Gilgamesh marched swiftly through the streets with a Boulder Ape at his side and an army at his back that pillaged and destroyed as he commanded. It had been less than a day since the ambush of the gang alliance, and by the ease with which he pushed through this territory, it seemed that Tiago had not replenished his forces much.

  Tiago’s army attacked from the front, and Gilgamesh urged his soldiers forward to meet them. But as he crossed a passageway between several two-story buildings, the archers and spellcasters that laid in wait for an ambush emerged from the windows.

  The Boulder Ape moved to defend him but it was too slow. A hail of arrows and magic tore through his body. However, the red that spilt out from him was not lightning, but blood. The bandages around his face had become undone enough in the attack to reveal the face of the same hapless fool Gilgamesh had placed in charge of the first gambling den. A face recently scarred by fire to serve as a suitable decoy.

  At the same time, Gilgamesh and Heroine ambushed Tiago’s base and struck three elites dead in a flash. An iron arrow from his Bolt Viper pierced Tiago dead through the chest, but as the body hit the ground, it morphed back into its original form, that of an unfamiliar stranger.

  “One step ahead again…” Gilgamesh thought, as more elite emerged from hiding to surround them.

  “Come on now.” Tiago asked from within an alley. “You got to learn faster than this.”

  No sooner had he finished those words did the sound of fighting roar out in the distance from all directions.

  “We’re under attack from all sides! Gangs from the other regions! Madame Hwa is one of them!” A scarred man rushed over to report.

  An iron arrow pierced one of the elites behind the duo and Heroine killed the other while they were distracted.

  Gilgamesh turned to Tiago directly, as he and Heroine took a position outside of their encirclement. “I did learn.”

  Tiago looked back with a smile, then gave a sharp whistle. The remaining elites rushed off at his command to support their forces against the ambush, although the old woman remained.

  “I’ll leave this to you.”

  Gilgamesh threw a Bomber at Tiago as he spoke to Wumei, but the bandit somehow vanished before his eyes.

  “Just who are you looking down on?” Wumei closed the distance through the smoke and dust in a blur, with a threatening palm held out by her side.

  Gilgamesh pulled himself back with his Forest Hand as Heroine intercepted the old woman’s path. Wumei flourished her arms to knock open Heroine’s arms, and in that opening, she struck her palm at Heroine’s heart without hesitation. But Heroine’s arm spasmed fast enough to block with her shield.

  “Hoh?” Wumei was almost impressed. “But…”

  The force of her strike did not stop on Heroine’s shield. It carried through to burst open wounds on the arm that held it. And a second hard hit sent her sliding back across the ground to crash right through a building.

  Wumei burst straight towards Gilgamesh once again, but Gilgamesh was not unprepared. Another Bomber forced her into a detour, right into the mauling strike of his Boulder Ape.

  Wumei flourished her arms to parry with a quick burst of mana. The old woman was both highly skilled and highly experience in hand-to-hand combat, but it still took everything she had just to bump that mauling stone arm off course. But she had succeeded, and she did not hesitate in the opening it created.

  Wumei darted in close with deft footwork as mana cloaked her hand, and landed a palm strike on the golem's torso. A rupturing force penetrated past the surface of the Boulder Ape's torso with a wave of cracks, but its torso was simply too thick for the magic's effect to reach its core.

  Gilgamesh immeditately wielded his golem to strike at Wumei with both hands. Her attack had failed and now she was far too close. All he needed to do was land a single hit, and he would win.

  But another crystal appeared in Wumei's hand, and she broke it with a grip. Mana surged over her arms and she parried away both of the golem's fists with far greater ease than before. Then mana flared over her hand and she landed another rupturing strike. This time, it shattered the torso from within completely, along with its core.

  Gilgamesh's eyes sharpened to the extreme at the sudden increase in power of Wumei's spells. He activated another Boulder Ape to replace the one he lost, and sent it charging towards her. He raised the stone golem's huge arm into the air, and had his Bolt Viper slithered in the background and shot an iron arrow in the opening.

