A cinematic battle had begun within the walls of Stone and Bone Castle, and it was surprisingly just two youngsters against a staggering number of Blue Goblins.
The most remarkable thing was that they were getting the job done like it cost them nothing, and Roman especially was hungry to push further.
[You have killed a Level 5 Ordinary Monster, Blue Goblin Grunt. +45 EXP gained.]
[You have killed a Level 4 Ordinary Monster, Blue Goblin Grunt. +40 EXP gained.]
He was gathering as much EXP as he could, since it was the only thing of real value the Blue Goblin Grunts had to offer.
Roman kept himself disciplined, not overreaching, not taking unnecessary risks, and before he had fully registered it, two towers were already cleared behind him.
The next move came naturally. The moment he confirmed that Rena had finished her second tower, he broke into a sprint toward the next one, determined to arrive first.
The logic was simple. Five towers total. Two each meant that one would be left standing, and whoever cleared their second tower faster would reach the final one first and pocket the extra EXPs. Roman didn't know whether Rena had already leveled past him, and Rena didn't know either. But that uncertainty alone was enough to keep him moving.
Unfortunately, Rena didn't slow down once she read his intentions. She was already inside the tower and tearing through the goblins before Roman had even closed half the distance, cutting through them like a blade through paper, each strike precise and utterly without hesitation.
Roman watched from the ground for just a moment, and what he saw was not easy to dismiss.
"That's an Assassin's move," he muttered to himself.
He hadn't needed her to confirm her Profession. The way she moved made it obvious. And what made him smile quietly was the fact that he could switch to that exact Profession at any moment.
But he knew he couldn't. Not here. Not with her watching.
Rena already knew him as a Mage. If he suddenly started fighting like an Assassin, it would raise questions he was not ready to answer. She might report it to Norman, or worse, straight to the Outpost Head. And the matter would not end there, because the truth was that no recorded Entrant in the entire history of the Badlands had ever possessed more than one Profession.
The moment something like that got out, it would spread through the whole Reach like fire on dry grass, and every powerful figure in every rival community would want to know who this anomaly was.
Roman was not ready to be hunted. Not at this stage. Not when Blood Trail Outpost itself would struggle to defend him against a serious threat.
He stayed with his Mage Skills. They had gotten him this far without failing him, and that was enough for now.
He pressed on, stacking kill after kill, and at a certain point he grew tired of rotating between [Fireball] and [Anti Balance].
His eyes dropped to the pile of stones stacked at the base of a nearby tower, gathered by the goblins themselves for their own attacks, and a slow smile spread across his face.
[Rock Bash Activated.]
Every loose stone in range jerked toward him at once, drawn in like iron to a magnet, and once they had all aligned into a clean formation, Roman drove them forward in a single channelled wave directly into the cluster of goblins charging at him.
Each stone connected with the precision and impact of a large, blunt bullet. There was nothing elegant about it. But it worked beautifully.
[You have killed a Level 5 Ordinary Monster, Blue Goblin Grunt. +45 EXP gained.]
[You have killed a Level 5 Ordinary Monster, Blue Goblin Grunt. +45 EXP gained.]
[You have killed a Level 4 Ordinary Monster, Blue Goblin Grunt. +40 EXP gained.]
The tower was empty within moments. Roman didn't stop to check around him, didn't spare a glance toward Rena's position. He just turned and sprinted toward the final tower at full speed, pushing his legs as hard as they would go.
He was nearly there.
And then the silence reached him before he did.
No goblin shrieks. No chaos. Just one set of footsteps descending the tower in a calm, unhurried rhythm that somehow managed to sound victorious without trying.
Roman looked up.
Rena stepped down from the final tower with the composed ease of someone who had never once been in doubt about how this was going to end.
"Too slow, Mage. Do better next time."
The disbelief and the rage arrived at exactly the same moment. Roman's jaw tightened, and the look he fixed on her back held nothing but pure frustration. Rena responded to it with a small, unbothered smile and kept walking.
"Out of the way, please?" she said, and Roman stepped aside just enough for her to pass without acknowledging that he had done it.
He turned back and looked up at the tower, scanning the fallen goblins one by one. There were no dramatic wounds, no signs of a prolonged fight. She had gone behind each one and ended things quietly.
