“Get ready guys,” I said. “They’re coming right for us.”

The others nodded, preparing to fight. Lorelei kept her backpack close to her. Corie nocked an arrow. Leroy took a stance and cast a shield spell on himself.

I readied to cast several spells, preparing for several possibilities.

The Air wizard reached us first. Using Air internal magic, she moved as swift as the wind, moving much faster than me when I used Air internal magic.

A part of me sighed when I saw this. I missed being able to move that fast. I needed to restore my Second Circle soon.

The Air wizard jumped into the sky, leaping over the barricade. While she was in the air, the Air wizard launched a barrage of Wind Blades at us, forcing us to scatter. These Wind Blades were much faster and much deadlier than the ones I could cast. They cut deep gouges into the ground.

When the Air wizard landed, she drew a pair of daggers and coated them with some kind of Air magic. She then dashed towards Lorelei, almost moving faster than the human eye could see. Not fast enough for my divine sense, however. Even as she slashed at Lorelei, who couldn’t react in time, I rushed forward.

[Lightning Arts: Lightning Flash]

In the blink of an eye, I body checked the Air wizard. She had a shield spell, preventing my blow from causing her any damage. However, that didn’t stop her feet from leaving the ground. She flew back, before flipping mid-air to land on her feet.

Before the Air wizard even landed, Lorelei stomped her foot and an Earth Spike shot out of the ground towards her. Unfortunately, the Air wizard just landed on the Earth Spike, protected by her shield spell.

Corie loosed an arrow towards her, but the Air wizard just let it hit her. Even enhanced with Corie’s magic, it caused no damage. The arrow just exploded against the Air wizard’s shield spell.

“Interesting,” the Air wizard said, looking right at me. “I’ve never seen a Lightning spell like that.” She grinned. “How long can you keep that up, little lordling?”

She dashed right towards me. However, my focus was on her companions, who had just arrived. Leroy faced off against the Metal wizard with the construct, keeping that one at bay. However, there was no one to stop the Wood wizard. Corie tried, but the man ignored her since her arrows could do no damage to him.

I used Lightning Flash to dash towards Lorelei, just as the Wood wizard launched a wood spike towards her. I grabbed Lorelei and her backpack, dropping my sword in the process, before using Lightning Flash to dash away again.

Fuck. This was taking its toll on me. I had only used Lightning Flash three times, and already I was running low on mana.

However, I didn’t get a chance to relax before the Air wizard was on me. Good thing Lorelei wasn’t idle. An Earthen Rampart rose up between us and her. Unfortunately, the Air wizard just leapt over it and launched another barrage of Wind Blades. These ones were much faster than the ones before, forcing me to use Lightning Flash to get away from them.

My body began to hurt as I pushed my cultivation base to its limit. With my remaining mana, I could use Lightning Flash just one more time.

I would use Beguiling Mist, but we didn’t have any more Clear Eyes Talismans. Without them, Beguiling Mist would hinder my allies as well as my enemies.

The Air wizard didn’t rush towards Lorelei and I right away. Instead, the mana around us began to stir as she cast a spell. It didn’t take me long to recognize it.

It was Whirlwind, a Second Circle spell.

Before I could even think about dodging it, thorn covered vines burst out of the ground around Lorelei and I. They whipped towards us with killing intent. I used my last Lightning Flash to move us out of there.

When I stopped, the Air wizard hit us with Whirlwind.

A small tornado formed in the air around us, sucking us into it. I let go of Lorelei, but kept my grip on her backpack. Since they were targeting the package, they would come after me instead of her if I had it. The Whirlwind spun us around for several seconds, before throwing us off in different directions.

I took that time to prepare a little surprise.

I hit the ground with a thud, keeping a death grip on Lorelei’s backpack. Lorelei landed next to Leroy, who picked up the Metal construct with his hands and threw it at its master. Meanwhile, the Wood wizard…Oh fuck. He had Corie.

Before I could even think about intervening, the Air wizard dashed towards me. With her speed, she was on me before I could do anything. Even with my cultivation, and using what little mana I had left to enhance my body, she was too fast for me. I could see her coming with my divine sense, but that wasn’t enough.

