The dark environment meant nothing to Ailiya.
She could clearly see the muscle tremors of every person and the frequency of every breath.
“Someone’s here!” a mercenary screamed, pointing in a direction, but it was only a gust of wind Ailiya had left behind on purpose.
The mercenary drew his bow and released, the arrow piercing the air. It missed, thudding into a tree trunk.
She had already used **[Sprint]** to flash into the shadows 5 meters away.
“Don’t move recklessly. Keep the noise down,” the scar-faced man roared. “Back-to-back! Don’t get separated!”
A smart choice, but it was too late.
Ailiya launched her attack from the right.
Her body glided close to the ground. Before one mercenary could react, her dagger had already sunk into his calf.
The man didn’t even have time to scream before she drove a knee into his abdomen, slamming him into a nearby tent.
‘Two more.’
Ailiya did not retreat; instead, she charged forward.
The scar-faced man’s voice began to tremble, but his swordsmanship was decent. He attempted a horizontal slash to cut off Ailiya’s path of retreat.
The man’s strength was indeed great, but before her **[Weak Point Insight]**, he was riddled with openings. He was too slow.
She did not meet the blow head-on. At the moment he swung his sword, she slipped past him and delivered a mid-air elbow strike to his temple.
*Thud!*
The scar-faced man collapsed to the ground.
One left.
Seeing that things had taken a turn for the worse, the archer mercenary turned and tried to bolt into the forest.
“Trying to run?”
A cold voice rang out in front of him. Ailiya had blocked his path before he even realized it.
The man instinctively raised his weapon, but his trembling arms betrayed his composure.
“Die!” he roared as he charged, thrusting his sword toward Ailiya’s chest.
It was fast—fast enough that an ordinary person might not have been able to dodge.
But Ailiya simply stepped lightly to the side. The blade grazed the edge of her clothes, while her fist smashed solidly into the mercenary’s ribs.
*Crack!*
The crisp sound of breaking bone echoed.
The man fell to the ground, letting out a scream that sounded barely human.
Ailiya raised her foot and stepped on his face, and the world instantly fell silent.
Using strips of cloth torn from the tent, she tied the five men firmly into a chain and dumped them beneath a tree.
**[Battle Ended]**
**[Verdict: Perfect Victory]**
**[Defeated Street Thug (Lv. 4) x5]**
**[Total XP Gained: 50]**
**[Assassin XP +30]**
**[Stealth XP +10]**
**[Sprint XP +5]**
**[Basic Combat XP +5]**
**[In a non-lethal state, the Experience Point acquisition rate is adjusted to 50%.]**
Ailiya looked indifferently at the “trash” groaning on the ground. She walked over to the scar-faced man and leaned down, staring into his fear-filled eyes.
“Pleading for mercy?” Her voice was as flat as someone who wasn’t human.
The scar-faced man couldn’t make a sound. He could only look at her piteously, hoping for a sliver of compassion.
But seeing the coldness in Ailiya’s eyes, he knew that something like mercy simply did not exist within this woman.
Ailiya stood up and clapped her hands as if discarding a piece of garbage. She turned to look toward the darkness at the edge of the camp.
“Come out, Mr. Balke, and the rest of you.”
A long sigh came from the shadows.
“Well now, I didn’t expect someone to beat us to the punch.” A familiar, lazy voice rang out.
Balke stepped out from the darkness, followed by three or four other adventurers who were similarly drenched in sweat.
He wiped his forehead with his sleeve. “How did you know I was watching from here?”
Ailiya tilted her head and glanced at him.
“No, you only just arrived.” Her tone was certain.
Balke scratched his head and let out a loud laugh.
“You even know that? Miss Maid, you truly are full of surprises.” He stepped closer, eyeing the mercenaries who had been roughly handled. “However… how do you plan to get them back?”
Ailiya turned and glanced at a sturdy tree at the edge of the camp.
“I’ll drag them back like dead dogs.” Ailiya glanced at the rope in her hand, her tone flat. “And how did you find this place?”
“We relied on our team’s Diviner,” Balke said, spreading his hands helplessly. “Her compass spun for half a day and cost a lot of resources. In the end, we didn’t get a thing out of it.”
“And isn’t that because a certain someone insisted on stopping at a tavern along the way and drank until he forgot the time!”
A woman wearing a Diviner’s robe poked her head out from behind Balke, giving him a sharp glare.
Balke rubbed his nose awkwardly and turned back to Ailiya. “So… do you need help?”
