Inbetween two ridges of the road that leads to Ivory City, the young merchant Arisland Ulfric and his personal aide Kane Rodrick Lordran along with Anaru stopped the carriage. The old man went down from the driver seat of the carriage and unbound the beasts that pulled it. He then moved them on the side of the road and tied them on a stake. He ran back on the carriage and knocked on the door.
“Young master, quickly give me the magical device.” – He said in a hurry
You can hear objects being moved or thrown inside the carriage, after a minute have passed the door opened with the young man handing over a steel tube. Arisland had a pale face filled with worrying, he was anxious but didn’t say anything.
“Lock the door young master, do not open it until I come back or the help arrives, Do not forget to doubt them, they might pretend they’re from the guilds, ask them to get your uncle and not your father, he’s a knight he’ll come when he hears your troubles, he likes you very much so do not worry.”-Lordran
“Be careful grandpa! I will do it just as you say!” – His voice was filled with concern but a strong resolve can also be heard from it.
“You do not need to worry young master, I am strong and pesky bandits are no match against me. That is all young master, now use the scroll and cast it on the carriage.”
Although normal eyes wouldn’t be able to sense it, a surge of mana filled the carriage, it was a protection magic that enhanced and strengthen objects that are targeted by it.
The old man walk ahead in front of the carriage and used the steel tube, he pressed the rear end of the tube then the other end release a gold light that launched into the sky, after reaching certain height the gold light stopped but only for a moment and begun to move towards the direction of Ivory City.
Anaru seeing this jumped down from the carriage and approached the old man who was watching the gold light.
“Ne~ ne~ ne~”
“What is it now brat? Can’t you sense we’re in trouble?”
“That’s not it old man, I was wondering why didn’t you do that from the beginning and what was that?”
“It’s an expensive magical device sold by the guild to call for help they only sell it to guild members and some merchants who can afford it in extra price, why I didn’t use it before it’s because it lacks range and it’s an insurance to assure the safety of the young master. It will trigger a receiver in the nearest guild calling for help.”- explaining while annoyed
“So what will you do now old man? You see there is about 30 people tailing who will be here any moment now and about 50 ahead of us.”
He looked surprise for a moment but his face turned into a serious one.
“That many, hmph! I should be the one asking you that beastman, what will you do? Maybe you can ask them to let you through, but I highly doubt they will let you pass.”
“Nyahahahaha! That’s right old man! The bandits will definitely defile this pure maidens body as they take turns in raping me after all I’m a real beauty fufufu.”
“Tch, Now that you mentioned it, you should have gone inside with the young master when you had the chance, I don’t have any leeway to babysit you brat.” He seems more annoyed this time
“Now now old man, you insult my warriors pride if you say something like that.”
“A warrior huh, figures, so what will you do now?”
“How about this old man, I’m extremely nice and really getting stiff , I shall lend you a hand, I’ll take care of the front while you take care of the back.” Anaru said with fake sincerity in her voice.
“And they say warriors of the beastmen are honourable, no, maybe you’re an exception you’re a brat after all. I was expecting you to think of it as a repayment for your free ride.”
“Kindness cannot be repaid old man, since the value will always not be equal, so what do you say old man?”
“Not like you have a choice yourself and no I’ll take care of the front and you go deal with the ones tailing us, brats shouldn’t play with that many flames. If something happens to you it’s your own damn fault for being a brat.”- He looks unsure but he didn’t have any choices.
“What a greedy old man! Nyahahaha! Do not worry of me old man, as I said I can take care of myself.”
With that done, the old man walk away and drew his sword throwing it’s sheathe on the ground.
With that, Anaru move to her position on the rear while removing her fur coat and leaving her robed spear on the driver’s seat.
I wasn’t planning on using the spear since my plan is to attack them head on as soon as they arrive in range carrying the spear will only slow me down. My attack will throw them in surprise and confusion and when they recover they will surely aim for me, it’s on of the oldest trick in the book and that is to do the most unexpected of the enemy.
After minutes of waiting they arrive at my field of vision, I moved into my crouching stance that look similar to a Wushu stance were your right foot is stretch towards your front and your other foot is bending in crouch, I hold my dagger with left hand in front of my face.