The Air wizard slashed at me with both of her daggers, aiming for my chest. The Air magic she used to coat her blades overwhelmed the protection given to me by my Protection Talisman. At best, the talisman mitigated some of the damage.

The Air wizard’s blade drew lines of fire across my chest. The wound wasn’t too deep, but I felt blood gushing from the wounds.

The Air wizard gave me a sadistic smile.

Before I could even recover, she reversed one of her daggers and stabbed me. I shifted enough so I took it in the shoulder rather than the heart, but that was all I could do.

I grabbed her hand before she pulled her dagger out of my shoulder. She tried to pull away, but couldn’t. Air internal magic enhanced her speed, but did little for her strength.

I slapped a Ghostfire Sealing Talisman onto her. My shoulder screamed in protest, but I pushed through the pain. The Air wizard’s smile disappeared and her eyes widened as the talisman sealed away her ability to use mana. It would only last for a second, but a second was all I needed.

A second without her shield spell. A second with Air internal magic. A second where she was just a fragile mortal.

With a snarl, I stiffened my hand and chopped the Air wizard’s neck. A crunch rang out and the Air wizard’s body toppled to the ground. She died with a look of wide-eyed confusion on her face, never knowing what hit her.

I pulled her dagger out of my shoulder and downed a health potion. The pain eased and my wounds began to close up. The potion didn’t heal all of my wounds, my shoulder in particular, but it would keep me from bleeding out.

“Enough!” A voice rang out.

It was the Wood wizard. He stood next to Corie, who was wrapped up in a cocoon of thorny vines, leaving only her head exposed. Anger, fear, and frustration warred on her face as she struggled to free herself, only to be injured by her own efforts.

Off to the side, Leroy and Lorelei had the Metal wizard and his Metal construct locked down. Unlike the Steel Golem, this Metal construct had been a beautiful lion-shaped statue made of countless interconnected parts.

Had been.

Now it was wrecked and ruined, though still active. Lorelei had it pinned to the ground, though the construct thrashed against her hold. Meanwhile, Leroy knelt on top of the Metal wizard, holding a rock above the man’s head, ready to bash it in. His sword was nowhere in sight.

However, everyone froze when the Wood wizard spoke out.

“Corie!” Lorelei cried out when she saw her friend’s predicament.

“If you don’t want me to tear this girl to shreds,” the Wood wizard said. “You will release my companion and give us the package you’re delivering for House Icefall.”

“Fuck you,” I spat out, tightening my grip on Lorelei’s backpack.

In response to my words, the cocoon of thorny vines tightened around Corie. She let out a pain filled shriek.

“Let her go!” Lorelei cried out.

She looked like she wanted to rush over and save Corie, but didn’t dare try.

“You think I care about trash like her?” I said, sneering at the Wood wizard.

I did my best to channel myself as Lord Gabriel, before I had regained my memories.

“You might not care, Lord Gabriel,” the Wood wizard said. He gestured to Lorelei. “But she does.”

“Just let her go,” Lorelei said. “Please!”

“Don’t do it,” Corie said, gritting her teeth. “Just kill the bas-…”

She let out another shriek as the cocoon tightened even further, before falling unconscious.

“I’m running out of patience,” the Wood wizard said. “Release my companion and give me the package.”

“Give it to him, Lord Gabriel,” Lorelei said, looking in my direction. “Before he hurts Corie even further. Please!”

Her eyes were wide with fear. I gave her an incredulous stare.

“Are you crazy?” I asked. “We have a job to do. Besides, we don’t even know if he’ll even release your friend.”

“You don’t have a choice,” the Wood wizard said. “If you don’t release my companion and give me the package, the girl dies.”

I gave him a hard stare.

“If she dies, your companion dies and you join him soon after.”

The Wood wizard shrugged.

“If we fail, we’ll die anyway, so we have nothing to lose. You do.”

“Just give him the fucking package!” Lorelei screamed.

I gritted my teeth.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“Fine,” I spat out. “But I want you to promise that you will release Corie after we do as you say.”

The Wood wizard narrowed his eyes and then nodded.

“I promise.”

