Even as the idea slipped into Aiden's mind, he wondered if it was a good one. If it was a worthy one.

A slight frown touched his lips at the idea of the sacrifice. He looked down at Valdan's face. It was rigid, firm. One would say that it had no expression on it. Aiden had sparred with Valdan enough times and watched him fight to know that he was going through a lot of pain.

Valdan had once said that prolonged pain in the presence of the enemy should be taken like a stone. Without emotion.

He was taking his pain like a stone, and it was a lot of pain. Aiden knew this because he had been on the receiving end of the poison a few times.

Why are you contemplating?

He turned away from Valdan.

"Oncot," he said in a commanding tone.

The large man turned to him. He said nothing, but his expression told stories of him listening.

"You are the largest," Aiden said. "You will carry Valdan for the rest of the journey."

Oncot nodded.

Good. It was always good to find a man who listened without question. Aiden changed his attention, moved it to Elami and paused.

The [Healer] was no longer next to Valdan. He had moved. Now, he was squatted in front of the man whose hand and leg Aiden had severed. Interestingly enough, the man was still alive, even if barely.

Elami had his hand on the man's chest, hovering just over his heart. He had a calculating frown on his face.

Before Aiden spoke, Elami muttered something to himself in a voice so low that Aiden could not hear it. However, Aiden read his lips.

Not enough, Elami said to himself.

Not enough what? Aiden wondered.

Shaking his head, he discarded the thought.

"Do you wish to heal him?" Aiden asked Elami. It was not unheard of to find [Healer]s who found themselves inclined to heal any wounded, be they friend or foe.

It was an ethical thing for them, like a doctor sworn to treat all patients on earth. Those who took it up not just as a class but as a profession tended to share that sentiment.

Aiden did not agree with it. A foe was only healed when they had a benefit alive instead of dead.

Elami shook his head and rose to his feet.

"Only a fool would heal an enemy they are not torturing," Elami said with a sigh. Shaking his head, he headed over to Aiden. "What do you require of me, Lord Lacheart?"

"Seal the wound," Aiden said.

Ted and everyone else looked at him. Nela, one of the twins, was the first to speak.

"Are you sure?" she asked. "If he is poisoned, would it not be best to—"

"Seal the wound," Aiden repeated, shaking his head. "Take the knife out and seal the wound, Elami."

Without as much as a glance at the twin, he turned to Ted. "How long can your leech stay?"

"Long enough," Ted answered. "What are we doing?"

Aiden wasn't entirely sure. His friend's life hung in the balance, but he was too busy thinking about two things. The first was if the sacrifice he wanted to make had to be made. The second was what he was going to do about Taeli. In fact, he was thinking about the entire team.

I shouldn't have been hasty, he thought.

In his rage, he had slaughtered every plunderer. Now, however, he realized that he shouldn't have. He should've allowed them to do whatever it was that they wanted to do. He should've only gone for the once closer to Ted and Jang Su.

But here they were. As an instructor, he had always told his students to learn how to channel their anger. The last thing you needed was to be consumed by it. But he had been consumed by his. Now there was a question without an answer.

Aiden fought the urge to look at Taeli. He hadn't necessarily liked the team of mercenaries. However, now, he was suspicious of them. Suspicion without proof was a dangerous thing.

Taeli had taken a wrong path only to return them to the right path. The wrong path she had taken had led them to the Life moss that had almost killed them, then she'd brought them back to the right path where the plunderers had attacked them.

The question now was if it had all been intentional. And if the answer was yes, was Taeli the only traitor or had it been a team effort?

Elami kneeled next to Valdan and took out the knife. Valdan groaned as the blade came free. For all the pain that Ted claimed the leech took from Valdan, he still had more than enough pain to go around.

Elami discarded the knife to the ground with a scowl.

"Disgusting little thing," he muttered, before sealing the injury with a skill.

Dreg stepped up to Aiden. "Are you sure you should be sealing a poisoned wound?"

"Yes," Aiden said. He had intended for his voice to come out calm but it came out with a scathing touch. Scathing enough that Dreg noticed it and took a step back.

"If you're thinking that we had something to do with this," he said cautiously, "I assure you that we did not. We are not that kind of group. We are mercenaries. We carry out our duty properly."

