"Hi guys."
"What the hell!?" Gain was about to swing his broadsword when someone appeared in his attack trajectory. He pulled back his blade and was immediately flung back by a huge arm, spitting out a mouthful of blood. "It's you!!"
Gain looked at the huge dent on his shield and felt a pang in his heart. This shield was bought after saving for a long time, and he did not feel good having it damaged so easily.
"I guess we should talk after this guy is dead, right?" Theo turned to look at the huge, ape-type, fierce beast behind him. It had completely white fur on all of its body, a beautiful marvel. However, it didn't take long for anyone to realize that this beauty was a walking disaster.
The ape swung its arms as it leaped in the air above Theo, the new closest target, who also happened to be the weakest link. Theo moved back a few steps, and the ape fell to the ground with a thud. Its head was missing, and where it was connected to the body, the neck, had a clean cut like a swordsmaster used one strike to cleanly slice off its head.
The head with a ferocious expression appeared immediately after and fell on the already stiff body. Meanwhile, the expression of those present couldn't help but change. This guy had gotten a lot stronger from the little bit of time they hadn't seen him. It was best to avoid him first and then talk about whatever misunderstanding later.
Theo snapped his fingers, and the few people all disappeared and reappeared under a tree not too far away.
"So... this is awkward." Theo chuckled.
"What do you want?" Gain asked, still on guard. "We already resolved our disputes in the forest."
"Oh, did we now?" Theo slowly walked towards the group of five while they instinctively moved back. "Don't force us. We know you marked us and used us to track down the city." The girl assassin interjected.
"Hmm. How did you find out about that?" He tilted his head as he asked, as though he wasn't surprised they had known. It seemed he was too naïve to think him using the space element would be completely without mana.
"We don't sense any mana from you, but you're still so strong. What are you?" She asked. Theo furrowed his brows. "Don't you know it's rude to ask personal questions like that?"
"You answer our question, and we answer yours." It seemed as though this girl assassin had taken the lead amongst the five people. For one thing, she was brave, talking to Theo as though they were on the same level. But it was good, because those who weren't brave enough should never seek benefits.
"I am not so benevolent as to let any of you go if you know my secrets. However, I did come here for your help, so I will restrain myself for now. If, however, you deem it appropriate to piss me off, I won't hesitate to wipe you off the face of this planet, understood?"
"So, what are you here for then?" She directly ignored the threat. This made Theo smile again. Perhaps his time with these five would be eventful.
"I need to get used to my power, and that might take a while, meaning I need a little bit of protection as an assurance, so you guys will be stuck with me for the next few months."
"And if we don't agree?" She stepped forward. She stood at about 5'6", so she had to tilt her head upwards to look at Theo. Seeing this scene made Theo chuckle again. "You don't... hmm?" His expression suddenly changed from an upwards curl to a downwards one as he stared into the distance. "These persistent rats, how did they find me again?"
"We have to go; my pursuers are here." He turned towards the five and snapped his fingers, making them appear above the ridge of the valley. A few hundred meters away from them were five people wearing black and red and running in their direction at a high speed.
"Captain, I see him!" One of the five shouted. From the distance they were, both sides could clearly see each other. "Of course you see him; I can see him too." They stopped almost a hundred meters away from Theo and his gang.
"So you went to gather the other thieves, huh? You think they stand a chance against us?" The captain chuckled derisively. At this distance, it wasn't a problem to hear each other anymore.
"They don't need to have a chance; they just need to stall for time. I'll take you guys on, no problem. You just happened to catch me off guard the last time."
"Hmph, cocky brat. I didn't even use my element the last time. You're in for a treat now!" The captain of the guards stormed forward at an extremely fast speed, his saber already swinging down with extreme heat accompanying it.
"Hey, we can talk this out, right?" Gain was still trying to reason with the guards. Everyone knew how ferocious the city guards were. They were extremely strong and were ruthless. If he could avoid a conflict, it would naturally be for the best, especially since he and Theo were not even acquainted. But it seemed like his intentions had been misunderstood.
"Thieves have no right to bargain, die!!" One of the guards behind the captain already moved and appeared in front of Gain. His saber crashed down with a heavy pressure and a bluish light that laced the blade. A heavy water pressure threatened to crush Gain before it was immediately dissolved by a fireball that burnt through the pressure, which continued on its way to the attacker.
The fireball directly collided with the guard's blade and pushed him back a few meters. However, before this group of people could stop to take in a breath, three other guards came from behind him brandishing sabers with different colors of glowing light.