Free Web NovelChapter 12: I Learned What This Is For Against People
Soul Sense was at maximum intensity.
And what Soul Sense was showing Nathan, while six armed professionals surrounded him in a perfectly coordinated encirclement, was tactical information that his conscious mind hadn’t finished processing yet—but that his body was already starting to use.
*Alright. Think fast.*
The leader of the encirclement was standing six meters ahead of him, in the middle of the road. The woman by the low wall to his right, about four meters away, with her dagger already halfway out of its sheath. The archer behind him, about twenty meters back, positioned on a small rise beside the path. The two hound handlers in the grove to his left, covered by the tree line, with all four animals tense against their leashes.
*The archer is the immediate problem. If this turns into combat, the archer shoots before anyone else can move. Whatever action I take has to neutralize him first, or everything else is irrelevant because I’ll have an arrow in my back while I’m trying to handle the rest.*
*The hounds are the second problem. Once they’re released, they have speed and endurance. Soul Sense tells me where they are, but it doesn’t tell me how to stop them without spending significant mana.*
*The two Draken bearers are the third problem, but also the best clue. Draken is Shadow Hunter—stealth and poison. Their abilities probably require close contact or blade projection, not direct physical force. If I neutralize them at range before they close the distance, their Class stops being an advantage.*
*The leader, the archer, the two hound handlers. Four priority targets. Three seconds to decide.*
The leader took another step toward him.
"I’m going to explain this once," the man said, with the same calculated cordiality as before. "Drop the box. Take a step back. Don’t run. And we let you walk back to Greywall on foot. You’ll lose half your payment, but you’ll keep all your limbs. That’s generous, considering the circumstances."
*He’s giving me a thirty-second window because he thinks the decision is obvious. He thinks any F-Rank Hunter will assess the situation, see six against one, and accept the deal.*
*Which means he’s not watching me with the full attention he should be. His brain has already moved to the next step—how much they’ll sell the box for, where they’ll deliver it, what they’ll tell the client. I’m a solved problem in his mind.*
*Good. Let’s use that.*
"Thirty seconds to think," Nathan said, in the most defeated tone he could muster. "Please."
The leader looked at him for a moment.
Nodded.
"Thirty seconds. Starting now."
*Thanks.*
Nathan lowered his head slightly, as if processing the decision. He let his shoulders drop. He did everything a frightened Hunter does when about to surrender. And meanwhile, mentally, he did three things simultaneously.
*One. Soul Sense tells me exactly where each of them is. I don’t need to look at them to aim. I already know that from the slimes.*
*Two. Soul Pulse against living humans. I haven’t tested it. But the Class has built-in morality. If Soul Reap doesn’t work against innocents, Soul Pulse probably has a similar restriction. And these people are here to kill me and kidnap someone. They’re not innocent by any reasonable definition of the word. The skill should work.*
*Three. If it works, I spend at least fifty mana per use. I have 1,480. That gives me, in theory, nearly thirty shots. I won’t need even half of that. But activation time is what matters, not the cost.*
*Let’s start with the archer.*
Nathan turned his torso slightly, pretending to slump in defeat. He extended his left hand downward, partially hidden by the angle of his body.
And fired.
The dark pulse shot in a straight line backward, across the road, at an angle almost grazing the ground. Nathan didn’t see it. He didn’t need to. Soul Sense confirmed the trajectory like an extra sense.
A second later, he heard the shout.
The leader turned his head, startled.
The archer was no longer in position.
*One.*
Nathan moved.
---
The next second and a half was the most efficient of his life.
The woman by the low wall to his right was the next priority target. Nathan spun toward her while she was still drawing her dagger, and released the second pulse with his right hand—straight to the chest, from three meters away.
The pulse hit her before she could react.
Soul Sense confirmed that her presence had gone dark.
```
NOTIFICATION
Eliminated: Hostile bearer [Seal: Draken]
Estimated level: 18
EXP gained: +900
Total EXP: 1,360 / 1,500
Status: Human combat confirmed.
Class restriction NOT activated.
Targets classified as lethal threat.
```
*The Class gives me permission. The Class understands the difference between killing innocents and killing people trying to kill me. Good. Excellent. Moving on.*
The leader of the encirclement had already drawn a weapon from his back—a short sword with a dark blade and engravings that suggested some kind of enchantment. He was advancing toward Nathan with the speed and economy of motion of someone who’d done this many times before.
To his left, in the grove, the two handlers released the hounds.
Four animals, already snarling, already running, covering the distance between the trees and the road in less time than Nathan needed to consciously process it.
*Too many fronts. Impossible to fire at each one individually. I need something wider.*
But Soul Pulse wasn’t wide. Soul Pulse was a directed shot.
*Improvise.*
Nathan turned toward the hounds. He fired the third pulse—not at a specific hound, but at the one in the lead. The pulse caught it in the neck mid-leap. The animal collapsed in midair, hit the ground rolling, and the other three jumped over the carcass without slowing down.
*Soul Sense, give me the handlers.*
