Lament of the Slave

I tried to get up, intending to face them while standing. However, the assassin did not like that. Thanks to my domain and reflexes, I avoided the stone thrown at my injured leg, hissing in pain the sudden movement caused me.

"Sit on your ass!" the woman growled at me, pointing her dagger at the ground where I should have sat.

I looked at her defiantly, but that was all I could do besides sit down. But before I did, the two men arrived. When I looked at them, especially at the mind mage, my heart sank even deeper. My fears have been confirmed. Now I wished I would sit down when the assassin told me to, because the sight of Imperial Agent Hal made my knees weak.

The man to his left looked at me and snorted, "Is that her?"

"Who else!" the woman barked at him, pointing a dagger at him. "Did you see another half-terran look like this freak of nature?"

"Stop bickering! We don't have time for that," shouted the man I knew as Agent Hal.

The woman smirked, "Says the one who bickered like a couple all the way here."

I guess I wasn't the only one who heard them. The assassin must have heard them through the skill, though. Otherwise, I couldn't explain how she could hear them with normal human ears. But my envy had to wait as I didn't have time to think about things like that. I needed to figure out how to get out of this situation, so I didn't end up with a collar around my neck.

I looked at the two men.

[???: lvl ??]

[Swordsman: lvl ??]

For some reason, I still couldn't see Hal's class. When he was introduced to me as an agent, I was surprised, but it was understandable given his position. Now that I doubted his position with the imperial agents, it bothered me. How was that possible? Mind magic?

"Whatever!!" Hal replied, not commenting further on the assassin's remark, pointing at me, "That's her, take her and let's go!!"

"Dead or alive?" the assassin asked, half-joking, taking my breath away with her question.

"I don't care!" Hal said, surprising both of his companions. "We have to get out of here as soon as possible!"

This time I did not have time to react to the assassin's movement, and before I knew it, she stuck a dagger in my chest. Even without [Inner Perception], I knew the assassin had hit my heart.

In pain and gasping for breath, I fell to the ground, feeling strange magic escaping from a dagger and surrounding my pierced heart. It stopped beating within seconds.

"What the ..." the swordsman asked, but the assassin stopped him, pointing to Hal, "According to him, we do not have much time. Corpses don't make trouble. This way, it'll be easier for you to carry her."

"Why should I be the one to carry her?!" the swordsman asked, pointing at himself. Then he looked at Hal, "You've been pretty useless since we met the little captain. You'll carry her!"

"Fine!" he shook his head at his companion without complaining and turned nervously back to the burning building.

"Are you really that scared of some city guard captain?" the assassin asked, smirking, "Should I kill her to make you sleep better at night?"

Hal frowned at her. "Feel free to do so. But if it's who I think it is, you don't stand a chance."

He looked at the night sky, pondering, "If she's here, so will be her right hand ... fuck!"

"You keep talking about her, but you haven't said who you think the little captain is? Would you like to share this information with us?" the swordsman asked, taking Hal's concerns seriously. "After all, you are the reason that we're here!!"

"No, the reason you're here is the money you get for her!" he replied, pointing at me. Intending to lift my dead body, he walked over to me, saying nothing about the Captain and who he thought she was, only to stop after one step, noticing that I was not dead.

Once the dead magic stopped destroying my organs, [Never-Dying] started working on healing my heart. Even though the dagger was stuck in it, this vital organ of mine began to beat again. If I lost consciousness at all, it was only for a moment that I didn't even notice.

As soon as I could do so, I pulled the dagger from my chest, allowing my heart to recover completely. For a moment, I was confused by how quickly my heart healed because none of my previous injuries were healing at this rate. I still had a dagger hole in my chest, just not bleeding. It was only a conjecture, but [Never-Dying] had to prioritize healing this organ to keep me alive.

"She's still alive," Hal said, looking confused at the assassin. But she was as bewildered as he was, "I see that too!"

"I thought you killed her!" The swordsman frowned, mocking her for her failure.

"My hand must have slipped, missing the heart," the assassin growled and looked at me. "But I'll fix it right away!"

I didn't wait for her to throw a dagger at me again and released all the poison that my tail had created. Ignoring system notifications telling me I was poisoned, I made a barrier ten centimeters in front of my chest, pumping as much magic into it as I could. Poison, I could handle, but I didn't want another hole in my chest.

"Did you think this air freshener would stop me?" said the assassin, ignoring the poison around her.

