Not wasting a single second, Seth immediately cast Intermediate Identify on the duo in front, then the pair behind him.

  Quill Seralp, his black hair falling carelessly over his eyes, offered a smug smirk. "You're a hard man to find, you know that?"

  "What do you want?" Seth replied coldly. His gaze flicked between the four ambushers, examining their weapons, stances, and the faint shimmer of aether already gathering around them. The answer was easy to guess.

  "Us?" William Sert retorted from behind Seth, pointing at himself and Quill. "Simple. Revenge." He then jerked his chin toward the blonde Elementalist accompanying him and the brawny Warrior with Quill. "Them? The hundred gold coins on your head."

  Great.

  Seth’s fists clenched. There was no way he could put on his combat gauntlets or Protecting Belt before they attacked. The only defensive item he wore was the Eagle Bracelet, hidden beneath the sleeve of his academy uniform. He looked at Zack, the Warrior with the two-handed ax, and Helna, the Elementalist. "You’re really ready to die for hundred gold coins?"

  Both the nobles immediately chuckled. "As if that's actually a risk," the blonde woman answered, her voice laced with contempt. "You and your little direwolf don't stand a chance against the four of us."

  Seth quickly weighed the options. He could handle two with Beastmaster Rage and Phantom Punch, but Nightmare probably couldn't. They had no choice but to let Colossus fight.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  'Take those two,' Seth said to the direwolf and the scorpion through Link while nodding subtly toward William Sert and the female Elementalist. He then locked his gaze on Quill and Zack, who stood before him. 'I’ll take care of those.'

  'We can't kill them, I guess?' Nightmare asked, a hint of disappointment in his tone.

  'Actually, you can,' Seth retorted without hesitation. 'They know where Renwal and Mael's smithy is. And they will know about Colossus. They can’t get out of here alive. And they don't deserve any mercy.'

  As if on cue, all four nobles activated their Protecting Belts, a shimmering blue aura flaring around each of them. Quill and his Warrior partner, Zack, let out roars and aether surged around their muscles, fierce red lines appearing on their visible skin with their spell.

  Without thinking, Seth cast Iron Fist, causing rough stone to encase his hands and forearms. He then launched himself forward in a blur of motion, heading straight at Quill and Zack. Simultaneously, Nightmare and Colossus sprung out from the twin-teardrops necklace, the large scorpion appearing with a thud, drawing a shocked cry from behind Seth.

  "What the hell is that thing?" William Sert’s voice echoed down the deserted street.

  Seth ignored it and poured aether into Beastmaster Rage. A crimson veil fell into his vision as raw power surged through his muscles and nerves before spreading to his two partners through Link. At the same time, the brown, earthy layer of Colossus’ Desert Aegis appeared over Seth’s skin and his leather gear.

  Seth’s core pulsed violently in his chest on his rush forward, channeling aether into the grooves of Phantom Punch. A heartbeat later, he ducked beneath Zack's massive two-handed axe, then veered sideways to avoid Quill Seralp’s sword thrust.

  Seth countered with two sharp punches onto Quill’s chest, then darted to the side, positioning the noble between him and the axe-wielding brute to prevent any more synchronized attack. Sparks danced when Seth blocked Quill's weapon with the stony bulk of Iron Fists; he shoved the blade aside before slamming his fist into the man’s face—once, twice—chipping some of the aether from his Protecting Belt.

  "Piece of shit!" Quill spat, teeth clenched, swinging wide in frustration.

  Seth bobbed beneath the blade, his hips twisting as the grooves of Phantom Punch flared to life, the spell now fully charged. He threw his weight into a brutal hook. A skeletal fist of teal aether surged around his stone-clad hand, which slammed into Quill’s side. The noble’s Protecting Belt flashed and vanished into nothingness, devoured in an instant by the Undead spell—which was still surging forward.

  The spectral knuckles then crashed into Quill’s ribs with a sickening crunch, lifting him off his feet and hurling him sideways. The noble flew like a ragdoll through the rotting wall of the abandoned building flanking the street, splinters exploding outward while the building collapsed in a spray of dust and debris, burying the Warrior underneath.

  "You bastard!" Zack roared, his face contorted with fury as he tried to cleave Seth in half, his axe turning into a blur.

  Guided by his core, Seth didn’t retreat, and instead stepped into the attack. He brought up his left arm, causing Iron Fist’s rock to meet the wooden shaft of the weapon with a resounding thud. Before the Warrior could follow up with another attack, Seth unleashed a flurry of quick, brutal punches, each blow stripping away some of the man’s protective barrier.

  Zack bellowed in both pain and anger. A concussive boom of aether erupted from his throat and sent Seth tumbling backward across the dirt street. He slammed hard against an adjacent building, the air knocked from his lungs.

  Scrambling to push himself up right away, Seth caught sight of the warrior looming over him, the Warrior’s large axe arcing down in a deadly, aether-wreathed blow toward his face. Without a second thought, he threw his arms up in a desperate cross-block.

  The blade, which glowed like a falling meteor, slammed into Iron Fists, pinning Seth beneath its crushing weight and forcing his knee into the ground.

  "Just die!" Zack screamed, pressing down on his weapon.

  Seth gritted his teeth, the stone covering his arms grating against aether-infused metal. The Warrior’s roar intensified and aether flared around his arms—at the same time, Seth noticed the elongated shadow stretching out behind the man in the dimming light.

  Seth cast Shadow Step.

  He vanished from beneath the descending axe, reappearing a heartbeat later directly behind Zack. Before the noble could react, Seth buried his stone-encased fist deep into his foe's ribcage, then followed with two more lightning-fast strikes to the same spot, shredding even more of the remaining aether from the young man’s Protecting Belt.

