From Player To Npc

Shingi didn't expect to find something like that, and he was confident that this was part of that door he had seen while in his SCRY MODE some time ago.

Shingi had little time, so he had to move fast. He cast some quickly made a mess in the tent, making it seem like one was here searching it. He knew the Mage could probably have already reported that someone killed him, so he had to prepare the scene.

At the same time, he took a piece of stone that was in the tent, probably one they brought to check if it fit the other one, and he started using Earth Mana to manipulate its form. He tried to shape it as close as the part of the door he had taken.

It didn't take him long since he just replicated the look and did not putting an Enchantment on it since the piece he took didn't seem to have an effect by itself either.

It was ready in seconds, and Shingi detected some movement. But, unfortunately, it didn't come from where guard Players went but the cave.

There were Players in their mining, and they got informed about the attack, and headed towards the tent.

Shingi put the replaced stone on the table, and then he put out of his ring a cloak with a hood he had. It was the same one he had taken a long time ago when he visited the dungeon the first time with his students.

Two Players entered the tent from the front entry. Shingi detected two more quickly moving around to the back entrance. The Players in the front were Warrior-based classes, as both had a longsword and shield at hand. From the speed of the other two, Shingi was confident that they were Rogue based, most likely.

Shingi acted like he had just found the stone and was ready to pick it up but got interrupted when the two Players got here.

"It's been a while since we had encountered a fool in the Tower. "[Warrior #1]

Both of them charged toward Shingi at great speed. It was clear that both knew ACCELERATION, which didn't surprise Shingi even if it was a Skill that not all Warrior-based players learned. Most high-leveled ones had it, especially if they belonged to an organization with plentiful resources or knowledge of the game's Skills.

But even with their boost at their speed from the Skill, Shingi could easily keep up using no Spell or Skill to help him. So he sidestepped out of the way and summoned out his ring another dagger. He still had the silver dagger he used on the Mage out, so he currently was dual-wielding them.

He did so because he didn't want them to know who he was and consider him to be a Rogue. Since he killed the Mage without being detected by him, the Mage wouldn't be able to know the way Shingi used to kill him, and being killed by a Rogue was possible since it was something common to happen.

His second dagger was like the one Hineko had, with a mana gem attached to it. Since Shingi and Volig were selling them publicly, just not the latest version, he had no problem using it since it was the same dagger Players could buy.

The specific one had a Fire Mana Gem and could become a Fire Blade. It wasn't as strong as the Fire Mana Blade that Shingi could make. Even so, it was pretty strong.

He enabled the Fire Blade and attacked one of the Warriors as he passed from next to him on their charge as Shingi dodged their charge.

The blade damaged the Warrior a bit but wasn't a lethal hit. Still, the fact that Shingi avoided their attack and even countered was a clear sign for the two Players that this was a person of sharp skills.

Soon two more figures entered the tent by the back entrance. By looking at their equipment, Shingi was confident that his thinking that they were Rogue-based class was correct. They were dual-wielding blades, with one having shortswords, while the other had a rapier and a dagger.

The dagger of one of the persons that just entered the tent was very similar to the one that Shingi had just attacked with. The only difference was that its gem wasn't red but blue, meaning it had Water Mana Gem.

The use of that dagger didn't offer an increase to the damage of the weapon, but instead, it changed it from slashing into piercing. In most cases, that change offered little difference. Still, there were cases where a target could be affected less by a specific type of damage, like slashing, so changing it to something else without changing the weapon was helpful in these situations.

The same was for fighting Players, as some armors could have similar effects of resisting specific types of damage. Hineko's dagger was different since it had an Ice Mana Gem, which could also be used as a Water Mana Gem.

If it was used with the effect of Ice Mana, its effect was still the change of the damage but also had the chance of freezing some part of the target at the point the dagger hit.

Of course, the Ice Mana Gem dagger was something that only Hineko had access to. Shingi had one too but didn't plan to use it unless he had no other option.

Shingi turned toward the direction of the two Rogue Players, and even if his face was hidden from the hood of his cloak, he acted like he was surprised and worried about the new people.

Shingi then started moving at the front entrance to exit the tent, since the two Warriors weren't in the way as they were behind him after dodging their charge. However, this was a foolish move on their part, as even if they probably could get him down with his attack, at the same time, they left a clear path for him to leave.

Shingi didn't waste this opportunity and ran outside.

As he made his first step outside, Shingi jumped back into the tent. A ball of fire hit just a short distance from where Shingi was before jumping. When it hit the ground, an explosion happened that almost caught Shingi.