Either she had as good a regeneration as I did, or [Poison Resistance] at a level that allowed her to ignore the poison. I'd bet the latter. The next moment, I was happy for the barrier and the effort I put into it, because it stopped the dagger thrown at my heart again. The dagger's blade passed through the barrier, as did the spear, but the cross-guard did not pass through, the tip of the dagger just a centimeter from my chest.

I immediately grabbed the dagger and threw it aside, not wanting to risk more dead magic.

But before I could get to my feet, the assassin was already holding me by the neck, kneeling on my stomach. I began to doubt the usefulness of [Space Domain]. Right now, I was surrounded by orange gas at night, so I saw absolutely nothing and had to rely on this skill, and undoubtedly it was a powerful skill, allowing me to perceive my surroundings in a very detailed way. However, as I found out, its reach was very limiting, two meters almost useless in combat.

Yes, I was wounded, but even if I were healthy, it would be almost impossible for me to avoid an assassin's attack, let alone a thrown dagger or spear if I only noticed them when they were in my domain. For the same reason, I couldn't say right now what Hal and the swordsman were doing. All I knew was that they were somewhere beyond the reach of my perception.

"You could have died almost painlessly," the assassin hissed in my ear, clutching my throat harder, "but I wonder how you survived my little trick."

My only option now was to hope that the barrier would stop the dagger as before.

I was wrong and stupid to think she would try to stab me again.

Since I created a barrier in front of my chest to stop the dagger, I didn't think about how effective it would be in a situation I was in right now. The assassin didn't even bother to break through the barrier as she reached under the barrier and stuck her finger in the wound on my chest, which hurt more than the dagger itself.

My screams were muffled and painful as she was still squeezing my throat. Assassin leaned in again to whisper in my ear, "Show me how you survive this!"

But before she could do what she intended, the swordsman's cough, which sounded pleasant to my ears, caught her attention.

She smirked, "I told you to take [Poison Resistance]!"

"Fuck you!!" the swordsman growled somewhere in the fog, not amused by her remark.

My ears did not miss the sound of removing the vial stopper and the following drinking of its contents by a swordsman. I could only assume that it was an antidote.

It was especially gratifying to know that at least one of them had suffered because of me, even if it was only for a while. I could celebrate this little victory later, now I needed to focus on how to get out of this situation.

My options were limited. The poison affected only one of them, but he had an antidote. The barrier didn't help me much, and I hadn't learned to use magic yet. All I had left was brute force.

That's why I grabbed the killer's left arm, whose finger was still in my chest. With a muffled cry and all my might, I dug my nails into the unprotected part of the assassin's forearm, hoping the pain would make her take out the finger.

"Tss" she hissed and twitched her arm, my nails leaving a bleeding wound in it.

Unfortunately, she didn't take a finger out of my chest. I could only imagine that [Pain Resistance] dampened her pain. This attack failed, drawing her attention back to me. Another weak spot that came to my mind was her crotch, but since she was kneeling on my stomach, I couldn't knee her or kick her.

So I punched her in the groin with such force that I felt the bone crack. Sadly, it was bone in my hand. Hissing in pain, I wondered what she was made of because it seemed to me as if I had hit a rock.

She just frowned, "That hurt!! Enjoy this."

I could feel magic coming from her finger into my chest, just like from a dagger, destroying everything that stood in its way, decaying. When I thought she would continue, she jumped aside, avoiding the arrow aimed at her. Thanks to her magic, the fact that her finger left my wound didn't hurt. The decaying wound turned out to be quite insensitive.

Since she no longer held me by the throat, I was able to take a deep breath after a long time, which was not so pleasant when one lung had a hole in it and had decayed.

With an effort, I looked in the direction where the arrow flew, wanting to know who had come to my aid, only to realize that the cloud of poisonous gas had thinned considerably while I tried unsuccessfully to free myself from the assassin's grip.

I almost cried with joy when I saw more than half a dozen people in the ruined part of the building on the edge of the second floor. I didn't see exactly who was standing there, but according to the clothes, they were Guards. The archer shot one arrow after another while the others jumped down. I felt like I was watching a movie where half a dozen Guards had made a superhero landing.

The impact of some heavily armored guardsmen was imposing, as I could feel the vibrations it had created. I just hoped no one was trapped under the rubble.

My happy moment was interrupted when the assassin reappeared above me. She grabbed my left arm and threw me toward her retreating companions. I was pretty sure this was the first time I had sailed through the air, but I wouldn't call it a flight as I had no control over it, despite having wings.

