Chapter 17: Shadow Guard

'Is the Shadow Guard after my head?' A thought crossed Charles's mind.

'Is he planning to eliminate me because I'm a weak one? But I still didn't sense any abnormality around the surrounding areas.' He furrowed his brows and soon made up his mind.

'I will show him an opening and lure him out from the shadow.' He curled his lips upward and relaxed his guard a little.

A moment later, he sensed an unpredictable danger from behind!

It was the same [Sixth Sense] skill's warning!

He instantly held his Ghost Dagger tighter and turned around while twisting it towards the upcoming Shadow Guard, who had two swords in his hands.

Upon seeing the Shadow Guard's speed, Charles's heart sank!

'My dagger is not suitable for long-term battle. And he is moving faster.' He made a swift plan and bent forward a little.

Simultaneously, he cast his [Fire Wings] spell and flapped it forcefully.

Like a bullet, he sprinted forward towards those two upcoming swords and smirked.

'He took the bait!'

As he flew near the Shadow Guard, he used [Snatch] and [Trickster's hand] skills at a time.

A second later, he took a side step while flapping his right side crimson wing and calmly evaded the Shadow Guard's swords.

He then let out a cold snort and touched the Shadow Guard's elbow area with his left hand.

Meanwhile, he also moved his dagger towards the Shadow Guard's chest using his other hand and smiled widely.

Due to Charles's sudden trick, the Shadow Guard felt a numbing sensation from his elbow and got startled.

But he didn't lose his calm, though; instead, he moved his other sword and blocked Charles's dagger attack.

With a clanging sound, sword, and dagger collided against each other, leaving multiple fire sparks behind.

After a second, both backed away from there and looked at each other cautiously.

Shadow Guard's expression turned gloomy as he started to feel something was odd and soon looked at his right hand.

'Wha-!... My Ring sword is gone!' His yellow eyes squinted sharply.

In the meantime, Charles stared at the enemy coldly and took a step back. After that, he inspected the long sword in his left hand and nodded.

[Item: Ring Sword

Quality: Uncommon

Effects: Sharpness, High-durability, Self-Repairable.]

'Good sword. But I'm not a swordsman.' He let out a disappointing sigh and then grumbled inwardly.

'It seems my [Snatch] skill is very effective with the [Trickster's Hand] skill.' He nodded his head and then looked at the Shadow Guard.

But there was no fear or anxiety in his eyes; instead, his deep-set jade eyes were now filled with greed!

It's because he saw a notification appeared in front of his eyes.

...

[Chain Quest Triggered!]

Quest Details: One of the four Chaotic Church Organizations called Divine Order is causing genocide in the name of Righteousness and Justice. Due to their horrible actions in these past few centuries, many variables have appeared in the current timeline, causing the Future to move in an unpredictable direction!

The Edhen world is moving to its destruction. Join any of the Lawful Factions and help them eliminate the Divine Order from this planet.

Quest Rewards: You will get double Exp when killing a Divine Order member from now on!

Time Limit: None

Accept/Decline

...

"The Divine Order, huh. Hmm, this chain mission looks good." Charles muttered under his breath and accepted the Quest mission.

'It seems the game system in my head is siding with the Lawful Faction. My real backer might be a member of the Lawful Faction. Hmm, there are thirteen Gods in the Lawful Faction. Among them, who is responsible for my transmigration?' He thought for a second and soon shook his head.

'I will think about that later. For now, I should kill this guy and increase my strength.' He held his dagger and moved.

But he didn't attack, though; instead, he took two steps back and ran in a different direction. Seeing his action, the Shadow Guard widened his yellow eyes and pursued after him.

Emilia also noticed the Shadow Guard's action and frowned.

"Should I go and help him?" Luke released an enchanted arrow at the Distorted Shadow and asked.

"He isn't an official member yet. Moreover, we have to finish off this monster sooner and kill the other Divine Order members." Emilia said and continued after a short pause,

"His mission is to help us, not the other way around."

Upon hearing their team leader's words, both Andrew and Luke let out a bitter smile and nodded.

