[Targeted Mass Charm]! [Targeted Mass Enrage]! Micky cast and cast. Now his [Charm] targeted his enemies and bound his allies. While his [Enrage] bond one enemy group to another. While this wouldn’t stop those that had agro like Michael or Mathew, it would make the groups so much more ordered… For Micky and crew. It got so much worse for the bandits. Both monster groups were now targeting them. They were also targeting each other of course, it was chaos. Basically a controlled frenzy.

[Congrat...]

Micky ignored the system messages and just cackled quickly. Because he was blacking out. He quickly went into mana overuse. This usually ends in a headache but fainting from going from high or moderate mana is not an uncommon symptom. With prolonged exposure to mana overuse there can be lasting effects. [Consult Docter Before Going Into Mana Overuse.]

Mathew grunted. The kid fainted, that probably meant that he failed, just great. And whatever he did do the monsters were going into a frenzy. Heck did he try to use [Frenzy]? That would just be even more annoying. Mathew wasn’t feeling the effects so probably not.

Mathew worked on the [Monster]s and bandits that had come over to investigate. The bandits had become even more desperate. They were charging over at Mathew with all they had. At least with the [Monster]s going into a [Frenzy] they would no longer send more bandits over. Unfortunately it meant that the [Monsters] was the bigger threat. Already Simone was… Disengaging? So were the vast majority of the crew. Only he and Michael were stuck in the melee but they were tanks so it wasn’t so bad.

“Simone, come grab Micky and get him out of here!” He yelled. Mathew didn’t need the kid getting trampled. And if he didn’t need to actually protect him than he could go all out.

Simone danced around the battlefield like it was a circus act and grabbed Micky. Then she threw him onto her back like a sack and left the area. Simone quickly came back and started harassing the bandits and [Monster]s around Mathew and Micheal. So did some of the rest of the party. Michael looked aggrieved to find that half of his family was resting and watching the fight.

Well, at least some of the party could rest and recharge. And none of them ran away. Even if they did they would just be hunted down later.

Mathew killed another [Monster]. [Enraged] [Monster]s were his favorite. They were stupid and would leave themselves wide open as they charged into his [Block]s and [Parry]s. Of course he knew he was alone in his assessment. Well, as alone as one could get with all other tank classes. *Boink* that little slime smashed into a monster, offsetting it just enough for him to get in the killing blow. Mathew no longer had to worry about this one, it would bleed out shortly. Of course the bandits still had troubles since it was still alive and they weren’t tanks. At least not most of them.

Mathew was getting into his rhythm now. He still had to protect Michael, but now that he didn’t have to actually lead the party he could get to do what he did best, tanking an' killing. So that’s what he did. Block strike, parry strike. He was starting to get almost zen about it now. Hmm, there’s a couple attacking at once, Block parry. Mathew’s only problem was that Michael was having a terrible time. Honestly, what did they do in that tiny village to make a young [Warrior] so crappy? Yes he is at least two promotions away from [Squire], but if he wanted to be a [Guard] that was only one. Was it a diss against [Guard]s, is that it? Mathew almost wanted to go back and strangle somebody.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Hmm, on second thought the people he needed to strangle were actually in his party, I’ll have to add that to the list. Parry stab, Bandit down. Hmm, nope he’s [Dead]. Ahh, that wonderful feeling of exercise. He hadn’t realized how much he missed exercising in that tiny village. Of course they wouldn’t have as much as he did in the army. Fighting under the state’s banner was going to get you some action, and not the lady kind… Well actually, he got a lot of the lady kind as well. Good commanders knew that keeping your soldiers happy meant they would fight and bleed for ya.

Parry strike, another [Monster] down, it was starting to thin around Mathew. Michael was still having trouble even though Mathew kept taking enemies off of him. Mathew was so disappointed. Oh well, *Boing* Strike stab. That was another two enemies down. So he slammed his shield into another [Monster] that was attacking Michael. At least the boy followed commands well enough, sometimes.

Stab parry strike, hmm blood but still shallow, he needs more practice, he’s getting rusty. Now he was back up to five enemies and the boy was down to two. If he couldn’t handle two [Monster]s the man would force him to do something. He couldn’t think of what yet, but it would be highly unpleasant, involving a lot of sweating, and scar him for life. It might also involve a sword and some rope. He wasn’t sure if he was going to torture him or train him or just beat the shit out of him. Might involve all three.

Mathew spared a look across the battlefield. And at this point it could truly be called a battlefield. Mathew saw a few of the party members still in combat. The bandits looked like they wanted to flee but the [Monster]s had them cornered. Any attempt to flee on their part was quickly met and chased down. Mathew hadn’t even realized when new monsters had joined the battlefield or that the battle had moved south a few hundred yards. That was worrying. Luckily the [Monster]s were in a true [Bloodlust] now and wouldn’t come out of it simply. Both of the previous packs had been whittled down and the new monsters were just low leveled scavengers, nothing to worry about.

But Mathew couldn’t allow the bandits to run. Bandits, successful bandits, were organized. That meant that if they let these go they would be back and with greater numbers. Best case they grabbed another crew or two, worst case they were a small part of an org.

“You lazy arses get back in there!” Mathew screamed. It had been a while since he had been in war but he couldn’t help but put some of his old spirit into it, even if it was just a pug.

“I said get back in there! If those bandits leave, they’ll be back and then you couldn’t sell your wives and husbands to survive!” Mathew screamed again. This time he got a response, when they realized how much shit they were in.

The rest of the party charged in around Mathew and Michael. They started concentrating their efforts to push. Michael was lagging behind but Mathew couldn’t blame the boy. Of course they didn’t head to the center. They trimmed around the edge until both sides were in a stalemate again and again. Some [Monster]s and bandits would split off to attack them but mostly it would stay the same. Micky’s spell had long since worn off but whatever he did really screwed up these two groups. They wanted each others blood and they damned well would have it.

Finally, the monsters were killed but a few of the bandits managed to escape. Mathew sent Simone and the parties fastest after them. He could only hope they were able to finish off the bandits.

Now it was time to loot. The monsters were going to just be meat, they could take a few of the better hides but they didn’t have time to skin them. They needed to move. Even if they finished off the bandits there would be more, because there were bandits in the first place. This was all because he failed to negotiate. Had he been able to earn safe passage he could have been marked and left alone.

Unfortunately, they had been the unreasonable sort. That usually meant fresh meat that was new to the whole bandit thing. But these didn’t strike Mathew as that. No, they were too organized and their gear too uniform. If they were any more uniform or new he would suspect that this was some rich kid playing bandit. But this gear was well used, these were people that had seen death and knew him like a drinking buddy.

So Mathew started stripping them bare to look for markings and took all their goods. Luckily that damned mule was still alive or they would be in deep. They were too far out to survive on what they could carry without foraging.

“Shit” said Mathew as he held something in his hand.