  The Warrior’s face twisted in pain as a strange shimmer rippled across his skin, hardening it into a rough, scale-like texture. Unable to swing his massive axe at such close range, the noble lashed out with a quick, brutal kick.

  But Seth was quicker.

  He caught the man’s leg mid-strike, yanked hard, and as the Warrior staggered, he drove his other fist straight into his chest. The blow landed with the force of a battering ram, the noble crashing loudly against the street.

  Zack gasped, air violently wheezing out of his lungs, and the last vestiges of his protective barrier disappeared. Seth’s fists then rained down like stone hammers, each blow thudding into the noble’s head and torso, bouncing his skull left and right against the hard-packed earth.

  Just as Seth reeled his arm back, ready to deliver a crushing blow, his Feral Instinct core surged in his chest—a split-second later, a half-moon crescent of light sliced into his side.

  The unexpected spells ripped through Desert Aegis, carving a deep, blood-gushing wound along his torso and shoulder before pushing him off the downed Warrior. Hitting the ground hard, Seth rolled and gritted his teeth through the sudden, agonizing pain. He then scrambled back to his feet, his hand on his bleeding side, while his crimson-veiled gaze locked on the person who had cast the spell.

  Quill Seralp stood twenty feet away, spitting a glob of blood onto the dirt. He was battered, one arm hanging limply, his eyes burning with pure hatred. His sword, clenched in his other hand, shimmered with volatile yellow aether. Behind him, Zack was struggling to push himself up, groaning.

  "You… damn… bastard!" Quill spat.

  Seth straightened, quickly checking his Well. Two-thirds of his aether was already gone.

  Shit.

  One more Phantom Punch would empty it completely, leaving him in an aether-deprived state—which would turn him into an easy prey for whichever of the two who would still be standing.

  But I still have the upper hand, he thought, still feeling the enhanced Strength and Agility from both his Swift Eagle Bracelet and Beastmaster Rage. Huntbound Rush and Iron Fists should be enough for me to take them out.

  Once again funneling aether into his Huntbound Rush, Seth dashed forward in a blur. He was like a leaf on the breeze, his enhanced instincts allowing him to anticipate the nobles’ clumsy, rage-fueled attacks. He weaved under Zack’s wide ax-swing, sidestepped Quill’s desperate lunges, and charged into the melee, landing heavy punches that further cracked their dwindling defenses—his sheer speed was too much for the Warriors.

  Then, as he feinted past Quill and readied another attack, a subtle shimmer in the air caught his periphery. Sensing something amiss, Seth immediately tried to step back, but it was too late. An invisible force fell on his shoulders, rooting him to the ground, his limbs suddenly heavy as lead. Warrior’s Anchor, he realized, recalling the Iron immobilizing spell in the academy’s shop.

  Zack and Quill lunged at him simultaneously, axe and sword clad with aether. Seth braced, lifting up his fists, ready to take the hits as best he could.

  All of a sudden, a piercing, unearthly screech ripped through the narrow street.

  The two nobles froze mid-strike, their eyes widening as their bodies inexplicably turned toward the source of the sound on their left, as if compelled by some kind of invisible force.

  Seth followed their gaze. Colossus stood there, his massive claws raised, furiously slamming them together. Charred marks and fresh cracks marred several spots on the scorpion's stone-like carapace; behind him, Seth could just make out two still forms lying amidst two large pools of blood—William Sert and the blonde Elementalist.

  Looks like Colossus and Nightmare won, he thought.

  The next instant, the weight on Seth’s shoulder vanished. Without wasting a second, he shot forward like a released arrow, sprinting after Quill and Zack, who were both running straight toward Colossus entirely against their will.

  Seth caught up to the Warrior from House Seralp first and unleashed a sharp flurry of strikes, dropping him again with a crushing blow to the jaw.

  Almost simultaneously, Nightmare burst from Illusionary Emptiness and pounced at Zack before he could reach Colossus.

  The attack was swift and savage—the direwolf’s fangs sank deep into the Warrior’s throat, then a dark cloud of corrosive smoke billowed from his maw, eating through flesh and armor alike. A strangled scream had barely escaped the man's lips before Nightmare’s jaws finished clamping down, crushing his windpipe.

  Zack crumpled lifelessly to the ground.

  Seth turned toward Quill, who lay sprawled onto the street a few feet away, his face a bloody, battered mess. Despite that, the noble's eyes still held a spark of stubborn arrogance.

  "If… if you kill me," he gasped, blood bubbling between his teeth, "my House… they’ll slaughter you. You and everyone you love."

  Seth’s gaze, cold and unwavering, landed on the man as the crimson veil of Beastmaster Rage disappeared almost simultaneously. "You are all the same," he hissed, his voice flat. "So full of yourselves, right up to the very end." He turned to Nightmare, who was now watching Quill with a predatory stillness. "Go for it. You can kill him."

  Not waiting to see what happened, Seth spun toward the bodies of William Sert and the Elementalist to collect anything valuable he could from their bodies. Behind him, Nightmare let out a low, menacing snarl—and the shift in Quill’s tone was immediate.

  "No, p-please…Seth!" the noble stammered, his voice cracking with panic. "Don’t kill m-me… I’ll give you a-anything… anything you want!"

  Seth paused and glanced over his shoulder to look at Quill. "Would you have spared me if our role was reversed?"

  The noble from the Seralp House opened his mouth, as if to offer some feeble excuse—but no words came, and his jaw clenched shut.

  "That’s what I thought," Seth spat, turning toward the other bodies.

  Then Nightmare lunged, silencing the Warrior before he could scream for help.

  (will be updated with the next cast of Identify):

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  Thank you so much for reading!

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  22 advanced chapters on !