‘Thud, thud, thud.’ The first wave of arrows sank into the ground Sol just passed. Her legs pressed forward towards the source without fear. Thud. Another arrow embedded into the tree she passed by. Evenso, Sol continued her rush. Her gaze was locked onto a distant point while her spiritual awareness fed the surrounding environment into her mind.

‘Sheik, thud!’ Another arrow grazed passed her and forced Sol to offset its path with her weapon. Her eyes narrowed and she pressed on to close the distance between herself and the archer. Another swing of her short sword deflected an arrow aimed at her heart. It was clear the arrows were becoming more accurate and powerful the closer Sol got.

For the first time since she started her sprint, an enemy entered the range of her spiritual awareness. Another 4 presences trailed after that one and Sol could tell they were fanning out to circle her. Despite knowing their intentions, Sol pressed on towards the archer. Her spiritual awareness didn’t have the insane range available that An’s had, however the couple hundred meters were enough for Sol to plan around.

Two bows, one dagger, three swords, and two scythes. The information her awareness fed back to her was critical for assessing her situation. In particular, the fact that there were two bows in play. That bit of knowledge saved Sol as she forced herself into a roll to dodge an arrow from the side.

 The roll only disturbed her pace subtly as she rolled straight back into a sprint for the first archer. Sol was well within 300 meters of the first archer now and the female’s figure was already being processed by Sol’s mind.

“Dagger on the hip. Loose shirt and leather top. Leather tights with cutouts on the joints. A traditional archer then?” Her thoughts analyzed the archer as much as possible in preparation for the near encounter.

Twack! Thunk! Another arrow deflected and the final arrow dodged, Sol broke into the final 50 meter sprint between herself and the archer. With eyes on target, Sol could see the strange shape and color of her opponent’s eyes at glance. Large eyes with golden irises and pupils that extended nearly to the limit were fit inside the woman’s head.

Sol knew the cultivation method one practiced would alter the body over time to suit the magical model, however it was the first time she saw it rather than knew of it. While An could teach about the Assembler’s world and describe what he saw in the past, there was no better tutor than one’s own experience.

Regardless of her interest in the woman’s features, Sol immediately associated the traits with long distance scouting and weaponry. By extension, she understood the bowman closing in on her from the side must either use a different magical model or was less proficient than the woman before her. Either way, she kept her caution up.

The final 50 meters between the two disappeared in seconds with each reacting in their own ways. The woman tossed her bow at Sol while using her free hand to pull her dagger from its shield. Sol ignored the bow, choosing to slash through it and push on. A moment later, Sol was only an arm’s length from the woman.

Cognizant of the group encroaching from the side, Sol moved to end the fight as soon as possible. Her early detection of the archer was the only thing that allowed her to out maneuver the enemy and strike their backside support. Sol’s dagger flashed and collided against the dagger the woman drew in defense.

The dagger appeared high quality, yet Sol’s blade sank into it as if it were butter. Without losing much force, the blade continued into the woman’s throat and then through it. Unprepared for such an easy win, Sol collided into the woman’s body and tumbled to the ground with it. Blood scattered across the rocky ground and Sol could feel the liquid spray against her as well.

She pushed aside the fresh corpse and recollected herself with her gaze locked onto the woman. Her eyes drifted to the dagger in hand in the next moment. The fight was too short for her to verify much, however it was clear her equipment was a few grades higher at the very least.

Sol’s head tilted to the side while in thought, narrowly avoiding an arrow in the process. Although her sight was directed at the dead woman and she was in mid reflection, Sol maintained her spiritual awareness and continued to track the inbound team.

“Sara!” Sol’s attention turned to the second bowman who called out. From his appearance, Sol judged he practiced the same cultivation as the woman from earlier. Outside of the general resemblances suggesting they were siblings, Sol noticed the man’s eyes were less reformed. She felt it was safe to conclude the man was weaker than his sister at long distance support.

Sol dodged another arrow from the fuming man. ‘Who would allow siblings in the same unit?’ The thought only crossed her mind before her attention turned to the three swordsmen moving to surround her. Standing beside the final bowman was a woman with a dagger at ready and a man resting a large scythe across his shoulders.

