With a lot of trouble, Abel stood up from the ground. His hand had almost been ripped off at the wrist. It was too gory to look at directly. It was that badly damaged.

  It wasn’t just the knockback that caused the damage. When that strange energy pushed him back, it penetrated his hand from the inside out. If he had stayed in contact with the dagger for even a few more seconds, the impact would have reached his shoulder and his whole arm would have been torn apart from within. The shock was that strong.

  “Uhh…”

  Abel clenched his teeth and pulled a small glass bottle from his hidden pocket. It was a healing potion, dark red in color. He drank half of it and poured the rest over the wound. The injury began to give off a faint green glow. It took a few seconds, but his hand slowly returned to its original shape.

  However, it was only superficial healing. His hand looked fine, but it wasn’t functioning properly. That was the limit of the potion. The damage had been more internal than external. It would take time and stronger potions for it to fully recover.

  At least the pain eased a little.

  Abel let out a breath of relief.

  Then he muttered, “Oh, shit…”

  The noise of the impact had been loud. With his thief’s trained hearing, he could already detect footsteps approaching. A lot of them.

  He made a frustrated face. He knew he had messed up. Fortunately, he had come prepared not only for success but also for failure.

  He opened his pocket again and took out another potion bottle. Unlike the previous one, this liquid looked like plain water, slightly thicker when shaken. It was an invisibility potion.

  Abel quickly opened it and gulped it down in one go.

  It would take a few seconds to activate.

  The footsteps were already too close. Guards had entered the parking area. He could hear the commotion clearly now.

  “Holy Thymera above, what the hell happened here?”

  “Are they alive?”

  “Quickly check if someone is conscious!”

  The voice sounded stern. They knew this incident would cause trouble.

  It was a race against time. Abel knew the potion still needed a few moments to take effect. Moving quickly but carefully, he slipped behind a carriage, out of the guards’ direct line of sight.

  From there, he could still see the strange carriage he had come to steal.

  His eyes filled with anger and frustration.

  Anger at his client for not informing him that the item he was supposed to steal was protected by high-class magic with a built-in defense mechanism.

  Abel blinked.

  When he opened his eyes again, three women were standing near the strange carriage.

  A question almost escaped his lips. When did they get there? He had not looked away. It had only been a blink. Yet they were suddenly present, as if they had stepped out from thin air. In a place filled with magic, sudden appearances were not impossible, but it still unsettled him.

  The blonde one had the other two slung over her shoulders like sacks of grain. They looked completely unconscious, but she carried them without visible effort. Strength like that was unusual to see so casually. In this world, someone could have the body of a goblin and the strength of a minotaur. Abel assumed she was a warrior class, or someone who specialized in physical enhancement.

  That assumption created a new problem.

  Warrior types often had sharper senses than ordinary people. Abel held his breath instinctively. Some high-ranking thieves could even slow or stop their heartbeat for short periods. He was not that skilled. He could control his breathing for ten to fifteen minutes at best. That was his limit.

  The blonde woman walked toward the carriage. The two unconscious women remained draped over her shoulders as if they weighed nothing. She stopped in front of the door, directly in Abel’s line of sight. For a brief second, he wondered if she was too close, but she did not react.

  She grabbed the handle and opened the carriage door.

  Nothing happened.

  The crimson defensive barrier that had nearly torn his arm apart did not activate. That told him enough. She was the owner of this carriage, or at least someone recognized by its enchantments.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  She placed the two women inside gently, adjusted them in the back seat, and closed the door with a solid thud. Then she shut the outer gate and dusted her hands lightly, as if finishing a routine task.

  “Done,” she said to herself.

  Abel glanced at his own hand. It had turned transparent. The invisibility potion had fully activated. He let out a slow breath of relief. Even if she had sharper senses, she could not see him from this distance. He just needed to leave quietly. Today had already gone badly enough. Maybe not today, but someday he would steal that carriage. Not for the client. For his own pride.

  By then, the guards had arrived in full force. Seeing only one conscious person in the area, they quickly surrounded the blonde woman. A senior-looking guard stepped forward and asked in a loud, firm tone, “Who are you, and what are you doing here?”

  He was speaking fast, trying to pressure her into a mistake if she was guilty. It was risky. If she turned out to be an invited guest, especially an important one, his job could be in danger. But he had already failed to prevent the incident. He needed results.

  The blonde woman tilted her head slightly, then took out an identity token and tossed it toward him without ceremony. The guard caught it, and his expression changed almost immediately. The token was enough. She was not just a guest. She was a VIP.

  The senior guard and the others bowed at once.

  “We apologize for our rudeness, my lady. We were only following protocol. If necessary, you may hold me accountable. I am the captain.”