Aiden ignored him. Words were just that, words. They meant nothing.

"It doesn't matter," he said in the end, holding his hand out. "I need the map."

Dreg held his hand up and the rolled up map appeared in his grasp.

Aiden took it from him and splayed it open on the ground. Everyone except Ted, Oncot, and Elami converged on him.

"What happens now?" Jang Su asked. "Are we returning?"

"We are not." Aiden touched a point on the map and it highlighted.

A holographic projection came up. He studied it. The map showed nothing in the way of threats and dangers, only paths.

He tapped a new point, the final location. His true destination. It was an open space with at least three paths that led to its entrance and a path that led away. The second path led out of the cave. A convenient natural path. Too convenient, scholars liked to say.

With the entire outline of the map committed to memory, Aiden nodded.

Taeli leaned in and pointed at a path on the map.

"What is—"

She terminated her sentence as Aiden dispelled the projection and rolled the map back up. Giving her the time to ask questions and make suggestions would help him understand better if she was working against them. But it didn't matter.

He did not have the time required to play detective.

Handing over the map to Dreg who took it, he spoke once more, addressing everyone.

"Speed is of the essence," he said in a tone that allowed no argument. "I will stay in front. I will lead."

"You can scout?" One of the twins asked.

"We will not be killing any of the monsters we come across," Aiden continued, ignoring her. "If I catch anybody wasting my time by trying to kill a monster, their life will be forfeit."

Taeli frowned. "That does not—"

Dreg stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

"Agreed," he said. "We will keep pace with you. We will kill no monsters that we can simply avoid."

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Aiden nodded. "Good. Because I will not allow anyone delay me."

With that, he turned in the direction that led forward and brought up his memory of the map and its many paths.

He activated the necessary skill.

[You have used skill Pathfinder(U)]

The world seemed to grow into focus in front of him.

A whisper of blue-white breeze led forward. He watched it, saw it. It was as clear as day, unmistakable. It was almost like lines of thread in the air.

Aiden looked back at the others. "Ready?"

Oncot adjusted Valdan in his arms, frowning. He clearly did not like the idea of not killing monsters.

Elami stood next to Ted. He nodded as the others did. His expression, however, was odd. He was contemplating.

Aiden ignored it. There was always the possibility that Elami, the last and sudden addition to their team, might've had a hand in what had happened.

With a shrug of will, Aiden dispelled his bow. Walking over to the axe and spear he had summoned in combat, he picked them up, dispelling them into his storage space as well. He did the same for his sword.

Jang Su scooted over to him quietly.

"Are you sure it is a good idea to move unarmed?" he asked cautiously. "I know you don't want us to kill, but to be armed will be a safer option."

"I did not ask anyone else to surrender their weapons," Aiden said. "This decision is mine and mine alone."

"I know," Jang Su said, nodding in understanding. "I only worry for your safety."

"Understandable."

It was all Aiden had to say as he returned his attention to the guiding breeze in front of him. If Jang Su knew what a member of the Order was truly capable of, he would not be worried.

Unarmed, Aiden stepped forward.

"Follow," he said.

Then he blurred into motion.

…

Lord Aiden Lacheart was fast.

That was all Nesa could say about it. The wind breezed past them, loud in her ears as they ran. The world blurred around them as they moved.

"Why is he unarmed?" she asked Jang Su as they took a turn.

Jang Su frowned, not answering her for a moment. He looked lost in thought, like a man worried about a friend who had a terrible addiction and didn't know how to help him.

The one sleeve of his 'kimono' billowed in the wind trailing almost behind him as they charged forward. With his inner shirt and the loose sleeve, there was something regal about him. The darkness on his face made him look like a lord from a fallen house.

A broken nobility.

It was subtly intoxicating. She liked it. She wanted a moment after this expedition with him. The problem was if this was simply lust or if she wanted to explore more. There was something about his silent brooding character that called to her.

"I didn't ask him," Jang Su answered after a moment, as Lord Lacheart took a left instead of a right.

"But will he be fine?" she asked, showing concern. It was not concern for Lord Lacheart but concern for Jang Su's friend.

Jang Su's jaw tightened. "I hope so."

