The sword sliced one of his hands off and left an open gash in his torso. You could easily see his stomach and parts of his rib.
He fell to the floor and that was that.
Out of caution, Elizabeth stabbed his blade into his throat and flicked her own to get the blood off.
She sheathed the blade and soon began running in the direction her comrades went. She looked displeased as she ran further into the forest.
(“They're gonna notice. If I could make use of my dominant hand more freely, that wouldn't have taken as long as it did. I thought a few days might have been enough but it seems I overestimated myself.”)
She looked at her arm and the sleeve was covered in blood from the brief amount of time she used it. She considered ripping it off but showing the gauze underneath was bound to leave the others with questions.
“This whole thing really has become such an unnecessary pain in the ass. If any more men of that beast man’s calibre appear it might leave this arm completely useless. And against that man in black, the risk of using my non-dominant arm is too great.”
The arm didn't lack the power of the other, but the precision of it was not to her standard. With this arm, an apple would be manageable to slice but with the other, she could easily split a pea thrown at her.
She sighed and decided she would keep behind the others so they wouldn't witness her in combat unless the situation was dire. She'd then follow the group she was a part of from behind when they entered the dungeon.
….
…
..
.
A boy was breathing heavily in the forest. He had hair as white as a rabbit's fur and eyes as red as a ruby. And he was tired.
“Heavy breathing, G-guys?” He said to no one.
He looked up and unsurprisingly they were nowhere to be found. He had tripped on a branch and was killing himself trying to catch up with the group. The sizable distance between him and the next person certainly didn't help either and he was left all alone in enemy territory.
“Oh man, I trip once and this happens.” He said to himself as he rubbed his head.
He looked around and his eyes showed him a blue path.
“?”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Now this could mean two things. It either led him to the dungeon or it'd take him to a tropical paradise where he wouldn't have to fight. He shrugged his shoulders, and with no better options, he followed the path.
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After one hour, he found an empty cabin in the woods.
“Alright, what's so positive about this place?” he wondered to himself.
After observing through the window, he entered the log cabin.
It didn't take him long to find something highlighted blue with his eyes.
A map of the area. He initially wasn't sure what was so useful about it until he took a closer look at it.
“Huh…”
The map showed him something he wasn't too fond of.
“If I'm reading this right, then those guys probably aren't going to reach that dungeon for a while.”
The map showed that the direction others ran in was quite far out of the way. It did lead to the clearing where the dungeon was located, but based on the scale I'd be an hour or two away if they decided to walk along the clearing.
“I don't get it. Why'd that guy run off in that direction then? He'd pretty much be putting himself in danger by dragging out the chase.”
….
…
..
.
90 minutes earlier
“Come here.” Brother Leo signalled to one of the men. It was the one that always followed him.
They gathered outside and were ready to search for the disturbance to the barrier. They had a likely area (the area of the barrier closest to an abandoned road) and would precede shortly, with the only thing they were waiting on being Brother Leo.
“Brother Leo? What seems to be the matter, isn't this situation urgent?”
The red detection stones meant that someone had broken the barrier, so he wasn't sure why Leo couldn't discuss it as they travelled.
“This person the priest has taken an interest in might be extremely dangerous.” Leo cut to the chase immediately away from the ears of the others. “With this mystery assailant happening so closely together with this, I believe they might be related.”
“I see, Brother.” The man nervously commented. “What would you like me to do?”
“I see you catch on quick.” He patted his shoulder. “I want you to ride to the priest and show him this stone. If we don't return in three hours, assume we are dead. I'll take the blame if this is the result of an internal problem or we don't return in time.”
“As you wish, Brother.”
Leo handed him one of the detection stones and he rode off.
“Oi, Leo where's that guy going?” One of the guards asked.
“Don't worry about it, if all goes well we don't have to worry about it.” He confidently responded before jumping on a nearby horse.
The signal Brother Leo gave the doomed rider wasn't “alert the main base!” but rather “gain some distance!”
And no matter how fast the adventurers were, if they were led astray they'd reach the dungeon long after his associate broke the news to the priest.
Kevin wasn't privy to any of this.
“Even with the 1-hour difference, if I go at a moderate pace I should meet them there.”
He gave a faint smile. He couldn't imagine the pits of despair he'd be in if he missed the battle, regardless of how helpful he'd be.
He pulled down the map and quickly left the cabin.