Limits

As I was about to rush into the group again, I could hear something getting closer. When I turned around, I saw another group of humans. 'This is bad. I will not be able to take on two groups at once. I already have a hard time with this one. Time to run' I thought. My only option, was to run west. The northern direction was blocked by the first group, while another group was coming from east.

I could go south, but I decided against that. 'If I go west, at least I know that, no further reinforcements will arrive' I thought, and started running towards west. The first group gave chase immediately, while shouting some bulshit towards me. I didn't pay attention to that, and focused on running. My instincts suddenly flared up, and I evaded to the side. "WHOOSH!"

A guy with the large sword, sped past me. He stopped not far away from me and seemed to weaken, as if his strength left him. 'A chance!' I thought, and "BOOOM!". I used my full strength to attack him. The guy was shocked that he missed, but I didn't care about that. I swiped with my dagger "Swosh!"... "Thud!". He no longer had his head, I severed it with one clean slash.

"You fucking bastard! You murderer! I will destroy you!", shouted the leader of that group. Although one of them was dead, there were more coming. I didn't linger there, and simply continued running. They chased me like possessed now. It was only thanks to my strength and stamina, that I was able to keep a distance between us. The distance also started to increase. No other member of that group, had a similar type of skill, that would allow them to outspeed me.

'I don't know for how long they will chase me. Although I can still run, and the distance between us is getting bigger, I will also run out of energy at some point' I thought. The only solution I could think of, was food. Retrieving and eating food while running, would slow me down a bit. But I could regenerate my energy, while they would slowly run out of it.

I retrieved and ate food from my storage. It must've been a weird sight, where one guy was running away, while eating food, and others chased after him, as if chasing that food. Soon, the distance was even greater, and my tactic seemed correct, but there was something I didn't account for. When I turned around, I saw most of them increasing the speed, while the woman was still drinking something.

When she finished drinking, her speed increased as well. 'This is bad, they have some kind of special means, to increasing their speed' I thought. I didn't know, for how long this boost in speed would work for, but I knew it was not permanent. This was not the best time, to stop and think about it. I used whatever I had in me, and ran. I utilised the Natural Path skill to the max. Although there were no obstacles, my skill evolved to the point, where I could be faster even on a flat ground. The reason was simple, no ground was truly flat, and I could use that to my advantage.

Still, the gap was becoming smaller and smaller. In couple of minutes, they would catch up to me, and with that speed boost, I would have very little to say in that fight. Then, another twist in the whole play appeared. 'How the hell did these guys managed to catch up?' I asked myself. It was the second group, and judging by their speed, they must've used the same thing as the first group, but they must've used it much earlier.

'This is pissing me off already. Wait bastards, until that thing of your runs out. I will fucking freeze you to death!' I shouted in my head. When they were about 100 metres away, the boost seemed to finally show signs of ending. 'Good, I will deal with you fuckers, even if it costs me a few limbs in the process!' I thought.

But apparently, I didn't have to do anything. When the second group caught up to them, the leader of that group shouted "Help us catch that murderer! He is a wanted man!", but what happened next, totally stunned me and the first group. The leader of the second group, simply charged at the first group, and attacked. I almost stopped in my tracks when I saw this. 'What the…?', was the only thought in my mind.

When the leader of the first group realised what was going on, he shouted "You bastards", and attacked as well. But they had no chances, the second group was much stronger, especially the guy who attacked first. 'He is also stronger than me, I don't know why they attacked them, but I don't intend to stay' I thought, and ran towards the west. Before I could even increase my speed, I heard "Wait a minute", behind me.

It was a voice of a female, and when I turned around, she was not that far away from me. I didn't stop obviously, and continued running. Then my instincts flared up, something was coming towards me. I evaded the attack, and shock filled my face, as I took a look at the thing that just flew past. I stopped immediately, and asked "Where did you get that from?"

The woman chasing me also stopped. When I looked at her, she seemed familiar. She walked towards me, and said "Don't you remember? You gave it to me by yourself". The thing that made me stop, was the fact she threw my dagger. But it wasn't the new dagger, no, it was the old dagger. I noticed the mask oh her head, it was fox shaped. Something flickered in my mind. "I met you in the Great Forest, together with Shelly, right?" I said.

She nodded, and replied "So you do remember". I asked "Are you here to catch me as well?", to which she shook her head, and said "I'm here to return the favour. You've changed a lot, I barely recognised you". "That may be so, I went through a lot of shit recently" I replied. She came closer, and took a proper look at me, then said "Your tips that day, although maybe insignificant to you, they allowed me to develop myself to the current state. I also used your daggers, and created more of them. I hope you don't mind".

I shook my head, and said "I gave it to you, because you were learning similar things, to what I was learning. You are free to use those daggers as you like". She nodded her head, then changed the topic and asked "Are you alright? You….". Before she could finish, a guy interrupted her "Enough chit chat. Those guys are dealt with, so we did what you asked for. Now let's go, we have our own task to take care of".

She nodded, and said "Go first, I will catch up". The guy didn't seem to mind that much, and said "Fine, just don't make this long". They left, while she said "I wish I had something to give you as well. I have many questions but no time. Maybe we will meet in the future, we can talk more then". I nodded and said "I'm still thankful for what you did. Here, take this". I threw her one of my Black Steel daggers. I said "Last time, I gave you my first version of the dagger. This is the new version. Take it, and see if you like it. I will give you at least this much, for your help".

She examined it for a while, then said "I will keep it. Hopefully we can meet again. Stay safe till then". She then sped off towards her group, that was already far away. 'The world is indeed small. One whim of mine in the past, actually helped me so much today' I thought.