"Edward?" Akabane was stunned.
She had never heard that name.
Seeing that the girl could not remember, the golden-haired youth slowly stepped out from behind Vlad II, his gaze unfriendly.
"Let me jog your memory. There's a guild called the Grave of the Undead. Some person named Abyssal White Flower broke into the Evil Spirit Cave, insulted, and killed our people. Everyone in grade 2 knows that's our territory. She's one of yours, right?"
Akabane's gaze turned cold.
These words were mere formalities. The Age of the Dead was ranked twenty-third on the leaderboard; there was no way such a large guild would pick a fight over the interests of a minor sub-guild unless they had an agenda. Everyone in the Oasis knew the reputation of the Dark Gold Rose.
There was only one possibility: these guys were being directed by someone, most likely with the Silent Sequence backing them from the shadows.
"I'll give you two choices," Vlad II said, the corners of his mouth curling upward.
"One, hand that Abyssal White Flower over to us, and we'll call it even."
"Two, you can join us instead. Of course, this outpost would also belong to us."
"In your dreams!" Akabane refused decisively.
Vlad II shrugged. "A waste of such a pretty face."
Akabane made a face and, without a second thought, turned and ran.
"Catch her!"
Bloodlight flared as the necks of those trying to block the girl suddenly burst with bloody gashes.
Tap, tap, tap.
Akabane's footsteps echoed in the corridor, the candlelight flickering and fading.
She drifted into the shadows, hiding in the hidden nooks of the architecture. Akabane observed the players chasing her while thinking about how to contact her teammates.
The entire prison was divided into three levels, top to bottom. Her current position was on the second basement level. The first level was a trap zone; for them to pass through that area so easily, either her Red Glow had an internal informant, or there were more traitors within the Light-Chaser Garden.
Akabane calculated her moves. She keenly sensed a group of people approaching this direction and, with a quick thought, moved swiftly while staying hidden.
She reached the path those people were bound to take and skillfully placed several proximity-based explosive mines filled with steel balls. After spraying them with optical camouflage paint, she retreated to the side to observe quietly.
"A bunch of useless freeloaders! You can't even find one person in such a small place! What use do I have for you!"
Vlad II's roar echoed from above, vibrating in the ears of the members and making them involuntarily move their communicators away.
"This crazy woman is really a hassle. I almost want to jump ship to the Dark Gold Rose's guild. No matter how you look at it, there's more of a future there, right?"
"Shhh! If that female lunatic hears you, she'll skin you alive."
Just as the team was about to step into the traps, they suddenly stopped.
"Something's not right." The leading hunter sniffed the air. His years of career experience made his perception of traps particularly sensitive. He carefully crouched down to inspect the surroundings.
He soon discovered a clue on the ground; the light in one spot was significantly different from the light nearby.
He almost laughed. A stealth-class's trap trying to deceive the eyes of a hunter?
Just as he focused his gaze, intending to tell his teammates about the discovery, the dark-red-haired girl suddenly rushed out from a corner. She drew a thumb across her neck in a taunting gesture before disappearing around the bend.
"She's over there!" someone shouted excitedly. "Don't let her get away! The president said there's a huge reward for whoever catches her!"
"Wait, you guys—!" The hunter's voice was instantly drowned out by the restless crowd. Like sharks smelling blood, everyone ran toward the girl.
It wasn't a god-like opponent one had to fear, but a group of pig-like teammates. The hunter felt a wave of despair.
A second later, the traps were triggered. Disk-shaped explosive mines suddenly soared into the air, and the last thing he heard was a violent explosion.
Thousands of flying steel balls tore through bodies and bored into the walls, leaving countless tiny holes.
Densely packed damage notification boxes popped up before Akabane's eyes, easily wiping out the entire team.
She knew the commotion had already attracted the attention of others, and many stealth-classes were currently searching for her position. She merged back into the darkness and quickly moved to a new location.
Combat between stealth-classes was always lightning-fast and lethal.
They followed the principle that exposure meant destruction.
In this primeval forest of hunting, whoever's presence was sensed first, or whoever stepped on a branch and was discovered by other hunters first, would die.
A qualified shadow striker should possess excellent professional qualities: no exposure, no hesitation, and no survivors.
At this thought, shadows rose beneath Akabane's feet, and a shadow clone identical to her appeared—one so perfect even she couldn't spot a flaw.
The biggest difference between a shadow striker and an assassin lay in the shadow clone ability. Assassins had stronger offensive capabilities, while shadow strikers were more elusive thanks to their shadow powers.
As for thieves, they were just a class that stole things, picked locks, found treasure, and specialized in stabbing people in the kidneys.
Indeed, the Oasis usually categorized similar traits into unified groups.
For instance, mages, sorcerers, and various scholars were called magic-users.
Hunters, rangers, card masters, and so on were hunters.
Berserkers, barbarians, and street fighters were combatants.
Guardians, paladins, and heavy knights—those with specialized attacks against the undead and high durability—were priests.
And 'stealth-class' was the collective term for the coolest, most skill-intensive, most pivotal, and most impactful noble classes in a team—thieves excluded.
There was an absolute hierarchy of disdain within the stealth-classes, with extremely strict levels. Without exception, whether it was an assassin, a shadow striker, or even a fate-playing musician not known for support, they all despised thief players from the bottom of their hearts.
You work hard to get gear, and before it's even warm in your hands, you return to the main city where a thief walks up with a beaming smile and greets you. The moment they pass you, 'snap,' they've swiped something. Who could have any good feelings toward such a class?
Even though their Kidney Strike skill damage was incredibly high—sometimes even exceeding the skill multipliers of shadow strikers and assassins—most teams explicitly stated they would not recruit thieves.
Back in the fray, Akabane's shadow clone was at the 'sublime' level, capable of producing a clone with 90% of her attributes. The cost was that her own attributes would be weakened to 70%, which was negligible.
Before long, a thief player revealed themselves. Seeing the defenseless red-haired girl ahead, she felt a surge of joy and went in with the three-piece set: Sand Toss, Knee Kick, and Kidney Strike.
She followed up with a 'Cloud-Stealing Hand'. After seeing the 'Steal Failed' icon, the thief turned pale with shock, realizing with horror that the red-haired girl was actually a shadow clone. Cursing the despicableness of shadow strikers, she tried to retreat in a hurry.
Countless shadow hands reached out from the walls on both sides, slowly coiling around her arms and thighs, tightening until her body was firmly imprisoned.
Akabane leaped down from the ceiling.
To deal with a thief, one had to use their own methods to humiliate them back!
Meeting the thief's terrified gaze, Akabane smiled mischievously. Her hands pressed against the other's thighs, slowly feeling her way upward.
The thief surprisingly didn't resist; instead, her face reddened for some reason.
In the end, Akabane only fished out a 'Worn-out Wallet,' much to her disappointment.
"Um, I have some other items on me. Do you want to try feeling for them again?" the thief said shyly, her gaze drifting downward. "They're right in my..."
Akabane felt goosebumps all over her body from the girl's intense stare and decisively slit her throat with a blade.
Rate on N.U.