Shingi turned his head towards the mine's entrance, where a figure stood. A figure was there, a person similarly dressed to the Mage that Shingi killed just a few moments ago, but with some noticeable differences. The most obvious one was that this figure was a female and not a male as the one Shingi killed.

Shingi had detected the FIREBALL heading towards him at the last moment, and he hadn't noticed the Mage till now, which was a rare instance for him. It seemed that Mage hid herself waiting for the right opportunity, most likely using an INVISIBILITY Spell; otherwise, Shingi should have detected her as the mine's entrance wasn't too far for his detection Skills.

Still, even if she used INVISIBILITY without a decent STEALTH Skill or something similar, it was very challenging not to get detected by Shingi unless he was too focused on something else. In this instance, he wasn't focusing much on something else, meaning that this Player wasn't the typical Mage.

Shingi didn't think of it too much and started moving to get outside once more. The other Players in the tent had started heading towards him, and the Rogues had actually reached him, but Shingi could barely avoid them. Their speed was close to his base one, but with his experience, he could avoid their attacks for now.

As he stepped outside the tent, another spell headed towards him once more. They were three balls of fire this time, which were a bit longer than before, and stretched, so not wholly a sphere. They were close to the shape of rockets but not as long and made of fire.

Their speed was quicker than the FIREBALL, giving less time for Shingi to react. So instead, he quickly summoned a glass vial from his ring that contained a yellowish liquid and drank it.

After that, he moved at a more incredible speed and avoided the three spell attacks. They were part of a single Spell, and the difference to the FIREBALL, was that at the impact, they caused a much smaller explosion. So they had a higher chance to hit because of the more incredible speed.

What Shingi drank was lemonade, but as he drank it, he used one Mana Seed of his to quickly cast HASTE to himself, leaving no sign for the Mage that he cast a Spell, unless they were focusing their MANA SENSE on him and would only detect if they had their Skill in top of Master Rank.

Why would she use that Skill on a Rogue, though? Most wouldn't, but even if she did, the chances of her Skill being that high were small but not non-existent. Still, even if she detected the truth wouldn't make that much difference, as even with that knowledge putting together who he was close to impossible.

The moment Shingi avoided the Spell, he turned and headed in the direction across the mine's entrance.

What followed next surprised Shingi as the mage cast another Spell. However, what surprised Shingi wasn't that she cast another spell that fast, but the Spell itself.

It had the form of a spear, but instead made of fire, it was made of lightning.

Shingi was sure that this person cast the Spell with her mana, not using a tool, which meant that she had access to Lightning Based Element.

The Lightning Base Element combined Air, Light, and Fire Element. This Player had mastered three Elements at her Mana Pool before combining them, which was something very few Players had succeeded at.

Shingi could have had five Elements in his Mana Tree, or four if one didn't count the Spirit Element, but only three of the basic ones were active simultaneously. Even still, he could do this because of the unique source that he used to make his Mana Pool, which contained part of a Goddess's power, and his immense knowledge of the Arcane Art from his time in the game. Also, he had many lucky encounters that helped him reach his current power.

Even for top Guilds, it was hard to have a person like that since it wasn't something that had many resources that could help if one didn't have the talent to reach that point.

The Spell's speed was even faster than the last one, but not too fast for Shingi while under the effect of HASTE.

But there was a problem.

Unlike the last Spells that were going on a straight line, this one locked to a target and would keep turning until it made a hit.

But Shingi didn't have any worries as he had encountered those types of Spells in the past, and he had ways to deal with them.

He kept moving in a straight line as fast as he could. The Spell's speed was a bit faster than his and closed the distance. When the Spell was right behind Shingi as would hit him soon, it exploded, leaving sparks of electricity behind. As the sparks disappeared, there was no sign of Shingi.

Soon one of the Rogue reached the place where the explosion happened.

"Hehe. It seemed like that person was a weakling. Shame we couldn't capture him and interrogate him, though. "[Rogue Player]

The mage player soon appeared next to him, as she moved at a great speed for a mage but still slower than of the Rogue.

"My Spell didn't kill him. He got away. "[Lightning Mage]

The Rogue looked toward the female Mage in confusion. She said nothing more and started checking her surrounding. After a few minutes, she turned, heading back to the mine.

At the same time, Shingi, who was under the effect of his INVISIBILITY, hid behind a nearby stone that generally could only cover half of him even if he was on his knees.

'It seems that the enemy has some new monsters. Should be more careful.'[Shingi]

After the enemy Players were at a fair distance from him, he started heading back to the hideout. As for his companions, he was confident that they were ok, since he noticed that the players they hunted him had run back to the tent, and he didn't see their HP bar getting down at any point, meaning that they got never caught.

This mission was a complete success.