Frostfire Legacy

Cassy pulled her dagger, slashing it on empty air to shake off the blood. Her fingers trembled at the new sensation, something she hadn't experienced before. Just like Aster, it was her first time taking someone's life!

The sensation of her dagger digging through flesh, hitting bones, and cracking them. Everything was vivid in her senses, making her hyperventilate as she panted hard. Just as she was having tunnel vision, a hand patted her shoulder, bringing her back to reality.

"Well done, Stup—Cassy... Now, just one more!"

Of course, the man's death wasn't just Cassy's achievement. It was a joint effort!

What happened was no accident. The "smokescreen," followed by the two enemies facing back to back with each other, and Cassy's "missed" lunge. Everything was planned right when the two were in the middle of Cassy's Minor Area Heal Spell!

Of course, it wasn't a specific plan, more like a suggestion. But the two managed to pull it off regardless!

Cassy closed her eyes, nodding, before turning to the big guy with the hammer.

"Now, only you are left!"

She smiled fiercely, putting off the thought of having taken someone's life.

With the two of them regrouping and standing side by side, they should be more of a threat now than before with coordinated attacks! However, the man with the hammer grinned from ear to ear, slapping the hammer over his shoulder before speaking confidently.

"Hah! Even if you teamed up, there's no way you can pierce through my defense!"

"..."

Cassy's frown returned. After all, she knew how tough the enemy's skin was after fighting him for a while. Even when she landed slashes, not even a scratch remained on him! This, of course, was definitely due to a skill's effect, if not a spell.

Without warning, as if not even bothering to listen to him, Kali moved. The big man gasped in surprise, moving his hammer to cover his vitals, unable to catch Kali's figure from her lightning-flash speed.

*SLASH!* *PLOP!*

"What an arrogant bear." Kali stopped a few meters behind the bearman, spinning her two daggers around her fingers.

"We can't injure you? If that's true, then how did you get your ears clipped off, huh?" She sneered. "You're just full of air; there's not much to write home about."

"Urk!"

The bear man saw two pieces of "something" fall to the ground. In panic, he moved his left hand to touch the top of his head, moving around as if trying to look for something. However, he could only feel two wet stumps, coloring his palm a deep red.

"YOU...! MY EARS...!" The man roared in a mix of pain and anguish, thrashing around. "YOU FUCKING CUT OFF MY EARS!!! I'LL KILL YOU!!!"

Kali, succeeding in making her enemy lose their cool, was calm. She watched his movements and matched them, dodging his hammer at the smallest margins possible, fueling his anger and irritation even more.

*BAM!* *WHOOOSH!* *BOOOM!*

The hammer waved around randomly, with power enough to break all the bones in Kali's body with just one strike. However, it wasn't even grazing her—a perfect display of dodging skills!

*STAB!*

"It worked...!"

Cassy, who was watching for the right moment, made another lunge using her strong jumping abilities and stabbed her dagger directly into the big man's side. The blade entered through, sinking up to the hilt.

"ARGH?! THAT HURTS, YOU...!"

As if irritated, he sent a kick behind him. Despite the fact that it was just a casual kick, the man's size and weight made it similar to receiving a hammer blow. Cassy dodged in panic and ended up letting go of her dagger, leaving it still embedded on the enemy's side!

After shooing Cassy off, he returned his gaze to Kali but realized his mistake a moment later. He shouldn't have moved his gaze away from her! Kali vanished, her current position a mystery to the man. He lowered his stance, keeping his senses sharpened while preparing to attack at any given moment.

However, the only one he could feel was Cassy, who was trying to be as noisy as possible while jumping around and moving to confuse the big guy.

*SQUELCH!*

"Assassinate."

And when Kali reappeared, it was already too late for him. Her dagger had found its way to cut off the spine from the back of his neck. Even if he didn't die from that, with the nerves coming down from his brain shredded, he would be paralyzed and unable to move until he died.

The big man fell forward with a thud, and Kali landed beside him, wiping the blood off her dagger using the man's clothes.

"It's over..." Kali sighed while sheathing her daggers.

She then moved to the man's side and pulled Cassy's dagger out, watching as blood started to flow out of the wound like a river.

"Catch!"

She chucked the dagger at the orange rabbit, who just sat down on the ground, panting hard. Her legs gave out as soon as the fight ended, relieving the tension from her nerves.

Kali watched her carefully before closing her eyes. "We'll move once you're rested enough. Take your time."

"That... I will..." Cassy responded with a wry smile before lying down on the ground.

Both of them were tired, and their bodies were hurting from all the injuries they suffered. Kali's wounds, for example, only closed up on the surface. Inside, it was still a mess, making her brain feel nothing but pain at the moment.

Cassy was better off, with only the right side of her body feeling off, as if numb, after receiving a direct hit from the hammer earlier.

She could still move by forcing herself, though.

As the two were resting, feeling the heat coming from the burning forest a short distance away, they suddenly started to hear "anomalous" noises.

"D-Don't come here...! AAAARGH!"

"H-HELP!"

"GYAAAA!!!"

"N-No... way..."

Voices, tinged with panic and despair, echoed from a short distance away.

As the two heard this, they quickly became alert and tried to rouse their tired bodies, looking toward the direction the voice came from. There, they could see shadows lit by flames in the background, running in panic toward their direction.

"More enemies?" Kali frowned.

Those running toward them were those who were heavily damaged by the initial explosion earlier. After they were healed with potions and such, they were left there by the now-dead kidnappers, waiting for the potion to work and fix them up.

"...!"

The problem, however, was that the shadows consisted not only of humanlike figures; among the shadows, a big figure could be seen, moving around and killing those who tried to run first, as if playing.

Cassy was familiar with what that figure was, as she saw it just a few days ago.

"... The Dire Wolf!"