It all happened too quickly for anyone to react. One moment, Leslie was speaking to everyone with excitement ignoring her exhaustion and the other she was laying on the floor dead.

  As the ice kept on spreading through her wound, everyone's eyes widened as their brains finally caught up to the sudden turn of events.

  "Leslieee!"

  Paul shoughted with all his might with horror and a hurried look on his face, rushing towards Leslie's motionless body. Kneeling down to reach her face, he touched it with his shaking hands, unable to do something about it.

  On the other hand, Alex stood there motionlessly with a horrified expression, unable to process what just happened and not knowing how to react.

  Meanwhile, Paul kept screaming her name, shouting as hard as he could as if expecting a miracle to happen. This was reality though, in which miracles never happened.

  Unable to do anything to save her, Paul ignored everything around him and continued to mourn his friend with tears rolling down his eyes. This was a mistake though, since moments later, he ended up meeting the same fate.

  Ignoring everything ended up backstabbing him, since with his guard down, he was defenseless. For that reason, he ended up being shot with an arrow too. This time it came from the side though and it hit his head perfectly.

  Recieving the hit, Paul's eyes widened but only for a moment before becoming lifeless. His body rolled to the ground and laid next to Leslie, with ice forming around the wound on his head. He was dead, just like his friend.

  Witnessing the scene unfold right in front of him, Alex felt his grip on his sword loosen. His hands was shaking and emotions such as fear, horror and despair took control over him.

  "Paul....Lesl..."

  He couldn't speak properly, his voice was filled with horror and his brain couldn't process what just happened.

  Placing his shaking hands on his hair, he started shaking his head and whispering the word 'no' over and over again, as if this was the only word he could say.

  Still, just like the other two, he had left his guard down. A mistake that he had to pay just like his friends.

  Sure, another arrow launched too towards him, this one coming from the same direction that the one that hit Leslie came. It's path, leading directly towards Alex head from the back.

  This time though, it didn't hit his head. Alex ended up escaping just in time.

  Laying on the ground, Alex was shocked to see Thita right above him, with his hands placed on his shoulder. That shock wasn't enough to dismiss his previous feeling though.

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

  "Get a grip of yourself! Your friends may have been shot but that doesn't mean it is over! So stand up and take action or your friends died for nothing!"

  Being brought back to reality by Thita's harsh words, Alex gritted his teeth and tried to control his feelings.

  Thita was right, it wasn't over yet. He had to prove that his friends didn't die for nothing by living himself. He had to remain strong.

  ***

  Unlike Alex, Thita seemed to be much more capable in handling such a sudden situation. As if he was used to it.

  Still, he was unable to save neither Leslie or Paul. He was unable to predict the attack and he was unable to save them.

  He managed to save Alex though. At least that was something. Still, that didn't change their situation though.

  Standing up, Thita took a moment to concentrate and come up with a plan, without letting his guard down.

  'The arrows came from two different directions, so there are at least two enemies. Judging by from where the two arrows came, I belive that I can locate the two of them unless they moved. Who should I attack though?'

  Attacking from a distance someone with a ranged weapon wouldn't be a smart move but Thita had to try. He could just run away of course but that wouldn't be beneficial for him.

  He needed money to survive and if he left, all this time and injuries would be for nothing. He had to give it a try. He had nothing to lose at this point anyways.

  With a sudden movement, Thita began running towards the location of the first enemy. This enemy was the one that fired last, so he had to be reloading, which would give him a better chance to attack.

  Running as fast as he could, he suddenly lowered his head as if to predict an attack. Surely, an arrow passed right above him, missing him just in time.

  'You are too predictable, aiming for the head all this time.'

  He didn't stop though and he continued running getting closer and closer to his destination. Suddenly, he saw something move a bit further from him.

  Understanding, Thita sidestepped and dodged the arrow that came his way with ease. He didn't stop though and continued running, getting closer and closer.

  On the other hand, he saw the figure in front of him move once again, this time though, it didn't draw another arrow. It turned around with hurry and began running the other way.

  Noticing the opponents movement, Thita ran with even more determination. He had a chance. After all, it seemed that the opponent didn't seem to want to fight in close combat.

  Getting closer and closer due to his speed, he managed to get a closer to look to the enemy. He had a human appearance and he seemed to wear some kind of robe. Still that was all he could tell since his whole back was covered including his head.

  Understanding that his opponent was probably a human, he run with even more determination. If there was one thing he hated, was those that killed without a reason and the enemy didn't appear to have a good enough reason.

  The enemy was now a few meters away and it looked like he could react him at any moment. Grabbing his knife that he retrieved from the wolf's body, he prepared to launch it to the enemy.

  Gripping it tightly, he threw it towards the enemy and with one swift motion, it landed directly on one of the enemy's legs.

  The enemy in exchange, stumbled and fell to the ground the moment the knife landed. He seemed to be in pain and unable to move.

  That didn't stop running though and moments later, he made a circle around the enemy and got behind him.

  The enemy meanwhile stayed on the ground, grapping his injured and bleeding leg with his hands. He also appeared to be... crying?

  Thita didn't care about that though. He had killed one person and almost killed another one. He was in no position to cry.

  Getting on his knees behind the enemy, Thita grabbed his hood and removed it. What he saw surprised. The murder of his party members was... a girl?

  Grabbing her leg and crying the girl with silver hair turned her head around and looked at Thita with fear and horror. She appeared to be in pain.

  Looking at him, she managed to speak with a weak and scared voice besides her injuries.

  "Please... don't... don't kill me."