As Lord Lacheat took the turn, moving without hesitation, as if he was in his own house, something struck out at him.

It moved swiftly, so fast that Nesa might not have reacted on time. Lord Lacheart reacted on time. His arm shot out as if choreographed. He struck the creature under the jaw with an open palm. Its humanoid head reeled back from the blow.

Lord Lacheart turned and drove a fist into its solar plexus. The creature fell to its knees then to the ground.

Ignoring it, Lord Lacheart kept on moving.

Nesa staggered a little, almost losing her footing. To her side, her sister snorted.

"I'm impressed," she said.

Nesa liked finesse and grace, but her sister, Nela, liked power and confidence.

Dreg was ahead of them and he'd actually stopped. Everyone blitzed past him before he realized and picked up the pace.

Lord Lacheart continued to move without delay. He was in a hurry, moving with a reasonable speed.

Somehow Nesa could not help but think that he could be faster. It was almost as if he was keeping a pace just fast enough for them to keep up but slow enough that they could catch their breath.

"Where is he even taking us?" she asked nobody in particular.

"To the crystal's spawn point," Dreg answered as he pulled up beside her. "Do not ask me why because I do not know. Perhaps there is something there that can save his friend."

"Or he might be trying to get what he wanted and get out in time to save his friend," Taeli said, pulling up next to her.

Jang Su shot her a look so baleful that Nesa was surprised his sword did not swing out to take her head.

Lord Lacheart was liked by his companions. As for Taeli, she needed to learn control. Her constant remarks on Lord Lacheart was going to get them in deeper trouble than they could ima—

Something exploded ahead of them and all their eyes snapped to it. They found Aiden running forward, bursting out of a cloud of dust.

They ran forward, straight into it as it cleared up.

"How?"

It was all she could say as they ran past four [Doppelganger]s. Three took up humanoid forms while the last one had a feline shape as tall as Oncot.

"Did you see anything?" Taeli asked Dreg as they passed.

Dreg said nothing. He kept his eyes fixed forward as they ran. He looked worried, very worried. There was also that look he had when he had a question to ask but was of the opinion that it wasn't the time.

As for Elami, he looked impressed as he passed. Ted paid no attention to the chaos. Oncot carried Lord Lacheart's wounded companion with the frown they knew him to carry when he had been denied violence.

They were a good distance down the path, taking another turn that Lord Lacheart had taken without hesitation when Dreg spoke.

"They were all alive," he said, as if talking to himself.

Nesa hadn't noticed.

"I know," Taeli said. "He knocked them out. Lord Lacheart is stronger than we thought."

Dreg shot her a scathing look. "I hope for your sake that he's as merciful as he is strong."

That got a confused look from everybody.

Ted, on the other hand, had a different expression.

"Oh, God, no," he chuckled as if he was having fun. "He is not as merciful as he is powerful. You'll need to pray to a deity somewhere for that one."

Oh, God? Nesa latched on to the words. There was no known religion that believed in a single god.

Maybe he has a preference.

There were families, after all, who worshipped a single god like a benefactor of sorts. They swore by that god and prayed to that god. Just as Oncot's people prayed to the Blood God.

Nesa was still in her thought when another explosion erupted far in front of them. She realized now that the gap between them and Lord Lacheart was only increasing. The cave wall to his left exploded outward, pelting him in dust and debris.

Aiden Lacheart turned into it without hesitation, limbs already moving. He plunged into the dust. Someone groaned, it was a human voice.

The last time they'd heard a human voice, it had been a bad sign.

There was another sound, followed by another groan. Then someone burst out of the cloud of dust. They came out from the top, shooting high to hit the ceiling. They grunted in pain as it knocked the wind out of them.

They fell back down with a loud thud.

Aiden Lacheart was yet to exit the cloud. Nela, on the other hand, made the announcement.

"PLUNDERER!"

…

Letto spun around the [Doppelganger]. It was odd to face off against something that carried his own face.

His knife flashed out as he moved, feet carrying him past it.

His interface pinged as his knife severed its head from its body.

[Congratulations! You have slain Doppelganger Lvl 53!]

He frowned, knowing that he had taken too long to kill the creature. It should've been dead in no more than four moves. He had used eight.

