The party was ready to assault the mantis’ lair. The new [Tarot] buffs were useful, as the battle would become easier. Adrian wasn’t the head of the march this time, that paper was delegated to Aby. After all, she was the only one who got the details of the location.

Adrian could understand why the lair was a peril to Czecheri. They walked for an hour and based on the position of the star, the lair was also about an hour to the city. And then, it wasn’t pretty to have a monster breeding post next to a town.

“How many?” Aby asked Adrian after he came back from giving a tour around the lair’s exterior.

“Not many,” Adrian responded. “I only saw six across all the perimeter. Two of them were... well… screwing. And I am going to tell you one thing, it was disgusting. I now understand why no one wanted the quest.”

“Did you stay to watch?” Kayle asked with a face full of repulsion.

“Hell no.” Adrian defended himself. “But I had to do a full circle to come back here and they stood in my field of sight a long time.” Even if Adrian wanted to accelerate his time perception, he had to stay focused just in case.

The party looked at the mantis’ lair. It was a huge boulder with an opening to the side that worked as a doorway. It was more alike to a mine that was excavated than a hole that any insect could have made. That made Adrian think if maybe this was an abandoned mineshaft.

“Come on.” Adrian made a hand gesture to the party.

“What?” Dale asked.

“You and Mike need to take that pair of mantises while they are distracted.” Adrian explained to them.

“Eugh, I don’t wanna,” Dale complained. “Ah, the mental image.” He added after imagining the scene. At least he kept himself silent, without raising his voice.

“Neither do I, believe me,” Adrian told. “It’s far worse being up close. Come on, stop being a child.”

“I am no child.” Dale replied.

“Then kill the fucking mantis.” Adrian told him, almost raising his voice.

“I will,” Dale told with annoyance. “You come with me, Mike.”

Mike followed the pair without saying a word. He wanted to kill those mantises before his imagination flew free. The rest stayed there, guard up. The trio got there in a pair of minutes. They went slowly as they didn’t want to attract any attention.

“Take your time, secure your shoot.” Adrian told the ranged attackers while they looked at the gruesome act of the mantises, one impaled at the ground while the other one was swaying back and forth.

“I want to puke.” Dale commented.

“Concentrate,” Adrian told him. He was watching that no mantis was to approach from behind. Then addressed Mike. “What about you? Are you okay?”

“Oh, yes,” Mike said as he was focused on his shot. “So, this is how [Voluntat] works.” He muttered to himself.

“Are you two ready?” Adrian asked at both.

“Yes.” They responded simultaneously, without getting their eyes of the mantises which were copulating.

“I am going to do a countdown. When I say 1, shoot. Got it?” They didn’t respond but Adrian knew they got it. “Here we go. 3, 2, 1!”

Both arrow and dart flew straight to their objectives. Due to Dale’s [The Fool’s Wheel of Fortune], he didn’t need to aim to nail his target, but Mike had to use his bow and aim like everyone else. Either way, the arrow penetrated the head of the mantis that was on the ground as it was the less mobile target; and the dart went through both eyes of the mantis that was on top. The first one died instantly, the second one moved for a split second but died before it could alert the other mantises.

“Good job.” Adrian praised the two snipers. “I doubt that neither of you has leveled up, no?”

“Nah, almost.” Dale responded reading the air.

“Same,” Mike told. “That mantis was a higher level than the rest, so I will level up once I kill another one.”

“Should we gather the ammo?” Dale asked Adrian.

“Yes, we should.” He replied. “But I am going to do it myself. That way it will be safer.”

Adrian rushed to the boulder where the lair was. His feet were fast, but the noise was non-existent. With ease, Adrian recollected the dart and the arrow and came back to Mike and Dale.

“Let’s go,” Adrian told them. “We shall reunite with the rest.”

Aby, Axel, and Kayle stood there. They didn’t move from the spot. Because the lair was at a clearing, everyone needed to stay behind the trees, or they would be visible. No shrubbery or mud was nearby so they couldn’t do any spec-ops shenanigans. According to Aby, who spoke according to the guild officer, mantis’s sight was movement-based; so the party wouldn’t highlight if they stayed still.

“What’s the plan?” Adrian asked once they were back.

“We need to take down those four guarding the entrance,” Aby told while looking at the monsters in question. “Adrian, you must take silently one of the back lines. If you are not detected, and I must repeat; if you are NOT detected, you will kill the other one in the back.” Aby said with all seriousness. “Mike and Dale will take down the ones in the front, Axel will be ready if he needs to taunt any survivors, and Kayle and I will buff.”

Everyone nodded and the plan started. Adrian went to the back, he got ready to execute the mantis at any moment. The idea was the same as always, a rapid [Fast Stab] and [Assassinate] combo. And that’s what he did.

Adrian quickly killed one of the mantises. He was so fast in fact, that the mantis body fell on him. But that didn’t alert him. Instead, he slowly and surely dropped the corpse on the ground, and he avoided all noise that could have been caused otherwise.

Without hesitating, Adrian went to the other mantis throat. Another combo was enough to execute it. A second later came two shots from the trees that killed the mantises at the frontline.

“Are you okay?” Aby asked at Adrian, whose clothes were full of mantis ichor.

“Yeah, I’m alright.” He responded, but he wasn’t looking at her. Adrian looked at the Record message instead.

Congratulations! For merciless and swiftly killing your enemies, you have obtained a [Rare] skill.

[Kill Streak]: After killing an enemy, you will receive a 5% damage increase boost that lasts twenty seconds for every enemy you kill. Only the first kill counts towards stamina use. Consumes mild stamina.

Adrian read the message. A nice [Skill] indeed. Even so that his most valuable weapon was his speed. But then, things got better.

Warning! Similar or synergistic [Skills] have been detected. Do you wish to fuse [Kill Streak] and [Fast Stab]?