Teff had always been a loyal and focused mercenary. At least she had been for more than ten years of her life in Trackback. She fulfilled her contracts diligently, no matter how difficult they were, and never cheated anyone.

As her current teammates liked to tell her, she had a sad story but not a unique one. It was filled with loyalty, love, loss and a sense of betrayal by the world. Then she'd gone down a dark path, a path of vengeance. Trackback had a common saying: you either died a human, or lived long enough to become a monster.

The entire concept of digging a grave for yourself when you seek vengeance had a completely different meaning to her. Sometimes, you had to cross enough lines to achieve vengeance. And if you did not physically die upon the fruition of your vengeance, at least the person you were before set out on the path did.

Teff was not even considered a shadow of the woman she had once been before she'd lost her lover to some eccentric and rich noble from another land. But she was stronger, more resolute. She was more resolved.

The same resolution was what had guided her and her team through the cave. While they waited in ambush, working off the tip they had gotten, her task had been to track down their quarry.

The team had been… odd. Split in two they worked very carelessly. Teff had spotted the weak link very easily, even though the link wasn't necessarily weak. It was simply what refused to bring their teamwork together. However, the archer in the odd, green coat did a sufficient enough job. Great as he was at long distance combat, he seemed very much unwilling to engage in close combat.

Everyone had their weakness. It was the way with the world.

Following the team through the cave, however, had not been as easy as she had expected it to be. She had run the cave more than a handful of times, using her knowledge from her time as an honorable mercenary to make her plundering days easier to live by. She knew the ins and outs, the crevices of the cave. She knew the perfect places to lay down ambush and the wrongest places to get in a fight.

But this trail had almost cost her her life. When the Life moss had suddenly erupted, she would've died if she hadn't been so far away.

Now that she saw her chance, she was going to take it. Her team had finally adjusted and prepared themselves. They had anticipated their quarry and found a path that would lead them to victory.

With her unique skill [Hidden Being], she could walk through almost any crowd without being spotted. At least not unless you had really high perception and she was really close. That was the reason she had stayed away from the team's scout. The woman, although being the weak link of their teamwork, had amazing perception. Twice now she had almost caught attention of Teff.

But Teff had been doing this long enough.

Now, her team surrounded the group, intermingling amongst them. The quarry outnumbered her team, but the element of surprise would happily deal with that. With her team's unique stealth, broken only by attacking someone, they were going to inevitably find success.

They just had to keep their attention on the man who had the ability to breathe fire.

The scout, Taeli, paused. She halted her team as if sensing something. Teff frowned, slowing her approach on the one called Dan or Valdan. The man in the green coat had different names for him apparently.

The pause lasted a little too long and Teff feared that they had been caught. Her entire team was scattered among them, so it was not far fetched.

Now or never, Teff told herself, slipping her poisoned dagger from its sheath. Enshrouded in her skill, none would see it. But Taeli turned her head, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

Now, Teff decided.

She lunged forward, stabbing Valdan in the side, closer to his back. Most people let out a sigh when they were stabbed in the back. Valdan roared in pain.

At the same time, Teff felt a hand on hers. She looked up to find the archer in the green coat, staring down at her in disbelief. With her thumb, she pressed the gap in the side of the knife's handle and activated its skill.

She tried to turn the knife, complete the process, but her hand didn't budge. The archer, Aiden of House Lacheart, had a firm grip, a powerful grip. She could no sooner release herself than she could challenge the gods.

Plan B.

Valdan was dead anyway, she just had to survive while the rest of the team dealt with everyone else. It was their success.

Teff released the knife and leapt away.

It was quiet and seamless. Painless and in perfect flow.

When Teff died, she did not even know it.

…

Dreg heard Dan's pained roar as a woman he barely recognized materialized out of thin air behind him.

"PLUNDERER!" he roared, taking up his bow and notching an arrow. He felt everyone fall into alertness before the word was done leaving his lips.

Valdan's pained roar had already alerted them. However, Aiden had been aware first, reacting almost as quickly as Taeli, which said a lot about his perception.

Aiden grabbed the hand of the woman, looked down at her in shock, then at her knife lodged in Dan's back. His next action sent chills down Dreg's spine.

The shock vanished as quickly as it had come as the mana in the atmosphere suddenly grew heavy. It was thick, so thick that Dreg could almost taste it.

In the place of Aiden's shock was now unbridled anger. Hate.