I didn’t trust him, but it would have to do. If Corie died because of this, I would eradicate the Black Wolf Gang from existence. I didn’t care how long it would take.

For a moment, I considered making him swear a mutual soul oath, but that was a risk. One wrong word, or false intention, could result in the destruction of my soul.

“Leroy, release him.”

Leroy heaved a sigh and put down the rock.

“Yes, young master,” he said.

Leroy put the rock down and stood up, getting off the Metal wizard. The man scrambled away from Leroy and stood next to the Wood wizard. Lorelei got off the Metal construct. The once beautiful lion stumbled towards its master. One of its legs was bent and twisted, while half of its face was missing.

“Your turn,” the Wood wizard said.

“What am I looking for?” I asked Lorelei.

“A Nullicite box,” she said in a subdued voice.

I raised an eyebrow at that. Nullicite was a rare and expensive material that was useful for negating or containing magic. It was also used to create items that helped defend against magic, or items that could contain wizards and seal their ability to use mana.

I dug through the backpack to look for the Nullicite box. It didn’t take me long. The box was dove gray, rectangular, and about the size of my palm. It felt cool to the touch, and gave me a pins and needles sensation wherever it came into contact with my skin. There was no obvious way to open it.

“That’s it,” Lorelei said.

I tossed the box towards the Wood wizard. He caught it and tucked it into a pouch at his hip.

“Now let her go,” I said.

The Wood wizard shook his head.

“Not yet,” he said. “To prevent pursuit, I will release her when my companion and I are far enough away.”

Before any of us could even protest, the Wood wizard and the Metal wizard backed away and hurried off. I thought about going after them, but Corie was still in their grip.

When they disappeared from sight, I kept track of them with my divine sense. With every step, my nerves grew more and more taut. I didn’t think the Wood wizard would keep his word.

However, to my relief, the thorny vines wrapped around Corie retracted when the Wood wizard and his companion were about a mile away. When the vines disappeared altogether, she collapsed to the ground.

Lorelei rushed to Corie’s side as soon as they left. Leroy and I weren’t far behind.

“Oh, Lady Terra,” she whispered in horror.

I bit back a swear. Corrie was covered in countless bleeding wounds. Individually they wouldn’t be much of a problem. However, in aggregate, they were life threatening. If we didn’t heal them soon, she would bleed to death.

That wasn’t the worst part, however. Corie’s blood was darker than normal, and smelled foul. I searched her body with my divine sense. Fuck, those thorns had been poisoned. There was so much poison in her system that even if we healed her wounds, she would still die.

Lorelei scrambled to pull out a health potion, but I grabbed her wrist to stop her.

“She’s poisoned,” I said. “We need to purge the poison from her system first, otherwise we’ll just trap it in her body.”

Lorelei stared at me with desperation in her eyes.

“Can you save her, Master Gabriel?” she asked.

I grimaced.

“I’ll try,” I said. “Since we don’t have the antidote for this poison, I’ll have to use a spell that I know. It’s been a while since I used it, however, and I don’t know if it will work here.”

It also required a higher cultivation base. Not that much higher, since it was a spell beginner spirit doctors used back on Spirit Earth, but still higher than my current level. I would need to burn some of my lifespan to use it. About five years worth.

When this was all over, I would need to take a look and see how much lifespan I had left.

“Please, you have to try,” Lorelei said.

I opened Corie’s mouth.

“If either of you tell Corie about what I’m about to do,” I said, glaring at them both. “I’ll kill you.”

They both stared at me in surprise. I ignored them, bit my tongue, and kissed Corie, shoving my blood into her mouth. As I cast the spell, I burned five years off my lifespan. Pain filled my body as I pushed myself beyond my limits.

[Poison Arts: Purge the Unclean]

While I didn’t specialize in using poison, or healing for that matter, I had learned this technique to deal with fuckers who did specialize in poison. It was a powerful technique that scaled in strength, depending on the caster’s power. At the highest levels, it could purge any poison from the body.

It was a messy process, however.

