The Tunnel

Nir and Rain are in the house of worship, preparing for their shared mission with Grandpa.

“Where is that nursing home, anyway?” - Nir asks.

-”It’s located behind the market, quite in the open… But that’s not where we are headed… Well, at least not on the surface”. - Grandpa replies.

-”So we are heading there, but specifically under the surface?”

-”You are starting to get it”. - Says Grandpa. “They have an entrance that is hidden within what seems to be a small cave. However, that cave isn’t really all that small. Normal people never enter it, thinking maybe there are animals inside, but the ‘animals’ that actually live there are criminals who do Vermond’s bidding. Whether it’s illegal substances that they sell to the people, or violent crimes against them, or even against women in particular, no one who works or lives there is ‘clean’”.

-”Is that entrance eventually connected to the nursing home?” - Nir asks.

-”Yes. We start from there. until eventually… We face him”. - Says Grandpa. “Just remember, regardless of how many hearts he has, he may be really strong. It’s very possible he possesses some defensive survival skills just like myself. I used most of my hearts for skills. He probably realized that accumulating hearts alone would make him vulnerable. But… Despite everything, most of his everyday life - is about taking care of the elderly, nothing more. He doesn’t have any worth-mentioning combat experience. He has his goons for that, and even they are actually those who chose crime instead of working a normal job or being a soldier. I doubt their combat ability stands a chance against us”.

-”So, we should be careful anyway?” - Asks Rain.

-”And expect the unexpected?” - Nir adds.

-”Correct. And yet, we are presumed to win and be of service to the empire”. - Grandpa replies. “Do you need any time to prepare?”

-”We are ready!” - Rain replies, unstriping her bow from her back to remind them she carries a weapon.

-”We should move as soon as possible”. - Says Nir, as he unsheaths his sword to match Rain. “According to the empress, we don’t have much time”.

Rain restrips the bow to her back to be carried and Nir sheaths his sword, preparing to head out.

-”Very well. The entrance is not that far from the nursing home. It’s even closer to here, actually”. - Grandpa says.

Rain picks up Grandpa, and they leave the house of worship, heading to the hideout. They take the normal route to the market and abandon it halfway, turning left, instead of keeping straight to get to the market. They go through fields of flowers, until they reach a very empty field.

-”I can see why no one comes to this area”. - Says Rain.

They reach a slight increase in the height of the terrain, close to the wall of the empire. In their vicinity, they can already see a small cave entrance within a tiny hill that is touching the slightly taller empire’s wall. One could mistake it as a tunnel someone dug to the outside.

They reach the cave and enter, feeling the pressure of their mission, knowing combat is about to happen soon.

They walk into the cave and after a few seconds, they can see torches around the cave’s walls. They keep walking through the cave, being able to see a bit of what’s going on, but it’s still pretty dark inside.

They see two lights getting closer from the distance. As they get closer, they realize these are two people, each of them is holding a torch. They look like crooks.

The crooks get closer and see Nir standing next to Rain who’s holding what they think is just a normal baby. Nir Notices the one in front of him has 28 hearts, while the one next to him has 25.

-”What the hell are you doing here?” - The one standing in front of Nir asks.

-”What are you doing here?” - Rain asks in return.

The crooks look at each other, then look at the three of them again.

Nir whispers: “I can see their hearts. They have never killed before. They might be weak”.

-”Come with us”. - The one in front of Nir says.

-”We won’t”. - Nir answers.

They look extremely shocked, as if they have no idea what to do. Then, the other crook notices Rain has a bow, saying: “Look!” - As he points at the bow. Nir gets his hand on the handle of his sword.

-”Attack!” - He suddenly yells, as he goes for Nir, technically blocking the other one who stands in front of Nir from attacking as well. Nir notices that lack of coordination.

Nir parries with his sword and keeps his guard firmly.

-”Nir, you saw that, right? They have no experience. You should be able to defeat them without using hearts”.

Nir unleashes a quick series of slashes, and one of them knocks the crook’s sword away, as the following one slashes his head off.

The crook in front of him becomes furious and steps in Nir’s direction to attack too, as Nir focuses, and slays him with incredible speed, using 1 heart.

-”Sorry, it felt dynamic to combo with a stronger hit quickly. It’s not bad training - deciding when I should go for a special swing and when to avoid it. Though regardless, only 1 heart isn’t such a bad cost even if I go for it”.

