I moved without thinking.
The staff raised instinctively, my body throwing itself into the dagger's path—
—but my legs refused to cooperate.
Tendrils of cold, sticky darkness had snaked around my ankles, anchoring me to the ground like iron chains.
The realization flashed across my mind even as I suppressed my reaction, masking it beneath a dead calm.
The dagger, a glinting shard of silver death, spun through the air—barely a meter from Sara's shrouded form.
And the leader was already moving too.
From his other sleeve, another dagger slipped into his hand, a blur of polished metal angled right for me.
I snarled under my breath and twisted the staff, releasing three rapid bursts of compressed air.
The first shot nicked the flying dagger, the second deflected it mid-spin, and the third threw it slightly off course—
A quick side glance confirmed it—the dagger veered wide, grazing the carriage's side instead of the princess.
But the price was immediate.
The recoil tore the windstaff from my grip. I didn't try to catch it.
The world snapped sideways—one heartbeat, two—and I reappeared behind the leader, already dropping low, aiming to sweep his legs out—
—but he wasn't there.
My instincts screamed at me, probably Foresight's doing.
I ducked just as a slashing blade hissed overhead, missing by a hair.
The masked leader had read me like a book.
And worse—the shadowy tendrils seized my legs again, tightening with malicious precision. Thankfully, they didn't harm me directly but it was enough to trap and leave me exposed.
Sara lay slumped beside the carriage, untouched—for now. A shallow rise and fall of her chest confirmed she was still breathing.
Relief warred with urgency.
Meanwhile, the leader advanced, twin daggers gleaming under the moonlight.
I quickly analyzed the situation:
- Blink cooldown: 1.5 seconds.
- Strength evenly matched.
- No proper close combat training. And opponent is probably a pro assassin.
And to top it off, I was shackled at the ankles.
If I didn't have any combat experience—
Then I just needed to be smarter.
Think... Think... Thin-!
My eyes lit up looking at the carriage, still groaning from the broken axle, half-collapsed beside me.
I drove my fist into the front wheel's axle with every ounce of enhanced strength.
The wood exploded under my knuckles.
The entire carriage shuddered violently, the side nearest to me lurching downward.
The frame sagged, collapsing in a slow, jerking arc—right toward me.
I stayed low, letting the debris partially cage me.
At the very least, the collapsing mass would restrict the leader's clean line of attack—
"Tch." The leader merely snorted.
Then he moved. I readied myself for a confrontation.
But, the next moment, his form blurred, shadows clinging to his limbs as he simply appeared behind me, daggers flashing toward my exposed neck.
A phantom pain lanced through my skull—the warning came a split-second before the blades moved.
Without hesitation, I threw my weight forward, ducking under the collapsing frame.
The blade whistled overhead, missing my head by inches.
The daggers tore clean through the back of my shirt, but—
A burst of emerald light erupted across my spine as the [Dark Verdant Shield] flared to life, the daggers screeching against its surface like nails on glass.
The leader's breath hitched surprised.
I didn't give him time to recover.
Acting purely on [Echo of Life]'s signals and survival instincts, I snapped my head backward with brutal precision.
The back of my skull connected with his nose. Blood sprayed across his mask as cartilage gave way.
"Ghk—!" He staggered, daggers falling from momentarily numb fingers.
I didn't waste the opening.
I lunged, seizing his wrist in a white-knuckled grip.
His head snapped toward me, rage flashing behind his mask—but too late.
The world snapped sideways.
I reappeared behind him, yanking his dagger arm violently across his body at the same time.
The momentum twisted his torso sharply, throwing off his balance—
—and I didn't stop there.
I kicked the back of his knees with everything I had.
The leader's legs buckled. His body pitched forward, slamming onto the uneven ground face-first with a grunt that barely sounded human.
His dagger clattered from his slackened fingers.
I twisted his wrist once more for good measure, earning a sharp crack from his shoulder. Dislocated.
Still moving on instinct, I planted my knee firmly against his spine, pinning him down.
"Hhkk—!" the masked man coughed, struggling uselessly beneath me.
My breath came in short, controlled bursts. My entire body screamed to move, to finish it—
But I forced myself to stay focused, he was about to faint anyway, while [Echo of Life] didn't pick up any immediate threats around.
A faint, almost pathetic rustling from the side.
The man whose balls I kicked earlier was trying—trying—to crawl away like a worm.
Sorry but this is all the consequences of your actions.
As I was apologizing inwardly, leader's body finally went limp beneath my knee. Good.
I turned toward the crawling kidnapper—the one clutching his crushed groin—and delivered a swift kick to his temple. His whimpers cut off instantly.
- Fifth Kidnapper - Still slumped against the shattered carriage door, but his fingers twitched toward a fallen dagger.
- Domino Duo - The two men struck by windstaff blasts were groaning, one already pushing himself up.
No time to wait for Blink's cooldown.
My elbow smashed into the fifth man's solar plexus. He folded like paper, air whooshing from his lungs.
A spinning backfist connected with the first stirring domino's jaw. His head snapped sideways, body collapsing.
My knee drove into the last man's nose with a wet crunch. He dropped like a stone.
Only then did I stagger back, sucking in ragged breaths. My body trembled with adrenaline overload.
The night's cold pressed harder against my sweat-soaked skin. My heart still slammed against my ribs, half-expecting another shadow to lunge out.
Then a single, cracked laugh escaped my throat, half-relieved, half-disbelieving. I stared at my shaking hands.
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