The dark, foul smelling blood spurted out of Corie’s wounds, spraying all of us with the stuff. I kept the technique up, keeping an eye on Corie’s condition, until all the poison was purged from her system. When I stopped, her blood stopped spurting out of her. She was low on blood, but wasn’t at the point where she would bleed to death.

I lifted my mouth away from Corie’s, the salty taste of blood lingering on my tongue. I felt hollowed out, as if someone had split me open and scooped out my insides. That was a dangerous sign. I had taxed myself far more than I expected. If I didn’t want to cause any permanent damage to myself, I needed to take it easy for the next few days.

As I took stock of my own situation, Lorelei poured a health potion into Corie’s mouth, massaging her throat to make her swallow. As soon as Corie drank the health potion, her wounds began to heal. Lorelei didn’t let up and gave her another one. After that, she gave Corie a third health potion.

By the time Lorelei finished, Corie was on the verge of death, but wasn’t going to cross over that threshold. As long as she rested, and didn’t strain herself for a while, she would be fine.

I felt like shit, and probably looked just as rough as I felt. Leroy didn’t look much better. He was covered in cuts and bruises, but hadn’t sustained any heavy injuries. In fact, of the four of us, Lorelei was the only one who remained injured.

I wanted to lie back and go to sleep, but couldn’t. There was still a battle going on after all. I looked to the northern end of the camp. While there was still fighting, the Black Wolf Gang was on the retreat. Why wouldn’t they? They had achieved their objective. The guards and adventurers made them pay for it, but in the end, several of the bandits escaped. Several, but not all.

Dozens of corpses littered the battlefield. Most of them belonged to the Black Wolf Gang, their wizards and their Inferno Wolf familiars, but some of them also belonged to the caravan’s guards.

The Steel Golem lay still on the ground as well, beaten into an unrecognizable hunk of scrap metal. The warrior wizard who fought him lay nearby, still alive, but with both his arms broken.

In fact, all five of Guildmaster Sinclair’s adventurers were still alive. However, I didn’t sense any of the Black Wolf Gang’s Second Circle wizards among the bodies either. Well, except for the Air wizard I killed.

As I surveyed the scene, I heaved out a sigh. It came at a heavy cost, but we succeeded in our mission. The Black Wolf Gang had taken the bait and took the package. Now they just needed to open it, and House Icefall could proceed with the rest of its plan.

First, however, we had injured to tend to, bodies to bury, and a camp to clean up.

Even as I thought this, I heard a yawn in my head. The dragon spirit inside my dantian stirred awake. It lifted its head out of the pool of mana and let out another yawn.

I’m finally awake, it said in a sleepy voice. What did I miss?

----------------------------------------

Several days earlier, back in the Icefall Adventurers Guild.

“Good,” Guildmaster Sinclair said. “Now then, here’s the most important thing you need to know about the job…It’s a trap.”

I raised an eyebrow at her.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“There is a caravan going to Rosewood City,” Guildmaster Sinclair said. “And my daughter is joining that caravan. However, the package she is delivering isn’t for anyone in Rosewood City. It’s for the Black Wolf Gang.”

I studied Guildmaster Sinclair for several long seconds.

“The package is bait,” I said. “You want them to attack the caravan and steal it.”

“That’s what Theobald wants, but yes,” she said. “My cousin and I worked hard to spread the word among the wrong kinds of people about the package. As far as those people are concerned, it’s some precious treasure that House Icefall is going to give to House Rosewood in order to secure their help in dealing with the Black Wolf Gang.”

Huh. That was kinda insidious, I wasn’t going to lie.

“Wait, was that why you two spoke so openly about it on the stairwell not too long ago?”

I had wondered about that.

Guildmaster Sinclair narrowed her eyes at me.

“You overheard that?” she asked.

“I have sharp senses.” I shrugged. “It had nothing to do with me, so I didn’t care.” I paused. “However, I wasn’t the only one in a position to eavesdrop on you and Lord Icefall.”

“Let me guess, Gyles and Jeffry?”

“If you mean Loudmouth and Fatty, yes.”

Guildmaster Sinclair sighed.

