Chapter 84: My business is with the Emperor. So, to be blunt, I couldn’t care less if you live or die!

The men charged into the woods with their weapons ready after hearing a scream and realizing one of them had gone missing.

But they slowed to a halt when they spotted his figure ahead, just standing in the middle of the woods with his back to them.

"B-52, what’s wrong? Did you find something?" One of them called out cautiously and began approaching the man, when another suddenly grabbed his shoulder and held him in place, narrowing his eyes at the figure ahead.

"What are you doing? That’s B-52." The man argued, but didn’t protest.

The other didn’t reply for a moment, before his expression turned grim. "Section 9, page 5." He suddenly said.

"...What?" The others looked at him in confusion.

"Did neither of you read the documents I sent you about the target?" The man frowned as he ran his eyes across the men, but they avoided his gaze.

"What’s there to read? We all fucking know who Kaelen Cross is."

"If you had read the damn papers, you should know it was stated in Section 9, page 5, that the target has the ability to shapeshift into those that fall to his prey. We clearly heard B-52 scream, and now he’s just standing there like a mannequin, waiting for dumb people like you to approach like a flytrap." As the man said this, the other men’s eyes widened in surprise, and the one who had been tempted to approach felt a chill run down his spine.

They immediately raised their weapons and, without another word, began surrounding the man from both sides like they’d practiced this a hundred times over.

They cautiously moved, creating sufficient distance between them and the man as they circled him all the way to the front, when they finally got to see what he was doing.

He was engrossed in something before him that neither of them could see, swiping his hands away at the air before him. It was obvious to these men that while they were arguing if B-52 was real or fake, the man was busy browsing through his system panel without a care in the world.

"B-52?"

The man suddenly looked up at the men surrounding him and looked confused for a moment. "Huh?"

The man raised his hand to feel his face and hair, before he smiled faintly. "Oh, I only wanted to steal the clothes and didn’t realize I stole everything." Kaelen said as his looks immediately transformed back to his real features.

The men’s eyes widened in terror and they subconsciously took a step back.

"I’m sorry for keeping y’all waiting. Let’s get this over with. Come at me at once."

The men’s eyes widened even further, and they exchanged glances amongst themselves.

"What are we gonna do?" One of them asked.

"What do you mean, what are we gonna do?!" The one who seemed like their leader barked. "The Emperor has given us power to trample upon the evil forces of darkness. If we use everyone’s skills, we can pull through this together!" He preached like a holy knight, and, like the men had received a passive buff, their eyes burned with fervour.

Oh?

"Attack!" The men charged in at once, not just with their blades, but with everything they had.

One’s blade had a reddish hue around it, another conjured a ball of dark matter in his hands, the other stepped on a falling leaf and soared into the air with his twin daggers, and another began performing a strange sword technique that stacked multiple sword beams in one attack.

Then they charged in at once.

Their attack trajectory was well executed, so that they surrounded Kaelen and covered all escape routes.

Kaelen didn’t flinch.

Instead, he clasped his hands behind his back as the attacks arrived. Then, as smooth as the edge of the wind, he began dodging.

The men didn’t bother with keeping a safe distance this time, as they surrounded him and jumped to block his paths, moving their swords with years of practiced precision and concentrated magic spells that’d make any mage green with envy.

He stepped aside just before the sword could cut him, tilted his head just enough for a magic spell to soar past, and twisted his body in time for the blade to stab him.

Everything was happening so fast that the men couldn’t comprehend how they weren’t hitting him, as the only thing they could see him do was move away with his incredibly smooth footwork.

No matter what they threw at him and how fast they did, he was always one step ahead, all while his hands were clasped behind his back like a master teaching his students martial arts.

When Kaelen’s lips parted, the next words that escaped his lips sent chills down their spines as they doubled their efforts to hit him.

"Doing better than I expected; I honestly underestimated you. My business is with the Emperor. So, to be blunt, I couldn’t care less if you live or die. Then again, I gave you the chance to walk away, and you chose to fight. So I’m gonna kill y’all now."

As soon as those words left his lips, Kaelen made his move.

He ducked and grabbed one of the men’s wrists and snatched the hilt of his sword from his palm, before swinging the sword in the opposite direction, where another had just raised his sword at him.

The man dropped to the ground with a deep gash on his chest, bursting into light particles and disappearing.

Kaelen didn’t falter for a second and moved the blade to cut down the man whose sword he had stolen and whom he still had by the wrist. Then he raised his palm at another, and a fireball was immediately conjured and shot forward like a cannon.

His eyes widened, and he tilted his head to the side just in time for the flame to charge past him. Then he began charging up his own dark flames when his hairs suddenly stood on end, and he turned at the last moment to see the fireball that had charged past him charging back at him like a boomerang.

He could barely react when his vision went dark.

[You have died.]

The remaining men, seeing three people die in an instant, immediately dropped their weapons and sped into the woods, running back the way they came.

When a plump Slime suddenly hopped out of the bush, blocking their path.

The men’s eyes widened in terror, but they looked behind their shoulders to see Kaelen calmly approaching them from behind, and immediately ruled out the Slime as dangerous.

"Get out of the way!" One of them roared as he raised his foot and kicked the Slime. But instead of the Slime being kicked away into the forest, his foot sank into the Slime’s body before getting stuck.

Before he could react, a powerful tug pulled at his foot, and his entire body was suddenly dragged inside the Slime.

"Huh?"

[You have died.]

The last man, who turned out to be the leader, seeing this, immediately bolted in another direction in the woods, running as fast as his legs could carry him.

When he fell out into the beautiful field surrounded by Slimes grazing the field, he’d seen what happened the last time and wasn’t taking his chances this time.

Both the woods and the Slime field were dangerous and could be easily manipulated by Kaelen Cross. But that wasn’t the end for him, because the one place he excelled the most...

He snapped his head towards the pond that stretched for as far as his eyes could see and laughed victoriously.

In Evolution Online, you could say his race was both rare and special.

Merfolk.

A race that excelled and dominated the sea.

He immediately dashed towards the pond with a wide grin spread across his face.

The moment he entered any body of water, he instantly became the predator. He didn’t have to run or hide any further. If he could bait Kaelen Cross into entering the pond with him, then a promotion, national recognition, and massive evolution points enough to advance him ten realms would be waiting for him at the end of the battle.

He was going to make it a quick one.

Splash!

[You have died.]

"...W-What?"