"Leticia!" Drax called out, slipping up.

Letto scowled as he ducked a diving [Doppelganger] that had taken up the form of something akin to an over grown tiger as large as two men placed atop each other.

His knives glowed a deep green as he activated [Forward Slash]. Then he swung both knives, cutting diagonal slashes through the air.

Already injured, the skill crashed into the animal, sending it Derrick's way. Derrick impaled it on his sword.

Letto shot Drax a deep scowl. There was aa reason his name was Letto. His parents had loved their grandmother who hadn't been blessed with a daughter so much that they had allowed her name him.

The result was Leticia. A name he had grown to realize belonged on a girl not a boy. According to his mother, names were just that, names. Boy or girl, it was just a name. You made what you wanted of it.

Letto had made Letto of Leticia. He had always dreamed of changing it legally once he had graduated and gotten a job.

So much for that.

Derrick pulled his sword from the corpse of the creature.

"That's the last one," he declared.

Corpses littered the ground around them. There was just something wrong about white corpses leaking white blood.

"Hey!"

Letto turned his head at the sound of Ariadne's voice. She stood next to a wall in the cave. She'd beaten the dirt of the wall with some kind of skill until it was nothing but a smooth surface.

Everyone turned to face her. Drax, Jen of House Vilion, Derrick, Fefi, their guide, and Sir Thompfer. Drax was the first to approach her.

"What's up?" he asked. "Done with the wall?"

Their guide, Fefi, had looked at the map. By her calculations, if they could break the wall down, it could cut down their trip by at least a day. So they'd let Ariadne go to work on the wall. During the entire ordeal, they'd been run down by the [Doppelganger]s that now littered the cave grounds.

Ariadne pointed at the wall. "There's a very thick layer left," she said. "We'll need a big blast to bring it down."

Derrick had a skill with a big blast if Letto remembered correctly.

"I've got one," Sir Thompfer announced, walking up to the wall with his spear in hand. "Where do you need it?"

Ariadne placed her hand on the smooth surface of the wall. "Right here."

Taking in a deep breath Sir Thompfer held his spear in both hands in an offensive stance.

"Stay clear," he said as the point of his spear began to glow brown.

Everyone obeyed, giving the wall some distance.

When the spear was at its brightest, Sir Thompfer dashed into the wall with incredible speed. He hit the wall with a boom that shook the cave around them and sent chunks of rock flying. He burst out on the other side in a cloud of dust and debris.

"Always got that firepower," Drax muttered, smiling.

His smile went down when they heard Sir Thompfer's voice surpress a pained cry. The knight let out a loud grunt on the other side. Then there was a sound of a body crashing into something very solid.

Letto and Drax shared a look before rushing through the wall.

Derrick, ever ready for violence, beat them to it.

By the time they got to the other side a voice cried out the last thing they were expecting to hear.

"PLUNDERER!"

It was followed by Derrick's voice. He didn't say anything, instead, he roared in pain as if he had been stabbed or skewered.

Letto stepped to the side as Drax activated a cutting skill. A large slash went through the cloud of dust, dispelling it while going for their attacker.

Something moved in the cloud as the skill dispelled it. A body. A person. It sidestepped the slash and kept moving forward.

Drax met it head on, sword swinging.

He met the body. Letto saw a green clothe billow as the assailant sent Drax's swinging sword aside with the palm of his hand. He struck the flat of Drax's sword precisely, sending it astray then struck Drax in the neck.

To Letto's surprise, Drax dropped his sword and fell to his knee, clutching at his neck.

Then the dust was gone and their assailant was coming for Letto.

Letto raised two knives, ready to counter when the person disappeared, blurring out of existence. Then he was slammed into a solid surface so hard that he had the wind knocked out of him. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been hit so hard by a person.

He tried to gather his wits, his weapons still in hand when he froze.

The cloud of dust was gone now.

Drax clutched at his neck on the ground.

Sir Thompfer struggled to get his bearings with what looked like a broken arm.

Drax choked on the ground, spasming.

As for Letto, he stared at an empty but familiar set of eyes. Ariadne was the one who brought the single word in his mind into the real world with her voice.

"Aiden?"

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