Chương 114: Dunno if we can grow that back

Lily didn't like the look in Sydney's eyes. It was manic. Half-crazy. The look of someone way outside their comfort zone, desperately clinging to a lifeline that only they could see. The woman's decision to pivot towards the mansion was outright stupid. Of course, they should help Ellie out, but was she going to fight ten or so elf-ninjas by herself? When they felt stronger than Dennis?

She barely even won against Dennis when he was holding back like never before, probably considering their fight more of a disagreement than a true battle against 'villainy'. And that was with a dumb Skill combo that basically made her a perfect counter to anyone in a one-on-one battle. Against an overwhelmingly stronger group she had no chances. What she should have done was focus on waking Dennis up as soon as possible, removing the effect that made him unconscious. It was idiocy all around.

The whole situation made her want to scream.

"Wake him up," she tried again, barely managing to catch her breath between words as they ran.

"No," Sydney's reply was instant. The woman was carrying Dennis like a sack of potatoes as she jogged. She tried to appear calm and cool like she usually did, but the facade was more than useless in convincing Lily. Sydney was frantic, too unbalanced by the sudden turn of events to properly think.

"Mary, what's the situation?"

"They're fast like hell," came Mary's labored reply. None of them were used to running that much.

"They're already–" They heard a crack of thunder, followed swiftly by an explosion strong enough that Lily could feel it in her bones. In the distance, she could see a crater where the mansion was.

"What the fuck was that?" Sydney asked quickly.

"I don't know, I don't have any– they're all destroyed…" Mary seemed completely lost.

"Wake him up," Lily repeated.

"You're being dumb." Sydney scoffed.

"Preparing for my own Preparation costs too much mana," she at least bothered to explain her logic this time.

"Stop distracting me. Now, Mary, where is–" Lily wanted to punch the dumb bitch in the face. Or, better, shoot her. Or, even better, control the idiot into compliance. But she already was an 'unimportant girl who could see through invisibility but able to stop being that whenever she wanted'. In other words, she was using her Skill in the least efficient way possible, eating through her mana at an alarming rate. Doing it was still terrifying, but at least she could manage a weak parody of 'acting' like that.

Shouldn't be too dangerous. She wasn't really trying to be someone she wasn't. She was safe. She was using her Skill like that all the time before– Anyway. She should be fine. But butchering her power's purpose like that left her without many options. Adding even more suffixes to the description of the theoretical girl she was pretending to be would water down the effects even more, not to mention the chances of Sydney's power outright cancelling Lily's.

The woman could drop the invisibility and pull out 'I'm actually immune to mimics' power or something like that out of her ass. Frustratingly, Lily could do little to stop her. What she could do was watch over Dennis and hope to be enough to protect him for once. They kept running, passing the confused civilians along the way. Sydney's mansion was pretty close, barely a five-minute walk, but it felt like eternity when every second mattered. They didn't make it.

"Oh, fuck…" Mary muttered, looking ahead.

"I'm sorry, I– I didn't look at the other ones, they're–" While Mary was apologizing for focusing her power on trying to look for Ellie and forgetting about the other group of elf-ninjas, the ninjas didn't forget about them. Sydney stopped. Five elf-ninjas stood in the middle of the road, looking right in their direction. Lily wasn't sure what was so ninja about them. They had more of a medieval edgy look, equipped in dark leather, short swords in hand. They wore quite a lot of jewelry, she noticed.

The amount of piercings was probably what made Mary think of ninjas, though how exactly she had made that connection Lily wasn't sure. What definitely added to the edginess were the bodies at their feet. The street was filled with bodies. It was a slaughterhouse. Somehow, Lily wasn't really bothered by the scene. She saw worse. Mary was hyperventilating nearby.

"Strangers," the elf at the front said, pointing the bloodied sword in their direction.

"We feel you. Tell us where we can find one named Dennis, and I will grant you a swift death." His voice was like a melody. It was the same language Ellie spoke, but while hers was like a lullaby, the man in front sounded like a forest at night. Like danger that prowled behind the corner, unseen. He was also ridiculously strong. All of them were. The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Lily felt her mana drain faster as Sydney removed the invisibility.

The attention of five people of that level wasn't cheap for her. She stopped being 'capable of seeing through invisibility'.

"I am looking for him myself," Sydney said calmly.

"Perhaps we could help each other." The body she was holding wasn't Dennis. It looked like Dennis. It had the same feel he had. Just… wasn't him. Nice trick. Interestingly enough, it seemed that the elves didn't know where Dennis was, even when he was right in front of them. Lily doubted that it was Sydney's power at work. It was probably that shroud thing of his. Could they somehow use that?

"So you do know something," the elf muttered, watching them like a hawk. He kicked a dead body in front of him.

"More than this trash, I hope. You should hope that as well. Tell us." Sydney was silent for just a moment.

"That's Nolan," she said in a bored tone, like she was stating the weather.

"The head of our police force, and one of the city's Elites."

"You are testing my patience."

"Wake him up," she whispered quietly. Sydney ignored her.

"Do it," she tried again.

"Please. Mary, tell her. We need him." Mary trembled nearby, unresponsive. Fuck. Mary was the weakest of them, and actually had a hard time adjusting to Dennis' presence. The gulf between her and the elves was immense. She just… shut off.

"I propose a trade," Sydney said calmly. Her expression was frozen in a mask of complete indifference.

"In fifty-six minutes, I'll personally deliver him to you. In return, you'll kill no one else." Mary stiffened beside her. Was Sydney serious? Bluffing, trying to win some time? Seeing the elves personally must have shaken her confidence a lot if she wasn't trying to pick a fight with them anymore. On one hand, buying more time would help them a lot. The effect that kept Dennis unconscious had to have a time limit, and Sydney was still wounded and needed to heal herself and recover her mana.

