Chronicles Of The Crafting Hero

*Moments Before The Massacre*

In the manicured front yard of the Black Cloud Guild, Luna and Jacob stood, sentinels in the night. Their eyes, sharp and wary, scanned the perfectly trimmed hedges and manicured lawns, alert to any sign of intrusion, any deviation from the expected darkness. Jacob, his brow furrowed, broke the silence. "I thought the guy was an assassin. How is he able to teleport like that?"

Luna, her lithe form a study in controlled power, her fingers wrapped around the hilts of two obsidian daggers, shook her head. The polished metal of the daggers reflected the moonlight. "I don't know. I've never heard of an assassin who can do that before. He must be highly ranked."

Jacob glanced at her, a hint of amusement in his voice. "I bet you would know, since you're also an assassin."

Luna shrugged, her expression unreadable. "Well, I don't. The only people I know of who possess teleportation skills are certain mages. Assassins don't have that. We only have skills related to assassination. For example..." She paused, and with a subtle display of power, her form shimmered, becoming slightly transparent, before fading completely from view. "I have a skill that allows me to become invisible at night."

Jacob, startled by her sudden disappearance, swiveled his head, his eyes frantically searching the space around them. "Wow, I've never seen you use that before. It makes your weapons disappear as well."

"Of course," a voice, laced with amusement, came from directly behind Jacob.

Jacob, startled, leaped in the air, spinning to face the source of the voice. "Hey! Don't scare me like that!"

Before Luna could deactivate her skill, a deafening *BANG* shattered the calm, tearing through the night. The force, unseen and terrifyingly immense, ripped through the Black Cloud Guild's mansion, turning the stately structure into a pyre of destruction. Jacob, reacting on instinct, yelled, "Watch out!" and dove for cover, rolling across the pristine lawn. Chunks of stone and splintered wood, a deadly rain of debris, whistled past his head, barely missing him.

He scrambled to his feet, his heart a frantic drum against his ribs. He turned, his eyes widening in disbelief. The source of the devastation: the captain, a figure of raw *force*, propelled through the building with incredible speed and power.

Jacob watched as the captain's trajectory continued, a dark streak that tore through the small woods lining the front of the yard. The captain's form, a blur of motion and destruction, slammed into the outer walls of Aria. His figure diminished as he fell and rolled to the ground, finally coming to a stop. Jacob's eyes widened, and he whispered, "Captain..."

Luna, coughing from the sudden eruption of dust, reappeared. "What...what was that?"

Jacob, his voice a low rasp, his eyes wide with a mixture of disbelief and a sudden, crushing sense of shattered hope, replied, "The captain... he tore through the building." The image of the captain getting thrown across the building was still burned into his mind. The sheer power was incomprehensible.

Luna, her voice laced with disbelief, questioned, "The captain? How can the captain be... He's a tank! He just reached S-rank!"

Jacob shook his head, a wave of resignation washing over him. "If that guy just took out the captain... we have no chance."

"What?!" Luna exclaimed, her voice rising in disbelief.

"I'm not staying for this bullshit!" Jacob declared, and with a burst of speed, he took off, activating his skill: *Flash Step*. His form blurred, and he vanished in a blink, sprinting towards the town, a U-turn away from the carnage.

"Jacob, where do you think you're going?" Luna called after him, her voice echoing in the sudden silence.

*That idiot...* Luna thought, shaking her head. *There's no way the captain could be down. He must have seen the Vice Captain.* *It's impossible! And besides... we overpowered him in sheer numbers.*

As she rounded the corner, her eyes widened in stunned realization. Tyler was teleporting all over the place, a whirlwind of motion, slamming into, and fighting, against the remaining guild members.

What is this? What the hell is going on?* Luna thought, her mind reeling. *He keeps appearing and disappearing. He should have run out of mana by now.* Tyler was turning into puffs of smoke, vanishing and reappearing with a speed that defied comprehension. He fought with a ferocity and precision that even *she*, a seasoned B-rank assassin, found impossible to track. He moved, a whirlwind of death, and Luna watched, horrified, as he dispatched one guild member after another. Each fallen comrade was a testament to his terrifying power, a grim marker of his relentless advance. And this was the same man who had sent the captain, an S-rank powerhouse, flying across the yard. A chilling realization of his power struck her like a physical blow, a punch to the gut.

She glanced in the opposite direction. The vice-captain was crouching down near his daughter, Sabrina. Sabrina's small hands were pressed against her face, her eyes squeezed shut, and Luna could see, even from a distance, that her cheeks were slick with blood. Jason was nowhere to be seen. Instead, jagged, rocky spikes, a cruel and unnatural formation, jutted from the ground. Luna knew, with absolute certainty, that Jason had been the one to unleash that attack.

*He can't see me. He can't even hear me,* she thought, a plan forming in the back of her mind. She could exploit the chaos, she could capitalize on his momentary distraction. She could sneak up on him, a phantom in the shadows, and bury a dagger in his back before he even knew she was there. But he was just too fast. He was a blur of motion, a trick of smoke and mirrors. Everything was happening too fast.

