Second World

'They are from the Assassins Guild,' Jack heard Peniel's voice in his mind. She was still flying around above the battlefield.

'Assassins Guild?'

'It's a league faction that specialized in assassination contract. They mostly only accept Rogue and Assassin classes, but any outworlder who has a sufficient record of kill counts on natives or other outworlders was eligible to apply as well.'

'If talking about kill counts, then I should be eligible then!'

'Yes, but do you want to? That faction specialized in assassination. You are too busy tackling the current factions already.'

'Yes, you are right. I'm just saying, doesn't really intend to join.'

Jack might be chatting with Peniel in his mind, but his action never stopped. He cast Energy Bolts, the eight balls went to look for their targets by themselves. Peniel had told him that the Assassins Guild mostly accepted Rogue or Assassin classes. He doubted there was anyone that had managed to become an elite class yet at this time, so although he couldn't inspect his opponents, all of them should be Rogues. This smoke trick they used had turned back to bite them. He soon heard surprised voices when his energy bolts hit them.

He didn't know how they could detect his position, but with the radar of his God-eye monocle, it only meant that they were fighting on equal ground. Jack rushed to the nearest opponents while the others were hindered by his Energy Bolts.

The one he targeted retreated back with haste. Though his rogue's speed allowed him to match Jack's speed, Jack still had other ways to catch up. Jack used Charge and immediately arrived in front of the fellow. The guy's eyes were wide with surprise when he saw Jack catch up to him.

He performed some fancy martial techniques that were meant to confuse and distract Jack, but it was clear to Jack that this one's martial expertise was not as good as the first one he fought. Also, Jack was not exactly martial illiterate. Jack managed to see through the guy's faint attack with ease and then deliver a counterattack in the form of Flame Strike to him. The guy was promptly sent to the afterlife.

The three were trying to come to rescue their comrade, but they stopped on their track when realizing how fast their comrades had fallen. Due to them rushing at him, they were grouped together. Jack didn't waste the opportunity, he used Shredding Fang in their direction.

Though the three couldn't see the Shredding Fang because of the smoke, they heard the rumble coming from the front. From his radar, Jack saw that one managed to escape his skill, while two were too late to act. Jack heard their anguish cries when they were struck by the fangs.

Jack rushed over to where the last assassin was. But as he ran, one of the two that he thought had been killed by his Shredding Fang, suddenly jumped to his side. Jack was startled but didn't panic. His magic shield parry this ambush. At the same time, the one Jack was originally targeting, also came by and sent his attack in conjunction with his partner. Jack parried this other.

The two performed rapid coordinated attacks. Each of them covered the other's flaw, Jack felt like fighting against a single being with four arms. They must have been used to cooperating with each other. It was a good thing he had killed the other three. He figured those five must have been a team that had used to work with each other. If all five of them performed such a coordinated attack on him, he would find himself in a difficult situation as well.

But at the moment, with only the two of them, Jack didn't feel much pressure. He used Swing which was dodged by the two, but he followed the Swing momentum as he spun around and do a roundhouse kick. Since they just made a dodging motion, one was late to dodge his follow-up kick. The other one, which was the expert that Jack first fought, still managed to evade this kick.

Jack shot burst ranged attacks at him, which caused him to continue to retreat, adding distance to his comrade.

The comrade who had tumbled from Jack's kick, received another leg swipe and fell to the ground. He then felt a heavy pressure pinning him to the ground.

"Move, and you die!" Jack said to him as he stepped on the guy's body with the tip of his sword aiming at the guy's head. Jack's enormous strength was not something a normal rogue could oppose, he was helpless on the ground.

The expert who had retreated, also stopped as he saw the condition of his comrade.

"All right, questioning time," Jack said. "How are you still alive after getting hit by my skill?"

Jack was asking the man on his feet. The man's HP was in critical already, but his Shredding Fang should still be able to kill a normal Rogue in one hit, unless the guy was wearing high-level rare grade armors. Yet, these five wore almost identical gears, which meant that they were unlikely to be rare grade ones.

"He probably had a skill that let him escape a lethal death," it was Peniel who answered him as she flew down. "Rogue had that kind of skill, though it was rare. Similar to that Hide skill of Life Runner. Or he could also have the Sacrificial Dummy, which we suspected to have been used by Scarface the last time you fought him."

"Okay then, next question!" Jack said. "How do you people manage to track my position?"

It was Peniel again who answered, "They most probably had you as their assassination target. Assassins Guild could have a quest posting someone to be eliminated, either outworlder or native. Someone must have paid this faction to issue you as a mark. However, not every mark can be tracked. In order for a mark to have a tracking ability, you must be in the list of VIP targets, that should be how they can track you."

Jack looked at Peniel, "lady, I was asking them. If you keep on answering for them, I might just as well kill them. By the way, how are you so sure they are from the Assassins Guild anyway?"

"From their face masks," Peniel answered. "Those are standard equipment issued by that faction once members passed their initiation phase and became full-fledged members. The masks provide protection to their individual's identity while at the same time told their target that it was the Assassins Guild that is coming for them."

"Is that true?" Jack asked the expert who was still standing warily not far away.

That expert didn't answer Jack's question. Instead, he asked, "how do you manage to find our positions in the smoke as well?"

Jack shrugged, indicating that he was not telling. He then said, "Anyway, you people are pretty stupid. Don't you do research first before targeting someone? Haven't you heard of me?"

"Don't be too full of yourself," that expert said. "I never believed the rumor about you anyway."

"So are you convinced by the rumor about me now?" Jack asked.

The expert made no comment.

"How much is my mark valued?" Jack asked.

"Enough for us to make an effort."

"How do you get here safely anyway? I know you follow my marker. Although I can't see your level, after our clash, I have a rough idea. How do you survive the monsters so deep in the wilderness here?"

The expert was silent. Seeing the guy was not talking, Peniel took the chance to explain, "They must have used a consumable tool unique from the Assassins Guild. It allowed them to evade monsters, similar to the Hide skill. It was a handy tool when they were chasing their marks."

The expert gave Peniel a questioning stare. He was wondering where Jack had found such an informative pet.

"Which a*shole put me as a mark anyway? Is it the Death Associates?" Jack asked.

No response, but Peniel gave her thought again, "I doubt any player group has enough coins for a VIP mark at this stage."

"Are you from Thereath as well? Or other cities?" Jack gave another question.

The expert was still not answering.

Jack sighed. "Fine then. Goodbye," Jack said as he stabbed the one beneath him. The guy immediately died, no more life-saving skill or tool this time.

When Jack killed the one on his feet, the expert took action at once. He threw another smoke bomb.

'Who the hell does he think he is? A ninja?' Jack thought. 'And didn't he already learn that this smoke makes no difference to me?'

As Jack was about to charge over to the remaining black dot, it vanished. Leaving Jack in bewilderment. He whirled around, 'is it an invisibility spell?' he thought.

"It could also be another of the rare Rogue skill," Peniel said. "Your monocle didn't seem that overpowering anymore at higher levels."

"Probably better this way, I shouldn't let myself relying on it too much anyway," Jack said. "But if what he used is a skill, it's better than Life Runner's Hide skill, since my monocle can still detect Life Runner when he was in hiding."

Jack waited a few moments but felt nothing. The expert must have used the skill to escape. He couldn't hear the guy's footsteps as well. The Ranger's Silent Step skill was indeed troublesome.

He started walking to go out of the smoke area. He felt an inkling to look back, something that he had learned to trust in the many years of his gaming experiences.. He looked back and was alarmed when he saw the smoke splitting apart forming a figure, moving rapidly at him.