Races: Online (VR Smartphone App)

The street split open—numerous cracks fractured and turned the street into an uneven terrain. People caught in the center of the street were flung back aside and thrown off their feet as magic turned the smooth road into a jagged one. 

Numerous concrete of the pavement strewn up and scattered like spiked rain as the magic faded.

Han wiped the blood off his nose with and lifted the tip of his wand, feeling a bit woozy, but otherwise still alive. His ears were ringing, but he caught the sight of some men with [ Steady Footing ] already heading this way, some with inconspicuous weapons like a knife himself and others with an axe—

Caught in the frenzy, he pulled out the rusted knife and threw it at them.

[ Unerring Throw  ]

His own knife flew forward but then the man swerved to the side, quickly dodging it—before they were blasted away by a small compact of air. Han met the gaze of Russel once and then dove in for the stragglers not participating in the main fight, storing his wand away to get out Gus' knife.

Han traded blows with another one that came up from behind him. 

He dodged back to the right and then felt the cold steel hiss through his skin. He swerved to meet the real attacker, the first one nothing more than an illusion and cut back in earnest. The sensation of his knife sinking in was quick, smooth and he quickly pulled away, kicked the man down and ran off for the next one.

Don't need to kill—he didn't need to kill them.

And yet he gnashed his teeth and touched the cut. His own blood felt like liquid ice. The coldness of the blade had hurt with a minor enchantment. But he was no murderer, they were in a city—at most, he only needed to disarm them.

Han dodged back some spells that fired at him, until he closed the distance in between them. He slammed his hand into the face of a wand-wielding guy and proceeded to fling him backwards to his companions.

It bought him some time.

He ran past a cowering bowman, giving them a glare as the guy flinched. Immediately backing out from the fight to run away. Han left him be and focused on bringing down the other people he slipped past.

—-

Had somebody cast the [ Ultimate Victory ] Skill right now and people were unaware of it? Russel threw another elemental orb and tried to fumble for a quick sip of a mana potion that he had purchased before while he kept distance from the thugs coming their way.

Boaz had an answer for it as he disarmed another Thief and threw them aside. It wasn't like they were fighting an unbeatable force and while initially taken aback, the flow of the battle had changed for the better.

He picked up a sword from a disarmed criminal and sighed in relief. He did have some sword skills after all and so the man charged. Not everyone of the thugs around were high-leveled and this was the advantage that their group had compared to the others. 

Boaz had to admit that it was impressive.

Diov kept himself in close-quarters of an enemy and was quick with his feet. His footwork  paired with the hard pound of his gauntlets practically threw a man backwards and was quickly kicked down by Donovan.

Did one's education in Kraelonia Academy help? 

Most certainly. 

This was something enough for a coordinated bronze adventuring team of around five to six to handle and fend off successfully. If Xanthe and Azhura had been around, it might have been easy. To be trained by higher leveled veterans in their own fields did help, even if they were terrible teachers.

A couple of the criminals did have a notorious reputation and decently high-levels—but most were low-leveled threats. And if there had actually been any high-levels… well, it was only one guy.

Slug Fist holded himself quite well against Ryden who could only have been a semi-decent swordsman. Both had barely paid attention to the earthquake that rocked the street as one punched and the other attempted to stab another.

For the higher-leveled ones with a brain, they avoided this fight or slipped back into the shadows while they had a chance. Just because some were young didn't mean they were weak. A lack of actual combat experience, but not power. 

And sometimes, an untrained child with a magnificent amount of mana and a spell-attuned wand was the worst nightmare for any.

.

.

.

It was finally over—Slug Fist looked around and realized that a good number of the people who joined him were defeated and down already. He gritted his teeth, but then realized what he was up against. They weren't just any ordinary children.

Slug Fist grabbed and heaved for a large crack in the ground, his muscles bulged as he lifted the hefty piece of the street and threw it at Ryden.

The Guardsman slashed at the rock—Boaz's sword cracked and shattered. The man was thrown back on the ground. His back hurt and he groaned, ignoring the pain as he glanced at the remnants of the sword. He chucked it at a stray Thug attempting to knife Boaz in the back.