That was until Tyler was thrown to the ground, landing hard on his back. He and Silvia had been flung away by the shockwave unleashed by Anna's arrow. A surge of hope, mixed with a shot of adrenaline, coursed through her veins. *Now,* she thought, steeling her resolve. Now, she had a chance. But she was slow, agonizingly slow.

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Teno and the Vice-Captain were already closing in. As she extended a hand, reaching for the killing blow, she almost deactivated her invisibility, her form becoming slightly transparent, and thought, *I'm so close...* Her hand, her dagger, were poised, ready to strike.

Before she could react, before she could even begin to move, she saw that though she was further away than the others, Teno and the vice-captain had already closed in on Tyler. They were a blur of motion, their swords glinting in the dappled moonlight, raised high, poised to strike. The air crackled with the anticipation of the coming clash.

Then, in a heartbeat, scales erupted across Tyler's body, a shimmering cascade that seemed to materialize out of thin air. They spread with impossible speed, crawling across his skin, converging on his arms as he crossed them, a shield forming before him. The scales clicked and locked together, forming a perfect hexagonal wall, a shimmering barrier against the impending attack.

*Oh no!* Luna thought, a chill of dread snaking up her spine.

The two men's swords *crashed* against Tyler's shield, the sound *reverberating* through the night. A shockwave, a brutal wave of force, erupted outwards, a visible ripple of displaced air. The ground trembled beneath her feet, the air *thickening* with displaced energy. Teno and the vice-captain were thrown backward, their bodies spinning and tumbling through the air like ragdolls. Even Luna, caught in the periphery of the blast, was lifted off her feet. A startled scream escaped her lips as the force slammed into her, sending her flying.

She landed hard, the breath knocked from her lungs. She gasped, trying to suck in air. The taste of dust and grit filled her mouth, and her vision swam. Squinting against the swirling cloud of debris, she forced herself to her feet, her muscles screaming in protest. *Scales…* *What was that?* The image was burned into her mind: those shimmering scales that had appeared so suddenly, protecting him. They had formed a shield. It had all happened in a blur of motion, a terrifyingly fast display of power. *But there's no way he didn't get injured from that.*

She pushed herself to her feet, she looked around and she noticed the crater where the explosion was and began running towards it, her heart pounding in her chest. She ran towards the epicenter of the explosion. As she stood at the edge of the crater, peering into the depths, she saw nothing. Tyler was gone. A sudden, loud *thud* echoed from a short distance away. Without hesitation, she activated her invisibility once more.

She followed the faint sound and moved silently towards its source. She closed the distance, and the scene unfolded before her eyes. Tyler stood a few meters away from Silvia, his back to Luna, his two daggers held loosely at his sides. Silvia was on the ground, gazing up at Tyler, her face etched with a mixture of pain and disbelief. She gasped, "Why… why are you doing this?"

Tyler chuckled, a low, unsettling sound that sent a shiver down Luna's spine. "Such a stupid question."

"Yes," Silvia said, her voice barely a whisper. "She told me everything. You don't even know her."

"Oh?" Tyler said, his crimson eyes narrowed. "So she told you everything, everything that she knew." He rested one crimson dagger on his shoulder, the blade gleaming in the dim light. "You must be the one who tortured her, then."

Silvia's eyes widened, a flicker of fear crossing her features. She pushed herself up with trembling hands, each movement a testament to the pain she was enduring. Clenching her teeth against the agony, she slowly managed to get to her knees.

"That's right," she muttered, her voice hoarse. "I'm the one who tortured her."

Silvia's vision locked onto Tyler's eyes. They blazed with a fury that made her breath catch in her throat. The black armor he wore seemed to swirl, as if composed of shadows and smoke, and the faint tendrils of vapor danced around him, intensified by his rage. But what made it most unsettling was the unnerving grin that suddenly appeared on Tyler's face.

He chuckled again, a sound devoid of all humor. "Thank you for admitting that," he said, his voice a silken threat. "I'm going to make sure you suffer."

Silvia smiled, a gruesome, toothless expression. Her one eye squeezed shut as her other hand clutched her injured shoulder. Blood trickled from her nose, staining her pale skin as she managed to rasp, "Do your worst."

Suddenly, Tyler's senses, aided by the scales just below his ears, honed by the mask he once wore, picked up the faint, tell-tale signs of someone's approach. Quiet footsteps. A rapidly accelerating heartbeat. The subtle rasp of breath. Only his eyes moved, scanning the darkness behind him. Then, the distinct shimmer of a blade – a dagger, or perhaps a sword – arced towards him.

Reacting with impossible speed, Tyler spun, his crimson dagger meeting the unseen attack head-on. A spark of pure energy bloomed where the invisible blade met his own, a brief flash of light in the gloom. At the same instant, Tyler's silver dagger sliced through the air, aimed at the space where he sensed the invisible attacker.

