The Eternal Assassin

Having finally taken down Moxy, Asher had a tough decision to make. On the one hand, if he killed her, he wouldn't have to worry about her potentially coming to and rejoining the fight. Moxy was an intelligent fighter, and there was no guarantee he could pull off the same risky plan he used to take her down a second time. But on the other, as he contemplated his options, he realized something fairly simple.

He didn't want Moxy to die.

Isolated down in Loratta's compound, Asher had spent the past few days sparring with the warrior from sunrise to sunset. He certainly wasn't friends with her, but he felt a strange sense of kinship to the battle-loving warrior. Similar to his own, she lived by a code that meant she didn't harm those who she deemed as truly innocent, which was all the reason Asher needed not to kill her.

That said, he couldn't very well just leave her lying in the corridor like this.

Not wanting any of the invading elites to stumble upon Moxy's body and finish her off due to some grudge or just a desire for shards, Asher grabbed her by the arm and unceremoniously dragged the warrior's unconscious body into one of the side rooms. Only having one working arm himself made the task far harder than it should have been, but he owed the warrior for spending so much time teaching him over the past couple of days.

Even if her 'teaching' was just to fulfill her own cravings for battle.

Once her body had been hidden behind a few boxes, Asher grabbed some rope. Gritting his teeth, he fought through the pain in his damaged shoulder long enough to tie the warrior up, only remembering to rid her of her pelts at the last second, shoving them into his Personal Rift. The last thing he needed was for her to wake up and mentally command the undead beasts to gnaw their way through the ropes, after all.

As he stripped the warrior of her unusual weapons, Asher checked on his notifications from the fight.

Secret Seeker – Lvl 11

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Secret Seeker – Lvl 14

Eternal Regeneration – Lvl 17

Complete Resilience – Lvl 18

Spatial Lock – Lvl 5

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Spatial Lock – Lvl 7

Level ups in four skills… Not bad for nearly having my arm ripped off. Whatever strange god controlled the system seemed impressed with his creative use of Spatial Lock as well, as despite only using the skill at the very end of the battle, he'd received three whole levels for it.

Sure, it wasn't very high to begin with, but that's still a huge jump. Does that mean innovative new uses of skills are rewarded more than standard repetition? Shaking his head, Asher tightened the knots binding Moxy one final time, standing up and gingerly pressing a hand against his ribcage.

Just like he'd hoped from his previous experience with broken bones, Eternal Regeneration had made short work of his messed-up rib. While it was still a bit tender to the touch, it didn't hurt to breathe at the very least. Unfortunately, his shoulder was another matter entirely, and moving the limb even just a little was like having a burning hot poker shoved straight through the joint.

Definitely tore something there… Damn it Moxy. Resigning himself to the fact that he'd have to finish up this battle with one arm basically tied behind his back, Asher grit his teeth, grabbing his dagger and running back into the main compound. He was behind schedule after all.

The plan had been for him to kill the Blood element user holding Rosh hostage, find wherever they were keeping Rosh, and bring the man to safety. Unfortunately for Asher, that blood guy had been particularly hard to put down, eating up way more time than had been factored into the plan. Combine that with his showdown with Moxy, and it was no wonder he'd missed the deadline he'd been given.

At this very moment, nearly a full dozen trained elites were storming Loratta's compound from two different entry points they'd created. The remaining elites were split between guarding the actual entrance and forming a perimeter around the area, just in case there were any hidden escape routes they didn't know about. Draken seemed determined to ensure that today would be Loratta's last day in this world, and from what he'd seen the woman was responsible for, Asher was all too happy to help the man make that happen.

After he saved Rosh.

Compressing the hallway, Asher took off, hoping he wouldn't be too late. Covering a dozen feet with every stride, he navigated the twisting tunnels of the underground compound, ignoring the distant screams and rumbling all around him as he hunted for one of Loratta's henchmen.

It seemed he was due for some actual luck for a change, as after running around aimlessly for a few minutes, Asher turned a corner and nearly collided with a panicked man holding a bulging satchel.

Thanks in part to Comprehend, Asher managed to stop and brace himself at the last moment, but the man wasn't quite so lucky. Eyes widening at the blur flying down the corridor, the thin man ran straight into him, bouncing off him and accidentally dropping the satchel. The overloaded satchel hit the ground with a loud bang, and dozens of seemingly unbreakable glass vials exploded out of it, rolling every which way around the corridor.

Despite the vials bouncing and rolling away, the man Asher had literally run into didn't seem to care all that much about them. Instead, his eyes were locked onto Asher's own as he immediately dropped to the ground and bowed, pressing his forehead into the packed dirt.

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"Please don't kill me! I'm just an alchemist, I haven't done anything wrong!"

Asher stared at the cowering man, his eyes flickering to the scattered vials. A few quick uses of Identify gave him all the information he needed to know.

[Alchemist] – 1/3 Elements

[Red Blaze] – Medium Quality

[Dryad's Itch] – Medium Quality

[Crumble] – Low Quality

"Haven't done anything wrong, huh?" he repeated, picking up a vial of [Craston Shards] and turning it in his hands, staring at the almost pure white looking crystals contained within. He had no idea what illegal drugs existed in this world, but he felt pretty certain he'd just stumbled upon some. "You're saying if I deliver you and your satchel of goods to the guards up on the surface you won't get into any trouble then?"

He hadn't thought it was possible, but the already trembling man began shaking so hard that Asher thought for a moment the compound was collapsing from the far-off fighting.