"Your sword sucks!"

"...You broke it!" Boaz narrowed his eyes and clutched a bleeding shoulder. It wasn't that deep, something he needed a quick gulp of a healing potion for. Thankfully he always carried one in his bag, and he took it out for a drink—but then he glanced around to check if the students were safe. "Is everyone alright, does anybody need a potion?"

"I do," Ryden shouted.

"Get one yourself." Boaz muttered in his breath as he approached the students. He didn't need any trouble in the Guardsmen's Barracks if anything had happened to them. But so far, they all looked alright—hardly one of them shaken up.But more importantly, that guy who had interacted with the trio was around and safe.

"We're… good." Teresa smiled and winced. Not everything Han had done was a good thing as she nursed a sprain. But other than brief and shallow cuts, nothing much had happened.

"Speak for yourself, I'll take that potion, sir." Donovan raised his split open fists and looked enviously at Diov. "Remind me to get one of those gauntlets, bracers or whatever you call them as a spare weapon."

Diov removed his gauntlets and winced. "It's not so fun getting electrocuted. It still attracts charges from spells. Something I failed to consider when I got it commissioned."

"Well, I'm just glad that everyone's alright," Han approached them and sighed in relief.

"Not thanks to you," Russel said as he wiped his mouth and stopped the mana potion. But then he gave Han a sheepish smile, "But you're right—at least we're all okay. Especially you. You should have taken a safer road back to the Academy."

"Right, but it was a shortcut."contemporary romance

"Not much of a shortcut now that you look at it, kid." Ryden finally scrambled up and approached them. Maybe it had been a terrible decision to go drinking right after he got out of the clinic and as he eyed the numerous people he and Boaz had to report and bring back to the Barracks, it was going to be a pain.

Han scratched the back of his head and grinned weakly. "Oh right."

This hadn't been he himself had been expecting to see, but somehow leaving himself on auto-pilot really had worked well. Far too well if anybody were given a chance to comment, and someone did.

People weren't blind.

"Blasted the entire road apart, huh?" Diov finally glanced at the wreckage and back at Han and gave the man a nod. "Now that is impressive—but I heard you were a terrible Mage."

"Heard?"

"It wasn't me—Penelope was the one who said that." Russel held his hands up. "I think that was amazing and you know it."

Diov rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Well, so far we've seen you spar during Professor Liddell's classes. You rely more on physical feats usually and even outmaneuvered Elliot since your first spar—so finally seeing you cast some magic is interesting. She's wrong in that regard."

"Uh, good wand and I've been leveling up lately."

"Leveled up? How many times?"

"Some Mana Well, yeah." Han said and scratched his head. "Just enough for me to get decent—I mean, as Russel already said, I haven't been hanging out with you guys. There had to be some reward to it if I hadn't been slacking around."

"That is true, and I suppose when you're low-leveled, it's a little bit easier to grow."

"Yep, definitely the case with me,"  Han agreed and nodded.

"As much as we're enjoying this little class reunion, it's time for you kids to head back to your Academy." Boaz interrupted and motioned to the people currently disarmed and knocked down. "Ryden should—"

The Guardsman was already long gone earlier.

"Calling reinforcements or backup to help with the cleanup and arrest them," Teresa explained with a shrug. She had been paying attention and didn't say a word this time, enough for her to catch the man leaving.

And the man had been fast.

"Well, we can't leave you alone, Guardsman Bo while reinforcements aren't here yet," Donovan said and glanced around warily. "I did knock some people out—"

"So did I." Diov agreed.

"But it's dangerous to be alone," Russel said.

Han agreed with them, but he didn't say a word as his gaze lingered around the now broken street filled with men and women in various states of incapacity. A good bunch of them had been knocked out cold, others were disarmed and or sporting wounds that prevented them from getting up as they were cut at non-life threatening places.

Everyone was accounted for.

Or so he thought. 

In the back of the alley came the glint of an arrow that flew in the night.

done.co