"No, I'm telling you it was weird. I can get that Nikolas brought it up as a calculated move, but Ezio didn't want to tell them about it." Teresa was saying as she spoke with her party. "He thought they wouldn't agree to it."

"Did they?" Jake asked.

"Immediately, not a single objection. They were clearly frustrated, but they were keeping it together. From the vibes I was getting I think they've lost a party member before, so this isn't something they don't have experience with. On top of that, they're Completionists, people who panic don't beat the Tutorial." Teresa said.

"Has he ever seemed that way before?" Jake asked.

"No! As a matter of fact, he seemed the exact opposite just a few days ago. He seemed to value the people he was fighting with and demonstrated a basic sense of empathy, I don't know why he was suddenly just being straight evil."

"Maybe it's getting to him, the stress of this." Sarah said. "We've had people die while he was in charge. Deaths that could have been prevented with more foresight. I'm not making any excuses for him, what he said was both out of line and impractical, but this just might not be his thing. I know he was in the military, but that doesn't mean he's used to coordinating troops and developing strategies that operate on this level. "

"It could have just been a fumble on his part, but that was a pretty bad fumble." Teresa said. "I completely understand that being in a stressful situation can make you do so stupid shit. Still, it just seemed so out of character for him, he's seemed pretty reasonable until now."

"Unless you consider how secretive he's been, that's not new." Jake said. "If Chernobyl is as big a threat as we've all come to agree upon, then maybe we should have a free exchange of information, you know? Most of the people here haven't gotten to see it yet, but if just a couple people knew how to use his nuclear <Embers> this might progress a lot smoother."

"To be fair, I've been pretty bad about that too, but I'm just being that way since I don't know what counts as sensitive information." Teresa confessed. Even now, no one from Arconette knew her class or the full list of her skills. While a lot of people from The Mall knew some of those details, those present had been instructed to refrain from explicitly mentioning them.

"Yeah, but you haven't been withholding super useful information to be honest. I imagine it would be nice for making plans in a pinch and there would certainly be benefits if you were open about stuff like your class, but it's not like knowing it would suddenly let them start shooting nukes out of their hands or anything." Jake said.

"Should we do something about it?" Preston asked bluntly.

"I don't think so, at least not yet. This whole operation is incredibly important and this is the first time he's really demonstrated questionable behavior. If things get bad, be mentally prepared for anything so we don't hesitate, and be just a little bit wary of orders coming from Ezio. Especially if the orders affect our people, if he was willing to be so cold to someone from his own city then I'm worried how he might be with those who aren't." Teresa said. "Really I just wanted to vent and hear what you guys thought, it's terrifying how fast you can lose perspective when you're responsible for so much."

"I think that's reasonable, he has built up some good faith already, but we also can't completely ignore that his decision making has been negatively affected." Sarah said. "I agree that what we're doing is too important to stop now, but it can't hurt to be on alert."

"Wait, are we good to be talking about this?" Jake asked. "I know we're a good distance from everyone right now, but super hearing exists, and they might have someone nearby."

The party had taken a moment to have this discussion away from the rest of the army, though if they rushed they were less than a minute away on foot. It was something that had been done several times across a few small groups when discussing sensitive information, though they never strayed too far in case of an emergency.

"Ezio's party along with two more Completionists are watching over Yuki's right now, and anyone else with good Perception has better things to do than spy on us. Probably. Even if they are spying on us and know we're concerned, it's not like we've said anything completely compromising. It would just make things kind of awkward for a bit." Teresa said. "We should head back, I know Noah and Clyde can help with any potential bombing runs now but I still dislike being away for long."

The sensitive discussion came to a close as the party began to make their way back to where the army was currently camped. They traveled at a moderate pace, not wanting to panic anyone by running at full speed.

After just a few seconds of movement, Sarah held her hand out and froze in place. The rest of the party followed suit, stopping without saying a word. Nobody asked what was going on, since if she was able to say that then Sarah already would have. For whatever reason, she wanted everyone to be still and silent.

It took a moment before Teresa noticed the same thing as Sarah. The sound of footsteps on the porous ground caught her attention, along with two voices she couldn't quite make out. From the look of focus on Sarah's face, she was listening in on their conversation and was quite concerned.

Sarah gave the rest of the party a serious look, bringing a finger to her lips and then glanced at everyone's weapons. In other words, stay quiet and be ready to fight. Teresa didn't know what could be going on for her to come to that conclusion, but she still started circulating Mana through her body in preparation. Footsteps would imply either a human or a monster threat, not an Avatar. The faint sound of voices growing closer revealed they were in fact human.

"...the rest, I recognized several Completionists." One of the voices said, male.

"I didn't know we had that many people in the 30s either, I thought most of the Guild was in the late 20s still." The other voice said, also male.

"He said they weren't from here, they have a place up north." Guy number one said. "They got a lot less people than us so the levels check out."