Well, one wing and a stump of the other, but despite my missing wing, I was able to turn in the air, facing a retreating swordsman who was about to catch me. Because of the outstanding balance I had thanks to [Perfect Equilibrium], I felt like a cat that always landed on its feet when it fell from a height.

I did not know how I could use it, though.

I was never taught this in self-defense classes. So I tried to punch the swordsman with my left fist while landing, which was my weaker hand, but my right hand was still broken after meeting the crotch of the assassin.

Aiming at his face, I only hit the air as the swordsman easily dodged my punch. Instead, I received a hard blow from him with the pommel of his sword at the back of my head.

The swordsman looked at me with a raised eyebrow, "Still conscious?"

"Fuck you!" I managed to say, despite my headache and dizziness.

Luckily, he did not have time to respond to my swearing as he had to resist the two Guards' attack. Guardsman rushed at him with a glowing shield and short sword in hand, while the guardswoman behind him sent something like an air blade attack at the swordsman. To my surprise, he deflected the air blade and avoided the guardsman.

"Goodbye, bitch!" Hal growled as he stopped beside me, immediately attacking my mind.

This time I knew how to stand up to him, what to do. I definitely didn't want to let him go as far as yesterday. The surprise for me, however, was that his attack was not as strong as I remembered. Yea, even now, I had to focus fully on repelling it off, but I didn't give up an inch.

"What are you doing!" the swordsman shouted at him while defending himself against two Guards. He parried the guardswoman's slash with a sword and kicked her in the stomach with such force that she flew several meters away.

He turned his attention to the guardsman, shouting at Hal, "Blast their minds, for fuck's sake!"

"I tried!" Hal growled, looking down at me angrily, "I can't even penetrate this bitch's mind."

I smiled, for which he punched me in the face, venting his anger and frustration on me. Dizzy, I ignored the pain caused by the blow as it wasn't as bad compared to how much other parts of my body hurt.

"I don't get it. Even with that curse, I shouldn't have a problem messing the minds of mere City Guards, but for some reason, everyone here has incredible resistance to mind attacks," Hal said, looking at the swordsman.

I saw a chance in his momentary carelessness, so I took it. Like a beast, I bit into his throat, where any clothing or armor did not protect him. Not believing that I will succeed, my teeth dug deeper into his throat than I expected. Hal screamed in pain as my mouth filled with his blood.

I didn't intend to let go of him with my teeth, but I was torn from him by an invisible force. For the second time in one night, I soared through the air, out of the corner of my eye, catching a glimpse of Hal, kneeling on the ground, holding on to the bleeding neck, drinking the potion.

This time I didn't manage to turn in the air to land on my feet and instead landed hard on my side. Despite the abrasions that the impact on the coarse gravel caused me, I was glad I didn't break anything else during the impact. After spitting blood and pieces of what probably was Hall's skin out of my mouth, I tried to get up and run. Take advantage of this opportunity. Unfortunately, my body didn't listen to me, as it was on the verge of collapse.

The remnants of the assassin's magic were still raging inside me. That magic was destroying my lungs, making it difficult for me to catch my breath. Only thanks to [Never-Dying] did my heart still beat, despite the fact that this decaying magic was trying to destroy it. For the last few moments, I've been on the verge of life and death. It was the torment I wished would end, wondering if not to give up the skill that kept me alive and just die. It would be much easier than living in this world that brought me nothing but suffering.

Should I give it up? Those were the coward's thoughts. Was I really one? Where was my previous determination? Did it decay like my lungs? No, I still wanted to live.

This will not be my end, I thought, not saying it out loud, because just breathing was challenging for me.

Thinking that I could control mana inside my body, I began to ponder. Was it possible to destroy this dead magic, this decaying magic with my mana? Was it a good idea at all? I could only make things worse, like feeding this decaying magic with my mana.

It would be safer to wait for this disgusting magic to lose its power while [Never-Dying] prolongs my suffering, not allowing me to die. But I didn't want to wait any longer when the amount of dead magic in my chest was much greater than before, therefore, not knowing how much longer I would have to suffer.

So I tried it. I surrounded this intruding mana in my body with my mana, trying to prevent further damage, and at the same time, I tried to push this mana out of my body. The dead magic resisted, but it didn't stand a chance against the amount of mana I used to push it away.

It surprised me how easy it was. Yes, I had to use a considerable amount of mana, but I didn't care. Despite being a complete amateur in magic, I succeeded. No one could expect me to solve the problem I first encountered with the grace of the masters.

When I saw the black mist escaping from the wound on my chest, I was relieved that I wasn't wrong.