His other hand flashed out, bow still in his grip. He broke the woman's neck in one blow to the head.

Dreg notched his arrow, activating [Multi-shot]. The skill granted him the ability to duplicate any arrow notched into as many mana arrows as the bow could handle. Four more arrows appeared, crowding the bow. Two of the arrows struggled to take on a complete physical form. Only then did he realize that he did not know who to attack.

Aiden Lacheart did not have that disadvantage.

He notched an arrow without looking and darted forward with a speed so powerful that he had to have used the skill [Dash]. As Valdan fell to his knee, Aiden blitzed to the right as his arrow flew in the opposite direction.

Dreg heard a sigh in the direction of the arrow. It was followed by the materialization of a man in heavy armor. Aiden's arrow protruded from the gap between his helmet and the rest of his armor. Blood sputtered as if from a geyser as he dropped to his knee, hand grasping at his neck while his massive hammer dropped to the ground.

How had a man in heavy armor, wielding a hammer so big been among them without their knowledge. [Stealth], for all its ability, had rules. You didn't wear heavy armor and walk around so freely in stealth.

But, for all his shock, there was a bigger shock for Dreg to deal with. Aiden Lacheart was a special type of monster.

He moved with the graceless rage of rampaging monster. His hand flashed out and a weapon lashed out at the air. Three steps to the left and a spear was already in his hand, stabbing the air. Ripping it out of the air, he blurred in motion, appearing elsewhere. Where his spear had left the air, blood splattered and a person came to life. A beautiful woman in a black cloak fell to her death.

Turning his grip on his spear as he appeared in his new location, Aiden sent it flying through the air like a javelin. It slipped past Oncot to lodge itself in the air just at the height of his waist.

Someone groaned beside Oncot and coughed up blood as he materialized out of thin air. Where Aiden stood, his hand flashed out, a sword appearing in his grip. The sound of steel clashing erupted. Sparks went flying as he struck the air.

Aiden spun forward as a man materialized with a sword held up in a high defense to parry his attack. Aiden moved past the man and took his head in a swinging slash.

Dreg heard Aiden growl as he turned and caught an arrow before it slammed into his eye. His grip was so strong and uncontrolled that it broke the arrow in two. Then he was on the move again. His brother, Ted, had already moved to Dan's side and a creature, likely one of his familiar was already on him.

Someone roared in pain. The sound drew Dreg's attention to a man with a missing leg and a missing arm. Not too far from him, his arm lay twitching with a poleax in its hand.

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Dreg felt bile rise up from his stomach as Aiden allowed the man to suffer as he took another man—a boy no older than himself—by the neck and slammed his head into the cavern wall. Dreg could've sworn that he heard the boy's head meet the wall.

Aiden slammed the boy into the wall again. And again. And again. And again.

The boy hung limp from his grasp like a ragdoll and Aiden roared into his face like a [Berserker]. When the boy gave no reaction, Aiden flung him aside like a useless thing and turned on the man he had left lying in the ground with one leg and one arm.

He stalked him like a predator hunting for vengeance instead of sport or sustenance. In his wake, the air was still heavy, the mana so dense and wrong that [Multi-shot] couldn't manifest all its arrows properly.

The man on the ground tried to crawl away from Aiden with his one remaining arm. Aiden didn't fear his disappearance. He didn't fear his escape.

"We need him alive!" Dreg called out. He was surprised to find his voice low. Like a servant trying to speak out in the king's court when the king was enraged.

I'm afraid.

He didn't need a scholar to tell him that.

"AIDEN!" Ted barked from his place beside Dan while Elami, their [Healer], rushed over to him and Dan, already administering aid with one of his healing skills.

Lord Lacheart paid no attention to his brother as a massive battleaxe manifested in his hand from amidst crackling light, pulled from his storage space.

Aiden swung down, severing the man's other leg. His face was contorted in rage. His hate was palpable. The air grew heavier with it. Mana seemed to run rampant.

"Yours will be slow," Aiden spat in hate. "I will take my time."

"AIDA!"

To his greatest happiness and relief, Dreg watched Lord Lacheart pause at the sound. His contorted rage slipped into an angry frown and he hesitated. Dreg watched him war with himself, fight against whatever decision he had in mind.

After a moment, he allowed his bloodied axe to fall to the ground. Then he placed his foot on the neck of the man.

"You will bleed out," he told him. "And you will die."

"AIDA!" Ted roared, now angry. "HERE! NOW!"

