CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO—BLADES AND FLESH

Debaku turned his head to regard the Abassir. “Do you think it is worth even trying?”

Razul laughed nervously and Shiro unsheathed his sword. These primitives wouldn’t stand a chance against them. “Back away slowly,” Shiro said, and he began to do as he had instructed the others as he held out his sword warningly.

He did not want to kill them.

The wall of primitives in their frightening masks stepped forward, moving slowly as Shiro and the others were, but more in a stalking motion—like the way a large jungle predator might inch closer toward its pray from the long grass. And together they moved all as one, like a wall.

“Do not make the first movie,” Shiro ordered.

“Does it look like we are making the first move?” Razul asked indignantly.

“Stay calm,” Debaku said.

“I am calm,” Razul said his tone heightening in pitch, “but these savages are making my skin crawl!”

Suddenly the tribesmen took a step back, their masks angling up as their eyes glanced past Shiro and the others at the blue light appearing behind them. “Oh for the love of the gods,” Jessamine complained. “Just kill them already!”

The tribesmen screamed, shouting indistinct words in a strange tongue amongst one another. Then one raised his spear and threw it at Shiro.

Swinging his blade, he hit the spear near the head with the flat of his scimitar and it went flying into the woods just as the rest of the tribals lifted theirs to throw.

“Run!” Razul screamed, and moved, wasting no time to see if Shiro and Debaku were following his advice.

Shiro did the same, chasing after Razul and Debaku.

“You cowards!” Jessamine screamed from some place unknown.

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Shiro jumped as a spear pierced the grass beside him. For some reason, Razul was leading them directly toward the large bonfire and the dancing orgy taking place. “What are you doing?” he called, and the Abassir adventurer screamed something back that he couldn’t understand.

He followed, the orgy members taking note of their screaming and ceased their activities. They immediately got up and began shouting, their hands reaching for iron weapons and spear shafts.

Razul swung his sword and cut down three of them with a single slash of his blade. The savages flailed, screaming as their blood spilled over the grass. Some of them ran, mostly the women, while the others charged for them to defend the camp on the hill.

“We must push through them!” Debaku said as he jumped, flipped through the air and landed behind two of the primitives. He took them both down with quick slashes to their legs. “We must get to the pyramid!”

As Shiro stamped across the grounds, still barefoot from when the ship had sank, he heard them gaining ground on him while spears stuck into the earth on either side of him.

They were fast!

Normally he would have been far superior in speed because of his top-tier status, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t be out of spear reach, especially when the weapons were thrown.

So as he ran after Debaku and Razul, who were already nearing the bottom of the hill where more dense foliage appeared. Shiro cut a zigzagging path to avoid the spear points.

Even as a top-tier adventurer, if a shaft hit him in thhe back, that could kill him if he was struck in the right spot. And Yaser, their healer, was not here to attend to any wounds should they sustain any. There were far too many of the primitives to take a breath long enough to receive any treatment anyway.

“Kami!—sama!” he bellowed. “They’re everywhere!”

At the bottom of the hill multiple structures of stone and wood stood tall with raised decking, fires, torches and what looked to be sleeping areas with hammocks. The entire village was up in arms, shouting and running about, many of which had weapons in their hands.

But there was no organization.

A primitive came at Shiro with a knife. He dodged the blow and punched the man in the nose. He went down, his hands covering his face since he hadn’t had the protection of one of those evil-looking masks.

“Come on!” Razul called and beckoned Shiro forward.

He joined them at the bottom of the hill while they defended the space they stood within, men going down, some bloodily as they took the sharp steel swung by Debaku and Razul.

“Try not to kill them!” Shiro shouted.

“Why not?” Razul exclaimed. “They are trying to kill us, Shiro!”

While that was true, he did not want to leave a massacre behind him, even if these primitives did worship some dark god.

“Into the trees!” Debaku said, pointing in the direction of the pyramid, which was just visible as it crested the green jungle horizon in the night, its stones aglow with torches and massive fires.

The tribals pursing whooped and cried and made strange war cries as they gave chase.