 At glance, Sol could tell the two were protecting their final backline support. Finally, Sol’s eyes locked onto the woman rushing towards her with a similarly large scythe held in tension. ‘Three to circle me, two to protect the final support, one to attack from a distance and one to engage and buy time… This might be rough…’

Sol’s thoughts cranked through her situation while her body was in motion. Habits developed through training sessions with An showed their worth as her body moved independent of her thoughts. Sol dropped her dagger low and moved her center of gravity forward in preparation for the clash.

Just before the two were in distance to engage, the ground shook and a wall of air slammed into them. Caught off guard, everyone on site was blown to the side and tumbled along the ground. Though her vision was blurred from the surprise strike, Sol kept her spiritual awareness clear. Her dagger flickered twice, deflecting a stone and branch dislodged by the blast.

Her roll continued until the blast passed whereupon she rolled to her feet with the final momentum. Her legs carried her bruised body towards the final archer of the team during the moment of confusion. It took her only a moment to close the distance before her dagger sliced across the man’s chest. Sadly, the tumble only disoriented the group enough for Sol’s single attempt. The man had his collar yanked by the male scythe user causing Sol’s blade to miss his throat.

Evenso, her strike landed on the man’s arm and cut through the bone. Although the arm was attached, it was impossible for him to fire anymore arrows. Sol attempted to push for a second strike, however was forced to dodge a dagger thrust from the side. Swish, swish, swish!

Sol’s body contorted backwards before she retreated. The blade strikes launched at her were too close for comfort. It only took a glance at Sol’s clothing to show how close it really was. The group had already recollected themselves and finished surrounding Sol. Each member had their weapons drawn, yet Sol felt rather relaxed for some reason. Somehow, she couldn’t feel any threat from the team.

Rather than gaze at the members staring at her with caution, Sol’s eyes turned to the massive plume of fire and smoke in the distance. Even without asking, she was certain An was in combat over there. The scale of power involved was so dramatically different from what was available to her that for a moment, Sol felt a tinge of helplessness.

‘That’s the strength of those aiming for me?’ The realization hit her rather hard. Descriptions of power and strength are useless when told to a girl from the mortal world. The blazing monstrosity in the distance was enough for Sol to reorient her interpretation of power. ‘No wonder he could play around when I raced him.’

A wry smile covered Sol’s face as she thought back to her confidence after refinement. ‘How embarrassing…’ Movement from her drew Sol’s gaze back to the fight before her. Though weaker than the Assemblers fighting in the distance, Sol understood she was stronger than those hunting her right now. At the very least, this team was weak.

With that thought in mind, Sol considered gathering intelligence. “Hey.” The group twitched as a whole from her comment before Sol continued. “How strong is your team compared to the others? Have you already finished your first refinement? What method do you practice?” Despite the questions asked, the group only signaled to themselves and adjusted their positioning. They clearly had no intention of answering her. “Oh… What a shame.”

Sol raised her dagger and kicked off towards the woman with a scythe while taking note of the familiar signature popping into her spiritual awareness’ range. Injured from the blast, the woman could only swing her scythe once in a wide arc to buy time for her team to close in. The blade and dagger collided, yet to Sol’s surprise, the dagger only dug about 3cm into the 15cm thick blade.

Unprepared for her expectations to be overturned, Sol’s grip on her dagger slipped from her hand as the blade’s momentum launched it across the ground. Though surprised, Sol abandoned the dagger the moment it left her hand and pushed forward into the woman’s chest. She felt the ‘Unchained Queen Beast’ method pulse and the stored magic flooded her system.

Using the only techniques she knew, Sol funneled that pulse into her palm and smashed it against the woman’s chest. Sol reinforced the magic around her hand and allowed the bulk of the magic to escape her control. The pressurized magic expanded and pressed against the woman’s chest. The events happened too fast for the woman to react properly.

The woman’s breasts collapsed inward along with her chest and ribcage. A moment later, her body was flying backwards with copious amounts of blood flowing from her mouth. Sol tried to use the recoil of the strike to position herself better against the closing net, however her lack of experience against those with similar strength started to show itself.