My answer was probably wrong, considering that the lunatic dashed straight at me with his butcher’s knife out as the necromancer began to mumble ominously. The shadow spawn had already disappeared by the time my eyes moved back to where she stood.
I didn’t have time to look for her as the Man-Eater threw an axe at my face, which I parried away using my staff as I summoned mana blades to launch at the necromancer.
My instincts screamed as the shadow spawn appeared to my right and thrust a wicked, curved dagger at my throat.
I activated [Lady of Attraction], [Gravitational Multiplier], and [Force Inversion] on her at maximum strength, which immediately threw her away from me. She crashed into the wall and screamed in agony before disappearing into a black mist. I kept skills applied on her and, though the attraction between us went both ways, the subtle push kept me informed of her positioning.
With the threat of surprise attacks gone, I turned to the cannibal who was finally upon me. He swung his butcher’s knife at me with surprising strength, but my swing was more than just its match. I used a groove on the ancient wood holding the froststone orb to push against the madman’s knife as I activated [Field of Oppression] to keep him in place.
After I dealt with the immediate threats of the shadow spawn and the man-eater, I fired my mana blades at the vampire, who had already finished casting his spell and blocked my attacks with a magic shield of his own.
The bodies of the bandits rose from the ground, groaning and screeching like a dying hyena. A use of appraisal confirmed some of my fears.
[Lesser Undead Lv. 7]
[Lesser Undead Lv. 5]
…
[Lesser Undead Lv. 8]
Not good. There were nearly a hundred of these creatures ready to bury me in numbers while those three finished the job. Keeping my draconic form to feed Ati information was no longer feasible.
I needed raw power, and I needed it now.
I changed my race from the rank D [Archon of Harmony] to my rank C [Base Humanoid Form], transforming into a bipedal dragon and regaining many of the attribute points that came with it. The man-eater was shocked at my transformation, which was enough for me to kick him in the chest, breaking the clinch and sending him crashing into the undead rushing at me. I deactivated [Field of Oppression] to save on mana, but the shadow spawn made her move and proved she wasn’t out of the fight just yet.
An arrow flew at my face from her bow, which I slapped away with my free, scaled hand unharmed.
The horde of dead bandits was swiftly approaching, and a fiery, red-hot flame burned within my throat. In the next moment, a breath of arcane flames engulfed the undead and scorched them, roasting them alive as they screeched in a morbid cacophony. Of course, the man-eater who was in their midst was not spared as he screamed in agony, though the lack of a notification indicated that he had yet to perish.
The shadow spawn somehow multiplied into several copies, and they all rushed at me from different angles with their daggers raised, with only one of them being pushed back by my skills.
I clicked my tongue and released her original body from my skills with the exception of [Lady of Attraction], which I kept on at the lowest power I could.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Her copies surrounded me in a half-circle with only the cave’s entrance to my back. Right as they were upon me, I activated [Field of Oppression] and augmented it with [Force Inversion], sending the copies flying as my mana blades ripped them to shreds.
The necromancer finally banished the flames that engulfed the undead and the madman, but not before the former were crippled and the latter was disfigured horribly. A pool of blood from the earlier battles and the undead rushed to form in the shape of a sphere in front of the necromancer, and the largest magic circle to be activated in this battle so far appeared under the ground beneath him.
“Not even the mercy of death will save you from this curse, you little brat!” he said, as the magic circle shone with an ominous red light.
The shadow spawn emerged behind me and tied herself onto my limbs in an attempt to prevent me from dodging the necromancer’s attack! Why is she so ready to throw her own life away in exchange for mine?!
“What the hell are you doing?! Are you trying to get yourself killed?!” I said, trying to reach for her as she wiggled on my back to avoid my grasp.
“Who said anything about dying? The only one who is getting hit by that attack is you.”
Panic was starting to set in, as [Black Hole] would endanger Ati and the hostages, while the unknown nature and duration of the attack did not guarantee that [Abyssal Cockroach] would save me, not that surviving with a single point of HP against these foes was a desirable outcome.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH, you gods damned pig, that hurt! I am going to take my sweet time disciplining you!” the man-eater said, getting up from the ground as his skin patched itself up and healed his burns.
The orb of blood in front of the necromancer shone brightly, then turned into the shape of a horned, red monster. However, before the summoning could fully take place, a barrage of arrows turned the necromancer into a pincushion, with the last arrow blowing up his head like a tomato thrown at a brick wall.
All three of us froze in surprise as the magic circle faded, the blood monster failed to form and fell to the floor in front of the necromancer’s corpse. I recovered from my stupor first, boosting the strength of [Lady of Attraction] and activating [Gravitational Multiplier] for good measure.
The shadow spawn gasped as I slammed myself into the nearby wall back-first, and I heard a sickening crunch from the dark acolyte’s back as she screamed in pain and fell off my back, only to stick to my feet due to my class skills.
A stomp to the skull later, and I got the notification I’d been waiting for. I turned to the madman, only to see arrows pinning his limbs to the ground. Ati emerged from a tunnel in the back that went deeper into the cave, dismissing his magic arrows as he holstered his bow.
“Ati! Where have you been, and why didn’t you respond at all to me?!” I asked furiously, to which he raised his hands placatingly.
“The situation demanded it. The hostages were wearing self-destructing collars, which the three ahead of you could detonate at any time, so I had to get them off before they realized anything.”
“What?! Why didn’t you tell me that?! Why didn’t you tell me what kind of enemies I was up against?! Why didn’t you tell me you were ready to ambush them?! Why didn’t you say anything at all?!” I yelled in outrage.
Ati raised an eyebrow.
“I am sorry, Kiara, but I had no confidence you wouldn’t give it away. You know what Lady Sept said.”
I opened my mouth then closed it again.
“Seriously?! You couldn’t trust me not to give that much away?!” I asked in disbelief.
Ati shrugged.
“Frankly, yes.”
I whined indignantly. The party's treatment of me was really starting to get on my nerves.
“Okay, fine. Now what are we going to do about interrogating these people?! They’re all dead!”
“No thanks to you; you shouldn’t have killed the shadow spawn.”
Oh.
“Umm… Oopsie? Hehe~” I smiled as Ati sighed.
“No matter. Fortunately, you’re wrong to assume they’re all dead. One of these assassins is still alive.” He said, nodding to the unconscious madman.
“He most likely passed out from the pain. There’s also the documents deeper in the tunnels and the testimonials of the hostages to get information from. Our rescue mission was a success.” He continued.
“Huh. Well, we should let the others know then.”
***
“Father! Thank goodness you’re alive! Are you unharmed?!” Jezibel’s voice from within the conch emerged as the owl stared at a man who looked too old to be middle-aged yet too young to be elderly.
“Hahaha, I am just fine dear. There isn’t a scratch on me or any of our people, and we have your friends to thank for that.”
The head of the Hiram family reassured his children of his safety as Ati and I watched from a distance and the caravan members prepared to depart back to Tyr with their merchandise.
Ati turned to me.
“When the Hiram siblings are finished with catching up with their father, tell Lady Sept to wait until I extract the information we need from our prisoner before I give our full report.”
“How long is that going to take?” I asked.
He gave me a dark, muted smile.
“Not long enough.”