Second World

"What? How is that possible?" the Fighter asked, amazed. "Isn't he a Fighter as well? I saw him using a sword and Fighter's skills."

"He is a Fighter indeed," the woman called Red replied.

Just then, Bigarm's team returned.

"There's no one there," he reported.

Scarface's expression was dark. He sent a Mana Bullet into the last remaining monster and killed it. With all the threats gone, the gang regrouped. Fox returned with a raging face. Her depleted health had been refilled to three quarters after taking a potion she had brewed beforehand.

"Red, you said he is faster than you?" Scarface asked the red-haired Ranger.

Red nodded, "yes."

"Could it be that he's spent all his free attribute points on Dexterity?"

"Even if he did, it still doesn't make sense," Red said.

"Why is that?"

"Because I spent all my free attribute points on Dexterity as well."

The group went silent after hearing that.

"Okay, he might have an equipment bonus or something," Scarface said. "But it doesn't change the fact that he is Death Associates' enemy and thus has to be eliminated."

"We need to take a more careful approach," Red said. "He knows some martial arts. Not a top expert, but decent enough. And he managed to ambush us. Also, his armor seemed normal, but the damage our attacks did to him was lower than usual. In other words, like his Dexterity, his Endurance and Wisdom are both unnaturally high as well. He is not an opponent that we can afford to underestimate."

"What the f*** are we worrying about this one cockroach for?" Fox growled through gritted teeth. "He might be a tough bug, but he is still only one cockroach. Why are we wasting time here instead of chasing that motherf***er and sending him and his bitch to their graves already!"

Scarface glared at Fox with displeasure.

He snarled back, "I must remind you that we only let you join our operation because we share a common enemy and you have a special tool that can track them. If you are not satisfied with how we do things, then you can just go back to that coward leader of yours. If you want to stay, then shut the hell up and listen to my commands!"

Fox opened her mouth to give him an angry reply, but, seeing his darkening expression, she stopped herself. She held her tongue and stood to the side with a pout.

Scarface ignored her and said to his team: "The fact that they ambushed us means that they knew that we were targeting them. Let's proceed with caution. Red Death and Stonecleave will act as scouting vanguard. The rest follow from behind, we will maintain a distance of ten meters. I will take the rear. The rest of you watch our flanks."

Everyone nodded and got into formation. Fox took the center of the formation as she was the only one who could track their opponents.

After Jack ran off, he didn't immediately return to Bowler and Flame. He knew that the enemy would be moving towards Flame, so he climbed up and prepared to ambush them again from the roof of one of the single-story shops that lined the street. Though he had killed two people from Death Associates, there were still nine left, and at least three of them were experts; especially that red-haired Ranger. He needed to whittle them down more before they reached the shopping mall where Bowler and Flame were waiting.

He stored his sword and took out his staff. Jack decided it was time for a guerilla strategy. Luckily, he had the foresight to upgrade his staff the previous night before he went to sleep. He had earned several additional iron ores during the trek to the City Park. He used half of his stock to bring his staff to level 5. His staff had been much lacking compared to his sword, but now it was passable:

Apprentice staff, level 5/10 (normal magic weapon)

Magical damage: 20

Range: 10 meters

Attack speed: 1

Energy: 50

One thing he found out was that upgrading the staff restored its energy reserves.  Just like a melee weapon had its durability restored when upgraded. So now he had full ammo and could freely fire the standard range attack of the staff.

While he waited for the gang to appear, he spent 3 out of his 7 free Magician skill points on improving Energy Bolts. After witnessing the might of Scarface's Energy Bolts, he wanted that power.

He now could also fire five Energy Bolts:

Energy Bolts, level 8/20 (Active skill, range, require magic weapon)

Create 5 homing magic bolts that deals 108% magic damage each bolt

Range: 15 meters

Mana consumed: 27

Cooldown: 60 seconds

He then allocated his four remaining free Magician skill points to upgrade his Mana Bullet, which had been neglected all this time. He was in need of ranged prowess at the moment, so he couldn't afford the luxury of saving his free skill points for a better skill later.

Mana bullet, level 5/20 (Active skill, range, require magic weapon)

Deal 240% magic damage

Range: 10 meters

Mana consumed: 14

Cooldown: 5 seconds

After finished upgrading his two ranged skills, he saw the Death Associate group approaching his row of shops.

'It's a good thing that they're being more careful now,' Jack smirked, "it really slows down their advance considerably.'

He saw the two skilled melee experts at the front of the group, and Scarface in the rear.

Jack assessed the gang with his monocle.

Scarface, the red-haired ranger, and Bigarm were still in full health. Fox, one Fighter, and the Magician he had fought each had around three-quarters health, two Rangers were around half, and another Fighter had less than a quarter of his health left.

Jack decided to pick on the weaker members of the gang first.

That last Fighter was the one Jack had hit with Magic Bullet while he was busy fighting monsters. The Magic Bullet had caused the Fighter to lose concentration and he ended up getting battered by the Goblins. He had used his medicine but he was still missing a considerable amount of HP. Jack decided that Fighter would be his first target.

The group was alert and paying attention to the streets. They didn't expect their enemy was lying down on his stomach several meters above them. Jack waited patiently for the Fighter to come into optimum range. Once the Fighter moved into his spell's range, Jack immediately aimed and cast Magic Bullet. Jack proceeded to cast Energy Bolts and then fired a standard range attack on the same target. He did all three attacks in rapid succession and promptly moved back out of view.

The Mana Bullet and standard attack hit the Fighter with scary accuracy. One of the five Energy Bolts also hit the same Fighter. The other four Bolts homed in on the two rangers, the Magician, and the other Fighter in the middle part of the group. Since the attacks were very abrupt and came out of nowhere, they weren't able to dodge or defend. Only Fox and Bigarm out of all the people in the center of the group were spared from damage. The Fighter, who had been hit by three attacks, fell to the ground lifelessly.

By the time the gang figured out where the attacks had come from and looked up to the roof, Jack had crawled to the rear of the shop and jumped down to the back alley. Scarface fired off his Energy Bolts hoping that the tracking mechanism would guide the bolts to the assailant hiding on the roof, but since Jack had left the vicinity, the Bolts expired without hitting any target.

"F***ing cowardly Magician!" Bigarm roared. "All you know is ambush then hide. Show yourself if you have the guts!"

Scarface was incensed. They had lost another member and still had nothing to show for it. This operation was proving more costly than he initially imagined.

"That Magician is an expert at sneak attacks! Keep your eyes peeled wide and be alert at all times if you don't want to lose your life!" Scarface said to the others in a composed voice, but everyone could sense the fury behind his tone.