Ball of Nothing

While Zero made a new friend in the stable, Truen was counting the number of people who were tailing him. Ever since he left the inn, the dark elf knew that people weren't happy with him. It was a good thing the innkeeper took a liking to him and made special concessions for Zero and their sand walkers. He didn't know what their deal was but since they weren't making an effort to conceal their displeasure, Truen won't be courteous either.

The only good thing that came out of being the centre of attention was how Truen could use them to gain easier access to the Dirt Ring. Firstly, Deadman Town wasn't like any other town. It didn't have a normal directory and Truen couldn't ask for information because he didn't carry their currency to pay people to loosen their mouths. Hence, the only other way was to apply force and beat it out of these people's mouths. Even if they were mere lackeys and useless thugs on the bottom of the food chain, they would still know basic information that Truen needed.

The innkeeper was a neutral party and he was kind to Truen so the elf did him a favour and walked out of the neutral zone before beatdown.

Twelve. There were twelve men of C-rank and above following him and from their movement, there had to be at least four different parties. One of them looked like a mere observer because they kept their distance and ran across roofs or hiding behind stalls from a distance behind these trouble-seeking thugs.

Truen decided to ignore the one person who was just observing for now. He had more things to worry about as he made another sharp turn in the sandy alley. Now, there were fifteen and these people started taking out weapons. Truen could easily deal with the close combaters by gaining altitude. Getting up on the roofs wasn't a problem. However, if he wanted to settle it quickly, those two rogues and caster must go.

As soon as Truen was completely surrounded by the fifteen thugs, he stopped. The warriors closed in on him from all four directions in the alley maze and leered. Elves always fetched a good price and this elf was rare. Noblemen who were tired of those fair-skinned and arrogant high elves would definitely love to get their hands on a dark-skinned wood elf who was more silent and practical.

Although the archer was strong enough to deal with these men, he still shuddered at the gazes he was getting. Their stares made his skin crawl uncomfortably so Truen focussed on the three most troublesome individuals and launched a preemptive strike.

Multi-casting Time Distortion and Homing Tracker, Truen leapt into the air and fired three shots in succession to the two rogues and the caster. The magic arrows glowed for only a moment on his Sureshot bow in their eyes before all three men collapsed. Nobody knew what happened because time slowed but they knew that Truen had somehow managed to fool them and climb onto the roof.

"The elf knows magic!" one of the warriors holding a sabre yelled and the rest of the warriors gave chase.

Having two rogues who were mid-ranged fighters and a caster who was a long-ranged fighter taken out of the battle in the first move made them lose their confidence. However, they were more afraid of failure than of losing their lives. For slave poachers like them, letting a luxury good escape would mean that they would be reduced to becoming slaves if their master becomes angry. Most of these slave poachers were beggars or homeless punks that accepted the devil's deal. It was too late for redemption anyway in a town like this.

Truen didn't hesitate. Unlike Zero, he didn't have a no-killing policy. In fact, he didn't believe in being a good person or a gentleman if he didn't have to. His true nature was someone rather similar to Baal. He was ruthless and didn't care if the world ended if it meant that he fulfilled his mission to protect Zero who gave him a new chance at life.

With only twelve more to deal with, the archer took his own sweet time chanting a long spell that would immobilise the imbeciles gathered beneath his feet, trying to climb to where he stood. Against an archer with magic, they should have thought twice before trying to attack head-on.

All twelve warriors were frozen together in a solid sculpture, sparkling under the terrible evening sun. Truen took a look at his handiwork and smirked. The ice wouldn't be melting anytime soon even in this heat so he had enough time to deal with the shadow following him from the very beginning.

When the spy noticed that Truen was coming for him, he tried to make a run for it but Truen simply cast a paralysis spell and walked over. Like the bringing of death, Truen raised Sureshot again and imbued a magic arrow at point-blank. The poor paralysed spy shivered and cried for mercy although he couldn't open his mouth. Truen had no pity and released his fingers. The poor spy closed his eyes and waited for a bloody death that never came. Instead, there wasn't any pain, just a whoosh of air from the bowstring being released.

Truen didn't undo the paralysis spell but he let the man speak only when he permitted. Since the tables were now turned, he didn't need to use bloodstones to exchange for information. Besides, using Seraph's Command made the interrogation a lot smoother. The man could no longer tell lies when the spell was in effect.

He didn't care if this was considered a dirty trick. In the lawless zone, the strong created the rules. Now, Truen was just reaping the profits.

"Tell me what I wish to know and I will release you unharmed. Tell anyone about what happened and the curse will kill you," he lied for the second part but the threat was real.

The spy nodded vigorously and Truen grinned. "So, tell me about Deadman Town's territories and its factions."