SoulShadow, a long time legend of the assassin class. For the longest time, SoulShadow was the god every assassin looked up to, until Dragrath pushed him to second place on the assassin rankings. I used to watch Youtube tutorials on how to play the game made by this guy when I was a noob.

  He lived in a mansion in LA, driving multiple supercars, all because he was just that good at the game. His equipped build was even more expensive than a supercar. I spotted the hilt of Ephine’s Deathwail (Mythic Dagger, Unique) poking out of his knife holster. Mythics were the best item rarity in the game, even above legendaries, and SoulShadow had three of them. His purple and black cloak was also rumored to be one, and same with one of his rings. The rest were all unique legendaries from the best event bosses in the game.

  The man himself was in his late twenties with a much more muscular build than me. His cloak was dark, just like mine, but his build was complemented by a lot more expensive colors. Everything from his boots to his gloves were perfect to the fine details, for a dream shadow assassin build.

  Spotting us, he tilted his head ever so slightly. He stared at our sets. “You two,” he said.

  Suddenly, the confident act I’d prepared was tossed out of the window. I had forgotten just how overwhelming the presence of absolute top players were.

  “What level are you?” he asked in confusion.

  “Uh, a couple,” I said.

  He frowned. “Solo Mage? I think I’ve seen that before. You’re top players. What are you doing here?”

  Shit. SoulShadow looked just as cool in person as he did in clips. He was also insanely good at the game. I knew he had the skills to instantly kill us both even if we weren’t clad in noob gear. I wouldn’t have had a chance of just killing him like I did with others.

  “We’re investigating local wizards,” Veyra said. “And stuff.”

  “Did you stream-snipe the location?” he asked. “Impressive how you’re still alive.”

  A louder sizzle resounded from upstairs. SoulShadow frowned up at the ladder. “What’s going on there?”

  “Just a simple quest,” I said. “If possible, we’d like to complete it, and we’ll be on our way.”

  “Share the details,” SoulShadow ordered.

  Veyra and I glanced at each other. Somehow, we had to stall for time. There was a chance SoulShadow could just kill us and steal the rewards. Dying during a protection quest was never a good thing, even if the one being protected survived.

  “We didn’t stream snipe anyone,” I began. “We got the location through quest details, and I sneaked past high level monsters. The quest is nothing complex. Just a quick ritual we need to protect.”

  “Share its details,” SoulShadow repeated.

  I bit my lip and said to Veyra out loud, “Maybe he’s friendly?”

  He would not be, but if we didn’t share the quest details, there was a good chance he’d just kill us on the spot. Veyra shared the quest information with him.

  SoulShadow skimmed the contents, and his frown turned surprised as he looked up at us. “You motherfuckers have an invitation quest?”

  I thought of some nonsense I could say to waste time. “We just need the XP to not be underleveled, honestly.”

  His glare was having none of it. “Worlds is not a place for some kids. Visit your local agencies for competitions if you think it’s time to show off.”

  “No worries,” I said. “I’ve watched a few of your tutorials on how to play the game. We should do just fine in Worlds.”

  SoulShadow unsheathed a dagger and spun it in his fingers. “I doubt I can steal the invitation quest from you after killing Heywin, but I can certainly steal the loot drops you would have obtained. I’m sorry, but I don’t think you’re fit for Worlds.”

  His figure flashed into a dark shadow, and I immediately recognized he’d used [Shadow Dash]. SoulShadow was the pioneer of the [Shadow Dash] into one-shot technique I used. He, too, initiated a slash with his dagger before the dash to ensure that the dagger would hit immediately as his figure materialized.

  The movement really looked like it happened in an instant. One moment, SoulShadow stood a good distance away from me, and the next, his dagger would one-shot me.

  But I knew what was coming. I used the same technique all the time. I didn’t need to think for a second to preemptively place The Immortal to protect my throat.

  A cling resounded.

  [Perfect Block!]

  [Immortal Parry - active conditions met!]

  SoulShadow’s posture was blown open and he stumbled back. He staggered in shocked confusion for a full second, until anger and combat instincts placed him quickly back to stance.

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  “Wait, I see now,” SoulShadow said. “You’re the one who killed Fuhad. Cocky asshole.”

  Crap, crap, crap, I thought, watching as SoulShadow’s cloak flared up and his body glowed.

  “Let’s see how good you actually are,” he said and used two buffing skills. [Swift Movements], followed by [Ghost Slice].

  The latter skill was bullshit. A total cheat skill of his mythic dagger. The exact skill details weren’t public, but the skill turned his dagger into a spectral, ghostly blade that no longer existed as a physical object. And since it wasn’t a physical object, it could freely pass through armor or blocks, dealing spectral damage to the bodies it passed.

  Even though I had The Immortal, I couldn’t block.

  SoulShadow attacked immediately, slashing with the intent to kill. I watched his footwork, and had a fraction of a second to side-step, which I miraculously succeeded.

  That wasn’t much of a victory. Daggers weren’t heavy weapons like greatswords, meaning that redirecting a blow was much easier. SoulShadow did so with perfect precision.

  I had nothing to avoid that one. I needed to dash out, already putting my only escape into cooldown?

  No, wait, I didn’t. An idea came to me by instinct.

  The blade of SoulShadow’s mythic dagger was unblockable. His hand, however, was definitely still gripping the dagger. I directed The Immortal’s blade not to collide with the blade of his dagger, but the cross-guard.

  [Perfect Block!]

  This time, [Immortal Parry] didn’t kick in, but the block stopped his swing dead in its tracks.

