Between waves of arrows, the families moved inside the wagons. The horses were spared by the bandits because, apparently, they could be fetched for a good price. As much as Patrick wanted to mourn for Henry and dwell in his sorrow, now was not the time. With quick and precise movements, Patrick first excised the arrowhead from Jonathan's back with his fingers. Then, he grabbed a piece of cloth to wrap Henry's body, putting it away in a place the children could not easily reach. Jonathan collapsed onto his bed, gasping for air as he coughed up blood. Nathan was crying helplessly.
Seeing her devastated older brother, Ashley's voice trembled with fear as she asked, "What happened to the baby?"
"He's sleeping." Patrick answered sternly as he began equipping his armor and weapons.
Another wave of arrows rained down soon after. Although the arrows couldn't penetrate the wagons' ceiling, the children were still terrified.
Despite being scared, Arielle rummaged for clean towels and applied pressure to Jonathan's bleeding wounds, a skill she had acquired through observation on that fateful night.
"Stay on the bed, Jonathan. Don't move." Patrick said. In a stark contrast to his son's condition, his voice was focused and collected as he steeled himself mentally before heading into danger outside.
"Arielle, make sure everyone stays inside the wagon; don't come out no matter what," Patrick instructed the middle sister, since Nathan was not in his right mind.
"Yes, Grandpa." Arielle answered, her hands trembling, trying her best to stay calm. "Ashley, come and help me," she said, keeping her little sister close.
Patrick, equipped with a shield, chanted "Divine Spell: Stoneskin, Iron Wall." Then, he whispered to Arielle next to her ear, "If anything happens to me, drive the wagon and get out of here. Keep Nathan and Ashley safe."
Arielle stared at Grandpa in shock. Before the girl could respond, Patrick swiftly left the wagon and took his position at the driver's seat. In the other wagon, Maya also equipped her leather armor, shield and spear before taking the reins to drive.
All the carriages and wagons were chaotically trying to get back onto the highway, causing a traffic jam. Bandits emerged from the forest and charged toward the crowd with their weapons. The bodyguards of the affluent merchants began to fight back. While most bandits targeted merchant-driven heavy wagons for valuables, one particular bandit stood out by sprinting toward Patrick and Maya.
"It's Melody. She's coming for us. Be careful," Patrick warned Maya. Of course, he had memorized the details and faces of the Inquisition Knights at the Inn, so he immediately recognized her signature long green hair and dark brown skin. Moreover, the arrows earlier were much more concentrated at Nathan's location; Patrick did not miss the minor detail and knew that the knight had come for their "black-haired boy," Nathan. The disguised knight glared at the bandits with contempt as she murmured, "Useless greedy bandits."
Stuck in traffic, the two families could not escape, so Patrick and Maya quickly got off their driver's seats. Without exchanging a single word, the knight and the adults engaged in combat as if they were archenemies destined to clash. The disguised knight lunged at Maya with a deadly thrust, with the intention to kill. Maya attempted to deflect the strike with her shield at an angle, but the tremendous force still knocked her back. As Maya lost her footing and took several erratic steps back, Patrick quickly moved in front of Melody to shield Maya. With blinding speed, Melody swiftly moved to the side of Patrick, slashing him sideway. Patrick received the slash with his shield and countered with a stab, testing out Melody's abilities as he thought, "This girl is from the Phantom Blade School." Melody easily parried the stab with her shield and chanted, "Divine Spell: Stone Bullets." Melody had cast the spell to target the children behind Patrick and Maya deliberately. Therefore, the two adults could not just dodge the bullets.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
"Divine Spell: Stone Wall," Maya chanted and conjured a Stone Wall to block the bullets, while Patrick continued to engage Melody in a ferocious melee exchange.
The Stone Wall cracked as the heavy bullets rammed into it. Seeing that it could shatter in any second, Maya kept her hands on the ground to infuse more Mana into the wall, strengthening and repairing it.
