Matthias had been standing right behind [Carpenter] Joel when the slavering pack came over them like nightmares. The older man’s steady nerve was the only thing that kept his bowels from voiding, and when the first beast was speared he knew he was doomed. The rest of the pack had shown no hesitation at all, as if their single purpose in life was ending his.
Only one thing kept him alive for those first few seconds; his cousin Nicklas. When the black furred Barghatz leapt right on top of its speared packmate and went straight for Matthias' neck, his cousin saved him with a push that put his own neck on the line.
Nicklas had shoved his arm down the beast’s throat, past the triple rows of shark teeth, and then got separated from their tight formation when it bit down and dragged him off. Within seconds a pair of mosswolves had grabbed onto his legs and it looked like they were tearing him apart; until a sudden burst of white energy flashed and replaced all three limbs with nearby forest detritus.
Nicklas had desperately thrown all his focus into activating [Wooden Cicada Limb], on a hunch that it would help the situation. He’d used it in a spar before, but only to keep himself from bruising; this was the first time he attempted replacing the limb in its entirety. Somehow it worked–on all three.
It also made him pass out from the unexpected magical strain. But that action bought them enough time for Harold and Kalle to come in like a vengeance, butchering the beasts with deadly strikes and a variety of disorienting Spells.
As things got back under control they all earned some breathing room, enough for Redd to take charge and make it clear the situation was not over.
What the hel is going on? Oscar was feeling overwhelmed. He was supposed to become their shield, yet he’d been bowled over and forced to fight defensively the whole melee. Stay disciplined, analyse the situation.
When Algernon ran into trouble was when the gravity of the situation began unfolding. He was okay for now, shooting steadily upward to keep from being cornered, buffeting the wave of crows with powerful cutting winds to stay afloat and alive, but there were hundreds going after the proud owl.
All a distraction. Redd’s booming voice rang out. “Take cover!”
The first arrows that fell struck the ground, pinged off the [Cloche Illuminance Sensor], and pierced both of the horses. The beasts reared in pain, despite the small size of the wounds—poison.
The first volley was 30 arrows strong, and their people would have been shot too if it weren’t for the efforts of their warriors. Oscar’s shield was studded already, and he cleared it in a hurry with his sword. The arrows had failed to pierce through, yet still gotten stuck. Matthias slapped his cousin awake and carried him half-running up the roadside ditch, to where they might get in among the safety of the trees; while the rest of the [Guild] covered for them.
The second volley came too fast. They’d gotten off the road, but in their hurried desperation not all of them were quick enough; Baslov took aim at a young woman who’d ended up a straggler and fired off his [Homing Missile]. A tall Human with a knife and a wand tried intercepting with a burst of telekinesis, but Baslov’s Skill was too high level for such tricks. Despite the man pushing his arrow out of its path, it homed right back around.
Hit. The woman yelped in pain before the two of them fell back out of sight, behind cover.
A Skill with an expensive cooldown, but these Humans had dealt with the beasts and their arrows well so far, and this rush depended on his band causing some immediate damage—
Baslov’s primary goal was causing a panic so they could hunt them through the forest. At first it seemed to work quite well.
One of the warriors mounted a very large, aggressive looking bird–who had managed to stay out of the way of every arrow so far–and took off, evidently fleeing his companions. Baslov signalled his fighters. Let him go.
The sooner they reduced their numbers the better, with any luck the stupid Human would act like his kind usually did and hang around the area out of guilt. They’d get him later.
Another one of their warriors, who appeared unarmed except for the large stick he’d picked up to deflect their arrows, suddenly jumped up into the trees as well, appearing to take off in the opposite direction. Unusual, that Humans would give up so soon, but then the wise would know resistance is futile when facing the Cloven.
Half their forces were still coming up the road, they had been forced to stop before they’d reached here, out of sheer exhaustion. They still needed to be able to fight upon arrival, and if there was one thing they were missing it was movement Skills.
The higher level Cloven spread out in the meantime, to hem the Humans in, slowly surrounding them with bows.
Their crafter seemed to be hard at work throwing up a makeshift cover, but the Cloven ignored it and kept going and going, all the way around while keeping their distance. Soon they were gonna cover every angle.
They gradually increased the distance from each other, while a few kept the Human’s heads down with potshots, by peppering the trees where they were now hiding. The old, large one in the front was doing an admirable job providing cover, but he’d been hit twice now and should start slowing soon.
