Talin had been spectating the fight without budging an inch. With each bandit that was killed, his confidence and desire to fight Annabeth plummeted.
But that was only until the strength mage-bandit managed to land a hit.
A ray of hope had appeared and it brought an opportunity with it. While Annabeth was on her knees, Talin planned to use this chance to attack her. A successful hit would tip this fight in the bandits' favor, he thought.
However, when the other bandit was knocked out by a punch to the balls, he hesitated to put his plan in motion.
"F*ck it," he thought, "The only way to stop this monster is to kill it."
At some point during the fight, he had given up on getting answers from Annabeth. Keeping her alive for interrogation was an unnecessary risk.
He quickly conjured a Tier 5 'ice spear' and shot it towards Annabeth with a high amount of force while she was saying something to the strength mage.
He almost had her even, but her outstanding reflexes helped her dodge at the very last moment with a backflip. The spear pierced the edge of her dress before coming to a stop in the eye socket of a bandit that ironically didn't see it coming.
Annabeth and the remaining bandits looked at Talin with cold eyes and knitted eyebrows. In a fight where every man counted, taking out a comrade even if accidentally, was just plain infuriating. In Annabeth's case, she had a score to settle with Talin, ruining her dress was one more sin he was going to pay for.
The number of bandits that were remaining was now 5, Talin making it 6. These were the bandits that relied more on magic than their physic. Only Talin and the strength mage-bandit had launched attacks that involved magic, however.
Annabeth turned around to face the strength mage-bandit who had so far managed to land a hit on her. He started to run towards her and she did not feel like waiting for him.
At least that was what she wanted to do.
But when she tried to move her leg to run towards him, she was stopped by a weird vine that had wrapped itself around her leg. She had not noticed the thick vine until it was too late becoming a sitting duck for a shoulder tackle from the strength mage.
She fell on her back and the strength mage-bandit quickly moved to sit on her thighs.
She wanted to say something sarcastic about a man sitting on her laps but he didn't even give her the chance. A barrage of heavy punches aimed at her face followed that she could only guard against with both arms shielding her face.
Annabeth wanted to move her legs to grapple his neck but the vines held them down to the ground and he was sitting on her legs. Blow after blow but she made sure to keep her arms tight while she thought of a plan.
The strength mage thought the fight was over when her arms suddenly left a small space between them. He thought he had finally weakened them and charged his punch a little longer to throw a straight punch, hoping to knock her out.
He had fallen for the bait and that extra split second was all she needed. Her arms reached for his neck, pulling his head towards her as she rose to a sit-up position. She broke his nose with a headbutt and threw him to the side.
It was payback time, she thought.
She moved to get on top of him but the vines dragged her away. She grabbed his foot her right hand and took him along for the ride.
Annabeth started conjuring a Tier 3 lightning bolt with her left hand and searched for the target of her spell. She found him among the other bandits, moving his arms as though he was a choir conductor to a silent slow song. He was the bastard controlling the vines.
She motioned her hand towards him and the lightning bolt him directly in the face. The bandit felt a surge of electricity run through his body that left him stunned for a few seconds. The stun effect soon wore off but then another bolt hit him, and then another. The last bolt knocked him out cold.
Although Tier 3 spells were not great damage dealers, lightning was among the top-most offensive elements and could become fatal if repeated attacks were taken. Getting knocked out was being let off easy. Annabeth didn't plan to.
She was in the middle of conjuring another lightning bolt when a kick to the face from the strength mage-bandit disrupted her. She lost her grip and he rolled away from her before running to his bandit friend.
*Sigh.*
"At least let a lady get done with you before you run off with somebody else," Annabeth bitterly complained as she got to her feet.
The vines had disappeared when their maker lost consciousness. Any magic cast by a Tier 8 or less mage would dissipate if he/she was knocked out or dead.
"She got you good huh?" the friend teased. He was giggling at the sight of the bent bleeding nose the strength mage-bandit had.
"Just f*cking heal me already!" the strength mage-bandit angrily ordered.
"Fine," replied the bandit friend, casting a healing spell on the strength mage-bandit.
"Hey!" Shouted Annabeth, "That's not fair! Heal me too!"
