KABOOOM!
The village stood witness to the most violent explosion of the night. The ground had instantly caved in, the moment the reddish mass impacted, obliterating anything inside a ten-meter radius. Cracks ran all over the area like spider webs, engulfing the wooden wall and the nearby huts within the village before the structures crumbled to pieces. The entire region shook with a slight tremor, sending all off the villagers flying off their feet before they crashed onto the ground. Someone having an eye prowess at the level of Shreya could also notice the minuscule vibration of the surrounding hills for an instant.
The fate of the people near the explosion need not be discussed, as they were instantly buried underneath the rocky soil. Caught up among them were two unfortunate retreating bandits that sunk into the ground with horrified and regretful faces.
The entire scene was obstructed from anyone's view as dust, smoke, and mangled body parts of the dead, rose from within the crater. The villagers peered hard into the smokescreen with astounded faces, trying to figure out this new catastrophe that had arrived.
But Shreya was not that patient enough, with her hands blurring atop the longbow, firing a rapid barrage of arrows. A total of seven projectiles twirled about like plant vines as they disappeared into the smoke with insane velocity. An incredibly fast and powerful red trailed arrow followed right after, rushing ahead in a straight path as it cut through the air with a piercing whistle.
shua! shua! shua! screech!
At that moment, the villagers saw the dust screen getting bisected by a massive something, as a booming sound echoed in their ears. A fierce gale immediately erupted, sending sharp radial winds whistling away from around the crater as it cleared up the dust screen in an instant.
The seven arrows fell onto the ground, not being able to pierce through the wind barrier. With the visibility restored, the people stood witness to the spectacular moment of the frightening red arrow getting blocked by a massive hunk of a black sword, covering almost half of the body of a tall, burly man behind.
shua! shua!
Just when the villagers had begun to lament about the failed ambush, two dazzling green arrows instantly approached the figure from either side like the pincers of a giant scorpion. It was another perfect ambush, accurately timed by the huntress.
whoosh!
Right then, a fiendish crimson aura erupted from the burly man's body sending chills down the villagers' spine. The green arrows combated the crimson aura with a brilliant sparkle of glowing lights that the spectators gazed with amazement.
The battle of auras continued for another instant, the red arrow being the first to lose its power, unable to pierce the giant sword while the green arrows managed to drill all the way to their target despite the viscous drag, forcing the burly man to slightly twist his body at the end.
With two psh! sounds, the arrow pierced the man with a bright spurt of blood, but much contrary to the villager's excitement and the stupefied faces of the nearly dead bandits, Shreya displayed an unnaturally ugly expression. In the next moment, with booming laughter, the burly man slowly lowered the giant sword, displaying the two arrows sticking out of his right trap muscle beside his neck and his left shoulder.
"You are much more skilled than from what I had heard, but now that I got to see you, it's no wonder!" he spoke, casually pulling out the arrows along with a small trail of blood.
"A native from the southern lands of Panchavati eh, I should have guessed that. The people around here are all in only for swords and magic after all. Hahaha."
Although Shreya didn't show any reaction on her face, her heart was set in turmoil hearing the man mention her birthplace, and complex emotions surfaced for a brief moment. She managed to calm down her distracting thoughts, focusing on the matter at hand but that just made her heart plunge into bitter despair. Abandoning the battle at this point was impossible, not from a man of this caliber. She could only hope that the women and children hiding behind had already evacuated to the forest.
The villagers had been on the verge of charging at the burly man who still had not moved an inch from inside the crater, but their legs just wouldn't listen to them, cowering under the heavy and stifling pressure emanated from their opponent. Seeing as even Shreya had stopped her volley of arrows, they could only glance around among themselves with flustered faces.
A strange silence ensued on the bloody battlefield, the burly man standing with folded arms and a wide smile. The confusion of the folks continued for a time until the moment their eyes landed on the ten or so figures wearing familiar rags in the distance, charging at unbelievable speeds through the fields.
Despair! Extreme despair overcame the villager's heart as the morale they had struggled to keep alive was wiped out in an instant. Like a punctured balloon, strength was sucked away from their bodies as many of them collapsed onto the ground. Just what was this!? They fought and fought with their lives on the line, only to get rewarded with this!?
"Everyone, run away," Shreya spoke with a solemn tone before hopping down onto the plaza, her eyes glowing with a spark of determination.
"Runaway? To where," village chief sighed, seemingly giving up at this point. "The gods have already determined our fate. This village is destined to perish today."
"The only thing we can do is to buy time, as much time as possible.", the old man grit his rotten teeth, resolving himself to his destiny.
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The remaining village men, who now numbered only around thirty, similarly prepared their hearts and grit their teeth for the final act of struggle. None of them were in good condition, but even after staring right into death itself, they still clutched their weapons aiming to last as long as possible. It was all for the kin they loved and treasured.
The final phase of the battle between the villagers and bandits had begun, and quite anticlimactically it was settled within the next few instances.
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Around the hunter's house at the far end of the settlement, the place was unusually quiet compared to the loud noises of battle at the village entrance. Occasional explosive sounds did reach all the way, but that too had stopped some time ago and only indiscernible faint echoes of womanly cries persisted throughout the area.
