Chapter Ninety-One

  There was no point in yelling into the wind. Harmony bounded over with a smile and a wave, letting [High kick] push her, timing it to the beat of her [Heart] for a free stamina boost. Best to find out the group's intentions quickly and greet them like she would a fan at Ma Bell's table or a guest at Coodly Manor. That was always the other side of service. If you weren't invisible, you were friendly, inviting, and avaible even if your feet were bleeding and you had a headache.

  Harmony popped herself into the group of five running the cssic team makeup for climbing to the seventh floor without a necromancer. The slightly perplexed unsettled look they had could be read several ways, as [Keen Investigative Awareness] started to pick all the details out to work on. Not eager fans looking to see her, not an ounce of excited gush or star-struck eyes she’d seen from the Songstress fans.

  “Amazing! I’d heard you could run into other adventurers on the seventh floor, but never imagined that I would!” Harmony gushed in an act that might have made her mother proud as not a hint of her social skills dispyed as a false mask on her face.

  Three men and two women. Soul sight gave insights into what type of builds they had. Tank, spearman, fire mage, healer, and an ambusher comprised the group. Rogue could be an unkind word but that wasn't quite the vibe she was picking up. The tank in full armor and a heavy broad bde good for hacking had earth magic, a taunt, and a crushing blow. Good against digging off mossifants, chopping down tree lords, and taunting the roc. The spearman had a silent strike, pinning stab, and leaping rush; his spear was an axe-bded halberd as it was better for the kind of enemies found in the Garden. The fire mage was stocked to burn, except for a fire cage or some kind of fming restraint. Those were the men. The two women were the healer and ambusher. Healers generally didn’t have many offensive spells. This one had two she could feel, one to wound, and one for bleeding. The ambusher had an escape stealth skill, an offensive leap, A pseudo taunt to make a monster attack someone of their choice, and a few attacks for hitting vital spots. But with eighteen to twenty-one skills each that was just the gist of what she saw, the most developed and used skills.

  “Oh, did I forget to introduce myself? I’m Lady Harmony White.” She even added a curtsy as a fir.

  “You owe me fifty-silver. I told you her frog would need to be left behind. Franco’s pets had the same issue with the maze.” The spearman barked at the tank.

  Well, that wasn’t good. At least it was timely. [Keen Investigative Awareness] finished pointing out all the simmering hostility that appeared as he spoke. Masks made from social skills filtered things slightly, but aggressive body posture and the cruelness behind the spearman’s words shone through.

  “Is there something wrong?” Harmony asked as though clueless. But it wasn’t like many people knew her outside the pretty face in the news sheets. Undeserving undereducated dy who lucked into aristocracy and was a dirty necromancer at worst. Or the low-css hero who has had a few frights and lucky breaks.

  When the Halberd struck out, tip first, at such a speed that Harmony couldn’t block it. She barely managed to shift to the side as it raked her rib. All she could do was feel a little sorry for this group. The silence part of his [Silent Strike] flowed into her and nothing happened. Several other lethal attacks followed behind a fraction of a second after from all other members hoping to end this quickly.

  Those baby bastards were so much like the giant ones they’d grow into, except they didn’t start out asleep. It turned out their invulnerability wasn’t automatically set up, and if you silenced and killed them quick enough it wouldn’t be burned out when it came time to [Cim the Remains of Power], only sted four seconds as opposed to five, but that was plenty of time in the heat of battle.

  Not all of those deadly attacks hit. [Cold Touch] shot out with a diffuse [Renew Spirit] for a bright masking glowing fog to hide the results from those that did. Harmony had to draw it out until they realized their mistake and to keep them confused a little longer.

  First, it was time to take out the one issue that could cause problems. Harmony unched herself at the healer. The tank stepped in her way and even as she reached forward, she kicked back behind herself like she had eyes on the back of her head her foot hit the ambusher with a soft thud. A solid kick to their body should have pushed them back, but she was aiming for something indie of them. Soul strike cut in with the experience of more than a hundred strikes and knowledge built from personal pain, study, and skills. The girl's shriek of pain and suffering caused the rest to flinch. “Demon!” That skill housed a deep sense of stealth, the one escape she’d been unsure about countering, sat cracked and broken inside of her.

  How common was that knowledge that that kind of attack was something the forbidden demonic css could do? She’d been careful since Ambrosia’s warning. But it wasn't common knowledge. The flicker of hate revealed that these people knew. Who were they?

  The halberd caught her in the neck. Two seconds left, nothing happened, and the ruse was up.

  “This isn’t…” Started the fire mage who’d been sending a stream of intense fire at her side with just enough space to allow others to still attack.

  The taunt hit her. One second left. Forced to focus on the tank [Final Silence] shed out at him. She wasn’t going to st much longer anyway, too many attackers and the strain was getting to be too much. Five against one would be impossible to win even with [Invulnerable Moment].

  It was never five against one and the reason Harmony had been able to see behind her came crashing down as these assassins focused forward rather than up. Hyacinth nded on the healer. Poor girl didn’t have time for any thoughts as she broke the massive toad’s fall. Harmony leapt off of his back. Her [Final Silence] popped the fire mage as he could most likely trigger her copy of [Invulnerable Moment] early.

  The taunted Harmony knew she wouldn’t live past the effects of the taunt, but without his other skills, it was time to put the tank on ice. Frost coated her arms as she unched herself up, hands reaching for his face with a [Mana Rotation] empowered [Cold Touch].

  Even silenced, this fighter kept moving and his sword hit her waist. A fraction too early with the strike of the blow that could have severed her, interrupting the attack, ended up mostly wasted. However, the damage immunity ended while the bde was against her and she felt it cut into her side as her hands grabbed the man's head hitting him with the full bst of the attack.

  “Noo!” Cried the spearman. He impulsively shoved his spear through harmony pinning her into pce.

  She managed not to die as [Stride Before the Fall] ended, stending that Harmony fading away but it was a near thing.

  “Run!” cried the ambusher while Harmony dismantled the poor silenced mage who had neglected a physical combat skill.

  The spearman used his leap toward escape.

  Hyacinth, who'd been making sure the tank was completely dead, shot his long tongue out to catch the man from the air as he would any pest and yanked him downward.

  [High Kick] knew exactly how to use her steel-toed boots to bash the Mage’s head in and so she did after a filing strike triggered her invulnerability for that version of her..

  The ambusher's bde harmlessly hit her kidneys. Soul strike shredded another possible escape for the woman. Harmony had been quick to single her out as the easiest one to cripple through soul strike. The woman clutched her side in spiritual pain and fell to the ground.

  When Harmony turned to look for the spearman, she spotted one mangled leg sticking out of her familiar mouth.

  “If you eat him with his gear on you’re going to get constipated. You know you hate potential veterinarian visits.” She chastised him before she turned her attention to the one surviving member. “You Will tell me who you are and why you decided to attack me.” Death, authority, and anger coated her voice.