  He could only hope she was not the arrogant type. In his experience, there was always a chance of meeting a difficult noble. Fortunately, she simply smiled and waved her hand, clearly unbothered. The tension in the guards’ shoulders eased.

  Still, the problem remained. The culprit had not been found.

  Gathering some courage, the captain spoke again. “If my lady has a moment, could you tell us what happened here? Or if you noticed anything suspicious?”

  “Of course,” she replied easily. “I’m in a good mood today. What’s the matter?”

  The captain gestured around them. “Please look, my lady. Everyone here, humans and animals alike, is unconscious.”

  “Yes, I noticed,” she said. “There’s something faint in the air. It smells like sleeping incense or something like that.”

  The captain inhaled carefully. His eyes widened. Now that he focused, he could detect it. Very faint. Almost gone. It was the type that burned quickly and left little trace. Assassins favored it for that reason.

  He looked around the yard again. Perhaps they had arrived in time to prevent something worse.

  Still, one question bothered him. If she had arrived before them, why was she unaffected? He quickly pushed the thought aside. A VIP guest could not simply be treated as a suspect. That would be foolish.

  He hesitated, wondering whether to press further.

  Before he could decide, the blonde woman spoke again.

  “If you’re looking for the culprit, he’s over there.”

  She pointed directly in Abel’s direction.

  The guards froze.

  Abel froze.

  What?

  The invisibility potion was working. He was certain of it. To be safe, he did not move a single muscle. Maybe she was pointing at someone behind him. The guards were still scanning the area with confused expressions.

  He almost laughed in relief. This had to be his imagination. There was no way she could see him.

  He relaxed slightly.

  Then he realized her finger had not shifted.

  She was still pointing exactly where he stood.

  “The culprit? Where?” the guard captain asked.

  The blonde woman looked as if she had just remembered something. “Ah. You can’t see him. I think he’s using some kind of invisibility item.”

  The guards reacted instantly. Several of them moved into formation in front of her, shields raised, weapons drawn. The captain’s expression hardened. Invisible. Combined with sleeping incense, there was only one conclusion in his mind.

  An assassin.

  His sword ignited with a blue aura as mana flowed into it.

  Abel did not wait any longer. Since he had already been exposed, there was no reason to stand still. He bolted toward the gate at full speed. His body flickered faintly as he ran, like a distorted image. That was the weakness of the invisibility potion. Rapid movement disrupted the effect, making the user easier to track.

  “ALL GUARDS, CATCH HIM!” the captain roared. “DON’T LET HIM ESCAPE! THINK ABOUT HOW MANY INNOCENT LIVES WOULD HAVE BEEN LOST IF WE WERE LATE!”

  The guards charged after him as a group, boots pounding against stone.

  Abel glanced back and cursed. “Damn you. If I survive this, I’m coming for you,” he muttered, thinking of his client. No warning about high-class magical defenses. No mention that the owner had senses sharp enough to detect through invisibility effects. How had she seen him at all?

  Complaints could wait. Survival came first. A dead man told no tales. A captured one becomes a storyteller after a few rounds of torture. He had no intention of becoming cooperative.

  As he sprinted forward, he looked back one more time.

  The blonde woman was no longer where she had been.

  A cold sense of dread settled in his stomach before he even turned his head. When he faced forward again, she was already there, standing directly in his path.

  She was smiling.

  In her hand was a heavy club that looked more suited to an ogre than to someone of her build. She drew it back casually.

  Abel was already mid-stride. He could not stop in time. Dodging at this speed was impossible. His only option was to commit.

  His expression twisted. With his fully functioning hand, he pulled out another dagger, this one coated in strong paralysis poison. With his injured hand, working at barely half strength, he threw a small bottle toward her feet. It was designed to explode in light and sound, enough to disorient anyone nearby.

  The bottle struck the ground.

  It did not break.

  It bounced once, intact.

  Abel’s heart dropped.

  “Defective?”

  He was already within striking distance. There was no time to adjust. He thrust his dagger toward her chest. Her weapon was heavier. It should have been slower.

  A strained laugh escaped him. “Take this.”

  She was still smiling.

  His blade was inches away.

  Then she blurred.

  Abel recognized the phenomenon instantly. Movement so fast the eye could not properly track it. He had only seen that level of speed once before, from the guild master of the Thief Guild.

  An overwhelming force struck his abdomen. The impact crushed the air from his lungs and sent a shockwave through his body. His vision went white for a second. He barely held onto consciousness as he was launched backward.

  He flew straight toward the charging guards.

  Several of them caught him before he hit the ground. Their grips were anything but gentle. Some were grinning in a way that made his stomach sink. To them, he was a prize.

  Abel was not smiling.

  The last thing he saw was the blonde woman approaching calmly, that same relaxed expression on her face.

  Then the guards slammed him down in the name of restraint.

  Darkness took him.