The carriages were about to intersect at the exact same time. The coincidence was definitely curated by the system AI to make the quest work.

  I hid atop a misty tree branch a few hundred feet from the intersection, where I hoped I’d be hidden from both sides. I activated [Eavesdrop], and my hearing greatly increased.

  The mist made it difficult to see, but the two participants were becoming aware of each other by now. Mythforged’s formation turned cautious as their focus was drawn to the approaching carriage. Their melee fighters drew their weapons, while their rangers scanned the surroundings.

  “Hey!” their leading tank player shouted in his full set of crafted adamantite armor. “Anyone there?”

  “Oh, Lord, please don’t kill me!” the NPC carriage rider shouted.

  Veyra, the lone mage, had disappeared. She wasn’t on top of the carriage, and I couldn’t see her anywhere around me.

  Well, shit, I thought. Looks like she dipped.

  I couldn’t blame her. Abandoning the quest was her smartest choice after seeing her opponents. Trying to fight would just get her killed. Even if her quest was S-ranked, she had no choice but to abandon it. I would have done the same.

  I was about to reposition, when a girl’s voice spoke right next to me. “The wyverns will eat you up here, you know.”

  I flinched, nearly falling off. The red-haired girl sat right next to me on the branch, having appeared out of seemingly nowhere. The nametag read, [Solo Mage] Veyra. I was about to summon my daggers, but she didn’t seem hostile.

  For a moment, we just stared at each other. She wore an amused grin, red eyes glowing.

  Every player’s character model in Wonderwind followed their real body in real life. The game only allowed minor changes. Height couldn’t be changed more than a few inches, for example, and the same went for body shape. That meant Veyra really was a girl in real life, though the glow of her eyes definitely came from the game.

  “You’re the assassin from that one clip, right?” Veyra asked, now facing the carriages below. “That was a nice outplay. But you’re too passive.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, still surprised. How had she even found me?

  “You’re waiting for targets to isolate themselves.” Veyra said, “Assassins must create those opportunities themselves. Like this.”

  She hopped down from the tree, and a small black portal appeared on the ground beneath her. She fell straight in and disappeared. I blinked and scanned the area again. I couldn’t see her.

  I studied Mythforged’s members. Proxy4raxgg, their tank player in shiny adamantite plate, approached the second carriage with a few other swordsmen. He stepped in cautiously to examine its contents.

  That was when a flash of blue light erupted in the forest, and an [Icicle] landed in the back of Treant33’s head—their ranger player. The force sent him sprawling on his face. The icicle poked out from the back of his head, but he lived with a fraction of his health bar.

  No way, I thought. Is she planning on fighting them all alone?

  Veyra cast another spell from the forest. A runic circle of gold and blue formed, and she cast [Chronorift]. A purple ravine opened, cracking the ground as it grew toward Treant33.

  Chronorift: Creates an erupting rift in reality toward the target location. Targets inside will be pierced from below by spikes from another reality, dealing time damage. The spikes ignore 50% of the enemy’s defence.

  The guild leader SpellDao reacted immediately as he cast [Frost Nova] at the erupting rift. Heavy frost collided with the rift, stopping the crack from growing before it could reach the ranger. [Chronorift] was frozen, and nobody was caught inside.

  Veyra didn’t stop, flicking her staff straight at SpellDao’s head. The cast-time of her next spell was practically instant. She cast [Absolute Zero].

  Absolute Zero: A wave of frost travels underground toward the target location. Upon reaching the target, Absolute Zero erupts from the ground, and [Freezes] the opponent.

  It all happened in less than a second. The frost traveled underground at the speed of a raging current. Blades of grass froze above. It reached the carriage and quickly traveled up the wheels and walls before finding SpellDao’s feet.

  SpellDao flinched, surprised by the speed of Veyra’s quick-casting. He had no time for defence. [Absolute Zero] connected with his feet from below.

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  Only his feet froze, not his full body. That meant SpellDao was a higher level than Veyra with enough frost resistance.

  By now, everyone’s attention shifted to Veyra. Their tank put up his shield and approached, surrounded by melee fighters, though none of them were top 500 players. Their other ranger, who hadn’t been blasted to the ground, shot an arrow at her, which she blocked with [Elemental Barrier].

  Simultaneously, she formed another spell. I didn’t know what it was, until a portal appeared underneath SpellDao’s feet. Being immobile, he fell into the portal.

