Jarvick sidestepped the approaching energy blade and leaped up, the blades in his ankles slicing the Expansionist scum from crotch to skull. He deftly backflipped to land on the top of a frost pillar.
His operation had changed from potential assassination to rescue, and he was sorely unequipped and under supported. The only silver lining he could see was the average level couldn’t be any higher than than, and the average deck between the lot looked to be tier two, aside from the two posted snipers hiding from the safety of the distant castle and the control mage.
He’d need to keep himself at a distance from that one if he wanted to make it out alive.
The girl cringed below him as the two halves of the slain Expansionist scum sloughed apart, thudding to the ground and dyeing the ground instantly. After her initial disgust, she rushed forward and pushed aside half to retrieve the energy sword.
Doubtful she knew how to operate it, he prepared to advise her when the weapon hissed with energy as it activated. She caught on quick.
“This isn’t as cool as what I want, but,” she swung it twice, first in a downward chop, then in a side slash, “it’ll do for now.”
She turned and looked like she was ready to charge into the mage’s aura. If that were to happen, they’d capture the girl and use her as leverage against the brother. He couldn’t let that happen. “Stop!”
He launched a sphere of concussive force down toward the mage, hoping to knock the man back or, if not that, buy some time for him to drop down below and none too gently grab her arm.
His other arm shifted from light augmentation to a hyper cannon and blasted a hole through the frost pillar. “Sorry about this.” As he wrenched the girl off her feet, she let out an “eep” before he flung her through the hole. The brother looked stunned by the development. “Come! Hurry!”
Then Jarvick leaped through after the girl, only to find her arm distorting in near-impossible angles as one minotaur after another butted, kicked, and battered her. She sported bruises aplenty, but she was sturdier than he’d expected as the energy sword ripped through everything that threatened to come near enough for her to reach.
“This is more like it!” she shouted, seemingly not bothered by how he’d treated her. That was good. Hopefully she’d harbor no ill will against him for his sudden actions.
When a semicircle had been carved from the mobbing minotaurs, they learned to keep their distance. She leveled the energy blade at him. “Don’t think I forgot about you. That was quite rude.”
Before Jarvick could respond, the brother leaped through the hole and looked at both of them and the dozen minotaurs she’d slain. “I guess a sword was really all you needed.” He pointed at Jarvick. “What’s your deal?”
“Is now really the time for that?”
“Fair. Let’s get out of here.” The guy began calmly walking through the hordes of minotaurs away from the crew of Expansionist scum staring at them through the hole in the frost pillar.
“Shouldn’t we fight them while they’re funneled into that hole?” the girl asked as she looted the fallen minotaurs for their cards.
“Ivy, really?”
Right on cue, two powerful sniper shots blasted toward them, and Jarvick’s cannon armor shifted into a tower shield he used to block the girl with. After both shots plinked off, he went to grab Ivy’s arm.
She shrugged away from his outreached hand. “I can walk, thank you very much.”
And so they began their escape, right through the center of the four castles’ battlefield.
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Chaos raged all around the trio. James was glad to finally have escaped their encirclement, and Ivy seemed to love her new sword. He had to admit, her enthusiasm coupled with the powerful weapon made her something to be in awe of.
She only delayed long enough to add to her growing pile of cards.
James had no idea how they were getting out of this bind, but he knew he was going to have a lot of questions for the shop when they finally made it back. He’d seen enough and participated more than he liked in the new world to get a grip on what the situation was like on a basic level.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
If Ivy wanted to keep playing in the tower, he wouldn’t object and would make sure they put plenty of countermeasures in place to ensure her safety while she had her fun.
But first, they needed to get back to the shop, and infinitely spawning hordes of minotaurs made that very difficult.
Between James and the stranger who’d saved them, the snipers proved ineffective. The minotaurs were more boon than nuisance, as they did more to hamper their pursuers than they blocked his group’s progression.
The difference was so great, they eventually put enough ground between the ones pursuing on the ground that Ivy even got to have a little bit of fun. The stranger made sure she was protected from the long range fire, but unless the situation drastically changed, they’d be free of Olor and his cronies.
Then he realized there were far less minotaurs surrounding them… or anywhere.
