"Wha… What's going on?" Vel said with a groggy voice.
"There's something happening in the village," I said.
She turned around just as another bolt of lightning crashed down. I couldn't see the caster but I had recognized the telltale flare of a spell circle high up in the air. Multicolor ripples flew on the surface of the barrier.
I flew out of the bed and started to dress. I no longer had proper armor but I still had my hunting gear, it would have to suffice. I stored the clothes in my storage amulet then summoned them out with the rest of my equipment, they appeared already in place on my body. It was a useful trick I had practiced in my downtime. In less than a minute, I had everything on and I was running through the door to our bedroom.
Outside, it was organized chaos. There were drills every season and everyone knew what they had to do in case of an attack but to be faced with the real thing was another experience entirely. Vel was right behind me and she stared at the sky. Another spell struck the barrier and I felt the ground shake from the impact.
"Lili, what's going on?" Asked my sister from the door.
"Someone is attacking the village," I said, "we have to go to the shelter."
I stepped aside and watched both of my grandmothers rush out of the door. They were decked head to toe in high quality armor, Lythiene had armor fashioned out of deep red wood and Lorathana had a set of half-plate. They carried no visible weapon but I was certain they had some in a storage item like me. Behind them, my father strode out in his guard armor with my mother at his side. She had a simple leather armor on but on her wrists were two metallic gloves with spools on the forearms.
It would be a mistake to discount artisans as useless in battle, every adult in the village had survived their trial after all. I had never seen them in action but I knew the spools had a special kind of thread that could cut through almost anything. With her control over it, my mother would be a terror on the battlefield.
"Take your sister and go to the shelter," my father said.
I nodded. "Nothing will happen to her."
A strike of spellfire on the barrier ended the conversation.
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Lussernia wasn't as fast as Vel and I, she was still young and her attributes hadn't fully settled yet. This made the trip to the mother tree longer. Several more spells hit the barrier on our way there and after some time, the inevitable happened. I felt the massive surge of mana when it shattered.
Part of the attack spell made it through and struck the ground a few hundred meters from us. I grabbed my sister by the waist and pulled her behind a nearby house for cover. The bolt of lightning slammed into the ground and an entire building was pulverized into debris. Chunks of masonry rained down on our position but the small alley protected us.
"Holy fucking shit," I swore. "Let's not get hit alright? I don't think my arcane barrier can stop that."
Lussernia was shaking like a leaf in my arms. I picked her up and continued to run with Vel. We had to move to the shelter and fast. I pushed mana into my Mystic Enhancement and channeled Lava to increase my strength. On the way to the center of the village, we crossed paths with several people. They didn't elaborate much but it seemed like the attack was coming from multiple fronts at the same time.
In the air, a magical duel had started between Breknir and the mage that had been hitting the barrier. Spells lit up the sky in an array of colors, stray projectiles from both sides battered the village and the jungle around it. Thankfully, it seemed that the intensity of the spells had lessened.
Before we could reach the mother tree, I spotted a trio of intruders around a corner with my sphere. They were fighting two apprentices, Eroan and Malon.
> [Human (Level ??, Rank 6; Warrior)]
> [Human (Level ??, Rank 6; Warrior)]
> [Human (Level ??, Rank 6; Mage)]
The battle was not going well, the two elves were defending a trio of children and couldn't simply flee. It was fairly obvious that the three humans weren't taking them that seriously, despite their full face masks I could see sadistic grins plastered on their faces. They were at least at the same level as the adults in the village, with this much of a difference Identify could not see the precise level.
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I stopped Vel and my sister with a sign of my hand.
"Three intruders past the corner, rank six," I whispered. "They're fighting Eroan and Malon."
"Shit, what do we do?" Vel said. "We can't fight three rank six!"
"I have an idea, we can't fight them but I can make it hurt." I had a plan forming in my head, an attack that could potentially at least severely hurt them if it succeeded. "Vel and I will take their attention. When that happens Lulu, you go with Eroan to the shelter."
"No! Lili, I don't …"
"We'll give them the run around and join back," I gave her a hug, "don't worry."
Lussernia gave me a tearful nod.
I summoned my bow and started to prepare. Two Mystic Arrows appeared in my hand and I infused them with a piercing enhancement. At the same time, I loaded them with the force variant of Arcane Strike. The bow was infused with air magic to accelerate the arrows and I cast Gravity Well in front to amplify the effect.
The moment I stepped around the corner, the mage turned my way but I was already locked on my targets. I let the bow string go and the surrounding noise was washed away by a resounding crack. Both arrows had passed the sound barrier and were inside of their targets before they could even react. A barrier briefly flared around the mage but the supersonic arrow shattered it instantly.
The mage's head turned into a shower of gore. On impact, the force Arcane Strike had detonated. The warrior was dead as well but it looked like his thick skull had managed to contain the explosion. Both bodies flopped to the ground as the third member whirled to look at Vel and I.
I didn't have the time to prepare a third shot, the warrior was already closing in on us. I overcharged Melody of Earth with Metamagic and started to turn the stretch of terrain between us into a deadly trap. Vel had unleashed her plant magic as well and vines as thick as my arm and covered in poisonous thorns homed in on the armor clad warrior.
My earth magic managed to slow him down enough, I vanished my bow and brought out my glaive instead. The weapon extended in my hands and I infused it with the power of Void with Mystic Enhancement. My own body was reinforced with Lava. Thanks to my heightened thinking speed, I managed to intercept his blow and my enhancements allowed me to stop it.
The look of surprise on the masked man's face was all the encouragement I needed. He hadn't expected to encounter so much resistance. I twisted my spear and shoved the bottom blade at his face, he disengaged and took a step back. Vel redoubled the pressure on his back and he was forced to slash at the vines to keep them at bay. I took the small opening and speared towards him, he dodged by a hair's breadth but I drew blood. The void enchantment extended the blade's edge slightly past the metal and allowed it to cut through metal with ease.
I did not let up, I twisted my spear again to strike with the other end. The swordsman deflected the blade but Magic Strike allowed me to deliver a bolt of lightning to his chest. The heightened spell stunned him for a brief moment and allowed me to strike a second time. My spear pierced through his mask and I slashed upward, a line of blood flew into the sky and it was over.
His mask fell to the ground with a clang and his body followed suit a second later.
> Your group has defeated [Human (Level 187, Rank 6; Sword Master, Shield Adept)]
> Your group has defeated [Human (Level 185, Rank 6; Sword Master, Shield Adept)]
> Your group has defeated [Human (Level 191, Rank 6; Psychic, Illusionist)]
> Experience gain reduced by 20% for fighting with a group
> Experience gain increased by 100% for highly dangerous encounter
> Experience gain increased by 600% for fighting an enemy above your rank
> Essence Absorption collected 18 ES
>
> Reached Level 64 (Rank 3, +18 levels)
> Gained: 110 ES
I quickly looked over the system notification. We had managed to kill three rank six, two by surprise and a third likely because he had underestimated us. The fight had burned through more than a thousand mana in less than a minute, it wasn't a sustainable pace.
Thankfully, Lussernia had done as ordered and linked up with Eroan. They had fled towards the Mother Tree as soon as Vel and I had taken the pressure off of them. I tapped the three corpses at our feet and they disappeared into my storage amulet with all of their equipment. Maybe there would be clues in there as to their identities.
"Let's go to the Mother Tree," I said, "I don't think they were the only ones around."
We started to run and I drank several mana potions in quick succession. I would feel the mana burn later but it didn’t matter if the village fell.
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When we reached the foot of the mother tree, it was pandemonium.