Aiden turned away from the man, removing his boot from his neck, and made his way to his brother.

In the blink of an eye, the air was no longer heavy. Dreg realized that he could breathe comfortably again. When the glow on his bow brightened and two more mana arrows took on physical form, he realized that he had been keeping [Multi-shot] alive.

"Is it over?" Nela asked.

Everyone had been standing still through the entire ordeal, Dreg realized. Apart from Ted and Elami who had gone to Dan, no one else had moved.

The question was why?

Had they been transfixed by what Aiden Lacheart had done in seemingly the blink of an eye, like Dreg? Or had they been worried about what would happen if they had dared to move?

Aiden left the man bleeding out as he walked over to Ted. Rage had since turned into anger. Now, anger was pain.

He squatted beside Valdan. Elami was still trying to heal the man. He had his hands over him as blue mana tried to envelope the injury. It kept on phasing in and out of existence.

Elami looked up at Aiden and shook his head solemnly.

Dan was still alive, though. He had his eyes shut tight in pain. His lips were pressed tight as if to keep him from crying out.

"It's helping," Ted said, addressing his leech like familiar that had taken up a spot next to the knife wound.

As for the knife, they were yet to remove it. But the fact that it was still embedded in Dan's side was the least interesting thing about it. More interesting was the handle. It was made of fine glass. Within was a black ichor that swirled around as if someone was still moving the knife. Only little was left of it in the knife.

Aiden stared at the knife as if he had just been betrayed by a long lost lover.

The others were approaching now. They were silent, all of them. Dreg had nothing to say because he was ashamed. He wondered if the same shame weighed down on all of them. He had stood there, helpless and unable to do anything while Aiden Lacheart practically saved their lives.

In his shame, he sought redemption. He needed it. In his need, his mind misjudged itself. He sought redemption in the punishment of others. He turned his attention to Taeli and felt nothing but pain. If she had still held her defiant scowl of hate, he would've had a punishment for her. He would've sent her packing out of the team once this expedition was done. But the expression he had thought that he would see was not there.

Taeli bore the same pain he bore. Maybe one even worse than his.

She had failed and she knew it.

Ted looked up at Aiden imploringly.

"Aida," he said, hoping to draw his brother's attention.

Aiden gave him no answer. His eyes remained on the knife.

Ted tried again, voice harsher. "Aida!"

Aiden tore his eyes from the knife to look at his brother. They were rheumy, filled with the roar of unshed tears.

"Do you recognize it?" Ted asked. "Do you know a way to help?"

Aiden sniffled but did not wipe at his eyes. His green coat was stained in blood splatters but he cared nothing for it. Shaking his head in response, he squatted next to Dan, returning his attention to the knife.

After a moment, he placed a hand on Dan's forehead, checked his temperature. The leech-like creature on the man glowed a soft red.

"He's in pain," Ted said.

Aiden nodded slowly, absently. "I know."

He took his hand away from Valdan's forehead. It came away with sweat.

"He also has a fever," he said.

"I can't heal him," Elami said, visibly confused. He looked at Aiden, then Ted. "Why can't I heal him? There should not be anything here that I cannot heal."

Anger bubbled inside Dreg. A man was dying and Elami was worried about the fact that he could not prove his worth to join their team? Was he that apathetic?

"Oncot," Aiden said in a firm voice.

Oncot moved to him. He took a knee beside him and said nothing.

Aiden pointed in a seemingly random direction. "Bring her to me."

Oncot moved without question. He picked the dead woman up by her neck and brought her as instructed.

Aiden stared at the space in front of him in that way people do when looking at their interface. He scowled in annoyance, swiping his hand through the air angrily.

Dreg wondered what had gotten the young noble's attention.

Carefully, Oncot placed the corpse on the ground next to Aiden. There was something ceremonious about it. Something Aiden didn't care about as he stared down at the knife in deep contemplation.

"I will not advise you to pull it out," Dreg said. "It is the only thing stopping him from bleeding out."

Aiden shot him a dark, scathing look. Like an annoyed adult who a child had just thought to lecture. To Dreg's lack of surprise, it was enough to make him take a step back.

"The leech is helping with the pain," Ted said to him, placing his hand on his shoulder.

Elami looked as if he was breaking down. He kept on mumbling to himself, as if he was trying to find the answer to a question that he should already have an answer to.

Solemnly, quietly, Aiden took the knife by the hilt.

