CHAPTER 109 WOODED EXCURSION PART 2
I slammed into the ground at what felt like Mach 10. A sharp lance of pain went through my face as my nose probably broke. My minds instantly snapped to the area around me checking for enemies.
Tilon slowed down, turning to look at me. As he turned his back I saw someone leap for him slowly fading out of the near-invisible stealth they’d been under. I instantly snapped a barrier in front of him and activated [Wings of Lightning] to raise myself off the ground instead of trying to pick myself up.
I hadn’t wanted to use the skill earlier because it basically gave me a mantle of lightning that was very, very bright. Not exactly good when you’re trying not to draw attention to yourself. But now that they were already on us it didn’t really matter.
I floated up, off the ground, Tilon quickly flitting away from where he was turning to face the rogue in front of us.
“Thanks, they woul-”
“There’s no time for that,” I snapped at him, “you go ahead and help Lytri, I’ll deal with this one.”
Tilon just nodded and instantly shot off. He was at least decisive. I was thinking I was going to have to argue with him in the meanwhile about how we didn’t have time to face this person together and that he would need to trust me to handle it like this was some sort of anime or something.
But no, he just went. I wasn’t sure if I should be offended by how little he seemed to care about my well-being, but it wasn’t like we really knew each other.
I focused on the rogue who was trying to dip away behind a tree, but with my localized omniscience, they weren’t slipping out of sight that easily.
I sent out several [Binds] to try and grab the rogue and hold them in place but they easily hopped and slid around the tendrils as they reached for them.
Finally managing to get a good look at them I peaked at their level.
[Level 343 Human]
The rogue, I was pretty sure their name was Tory, took off running obviously giving up trying to disappear behind a tree. I followed, this time being a lot more cautious of my surroundings to avoid slitting my throat or something on a wire.
Meanwhile, I kept throwing up obstacles in front of the rogue, trying to trip them up. But like anyone with sufficiently high agility and dexterity, they easily dodged out of the way of all the attacks, even when I tried setting them up to push them into another one, they moved in a completely different direction like they knew what I was trying to do.
Was I that obvious? Or were they just that good? It was hard to tell the difference sometimes.
I frowned, I wasn’t really gaining on them, but I wasn’t losing them either. I needed to change things up.
I snapped up a tendril at their feet, which they easily avoided like all the others. But this time I fired off a [Web of Lightning] at them. They easily dodged the three forks of lighting, but I jumped through the one that went the closest to them and popped out right next to them already swinging one of my swords.
My minds instantly tracked each individual body part while communicating with the other minds that were watching the other one. I knew every individual movement as Tory made them and how they connected to the whole.
They had a pair of dual daggers, a very traditional look by Earth’s fictional standards. It did look pretty cool all things considered.
We exchanged a dozen quick blows before the rogue hopped back trying to place space between us. I instantly tried to close it again only to snap to a stop and barely avoid an arrow flying past my face and embedding itself in a tree a few feet away.
I snapped one of my minds over to the direction the arrow came from, but I couldn’t see where or who it originated from.
Tory this time closed the distance between us trying to put pressure on me, perhaps to give the ranger a clear shot at me so I didn’t have time to try and chase them down.
In a way, this was the correct course of action. On the other hand, I wasn’t any more overwhelmed than I had been a moment ago. There was just no way for them to know that.
The rogue’s long knives started shimmering and they flung them out in front of them carving through the air and sending an arc of… was that water? I floated out of the way watching the continuing arc of fluid as it connected with a tree behind me somewhere and I heard a sizzling sound emanating from the bark of the tree.
That was not water.
“Acid seems pretty dangerous to be using in a spar,” I said calmly, raising an eyebrow.
Another arrow came flying at me from the side. This time I was ready for it and snapped a barrier in front of it. The barrier shattered but all the momentum of the arrow stopped and it fell to the ground.
That was kind of impressive, that arrow did upwards of 8000 hp in a single attack. Not something I’d want to get hit by.
I smirked as I found the origin point for the ranger, they were already on the move. Smart, not staying in one place for too long so I could try and pinpoint their location. Unfortunately for them, I could already see the entire area around me, so they didn’t really stand a chance of hiding.
The rogue just scoffed, “In a real fight you’re gonna get hurt. That’s just the way it is, you won’t die from the acid. It’ll just be really painful.”
