"They have a Mage!"
My eyes widened at the swelling mass of flames boiling over our heads.
'Wh-what...? Don't they care for their men? 'the share amount of Mana behind the spell was startling, to say the least. But I wasn't left with the luxury of surprise, as the swelling mass sharply descended and detonated over us.
-BOOM!
The force was incredible, the heat exploded forth like scalding needles against the environment. Beyond my senses of perception, I watched as the nearby trees were blown to ash, their crowns became dust and their barks turned to cinder.
"Kuaaghh!!"
"Oi, what the hell?!"
"Are you trying to get us killed?!"
Fortunately, the explosion had happened just over our heads, and with most of the force of the detonation soon dispersed, our attackers all threw out curses in rage.
The air was thick with black smoke and filled with the burnt smell of wood, the encircling formation of our ambushers had been thoroughly complicated from the sudden explosion, and each and everyone was sent into disarray.
I held my sigh of relief as a beat up individual stepped out of the bushes with a helpless smile, and leaning over one of the intact trees with one hand. In his other hand was a dull red crystal the size of a small soccer ball. His expression was pale and a trail of blood trickled down his nose, yet he retained a helpless smile.
Under the curses, swears and venomous gaze, the individual leaned forward and said in a hoarse voice, still smiling helplessly.
"Change of plans, boys. They're unto us."
As the words left the individual's mouth, Mr. Roan's figure blurred and bypassed the awareness of everyone present but me. The air trembled with turbid bloodlust.
I could only barely trace his movements for the single reason that I had my dispersed consciousness constantly on Borris and Bowen.
The next second, Mr. Roan appeared before a startled Bowen, his movements we're swift and fluid, by the end of it, Bowen found himself desperately raising his broad sword to meet against Roan's blade.
The fierce sound of steel against steel resounded and a muffled groan left Bowen's lips. He faltered backwards, clearly failing to fully withstand the force of Roan's sword then fell back.
At the moment everyone froze, I inclusive.
Silence prevailed shortly, each of us baffled in our own right, slowly coming to terms with what was happening.
Meanwhile, Mr. Roan's back stood straight and imposing. He stood tall over Bowen's floored body, a chilling aura surrounded his form, enough so, space appeared to slightly distort around him.
One of the masked attackers, the first to snap out of of his trance, leaned forward, and not half a step later, an immense pressure bore down on each and everyone of us present.
I found myself instinctively holding my breath as I stared, petrified, at Mr. Roan's straight back. A small ringing sound resounded in my head, and I felt my Mental Core tremble slightly, testament to its passive effects of offsetting the external pressure weighing on my mind from Mr. Roan.
Nobody moved.
No.
Nobody could move.
With his back against me, I wasn't offered a view at Mr. Roan's face, but the usual carefree presence of the amicable guard no longer existed. I didn't need a look to know there wasn't a smile on his lips.
"O-oi, Boss... what are you doing?" Bowen feigned struggle from the ground, and at the same moment, Mr. Roan's cold voice resounded like a chilly hiss throughout the scorched forest.
"Bowen and Borris of the Black Stinger tribe...all of you are under arrest."
Mr. Roan's words hung in the confused air as bemused expressions unraveled on the faces of many of us, even I wasn't exempted.
But it was awfully clear at this point, Mr. Roan knew Borris and Bowen were intruders and had been expecting this development.
But as for why he chose now to go on the aggressive, I wasn't exactly sure of that. We were surrounded by potential allies of the said two, and one of the was a Mage powerful enough to cause a powerful explosion, not to mention, that could have as well been a signal for reinforcement.
In short, aren't we at the disadvantage?
Mr. Roan, perhaps unaware of my thoughts, continued his statement regardless.
"The rest of your members have been slowly countered, there will be no reinforcements. Your plans have been complicated; come quietly, and failure to do so will warrant your deaths," His blade flashed the sunlight reflected against its polished steel, Mr. Roan's words were cold and devoid of sympathy, the heavy tension he gave off was still palpitating.
"Screw this," one of the attackers said, wielding dual daggers and pointed a finger at Mr. Roan — "there's only so little of you and more of us, I'd love to see you try to cuff us. " Following his words, he sharply kicked the groud and threw himself at Roan.
Snapping out of their reverie, the rest of the attackers did the same and raised their weapons at us.
"Argh! I have no idea what's happening right now but whatever...!" Skylar quickly got up and unsheathed his sword to intercept one of the attackers.
Within the chaos that ensued, I drew my gaze to the Mage who's expression had turned deathly grim. He pushed his body off the tree and quickly retreated back into the forest with Borris not far behind.
