*scrreeeecchhh*

Layla immediately stopped their car as soon as she found that their tires were hit. She furrowed her brows, thinking about something.

"What was that?"

Max sat up and looked outside to see what happened. He wasn't sure what he heard, but he was aware that it was something, seeing the solemn expression of Layla and Lydia.

"Stay down! Something or someone punctured our tires."

"What?!"

Max quickly hid behind the door, assessing the situation they were in.

'What is happening here? Is someone attacking us?'

Max thought of all possible suspects, but he could only think of one.

'Xiao Ming?'

'There's no way he's this stupid right? Does he want to die by attacking the three of us?"

"Max, keep staying down here. Don't follow us out."

Layla and Lydia got out after asking Max to stay down. They considered that this might be an attack and they don't want Max to get hurt as he won't be able to defend himself.

After closing the door, their expression got a lot serious as the entire area turned deathly silent.

They looked everywhere around them for any signs of movements, focusing their senses on catching any footsteps to know if there's anyone on them.

They knew that they are in the ideal position for an ambush as they were on the road outside the city without no one around them. The darkness at night made their situation even worse.

Without warning, someone jumped onto their backs, gripping a dagger. Both of them hopped away reactively as how they trained to.

They both trained for years, studying different combat techniques that they knew this kind of simple attack could easily be evaded by just dodging away from it.

Fixing back their position next to each other, they focused on their attacker to see who it was. The unknown guy was wearing a black mask with a set of black clothes.

They couldn't recognize him in any way except that he had broad shoulders and a muscular body, but that wasn't helpful in any way.

The masked man looked at them for a moment then rushed straight to Lydia. He might have judged her to be the easier one, but he couldn't be more wrong about that.

The masked man ran unpredictably, directly going for her neck to stab it but Lydia quickly grabbed his wrist firmly with her hand.

"Arggghhhhhh!!!!"

An explosive sound of lightning rang out as purple lightning streaked out from her hands, rushing straight to his arm, frying it through as the masked man cry out in pain.

The dagger fell to the ground as the man pulled his arm forcefully away from Lydia. What happened next surprised them all including Max, who was peeking out from the window.

The man swiftly leaped tens of meters away from them. It was at this point that they became aware that the opponent they were currently facing was an Awakened, the same as them.

They kept their guard up as they watch for the next move he does. Lydia's Purple Lightning showed it's power by looking at how mangled his arm turned to be.

It was entirely black, limping on his side, seemingly unresponsive. The man looked to be in so much pain as he tried to steady himself.

'What kind of damage was that!?'

Max saw everything that happened. He watched as Lydia destroyed that man's arm with her lightning.

'Would mine be that strong?'

While he was thinking about that, the guy brought out another dagger. This dagger was entirely different from the first one he used. From its appearance, it looked to be made from unknown materials as lights never reflected on it.

As he slowly backed away to blend in the dark, blood-red light shined on the surface of his dagger, giving out an eerie shine.

The masked man made it hard for them to locate him that they once again became alert, waiting for him to come out.

Max wanted to help them, but he doesn't know what to do. He was close to getting out of the car, but he decided against it as he might hold them back by splitting their attention, worrying about someone attacking him.

Max recalled his Weakness Reader and used it at the guy before he disappeared in the dark. What came into his mind was the words 'No Resistance.'

Max was confused about it, not at the definition of 'No Resistance' but because Little Dou said that the Weakness Reader could be upgraded to Mind Reader(Weak Version) in the future.

So he deduced that the Weakness Reader was more like finding their weakness by reading their minds like a mind reader with a limit than identifying their weakness by scanning their bodies.

'Oh, that's why.'

Max concluded that the guy probably knew himself that his weakness was he had no resistance, which was why he was able to identify it.

But knowing he had a no resistance was useless as they probably already know it from how his arm got easily destroyed.

The masked man then suddenly appeared a few feet from their back, slicing his dagger at them with black and red light trailing behind it.

His movements were cautious, keeping a safe distance away for them. The light that came from his dagger expanded out, flying towards them but they were faster, dodging to the side.

Max watched as they repeatedly attacked each other. They moved to different areas, running and hiding while trying to hit each other in any way they can.

The entire road was a mess with long deep cuts and burns all over the place. Fortunately, there were far from the city, and it was late at night that no one uses this road anymore with it being too dark.

What Max didn't understand was why was Layla not using her skill. She has a Target Charm Skill, and they can easily defeat one person...?

He got more vigilant at his surroundings, realizing the possibility that the guy wasn't alone.

Max continued watching their every move, but he can only see where they were, and all the lights that were flaring out as all their movements were happening very fast.

He never trained to have a fast reaction. He doesn't even have any idea how to fight. Max could only look at their moves with envy, wanting to try it out himself.

'Should I use my Purple Lightning to help them?

Suddenly, a pink glow surrounded the masked man. At that exact moment, the man stopped what he was doing and walked directly towards Layla in a smooth motion.

Lydia didn't waste the opportunity, instantly hitting him with her purple lightning on his chest but the guy never stopped walking ignoring his charred upper body.

Layla's Target Charm stopped soon after, disappearing only a few seconds after it appeared. The masked man spat a mouthful of blood as he retreated to the dark, severely wounded from his chest.

After a few minutes trying to find the masked man, they weren't able to find him. Max went out of the car seeing that it was over. Layla and Lydia also sighed in relief that nothing serious happened to them.

"Layla, behind you!"

Layla turned around and saw the masked man rapidly closed in behind her, holding a sword covered in a black glow. She reactively closed her eyes as she knew that she wouldn't be able to evade it.

But the pain she was expecting, never happened. She slowly opened her eyes to see what was going on.

"!!!"

What she saw made her horrified as her body froze, Layla couldn't believe what she was looking at.