After that, the trio split up and started attacking the seriously injured Distorted Shadow from a different direction.

...

Meanwhile, a blonde-haired lean guy stood on a nearby building terrace and looked at Charles with a cold expression on his face. He wore a unique red gem embedded bracelet and appeared like a mysterious expert.

"It seems they are planning to put him in a life and death situation. Is this a trap to lure me out? Too bad, I have no plan on helping him." He mumbled calmly and soon groaned as he saw a black thread came out from his bracelet. The black thread then slithered towards his neck and started tangling it.

"Damn it, I shouldn't have signed the abyssal contract with Eddie," Jimmy grunted in a displeased tone and then mused inwardly.

'You may have put a restriction on me from killing your descendants, Eddie. But you made a grave mistake. Tsk, tsk, my freedom is bound to happen, and I will have my vengeance then. I will let them know what a true hell will be like.' He let out a creaky sinister chuckle and then disappeared from there.

...

Unaware of the upcoming hidden dangers, Charles ran towards the more chaotic area and noticed that tens of black-cloaked guys gathered hundreds of citizens on the mud path and appeared to be preparing for something. They had already shackled the citizens in ropes and made them kneel in lines.

'Are these guys making some blood sacrificial ceremony?' He narrowed his eyes for a moment and soon shook his head.

'It doesn't matter to me. But, those guys will give me more Exp.' He was about to move in their direction but paused as he saw a knife cut through the air and appeared behind him.

'Tsk,' Charles clicked his tongue in irritation and barred the knife with a clang. After that, he made a few turns and went in a different direction.

In the meantime, a black-robed guy followed after him like a mad dog and even threw some darts at him from time to time.

But whenever Shadow Guard's attack was about to land on his target, he found that his target had somehow foreseen his attack and blocked them like a skilled hunter.

'Oh? Did he have [Foresight] skill? Impossible. He is too weak to gain that skill.' He got puzzled and started throwing darts while adding some strength.

Meanwhile, Charles started noticing something was odd in Shadow Guard's earlier attacks and got puzzled.

'He is not aiming for my life... His strength is way above mine, and from his earlier attacks, I can tell that he is just playing with me. He appears to be testing my real strength by forcing me into life and death situation. But for what purpose?' A grim expression appeared on his face as he recalled the earlier chasing. After thinking for a moment, he stopped running and activated [Conceal] skill.

A second later, his whole body turned transparent and soon disappeared from the Shadow Guard's eyes.

'H-How?' Shadow Guard became stunned for a moment and soon looked around in confusion.

"Looking for me?" A sharp voice came from behind, causing him to turn around in surprise!

But to his astonishment, Shadow Guard couldn't see Charles, which caused him to be more confused inside.

'Did he already manage to upgrade his [Stealth] skill?' An absurd thought appeared in his mind. He knew that only Rank 2 Mystics could upgrade the [Stealth] skill and become puzzled.

'He is an abnormal one. If he started building spell models, he would be invincible among his rank members.' He muttered to himself in shock.

But he wasn't worried much about a Common Rank Mystic. Shaking his head, he took out a white crystalline card from his pouch and tapped it twice.

A moment later, hundreds of green vines sprouted out from the ground and began to spread in every direction while destroying the nearby houses and walls. In a blink, the whole 100-meter surrounding turned into an area filled with green plants and vines.

Meanwhile, Charles got startled for a moment and soon backed away while evading those slithering vines.

After that, he took a moment to breathe and then cast [Inspect] skill on the card.

[Item: Card of Arcane

Rank: Rare

Effect: A rare rank-3 spell model called the 'Nature's Hands' was engraved in this Arcane card. When you activate this card, poisonous green vines will sprout from the ground and help you to prevent the enemies from getting close to you.

Cooldown Time: 1/1 per day.]

'Damn it; this guy is the real treasure.' Charles looked at those vines for a moment and soon sighed helplessly.

'But he is a powerful one.' He clicked his tongue and soon went towards the sacrificial area. Although he was eager to kill this Shadow Guard, he didn't like to take risks. He knew the possibility of him defeating a Rank-2 Mystic was very slim.