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The horses had collapsed already from the poison spreading in their veins, so there was nothing stopping his warband from approaching even closer. That’s when Baslov noticed Jane out of the corner of his eye.
She’d been acting rather nondescript so far, and the carnage she caused earlier had not been reported, since the male warrior had been far more noticeable with his giant, was it a halberd?
She suddenly burst out from where she’d been hiding beneath some wolf carcasses–while the Cloven were still busy getting set up in position.
The lone woman came sprinting at their left wing like a frenzied sampalga; appearing right in the middle of Korfas, their level 33 [Sharpshooter] and his brother, who’d always kept him safe on their raids. Despite being protected by a level 29 [Club Guardian], the two were brained like they still had their birthing capsules on. The woman was wielding a rock.
That was just the beginning. She flashed to the next bowman in the row, clearly moving with the help of a Skill; and that was 3 dead Cloven in as many seconds.
His men did not take this lying down, the Cloven were used to dealing with all manner of beast and enemy [Soldier]. You did not build a frontier cartel from the ground up by being risk averse and having a soft spine… Yet taking on this foe, in their current drained state; matters were quickly escalating above their paygrade.
She finally started to slow after five kills, as she ran into their moosekin [Bruiser]. That beast could take a beating–while his Skills held up–and they finally managed to create enough distance to not be in immediate danger. Still, they remained careful and forced to focus on containment; they needed to poison her and make her slow down even further, then they could overwhelm her with sheer numbers.
At the moment they were still devoting a good dozen Cloven to keeping the rest of the Humans in check, and Jane was suddenly forced to play defence, as more Cloven kept arriving up the road and adding on to the pile she was dealing with.
But the damned Humans didn’t let them focus on one threat at the time; suddenly their right wing was attacked as well; that damned warrior on the ostrich had returned.
Baslov took aim.
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Oscar had decided to gamble, at the encouragement of Sten who said he had a plan that might see them do some serious harm if they worked together. Sten asked that Oscar ride out first, betting on the fact that they would not immediately follow him, but allow him to get out of sight and circle back around to come at their flank.
It was risky, but sometimes you needed to commit, before the moment passed you by. And sometimes offence was the best defence. Sten needed to make sure they were focused on Oscar and didn’t have time to spot him coming in from above.
It started out perfectly.
Richard gored the first Cloven they came upon with his spearlike spurs, but Oscar left nothing to chance and sliced across her neck and the string of her bow in the same fell swoop. That made the next two Cloven in the line turn around fast–though not fast enough. Oscar gored the first one, successfully lancing the heart when the Cloven’s [Swift Parry] failed to account for the real angle of his attack. Richard kicked off and circled to keep the other one at bay, as Oscar recovered his poise and returned to swing his blade again–which was when an arrow from afar struck his shoulder, easily piercing through the leather.
Oscar’s adrenaline turned to ice as the pain of the arrow striking bone dispersed the battle fog, bringing the situation he was in right back into stark perspective. Holy shit, I have to retreat!
He’d already killed two Cloven; to keep going was suicide. Every bow within 30 metres was turning his way. Oscar flipped the shield around over to his back and turned Richard around to sprint off. It would have never worked, if it weren’t for the frankly whimsical nature of his mount’s stride. The giant bird lurched from side to side and in sudden bursts, which was extremely jarring for the inexperienced rider, but perfect when you needed to avoid a storm of arrows.
It still wouldn’t have worked, if it weren’t for the trees.
Trees that suddenly unleashed Sten like a comet, as he went from [Tree Tricking] across the branches to vaulting into a [Tornado Kick] from 5 metres above the first Cloven who came running, trying to get a bead on Oscar.
The martial artist was a storm of deadly knuckles and elbows, knees and kicks. These were not generally dangerous weapons to well-trained and high-level Cloven, but the man was targeting their every weakness, successfully launching his full bodyweight into single digits striking directly into throats, scrotums and eyes, in quick succession, leaving his enemies not just stunned but crippled for life. And the way he used his mobility to take cover behind trees, get height via protruding branches, to then get right past their weapons in the very next second—
It was ferocious and utterly overwhelming to the individual, while looking completely inexplicable from a third-party view, where it was far from apparent what exactly was going on.
The way the battle had suddenly shifted spelled disaster, but the numbers remained heavily in favour of Baslov, and he was no fool. Now knowing more of what he was dealing with, he ordered the centre to move back and support the retreat of both wings where the unusual warriors were wreaking havoc.
Round two was about to start.
Which was when Redd made his move.