  The portal took him right underneath the tree, up the same portal Veyra had just used herself.

  SpellDao was right below me.

  Veyra had delivered a free kill for me.

  I threw my dagger straight through SpellDao’s head.

  Slash.

  [You slayed SpellDao!]

  [You slayed an opponent over fifty levels stronger than you with the assistance of Veyra! Experience gain increased by 1056%, and divided for two.]

  [You leveled up!]

  Who is this mage? I thought, my heart racing out of my stomach. She’d just outplayed a top five hundred mage player and his full guild.

  I picked up SpellDao’s gear piece. I wasn’t sure what had dropped, but whatever it was, I knew I could pay rent with it. Next month’s survival was guaranteed. I considered escaping.

  But I didn’t. That would have been a dick move. Instead, I activated [Stealth] and relocated. To a tree branch near Veyra.

  She defended herself with precisely casted [Elemental Barriers], until she used another portal to relocate. Mythforged’s remaining mage, a mid-tier mage called Snowfire, tried to cast [Arcane Snare] on her to stop her from moving, but his projectile was too weak, easily blocked by a simple barrier.

  The barriers defended her for a while, until Treant33 recovered, shooting a [Phoenix Arrow]. She was forced to jump to the side, barely dodging.

  Proxy4raxgg followed immediately with [Charge], a heavy gap-closing skill. He ran at the speed of a bull, his greatsword crashing down.

  Veyra’s answer was yet again laughably simple. She hopped into a portal and relocated twenty feet in the distance. Using the portals seemed to have a cooldown of around seven seconds, which was enough to keep Mythforged’s melee members struggling. I had never heard of the spell until now. It must have been a skill of a legendary unique item.

  At her new location, she cast another [Chronorift], further slowing the melee fighters’ approach. The spikes hit Proxy4raxgg. He took the damage with a grimace, running through and shouting, “Healers!”

  Mythforged’s two healers outhealed the damage Veyra could pump. Mythforged’s tank wasn’t in the top five hundred for no reason. I’d need a critical strike straight to the face to kill him.

  Veyra ran to the side. She stopped focusing her spells onto the tank and instead aimed an icicle at one of the supports, landing a critical strike. Appleman, the priest player, was knocked to the ground with 3% health.

  I tried to see what I could do to help, who I could kill. I was about to dash to finish Appleman, until I realized that Fuhad was missing. I scanned the area, but I couldn’t spot the top ranked assassin anywhere.

  He’s an assassin, I thought. Veyra’s back is open!

  Veyra dealt with the ranged attacks and avoided melee combat swordsmen by relocating with portals, but she wasn’t protecting herself from assassins at all.

  A dark shadow moved behind her, trailing her. The assassin’s figure was almost completely invisible. Fuhad was still there. And if Veyra didn’t know of him, he could easily assassinate her. I’d need to do something.

  So what if she dies? I thought. I don’t know her.

  Her next portal took her to an unexpected location—directly atop the carriage, where SpellDao had been sitting. Straight in the middle of all of her opponents. Her hair flared as she began casting an ultimate spell, [Time Eruption].

  Time Eruption: Mana gathers into your staff. Upon release, a shockwave of time erupts all around your surroundings. Deal time damage to everyone in its radius.

  A powerful spell with a long cast-time. The build-up was the perfect time to assassinate her before the spell blew up.

  She’ll die, I thought, biting my lip.

  Now was my time to help.

  I ran forward, and I slashed with my daggers mid-air. Then I performed [Shadow Dash] toward Veyra, as if to assassinate her.

  But I wasn’t the only assassin with the same idea. Vision returned, and I found myself right beside a dark-cloaked assassin. I redirected my slash, angling it straight through the assassin’s neck for a critical strike.

  Slash.

  [You slayed FunnyHahaDead]

  [You slayed an opponent over seventy levels stronger than you! Experience gain increased by 4235%]

  [You leveled up!]

  [You leveled up!]

  [You leveled up!]

  [You leveled up!]

  [You leveled up!]

  [You leveled up!]

  [Two (2) Skill Points available to be allocated]

  I stood in utter shock. My stupid idea worked perfectly. I’d read the third best assassin in the world like a book! I immediately picked up his gear piece into my inventory and allocated the skill points straight to [Vital Strike], bringing it to level 29.

  The celebration was short-lived as Veyra’s [Time Eruption] blew up.