The Eternal Assassin

The moment the scream rang out from down the tunnel, Asher didn't waste a moment.

But he didn't run after Brian and Samantha.

Creating a compressed tunnel of space, Asher leapt toward Owl, tossing his pickaxe aside and grabbing two daggers off his bandolier while simultaneously activating Spatial Lock. Just as he'd hoped, Owl's surprise made him slow to react. The assassin had clearly expected him to turn and run toward the source of the scream, which was exactly the opening Asher was waiting for.

Unfortunately for Owl, he didn't know Asher could sense the current state of his marked targets. And seeing as Samantha and Brian were both entirely unharmed, regardless of who the scream had come from, he didn't have to worry about them at the moment.

Before the assassin could react, Asher's Spatial Lock snapped into place around them, and Asher's grin widened as he reached his target. He'd witnessed how devastating Owl was with his bow from range, but he'd yet to see the man do any sort of close range fighting. The assassin hadn't even bothered to manifest his bow in the tight-confines of Dormaul's tunnels, and Asher was planning on making sure he never got the chance to again.

Unsurprisingly, Owl recovered from his shock in time to dodge his initial attack, melding into the shadows on the ground and vanishing from sight. That didn't stop Asher, however, who began slowly decreasing the width of Spatial Lock as he slashed at the different shadows. He was momentarily surprised to find Owl continued to dodge his attacks even as a shadow on the ground, but he supposed that made sense.

Even if they don't know what Sever the Thread truly does, they know I was able to kill Loratta even through her Slime Body. They probably figure my attacks just work on everyone, regardless of defensive skills.

"I admit, I did not expect you to disregard your companions without hesitation to try and trap me," Owl's voice rang out, still coming from all around the tunnel. "It would seem my mental construct of you was a bit off."

"Killing you is all I care about," Asher laughed, trying to make his smile look just a tad deranged. In the event that Owl somehow managed to survive this, making it seem as though he truly didn't care about Samantha and Brian all that much would be for the best. Otherwise, he'd have to worry about Owl or the Head trying to use them against him in the future.

"Sadly, while your actions warrant a similar response, I cannot be the one to kill you," Owl's voice said, echoing from all around him. While Asher slashed down at the dark splotches around his feet once more, his daggers scraped uselessly off the stone ground as the shadows evaded him with incredible speed. He felt two hot pokers of pain cut deeply into the backs of his legs, and he had just enough time to look down and spot the twin black blades jutting out of the very ground before his severed tendons gave out and he collapsed.

In hindsight, a poorly lit tunnel is not a great choice of battleground for a man who fights through shadows, Asher thought, staring up at Owl as the assassin reformed and held a jagged dagger made entirely from shadows against the side of his neck.

"I told you before, if you refuse to become the new Eight, then we will give the same quest to another one of our assassins that we gave you," Owl repeated, his blade so close to Asher's neck that he thought he could feel the cold radiating from the shadows. "Whoever kills you will become the new Finger. As I already have my role as one of the Head's Knuckles to fulfil, I cannot be the one to kill you."

"Well, that's very kind of you," Asher grinned, trying to sense just how badly his legs had been injured. From what he could tell, Owl had severed his muscles with clinical precision. He wasn't at risk of bleeding out, but he couldn't put even a little weight on his feet without them giving out.

Even with the terrain heavily favoring Owl's style of fighting, the fact that Owl was capable of handling him so easily was a harsh reminder of how much stronger he'd need to become in order to take down all the various threats after his head.

Not seeing any way to win this fight, Asher activated Comprehend's second tier ability, slowing the world to a crawl as he struggled to come up with a way out of this.

I have him trapped within Spatial Lock so he can't warp away, but that doesn't stop him from using his 'meld into shadows' trick. Because of the dim gemstone lighting up the tunnel, he's got shadows galore to hide in and attack from, and he's already shown he's capable of hitting me from within my own shadow. How the hell do I fight against an enemy that strikes from my own shadow?!

The only idea Asher could come up with was some sort of bright light that could banish the shadows in the tunnel completely, but he didn't have anything like that on him at the moment. He could try using his flaming dagger, but he was pretty sure the flickering firelight would probably just end up casting even more shadows around the tunnel.

As the seconds ticked by and no solution made itself available to him, Asher came to a rather depressing conclusion.

In his current state, and with the location Owl had chosen for their confrontation, he wasn't going to be able to take the more experienced assassin down. Owl clearly knew what he was doing, waiting for them to enter the tunnels within the fifth level before making his presence known. Asher had thought he had the advantage because Owl couldn't utilize his bow down here, but the shadows cast within the dark tunnels more than made up for that.

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At the very least, this gives me a better idea of how to finally take him down the next time we meet, he thought, making a mental checklist of what he'd need. Some sort of powerful light to dispel shadows… A small room where he can't use his bow… Maybe even some method of artifact capable of conjuring a loud noise to startle him again.

The next time we chat face-to-face, I'm taking him out.

The world sped up once more, and Asher slowly nodded. "You're welcome to send whoever you want after me while I come to my decision," he said, smiling as he stared pointedly at where Owl's eyes would have been if his face wasn't a blank sheet of writhing shadows. "I could always use the extra shards."

