A dark dagger approached my body at a frightening speed. It seemed like the shadows were carrying it rather than the tall lizardman in front of me. I did not have enough time to dodge, nor did I have the skill to parry. I had only one option with my Level 4 skills. I used Barrier Vision. Immediately, a barrier formed in front of my body. The dagger clanged against the solid surface. In that moment of reprieve, I decided to form the barrier all around my body. This was the best decision I could have ever made. Less than a second later, 4 more daggers bounced off the barrier on all sides.
"Some kind of barrier skill, huh? Then you'll be powerless when your mana runs out! You 4 slaves, I command you to attack this runt."
In response, all 4 beastkin that had been riding the front of the carriages appeared before me. I was standing on the dirt road just outside of the carriage but had no path of escape. Each of the beastkin started striking at the barrier with their claws, fists, and legs. I noticed that the collars they wore had a red glow while they followed Monte's command. The looks on their faces told me clearly that they did not personally want to attack me. They had no choice under the command of the slave collar. I attempted to store one of the collars into my Storage Vision, but the mana in it seemed to interfere with my skill. Flame Vision was not strong enough to cause much harm and likely would not penetrate the collars. Not only that, but I would also have to lower the barrier to use it. Lowering Barrier Vision would be a death sentence. I kept the barrier up while I contemplated my options. I did not regret setting the 3 dwarves free, but it would have been even better if I could have freed these 4 slaves. What else could I do? I watched my status screen as my Mana ticked down. It seemed to drop faster when the barrier took damage. This must be why Monte commanded them to attack it. I was down to 80 mana. I had held up for only 8 minutes. With the damage it was taking, I had about 2 more minutes.
I stared at my skills available, but I refused to do anything that would permanently injure the innocent beastkin. I would happily drop some rocks on the lizardman if he wasn't hiding behind his victims. My mana was down to 35, less than a minute now!
Skill Level Increase: Barrier Vision Lv. 2
The level 2 barrier skill did not seem to increase its effectiveness but did give me better control of my barriers. In fact, I felt like I might be able to use a second barrier if it was a bit smaller than the first one. I immediately came up with an idea. With great concentration, I formed the smallest of barriers directly overtop the red gem that was attached to one of the beastkin slave collars. The mana immediately disconnected from the device and the collar fell to the ground. Success!
With my last dregs of mana, I completed the same task on the other three beastkin. I discontinued my barrier and jumped back as far away as I could from the beastkin strikes. As they realized that my barrier was gone, they also discovered their collars on the ground. Without even a hesitation, all four of them turned around and struck towards their former captor, lizardman Monte. I sighed in relief, seeing that pressure was off me. The black-haired beastkin was evidently a wolfkin. He had incredible acrobatic skills – leaping through the air with summersaults and backflips. His attacks on Monte were stunning. The other three struck out with all their might. The lizardman did not seem to be deterred. In fact, he hadn't even broken a sweat. He had pulled out a second dagger and had parried every single strike as if it was natural for him.
It had been less than a minute since the beastkin were freed from their collars, and yet they already seemed to be on the defensive. The black wolfkin was clearly the most skilled fighter but he still struggled against the shadow thief. I wanted to launch some boulders at Monte, but the other beastkin were too close in proximity. I pulled out my makeshift spear and dagger. Both were made of stone and wouldn't last very long against this tough opponent. I held out the dagger towards the wolfkin and he grabbed it within seconds. I then started to poke my spear out towards Monte, limiting his movement as much as I could. I did not expect him to grab the spear with his hands and snap it with his pure strength.
This opponent was far beyond my skills. Even with the four beastkin, we were barely holding this shadow villain at bay. I wanted to flee but disliked the idea of Monte recapturing all 7 of his captives. Perhaps he would even kill them at this point. With no weapon, I tried getting around to another side of our opponent. Once I had an angle that did not seem to endanger my beastkin partners, I began launching large boulders towards the lizardman at terrifying speeds. Somehow, the shadow thief was still able to dodge though the oncoming boulders. Even worse, Monte now seemed to be paying more attention towards me. I glowing dagger struck towards my chest. I still did not have enough mana to return my barrier. I twisted enough so that the dagger struck my right shoulder rather than the center of my chest.