“You’re not wrong,” I replied as I slowly lowered myself to the ground to be at eye level, relatively, with them, “but are you sure that’s the kind of game you want to play?”
“What?”
“Pain is a two-way street. I’m asking if you’re prepared to take what you’re dishing out.”
“Talking a lot of shit for someone who ate it not that long ago.”
I just smirked and didn’t reply.
Then I called down the heavens.
***
Tilon flew forward at breakneck speeds. It was probably dangerous to be going this fast, but he didn’t really have a choice, they’d already been delayed showing up to help Lytri and now they were going to be down a person from the fight.
They also still didn’t know where the stealth members were, so they could get ambushed by more while they were trying to take out the core members of the opposition.
There was just too much unaccounted for.
Tilon quickly covered the remaining distance and came in behind the melee happening in a small clearing of trees roughly in the center of the arena. It was a fairly popular place for the non-stealthy high-strength fighters to converge at.
It provided the most level ground that was root-free and allowed them to take big swings without getting caught in the trees around them.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
The melee happening was already in full swing. Pun partially intended. Lytri was a slightly more technical fighter than her appearance led people to believe. As such she was able to fend off both Balthin and Ran, but she could only do that by making it a battle of attrition.
And against two opponents, that was something she would eventually lose. Thankfully that’s not how the fight was going to be decided.
The two fighters didn’t even hear him approach and gave him a free shot at their backs.
Might as well make it count.
[Cutting Winds]
Tilon toned back the attack, normally he could cut through steel with this. But given that he was trying not to kill the opponents he had to settle for roughly superficial damage as he aimed for unarmored portions of their bodies.
Especially since he didn’t want to destroy their armor. He still remembered his first year with NSA, he had destroyed several sets of the opponent’s armor and gotten in a ton of trouble with the quartermaster for that.
Never again, he had vowed. A shiver ran down his spine as he remembered the terrifying ordeal.
The scythes of wind blasted into their arms and legs cutting deeply enough to be painful and inhibiting, but not nearly enough to be life or limb threatening.
If anything it would just make it easier for Lytri to subdue them, which she immediately lunged forward to take advantage of.
The two warriors had turned around slightly to see who had hit them from behind and nearly missed Lytri barreling forward. Balthin stepped in front of her, him being the bigger one and thus better suited to stopping the unrelenting force that was Tilon’s own team’s frontline.
He smiled, as he launched more scything of winds in cascading waves of precise destruction. They curved perfectly around Lytri to not hurt her, and she didn’t even flinch when one scythed close by her.
They fought with precision and confidence befitting a seasoned veteran team of several years. Against any normal opponent, they would have thoroughly overwhelmed the opposition with ease.
Unfortunately, their opponents were anything but normal. Balthin and Ran fought with the same level of familiarity as Tilon and Lytri did.
Tilon made sure to keep himself just out of reach of the melee fighters, but close enough that an archer looking in from the outside might hesitate to take a shot at him. Honestly, the effort was more of a courtesy, a truly skilled archer wouldn’t hesitate to take the shot and wouldn’t miss. Even if the arrow didn’t hit the intended target, they would have shot it in a way that would leave it careening off to the side rather than into an ally.
But there was a sort of agreement that had been built up among the members here, and in most places that allowed for full-contact spars like this. There wasn’t a way to take out Tilon without either maiming him or aiming for a kill shot. That was just how strong his defenses were. As such people like himself were expected to put themselves in a somewhat justifiable range for melee combatants to actually be able to deal with him.
In turn, a disgruntled ranger wouldn’t snipe him out of the sky with a high-powered shot.
Tilon didn’t disagree with the sentiment, it was a fair way to deal with the situation. Although it did slightly rub him the wrong way. Fights out in the real world wouldn’t be fair. The problem was that Tilon didn’t know how to deal with this any differently without it also becoming a lethal engagement.
Such are the woes of friendly combat.
Lytri expertly exchanged blows with both Balthin and Ran, she was fighting less defensively and more aggressively allowing Tilon to pick up her slack and cover the areas she left open in her seemingly reckless attack.
But despite Balthin’s lack of social intelligence, he had the uncanny and seasoned instinct of a predator and knew a trap when he saw one. Ran had also sparred with them one hundred too many times to fall for a trick as simple as this as well.
Really, this fight was destined to be a stalemate that Tilon and Lytri would lose if they weren’t careful. If Tilon strayed too far from the fight a ranger would almost certainly unleash arrows on him from some hidden position thus turning the tides out of their favor.
