Viviana, Thomas, and Lucian did not stop running. Bena was passed out on top of Lucian, so she too was moving.

  They should have run out of stamina a long time ago, but tearing through an entire guild base with a giant centipede gave them a second wind. At least, it gave Viviana a second wind. Thomas and Lucian just looked terrified.

  “I can’t… keep running… like this!” Thomas said. He was right– now they were dodging over rubble and broken buildings and random people in order to get away from the incredibly persistent centipede. At this point several guild members were already gathering to form an attack party, but it seemed like it would take some time before they could muster the courage.

  The Ophidian Pact base was in complete disarray.

  The Landsknecht ran through crowd after crowd until they encountered a defensive wall of guild operators. They all wore pitch black armor and helmets– fully encased helmets that contained dozens of high-tech cameras and sensors.

  Their tech means they’re elites.

  Mechanical motors hissed as they were all braced forward, flesh and mechanical muscle tensing, swords at the ready. Viviana didn’t stop; she couldn’t with the centipede behind her.

  She activated [flash step], surging forward. She laughed as she accelerated faster and faster. Someone in the defensive wall flinched, realizing that Viviana wasn’t going to stop. Perfect. A weak link. A crack in the armor.

  Viviana activated [flash step] again, leading with the knee. She smashed into the guild elite, pushing them back and hitting the ground running. “Sorry!” she yelled as she ran through.

  A muffled laugh came from the guild operator to the left. “You don’t have to apologize. You do owe me later, though.”

  A voice she recognized. Selenne?

  She whirled to look, but the person who addressed her was already facing forward again, bracing their sword for the centipede.

  Thomas and Lucian surged through the gap Viviana created, not bothering to look back. Then a split second later, the defensive line was hit by a building sized centipede. The ramapaging beast stalled for the first time, roaring in preparation for a fight.

  What’s Selenne doing with the guilds? She shook her head, deciding to stay on the move.

  “I think… they got it! We don’t need to run anymore!” Lucian said.

  “Thomas, how much time until we’ve gotta sell the frostburst organs?” Viviana asked.

  “I don’t…know!... Like, ten minutes?...”

  That’s bad.

  So they kept on running.

  “Quick, put the thing in!”

  “What? Be delicate! They’ll explode, you know!”

  “I know! But we don’t have time! Just put them all in!”

  They began unceremoniously dumping the frostburst organs into the academy’s auction collection system. A little holoscreen showed them what items they had, but for some reason the collection box read each item one at a time.

  Thomas had fainted at the collection box. He was currently upside down, having not slowed down his running until he physically couldn’t run anymore. Lucian and Viviana were using the last of their strength to downright dump the rest of the organs into the guild system, not even bothering to be delicate.

  “Bena, wake up! We need help here!” Lucian said, shaking the girl on the ground.

  Bena jolted awake. “...Huh?”

  “We’ve gotta put the organs up for auction! Hurry!” Viviana said.

  “Huh?” Bena said, not fully awake. She reached into the bag, grabbing an organ. “Like this?”

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  The organ began to glow. Viviana snatched it out of her hands and threw it as far as she could. It exploded. She heard someone scream, but she was too tired to care.

  “Bena, go back to sleep,” Viviana said.

  “Ok!” Bena said. Then she went back to sleep.

  Lucian and Viviana finished the job. With two seconds left they, with shaking hands, put in the minimum buy price. A thousand and two hundred credits, plus a ten percent transaction fee. The exact payout that their client, Mizuki, agreed on.

  They held their breath as they pressed the AUCTION button on the holoscreen.

  It sold out instantly.

  Mission accomplished.

  The only two standing members of Landsknecht immediately collapsed on the sidewalks of the academy main campus. Lucian and Viviana laughed as people gave them strange looks, opting to walk all the way around instead of through them. They were too tired to care.

  [You have slain a level 34 glacial stalker.]

  [+10 exp] [shared]

  [You can distribute (1) stat point.]

  The notification briefly snapped them out of their delirium. Lucian laughed. “Of course the guilds killed it.”

