As the smoke slowly cleared, what greeted the eyes of the people surrounding the place was a transparent dome of energy. It was a barrier that was installed inside the carriages that was activated at command. The guards, servants and mercenaries laid on the ground, all covered in various degrees of injuries. If the merchant was a little slower, by the time they put up their defenses, all of them would have been turned into corpses.
Jacob was one of the first people to get up. He was also the one least injured with but a few scratches here and there. As a tank his defense was way higher than the rest which allowed him to take blows of high damage and still survive. And as most of the explosion was taken on by the barrier, most had to only deal with a few seconds of exposure. Seeing Jacob stand up, many others followed him and stood up too. One by one almost everyone was standing. While most had injuries, none were even close to life threatening.
Jacob looked around at the people in black that were now completely surrounding the transparent dome of energy with no way of escaping. There were about a few dozen men in total. All of them carried weapons and staffs on them. Looking at the situation, Jacob knew that they were in big trouble. It seemed that the only choice left to them was to fight their way through this mess. But the numbers were heavily against them. Even including the servants, they didn't even have half of their numbers. The more he looked, the more he felt hopeless about the situation they were in.
Jacob stopped himself before he lost himself in despair. 'No. This wasn't the time to think about how hopeless the situation was.' He ought to better use the little time provided by the barrier to think of a way to survive. If not all, he at least had to make sure some did. And seeing how close to the city they were and how loud the sound of the explosion was, it wouldn't be that long before the city guards arrived to check on the situation. They were all that he could place his hopes on.
With a determined gaze Jacob looked back at the rest and started barking orders to prepare for the fall of the barrier. The people in black were already attacking the barrier with all they had and it wouldn't be long before the barrier broke. When that time comes, they could only rely on themselves to fight their way out of the encirclement.
As everyone fell into position, they waited with baited breath for the barrier to fall. Every second that passed, the barrier grew dimmer and dimmer and the attacks sent by the people in black grew more fierce and destructive. All kinds of attacks were thrown at the barrier. And at last with one final blow, the almost dim barrier broke down like shards of glass and evaporated into the air. The group that was until now under its protection were finally exposed to the world.
The moment the barrier fell a fight broke out. Spells were cast and arrows were aimed it didn't take long before blood spilled on the green ground and the first body dropped dead. While everyone was fighting with their lives on the line, three individuals rocked the stage. Those three were Jacob, Emery and someone among the people in black whom the rest thought to be their leader.
The leader seemed to be a sword fighter. Someone tempered to be the sharpest. His movements were smooth with barely any flaw. Three of the merchant's personnel had already died under his blade. Currently his attention was focused on the leader of the merchant's personal guards, James. He was a swell fighter. One who could keep up with the leader.
The others tried to work in pairs to better their chance at survival with only a few fighting solo. Emery's partner happened to be Jacob. Emery was a battle mage. Her power resided in the destructiveness of her spells and the boundlessness of her Mana, both in which she exceeded. Having fire, ice, wind and darkness magic aptitudes, her choice of destruction was boundless. Jacob on the other hand, was a pure tank. He had both the built and the equipment. While he could not attack that great but he could sure as hell survive any onslaught.
Both of them made a great team. Emery as mage had low defense and Jacob as a tank had low attack power and attack speed. Their fighting style fit each other perfectly without getting into each other's way. One provided what the other lacked. The other's weakness was their greatest strength. It was no wonder that these two rocked the stage.