  Now would have been a perfect opportunity to blast him with [Curse Of The Lich], but like the dumbass I was, I had decided to show up wielding a shitty common dagger in my other hand. All I could do was watch for his next attack.

  That attack came immediately as SoulShadow planted his right foot firmly to the ground and thrust his secondary dagger at me.

  Wait, that footwork, I thought, easily reading his attack. There’s no way.

  This motherfucker just used [Thrust]!

  A spark of anger flowed to my head. The [Thrust] was inhumanely fast—of course it was, thanks to SoulShadow’s perfect footwork—but it was still the most predictable attack he could have thrown. And it left his body wide open.

  I used [Shadow Dash] straight forward, moving through his thrust and appearing behind him. I swung my common dagger, landing a clear slice on his nape.

  [Critical Strike!]

  His health bar had dropped only to 80%.

  “Don’t meet your heroes, huh?” I said, scowling at him. “If I had any equipment on at all, you would have just died.”

  “And what if I’m merely testing you?” SoulShadow said, though I was sure I’d seen surprise in his face. “If I were to use a single one of my ultimates, you would both be one-shotted, and this tower would explode.”

  That was probably true as well. SoulShadow wasn’t the rank 2 assassin for no reason. Unlike me, he didn’t place all his skill points to [Vital Strike]. He had multiple damage skills that would have ripped the walls apart if he activated them.

  Veyra stood in the corner of the room with her common staff ready as well. A message came.

  Veyra: “Sorry. The duel was too fast. I couldn’t help you without risking hitting you.”

  Wait, really? We moved that fast?

  SoulShadow subtly glanced at Veyra, noting her location. He frowned at me, dagger pointed at me, and his figure turned to a shadow, casting [Shadow Dash].

  I preemptively threw my common dagger close to Veyra, at the point where an assassin would go to one-shot Veyra, and I held The Immortal ready for a block in case I misread him.

  SoulShadow arrived at the spot I predicted. He miraculously sensed my dagger, jumping back to avoid being hit.

  He gave me a suspicious look, as if questioning reality. “I see. And how will you defend your mage player with the gear you have?”

  He attacked Veyra again, though his attention was on me, studying any attempt I would make to somehow save Veyra. He didn’t give Veyra herself, in her unimpressive brown robe, any thought at all.

  Veyra’s common staff glowed, and slippery ice spread to the floor where SoulShadow was placing his foot. His firm stance was suddenly broken as his foot slipped forward, eyes opening wide.

  He tried to thrust regardless, only for his hand to pause in place before picking any weight when Veyra cast an [Elemental Barrier] between his shoulder and bicep, locking his hand itself in place.

  A rift appeared under his feet, and [Chronorift]’s spikes pierced through him from below. They barely did any damage due to the common staff I’d made her equip, and the same lack of damage applied to the next quick-casted icicle that landed perfectly in SoulShadow’s chest.

  Veyra then ran to me, making the floor behind her slippery with ice. His health bar now read 68%.

  “Wow,” Veyra said. “He’s almost like a Sword Of Time, but with a dagger.”

  My heart was racing like hell. I let out a chuckle. “Holy shit, Veyra. How fast was that casting?”

  SoulShadow turned to us, and his scowl was far from playful. “So, who are you two?”

  “Eh,” Veyra said casually, though kept her staff up, prepared for surprises. “I’m the solo mage.”

  “And I guess I’m the solo assassin?”

  He snorted. “I recorded this fight, by the way. I’m very much surprised. It’s been a while since I’ve seen cheaters in this game.”

  I blinked. “Wait. What?”

  “Your dagger perfectly tracks the spot where it needs to be every time,” SoulShadow said. “Every one of your blocks was a perfect block. You then blocked Ghost Slash, which is not possible. You also have a location tracker of your opponent’s vital spots, where you automatically throw your weapon.”

  What the fuck is a location tracker? I thought.

  “I practiced perfect blocks for two months straight, though?” I said. “And I blocked the hilt of your dagger, not the blade itself?”

  He frowned at that. “And your mage—she’s casting spells at thrice the speed the game allows. She’s cheating as well.”

  “She’s quick-casting?” I said. “And her build focuses on cooldown reduction?”

  “Yep, sure, that’s believable,” SoulShadow said.

  While he spoke, the dust on the floor rose and began whirling around his body. The speed of the whirlwind slowly increased, until I could feel the spinning air attempting to grab my body as well.

  “I’ll send the clip to Wind Virtual,” SoulShadow said, “and you will be banned. For now, I’m lucky your gear is awful.”

  His skill ramped up in speed. I had no idea what skill he was about to blast us with. This wasn’t class assassin skill, and I’d never seen it publicly used in clips. It could have been a new skill from a unique item.

  These were always the worst situations to find oneself in when it came to PvP. Wonderwind had an absurd amount of items and skills, and it simply wasn’t feasible to memorize what every skill did, especially if the players wielding those skills were also hiding their abilities. We had no idea what the skill did, so we could only watch its effects and hope we could react appropriately.

  I kept my eyes firmly on SoulShadow, when an explosion suddenly came.

  Not from SoulShadow, but from above.

  Ceiling tiles snapped, and the floor above collapsed upon itself with a violent crash. The rubble landed in the middle, in between SoulShadow and me and Veyra.

  The dust cloud settled, and a creature emerged from within the rubble. A small dragon, the size of a pumpkin. Above it, the nametag read, Great Mage Heywin (NPC, Dragon, Level ???).

  Dragon Heywin faced SoulShadow and his echoing voice rumbled, “So, you’re the rude guest who killed me?”

  20 chapters ahead on !