  Lucian didn’t know, after all. Viviana frowned. If Selenne was there, then it meant Selenne killed it. I’m sure of it.

  Selenne braced as the centipede slammed into the defensive wall. Then, her squad immediately sprang into action.

  It took a long time to get them to listen to me. Look at them now.

  They moved as a machine. Two members held the centipede down, mechanical motors in their armor screaming as it enhanced their strength to even higher than what they could achieve with soulbound stats alone. Selenne loved modern technology. It was simply an utter marvel.

  The rest of her team, along with her, moved to the flanks of the centipede, hacking and slashing with brutal efficiency. The legs fought back, stabbing into the earth with legs that could cut through steel with ease. That was the problem with unenchanted armor. If the system didn’t recognize it as armor, it meant that attacks from monsters would pass through them like paper.

  Armor only existed to enhance the user’s abilities and protect from the elements. It was as defensively effective against monster attacks or enchanted blades as normal clothing was.

  Selenne pushed a button on her sheath, simultaneously drawing her sword. Instantly electromagnets in her sheath accelerated her sword forward, shooting out her blade in a devastating arc. It cleaved straight through one of the centipede’s legs.

  One out of a hundred, she thought. They were going to have to cut down many of those legs to get to the centipede’s core, though.

  That's when the centipede’s tail end came whipping around, threatening to envelop Selenne's team in a mass of scrambling legs.

  Selenne activated [dissociation], phasing out of existence for a quick second as she passed through the centipede’s attacks, climbing on top of the centipede before the tail end crushed her.

  The rest of her team wasn’t so lucky. They died instantly, armor turning into paste. The centipede was about to whip around to attack the other side. One half of her team was there. She had to save them.

  “Gaheris, Lancelot, activate earth manipulation skills immediately behind you!” she said into her helmet. The message was instantly transmitted around.

  Those two members immediately activated their skills. Then the centipede's tail smashed into the earthen walls they conjured, just barely saving their lives. “Climb onto its back! I need you guys!”

  They activated skills, barely scrambling onto the monster’s back. One of them wasn’t lucky and got impaled by a rogue centipede leg. They died instantly.

  Two more people made it onto the centipede. “Lancelot, activate [grand spiral] immediately after I activate my skill. Gaheris, anchor him.”

  Operator Lancelot prepared himself. Gaheris sheathed her sword, instead holding out her hands and crouching down.

  Selenne immediately activated [touchless], [soundless], and [senseless]. For as long as Selenne could hold it, everyone around her lost touch, hearing, and mana sense. Including the massive centipede.

  The giant bug became confused, not sure what to do. As part of Selenne’s preparation, she looked up what senses centipedes normally used. Right now, the massive monster shouldn’t be able to sense anything. Its eyes were only used for sensing light and dark, after all.

  It meant that Selenne didn’t have to use her most mana-costly technique; [sightless], which turned off all sight.

  The giant icy centipede didn’t thrash or move. Selenne knew just what it was feeling right now. Absolutely nothing. Like suddenly falling asleep, but remaining conscious the entire time.

  Sweat beaded across her brow as she continued to push mana into three simultaneous abilities. She worked heavily on her resistance to mana fatigue, and improved her MIN stat by a lot, but it was still an extreme strain on her mind.

  One of Selenne’s men, Lancelot, prepared a skill on the head of the centipede. A massive, spiraling spear of mana formed.

  Another one of Selenne’s men, Gaheris, poured additional mana into Lancelot, anchoring his construction. Then it was completed. A massive spear the size of a school bus formed over the forehead of the centipede. It spun slowly. Ominously. Then it came down, plunging into its foe.

  The centipede didn’t even notice. It died breathlessly, without a struggle.

  [You have slain a level 34 Glacial Stalker.]

  [+20 exp] [shared]

  [You can distribute (2) stat points.]

  “Good work, everyone,” Selenne said, a grin on her face. “Dinner’s on Adam.”

  I wish I had 1.2K in my bank account...