Dean passed through the trees, the harsh blizzard weakening with each step he took.
He was still invisible, so it looked like footsteps were just appearing in the snow.
It was eerily silent, the only sounds being his own breathing, his steps, and the blizzard.
After a while of walking, he found trees with burnt leaves, and small amounts of fire that still continued to burn.
Scattered around were humanoid figures that had been burnt, its surfaces pitch-black. Bows and arrows were also scattered around the area.
Dean theorized that this was most likely the "defense system" that Donovan and Vincent had encountered.
Or rather, it wasn't a "system" at all.
And the fires were a result of Vincent's ability—Blazing Arrows.
Dean walked closer, inspecting the burnt figures more closely. Most of their mouths were open, as though they were in a momentary state of suffering before dying from the fire.
Dean became lost in thought.
If these are living beings, then how the hell do they have such excellent aim? Or are they just generally excellent archers? And plus, how could they see through the thick blizzard?
…Is it safe to deactivate my invisibility since it wasn't a "system" or machine in the first place?
Are there more of these guys? Are they just in a straight line from here? Does this mean if I go right and left, I'll see the rest of them? Or… should I go forward?
I don't know what's up ahead, so I'll… refrain from heading forward. Alright, so if I'm right, and they're all just in a straight line from here, that makes it easier for me…
After cracking his knuckles, he deactivated his invisibility.
To his surprise, nothing happened. And this was a good thing, despite the fact of no arrows raining down on him confusing him.
"I'll start on the left…" he muttered to himself. He thrust the umbrella in the snow. Then, two daggers appeared in thin air, and he quickly caught it.
An Assassin's primary weapon was daggers. Sometimes swords, or sometimes firearms.
He prepared a running stance, held his two daggers, and muttered, "I should've just picked an easier class."
He said this because the Assassin class required too much effort, and too much training.
Dean was a lazy person at heart. He's lazy, but he's willing to make exceptional plays to get the job done. Or to just impress a girl he's interested in.
He was that kind of person.
In an instant, Dean disappeared from his spot. He was already running very fast.
With his sharp eyes and senses, he was able to confirm one thing:
"They" were indeed in a straight line.
As Dean neared, he realized that "they" were not even reacting to him. Didn't even look in his direction.
Thinking they had a slow reaction time, Dean didn't waste this opportunity and instantly slit the throats of four of them.
Only five seconds had passed.
And after five seconds, even when their "comrades" were just killed, or rather, assassinated, they still didn't even look in his direction.
They were all standing up, and on their hands and backs were bows and arrows.
Dean continued to slit their throats, one by one. "Their" bodies fell, and Dean kept going.
Whenever his dagger hit their throats, no blood came out. It was like they were just hollow shells.
After he was done, he stood at the center of all the dead corpses, panting.
Since they weren't really attacking him, perhaps this wouldn't take long, he thought.
He got into a running stance. As he willed his entire body to run, he didn't move from his spot one bit.
His body was frozen, he couldn't move.
This immediately set off all alarms in him. Suddenly, he heard footsteps and sighing behind him. But he couldn't even move his head to look behind him.
The footsteps neared, and Dean's heart quickened.
Suddenly, he felt his heart tighten. It was like a hand had reached out and grabbed hold of his heart.
Then, he heard a rough whisper that sounded like an old man's, "Go back."
At that moment, he once again heard the sound of bells jingling. The next second, he was finally able to move again. He fell on both knees, gasping for air. The tightness in his heart was gone.
Dean took a moment to calm down, and looked around.
He was back in his previous spot where he first entered the forest.
Why… am I back here? What the hell just happened?!
Dean cast his gaze forward. It was as though he never entered the forest in the first place, and everything was all just a dream.
He was flabbergasted, and there was even sweat on his back, even though he was on a planet of ice and snow.
Dean took a few steps back.
Someone got close to me. Based on the voice, it was probably an old man… Then, he whispered for me to… "go back"… What the hell did he mean by that?!
And since I'm back here, did he teleport me here somehow?
After fully calming down, he realized that his umbrella which he had left earlier was on the ground, as though it was also teleported with him.
After making his daggers disappear, Dean picked up his umbrella.
He didn't know what to do. He's not sure if he should enter the forest again or regroup with the others.
Since he had "exited" the forest too early, he figured that arrows would still rain upon them because he didn't finish eliminating those humanoid figures with ice as the surface or skin of its body.
But since he valued survival and didn't like risking his life, he turned his back on the forest and ran away.
While running, he realized something. He was no longer invisible, but arrows weren't raining down on him.
This confused Dean further, but didn't want to think too much about it. He decided to just tell everyone about all this and let them do the talking.
***
Donovan was confused, and soon, he was lost in thought.
After Dean came back, he reported to everyone what he experienced, and this baffled everyone.
The fact that those humanoid figures didn't even try to attack Dean and just let him kill them one by one, the fact that arrows didn't rain down on him once he left, and also Dean's encounter with the mysterious "person" that sent him back to the entrance of the forest left everyone feeling lost and confused.
Sasha sighed. "What should we do? Clearly, whoever sent Dean away from the forest doesn't want him coming back, nor do they want anyone else entering…"
This was a dilemma. The only one who could approach the forest was Dean because he was an Assassin, but now, he might not be able to re-enter the forest.
Someone has to go and eliminate those archers with excellent aim, and although Dean could do it, the mysterious person with the voice of an old man won't let him do so.
Suddenly, the messenger Johnny said, "Either we request Tiero for one more Assassin, or we call this mission a failure."
"Or… we could just charge through? We have a Tank, and I'm sure those arrows won't be able to destroy Juliana's barrier that easily," Nick interrupted. He seemed to be passionate about the idea of brute forcing it.
Clara sighed, shaking her head. "Like I said, that's too risky."
"Then what? If we call off this mission, it'd just be the biggest waste of our time. I see only two options here: We ask for a second Assassin, or charge through like Nick said," Joseph agreed on Nick's idea.
Dean interrupted, "Nick's idea is a terrible one. Goddamn it, I don't know why arrows didn't rain down on me even though I was not invisible anymore. There's too many unknown factors here, and we can't act while knowing too little…"
"As for why charging through is a terrible idea, it's because the forest is too far. Although it only took me a few seconds to reach the forest because of my speed, if we all go together with a barrier surrounding us, and arrows constantly raining down on us, all of you—except for me—would already be dead before we could even reach the forest."
Upon hearing this, Donovan and company were surprised. They didn't see Dean as the cooperative type, and the fact that he had just made a plan earlier and rebuked Nick for his idea was a bit surprising.
"What? Did I say something funny?" Dean gave them a nasty, annoyed look.
Donovan inwardly sighed.
Why did arrows not rain down on him…? This is all too mysterious… The only time those arrows appeared was when I and Vincent went together to scout the area…
Me and Vincent…
Me…
Suddenly, Donovan's eyes widened. A theory had quickly formed in his head. Arrows only appeared when I was near the forest…Could it be…?