"Wait-!" Before I could run after him, I detected the curved blade of a scimitar cut a straight arc for my neck from behind.
"Where do you think you're going, you little brat!" The attacker sneered and I twisted my body efficiently with enough space to evade the blade.
Capitalizing on my momentum and short moment of shock displayed by the attacker from my movements while still twisting in the air, I kicked off his jaw like a platform and propelled myself forward.
The grunt of the attacker failed to register as I sprinted forward as soon as I touched down to the ground.
"Oryaa!"
"Haap!"
"Oof!"
I side stepped another attacker, threw a hook into the solar plexus of one, and drop kicked another; i marvelously danced around the attacks and solely focused on chasing after the escaping Mage.
***
Bowen felt oppressive apprehension, staring into the murky green eyes of Roan who stood over him. He had barely managed to block his blow and stumbled to the ground, his wrist numb.
Internally, he cursed.
How was it they were found out already?
'No use thinking of it now, ' First of all he had to find a way out of the current situation, the bloodlust surrounding Roan was unbriddled testament to his determination to kill.
Then an opportunity presented itself as one of the attackers lunged forward at Cliff.
"Screw it! There's only so little of you and more of us...!" As soon as his words registered, the others seemed to regain their vigour and chaos ensued.
Roan merely glanced at his attacker and side stepped to avoid his blades by a small margin. His expression was still and impassive, and the pummel of his sword descended heavily against the attackers head, knocking him to the ground with a pained groan.
At the exact moment Roan took half a step back, Bowen seized the opportunity to rise to his feet.
"Huaah!"
Seizing advantage of his larger build, he threatened to raise his shoulder into the village guards and threw his whole body weight at him.
Roan was momentarily startled at this, for just half a second, as the next, Bowen's broad shoulders struck against his body with a weighty force.
To Bowen's pleasure, his opponent was shifted off his feet.
To his unpleasant surprise, Roan only budged half a step backwards and quickly regained his footing.
'Wh... what?! ' he screamed internally, his whole weight and momentum should have been more than enough to throw the guard down against the ground, yet Roan still remained even more firmly rooted against his feet.
Alas, he wasn't offered the luxury to ponder the situation.
"Buagh!" A stiffled groan forcefully broke from his lips as Roan's knee powerful slammed into his midsection, knocking the oxygen out of his lungs. Bowen felt pain and the urge to throw up cloud his vision.
His consciousness shook as Roan brutally brought his elbow down against the back of his neck, forcing Bowen to involuntarily let go of him and fall against his knees.
'Wh...what...' The intruder struggled to construct his thoughts as for the brief second he momentarily passed out, he was thrown in disarray and fell sharply to the ground.
Roan coldly stared down at the hung head of his opponent. For a swift second, he entertained the thought of severing his head, just when he heard a familiar voice from his surrounding.
"Wait-!"
"And where do you think you're going you, little brat?! "
Reacting the the smaller commotion, Roan observed Reo's spinning figure kick off the jaw of one of the ambushers and quickly sprint off into the forest all of a sudden.
At the sight, Roan immensely grew grim.
"Hey, where are y-!" He attempted to call out to the boy, but by then Reo had evaded and paried three more attackers and his figure vanished into the embrace of the forest.
Roan cursed at the sight. His head quickly jerked to a different direction.
"Skylar!" He shouted, "go after him!" He ordered urgently.
Skylar's face twisted greatly as he lowered his head, evading a sword.
"Uhm, Boss, I kinda have my hands full here— woah!" The youth back stepped, narrowly avoiding an encircling that was slowly caging around him. Locking swords against one of the ambushers, he shot a desperate glance at Roan.
"Need a hand here!" As he made clear, Skylar was locked in battle against three different opponents trying to cut him down from various sides; he lacked any more attention or focus to give outside of his own fight.
But regardless of the circumstances, Skylar still held his ground.
Just barely. For now.
They were slowly succeeding in circling him, and it was only a matter of time before he was cut down.
Bowen on the other hand managed to regain some clarity.
"Th...this is my chance..." He groaned and reached for inside of his pocket.
His movements failed to go unnoticed by Roan's sharp senses, as once more he felt the bloodlust from his piercing gaze weigh on his shoulder.
"What do you think you're —!"
But by then it was too late.
Bowen instantly crushed a few small black spheres against the ground and a burst explosion of black smoke ensued and swallowed up a part of the area.
Roan instinctively jumped back and held his breath, for all he knew the black fumes could be poisonous.
But alas, it was merely smokescreen.
'Shit...' and as soon as he realized it, Bowen was gone.