An ear-piercing scream ripped Kayd from his slumber, causing him to fall to his side. Everyone else heard it too, quickly standing up with weapons at the ready, Mono remained frozen, looking at something in the distance.

Kayd got up, stumbling through the dark towards the edge, seeing multiple lights near ot the crab.

In the distance, Lia struggled against a group of armored bandits, all trying to knock her to the ground with a few preparing cages and cuffs.

“You idiot…” Ishmael spat. She grabbed Mono by the collar.

“I thought it was safe, there was nobody around and you didn’t say anything about not letting anyone out-”

“The mission was not finished yet nor is this place safe! I thought you knew that already!” As the two bickered, Ikari approached the edge behind them, preparing an arrow and pulled the string back. Within a moment, the arrow flew through the night, it didn’t take long to strike one straight in the head, silencing Mono and Ishmael upon hearing the dead man’s brief shout of pain.

The bandits collectively turned to them, realizing their presence before hastening to restrain Lia.

“To hell with this, the argument can wait. Pip move forward!” Ishmael yelled out, awakening Pip as well. Ikari continued firing, managing to pick a few of them off, managing not to hit Lia.

Did she get out of the structure!? It’s because of that stupid cactus, wasn’t it?

Pip turned and began rushing towards the bandits, but it was too late. The remaining bandits managed to load Lia onto a wagon cage and speed off.

“They’re turning tail!, Pip chase them! The rest of you hold on!” Ishmael lit up a few torches and hung them up, there was no point in hiding now, and they needed to see the area.

“Finally, some light!” Ikari continued firing, bolstered by the extra light.

Kayd held on tight to one of the wooden poles, Pip moved with intense speed, exceeding what he was used to.

How the hell is a giant crab going this fast!?

The contents of the crates fell and sattered around the floor, some even flying out. Anything not bolted down started to spill over as the crab kept moving forward, without care nor fatigue.

As he held on, an arrow struck the wood next to him.

What the-

Another struck before he could finish, to the side, a group of more horseback archers and wagons filled with people shouted and fired at them.

“Get down!” Quellin yelled. Kayd slammed his body to the floor and a hail of arrows flew from both sides, managing to hit almost everyone, but fortunately none lethal.

As he hit the ground, Kayd felt the arrows pierce his back like needles, from his back to his legs.

“Damn, looks like we played our hand too well and found ourselves a pretty sizeable bandit group! Grab anything you can find to shield yourselves with!” Just next to him, a large metal chestplate.

That’ll do!

The arrows kept raining down on the structure, Kayd hastily covered his body in armor, feeling some arrowheads pierce them, but not enough to hit him.

All around him, the others followed suit, scurrying towards the pile of armor currently moving around as the crab continued its rapid chase.

How many archers did they bring this time!? Looks like they were expecting this to happen with this many arrows.

They stayed still, paralyzed beneath the pile of taken armor and trinkets, with no way of fighting back or even peeking out.

After another minute of raining arrows, it abruptly stopped.

Finally, they ran out.

With a sigh of relief, Kayd emerged from the pile of armor. The others followed suit, seeing the scale of the attack in front of them, every inch of the area structure was covered in arrows

“This looks like free ammunition, alright time to-” Raising her head, a shield collided hard with Ikari, slamming her to the ground. Kayd ran forward but felt something wrap around his neck, an arm.

“Boarders!” Ishmael yelled, throwing a dagger on the floor towards one of the bandits, hitting him clean in the head.

I guess that’s why it stopped, boarding

Kayd thrashed around, swinging his sword and arms around, trying to land a hit on whoever was holding him. But none hit anything

On the other side, Quellin and the rest formed a ring, taking out or tossing any boarders off the crab. Yells and yelps filled the air, but Kayd was powerless to try helping.

He has a good hold on me, have to pull out the desperate counter.

Kayd aimed the tip of his blade at his stomach and thrust it forward. The sword pierced clean through his clothes, but alongside it, the sword stabbed the one holding Kayd.

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He released him, clutching onto his stomach. Arms and body free, Kayd cut down the bastard in front of him.

More are coming in, this has escalated so much. They’re more organized and smart than I thought. Regardless, we need to kill them all and get Lia back. No teammate left behind!

The armor of the bandits did little to stave Kayd’s rapid assault. The holes in their armor provided easy pickings for Kayd’s strikes, while many parts of their bodies lay bare, itching for a slash. Kayd couldn’t think anymore, his mind was filled with calculations, spots to target, bare skin, and clothes to cut through.

Quellin and Mono worked like a duo, fighting together with synchronization similar to what they witnessed with Mian. Mono cut down a few soldiers, sustaining some blows himself but still ready. Quellin and Ishmael cut down faster than the bandits could swing their weapons, leaving nothing but a pile of corpses beneath them, slowly filling the structure.

For every kill Kayd got, he sustained a wound on his back or arms, it was clear, he was surrounded but had no way out. Without Lia, they were as good as dead now. His hands moved faster, attacking on all sides, killing as many as he could, pushing them back to gain more ground.

