This move by the bandit leader caused an almost unnatural energy to flow through the bandits, who turned and charged Jaeger with barbaric screams. As they ran, weapons held high, a red mist surrounded each of them.
The hunter, unsure of what he was seeing, sighted another bandit and shot him. This time his shot was slightly off, misjudging the bandits' increased speed, and it blew the bearkin's leg off. The hunter had seen many people take wounds like that, and inevitably those people spent the rest of the fight screaming and dying. Not so here, this bearskin rolled onto his chest and began to crawl towards him. Surprised by the sight, the hunter was distracted enough for another of the bandits, this one wielding a sword, to reach him.
Ventress, however, was not, and being a warhorse, she knew how to react. With a loud whinny, she reared up and kicked the swordsman in the head and shoulder. With the sound of a melon cracking, the man fell and never moved.
The fallen man's veins were popping out and his eyes were bloodshot, Jaeger had heard of men who looked like this. Back in Beseria, there were rumors of marauders from the far north who were superhumanly strong and immune to pain. Northman berserkers, it seems that something like that existed here. As if that thought was all he needed, the answer came, a berserker spell. The tomcat beastkin had some kind of berserk spell or ability, and he cast it on the bandits.
“So they're not invincible, they're just able to ignore a lot of damage.”
Jaeger muttered to himself as Ventress trampled her prey and then moved on. Jaeger took another shot, aiming for another bandit, a spearman who was closest. Taking a deep breath, he steadied himself before firing, catching the man in the center of the chest. The man fell backwards with a gush of blood and a choked gurgle. The hunter's breathing became a little heavier as he'd pushed more mana into his rifle, and with a decision, he holstered the rifle and drew his battleaxe.
Their numbers had dwindled to five bandits, one of whom was crawling. With a lunge, his horse charged forward, racing toward the bandits. As they approached, he swung his axe down, splitting the head of one bandit and smashing into the chest of another. A lucky blow from one bandit, however, knocked the hunter off balance, and as he fell, he pushed away from Ventress and rolled to his feet. He dropped his axe and ran for it as a bandit lunged at him with a spear.
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He threw himself to the side, dodging the stab, and spun to face the spearman. The bandit let out another berserker scream and lunged at him. Each thrust of the spear sent Jaeger dodging sideways, the man may have gained immunity to pain, but he had lost some coordination. The bandit slashed down, and Jaeger lunged in, catching the spear shaft on his armored forearms. Even though he was prepared for it, the blow nearly brought Jaeger to his knees. He barely managed to hold on, but with a growl he threw the blow aside. In one smooth motion, as the spear flew past him, Jaeger drew his pistol and kicked the spearman in the knee. As the bandit fell to his knee, unbalanced by the kick, the hunter shot him. He saw the back of the man's head explode outward.
Holstering his pistol, Jaeger rushed to his axe once more, glad as always to have his pistol preloaded. Grabbing his axe, Jaeger scanned the area. The last two bandits were not close, the crawling one was finally starting to die from the loss of his leg and the other was chasing Ventress who was leading him on a merry chase. With a grunt, the hunter found the bandit chief and attacked him.
The tomcat had been waiting for this moment, his swords ready. He parried the hunter’s first blow, drove the axe past him, and stabbed. Letting go of the axe with one hand, Jaeger summoned a chain and wrapped it around his hand before striking the blade. With a loud clash of metal on metal, the sword was knocked away and the beastkin hopped backwards with a hiss.
“Hmm. A magic chain, a specialized wand and a staff. Looks like that dead fool was right, you're no novice.”
“I never said I was.”
With that, Jaeger attacked again, this time leading with his chain. He let it uncoil from his hand and whipped it out, trying to entangle the bandit. The cat used both swords to keep it away. Pulling the chains back, the hunter shot forward, slashing sideways with his axe. Again the tomcat jumped back before lunging forward and slashing an X across Jaeger’s chest. This caused him to fall back with a grunt of pain.
Having drawn the first blood, the cat went for more, trying to decapitate him. But Jaeger drew back his chains and dropped low, thrusting a chain-wrapped fist into the attack, knocking the blades off course and over his head. As they passed overhead, Jaeger drove his axe down, severing the tomcat's left foot. With a howling shriek, the cat tried to move but fell over. The hunter leapt at the beastkin and went for the kill.
With a thud, his axe blade was embedded in the ground, slowly surrounded by a pool of blood. With a wrench, Jaeger pulled his axe from the ground and picked up the tomcat's head. Another loud thud came from nearby, and as he turned he saw it was the last standing bandit. Ventress had managed to buck and kick him in the chest hard enough to knock him down.
Quickly, the hunter reached his horse and rummaged through his saddlebags. He pulled out an empty bag and placed the head inside, tying it to the saddle. He then moved over to the bandit Ventress had kicked and saw that he was dying. The hunter moved past him to where the chain of plaques and badges had been thrown.