"Bodeth, tell us again why you guys are extremely keen to get to the rat imp burrows soon? We just got your party and the survivors out from the warehouse and now you're going there again. We might need to fight you know."
"Jin was it? You saw the damage they did around us. We didn't hole up in that wretched building only to die in another wave as soon as we got out. Let's hurry up. Keep your mind on this task, less talking."
Bodeth continued to rush forward, leading their group as he lead them towards a village exit. Once they decided to leave for the rat imp burrows, all three parties headed towards different directions. Jin thought that it was a bit odd the burrows were located in three cardinal directions, but then again if the rat imps wanted to overrun the village, a three-point attack would be more than enough. The thought about rat imps organising their attacks and grouping into separate attack waves sent a chill down his spine. He immediately renewed the reinforcement on his body. He couldn't shake off the foreboding feeling after hearing Sebastian's parting words: Proceed with caution from all sides.' It was very cryptic and unnerving in a lot of ways.
"Jin. Jin. Oi Jin!" Aima nudged Jin back to reality as he shook his head as if to wipe away the bad premonition.
"Yes, Aima? Sorry I spaced out."
"You need to be alert at all times. Please don't leave the healer all by her weak self."
"I see. I'm sorry if it seemed that way. I'll definitely keep my head straight from now on. Thanks for the nudge."
"sigh. You don't react like Sebastian. It's actually no fun at all." Aima pretended to sulk as she gripped her staff tighter and walked ahead of Jin instead of staying in the back as they decided earlier.
"Are you both a couple, Jin and Aima? We're near the burrows, please be on guard." Bodeth held his weapon high as he seemingly prepared for combat with an unseen enemy.
"No, we're not. I understand Bodeth. To think that you and your party survived the rat imp waves. That's impressive." Jin also held his glaive and buckler with anticipation as he heightened his senses.
"Our party didn't just consist of me, Sylvie, and Oswin. Oswin usually hires battle slaves for his quests. They, unfortunately, perished during the onslaught."
"What? Battle slaves?! That's why there were weapons strewn about in the village. You know what they are, right Jin?" Aima couldn't hold her surprise as she looked at Bodeth with surprise and horror.
"Yes, I know about them. Although they're quite rare in Wildecross City, there are some nobles and adventurers that purchase slaves to add to their party's fighting ability. While they aren't well-trained like adventurers, they can't oppose the order from their master. In some situations, they can be used as a large attacking force. In dire situations, they may be used to hold off the enemies with their lives as their master makes a strategic retreat." Jin gripped his weapons closer as he slowly understood Sebastian's message.
Bodeth stopped as he tensed his muscles and slowed his breathing down. He seemed to be in meditation as he closed his eyes.
"Do you sense something Bodeth?" Aima slowly went towards the back of their formation as she readied her staff. They didn't even reach the village exit yet but it seemed that there was something concerning him.
"Aima stay back!" Jin suddenly leapt in front of Aima as he parried a cleave from Bodeth!
CLANG!
"Curses. I wanted to end her with that strike." Bodeth raised his axe as he readied his shield for defence.
"Aima I need you to buff me whenever possible but also attack him if you have a chance. He means to kill us to silence us."
"Understood Jin. I'm not sure what's happening but I'll trust your judgement. [Oaksin]." Aima pointed her magic staff towards Jin as her mana slowly enveloped him in a familiar light, indicating the reinforcement spell was successfully applied.
SLASH! BANG! BAM! BAM! TWANG!
Jin and Bodeth seemed evenly matched as they wielded their weapons skillfully while using their buckler and shield for defence.
Jin slowly circled Bodeth to create an opening for Aima however Bodeth showed that he was an experienced adventurer. Every time Jin stepped back, he immediately rushed with his shield as he rammed Jin!
WHOOM!
GAH!
"Jin! [Heal]!" Aima continued to keep her distance as she waited for an opening. She didn't want to risk spending all her mana on reinforcement spells and end up with nothing left for her offensive magick. "Tch." The waiting and staying on the defensive stance left a bad taste in her mouth as she and Jin waited for the experienced adventurer to slip up.
Jin suddenly tensed his back straight up as he seemingly stretched his right arm. Crouching down again, he dashed towards Bodeth!
"[Spear Slash]! [Spear Thrust]!"
TANG! TATANGK!
"Why are you telling me your moves! Idiot!" Bodeth deflected both of Jin's attacks as he started to swing his axe down towards his head!
'[Shield Bash]'
BLAM!
"Wha-"
Bodeth was caught off guard as he took a single step backwards after being his with Jin's shield.
SSHHTTINGG!
"Guh!"
Aima's [Ice Lance] pierced Bodeth's chest plate, forcing him to continue stumbling backwards.
"This isn't-"
SSWUK!
Jin's glaive found its mark as he pierced through Bodeth's helmet with his [Spear Thrust]. Bodeth's limp body dropped its weapons and knelt down as the head was still impaled in Jin's glaive.
TOK
With a hollow sound, Jin pulled his glaive out of Bodeth's head after making sure he was dead.
"Whew. Thank the gods you read what I planned to do. His defence was actually good." Jin plopped down as he breathed a sigh of relief.
"I actually didn't understand what you wanted to do. I thought you gave up but then you started calling out your moves like an idiot then it clicked into place."