A choked gasp echoed through the air as blood erupted from an invisible figure. Luna's form, still shrouded in invisibility, clutched at her throat, crimson gore gushing between her fingers. As her hands flew to her throat, desperately trying to stem the flow of blood, the invisibility faltered, and Luna became visible once more. Greenish veins snaked across her neck, spreading rapidly toward her face, intensifying the agony. Blood welled in her eyes, obscuring her vision, and the only sound was a series of strangled groans. She stumbled backward, her legs betraying her, and collapsed onto the ground. She had been poisoned by the Silver Fang Dagger.

A System Panel, a familiar interface, flickered into existence before Tyler's eyes: Level Up Level Up.

Silvia's eyes widened in disbelief, witnessing the impossible. She hadn't known how Tyler had detected Luna's presence, but now, there was an opportunity, a desperate chance. She seized a dagger from her belt, adrenaline flooding her veins. With a guttural cry, she surged forward, activating her skill: *Pierce*.

Tyler, already in motion, pivoted, his movements fluid and deadly. He met the incoming attack with practiced ease, his hand clamping down on Silvia's arm, halting the dagger's deadly trajectory.

Silvia gasped in surprise as Tyler squeezed her arm, causing her to squeak in pain. The dagger clattered to the ground as she lost her grip. Tyler twisted his hand with brutal efficiency, the sound of bone snapping echoing through the night. Silvia's eyes widened in utter agony, and a scream tore from her throat. Blood gushed from the break, the jagged bone of her arm now visible. A spatter of crimson droplets flew through the air, some of them landing on Tyler's face, but the scales, reacting automatically, formed over his mouth, blocking the blood.

Tyler, his voice muffled behind the protective scales, muttered, "You told me to do my worst, remember?"

Silvia, her face contorted in pain, looked down at her arm, blood now pooling around her. She clenched her jaw, her missing teeth now even more prominent.

The scream, piercing and raw, had seemingly roused some of the fallen guild members. Both Anna and Teno stirred, struggling to rise. Anna, her vision still blurry, managed to stand, while Teno, with a shake of his head, was also pushing himself upright.

Tyler, his gaze devoid of empathy, considered the two awakening figures. "Seems like I have to take care of those two first," he muttered. "Stay here." He then kicked Silvia in the leg, the sharp crack of breaking bone punctuating the night. She screamed again, a raw cry of pain as he left her to fall back to the ground and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Anna, hearing Silvia's renewed cries of pain, surged forward, her voice filled with desperate concern. "Silvia!"

"No... run away..." Silvia's voice was a broken rasp, barely audible above the throbbing pain.

Anna faltered, her momentum momentarily halted. "Run away?"

As Silvia blinked, trying to clear her vision, a fountain of blood erupted from Anna's neck. Her head, severed with impossible speed, tumbled to the ground. Her body, its last vestiges of life spent, collapsed onto its backside, a crimson stain spreading rapidly across the grass.

Silvia, her voice barely a whisper, managed to croak, "No..."

Teno, with a roar of rage, charged forward, his sword arcing down towards Tyler. Tyler did not flinch. Scales erupted across his arm, forming a solid, gleaming barrier. With a smooth, practiced motion, he turned, meeting Teno's attack head-on, blocking the sword with the armored surface of his arm.

"Teno, you can't stop him!" Silvia's voice was a desperate plea.

Teno gritted his teeth, putting all his strength into the blow, the impact creating a shower of sparks. One of the daggers that Tyler carried vanished into his inventory, and a fresh wave of scales rushed to Tyler's arm. He pressed his fingers together, and the scales coalesced, forming his hand into a spear-like point. He then pushed Teno's sword aside with his armored arm and, with blinding speed, drove his spear-hand into Teno's gut.

Teno's eyes widened in a silent scream, his face contorted in a mask of agony. Blood erupted from his mouth, a crimson fountain against the night. He crumpled, falling to the ground, his lifeless form a silent testament to Tyler's power. The scales on Tyler's hand were now slick with blood.

The System Panel reappeared, its familiar text flickering to life: Level Up.

Tyler turned his gaze back to Silvia, the chilling fear now etched across her face.

Tyler stalked towards Silvia, his expression a mask of cold calculation. He muttered, "Now… where were we?"

Suddenly, something blurred through the air, so fast that Tyler only caught a glimpse of it at the last possible moment. A massive, black sword, its edge glowing with a faint, menacing red light, sliced through the air. He reacted instantly, twisting his body, leaping away from the deadly trajectory. The white scales rushed to his abdomen, attempting to protect him, but today, they were not enough. The razor-sharp edge of the sword grazed his side, tearing through the protective armor. Tyler grunted, a sharp intake of breath, as crimson blood began to flow. The scales, meeting his acidic blood, shriveled and dissolved.

He landed a few meters away, clenching his teeth against the pain. Tyler's eyes followed the sword as it spun through the air, tracing its path as it returned to its owner. The captain caught it with one hand. The captain's eyes burned with a furious red light, a terrifying reflection of his rage. The captain's skin and armor glowed red. Tyler's eyes widened in sudden surprise. The captain had gone Berserk.