"That guy freaks me out, his whole party does. I don't know, it feels like an uncanny valley type of thing talking to them." Guy two responded.

"Who cares if they're creepy, they were right. These dipshits are gonna end the quest. They just want to keep the level gap high, oppress the little guys. Let's get everyone else and-"

"Stop." Guy two interrupted. Their voices were certainly closer, but still beyond what any normal person would be able to overhear. "There are people nearby, I can hear their breathing."

Fuck, they were made.

"You think they overheard anything?"

"They're breathing real quiet, so prob-"

The conversation was cut short as Teresa charged forward with <Dash> and unleashed her shotgun <Embers>. A wall of fire shot towards the two who had been talking, but due to the distance they were both able to easily avoid it. Teresa fired the spell a second time while running at an angle towards them, trying to direct their attention away from her party members. She raised her free palm to the sky and fired <Facilitated Restoration>, with the Mana arranged to make the skill as bright as a flare gun.

She watched as one of the men nocked and fired a Mana arrow at her in one rapid motion, barely giving her any time to predict its trajectory. Even with <Dash> active, the shot struck true and hit Teresa right in the chest. While removing a knife or an arrow from a wound was typically frowned upon as it could worsen the bleeding, most people didn't have Restoration Magic.

Teresa yanked the arrow out and simultaneously activated <Healing Touch> and <Sturdy Outer Shell>, fixing her injury quickly while the two advanced. One was a ranger type with a bow, while the other seemed to be a light warrior type with a sword and a scimitar. She used <Identify> and found out that the ranger was level 66, the warrior being level 63.

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Two white slashes of air shot out from the warrior's weapons towards Teresa, while the ranger fired three arrows from his bow at once, all orange Mana arrows.

The slashes moved slowly enough that Teresa could easily avoid them, but the arrows were another story. Thankfully, a <Light Shield> appeared to block them, while another arrow was fired by Sarah at the ranger.

The ranger reacted in time and managed to only get grazed by the attack, but was immediately attacked again by Teresa using <Embers>, firing a continuous stream of flame at the archer. The archer was forced to move, unable to fire back while actively avoiding the attacks.

The warrior made a split second decision and decided to attack Teresa, which was probably the right move. So long as Teresa could keep her <Embers> targeting the archer, they would effectively be out of the fight.

With both weapons in hand, he sprinted towards Teresa at a speed she couldn't hope to keep up with, even dodging an arrow from Sarah without needing to see it coming.

Acting quickly, Teresa retrieved her handgun from her <Inventory>, something she probably should have opened with. She fired it at the warrior, hitting him in the gut. Despite getting shot, the man did not even slow down, seeming uninjured entirely.

He swung his scimitar at Teresa in a downward motion, nearly taking her head off with the swift motion. She barely managed to avoid the lethal blow, slipping out of the way and allowing the blade to cut deep into the back of her shoulder and along her lat. Her spine was safe, thankfully, and <Sturdy Outer Shell> stopped the blade from going clean through. Regardless, this was a terrible situation to be in.

He stabbed his sword towards her gut, but she was able to grip the blade with her hands and keep it in place after dropping the gun. Her defensive skill kept her hand from getting cut, but she was rapidly fading. Thankfully, the archer was being occupied by Preston, so she only had the one to deal with.

The two were locked in place, with the scimitar still lodged in Teresa's right side while the sword was being held in place by both individuals. Her Strength stat seemed higher than the man's, but that was beginning to mean less and less as her body weakened from her injuries.

An arrow shot between the man's legs and smacked into the ground, only to bounce up into the bottom of his jaw. His eyes went wide as the arrow pierced flesh and forcefully closed his mouth, but it didn't go deep enough to kill. Teresa activated <Embers> in both hands just as the man pulled the scimitar free, blasting two intense streams of fire at point blank range.

It was going to hurt Teresa too, but she was willing to bet her Fortitude paired with <Sturdy Outer Shell> surpassed the defensive capabilities the Agility focused warrior possessed. It was essentially a game of chicken, and she won as the man released his sword as fire blasted the space between them.

She picked her gun back up and fired again at the man, but it once again did nothing against his armor. It was likely his equipment was also particularly high level, as he had access to the Contaminated Zone sooner than anyone from The Mall.

<Healing Touch> paired with <Facilitated Restoration> fixed her injuries, and she briefly contemplated using <Retaliate>. Teresa decided against it after quickly glancing at her status, seeing her HP had already dropped from 1359 to 421.

More arrows were being fired at the warrior while he broke the arrow protruding from the bottom of his jaw, keeping him from getting a moment to himself. A wave of red energy encompassed both the archer and the warrior, making them hesitate for just a brief moment. As a result, the warrior was hit by one of Sarah's arrows in the back, though it didn't pierce. Additionally, the archer was stabbed by Preston, taking him out of the fight.