He cleared his throat. “I mean, since we’re already here, why don’t we help you bring them back to the city? How about one gold coin? Does that sound fair?”
His tone tried to sound casual, but his eyes were seriously sizing Ailiya up. “In the future, if you need anything within our capability, feel free to ask for me.”
“Fine,” Ailiya agreed curtly, continuing toward the bound mercenaries.
For her, dragging five bleeding, grown men over a dozen miles of mountain paths would be a hassle, especially since the scent of blood might attract monsters.
“Deal!” Balke clapped his hands cheerfully and signaled his companions to help.
At that moment, the Diviner behind Balke leaned in close and whispered, “Captain, I just did a quick divination. The result shows… if you fought her, the probability of you losing is very high.”
“Huh?!” Balke rubbed his chin thoughtfully, clearly becoming excited. “Really? Then I definitely have to try.”
He grinned and drew his longsword, walking toward Ailiya.
“Hey! Miss Maid!”
Ailiya stopped and slowly turned around.
“Our unreliable Diviner says you’re better than me.” Balke pointed a thumb at himself, his smile full of provocation. “I don’t quite believe it and want to see for myself. Do you dare to have a go?”
*Ouch—*
The moment he finished speaking, Balke cried out, clutching the back of his head. He looked back to see a half-eaten apple rolling on the ground.
It was the Diviner. Apparently, she was angry.
“Actually, I’ve been observing you…” He stopped beside Ailiya, his tone turning serious.
“The physical fitness of a demi-human is generally superior to humans, but someone with a combat intelligence as high as yours is rare. On the surface, your strength seems to be around Tier 1…” He gestured with his hand.
Ailiya stopped her movements and slowly turned.
Looking at the battle intent burning in his eyes, she weighed the situation for half a second.
‘I suppose it wouldn’t be a bad thing to use this opportunity to assess the baseline strength of this world’s regular adventurers.’
“Come,” she said calmly.
The moonlit clearing became a temporary arena.
The two stood ten steps apart.
Balke’s body leaned forward slightly, and the longsword in his hand emitted a faint hum.
Ailiya stood straight, her hands hanging naturally at her sides, looking completely unguarded.
However, her eyes were rapidly scanning every detail of Balke’s posture.
Balke didn’t waste words. His body suddenly exploded forward. His movements were crisp and powerful, and his longsword carved a streak of sword energy through the air.
But Ailiya simply sidestepped.
The edge of the blade grazed her clothes; the sound of the fabric being torn by the airflow was audible.
Balke’s attack did not pause for an instant. With a turn of his wrist, his sword techniques flowed continuously, each strike faster than the last.
The wind pressure kicked up by the blade attempted to completely seal off Ailiya’s room to maneuver.
A heavy opening strike followed by a chain of slashes… the basic skill of a Warrior of the Storm School, **[Whirlwind Slash]**.
Ailiya noted coldly in her mind.
‘Wide-area suppression, restricting movement, but the flaw lies in a 0.5-second pause during every transition.’
Each of Balke’s attacks carried a current of air, severely limiting his opponent’s range of motion.
But Ailiya always appeared in the perfect position at the perfect moment.
She did not take the initiative to attack, but continued to evade.
Three times.
Five times.
Ten times.
Beads of sweat began to form on Balke’s forehead. He could feel that no matter how fierce his assault was, he was only cutting through air. The opponent’s dodging was too precise.
‘How does she know my swordsmanship so well?’
Balke’s heart tightened. He let out a low roar as a faint green airflow surged around him. His speed and power instantly jumped to another level.
Ailiya recognized it. This was an enhancement skill of the Storm School.
**[Wind Chant]**: A Tier 1 enhancement skill of the Storm School that briefly increases Agility and Strength by 20%.
His sword became faster and more ruthless.
But Ailiya’s rhythm of evasion did not change at all.
Just as Balke attempted to follow up his pursuit, Ailiya suddenly leaped backward into the shadow of a large tree.
Balke charged right in after her.
“Hmph, trying to run?”
“Take this!”
Then, his sword struck nothing but air.
Not only had he missed, but Ailiya’s body seemed to have completely vanished within the shadows. No presence, no sound—even the flow of air seemed to have come to a standstill.
“This kind of stealth technique…” Balke’s voice carried a hint of alarm. “Miss Ailiya, this skill of yours… did you learn it from the people of the Shadow Cult?”
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