It really came down to how fast the other members of their team could deal with their respective opponents. Alex was dealing with one person, there was also Fatri and Wellin. With any luck, they would quickly find the hiding rangers and deal with them giving their team the advantage in stealth and ambush capability.
With a redoubling of effort focused on the fight in front of him, Tilon mixed in buffeting winds with his cutting ones in an effort to trip up his opponents and delay them in their actions to give Lytri time to react accordingly. Even just a quarter of the second made a difference at the speed they were moving at.
Lytri’s massive blade moved with blurs of speed as it flashed towards Balthin’s side, he quickly dodged out of the way and she expertly wove it into a parry that stopped Ran from skewering her thigh.
She knocked away his blade and let loose a fist that hit his shield with a resounding ‘bong’. She ignored Balthin coming at her side, rightfully trusting Tilon to occupy him for a moment as she pressed the offensive against Ran who was caught off guard by the force of the punch.
He was strong, but there was a level of difference in strength between him and someone like Lytri and Balthin.
She thrust out another hand in something approximating a punch, Ran reacted quickly sliding smoothly behind his shield. And thus was unprepared when her hand snaked under his shield and grabbed his forearm.
With a yelp of surprise, she launched him at Balthin. Balthin caught him with a grunt of effort and quickly rolled him over his shoulder behind him and blocked Lytri as she came hurtling in trying to take advantage of the brief moment where they were off kilter.
None of them were prepared for the sky to roar.
***
The rogue reacted immediately, dodging out of the way.
Unfortunately for him, I was aiming at them.
I heard a distant cry of pain, from the pitch of the voice I assumed it was the male ranger. I quickly used [Bind] on him to prevent him from moving after disarming him. The jolt of electricity going through his musculature had caused him to spasm and briefly lose control, which made him drop out of the branch he had been sitting on.
In the air, there hadn’t been much he could do.
I gave the rogue the smugest, most shit-eating grin that I could.
“One down,” I said menacingly, before lunging at them with a burst of speed.
I started spawning barriers cutting off their areas of escape, every time they tried to dodge a way I didn’t like, they slammed into a barrier. Their movements weren’t enough to break the barriers which then stopped all of their movement forcing them to engage me in melee.
One thing I quickly figured out. They were fast, faster than I was. But they didn’t react as quickly as I did. When they did react they moved faster for certain. Which leads me to believe that they didn’t have [Though Acceleration] as high as I did.
On top of that, their skill rating with their chosen weapons wasn’t as high as mine.
Maybe the upper end of the second tier? That seemed like a gross oversight in my mind though. Why someone wouldn’t put effort into developing that as far as they could? There was a noticeable difference between having a high dexterity stat with bonuses applied to a specified weapon and having a high skill level with the weapons.
A high dex allows your movements to be smoother, and more comfortable. A higher skill level allowed for more complicated techniques, a more fluid combat style, and less predictable reactions with the weapons.
Tendrils started sprouting up all around and firing different spells at them. Barriers prevented retreats from different angles. From the little I could see of their face I could see the rogue slowly getting more and more frustrated as I kept them from running away.
“You really are a coward,” I taunted, “is running away all you’re capable of doing?”
They let out a growl and fell for the most classic trick in the book.
But despite being arrogant in their decision to face me head-on in combat, they were unlikely to win. They didn’t attack in a way that left them open to a counterattack.
Unfortunately, that didn’t matter. I dropped the blade in my left hand and stepped forward. I activated [Dodge] to heighten my speed and reactions.
My forearm met the blade with a hiss as the acid connected with it. But the wood being magically enhanced and supplemented with my own mana and armor skill stopped the blade cold. I then looped my arm around theirs and grabbed their forearm. And then twisted until I heard a snap and a cry of pain. I held my grip and used my barely superior strength to twist to my right, drag them up into the air, and then slam them into the ground with all the strength I could muster.
I was pretty sure I heard another one of their bones break.
I then disarmed them and used [Bind] on them just like the ranger I had earlier and stepped over to them and crouched down by their side.
“I’ll heal you after this is over, but while I’m here I might as well throw your own words back into your face so you can think on them. ‘In a real fight, you’re gonna get hurt. That’s just the way it is.’
My words were only met with a slight groan of pain. Unsurprisingly I didn’t feel any sympathy.
“Maybe next time you won’t be such an asshole, yeah?” I added with a smirk.