  But Wumei was not caught off guard. She evaded the Iron Bolt cleanly, and parried away the Boulder Ape's cratering fist with ease. But Gilgamesh had succeeded in his true aim. That exchange had made her forget about the Hero she fought, just for a moment.

  Heroine swung down her mace at the old woman from her blindspot. It was little more than instinct born of experience and sheer reflexes that allowed Wumei to shift her head just enough to avoid a lethal blow. But the mace landed on her shoulder.

  A sharp crunch echoed in the streets. Wumei winced, then jumped back to create some distance and settled into an ancient martial stance with her left arm dangling limp at her side as the surging mana around her dispersed away.

  The old woman’s sternness sank into an expression of far more serious enmity. Her presence was hardly that of someone at the mercy of her opponents, but one that had now committed to using all she had to kill them.

  Wumei made the first move. She burst back into the fight, and the duo moved in concert with callous intentions. Even with one less arm, the old woman fought them almost on equal terms. She proved more skilled and experienced in combat than either of them, and just as ruthless. But she was not as underhanded.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  Heroine feinted a strike, but kicked up dirt at Wumei’s eyes instead. Wumei blocked the dirt with her sleeve and aimed a keen strike at Heroine’s head. Heroine lurched back to evade, but Wumei stepped in with her strike and aimed a second at her heart again. A strike that would have landed were it not for Gilgamesh wielding his Boulder Ape to force her to back off.

  [ Gilgamesh ]

  Mana Capacity: 274/340

  “Vicious old woman.” Gilgamesh thought. “But the power of her Magic is normal again.”

  Gilgamesh obstructed the flow of her movements with unorthodox ones of his own, and Heroine struck in the opening. Wumei dodged but a well-timed iron arrow and his Boulder Ape’s mauling palm forced her to flip in the air to evade them both. And Heroine struck again.

  Wumei was able to twist her body just enough to parry the mace with her shoulder, and she struck back with a rupturing foot at Heroine’s chest. But before it could land, Gilgamesh wielded the Forest Hand he had always kept on his back to grasp her leg in the opening.

  Wumei ruptured the Forest Hand with frenzied urgency, and in that opening, Heroine finally landed. Wumei tried to parry her mace again, but Heroine had timed her attack too well, and the mace struck her clean in the chest.

  Wumei crashed across the ground twice before she managed to flip herself upright. But as soon as she did, her face strained and she vomited a mouthful of blood. As Heroine mercilessly pressed the attack, a dagger sailed out of the dark straight for Gilgamesh’s now unguarded back.

  A shield of mana formed in the blink of an eye, and the dagger clanged off it as Gilgamesh calmly turned his sights to Tiago. Never once had he believed the man actually left.

  [ Gilgamesh ]

  Mana Capacity: 252/340

  From the very start, he had devoted half of his attention to vigilance against the ambush he was certain would come. After all, just as Tiago was Gilgamesh’s highest priority, he knew that he was also Tiago’s.

  “But…” Gilgamesh’s eyes narrowed. “That throwing knife was aimed right at my core. He knows my state of being, and my weakness. Though he didn’t know about my Mana Screen Bracelet… He must have a Talent that detects weaknesses.”

  “Damn brats…”

  Wumei withdrew a strange green stone and shattered it. In mere moments, her bones reset themselves and a normal color returned to her face.

  Wumei stood before them as strong as she had at the start of the fight as she took another fighting stance, and Tiago jumped down near her with his ever-confident, casual smile.

  Gilgamesh and Heroine both steeled themselves in turn, and the fight resumed. Without any prior coordination, Heroine and Wumei took the vanguard, while Gilgamesh and Tiago gave them support as each sought to tip the fight to their advantage.

  Gilgamesh evened the Heroine’s odds against the old martial master as best he could with his Boulder Ape, while he targeted Tiago with his Bolt Viper.

