Lucas was getting bored, as he went into maneuver to avoid the suppressing fire the squad of troopers tried to use to slow him down. All their attention on him left them blind to their surroundings and a moment later two arrows flew and hit two of them, obliterating their knees. Ted used the confusion to charge in with his shiny new club, his speed almost comparable to Lucas’s, without his passive speed build up, of course. Troopers were in blind panic, focusing their fire on the large man who was clubbing them, forgetting completely about Lucas. Ted rolled backwards and executed zig – zag running. Lucas was ready to punish them for forgetting about him and Maggie had the same idea. He ran at the nearest one, activating “Spin Strike” and severing the spine of the unfortunate woman while arrow flew and hit the gut of the trooper on the opposite side. The rest of them were wavering steadily and Lucas took the chance, declaring mercy for every one of them that surrenders immediately. One by one, they halted their fire, which was ineffective even when they weren’t panicking, and simply threw down their rifles. They were quickly tied up and taken to the courtyard, where a weary Bruce awaited to once again explain the choices captives had. He repeated his rehearsed speech, but this time, before asking a question, he waved to Lucas.
“It looks like we have someone who already heard the speech. Isn’t that right?” he turned to one of the troopers. Lucas took a careful look at the man, recognizing one of the guards they let out at the gate.
The man in question slumped completely and his eyes started darting in all directions, looking for a way to escape.
“If you listened to me carefully, you heard you only have two options. You either try your luck in the wilds or you die. There isn’t any other way. So tell me, what did you chose back when you hard the speech the first time?” he asked.
“Please, sir, I’m so sorry. This time I will not come back” trooper cried out, realizing what is in store for him.
“Please answer the question” Bruce ordered.
“I choose to live” he answered.
“Where?”
“Far away from Camp Hearth” trooper responded.
“And yet, you are here once again.” Bruce concluded the conversation after making sure every one of the captured troopers were attentive, satisfied to see they all watched every part of the interactions. He motioned to Lucas, who knew what was expected of him. He took one step forward and prepared his sword, before Ted stopped him. He approached the unfortunate trooper, who was wailing and pleading, before raising his club and caving his skull in. There was sickening crunch and the man’s pleas were cut short as he fell to the ground, completely still. His colleagues avoided the scene and the squeamish one among them even threw up. Lucas was so desensitized he didn’t even twitch and that scared the remaining troopers even more.
“So, what is your choice?” Bruce returned to business and, lo and behold, every single one of them choose to go into the wilds, trying to get as far away from the people they perceived as monsters. As soon as they were out of the gates, they were in full sprint, probably praying to whichever higher power they believed in that no one from the prison was following them.
“You didn’t have to do that” Lucas turned to Ted, who was still shaken from what had transpired. Lucas could sympathize with the man, as he did the same thing only two days ago.
“Please, we are a team. And a real team shares the burden” Ted responded. Lucas was surprised to hear such answer and he deeply appreciated the sacrifice Ted took to try and help him. He clapped the man on the shoulders and turned to Bruce.
“What now? They are increasing the rate of scouting parties. There is a good chance they figure out they need a bigger force.” Lucas asked.
“I agree with you. I hoped someone from the previous search parties will already find a way back to their camp and get them some intel. But whoever is leading the attack is extremely cautious, likely informed of the rout back when we took the prison” Bruce explained.
“If that’s the case, let us attack them instead” Maggie interjected and her words threw Bruce in deep thoughts.
“Actually, that’s a good idea. Quick raid to provoke retaliation. But the question is will the their leader take the bait?” Bruce shared his line of thought.
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“Then we attack again. Lucas, my brother and me are certainly able to go out twice a day. We make their position unattainable. He either attack or we rout them while they are sitting ducks” Maggie defended her idea. Lucas found himself agreeing with her and once again marveling the energy the woman possessed. What seemed like a hundredth time since he met her, he lost himself staring at her. Maggie caught his look and blushed. She casted questioning look back at him and Ted. While her brother was still battling his inner demons from the butcher’s work he did a while ago, he subtly nodded his head which brought a smile to her face. Emboldened by that, Lucas decided to step up and throw his support.