At that, Owl let out a quiet chuckle, which caused Asher to shudder as the eerie laughter softly echoed all around them. Lifting his dark blade, Owl held the pommel over Asher's head, the intended threat rather clear.

"Will you lower your curious skill that prevents teleportation-based abilities, or do I need to knock you unconscious? Even with your healing ability, I would prefer not to risk giving you brain damage."

"Only because you asked so nicely," Asher said, cancelling Spatial Lock and carefully watching Owl as the barrier vanished. The assassin didn't so much as twitch or even look around, confirming Asher's suspicions that he hadn't been concerned in the least at being trapped in there with him.

This guy is either beyond cocky, or he's seriously that confident in his own skills. And seeing as he's one of the right-hand men of the deadliest assassin in the entire kingdom, I'm willing to bet it's not the former.

"Thank you," Owl said, his dark blade melding back within his own shadow-covered form. "The next time we speak, I hope it will be in Whikoga."

Before Asher could respond, Owl fell into the shadows at his feet, vanishing from sight just as quickly as he'd appeared.

Taking a deep breath, Asher let it out slowly, flopping back against the cold floor of the tunnel. After double checking to confirm that Samantha and Brian were still completely unharmed, he went back over the brief fight in his head, thinking about what he could have done differently. Catching Owl off guard was an excellent start to the fight, but it was all downhill after that. It really boiled down to the fact that Asher couldn't strike faster than Owl could dodge about in his shadow form. He had to have some sort of skill that functioned similar to Asher's own Comprehend in order to speed up his reactions.

First order of business once I have some more shards to burn. Purchase some sort of light-creating artifact. Though before that…

Why the hell haven't Samantha and Brian come looking for me?

He didn't exactly want them to see him in this state and worry, but he didn't want to risk something bad actually happening to them while Eternal Regeneration took care of his severed tendons. There hadn't been any more sounds after that initial scream, but that didn't mean they were out of the woods just yet.

Resigning himself to having to explain to Brian what was going on, Asher focused on Samantha's Eternal Mark and Recalled to her location. The world shifted around him, and he teleported all of what was probably only about a hundred or so feet down the winding tunnels.

"Asher!" Samantha gasped, crouching down and throwing her arms around him, pulling him into a tight embrace. "Oh, thank the realms! I thought you might have gotten crushed!"

"Crushed?" he asked, looking around in confusion. Only then did he finally spot Brian hard at work swinging his pickaxe at a large pile of rocks blocking one end of the tunnel.

"After I ran ahead to check on Brian, the ceiling suddenly collapsed out of nowhere!" Samantha explained, squeezing him all the tighter. "Thankfully, Brian and I were far enough away that we didn't get hit by the falling rocks, but we couldn't get back to you!"

"You don't say," Asher muttered, peering up at the tunnel ceiling. Sure enough, Secret Seeker led his eyes to the deep, clean gashes carved into the ceiling that started the collapse.

Secret Seeker - Lvl 22

He can control shadows with that level of precision from so far away?! That's ridiculous! How could he even see what he was doing?

Asher could only shake his head at the realization that Owl had to be even more deadly than he'd originally thought. He supposed it made sense for one of the Head's most loyal men to be so powerful, but it was still disheartening.

If the Head's Knuckles were this deadly, how powerful was the Head themselves going to end up being?

Taking advantage of Brian's efforts to unblock the tunnel, Asher quickly explained to Samantha about his surprise encounter. The hunter listened with wide eyes while simultaneously conjuring water and pouring it gently over his severed tendons. Asher didn't want to waste one of their limited potions of Lesser Restoration, and with Eternal Regeneration and Soothing Spring combined, it wasn't long before he was good as new.

Panting, Brian came over to them, leaning heavily on his pickaxe as he wiped the sweat off his brow.

"I think… I think I want to be done mining," he admitted, blowing out his cheeks as he looked back at the sealed tunnel he'd barely made a dent in.

"Rough time to come to that decision," Asher laughed, letting Samantha help him to his feet as he peered at the sealed tunnel. "Unfortunately, I don't have any marks in Dormaul other than the ones on you two. So we're going to have to dig our way out."

Part of him wished he'd left his mark on Gran's luggage, but he'd erased it and replaced it on Samantha the moment he'd returned to the tavern last night. That was probably for the best, however.

He couldn't imagine appearing in Gran's room again and sneaking his way out of wherever the Frent family was staying and the entire first level would go over all that well anyway.

"Here, let me tag in," Asher offered, accepting Brian's happily given pickaxe before getting to work chipping away at the rocks blocking their exit. Samantha stepped up beside him, flashing him a quick smile as she got to work as well. She surprised him by pausing to douse herself in water, only for him to remember the Wet Warrior skill she was a bit embarrassed about as her strikes suddenly began coming faster and faster, until she was making her way through the debris nearly twice as quickly as he was.

"I have to agree with Brian on this one," he said, taking a quick breather after a few minutes and realizing they'd barely made a dent.

"I think I want to be done mining as well."