“I don’t know, Roc,” the dwarf replied, regaining some of his courage now that more of his allies had arrived. “He just appeared out of nowhere and killed Rodgen, Welton, and Orsond without breaking a sweat!”
“Are you fucking serious?” the half-elf exclaimed with surprise, his eyes narrowing as he looked at me. “You let this anorexic little shit kill half your party?”
“Can we get on with the surrendering portion of this conversation?” I called out in the best bored tone I could muster, despite inwardly seething as they spoke about my appearance. “I really do have places to be today.”
“I don’t think you understand the situation you’re in.” The half-elf started moving towards me, waving a metal rod in his hand. “You attacked the Grey Devils, you’re about as fucked as a person can get. By the time lunch rolls around, we’ll be setting up our new camp in whatever place you call home.”
“Somehow, I doubt that,” I replied, watching the half-elf continue stalking forward, his retinue not far behind. I held up a hand, motioning for the group to stop. “Last chance before things get violent…”
I paused, looking down at the bodies belonging to the half-orc Shaman and human Rogue, who had since expired from blood loss. “Well, more violent.”
Unfazed by my threats, the half-elf didn’t break his stride as he moved menacingly towards me. “Enough, let’s get this over with.”
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
Before I had even finished speaking, a massive azure blur sailed over the top of my head and slammed into the advancing half-elf, sending him to the ground.
“What the hell is that?!” one of the bandits yelled in surprise, watching the Ætherwarped puma begin to savage the fallen half-elf. “Oh shit, Roc—”
A thunderclap of magic cut the bandit off as a burst of magefire exploded through the gathered group of marauders, sending them all sprawling off balance. A second later, a large fireball flew through the air and detonated itself against the side of the elven mage. The blast sent the poor bandit flying, landing with a sickening crunch as his armor caught fire, but before the stunned mage could even register what had happened, a black arrow thudded into the side of his chest, followed by two more seconds later.
“Lyr!” I heard a familiar voice boom over the twin magic bursts, spotting Drace’s massive form as he sprinted towards the Raiders. “Hit them from both sides!”
Leaping forward at Drace’s order, I circled around my familiar as his teeth finally closed on the half-elf’s head, ending all resistance with a vicious twist of the neck. Focusing on the now terrified dwarf warrior, I threw a Flare at his face as I closed the distance.
Reacting instinctively, the dwarf brought up his shield to protect his face, the tiny fireball splashing harmlessly against the wood. Capitalizing on the dwarf’s momentary blindness, I triggered Blink Step once more, this time appearing directly on his unprotected flank. With all my strength and simmering anger behind the attack, I stabbed Razor deep into the dwarf’s side, feeling the blade slip past his ribs and bite deep into his flesh.
Roaring in pain, the dwarf tore himself free of my sword, his axe swinging wildly as he tried to buy himself space, forcing me to backpedal to evade his crazed, rage-filled attacks. Howling like a wild animal, the dwarf launched himself at me, seeking to overwhelm my defenses with wild and punishing attacks.
No longer able to baffle the warrior with creative maneuvers, I was forced to stand toe to toe and found myself almost hard-pressed to keep up. For whatever he lacked in tactical sense, the berserk dwarf made up for in sheer ferocity and endurance as I worked to dodge and evade his attacks, unwilling to risk directly parrying an attack.
Shit! I winced, feeling my arm go numb reflexively deflecting a particularly inspired attack, and I felt my balance stagger under the powerful blow as my feet slid across the ground. That Rage ability is powerful!
“Need help, Lyr?” Constantine’s voice reached my ears the same moment his shortsword buried itself deep into the dwarf’s kidney. The warrior let out a high-pitched gasp of pain, before falling lifelessly to the ground as Constantine followed up his first attack with an even more devastating stab to the back of the head.
“I had him!” I called to the Rogue, both of us turning to move towards the remaining bandits.
“You mean before the sun comes up?” Constantine grunted dismissively as he fell in beside me. “You were taking too long!”
“I already killed three of them before you got here!” I challenged, catching a bandit’s blade on my sword and forcing it high, allowing Constantine the opportunity to disembowel the man.
“Congrats, do you want a shiny sticker?” he shot back at me, while stepping forward and shouldering the now bleeding bandit to the ground.
“Oh, I know where I’ll put a sticker alright!” I hissed, while stabbing the fallen bandit in the chest.
“Is it my butt?” Constantine queried, darting forward to stab a bandit fighting Drace from behind.
“Are you two at it already?!” Drace shouted, interrupting our banter as his sword bit deep into the collar of the bandit. “How do you even have the energy?! We’ve literally been running all night!”
“I logged off and took a nap, couldn’t you tell?” Constantine replied, stabbing the bandit a second time. “I feel great!”
“Are you serious?!” I thrust a Shocking Touch-charged Razor into the shoulder of the last standing bandit, the others having long since been felled by a volley of magic and arrows.
“That depends,” Constantine shot back, trapping the stunned bandit’s weapon, allowing Drace the time to wind up and cleave into his skull. “How angry will you be if I say yes?”
“Ugh,” I grunted at the Rogue in mock frustration, watching the last bandit fall to the ground as Drace pulled his weapon free.
“We’ve got them on the run,” Sierra called out, trotting over to me while carefully scanning our surroundings. “I’m taking a few of the scouts to see if we can cut them off before they make it into the woods. Constantine, Amaranth, let’s go.”
“On it,” Constantine replied, throwing me a mock salute as he started to move. “Catch you guys later.”
“Rah,” Amaranth cooed in acknowledgement, the familiar’s tongue flicking out as it licked the bloody mess covering its maw.
“You got this, Lyr?” Drace asked me, motioning to the people still cowering under the nearby carts. “We’re going to see if anyone else needs help.”
“Yeah, I should be fine.” I waved at the warrior, watching him spin on his heels and run off with a nod, taking Caius and Halcyon with him.
I turned towards the cart where I had seen the cowering travelers, expecting them to recoil from my appearance. To my surprise, however, none looked away from my face, all watching me intently as hope bloomed in their eyes.
“Don’t worry,” I spoke softly, “you’re safe now.”
“Virtus is here.”
Hell to Pay (Ascend Online Book 2) Page 37