“I can’t imagine it’s much worse than tailing people you don’t know with malicious intent,” Arek said.

The same man shrugged. The other didn’t seem particularly keen on saying anything, so Arek suspected that he was the leader.

“Did you just come here to talk? We have places to be,” Malissa said.

“You’re welcome to go,” the leader said. “Just leave that box you won behind. It belongs to us.”

“That’s not how auctions work,” Ming said, selecting a staff and pulling it out of the bundle on her back. “You’re kind of stupid, aren’t you?”

He didn’t respond. The two men at his side stepped forward and drew swords. He held a hand up to stop them from going farther.

“I have no desire to cause needless bloodshed,” the leader said. “It’s just a stupid recipe. Is it really worth throwing your lives away? Just give it to us.”

“And who would ‘us’ be?” Arek asked, his eyes narrowing.

“That’s none of your concern. Let it suffice to know that we have more powerful backing than you could ever imagine. Going against us is a fatal mistake, and one you won’t get to make twice.”

Arek glanced at the rest of the Happy Sunflowers. Malissa and Belmont shook their heads no, while Ming pointed her staff in their stalkers’ direction.

“You do realize you’re outnumbered?” Arek asked.

“ A group of F rank adventurers pose no threat to a group of C ranks, even if you have one more member.”

He knew who they were. Arek heard Belmont curse under his breath. Not only was it likely that the auction house had revealed who they were, but they’d given away information about their team.

“You might find us harder to deal with than you expect,” Arek warned, cracking his neck. “I’ll return your offer to you. We don’t want any bloodshed either. If you leave, we can pretend this never happened.”

“A threat with no teeth,” the leader said.

Arek shrugged. Part one of negotiations had failed. Now it was time for part two. It was a shame, but it wasn’t the first time he’d killed someone, and the orc doubted it would be his last.

“We can’t hold back,” Arek warned. “We’ll worry about the consequences later. Playing it safe will only get us killed.”

He flexed his hand. The runes along his claws lit up, green light spilling out as his guandao materialized beside him.

The lead man paused. Then he let out a booming laugh. He threw his hood back, revealing the battle hardened face of a warrior. He was bald, with a short salt and pepper beard and a scar that ran across his forehead.

“A Blessed One! It truly is my lucky day,” he said. The man pulled his sleeves back, revealing dozens of miniature runes tattooed into his forearms. Green light flared around him as runes materialized lifted off his body and into the air, forming spinning rings of energy.

“You as well?” Arek asked, faltering. “Wait, Blessed One? Do you know what the green runes are?”

The man let out a booming laugh.

“You don’t even know what you have? You must have stumbled across it in a dungeon. Amusing, truly amusing. I’d have loved to chat for longer, but I’m afraid we’re on a schedule.”

That was evidently their cue. The three men started towards the Happy Sunflowers. Arek tossed his bag to the ground.

“I’ll handle the big guy,” Arek said.

“I’ve got the one on the left,” Malissa added. Ming wordlessly turned the tip of her weapon to point at the remaining man.

A thought struck Arek and a grin ran across his face. The muscles in his legs tensed. Then he charged towards the talkative leader. The man didn’t seem particularly worried about Arek’s approach.

Then the orc reached up and ripped the mask off his face. In an instant, his skin turned green and fangs grew from his mouth as the orc returned to his natural appearance.

Arek’s guandao whistled through the air. His opponent recovered from his shock and raised an arm, blocking the strike with the floating ring of runes.

The impact from the strike shook his arm and knocked it aside. Arek continued with the attack’s momentum, twisting the weapon and slashing it down at the man’s other side.

He ducked under the attack and stepped forward, thrusting a hand towards Arek’s chest. The orc slammed the pole end of his weapon into the man’s arm, knocking it to the side.

“What are you?” The man snarled, all traces of civility gone.

“I don’t like to speak with dead men,” Arek replied, thrusting the guandao towards the man’s chest.

The leather armored man cartwheeled backwards. A burst of magic appeared behind him and launched the man towards Arek like a human missile. The orc was forced to jump out of the way to avoid getting punched in the chest by one of the man’s glowing arms.

Something told him that he had to avoid contact with those spinning runes at any cost. A pained cry rose up from behind them, but neither looked back to check what had happened. Even a moment’s distraction was enough to decide the victor of the fight.

Green energy flared again as the runes circling the man’s hands twisted, traveling down his body and stopping at his ankles. Arek raised an eyebrow.

“Your power is flying jewelry?”

“I thought you didn’t talk with dead men,” the other replied. He launched himself towards Arek. The ground cracked under the force of the sudden movement.

Arek barely brought his guandao around to block a vicious kick aimed for his head. It was the orc’s turn to feel a tremor run down his arms as the force of the strike threatened to make him drop the weapon.

“You aren’t fast enough,” the man laughed, zipping behind Arek and sweeping the orc’s legs out from under him.

Arek rolled as soon as he hit the ground, avoiding the stomp that crashed through the space where his head had been. He lunged at his opponent, but the man flickered, avoiding the strike and appearing several feet to the orc’s side.

“Too slow!” He mocked.