the lance fall right where she’d guessed it would be, into her hand.

She parried a few more before spotting yet another grievance. Two, actually. Yet another was aiming for Magnice, and a second was facing toward Slooky and Bue. Both were holding longer-ranged weapons, not unlike her usual.

For the second time since the Captain notified her of their need to escape, she missed them. And, for the first time, she hated the feeling of being in charge of the group.

Lifting her lance, yet again, with one hand to block the next weapon headed her way, she used her other to tap into her inventory, pulling one of her hundred extra spears.

She let out a breath, deflected the blade to the side and turned, taking two steps, the spear flying through the air at the first problem. At the second one, her lance left her hand, and she dropped to the ground, avoiding a horizontal swing of a sword by a hair, the wind rushing over the top of her head dangerously as she swung her leg around at their ankles, taking them down to the ground as she rose.

Tapping the ring on her hand firmly, a rare item with just three uses, she lifted her arm, hand outstretched to the sky. With a whoosh, her lance flew back to her hand, drawing a bloody arc across the sky.

It should be about time…

And just as she glanced over with that thought, there was a disturbance.

Two high-pitched screeching sounds flew through the air above the crowd, drawing everyone’s attention to the sky, halting movement on both sides. Canisters, thrown by expert arms, suddenly began to hiss the second they touched down, rolling across the ground. Slooky and Bue grinned, giving each other one final glance before executing the maneuver as they’d been instructed to.

“Slip!” Sarah called before motioning with her hand to the ones standing next to her, Exel and Lott, a finger swirling in a circle as it pointed down to the ground. As smoke rose quickly to a height of six feet, the would-be assassins, stepping back as to not be caught off guard by a surprise attack, didn’t catch the three of them drop to the ground in a tight circle, back to back, silent and unmoving. Each of them rested a loose hand on the shoulder of the person at their left, ready to squeeze to give notice that someone was closing in. A quick set of feet, which could normally be quieter than silence itself, stomped loudly past the three of them, drawing attention.

“There!”

“Follow them!”

“Over here, too!”

“They’re escaping!”

Shouts came from all around them, as they caught sight of figures, one visibly sporting a blond mop of hair atop their head and the other with a tight bun that wouldn’t even move in a hurricane of old. They were running through the smoke, headed different directions, barely visible, but clearly attempting escape. Feet thundered as the remainder of them chased after those Ghosts.

Magnice, who counted to three after the heavy footsteps dwindled, left the smoke screen to slip down an alley to head back to the marketplace. The last straggler, a woman who’d had trouble deciding which direction to go, caught the puff of disturbed smoke, saw him exit and race out of sight down an alley. With determination, and a dagger in hand, she raced to follow him.