I smiled at the tailers who were riding on horses with no formation whatsoever, the rider who was either the tracker or leader who was leading them will be my first target. He was ahead of them by a few feet, so I shouldn’t worry about getting ran over by the horses.
As soon as he entered my reach, directing enough strength to my feet and send myself flying towards the first rider, I used my elbow to drag him off his horse, when we both landed I stabbed his neck leaving my back exposed to the other riders, I could hear the horse growls behind me then my instincts clicks in and I jump rolled away.
What I saw was a throwing spear sticking in the ground. The riders who are now more serious than how they looked before assumed a formation. It then hit me, the realization that I was fighting no ragtag bandits, this band of riders was equipped with chain mails and all have head protections of either leather or metal domed helms.
I remained calm and slowly move back away, as soon as they saw me move they begin to slowly surround me but maintaining a safe distance, slowly but surely they surrounded me. Those who have swords or so dismounted while drawing their weapons as they surrounded me.
A man on horse stepped forward, I could sense he was the strongest of all them and my instincts tells me he was the one who threw the spear. His head wears a bascinet helmet with metal mask covering his entire face, inside of it is an aventail. He wore a green robe and on his shoulder cuff can be seen a long sleeve of chainmail and below his knees are leather hide boots. He’s a tall man with huge built arms and wide chest.
He then came down from his horse and another man took it away, he pulled out his weapon from his back, a greatsword known as Zweihander he then positioned himself into a rear left stance.
The man in front of me speaks
“You’re very agile for a beast.”
“You’re quite a big guy for someone in chainmail.”
He looked surprised that I answered and paused for a moment then continue speaking again.
“Only few men survived my throw.”
“Is that so? I am honoured.”
“That’s why we have a tradition here, those who survive my spear is my prey.”
The surrounding men laughed and begun shouting there threats.
“Cut his feet!”
“Show him hell that he’d wish he was killed by that spear!”
“Look at this fierce shorty! Slash of his eyes!”
“Just kill him already!”
And so on
“Quite a bunch of rowdy fellows you have here for me.”- I said
“You seems confident.”
“Not really, by the way you don’t look like bandits.”
“Is that so?”
“You look like soldiers.”
“Maybe?”
Looks like I will not get any answers from this guy.
I moved into a more practical and tight knife stance, The blade of the dagger is now above my hand, I’m completely disadvantage in range, power and protection. My only chances of winning this disadvantageous fight is by aiming for his eyes or slowly chipped away his chainmail by hitting the same spot over and over again but both will be difficult, damned my stupid excitement I should have brought my spear and this would have been so much easier.
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I casted High Tiered Spells on me [Wind Boost][Lighter Burden][Mana Field][Mana Blade].
[Wind Boost] is an intermediate spell that increase caster’s mobility using mana that will push you towards the direction you’re moving at, the more you move the more it will eat your mana. It’s called wind boost despite not being a wind spell because it feels like a wind caressing your entire body when you use it.
[Lighter Burden] an advance enhancement spell, it decreases the caster’s body weight for a period of time.
[Mana Field] Magus tier spell, detects any movement around the caster’s decided radius field. The bigger Mana Field radius the larger the mana consumption. Movement detected around the field will also decrease your mana to replace it. An overload of this spell can create a mana explosion effect, its advice to only use it in a short period of time.
[Mana Blade] Creates a sharp mana around the targeted object, mana blade gets broken after first impact is done.
As I was done with my preparation, A voice screamed out amongst the rider.
“Be careful Loreine, he’s a mana user!”
He was shocked on hearing this, and I smiled I wouldn’t let this chance get away, I stepped in as fast as I could, My dagger was already near his face before anyone could see, he tilted his head making it only grazing his helmet, my mana sense detected a movement from his sword heading to my back, I dodge down and kick his knees before diving away. But he wouldn’t let it end there, he pursued me with an above the head stance and was going to slash me down, I regain my defensive stance as fast as I can, It was too late when I realize it was a feint, he had already pulled a reverse back kick on me and was sent off balance. I was too focused on the movement of his long sword that I made a mistake. I saw him again approaching with a above the head stance, but this time he will surely cut me down, I disabled my [Mana Field] and put a large mana on [Wind Boost] and rolled to my side before the sword hit me. Doing this made me now unable to use both [Mana Field] and [Wind Boost], if I continue using [Wind Boost] I would be unable to use any [Mana Blades] right now I can only use 20 of them. As soon as I rolled out of danger I did a kip out while facing the ground and quickly performed a low spinning sweep kick to return the favour. With all my strength once again I move to stab his eyes while he is immobilized but was stopped by his left hand, his hand that stopped the blade was cut deep and started bleeding profusely, he let out a groaning noise before I notice his other hand that was holding his sword moved and slashed me, I jumped back and let myself deliberately fall behind my back but was still grazed by his sword due to its ridiculous reach. Never mind, calling it a simple graze was stupid, that thing tore off my flesh making me unable to use my left arm.