"Don't," Elami burst out. "The mercenary leader is right. You do not want to pull it out."

Aiden ignored him. Still, he did not pull the knife out. Instead, his thumb moved smoothly across the length of the handle, his look of betrayal and confusion growing as it did. His finger pressed against something. It was followed by a clicking sound that was loud in the silence of the space.

Dan groaned in pain, fighting back sound, and Aiden rubbed his head.

"I'm so sorry, friend," he said, his voice sad. "This has to be done."

Ted looked at him, completely confused as the last of the ichor drained out of the handle. Dan tried to curl into himself in his pain but Aiden held him down, kept him from moving too much.

"You know it," Ted said in realization. "You've seen it before."

Aiden nodded.

There was a look on his face, standing side by side with betrayal and confusion. Whatever it was, Ted could read it when Dreg could not.

"There's more, isn't there?" he said.

Again, Aiden nodded. He turned to the corpse Oncot had brought and started looking through her clothes.

"I've not just seen it before," he said as he searched, voice hard. "I've used it before."

After a while of searching and Ted's silence. Aiden got up from the corpse.

"Hold him down," he said, moving over to another corpse. "Do not allow him to curl in on himself."

Ted obeyed. So did Elami.

"Where are you going?" Jang Su asked Aiden.

"One of them has an antidote," Aiden answered as he walked over to the next corpse. "It will be a vial of blue green liquid. Blue on top and green under. The woman did not have it so another teammate has to."

Dreg was already moving. Taeli, too.

In moments, everyone except Oncot, Ted, and Elami, was moving to a corpse.

Something told Dreg that for the sake of their safety they needed to find that antidote.

…

Pain and confusion flickered through Aiden's heart as he searched the body in front of him. He'd run this man through the head with his spear, ending his life in one blow. It was a quick death, far more mercy than he deserved. What pained him more was the woman's death. She didn't deserve to die the way she had.

It should've been painful, prolonged. I should've taken my time.

But the rage he had felt had not been calm enough. He had wanted her dead on the spot. He had needed her dead.

This entire thing was his fault. A butterfly effect spanning from so long ago. Now Valdan was suffering for it.

Aiden turned the new corpse around and began searching. This man he had stabbed in the abdomen. His spear was still in the man, running him through, one half of it spilling out from his other side.

Valdan had three days to live at best. The poison he had been plagued with would afflict him with the debuff of [Creeping death].

The ichor would eat away at him, turning his blood black as it corrupted him. The ichor acted as a single entity. Injecting him with the rest of it did not somehow save him. All it did was reduce the pain. The poison was less painful when the entire thing was inside the body. Completely injected or not, however, it did not work faster or slower.

The antidote was the only thing that would save Valdan. If not, Valdan would be dead in a few days. The poison wasn't just designed to kill. It was designed to kill over a period of time. Days to be precise.

At Valdan's level, two days would be lucky.

Antidote, Aiden thought as he searched the body. But it was not the only thought on his mind. There were others.

One specific thought stood out as he saw something new on the corpse and paled. His spear had gone through a pocket.

Why? He thought. Would the Order want Valdan dead?

Why was a poison explicit only to the Order in the hands of some plunderer in the crystal cave?

Aiden slipped his hand into the pocket the spear had run through. He touched something hard and something wet.

Please, God, no.

He pulled his hand out. On the tip of his finger was a blue-green liquid.

Staring at it, his heart dropped.

The vial was broken. The antidote spilled and now useless.

He got up in a daze, terrified.

There had to be a way, another way. Valdan could not die.

He could not allow it.

"FUUUUUUCCCCCKKKKKK!"

All eyes turned to him. Aiden could feel his rationality slipping away. There had to be a way. [Healer]s were not the final say. And for all his bravado, Elami could not be the strongest healer in Trackback.

They could turn back, head out of the cave, find a [Healer] in the town.

But what if they could not? What if—

Aiden paused. Everyone was staring at him, waiting for him.

Jang Su expected him to have an answer for reasons Aiden could not fathom. Ted had pity in his eyes, like someone about to give him bad news.

An idea came to Aiden's mind, usurped every other idea and plan he had ever thought of.

He could save Valdan. Two days was more than enough.

His feet began moving. He had an idea and it had to work.

Valdan would not die here.

"I can save him," he muttered to himself as he walked. "I must. I have to."

"Aida?" Ted said, voice worried.

Aiden ignored him. He had to save Valdan.

For the life of him, he had an idea.

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