Preston and Jake together made a great counter to any archer type, and Jake didn't even have to advance to assist. He remained with Sarah should the warrior try to attack her, assisting from a distance while Preston used his nimble skill set that had a lot of focus on erratic movement, using many ultra specific skills like <Pivot> to suddenly change the orientation of his body and <Momentum Build> to alter his velocity instantaneously.

The warrior began to charge towards Teresa once more, and with only one bullet left she wasn't confident she could hit such a fast moving target in the head, even with <Intuitive Aim>. Maybe Sarah could, but even that would require her to be in a dangerously close range.

Instead, she opted for the unexpected. She retrieved her boomerang from her <Inventory>, quickly filled it with fire based Elemental Mana and threw it at the approaching man. He dodged the boomerang easily, a look of absolute bewilderment evident on his face as he saw what was just thrown at him.

Just as the boomerang passed him by, an explosion of fire engulfed him and burnt his flesh, dropping him to the ground mid sprint and sending him into a tumble while he screamed with his mouth forced shut, clawing at his eyes. The boomerang was still extremely low level, so while it wasn't capable of doing any serious damage to someone at their level it could still certainly hurt someone's eyes pretty badly.

Seeing the man on the ground, Teresa activated <Suffocate> and dropped the air pressure around the man's head. She still couldn't use the skill as swiftly as she could use <Embers>, but now that the man had collapsed it was much easier. She adjusted the shape of her spell, trying to reduce the oxygen not only around the man but within his airways, but found it to be particularly difficult. Her spell didn't just obliterate the air, it moved it out of the way, creating some complications in situations like this. Additionally, it seemed using the spell to affect the insides of another person took a lot more Mana, to the point where she wouldn't be able maintain it for long.

The man clutched at his throat with his eyes bulging as Jake ran forward and dove on the prone man with a move that belonged in the WWE, landing elbow first in a suit of metal armor on his nose and knocking him out.

A cloud of smoke appeared around the archer and Preston, hiding both of them within a thick haze that Teresa couldn't see through even with her Perception. Preston stumbled out of the cloud a moment later, hemorrhaging from a large gash across his entire torso that was rapidly closing. He collapsed on the ground, his hands patting down his body in a panic as <Facilitated Restoration> kept him from dying.

Teresa activated <Dash> and ran over, <Healing Touch> at the ready. Jake and Sarah followed as well, concerned about what they just witnessed. When she arrived, Preston was already speaking.

"Next time I want a class that gives me Fortitude." He grunted as <Facilitated Restoration> finished healing him without the need for <Healing Touch>. Restoration Magic worked faster on those with low Fortitude and Vitality, but it also meant he was more prone to a single lethal strike.

Teresa turned her attention to the smoke, as an arrow fired straight up and into the air from the cloud. She prepared for the arrow to do something, but was instead surprised as a second arrow shot out from the cloud, flying straight at Preston.

Jake's <Light Shield> appeared to block the arrow, but it broke straight through after slowing down. Teresa placed herself in between the arrow and Preston, figuring she could take it while he couldn't. The arrow shot straight through her torso, the fact the arrow still hadn't stopped alarming her more than the pain.

A metallic twang rang out behind her as Jake was also struck. It appeared he had the exact same idea as Teresa, but had just been slower. The projectile pierced even his shield and lodged itself in his armor, barely piercing skin.

Teresa was dangerously close to death, even if her Restoration Magic was healing her injuries. She was down a lot of HP, and theoretically she could still be in good physical condition only to die because her HP was completely empty. Thankfully, almost dying was a pretty frequent thing for Teresa and she still had her mind on the active threat.

The archer had been impaled and used a smoke screen skill to blind Preston and cut him open with a knife, and was now firing from within that cloud. Thankfully, Teresa had exactly what she needed to deal with that.

<Suffocate> shot out from her hands and made multiple narrow holes in the smoke. It barely made a difference to the naked eye, but for someone like Sarah it was all that was needed to spot the ranger.

Sarah fired an arrow straight into the cloud, which was followed by a grunt and a slight gust of air. <Air Burst>, a skill that Sarah had as a Tempest Ranger, could cause a small burst of air that would radiate out from a projectile after hitting its target. Sarah typically used it to burst air from the tip of the arrow directly into a wound, causing it to rip apart an injury and make it much more deadly. This time, she allowed the air to expel from the entire surface area of the projectile, generating a tiny gust that just barely was enough to disperse some of the smoke around the archer.

There was still a thick cloud of smoke, but with a high enough Perception Teresa was able to spot the archer with an arrow in his throat, flailing as he collapsed. She did a quick look around at her own party members, along with a flash of movement as reinforcements from the army finally arrived.

Teresa stumbled to her feet and made her way towards the archer, <Healing Touch> active. She had questions, and they might have answers. Depending on what they told her, they could very well find out why pissing off someone with healing magic was a bad idea.

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