'First, I need to increase my strength. Those ten plus mystics will be more than enough to satisfy my hunger.' He licked his lips and fastened his footsteps towards the mud path.

Meanwhile, the Shadow Guard looked around the surroundings cautiously and waited for the invisible enemy to enter his attack range.

One minute later, he grew irritated a little.

Three minutes later, he got impatient and started cursing him.

After five minutes, he became tired of waiting and taunted the invisible enemy.

"Come out, coward!"

No one responded to his shout!

'Hmm, wait a minute... Why am I waiting for him to come and attack me? I should be the one to test his capabilities, right?' His expression soon froze as he noticed the eerie silence.

'Oh, shit! Did he run away?' His expression went unsightly in a second.

He also thought of Charles's earlier magic spell and grew furious.

'If he had used the earlier fly spell, he would have escaped easily. But why didn't he use that fire spell and ran around in the streets like a coward?'

He felt puzzled inside and soon took out a blue gem from his pouch. He then closed his eyes while holding the gem tightly and soon opened with an exciting face.

"Found you." He muttered coldly and moved towards the direction where Charles went.

Meanwhile, Charles arrived at the sacrificial area and started assassinating the Divine Order members in his concealed form.

Like a ghost, he suddenly appeared behind a black hooded man and then sliced the enemy's throat. After that, he disappeared into the darkness and soon reappeared behind another hooded guy. Like a real Rank 2 Assassin, he moved in the dark and started his massacre.

[Target Eliminated! Due to Target's special identity, you will get double Exp! 86 Exp Obtained!]

[Target Eliminated! Due to Target's special identity, you will get double Exp! 62 Exp Obtained!]

[Target Eliminated! Due to Target's special identity, you will get double Exp! 78 Exp Obtained!]

[Target Eliminated! Due to Target's special identity, you will get double Exp! 70 Exp Obtained!]

In two minutes, he killed 12 Divine Order members and scared the others away.

But he didn't chase after them; instead, he chose to stay and waited for the dumb Shadow Guard.

Moreover, he reaped a large amount of Exp in the last few minutes and planned to increase his level.

'884 Exp.' He smiled lightly and then shifted his attention to the interface.

'Hmm, I already have 217 Exp. Adding 217 Exp with 884 Exp, I now have 1101 Exp. With this much Exp, I can level up a few times.' He curled his lips up and added 150 Exp to his Apprentice Fire Mage Class.

[150 Exp deduced from the Host!]

[You have leveled up!]

[You became a Level 3 Apprentice Fire Mage!]

[2 Free Attribute point rewarded!]

[+1 Wisdom obtained!]

[10 skill points rewarded]

...

He didn't hesitate to add another 225 Experience points to the Apprentice Fire Mage Class and leveled it up again.

...

[225 Exp deduced from the Host!]

[You have leveled up!]

[You became a Level 4 Apprentice Fire Mage!]

[2 Free Attribute point rewarded!]

[+1 Wisdom obtained!]

[10 skill points rewarded]

...

He felt his mind became cooler due to the sudden increase in wisdom and noticed that he could maintain more than five rank-1 spell models in his mind. Moreover, he felt that his thinking capability increased to an unimaginable level and became stunned.

'Is this due to increasing my wisdom to 15?' He wondered.

He then thought for a moment and then added two attribute points to Strength and Constitution. After that, he added the remaining two attribute points to the Dexterity attribute and nodded with a pleasant smile.

For the next ten seconds, he stood in silence and concentrated his full attention on his body. He felt his body muscles and bones were undergoing some changes and became excited. He then stretched his lean hands and legs and soon widened his eyes as he noticed the differences.

'My body has grown stronger. I had already surpassed my former body's peak strength.' He grew confident in soloing the Shadow Guard.

'Hmm, let's see where I can spend these skill points.' He glanced at his class skills for a moment and added 20 skill points to the [Sixth Sense] skill. But to his astonishment, he couldn't upgrade the skill, which made him stunned for a while.

'Is it because of Rank restriction? Does that mean I have to increase all my skills to 50 before ranking up?' He mused for a moment and soon nodded his head in enlightenment.