  Tiago did not seem nearly as powerful as Wumei, but he was cunning. He always threw daggers in just the right way to bother and obstruct them, and always slipped away from death in the process. Wumei was already a tough fight for the duo before. Now that she had competent support, they truly struggled.

  [ Gilgamesh ]

  Mana Capacity: 239/340

  Gilgamesh tried to devote more of his efforts against Wumei, but Tiago threw a few daggers his way to force him to move again. He could control all three golems at once, but having four sources of vision made it difficult to process the fight.

  Tiago took another potshot at Heroine, but Gilgamesh moved the Boulder Ape’s arm to block it. The easygoing bandit drew two more daggers from his spatial bag and hopped around in the back within Heroine’s line of sight as he waited for another opening.

  “His Agility is too high.” Gilgamesh broke down his Bolt Viper and summoned another Forest Hand to pursue Tiago directly, as he thought about how to overcome this peril.

  “I can’t use my Salamanders. Heroine would get caught up in the poison. I can’t risk another Bomber on Tiago until I discover how he keeps escaping them. Should I just bomb Wumei regardless?” Gilgamesh glanced at Heroine. “No… It’s too obvious an attack. She’ll see it coming and avoid it. And I won’t find another pawn as effective and reliable as Heroine. I’ll lose my pawn for nothing.”

  Gilgamesh's mind drifted in sentiment, but only for a moment. Ignoble resolve soon took its place. “No, not for nothing... The path I chose is the right one. I will see it through.”

  Gilgamesh broke down the Forest Hand on his back, and sent a Bomber rolling towards Wumei. Wumei darted away at once, as did Heroine with a panicked expression. But the Bomber rolled straight past them towards Tiago as he dodged the Forest Hand’s grasps.

  Tiago turned his head just as it exploded, but a dagger sailed from another alley to force another use of Gilgamesh’s Mana Shield Bracelet. Gilgamesh did not relent and bombed him again.

  [ Gilgamesh ]

  Mana Capacity: 201/340

  Tiago appeared in an alley close by the second Forest Hand and Gilgamesh finally saw his skill. He had sunk through the shadows of one alley and climbed through those of the next.

  “Teleportation through shadows…” Gilgamesh deduced. “The range doesn't seem to be that far. And with his high Agility and half-decent Strength, he shouldn’t have that much Spirit.”

  Gilgamesh sent another Bomber after Tiago immediately to force yet another Shadow Walk, and then another immediately after to force him again. When Tiago appeared this time, he immediately turned and fled.

  “Bastard!” Wumei shouted.

  She broke away from her fight against Heroine and the Boulder Ape to burst after Tiago with all her might and cut off his escape. At the sight of the opportunity, Gilgamesh and Heroine immediately maneuvered to do the same. And Tiago was trapped.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” Wumei’s question dripped with cold venom.

  “I’m not much use to you dead.” Tiago smiled shamelessly.

  “Haven’t been much use to me alive.”

  “We have no quarrel with you.” Gilgamesh spoke to Wumei. “Let us kill Tiago and join forces.”

  “He won’t stop at me.” Tiago playfully added.

  “Shut up.” Wumei snapped as she stared at Gilgamesh, as if to measure him. “You must mobilize people to search the Bazaar for my granddaughters. Hold up this fool’s end that he’s failed to do.”

  “Agreed.” Gilgamesh said. “And we claim all of his wealth.”

  “Ha.” Wumei scoffed. “Fairer to take half, wouldn’t you say?”

  Gilgamesh paused for a moment. “I plan to claim all of this as my territory and more. I’ll need you to protect our base as you did for him.”

  “You’re certainly not lacking in ambition.” Wumei seemed to come to a decision. “We have a deal.”

  All at once, the three of them attacked Tiago. The bandit broke a smoke bomb beneath his feet and fled, but Heroine tracked him through it. He threw another smoke bomb at her, but Heroine flourished her shield to fling the fragile husk away without it breaking and raised her mace.

  Wumei struck out her palm as Heroine swung her mace, and Gilgamesh dropped a Bomber in between them all.