"Shit, how did the bandits manage to call for reinforcements, and how did they arrive this fast?!" exclaimed one of the moon elves who was bandaging a wound on his arm. I was equally as confused but shook my confusion off. Before I could even suggest anything, Ronia seemed to have already taken control of the situation.
"Mages! Loose another volley, focus on rapid fire spells! Push the bandits back, we need to leave, and fast! Melee troops to the front, guard the mages and push forward to the villagers." Ronia shouted orders and took control of the situation, quickly getting people back on track, eliminating any stray thoughts and worries for the moment as everyone focused on their task at hand. The next volley of spells flew and the one of the remaining bandits was caught in the line of fire while fleeing and died on the spot, his body burnt to a crisp. The other managed to flee inside a nearby building but a large spear of rock punched a hole through the wooden wall and we heard a scream of pain before it went silent.
We cautiously went forward with the mages readying spells they could fire quickly as per Ronia's command. I myself readied a basic flame arrow, it was far quicker to fire than my ice shards and cost less mana, but did less damage in exchange. It was basically a spray and pray spell.
We got to the building with the villagers and 2 shield users got to the doorway and count down from three, then bust open the door. We heard screaming and a clang of a sword was heard from one of the shields. It turned out there was a bandit hiding inside that building, waiting for someone to open the door. One of the shield users bashed him with his shield, pushing the bandit back before the other pulled out a small curved sword and slashed at the bandit. He was cut down while staggered from the shield bash and his body flopped on the ground with blood seeping out and forming a puddle.
There were several screams and whimpers from inside the building. There was no light so one of the moon elves used a light spell to create some light and we got a better look. Me and Ronia moved into the room with the shield users at the front. With the light we saw that the villagers were indeed all here, though several were injured Ronia cleared her throat and faced the villagers while speaking up. "We have come to free you all but there are still bandits outside so we will need your cooperation. There isn't much time to waste standing around here so lets get moving. Just follow orders and we will get you back to your village safe and sound." Ronia looked at the villagers after she finished her speech and most of them looked relieved while a few just sat there in shock or cried silently. At the prompting of Ronia, they got up and ready to move. The only problem was that some of the injured would slow us down and would need treatment so Ronia sighed and asked for anyone who knows healing magic or can bandage wounds to come and help.
The rest of us were outside the building holding guard. The bandits were mostly taken care of inside the camp since the front entrance had been blown open and spells from the elder and other mages were freely raining down, cutting the bandits down rapidly. Some of the bandits were grouping up and coming near us so I told the mages to let loose the prepped spells at the group of 12 or so bandits. This time, instead of a wave of devestating spells there was a hail of smaller spells pouring forwards. There were mostly sharp stone stakes and flame arrows being fired with arrows of light mixed in. The spells slammed into the bandits and though their armour was poor, it did block the initial volley. It was long enough that they were able to get to cover with only 3 of them dying.
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The melee users at the front gripped their weapons as I ordered to stop firing. "One of you prepare a large aoe spell while the rest of the mages keep the rapid fire spells ready. You two, keep up the flame arrow assault on them to hamper the bandits movement. Those of you waiting with your rapid spells, try and recover mana while you wait. You don't want to run dry during a fight."
The mages nodded while the melee users at the front fought with the bandits that had approached the front lines. The battle was far more intense than I expected it to be. To be honest I expected the bandits to flee with the amount of losses they had taken already, but no. Instead they held out for as long as possible to delay us in order for reinforcements to arrive. Although those delays cost them the lives of over 50 bandits so far, they didn't seem to really care.
Somewhat closer than before I heard the horn blow again and spells rained down from over the walls into the camp. The spells looked haphazardly shot but they were accurately flying down on our own men and not the bandits. "Shit! Change of plans! Get to cover! Hide near the walls of buildings while the barrage is being fired. Mages, fire those spells now, push the bandits back and rest up once they are gone!" I barked out orders and quickly looked around.
"Damnit isn't Ronia done with the healing? We don't have all day." I head for the building with the villagers and called out while entering. "Ronia! We have to leave! The bandit's reinforcements are already barraging the camp with spells. We already had 12 more moon elves have the elders spell activate!" Ronia got up after she was finished healing another villager and turned to look at me. There was a loud bang as a spell slammed into the roof of this building. Several villagers screamed in panic but the roof held. She looked at me and then the villagers before sighing. "Alright, I get it. We'll start moving now."
She started to organize a retreat with the others and so I left the building. I had one last task to do. That was to collect the bodies. I got the attention of a nearby mage and told them "I'm going to scout the reinforcements and check how many bandits are left in the camp. Tell Ronia that she should finish retreating if I don't get back by the time she's done preparing." The mage nodded and so I took off. I got around the corner and started tossing bandit bodies into my inventory after putting on my hood and bandana to cover my face. I quickly got to work and started picking up bodies.
While cleaning the bodies I had to avoid the moon elves and bandits for obvious reasons. A shady person stealing bodies from a battlefield would arouse suspicion in anyone. I managed to steal 40 bodies but couldn't get the rest. They were either too damaged or too close to the moon elves to take. I decided to head back and saw that the remaining bandits had hunkered down in the central area of the camp and were holding off the moon elves. There was a dozen or so bodies there but I wasn't going to risk being exposed for a few bodies so I kept going. "Hmm might as well check on the reinforcements while im at it. I did say I was going to do that." I got to the wall and hopped up to the top using the stairs. Once up top I checked the other side and was left astonished. "What kind of bandits have a freaking army as reinforcements?!" I screamed out loud. Arrows flew towards me after someone on the ground noticed me but I quickly dove off the wall. I started to run back to Ronia and took off my hood and bandana while moving.
"Thats a massive army for some bandits to call as reinforcements. Looks like them not being bandits and actually being slavers was right. Thats got to be over 150 men as reinforcements. Not to mention their leader looked scary as hell. He's got to be level 80 or higher." I rounded a corner and saw Ronia up ahead and dashed forwards while calling for Ronia. We wouldn't survive a battle with that large of an army without being willing to suffer some pretty bad losses. That leader of theirs was also worrying. I hoped to whatever god that he didn't bother chasing us down and just left with his losses. I kept thinking of such things while Heading to Ronia to let her know. Shit just hit the fan, thats for sure.