The Arcadia System

"Good Lord! It is finally dead. Beth, I want a death count. All of you to stay in formation, we never can predict what will happen next," hollered Tophes.

The archer called Beth answered his call, "Vicar, Jep, Lennet, Bette, Eliot, and Hudde. They are dead, poisoned. The snake was a Level 8."

"Sh*t! I promised Eliot's mother to bring him back in one piece," cursed Tophes.

All of them were his friends. It extremely pained him to see one-third of them dead.

*Squeak*

"Tophes, there is something ahead," one of the archers raised her voice.

She managed to snap Tophes out of his sorrowful state.

 "What is it?" asked an alarm Tophes.

"Can't see the rain is blocking our sight. But judging from the sound, it appears to be a rodent."

"Good. Keep your weapon aimed at it. I will give you an--"

There was no sound behind me.

Instantly, he looked back to check up on the strange occurrence.

He saw a slime swallow one of the archers. It had slipped through the gaps in their formation and targeted the center.

The others could not notice. They were fixated on their surroundings.

Damn, it was sneaky!

The eyes of his friend looked at him as he got submerged into the body of the slime.

It begged him to save him. Yet, Tophes was still in shock.

A look of realization appeared on his face as he took a final look at all his friends.

When he was done, he shouted with all his might, "We have been compromised. Center!"

....and the formation broke. Hell descended.

......…

"Hmmm…..what a sad life?" sighed Reve.

Just one mistake…..just one mistake jeopardized the safety of the party.

The battle was over. Only three survived. The slime and rat died. 

The two leaders were part of the final three along with a man with one arm.

What a story? 

They were bathed, in blood and Reve could see that if not attended to, they might die in less than a day.

That was the fate of the unprepared. As the companion of Myrna, Reve knew firsthand the dangers of entering uncharted territory.

Not only did this party come unprepared, but they also didn't have the power to protect themselves.

No insane skills. No surprising power. Just them and their mortal shell.

Based on what he read, their strength was below the average human strength.

If he were to guess, they were probably at Level 5.

"Hmmmmmmm…."

He noticed the rain intensified as if telling the party to rest but they couldn't.

They stayed in their fragile three-man formation, looking for the enemy that didn't exist. 

They were paranoid. After the death of their party members, it wasn't weird that this would happen to them.

Their eyes scoured the entire perimeter, hoping to see something….something to keep them from getting down.

They spotted a small figure on top of a tree. It's glinted eyes drew them to it.

"Wait a minute, isn't that me? Bloody hell!" 

Reve was officially angry. He was just an innocent passer-by. 

He had nothing to do with their party's death.

Sadly, they didn't see it that way!

*Whoosh!*

An arrow wheezed past his ear and tipped him off balance.

Fortunately, Reve's innate agility kicked in and the cat got a solid footing on the ground.

He hid behind the tree, listening to the sound of the three adventurers coming closer.

"Is this what they call injustice? I need to think. I can't take them on. I'm too weak."

Part of the reason why Reve didn't attempt to warn the party before was due to his low strength.

Heck, all his claw could do was scratch. Clawing someone was a different thing.

"This is insane. Focus, Focus, Reve. I can use my sixth sense to tip the favour to me."

Reve closed his eyes and concentrated on his mystical sixth sense.

It was nothing like a mental map but it alerted him of the rough location of his enemies.

"Two coming at me, while the last archer is taking back to provide them cover." 

He wasn't worried about the possibility of them hearing what he was saying. All they would hear is his cute cat sound.

Wait, don't wander off!

He needed to focus.

He had to take the archer first. To do that, he needed to see what the archer looked like.

*whoosh!*

As soon as he peeked out, an arrow headed towards him. But the good news was that he got a good look at the archer.

It was the one-armed man, using a crossbow. He wasn't that proficient with the weapon

The bad news was that the two leaders were ten feet away from him.

Using the cover of the nearby bushes, Reve subtly slipped away.

He went around the group and headed for the archer.

This was only possible due to his insane speed and cat-like control of his footsteps.

Tip. Top. Tip. Top.

He was behind the archer and ready to strike.

The question was how would he strike.

He had been watching their previous fight, so he knew that the one-armed man lost his arm to the slime.

He amputated it in time and had little time to address the wound. He only wrapped it with a thin piece of cloth.

In essence, if that cloth was to be removed, he would bleed out. But that would only factor in a slow death.

He needed reassurance and he didn't have the time for that. It wouldn't be long before the two leaders find out that he is not behind the tree.

Hence, he focused on what he could do and longer for the man's neck not before removing the piece of clothing.

Using his teeth, he clamped on the neck and summoned the strength of his ancestor to bite it down.

Of course, he couldn't sever his head but he could influence the output of blood from the arm.

Also, doing it this way would not allow the man to inform the two leaders of his situation.

After half a minute, the one-armed man lingered to the ground. Dead!

First kill!