Going back forty minutes, Daz and Crusher had just split off from Lyle and Dorian with Rimmy, leaving the two men to themselves.
Dorian clearly started to shake at the sight of five-hundred muscular men, all of whom had bloodthirsty expressions and were holding actual weapons, unlike his simple-looking Umbrella.
"M-Mr Middleton... are we really going to do what Daz asked us to?" Dorian questioned with a shaky voice as he ran behind Lyle.
"Shh!" Lyle hushed Dorian while he tried his best to stay quiet and unnoticed.
It wasn't too hard to go undetected by the Barbarians considering how brutish Daz, Crusher and Rimmy were being, so thankfully, Dorian's nervous question hadn't alarmed any of the Barbarian's to Lyle and Dorian's swift approach on their western flank.
"I'll make this brief," Lyle whispered to Dorian as the two lowered their bodies behind a small pile of rubble that was there from the aftermath of Rimmy's trench digging.
Lyle was glad at his Lord's wise decision in making a trench since the concrete served as a good place to hide momentarily.
"I'm going to try my best to pick off the ones at the back and I need you to help me defend against attacks if they happen to notice us. Draw their attention and whatnot since you specialise in Defense. That is what you invested your points into, as per my suggestions, yes?" Lyle asked Dorion.
"Y-Yeah... b-but, can I really defend you against them? They look really strong," Dorian asked with his nervousness clear for Lyle to see.
"Mmm, I understand your uncertainty and distrust of Lord Daz, but please understand, you're the one who volunteered to help during this attack. Don't worry too much. Our job is far easier than Lord Daz's group's so please relax a bit," Lyle said in a calm tone.
"We'll only be targetting the... hmm... I suppose you could call these men 'Barbarians'. Well, we'll only be attacking the Barbarians at the back, and we'll have both Ger and Sarah supporting us, so please, be a little bit more confident," Lyle encouraged Dorian while his eyes remained focused on the small Army of men that Daz, Crusher and Rimmy were charging through.
"You're right..." Dorian replied. 'Maybe offering to help was a bad idea? But ever since Lyle told me about what Daz has done so far... even if he scares me... I can't help but respect him. I wish I could have his confidence... I-I need to get myself together! The Dorian of yesterday is dead! From now on, I'm going to be surer of myself!' Dorian stated in his mind with conviction.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
"Now's our chance. There's one that's lagging behind the others. I'm going to go kill him. I'd imagine a bunch will branch off to chase me. When that happens, I'll run back here and we'll fight them off once I get back to you. Okay, Dorian?" Lyle said with a glint in his eyes, highlighting his thin facial features.
"Y-Yeah, b-be careful!" Dorian expressed a bit too loudly for Lyle's tastes, but he appreciated the man's enthusiasm.
Lyle immediately ran out from behind cover and kept his body low while he held his Mythril Auto-Injector in his left hand. A humongous bolt made from steel whizzed in front of Lyle, killing a Barbarian and sweeping a few others off of their feet, granting Lyle the perfect chance to kill his target.
Lyle could only pat himself on the back metaphorically for his wisdom in suggesting to Daz that buying the ballistae was a good idea since the frontal one was helping out an ungodly amount right now.
Using this newfound opportunity, Lyle ran right up behind the Barbarian that was slightly behind the rest of the army, and he crouched down before piercing the hulking man's leg with his auto-injector.
After confirming that the man had been attacked successfully, Lyle took out the auto-injector's needle from the Barbarian's leg and ran towards Dorian as if his life depended on it. The Barbarian looked down at his leg and roared in anger before he turned around and sprinted after Lyle with ten of his fellow men following after him.
What happened next though, both enraged and confused the ten other Barbarians. The one that Lyle had injected simply collapsed. He was dead.
Lyle briefly looked over his shoulder and smiled coldly. 'I'm glad a Citizen was willing to spend her points on that cyanide for me. Seems that putting three grams in every cartridge of water was the right thing to do. Over-kill is better than no-kill, after all,' he thought.
His pursuers screamed in rage and doubled their speed. They were quickly gaining on Lyle. 'Well, drat. Is that an enrage-type skill? I should have anticipated that from these brutes. That never happened to the ones fighting the Lord though. Hmm, is it because I didn't directly kill their companion?' Lyle hurriedly thought as his legs moved faster than they had ever done so before in his life.
Unfortunately, Lyle noticed that he was never going to make it in time, so he, instead of running away, turned around and ran towards the group of ten Barbarians. "Ger, Sarah, support me now, Dorian, get out of cover and come help me," Lyle ordered through the communication device on his ear.
"Yes, Mr Middleton," both Ger and Sarah replied.
"I-I'm coming!" came Dorian's unreliable sounding response.
It would seem that Lyle had decided to fight since he wouldn't be able to get into position fast enough to properly take advantage of the terrain. "It's time to show the Lord how useful I can be to him," Lyle whispered.
He then looked at his auto-injector and smiled viciously. "This cartridge still has nine uses left and I have ten cartridges... I wonder if Lord Daz will reward me if I managed to kill one-hundred Barbarians?" Lyle said to himself as he met his pursuers head-on.