The hunter's house was not as spacious as the inn, but it was larger and well furnished than most of the villagers' thatched huts. The interior of the house was dark and silent, it's design being very basic, giving people the feeling that its residents lived a fairly simple life. Apart from the different hunting traps and tools lying around, the house did not seem to contain any object of value.
But if someone meticulously checked every inch of the floor, they would find an oddity right at the entrance to one of the larger rooms of the house, presumably the bedroom. Tapping the floor at this point would make a loud sound echo throughout the hall, indicating the emptiness of the ground beneath. It was purposefully placed in a way such that most people would just walk over when trying to enter the room.
Just beneath this point on the floor was an underground stony basement. Its size was equal to the bedroom right above it and was filled with all sorts of materials. Claws of different shapes, fangs of different sizes, scales of different colours, strange glowing crystals, all of them were stacked around the place in an orderly fashion.
All these items were precious monster materials, and if the contents of this room were ever exposed to the village than the title of the wealthiest person would instantly switch its owner. At one of the dark corners of this basement, Legas and Lora sat in a cuddle on the hard floor. A lit candle waved a tiny little flame in front, illuminating the boy's pale and worry stricken face.
The siblings had hidden within the basement under Shreya's advice, silently waiting for her return. Apart from a small tremor that had vibrated the entire room briefly, none of the noise and clamor from outside could make it's may here, making the darkroom deathly quiet, that gave the anxious siblings an ominous feeling.
Crash!!
Suddenly, a loud sound echoed throughout the basement, surprising the duo as they flinched with fear. The sound was akin to the crashing down of a wooden object before it was destroyed to smithereens. Colour instantly left Legas' face and an unpleasant expression donned upon when he deduced the cause. Someone had barged into their house!
"Brother..." Lora whispered, glancing at her brother with fearful eyes.
"Shh! Don't make any noise and stay here," Legas whispered back, as he slowly crept up from the corner before climbing the ladder up towards the ceiling.
A mountain of thoughts flashed past the boy's head during the entire time. He had already imagined the worst possible situation making his movements unusually stiff. With an extremely distorted face that was on the verge of crying, Legas placed his ear upon the roof of the basement, at the point of the entrance where the trap door was located.
"Search every corner! It can't only be those pelts outside!" a man's voice echoed around.
"That archer annihilated more than half of our entire brigade! She must be hiding even more precious materials somewhere."
Legas could make out the sharp raspy voice of a man shouting out orders, along with three pairs of footsteps that scurried to and fro inside the house. The sounds of the breaking of furniture, ruffling of objects, the clanking of utensils and such, made it look like the entire place was being turned upside down.
'BANDITS!!' power instantly left the boy's hands making him lose his grip, almost falling down the ladder.
'How come they are here!? What about Mom! The villagers! The Adventurers! Are they all.....!?'
Crazy thoughts pounded Legas' head, inciting a feeling of dizziness within his brain. Although it may have been possible that the bandits had reached all the way here because they either slipped through the battle or snuck in the village from a different direction. But Legas didn't feel that sort of attitude from the men above, rather they were meticulously searching the house without any care as if no form of danger awaited them anymore.
He also knew very well that his mother would not let these savages slip past herself unless something unfortunate occurred. Tears were already flowing down from his red eyes as the boy listened in on the conversation. 'Did she really...!!'
"But was it okay for Boss to fight that archer alone. I mean, some of us should have remained there for backup, right?"
"Oi, don't go babbling your mouth like that in front of everyone or they would rip out your tongue!" the raspy voice rebuked.
A wave of relief instantly drowned Legas' heart. It seems his mother is still alive and dueling the bandit leader. He trusted in his mother's abilities and had full confidence that she could always run away if the situation got dire. But thinking hard about the tragic information hidden within the bandit's words, the boy's face drooped down in sorrow. Just then, the conversation above the basement continued and,
"Our boss is someone who had cleared the Trial of the Gods, gaining power directly from Zygorath, The God of Might and Valor. You think we are in a position to worry for him?"
The raspy-voiced bandit instantly poured cold water on any of Legas' self-assurance. Trial Of...Gods? Trial of the Gods!? His mother was fighting someone who had gained recognition from a God!?
Legas felt the blood rushing onto his head due to all sorts of complex emotions as he swayed on the top of the ladder. Having some knowledge about the supposed trial, he could not even think what it would feel facing the strength of such a person. Imagining an unfortunate accident, he felt as if a hole was being drilled into his heart.
At this moment, a panicked and anxious Lora made her way to the bottom of the ladder, glancing at the boy's pale visage. The worry stricken eyes of the little girl instantly calmed Legas, before he dropped down onto the ground.
'Right! I have something more important to do!'
Legas buried all thoughts at the back of his head as his eyes narrowed with a sharp gleam. He remembered the responsibility given by his mother and also her final words before parting. It was not the time to worry about others since he was in a perilous situation himself.
Though the basement was the safest place to wait until the bandits left the house, Legas could not take that risk. On the chance that the trap door was discovered and the barbaric men rushed into this confined space, it will be the end for them. For him, Lora's safety was what mattered the most at this point and he had to ensure that at any cost.
The boy clutched his fists tight as he glanced towards one corner of the darkroom before making a decision. A bright steel longsword, one of his father's equipment, silently lay atop a stack of monster scales, it's unusual luster spoke as if waiting to witness some action after a long time.
"Lora, get ready...We are going up!"