A stab here, a clean slit there... One had its neck twisted at an angle that required a specific kind of controlled strength and technical knowledge that had absolutely no business existing in someone posted at Blood Trail Outpost.
Roman stared at it for a long moment, and finally agreed that she was too crazy to be in the valley.
Then he followed her.
"Hey!" He called out as she walked calmly in the direction of the castle entrance, roughly seventy metres ahead.
She didn't stop.
"Rena! I'm talking to you!"
He quickened his pace and stepped in front of her, cutting off her path.
"What was your Academic Standard?" he asked directly.
"That is none of your business," she replied, her expression completely unbothered.
"I think it is," Roman said, holding his ground. "You don't fight like someone with a low standard. You don't even fight like a Third Class at minimum. So why are you in Blood Trail Outpost?"
Rena looked at him for a moment, then let out a short laugh and clicked her tongue.
"Relax. I'm here because my Academic Standard was low. That's why we are all here, isn't it?" She tilted her head slightly. "Mine just isn't quite as bad as yours."
Roman barely registered the dig. He wasn't interested in that right now. What he wanted was an explanation for how she had taken down two towers in under a minute, and why nothing about her fighting looked remotely like someone who belonged in a struggling outpost at the edge of The Reach.
"What if I told you I don't believe that?" he said.
"Then that's your problem," she replied evenly. "I told you the truth. You were never entitled to it in the first place."
She moved past him and kept walking.
Roman watched her go, and no matter how he turned her answer over in his mind, it didn't sit right. He didn't believe her. Not entirely. But he had nothing concrete to push back with, so he let it go for now and turned west.
Two paths cut through the interior of the castle grounds, one heading west and one heading east, both lined with structures that needed to be cleared before the entrance to the main castle could be reached. They split without a word, Rena taking the eastern path and Roman taking the western one.
It took only a few metres before the nature of what awaited them became clear.
These were not Grunts.
Some scattered low-rank goblins could be spotted around the edges, but the ones that stepped forward to engage were built differently. Taller. Broader. Moving with a coiled aggression that the Grunts never had.
Roman came to a stop as three of them emerged ahead of him.
[Monster Name: Blue Goblin Raider.]
[Rank: Ordinary.]
[Level: 12.]
[Traits: Aggressive Speed Boost.]
[Life: 99%.]
GRAAAK!
GRAAAAAAK!
GRAAAK!
More Raiders poured in from the surrounding structures, converging on his position from multiple directions.
Roman glanced briefly toward the eastern path. The buildings on that side had swallowed Rena completely, and there was no trace of her.
Good.
Because right now, he had no intention of staying a Mage.
[Profession switched successfully. Assassin Profession activated.]
The smile that crossed Roman's face was quiet and deliberate.
[F Rank Skill Obtained: Shadow Step — The ability to erase your presence entirely, blending into any shadow or dark surface within range.]
[F Rank Skill Obtained: Void Strike — A silent offensive strike delivered from concealment. The target never sees it coming.]
[F Rank Skill Obtained: Phantom Shift — A burst of movement so fast it appears instantaneous, covering short distances in a fraction of a second.]
He stopped to read the rest. There was no time, and he already had what he needed.
Roman weighed Shadow Step against Phantom Shift for a brief moment. They looked similar on the surface, but Shadow Step felt more appropriate for what he had in mind, especially given one specific advantage he held over Rena.
No cooldown.
She had limits. He didn't. And if she had already cleared her path and was making her way toward the Boss, that gap in cooldown was the only edge he needed to close the distance.
[Shadow Step Activated.]
"I'll disappear into the dark and handle this quietly. No cooldown to slow me down. Let's see her match that."
His silhouette dissolved into the surrounding darkness, and not one of the Raiders could find a trace of him.
Then they started falling.
One by one, without warning, without a sound, without ever knowing what had reached them. [Void Strike] after [Void Strike], delivered clean and silent, and the village path filled with goblin bodies while the killer remained invisible throughout.
By the time Roman let himself reappear, he was standing at the castle entrance, and he had arrived with a margin to spare.
Moments later, Rena emerged from her path on the eastern side.
She stopped when she saw him already standing there, and for just a fraction of a second, something crossed her face that she didn't quite manage to hide in time.
Roman looked at her and said nothing for a moment, letting the silence do the work.
Then the smile came, slow and deliberate as he couldn't help it.
"Too slow, Assassin. Do better next time."