“Hey, our cover’s running out. If we have any plans of getting out of here, we should do so soon,” James called to the stranger.
“It’s only a matter of time now until my people arrive.”
Ivy picked up another card and looked around, seeming almost disappointed with the reduced number of monsters to fight. “I suppose the fun couldn’t last forever.”
“The real fun is about to start,” the stranger said.
“Hey, what’s your name?” Ivy asked as she casually stabbed one minotaurs and deftly drew the energy sword to bisect another at the waist. “And maybe an even better question, why’d you save us?”
“It’s Jarvick, and I thought we agreed to talk about things later—”
“It’s later, and we haven’t really had anybody pressing us too hard for a while.”
Then all at once, the fighting minotaurs dematerialized into thin air, leaving an open field.
“There they are!” someone shouted from much closer than James would’ve liked.
“I hope your people will be here soon, otherwise we’ll be back to where we started,” James said, getting closer to Ivy.
“I’d disagree, brother of mine. This situation is a lot worse. Just take a look,” Ivy said, sounding none too fazed. “We’re even more surrounded than before, and there’s a big silver circle around us. Can’t imagine that’s a good thing.”
“They stopped chasing us and carved a path to cut us off,” he realized, groaning. “See, this is why I usually avoid coming out here. Why bother with all of this?”
“It’s fun,” Ivy said with a giant grin. “I haven’t felt my heart race like this until we came to this world. Remember how I was sick, you died, and then we holed up in the shop?”
James eyed Jarvick, sizing up his power suit. Ivy had just said a lot more than James was comfortable with.
Jarvick snapped his fingers. “If your group is from one of the other, less developed worlds, that would make a lot of sense why you seem to lack common knowledge.”
Was traveling between worlds a normal thing here on Euriste 3? James wondered.
“Are you from Euriste 1 or 2? Or maybe farther… Denival sector?”
“Something like that,” James muttered noncommittally, eyeing Olor’s approach.
Then the ground swallowed James, Ivy, and Jarvick.
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“I am not opposed to forming a cooperative agreement with your faction so long as I am properly compensated and you refrain from accosting my guide,” Shen Ai informed their potential attackers. “I did not come here to fight and I have no need of your possessions.”
“Listen to her! She’s a full Epic, you don’t want to fight her.” Merek was trembling as he spoke, and didn’t come out from behind Shen Ai. “You’re always looking for strong allies, right? She just awakened her deck this afternoon and she’s already in the top fifty. That’s not someone you want to leave unrecruited. Right?”
“You interfere in our business one more time and it’ll be your last mistake,” Dimavar growled.
“I would prefer if you refrain from threatening my guide,” Shen Ai said firmly. “What can you pay me? I have debts to repay and the patience of a thousand moons. You can rely on me.” She gave a little bow.
Alamir exchanged a glance with Dimavar. “We were told to collect you and get rid of the rat, but I suppose so long as you come with us and the rat never shows his face in any of our territories again, that’s the task fulfilled.”
“I won’t, I swear,” Merek said hastily. “I’ll do as you say, avoid your territories and never oppose you.”
“You’ve been getting in our way a lot today. You’re lucky your girlfriend here is so powerful, or even she wouldn’t be enough to save you. Go on. Get lost before anyone else notices you survived.”
Merek nodded hastily and rushed off, leaving Shen Ai alone with the aggressive recruiters.
“Lead on. I don’t like your methods,” she said, “but I am willing to do whatever is necessary to pursue my goals here. As I said, there are people who I need to repay. If working with you will provide me what I need, then I will do so.” Hopefully Seniors Ivy and James would understand her decision. They needed to make deals for Senior Shop to recover from whatever soul-searching it had done, and to do that properly required understanding what the locals would need. Shen Ai would go undercover and search out this sect’s secrets, and when she found their weaknesses…
She’d be ready.
“The boss will be glad to hear that at least one of your group has some sense.”
Shen Ai tilted her head. She was only a minor employee and they were co-owners. “I don’t know what you’re imagining, but they are not my group. I couldn’t, in any way, be considered their leader.”
“Even better,” he said. “They may have been the best you could find from the factionless noobs around here, but someone of your stature deserves better. We’ll build you a team worthy of your skills and you’ll be paying back whatever you borrowed to get that deck in no time.”
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