On the other, she could very well be considering getting the 'immense rewards'.

"You can fulfill such a trade?" the elf asked, raising an eyebrow. Sydney nodded stiffly.

"I do not sense lies, so this confirms your knowledge. Tell me, human…" He slowly crouched, taking some kind of weird battle stance, with his sword pointing away behind his back.

"What is stopping me from forcing the knowledge out of you with violence?"

"I'm strong," she said as a matter of fact.

"You can sense lies? I'm confident in killing at least tw– one of you. If your goal is the boy, a trade is more beneficial for both of us." The elf just grinned. His smile was feral. Like a shark sensing blood.

"No deal," he growled mockingly. Almost in an instant, he was already in front of Sydney. Lily couldn't even react as he passed her, she barely saw him move. The Hunter's speed was comparable to Dennis' before they got stranded in the Echo. Enough to decimate hundreds of goblins in under a minute. Though, they were way beyond measuring power in 'goblins'. Instead of cutting Sydney down, he hit her with a fist in the stomach, right where the wound was. Sydney barely reacted.

Her body flew away from the impact, landing a few dozen yards away. Not-Dennis fell on the ground with a thud. The Hunter didn't even glance at him. He was watching as Sydney stood up with a bloodthirsty smile.

"In the cause I'm serving, it is honorable to risk your life," the elf said smugly.

"One life is worth saving an hour. Though, of course…" He rushed towards her, kicking her in the stomach again before she fully stood up.

"Your confidence is not a truth, human. Kill one of us? You can barely inconvenience me by spilling blood on my boots." The elf was clearly enjoying himself. At the very least, he was both fast and strong. Stronger than the Arms as she remembered them. A lot stronger. Sydney stood up, slightly wavering in place. The hole in her stomach was closing rapidly. She didn't dodge or teleport because she had a defensive-regeneration power, Lily realized.

Preparation had probably adjusted her stats to have high Con and added some healing on top of that. It wouldn't be enough. Mary was still basically catatonic. Sydney said that she had enough confidence to kill one of them. Not-Dennis was unconscious on the ground, still protected by a rule that forbade recognizing him or something along those lines. Lily, the unimportant girl, glanced at the other elves. They watched the fight with boredom. There was no concern on their faces at all.

One of them wasn't even looking, wiping the blood off her boot instead. The man kept beating Sydney up. She was fighting back, somewhat. The fight was hard to follow. Sometimes she was durable enough to take a hit, sometimes she was fast enough to dodge, and sometimes she was skilled enough to do a complicated move that vaguely reminded her of the way Dennis fought. She punched back a few times, to little success. Zapped the Hunter with lightning. Tried to freeze the ground beneath his feet. Nothing worked.

"You're outclassed," he said lazily, hitting her shoulder with the flat of his blade again.

"Your Skill makes you very good at one thing." He chuckled.

"Gods, good enough to contend with me even. But I'm a generalist. You can be fast, or strong, or skilled…" He dodged an impressively quick jab and punched her in the face.

"I'm fast, and strong, and skilled." He adjusted the grip on his blade, and swiped horizontally. Sydney screamed, clutching the stump of her arm.

"You exploit weaknesses," the elf continued lazily, watching the blood drip from his sword.

"I don't have weaknesses. None of us do. You see, we hunt Heretics, and those come in all shapes and forms. Wouldn't it be weird if we had a type of Heretic we hunt because of our specialization?" Sydney's arm teleported from the ground, attaching itself to her stump and rapidly healing. Shakily, she stood back up again. Just how much mana did she have left?

"The way to defeat any and all Heretics is not a trick," the elf said mockingly.

"It's overwhelming power. You're what, level ten? I'm twenty. Against me, you're no better than a peasant." Lily, the unimportant girl, was desperately trying to come up with a way out of this mess. Problem was, the elf was right. The difference in levels trumped tricks at some point. She was level nine. Even if she abandoned all reason and pretended to be something powerful – she had the same limitations Sydney had. Level nine couldn't just pretend to have the power of level twenty. Not without drawbacks.

She could pretend to be as strong as the elf and be left with no mana in seconds. Or she could pretend to be only as fast, or to have some tricky Skill – that was literally what Sydney did. It wasn't really working for her. Even worse, the limitations of her power made her less versatile than she seemed. The better she understood how to act, the better the efficiency. Her Skill was the most powerful when she mimicked someone. Not a bunch of characteristics, but a person.

The further away she was from that – the worse the effect. Lily had little idea how a person who knew how to wake Dennis up from magical sleep would act. The weakened effect would oppose Sydney's Skill, in which she had put a lot of power – it might not work, and it would weaken them both. Lily was avoiding directly fighting with Sydney's Skill for the same reason – she might win, but they both would be worse off.

After all, Lily had even less idea how to pretend to have a mass invisibility Skill, and they kind of needed that. Her power was Play Pretend, not Make Believe.

"Wake him up," she pleaded again. The elf looked at her quizzically, but dismissed her in a moment. A large chunk of her mana was gone from that glance as well.

"Can't," Sydney grumbled back, wiping the blood off her face.

"Too expensive."

"Have I shown enough for you to understand the futility of resistance?" the elf asked with boredom.

"Now that you know the gulf between us, know that I speak truth. Tell me what you know about our target and where to find him, or I will cut you down." Sydney looked him in the eyes, slowly. A second passed. Then another.

"I can't," she said quietly.

"We can–" A swipe of the elf's blade cut off her head. It happened in a moment, faster than Lily could blink. It fell on the ground with a quiet thud. Not-Dennis became Dennis. He opened his eyes. In a moment, the elves exploded in a shower of blood.