“The two of them, plus their friend Martin, are spies for the Black Wolf Gang. They joined the guild a few months before things started to go bad, so I looked into them. At first I was going to kill them so they couldn’t cause any trouble, but Theobald convinced me to leave them be. That way we could use them to feed misinformation to the Black Wolf Gang.”

“Is that why you didn’t want me to kill Rat?” I asked.

“That’s part of it, yes. The other part is that I wanted to kill the little fucker myself.” A dark look flashed across Guildmaster Sinclair’s face. “Those bastards came into my guild to spy on me and my people. When I kill them, I’m going to make it hurt.”

The threat wasn’t even directed at me, and I felt a chill in my bones. I made a mental note not to make an enemy out of Guildmaster Sinclair. At least not until I could fight her on even ground.

“Whatever happened to Rat, by the way?”

“Theobald and I made sure that he overheard something he shouldn’t have, and then kicked him out of the city.”

I grinned at this. While it wasn’t as satisfying in the moment as killing him for trying to poison me, using Rat as a means to bait the Black Wolf Gang was better in the long run.

“What is the package?” I asked. “If you don’t mind telling me.”

“I don’t mind,” Guildmaster Sinclair said. “It’s a spell Theobald commissioned from the Tower of Magic. It cost him a pretty penny, and he had to sneak it into the city to avoid anyone getting suspicious about it.”

I found it pretty funny that Lord Icefall had to smuggle something into his own city.

“The spell will be locked in some kind of box,” Guildmaster Sinclair continued. “After the Black Wolf Gang ‘steals’ the box and takes it back to their base, they’ll try to open it. It will take them a little while, but eventually they’ll succeed. When they do, the spell will mark all the members of the Black Wolf Gang that it hits. This will make it easier for Theobald and his people to track them down.

“The Black Wolf Gang’s biggest advantage is the fact that we don’t know where their base is. This allows them to attack with impunity, since they can just disappear into the wilds before anyone can muster an appropriate response. The Icefall Region is huge, and most of it is unsettled. They could be anywhere, and it would take months to search it all. Maybe even longer. This spell will allow Theobald to find out where they’re located.”

“Why not just use an explosive spell of some kind to blow up their base and be done with it?” I asked. “Why bother with this?”

Guildmaster Sinclair shook her head.

“Because Theobald wants to take their base and capture their leader,” she said. “I’m sure you can guess that the Black Wolf Gang isn’t a normal bandit group. Theobald believes that someone hired them to attack his House, but he doesn’t know who. He hopes that by taking their base and interrogating their leader, he can find out who is behind all of this.” She grinned at me. “For a while, Theobald thought House Sturm was the culprit.”

I gave her a mystified look.

“Why?”

“I mean, you showed up a little after things started to go bad and then proceeded to be a rude dick by avoiding Theobald. You can see why he would be suspicious of you, right?”

I facepalmed at this.

“Is that why he was so hostile towards me?” I asked.

“Yes.”

I let out a wry chuckle. I hadn’t foreseen that my desire to avoid socializing would result in something like this.

“That’s just insulting,” I said after lifting my face from my hand. “If House Sturm wanted to eliminate House Icefall, we would just do it. We wouldn’t bother with petty tricks like this. Either of my parents could erase Icefall City from the map by themselves.”

“Theobald realized this after I pointed it out to him.”

I shook my head. So my spat with Lord Icefall was the result of miscommunication and misunderstanding on both sides. I really did owe him an apology.

“There are a lot of things that could go wrong with this job,” I said, changing the topic. “I’m surprised you would let your daughter be involved with something like this.”

“Theobald needed a special courier to make his ruse more believable, and Lorelei fit the bill,” Guildmaster Sinclair said. “It’s an open secret that he and I are kin. However, if it hadn’t been for my husband’s divination, I wouldn’t have allowed it. I love my cousin, but I love my daughter more.”

“And that’s why you wanted me along,” I said. “To keep Lorelei safe.”

“Yes. My daughter’s life is your biggest priority, even if it means letting Theobald’s scheme fail.”

I nodded.

“I understand,” I said. “I will do everything in my power to bring Lorelei back alive, Guildmaster Sinclair.” I stood up. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some preparations to make. I have a feeling that I’ll need them.”