Patrick was trained in the Thousand Blades School, but he also took up techniques from the other schools over the years. In one move, his sword could become unpredictable, in the next, sure and strong, then followed by fast and furious. Having no experience with fighting against a kaleidoscope of techniques, Melody was on the defensive, despite being physically stronger. Moreover, Maya, using her spear, was also sneaking in an attack here and there throughout the fight, helping Patrick whenever she could.
However, the fight began to favor the younger woman as the battle dragged on. "In just one minute, she is catching on to my tricks. This girl's very talented," Patrick commented as she began to see through his moves.
In their melee deadlock, Melody's frustration urged her to unleash one of her signature techniques. She thought in her mind, "Here I go: Phantom Blade School: Mirage Strikes." Combining the Phantom Blade School's blinding speed with feints, she struck Patrick with real thrusts between many feints. Each user of this attack had their individual sequences and footworks, making the attack difficult to counter even by seasoned fighters.
Through experience, Patrick quickly came up with a counter. "Thousand Blades: Pincer Strike." He attacked simultaneously with a Water Slicer to Melody's left rear and a slash to her left front, which forced Melody to step to her right, directly into Patrick's waiting shield. Then, he was able to block the multiple assaults from Mirage Strikes as he stepped back. Just as Patrick guarded her last stroke, however, Melody added a kick with her ingenuity. Patrick took the kick with his back and fell on the ground with his face down. "Damn genius," Patrick thought in pain, surprised by the attack, knowing that she kicked in the spur of the moment. He was never talented in fighting, but the old man could tell a genius when he sees one. As Patrick was down, the knight tried to finish him off with a stab. Seeing this, Maya immediately moved forward and shield-bashed the knight, who swiftly jumped backward.
"Maya, could you fight her alone for thirty, no, twenty seconds?" Patrick said, standing back up quickly, enduring the pain on his back.
Maya was never professionally trained in combat; she hadn't practiced her martial skills since graduating high school. Nevertheless, her family was behind her; it was sink or swim at this point. "Yes," Maya said, gripping her spear tighter with determination, trusting that Patrick, this time also, would impress her.
"Okay, do it; don't die on me." Patrick said, running away.
Maya took a deep breath and increased her Mana output into her Enhanced Strength and Reinforced Blade spells. Patrick ran toward the wagons and disappeared from sight. Melody didn't miss the chance to kill the weaker of the two and launched a series of relentless assaults on Maya. For a few seconds, Maya was able to fight on par against Melody, but the mother soon started breathing heavily.
Soon, Maya was knocked down by Melody after a powerful strike, which also sent her spear flying away. However, there were about ten more seconds to go. As Melody prepared her final strike, Maya threw sand at the knight's eyes, together with everything her hand could grab from the ground. Melody, while very well trained in combat, was young, brought up from a good family, and never experienced a street fight. Sands got into her eyes, and she jumped back to clean it up. Seizing the chance, Maya focused all her Mana in her legs and charged into Melody, knocking her down. At the same time, Maya jumped on top of Melody. The mother of two used both hands to hold onto Melody's right arm, and repeatedly hammer it into the ground, attempting to disarm the knight. Melody, then tried to chant, "Divine Sp....", but Maya stuffed her right elbow into Melody's mouth, interrupting her chant. However, Melody began to raise her sword up, as Maya could not stop it using only her left arm. Abruptly, Maya bit down on Melody's right arm with her teeth and used her entire upper body's weight to restrain the knight.
Getting angry from Maya's unsightly tactics, Melody took a deep breath, then with a burst of Mana, sent Maya several meters high into the air before dropping back onto the ground.
A moment earlier, without anyone noticing, Patrick swiftly created a miniature Stone Wall with a hole in it and placed a ball inside. "Divine Spell: Delay - Five seconds, Wind Shooter." He then quickly invoked his Inherited Skills: "Advanced Skill: Stealth II" and "Ultimate Skill: True Sight." After casting the spells, he disappeared silently.