The bandit friend stuck out a tongue to tease her and declare his refusal. She stamped her feet and pouted playfully.
"After this much chemistry, you and I have a date now," Annabeth said to him, smiling maliciously as she got her dagger from its sheath.
Like a good strategist, Annabeth knew that the first one who should be taken out is the healer. If not, the enemies she didn't kill would keep coming back.
As if being carried by the wind, Annabeth rushed to the strength mage-bandit and his healer friend at an incredible pace. She held her dagger tight and was smiling like a maniac at them, almost drooling.
When she was close, the strength mage-bandit jumped out of the way but Annabeth didn't mind. He was not her target for now. But before she could reach the healer, she saw him move his hand and then her vision went completely white.
In a panic, she threw her dagger immediately at the position she remembered him standing.
"Son of a b*tch! Ow! F*ck! My arm!" She heard someone shout.
She chuckled even though she couldn't see. Her panicky/happy moment was ruined by a punch to her back and getting tackled to the ground.
She immediately covered her arms with earth magic and held the back of her head in her hands. A moment later a punch landed on her hands.
"What the-?! Earth magic now?!" The strength mage-bandit blurted out.
He was very confused now. At first, he thought she was a strength mage like he was since she could deal a lot of damage with her fists and legs. When he saw the lightning bolt, he figured she was instead lightning mage and just undergone very excessive strength training.
He thought she probably had the strength element as a secondary innate element. This would mean excessive strength training was made manageable with the little magic she got from her secondary element. Seeing the extremely rare earth magic being displayed here confused him greatly. Using such an element for protection and to this extent meant it could be a primary element too. Two primary elements? He had never heard of or considered such a thing.
He was probably lost in figuring out what was happening for too long as he found himself getting flipped on his back. She had grabbed underneath his right knee and while rolling to her left side, lifted his knee and made him roll off of her. He tried to hold her but she had quickly turned to face him, pinning him to the ground.
Her vision had returned and she could see where exactly his head was.
"Didn't… your… mother… ever... teach… you… not... to... hit… women?!!" Annabeth, roared laying a strong emphasis on the last word. She had been throwing a heavy punch after each word.
The first two punches broke his arms that he had put up to protect his face, the other 8 punches planted his head deep in the earth. The strength mage-bandit was permanently out of the fight.
"This guy… This guy was exhausting," Annabeth said aloud, trying to catch her breath as she stood up. She turned to face the healer now.
"How are you doing sweety?!" Annabeth smiled and teased him.
Before he could shout his 'I'll kill you' or whatever he was supposed to say, an ice spear aimed for Annabeth's throat missed, brushing past the free end of her hair. It settled in the chest of another bandit that was in the middle of conjuring a spell to attack with, freezing his chest instantly.
"Again?!!!!!!" Annabeth, the healer and a bandit that had not yet made any move shouted in unison while looking at the mortified Talin.
Annabeth's shout was for a different reason, however. Talin had not only pierced her dress but now partially froze her hair.
"Ooh! You attention seeker! Fine, I'm all yours" Annabeth evilly smiled and said to him, walking towards him with open arms.
Talin's entire body was screaming for him to run, but his feet wouldn't budge. He was really scared, but it's not for this reason that his feet couldn't move.
Annabeth had cast an earth magic spell when she raised and opened her arms to him. The earth had now buried his feet partly, and she was holding the soil tightly so that it felt and looked like rocks on his feet.
Talin peed himself a little as he tried to conjure another ice spear. He hoped he wouldn't miss at point-blank range.
Unfortunately, Annabeth had already reached where he stood. His arms were the first thing she broke, and then his legs.
In the middle of Talin's screams, she said something about how he should never skip leg day when working out otherwise small rocks would make him a sitting duck, before using his sword to cut off his arms and legs.
Using fire magic, she burnt the bleeding legs to clot the blood but left his arms to slowly bleed out.
"I'll be right back," She said while kissing his forehead, "Don't go anywhere."
She chuckled at either her own little joke or Talin's expression who couldn't even muster a scream anymore out of fear.
She happily whistled as she stood back up to go and deal with the two remaining bandits. Getting revenge was a very intoxicating sweet feeling to her.