[Vanish]
[Movement Speed increased by 10%]
The knight and guard stood back-to-back, shoulders touching, eyes hunting the dark.
With no clean back angle, Loki closed to five meters and popped [Umbral Pulse].
[Stun: 2.0 s]
Both stiffened.
[Oxheart Triggered]
[STR and CON Doubled]
Loki went for the guard first
He took two quick steps and dropped his level. He slid to the shield side and cut the gap behind the knee, then pivoted across the guard's chest and shoved the second blade up under the spear-arm pit.
[Weakspot Triggered]
Black blood poured down his ribs, and the spear tip dipped as the arm went weak
[Poisoned Dagger]
He made a point-blank throw into the throat gap above the collar. The blade buried to the hilt, and green crawled under the guard's rotten skin.
[Target has been Poisoned]
[Poison Tick]
[Poison Tick]
[Poison Tick]
The stun fell. The guard slammed the bowl rim forward. Brass teeth raked Loki's ribs and drove him a half-step back.
[You have taken 9 damage.]
Loki used the push, rolled off the shield edge, and snapped a kick into the spear wrist. He felt the joint give with a hard pop, and the spear clattered on stone.
The knight was already there. A waist-high sweep came in flat and fast. Loki ducked at the last second and just felt steel skim the back of his cloak.
[Shadow Blink]
He reappeared behind the guard and drove both daggers under the shoulder blade, straight into the upper lung through the armor gap.
[Critical Hit!]
[Backstab Triggered]
[Weakspot Triggered]
[Passive 5 — First strike after breaking stealth deals double damage.]
The guard's body jolted like a wire had been pulled. Black blood flooded out, hot and thick, soaking the plates.
[Acquired 300 EXP]
[Acquired 200 TLE]
[Acquired 340 NTLE]
"Okay, it's one on one now," he said, spun his daggers playfully, and set his stance.
The knight stepped in with a straight, prayer-clean thrust for Loki's head. Loki slid off the line, palmed the crossguard to shove the point past his ribs, and clipped the inner elbow. Metal scraped the seam; the sword arm buckled.
Loki's sight pricked with faint red glows where the armor was weak. A ring at the visor slit, another at the neck seam and armpit, and one on the hamstrings.
[Riftstep Cut]
He drew a straight line through the knight, shoulder scraping plate, metal screaming as he came out behind the target and planted his feet.
[Umbral Pulse]
The shadow ring burst, and the knight was locked up mid-turn.
[Stun: 2.0 s]
Loki stepped in and went to work. Short, fast cuts and stabs—neck seam, inner elbow, back of the knee, lower spine where the plate floats. His daggers bit, lifted, and bit again. His passives triggered with each hit. He didn't chase big swings, just clean entries into every gap the armor had.
When the knight's health slid into the red, Loki finished with a hard cross at the throat line.
[Critical Hit!]
[Backstab Triggered]
[Weakspot Triggered]
[Assassination Triggered]
The visor kicked sideways. Black poured out. The knight stood a heartbeat, then broke into light and left loot orbs on the floor.
[Acquired 450 EXP]
[Acquired 300 TLE]
[Acquired 450 NTLE]
After picking up all the scattered loot, he decided to continue exploring the temple.
Corridors branched and rejoined like a maze that forgot its own plan. He counted turns and nicked certain stones with a short drag of his blade so he wouldn't loop. Side rooms held altars cracked down the middle and bowls turned to chalk. In one, a kneeling statue had been hammered flat. The echo under the roof prickled his skin.
Footsteps ahead, coordinated, left to right.
[Chalice Guard — Rare — Lv. 4]
[Chalice Guard — Rare — Lv. 5]
[Chalice Guard — Rare — Lv. 4]
From the previous fight, Loki had a general idea of the guards' strengths and moves. So he went in with confidence.
[Riftstep Cut]
He dashed straight through the pack. Plate scraped as he passed. He planted at their backs and popped the stun.
[Umbral Pulse]
[Stun: 2.0 s]
[Oxheart Triggered]
[STR and CON Doubled]
He went to work—short, precise strikes into joints and seams. When the stun fell and they came swinging—
[Shadow Blink]
—he snapped to one guard's shadow and stabbed up through the gap under the shoulder blade.
[Backstab Triggered]
[Weakspot Triggered]
[Critical Hit!]
[Passive 5 — First strike after breaking stealth deals double damage.]
The body dropped.
[Acquired 300 EXP]
[Acquired 200 TLE]
[Acquired 340 NTLE]
[Vanish]
He faded out, slid behind cover, watched timers roll, and waited a breath for cooldowns. The knights could do nothing but huddle up and wait for the enemy, as there was no place to run.
Then he did it again: Riftstep in, Pulse, Oxheart, precise strikes into armor gaps, Blink for angle when they recovered, and Vanish out to reset.
'Yeah, this works,' he thought.
He repeated the loop a few times and finished the guards. Among the drops, he found a new skill book.
[Penetration — Rare, Passive — Assassin/Warrior]
Your attacks and skills ignore 25% of the target's Physical Defense.
Stacking: Does not stack with other Physical Defense penetration sources (will use the highest).
"Finally, some penetration," he said, and learned it on the spot.
He threaded deeper.
The temple opened into a nave with a broken skylight. A shaft of white fell onto a cracked mosaic—hands lifting a chalice to a blank circle. Loki saw shapes shift at the edge of the light and moved toward them.
He ran that same combo every fight. And now with his penetration, the fights ended even quicker. There were times when a shield would catch him, or a spear kiss his coat, but he kept the rhythm.
A stair at the far end dropped into a last corridor. The walls here were clean, like hands had scrubbed them long after the roof fell. Incense clung to the stone. The floor ran true to a set of doors banded in iron. A sun disk was carved across both halves, split at the seam.
He stopped short of the doors, sat with his back to cool stone, and checked himself.
"After this, I'll be level eight," he said, watching the EXP bar almost full.
He drank a couple of potions, rested a moment, and counted the TLE—heavier than he expected. A lot of priest and warrior loot sat in the ring, ready to sell.
After he was done, he stood and moved towards the gate. He set both palms to the seam and pushed. The hinges groaned. Far inside, something old drew a breath.
"Let's see what you got," he said and stepped through.