“It seems like a good idea. Besides, I’m getting bored just repelling their scouts. It’s time for some direct action” he added his opinion in the mix. Bruce could see he was fighting a losing battle and relented which led to the quick organizing from Lucas and Maggie. Ted easily accepted, eager to keep himself busy and chase away the dark thoughts from the execution. Lucas was starting to doubt the validity of his decision to let Ted do the butcher’s work, but he kept his mouth shut as he was reluctant to devalue what he had done. They were out of the prison and in the direction they saw a few scouts try to run during their bout, direction that would leave them to town. Not ten minutes had passed and they stumbled on the first patrol. Ted took the point and with his Agility he quickly knocked down first of the guards, second succumbing to the arrow fired from Maggie’s crossbow. They hid the bodies the best they could in the sparse coverage the large clearing that separated the prison from the town proper and continued, reaching the edges of the town. There they spotted a host about five hundred strong, troopers and heavies mixed in five to one proportions according to the quick counting by Lucas. They were spread out in a hastily built military camp. Fairly certain their Perception outmatched theirs by a large margin, they stopped and scouted for the best target. From what Lucas gathered, the best bet was a quick charge to the center of the camp, where the biggest tent was situated. They will either hit the infirmary or the command center and both of them will be equally devastating to the morale of the host. He shared his thoughts and both Maggie and Ted agreed with that course of action. They took a deep breath almost at the same time and rushed toward their goal. They were spotted too late, already being at the edge of the camp when alarm sounded. The first trooper that stood in their way was dropped by the arrow from Maggie, who chose to stay back at the edge and provide covering fire. Ted and Lucas crashed straight at the rest of the troopers that followed, Lucas letting Ted getting the majority of the hits, as they needed his club ready to unleash hell when they got to the tent. He wasn’t idle, however, as he swung his blade time and time again, each time “Stinging cut” activated and each swing finding a target, leaving one trooper trashing on the floor. After a dozen or so swings, Ted shouted all was ready and they departed the battlefield and continued on their way. The desynchronized sound of rifle fire followed them, but they were too fast for any of the trooper to successfully hit them. Once again Lucas was amazed at the incompetence the rank and file of the mercenary unit showed, almost wondering was all of that due to the level difference or they were generally just that bad. The target Lucas and his party had set before this was in vicinity which pulled Lucas from his thought and they faced first real resistance. A pair of heavies stood watch and they were already preparing their attacks. One of them charged with an oversize axe while the other stood at the back channeling the spell. Confident that Ted could handle the axe wielder, Lucas activated “Infused piledriver” and he went spinning at the mage. He collided with the shoulder of the man and he felt his gladius completely shatter the shoulder of the man. Interrupting the spell, Lucas proceeded his attack with “Death by the thousand cuts”, leaving with every strike a pool of blood beneath the feet of the heavy. Ted soon joined him, the axe – wielding heavy already on the ground with two arrows in his body, showing that Maggie decided to join the party. Lucas activated “Guiding strike” and his sword found the place on the neck of the heavy he was fighting where he was under armored. The sword pierced the neck, severing the artery and leaving the poor man slowly dying on the ground. The trio entered the tent, where they found a mustached man in his fifties sitting in his chair and shouting something to his hand, which were glowing with aquamarine color. Lucas activated “Sharpsight” and identified the man.
“Marshall Pike, Colonel of the United Nations Reborn, Commander level 35”
“What do you want?” the man asked them.
“For you to leave Camp Hearth” Lucas simply said and stabbed the man right through the eye. He felt his sword piercing all the way to the brain and prompt appeared to confirm what he already knew.
“You have slain Marshall Pike, Colonel of the United Nations Reborn, Commander level 35”
Ted waved to Lucas, pointing to the exit and Lucas obliged. He had no interest finding himself in the radius of the explosion that was about to happen. He found Maggie and they started retreating, carving a way through the parts of the troopers that still weren’t reinforced by heavies. On the other hand, heavies were reluctant to use their full destructive potential, a fact that Lucas knew it would change as soon as Ted finishes his work. And just as he finished his thought, large explosion was heard and Ted came running from the now burning tent. Doubling their effort, Lucas and Maggie managed to claw their way out and Ted followed in their wake just in time, as the mass of heavies started unleashing everything they had, but still controlling their aim, trying not to kill their colleagues. That helped the party to escape and soon they were speeding back to the prison while the host stayed back to regroup. They entered the prison courtyard and Lucas found Bruce, showing him thumbs up. Bruce nodded and they settled, waiting for the attack Lucas was now sure will come soon.