"It worked out well in the end. I was getting tired and I don't have enough mana left now. Can you cast [Signal] please Aima? We should let others know about our status."
"I can, but what good will it do? I didn't expect him to attack us."
"You see, I eventually understood what Sebastian was trying to tell us but it was too late. I wonder how he figured it out. Please cast it."
"Hmm... That does make sense now. Sebastian was acting strangely before we split up. I hope the other parties weren't caught off guard like us. [Signal]."
*
BRAK!
cough cough cough "PUHAK!"
Sylvie found herself kneeling down in front of Becky while coughing blood clots out. She couldn't hold both her daggers simply because Becky had cut her fingers off. When she tried to escape, Mel was ready and stabbed her sword through Sylvie's leather armour.
"How did you-"
Thud
Sylvie fell down as she continued to gasp for air. Her lungs had started to collapse due to the one-way influx of air into her chest cavity. She didn't have long to live, and she couldn't even say anything as the blood and pain came in rising waves.
"Becky, how did you know she was going to strike us? Are we going to let her die here?" Mel still kept her sword pointed towards Sylvie as she asked Becky with blatant concern.
"That idiot Sebastian actually had a good head. I thought something was off, but he kept hinting that these three were plotting something. As soon as this wench grabbed her daggers I simply used [Shadow Step] to move to her blind side. You also did well to block her escape."
"But will Sebastian be okay? He's just alone with Oswin! We better get to him soon." Mel wiped her sword as she sheathed it. Sylvie started to gurgle red foam from her mouth, indicating the wound was becoming fatal. Gasping for air and drowning because of a punctured lung looked painful even if it was a beast or a human. Mel looked away as she gazed to where Sebastian and Oswin headed.
"He should be okay for now, don't worry about him. I actually want to ask this one why she attacked us and what they did with the rest of their party. Should we heal her?" Becky looked down at the drowning Sylvie in front of them. With her condition, she only had moments away from death.
"I don't think we can save her at this point. You and I can only use a basic [Heal]. It might not be enough."
"Sigh. You're right. We should make sure then that Sebastian is okay. They should -"
BAM BAM WOONG!
"Becky did you see that! Was that a [Signal] spell? That came from where Jin and Aima went!" Mel immediately grabbed her sword as she started to run where the spell came from.
"That's okay Mel, it means that they're alright. Let's head instead to where Sebastian went."
"What? How do you know it was them and not Ba-, Bori-, that dwarf guy?" Mel was understandably flustered as she started to imagine that Jin and Aima were caught unaware and weren't as lucky as them.
"Because that dwarf will never use [Signal] to let the others know. It's a dead giveaway that something's off." Becky used her foot to check if Sylvie was still breathing or not before finally sheathing her daggers and headed towards Sebastian and Oswin.
*
"So Oswin, while we're heading towards the rat imp burrow, can you brief me on what happened here?" Sebastian walked beside Oswin as he guided them towards the alleged burrow.
"When we came here the people were still anticipating an attack from the rat imps. Their guards apparently reported an increased sighting of these mutated creatures which lead to their request. I came here with my full party, which consisted of me, Sylvie, Bodeth, and a few battle slaves."
"How many battle slaves were in your party? I only saw the three of you left, and the other survivors from the warehouse looked like they were villagers."
"There were 5 of the finest battle slaves I personally trained. They helped set up the defences you would have seen on the way in. They slowed down the wave of rat imps pouring into the village. However, while they were helping us get into the warehouse, they lost their lives in the process. They gave up their lives for a noble cause, I can never replace them."
"I see." Sebastian fell silent as he slowly remembered the things he saw on the village streets. He remembered that there were only a few weapons they found in the streets. It meant that the battle slaves were actually fewer than what Oswin said, or they were terribly armed for the encounter.
"My turn to ask you Sebastian, how did the adventurer's guild know about our predicament here?"
"Ah, the guild master, Leo actually created this request and asked our party to look into this. He simply asked us to assess the situation and then report to him, but as you can see, we got carried away." Sebastian shyly scratched the back of his head.
"I can't blame you though when someone sees the condition of the village walls, anyone would be shocked. His scouting ability is actually impressive, that Leo." Oswin appeared to be deep in thought as he continued to lead the way for Sebastian to follow.
"What do you mean by scouting ability?" They seemed to be taking turns in asking questions as Sebastian countered with his.
"You mean you don't know? Ah, you might not know since you're not a mage. That owl that's always perched on his shoulder is actually a physical embodiment of his mana. He uses it as an extension of his self to scout and to check the nearby surroundings. That's probably how he found out that this village was in danger or we were already in danger."
Sebastian remained quiet as he tried to remember the times when he saw the owl on Leo's shoulder. He vaguely remembered that it was there when he first met him when he transmigrated, but it wasn't there after that. It was noticeably absent during the mutated wolf attack and afterwards. Sebastian tried to think the amount of mana it must consume to maintain a physical output of someone's mana.
As they were reaching the village exit, Oswin suddenly turned around and aimed his mana staff towards Sebastian.
"Don't hate me, Sebastian."
FWOOM! BWAAMMM!
A fireball flew from Oswin's staff before exploding where Sebastian stood!