Clang! Clang! Clang!

Yana Shiran defended against Eren's attack with stiff expressions. She didn't want to show how shocked she was fighting it out with Eren.

'I watched him from afar and thought he was exceptional. But fighting him up close is downright terrifying.'

Yana thought to herself as she parried Eren's ax attacks with her shape-changing spear. She knew that she could only keep up with him because of her enhanced stats and her unique artifact. She'd be in a lot of trouble now if she had been fighting with Eren when she was in the same rank as him.

"Will you cut it out already?"

Yana tried to round-kick Eren on his chest after dodging his counterattack. However, she found that Eren was standing effortlessly on her leather shoes. She looked at him while her position was compromised. Eren could have launched another attack on her. But decided not to.

He used Yana's raised toe as a foothold to jump away. He flipped in the air and landed at a safe distance away from her.

"You started this. Don't blame me for talking with you in a language you understand."

Eren continued to strike verbally, not letting go of his aggressive stance. Yana had creases on her forehead when she heard Eren. In the end, she sighed before responding.

"I.. I am sorry. I just wanted to prove my point that you were a capable fighter by attacking you out of the blue."

"Hm? To whom?" Puzzled, Eren asked.

"To me."

Another ranker appeared out of nowhere beside Yin. This time, it was Eren's turn to have creases on his forehead. That's because another Awakened ranker had appeared in front of him. There was no doubt that the newcomer, who was Awakened, was in a solid state of her rank.

This new ranker was a night elf. She had light blue skin and distinct red eyes. Her eyes glowed under the hood she was wearing.

The night elf had worn breastplate armor that accentuated her already prominent bust. She had a slim waist and round hips and was a bit taller than Yana. Her shapely long legs added extra oomph to her appeal.

historical

Her shoulder-length white hair made its presence known even with the night elf's hood still on. Her long ears were poking out of her hood's slits. Eren couldn't completely discern her facial features, but he could bet that they would be as attractive as her body.

Eren didn't feel the need to ask the question to two random strangers who had appeared on his kill site on their own. He figured they would introduce themselves soon without his asking.

Yana realized that Eren would just keep staring at them, especially at the female ranker beside her, if she didn't make introductions. So she coughed awkwardly before speaking up.

"Eren, we are also from the Stardust Guild. My name is Yana Shiran. You haven't recognized me, have you?"

Only when Yana asked him a question did he stop looking at the night elf and fix his gaze on Yana's face. He could tell that her face indeed looked familiar. But he couldn't remember beyond that.

Eren shook his head in denial after looking through his memory. Yana wasn't too happy about Eren forgetting her. She pouted and folded her arms under her bosom before commenting.

"I was part of Kiara's team when we set out to subjugate Bulal Blood. You had saved us from that burning city hall by killing Jaario. We even talked for a while before the night's raid.

I see that you have started using that demonic ranker's axes. Maybe you only remember your opponents and not your allies. Hmph!"

Eren raised his eyebrows in surprise when he realized where he had seen Yana. She was one of the rankers who were dispatched on a kingdom-level mission with him. He remembered even briefly talking to her after he had killed Jaario and freed captain Kiara and Miranda.

"Haha. You can't blame me or Jaario for that, Yana. He gave me two artifacts to remember him. You should have given me something too as a token to remember you."

Eren said and chuckled, finally giving a casual reply. She intended to continue arguing with him. However, she noticed a subtle mana fluctuation beside her. Thus, she decided to finally move on with what they had come here to do.

"This is captain Raina Regan, Eren. We have come to meet you because we think you can join us for a few special missions.

I joined the hunt for Bulal Blood under captain Raina's orders. But I don't usually work under her.

We.. Let's say we are one of the specialized parties in the guild. The pay is quite good, but the missions are kinda shady and there's a lot of risks involved.

Are you in?"

Yana posed a question to Eren, hoping he would say yes after looking at his record so far. The guy was willing to take any mission as long as he was paid well. Even tonight's wolf subjugation mission was marked as dangerous for individual rankers. And it was completed seamlessly by him without using anyone for backup.

Eren scratched his jawline and looked at Yana and Raina keenly before answering.

"Shady, you say? What kind of missions are we talking about?"

Yana was about to reply to Eren's question. But Raina beat her to it by answering in a plain and emotionless voice.

"Assassination, ambush, open but targeted killings, and the like. On rankers belonging to an enemy guild. The kind of missions that are not approved by the kingdom. The Stardust guild won't try to associate its name with them either.

So these are the kind of missions that would not give you fame because you won't be allowed to tell anyone about them. But I can assure you that you won't complain about them when you see the reward given to you for your efforts.

You seem to have what we are looking for for my next mission. But if you are not okay with the kind of missions we undertake, we will leave you alone."

Eren was a bit taken aback when he realized Raina's offer. She was trying to get him into her party of assassins. He pursed his lips and nodded before putting his axes in his storage.

"You had me at 'quite good pay.' What's our mission?"