-”Only… 1 heart?” - Grandpa asks in surprise. “I think training yourself to be using skills only when it’s necessary is indeed a good thing, but it will probably be mostly irrelevant soon enough. I didn’t know it only costs you 1 heart”.

They keep walking as Grandpa is thinking. “Rain, do you also have such a skill?”

-”Yes, but mine only stun targets. I don’t get hearts that way”.

-”I doubt they only stun, or at least, I think you can decide for them to be used normally”.

-”You may be right”. - Rain replies. “But I have never… Killed anyone”.

-”So you can get hearts from Nir… Now I understand…” - Grandpa says.

Nir and Rain blush.

“I imagine you didn’t… Hmm…” - Grandpa decides not to finish the question.

They suddenly hear the sound of people running getting stronger and stronger as if they are coming closer. The stepping sounds are echoing through the cave, making it unclear how many people are heading towards them.

-”They must have heard our combat”. - Nir says.

-”Haaaa!” - An echoing battle cry can be heard.

-”I’ll use my night vision”. - Rain says, focusing on the distant inner part of the dark cave, now seeing the figures approaching them. “Nir, two will appear from the right, four more after them but those are still far away!”

Nir waits for them to show up closer to be visible to him by the light of the torches on the wall, since he knows to prepare for them coming from his right side. They show up and he uses a heart, stepping forward and beheading them both with one swing. He managed to see they had 21 hearts each, which got smashed to bits on their deaths, adding to his hearts count.

“Four incoming, one from the middle, then three will come from right to left arranged in a diagonal line”. - Rain gives the heads up.

The first one shows up and strikes forcefully against Nir’s parry.

-”I can’t see his hearts!” - Says Nir.

He tries to strike rapidly but the bandit-looking goon parries each of the strikes.

Rain puts Grandpa down and draws her bow. -”Nir, move to the next target on the right!” - She yells.

Nir jumps to the right, as another person approaches, holding a sword. Rain focuses, then shoots at the guy in the middle, stunning him. As he falls to the ground, Nir aims at the next target, uses a heart and cuts through his sword and his hand, then swings normally to behead him, seeing he has 20 hearts.

He then returns to finish the stunned one off, and as he does, the two other crooks focus and swing forcefully, sacrificing all their hearts. Grandpa immediately rushes to Nir and uses a skill to block the two attacks. He then swings his hands swiftly, as Nir turns to their direction and sees them fall.

-”Nir, remember… We are in the empire. If any of them have killed others before - they have access to the statues. The most common attacking skills will force them to sacrifice the biggest amount of hearts… And that sacrifice can hit massively. They almost got you just now…” - Grandpa tells him.

-”Thanks, you definitely saved me there”.

-”Nir! I told you about them!” - Rain says, seemingly mad.

-”I don’t think you owe me a thanks, I think you owe her an apology, you are responsible for both of you, remember?” - Grandpa says, surprisingly fluent in handling relationships.

-”I’m sorry Rain, I’ll be careful. But we do make quite the team, don’t we?” - He says with a smile.

-”Yes!” - Rain replies, looking positive again.

-”I thought there were going to be more people for us to have to fight against. Although we did just kill eight of them…” - Says Grandpa. “It’s possible that most of his employees do his bidding while only a few are reserved for guard duty. Nobody knows about this place so it makes sense he wouldn’t want to spend too much resources on guards, knowing anyone looking for him can just go to the nursing home, marching right in. In fact, I considered this place their hideout, but I’m starting to think this is just an escape tunnel. Maybe if we get him and let the empress know - she will let the soldiers investigate and look for information about any more hideouts”.

-”Rain you have 8 hearts left, you be careful too, although I got your back!” - Nir reports.

-”Nir… You have 272 hearts!” - Rain matches the information. “How… Is that possible?”

-”Two hundred… And seventy two?!” - Nir break down the number, trying to comprehend.

-”The guy you stunned. He was packing hearts. He killed four people before”.

-”Did you know him?” - Nir asks.

-”No, but I could see it”. Grandpa replies. “I spent more than a thousand hearts on skills. Let’s keep moving and stay sharp. Their boss may have more hearts and skills than me. But… I may have more experience… And certainly better companions”.