Viviana readied herself, eying down the opponent in front of her. Adam held himself in midair with his grapples, dual swords ready.

  Nope, not interested. She immediately turned around and ran, hightailing it in a direction she hoped to lead out of the dungeon.

  “Where are you going, Adler-Stern?!” Adam yelled, chasing after her. “You can’t just kill my team and not grant me a fight!”

  Yeah, no. I don’t owe you anything. If anything, fighting here would be illogical. Viviana had gained everything she wanted. The mission was complete. She got her level up, and a sweet new skill. There was no point in risking a potential loss.

  Sure, she was an Adler-Stern, so even if she did lose, nothing bad would happen to her. The worst case scenario? She gets held in a prison for two months.

  But what's the point in risking that?

  So Viviana ran, activating her grapples and firing off [flash step] to gain momentum. Adam was following, and fast. It made Viviana deeply uncomfortable to know that so many people were faster than her. I’m supposed to be the fastest! My affinity is lightning!

  Like it or not, Adam was gaining on her. Just how is this possible? We should have the same grapple gear now, now that I stole it off one of the knights…

  Adam was definitely a high level, and that probably meant more points in his DEX stat, making him better at using his grapple gear and probably boosting whatever dash-type skill he had. At this rate, Viviana would be caught, so she whipped around, mid air, her sword attached to her belt.

  She summoned lightning spears in both hands, throwing them at Adam. He nimbly dodged both. Viviana instantly felt regret as mana fatigue hit her. Sure, she levelled up just recently and put most of her points into MIN, but each spear consumed a decent amount of mana, and it wasn’t like her level up completely replenished her mana reserves. She was running on fumes.

  Viviana instinctively dodged an attack that stabbed right next to her. Adam transformed his dual blades into a long and skinny blade, increasing his reach. Viviana kept moving, activating [flash step] and kicking off the walls to gain a bit of distance. Adam was rapidly closing.

  She weaved and ducked, rushing through the tunnels as fast as she could, but nothing she did threw Adam off. He was just that fast.

  If only I had a ranged attack that didn’t use so much mana…

  Wait. I have an idea. Viviana looked down at an inconspicuous pouch strapped to her belt. She took out what was inside the pocket, carefully pulling out the items to not spill any during her aerial maneuvers.

  It was a pristine pack of freshly printed Landsknecht business cards. Subtle off-white coloring. Tasteful thickness. Even a watermark. The culmination of Bena and Thomas’s efforts, their magnum opus.

  It’s such a waste, but… Viviana threw one at Adam.

  Adam swatted it away. “The fuck is this?”

  Not very effective. Viviana threw another one, adjusting the angle a little. This one went straight towards his face, causing him to spend a millisecond to bat it away.

  Viviana kept zipping around, throwing one business card at a time, silently mourning the loss of such pristine design. A memory popped into her mind. That time we were running away from that centipede…

  Just like back then, the single item throws weren’t very effective. Adam had realized that the business cards weren’t anything special and couldn’t hurt him. The business cards weren’t system recognized, and Adam was soulbound. Any non-system item was harmless to him.

  Regretfully she threw a handful, noting that it obscured his vision for a bit. Oh? He doesn’t have his helmet, so he can’t track my thermals, or use whatever tracking tech those things have. He’s relying on his naked eyes.

  Viviana thought quickly. It was a gamble, but she came up with a play. Adam would gain on her again, and Viviana wouldn’t get lucky with the dodges again. She suspected that Adam could have caught her before, but was attempting to exhaust her mana before using his own.

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  Viviana threw the entire deck and channeled all her mana into a [lightning spear]. Then, just at the moment Adam’s vision was fully obstructed by the cards, she threw.

  The [lightning spear] whistled and crackled as it closed the gap, cutting through the cloud of subtly off-white business cards. It didn’t land. Adam dodged.

  That too was a distraction.

  Another [lightning spear] smashed into the wall. Right where Adam’s grapple hook was attached.

