Chapter 286

It didn’t take long to understand why Elida had given such strong words of praise for Vanetta. It was a bit terrifying how easily she could cut her enemies down provided the right opening. Her class seemed particularly suited toward assassination, which was a common theme for many rogues, but Vanetta especially; if she managed to sneak up behind a target and backstab them, that was often the end of the fight, no matter how healthy they had been.

Natalie wasn’t able to identify many of her skills, possibly because she didn’t need to call on them considering the lack of real difficulty so far. She did, however, certainly have a stealth skill that worked well in shadows, making her all but disappear in the twilit ruins—an environment that Natalie suspected suited her.

She hoped she provided an equally good impression, not that she was hoping for a spot on the team, but because who wouldn’t want to impress a rising star of their class? Even if said rising star seemed to be deliberately keeping a low profile, something Natalie found intriguing.

They didn’t talk much as they fought their way forward, headed for the city-within-the-ruins in the distance. A collection of monsters faced them, mostly Wraiths, but many others including [Runework Golems], [Feral Direhounds], and [Malevolent Vinebeasts], the last of which had come as quite a surprise, with the flora coming to life to assault them. Not that such a thing was rare in the dungeon, but she’d unconsciously started to focus more on the ruins and hiding spots the detritus of the once-civilization provided than the actual greenery that had overtaken it. But unsurprisingly, everything in the ruins wanted to kill them, not one particular part of it.

After an hour of steadily working their way through, they sat down for a break.

“Doesn’t seem like we’re more than a quarter of the way there,” Natalie said. “Hard to gauge distance though.” They’d climbed up a nearby vantage point recently to check.

“It takes however long it takes,” Vanetta said.

Natalie hoped she hadn’t sounded like she’d been complaining. She’d just been commenting.

It was hard to strike up conversations with this woman. She was quiet and reserved wholly dissimilar to someone like Ana. Not unfriendly like the impression she got from Faye, but she suspected Vanetta might not want to fill the silence either. Natalie wondered whether she should stay quiet then, but she didn’t want to trudge along for hours in dead silence.

Thankfully, Vanetta solved the dilemma, catching her by surprise by speaking first.

“You move quickly with that hammer of yours,” she said. “For its size and weight.”

Natalie seized the opportunity. For students from Tenet, a world famous delving academy, small talk about combat was as much a staple as the weather was for commoners.

“Thanks,” she said. “I have a skill that makes it lighter.” It was a friendly concession, giving away that detail about her class, but a nominal one, because anyone who thought about it would deduce that she had to have a skill like that, else her strength would have been totally absurd. Which it kind of was, for her level, but not so much she’d be able to handle [Valentine] so easily with just raw stats. “You’re a nightmare yourself. Glad I haven’t had to spar you.” She paused, then added, “Kinda mad I haven’t, either.” Because as annoying as dealing with someone as slippery and deadly as what she’d seen would be, Natalie was also always spoiling for a good fight. Better to learn to deal with such an opponent in a spar than the real thing, too.