"I didn't want to make drugs, but Loratta ordered us to!" The man begged, looking up at him with tears streaming down his face. "She threatened to kill my kids if I didn't do what she said!"

Yepp, that sounds about right. Sighing, Asher tossed the vial of [Craston Shards] behind him, ignoring the sound of it bouncing down the corridor. "Look, I'm not here to deal with you. I need to find a friend of mine Loratta is keeping hostage. Scrawny, glasses-wearing guy that loves to talk, former instructor? Know where he is?"

"Not him specifically, but I know where Loratta keeps most of her prisoners," the man said, a glimmer of hope in his eyes. "If I show you, will you let me go?"

"Sounds fair," Asher said, wincing as another tremor shook the entire compound, the fallen vials rattling and clinking off one another. "Let's move fast though, alright?"

"In that case help me out really quick," the man said, scurrying around as he began to pick up the fallen vials and shove them back into his satchel.

"You're really taking the drugs with you?" Asher frowned.

"Yes, it's the only way I can ensure they are properly destroyed," the man said, not even bothering to look back at him as he jammed vial after vial into his satchel. "I've made some terrible creations that shame me as an alchemist, and the least I can do is fix what is within my capacity to fix now that Loratta's empire is finally crumbling."

Grunting, Asher decided he couldn't argue with that, and he got to work snatching vials off the ground, using the opportunity for some impromptu Identify training. Between the two of them, they managed to snag all the drugs in no time, and Asher found himself once again sprinting down seemingly random tunnels. Only this time, he had a willing guide to help him.

Identify – Lvl 17

They passed a couple of other people running this way and that as they ventured deeper into the compound, but it was clear that none of them were combatants. All of Loratta's elites and personal guards must have already headed off to battle against Draken's invading forces, because Asher didn't see so much as a single sword hilt as his guide showed him the way.

No, it wasn't until they'd arrived at their destination that Asher spotted anyone even remotely threatening.

"That's the prison," the alchemist whispered, leaning around the corner beside Asher as the two of them took in the heavy-set man standing guard in front of an iron door. "It's always guarded by at least one of Loratta's fighters, so I've never seen what the inside looks like."

The man standing guard wore heavy leather armor and had a nasty looking cudgel strapped to his waist that had seen some use if the dried blood coating was any indication. Luckily, he was too busy frowning up at the shaking dirt ceiling overhead to notice the two of them peering at him from around the corner.

[Thug] – 1/3 Elements

"Thanks. I'll take it from here," Asher said, nodding at the alchemist. "Make sure you get rid of those drugs when you get out of here."

"Trust me, you have nothing to worry about," the man said, a newly-determined look on his face. "Good luck rescuing your friend."

Once the alchemist had gone, Asher turned his attention back on the thug, wondering how to progress from here. Despite all the action he'd seen recently, he still didn't believe in just killing people unless he felt they truly deserved it or they were after his own life. Sure, the dude was big and labeled as a thug, and him guarding Loratta's prison certainly wasn't a point in his favor, but that didn't necessarily mean he deserved to die.

The alchemist he'd just run into had been an excellent example. If Asher ran around just killing everyone he could find down here, he would have snuffed out the life of a man that was being blackmailed into doing Loratta's dirty work. The fact that he was now risking his own life to collect and destroy illicit drugs he'd helped create showed he was at least a decent man at heart.

Sighing, Asher stepped around the corner, immediately drawing the eyes of the thug as he did so.

"You wouldn't happen to have a man named Rosh behind that large door, would you?"

Without so much as a grunt in response, the man's eyes narrowed as he grabbed his cudgel and charged at him, clearly activating some sort of skill as his cudgel began glowing an eerie red.

Guess that solves that problem.

Rolling his eyes, Asher waited until the man got close, all the while keeping his dagger at the ready. As soon as the thug got near enough to try and smash his head in with his glowing cudgel, Asher slipped into the astral and spun around, waiting for the thug's momentum to carry him through the space he'd just occupied. As the thug stumbled through him, Asher reappeared, slamming his dagger into the back of the thug's head and killing him instantly.

Can't say I didn't try.

After waiting a few seconds to grab the floating orb of shards, Asher searched the man's body, quickly finding a small ring of keys.

Another compound-rattling quake racked the corridor around him, and Asher realized he was quickly running out of time. Ignoring the bits of dirt falling on his head from the crumbling ceiling, he darted over to the door and flickered straight through it, finding himself in a small hallway with a dozen locked cells. Each cell held nothing more than a bucket and a small pile of hay.

Except for one.

"Rosh!" he cried, spotting the instructor leaning heavily against the dirt wall of the closest cell. While Asher had been given an actual room to himself and treated surprisingly well the past few days, Rosh clearly hadn't been so lucky.

"Asher?" Rosh asked, coughing as he squinted in the dim light as if he couldn't believe his eyes. "Is that really you?"

"It's me, Rosh, I am so sorry I didn't come for you sooner," Asher said, trying the different keys until he found the ones to open the cell door. "I had to find and kill one of Loratta's elites with a Blood element, or they would have just killed you when we escaped."

"You killed Knick?" Rosh asked, holding a hand to his head. "Oh man, Loratta's not going to forgive you for that one. He's one of her few actual friends."

"She's got a few other things to worry about at the moment," Asher chuckled, throwing open the door and stepping into the cell. Immediately, the laughter died in his throat as he got close enough to see the state Rosh was in.

The instructor had deep, red welts covering his body as though he'd been whipped, and was absolutely covered in discolored bruises and dried blood.

Though that wasn't even the worst part.

Rosh's legs had been utterly destroyed.