Bodies fell around them, but in the middle of it, a group of boarding bandits simply passed by the defenders, running to the front.

Wait, what are they doing!?

They pulled something from their armor and threw it down on Pip’s head.

Bright…Yellow…Flashes.

The sound of battle was abruptly cut, leaving a ringing noise. The structure shook violently, tossing everyone around, until…

The crab crashed into the sand, tossing Bandits off to the outside with great force while Kayd and his team were thrown at the wood of the structure.

“Pip!” Ishmael limped to Pip, on the ground. The smell of smoke and burnt gunpowder filled his nose.

Ahead, the horses, wagons, and most importantly Lia moved farther from sight, disappearing into the night.

No…No…No!

He punched the wood before getting up. She’s gone…They had lost not only a healer but a teammate.

Ishmael knelt next to Pip, the top of its head was charred black, but didn’t seem damaged. The trinkets and gold that once adorned it managed to save its shell from the bombs.

“Feathers…” Ikari’s voice broke. “We…Didn’t get her in time…” She covered her face, taking a few deep breaths.

“We failed the mission, this is unacceptable…” Quellin gritted his teeth, anger seething from him.

“We failed two objectives, saving our teammate and losing track of the bandit.” He continued.

“We can’t just blame ourselves now, look at this logically, we were outnumbered and they had explosives. Likely from soldiers they killed.” Quellin cocked his head to Kayd, his anger, and grief were washed away with fear. He couldn’t see through his helmet. Whether he would chastise him, punch him, or anything else beyond that.

“Regardless such factors should not cloud our judgment fully. We had a chance to succeed but failed.” Quellin dug his sword into the bandit in front of him, previously trying to crawl away but stopped as the sword’s blade tore through his chest.

“The only thing to be taken from this engagement is a counter for it in the future.” Quellin sighed, stabbing into the bandit a few more times to ensure his death.

Ishmael caressed Pip’s shell a few times, the remnants of trinkets and gold coins lay scattered around the two.

“What’s the damage with Pip?” Kayd asked.

“Fortunately…Not much…But I can’t stand seeing her…Hurt like this…” She caught her breath after each word, eyes red with tears. Kayd was taken aback, the confident captain of before was gone at this moment. She whispered something into the crab’s face.

Maybe it’s best to leave her alone for now.

Ikari sat on top of one of the wounded bandits, stabbing at him with a knife. Next to her was Mono, delivering a similar punishment with his short sword.

Kayd approached her, a few other corpses were next to the archer, multiple stab wounds across their body.

“Feathers…Feathers…Lia…” After every utterance of her name, Ikari stabbed the bandit.

Yeah all of us are shaken up, and it looks like we’re more screwed up without Lia…

Kayd walked to the remaining bandits, impaling their chests with his blade, a small tinge of satisfaction came from each kill, seeing their bodies start to vanish and leave behind gold coins. But none of them were interested in getting it.

The sand was covered in crimson, and so were their clothes and weapons. From cuts to bruises and arrow hits, wounds covered their entire body.

Ishmael wiped her face, turning to the team, her eyes still red but now bared gritted teeth.

“We will stick to the plan, this time we must strike harder and with more violence. But remain in the shadows.” She raised her arm, a few cuts and half an arrow lodged through it, presenting it to everyone.

“They took Lia, we can’t let them simply take her. We will follow the tracks once more but this time stop once we see even a speck of light in the distance and move on foot, nobody sleeps. We need to get her back and destroy these damned runts. Am I clear?” The team responded in different variations of yes.

They began scrounging up the gold and gear that fell off, killing the last of the wounded bandits without care or mercy.

—------

Cold, lifeless, and deep in thinking. Kayd looked down at the floor, clenching the handle of his blade. Next to him, Mono sighed with a hand concealing his face. Quellin and Mono conversed nearby, Mono covered his face in shame as they spoke.

Ikari next to him kept stabbing the wood with a deadpan expression.

She isn’t taking this well at all, Lia meant a lot to her as well it seems.

“Look, I know you’re upset, but let’s save the knife stabbing for the bandits. Alright?.” Kayd’s suggestion seemed to convince Ikari, to cease the stabbing.

“This is bringing me…Bad memories…” She turned to him, her emotionless eyes staring at Kayd.

“We’ll get her back, don’t worry. And we will give them a fitting punishment for taking her.”

“I’m counting on it…Hopefully this time it’s different…” After talking, Ikari looked out at the moon above.

Ishmael looked forward through the dark, eyeing the darkness for any speck of light. The torch was killed, leaving everyone in the dark once more. The team spent their remaining time silently lounging around, cleaning their weapons, or conversing.

Kayd recalled the fight earlier, in the silence he studied all that happened. The advantages and the disadvantages they had. As time went on more conclusions were conjured up, and more counters were created.

She is right; we need to stay in the dark, but this time, we must maximize how many we kill before being spotted. That’s the only way we can handle these bandits for now. The question is how?