  The lightning travelled up the metal cables of the grapple line, and into Adam’s damaged armor, electrifying him. It stunned him for a second.

  “Was that your plan, Adler-Stern? Throw business cards at me just to do that? I know you’re out of mana. You would have stood a chance if you fought from the beginning.”

  “No, that is not all,” Viviana said, nodding. She then held up a business card to a little hidden camera she kept on herself.

  I hope the video turns out right.

  “Are you watching, everyone? The Landsknecht has defeated The Adapter’s fabled breach knight squad. That’s just the sort of work you can expect out of us! And hey, if you wanna hire us, you can too!”

  Viviana flipped the card around, showing off the back with all the contact info. I hope the camera focuses. “You can contact us here!”

  Viviana then tossed the last card at The Adapter. Adam tried firing his grapple hooks again, but to his surprise, only one worked. The one that Viviana hadn’t hit with [lightning spear].

  Viviana darted down another hall. Adam stopped the chase.

  Adam sighed, watching Viviana race down the hallway, turn a corner, and disappear from sight. Adam couldn’t hope to catch up with one of his grapples completely fried.

  So Adam made his way back to the corridor where the fight happened. He needed his men back together. It didn’t take long, but it was humiliating. Sure, he hated the name ‘Adapter’ but he truly felt like it didn’t suit him now. Some ‘Adapter’ I am.

  He had been outplayed by someone in the forty thousands. Sure, rankings were a far cry from an accurate indicator of strength, especially due to the nature of his affinity, but it still stung.

  Soon enough he made it back, observing the carnage that unfolded. He grabbed his phone. He would need a guild medevac for his team. He couldn’t carry them all, and if he made trips, monsters might disturb the bodies further.

  After all, revival time depended on how damaged the bodies were. Hundt, or the dog, as Viviana called him, only suffered a direct stab to the heart and a severed arm. It would be a couple hours for him. Ruhight, the knight who seemed to never speak, wasn’t so lucky. Viviana had hacked him to pieces. He would take longer.

  The rest of his men were found in various states of disrepair. He also found some of Fortuna’s squad lying around. They would be good to capture for the war effort. He pushed around their dead bodies, putting them in a neat little pile for the medevac.

  The war. Adam sighed. A stupid game, where no one dies. Nothing like real war. No consequences for real. Just a way for the student guilds to gain accomplishments, so the real guilds will notice them.

  Even so, he had to play. It just wasn’t interesting to him. He was already guaranteed a good spot in Ophidian Pact due to connections with his uncle. As soon as he graduated, he’d become a high ranking expedition leader, tasked with leading the various missions outside of the walls.

  From the comfort of a desk.

  Despite having an opportunity that most would kill for, Adam wasn’t thrilled. It just wasn’t what he was made for. Sure, he was smart, could lead well, and knew how to handle the bureaucracy that came with the guilds, but those parts of him didn’t feel like himself.

  He felt alive when he fought. When he could put the title of ‘The Adapter’ to the test– his swords morphing and changing for every situation he encountered.

  As Adam collected various body parts, he thought. She was quite strong. No Adler-Stern has ever entered the academy. It was a rare opportunity to fight her.

  Well, technically not a true Adler-Stern. No light affinity. Lightning instead. Seems pretty effective.

  Adam was sure he would have won if they fought head to head. But Viviana had somehow clawed her way to escape despite her extreme disadvantages. She was someone wholly too strong to have just entered the academy.

  She reminds me of someone.

  Just then, a buzzing noise interrupted the silence of the dungeon. His phone.

  Speak of the devil. Well, think of her.

  It was Kerzenlied. A simple message. [Another murder. Sending coordinates soon.]

  Adam sighed as the second message came in. It was close by. He would have to investigate immediately. He looked at the pile of bodies. A couple people were still missing parts. I’m sure the medevac will clean those up. Some of these are Fortuna’s squad. They’ll have to lock them up for two months.

  Adam fired his grapples, intending to speed out of the dungeon. He forgot that one of them was fried and slammed into a wall. Fuck.