While we were both trying to get as much rest possible, the surrounding men came back to their senses and started saying their opinion.
“That kid ain’t half bad.”
“To manage to wound Loreine and even to push him back at that!”
“Loreine must be wet down there, to accidentally find such opponent while we’re on a mission!”
“What just happened?”
When the commotion stopped, I get back on my feet and see the swordsman name Loreine do as well.
He then talk.
“What is a beast warrior doing here so far away from his lands?”- with voice filled with questions
I smirked and returned a question
“Why is a talented swordsman playing banditry?”
With his left arm wounded I don’t have to worry of his speed and his power is decrease. He used a Fool’s stance, although this stance disadvantage him the most, he didn’t have any other choice. I also could hear him whisper pains, I guess the dagger’s effect kicked in.
Finally this duel is about done, I’ll take hostage of him so I can run off back to the carriage and grab my spear, thinking along those lines I readied my crouching stance, it was the same stance I used before but this time I only have an arm and it will be more difficult to control my body.
As I was about to eject myself I felt a huge killing intent coming from behind. The world became slow and my instincts kicks in, I moved my entire head towards my right shoulder as I feel the gust of wind passed me, what was inside that gust of wind was a wooden arrow with red broadhead imbued with mana.
When I looked to see who the assailant was, I saw a drow elf smiling with devious grin. She looks exactly like a drow elf, black skin, red eyes, white hair, long ears, beautiful elongated face and wearing black leathers. It didn’t surprise me that I wasn’t able to detect the drow since they are natural born stealth race, but what surprised me was an entire new band of riders containing a bunch of strong people. The one who stands out the most is next to the drow elf ,he is riding a rhinoceros looking animal with lizard scales and six feet it wasn’t as tall as the horses but it will be around my shoulder height, he stood in the middle of this band, extremely large muscled arms with veins popping out of it, completely hairless, an intimidating sanpaku face, wearing only a white sleeveless shirt, pants and a shoe, this man who is completely lacks protections looks the strongest of them.
When I understand where did this band came from, I shuddered to think that the old man was defeated. My survivability have reached it’s lowest, with the drow with them even If I hold hostage I would just be cut down, and my only hope of getting the spear is block by 20 or so strong men, even if I somehow manage to get my spear the only thing I could do is escape, leaving the poor young boy behind and wait for reinforcement but even so with one broken arm and the continuous blood loss will I even manage to get far away? But thank the gods that luck was on my side as they begun to speak with each other.
“Looks like our little Loreine find quite a catch.” Said by the drow
The strong band laughed and some snickered.
“Enough! Loreine thanks to your stupid games, this operation is a complete failure, the guilds have arrived and we weren’t able to gain the package, get back on your horses we’re pulling out.”-baldy said in a very angry tone.
After hearing that, both bands begun retreating, the drow elf rode next to me and gave me a flying kiss, while a black wolfman approached to analyse me and started laughing maniacally when he was done. When they finally reached the end of the ridge that leads back to beast lands, A consecutive explosions of black smokes covered their escape.
When they were finally gone I took a deep breath, realizing I was spare from death. I looked towards the carriage and I could see from a far the old man is running at full speed towards me with a large bleeding wound on his chest and cuts all over his body that destroyed his robe. When I saw the old man, I definitely thought he was an undead, no he’s definitely one, what the hell is up with this old?
Not far behind the old man were more riders, this is the guild rescuers I thought.
The blood loss finally affects me as I am slowly drifting to unconsciousness.
It was all thanks to me getting overconfident and underestimated the strength of the bandits and those were now simple bandit groups, i'll definitely make the old bastard spill who they were.
“nyah~ damn it, I lost.”
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