Deal with the Merchant

Chapter 2: Tough Luck

Everything is in chaos. No one knows who really is the enemy. A lot of people died and black blood painted the place, the only thing that would give way to a dark mage’s identity as one.

Attier is sure that the one who got caught, is the handsome guy’s comrade and she is pretty sure there are more of them thus she is avoiding getting into a tough fight and is focusing on defense. There are three possibilities of who these people could be: independent people who are against dark magic, a rival dark organization, or the authorities, the Aurors. The first one is okay, and the second is okay because she could just eliminate them too, but the third one is troublesome. Getting entangled with dark organizations and authorities at the same time is a huge headache.

Attier successfully made it to the doorway after ducking, rolling, crawling, and everything else just so she could escape. She was about to go out when she discovered that she could not. The ballroom is covered by a barrier not letting anyone in and out. She could see other people outside the ballroom could not go out of the mansion as well and are engaging in a battle. They have put two layers of barriers to minimize the number of people who could escape.

Attier cursed under her breath and turned around just in time to see a fireball flying toward her. She ducked and ran to the left.

She is capable of breaking the barrier but if she does that, the dark mages would also escape and she doesn’t want that.

Attier was looking for a place to hide just until she could determine who is who. She could then lend a hand after the infiltrators.

She looked up and saw a lot of dark corners on the top of the walls where statues of gargoyles are placed. Nasty taste of aesthetic.

She was about to sneak up when a sword almost chopped off her head. She successfully avoided it and by reflex, she looked at who attacked her, it was the handsome guy.

“Handsome guy!” Attier happily greeted as if she doesn’t know that he is one of the infiltrators.

The handsome guy just looked at her and then swung his sword again against her. Attier avoided it by blocking his blow with the sword that she has just summoned out of her spatial ring.

“Why are you so rough towards me? Can’t you see that I am like a twig that would easily break?” Attier jest while looking for a place to run before climbing up.

“I can see but I just happen to like breaking twigs.” The handsome guy replied.

The handsome guy’s attack continuously rained on Attier. Each blow is filled with killing intents.

“Come on. Don’t be like that. Be a little gentler to the weak me.” Attier complained while huffing and obviously having a hard time.

Attier’s arms are already sore from blocking his attacks. Truth be told she is already doing quite well as she could take on those blows as it really is so strong but she would not last long. Close-range combat is not her forte. She is best at sneaking and long-range attacks.

The handsome guy responded with a short “alright” but his sword suddenly blazed with fire. He swung it heavily to Attier.

Attier was shocked by the sudden burst of flame so close to her face. She cursed under her breath and swiftly bend backward. Thankfully she reacted fast, a second later and she would have been dead.

“I said be gentle!” Attier got angry and by reflex, she counter-attacked by sending a blast of frost magic toward him. Though Attier doesn’t see him as an enemy, he does see her as one so she needs to protect herself from him by any means. Striking him once won't hurt too much.

He stepped back and block the attack with his sword that is still blazing. The frost magic that Attier released is just a weak form of her power that she normally use to knock off her opponent so when it came into contact with fire, it evaporated creating a short-term fog-like effect.

Attier did not plan that to happen but it was to her advantage so she made use of it and ran away from him. When the fog dispersed, she was already gone. The handsome guy tried to look for her but another person came to attack him so he just let her go as she could not escape anyway.

Attier ran to a nearby table and hid there. She saw that the handsome guy looked for her but soon his attention deviated to a new opponent.

Using the same thing as she did earlier, she made use of the smoke that is coming from the explosions happening to cover her in climbing up. Attier moved swiftly and soon successfully hid behind a statue. From up there, she could see the whole scenario. It was gruesome and pure chaos. Disgusting.

However, this is not something new for Attier. She has traveled a lot, seen different kinds of people, and has been in different situations.

This is the product of people’s evil hearts, darkness, and destruction. This is what they give thus this is what they’ll receive.

Despite the disgusting scene, Attier did not tear her eyes and made careful observations. She already spots the strong handsome guy and one of his comrades as they just did a back-to-back stance. She suddenly got interested in this group of people and decided to keep her eyes on them.

From what she can see, they are highly trained professionals. They are very proficient in swordsmanship and magic. Even their swords look...

Attier’s line of thought paused when she saw their swords. She summoned a binocular and studied their swords carefully. She looked into the binoculars and then out of it and back in again. She groaned. “What tough luck?!”