NOVEL WEB B2, Chapter 9: Disaster
“Kill them,” the huge man said, as he waved his subordinates towards Min and the others. The subordinates immediately started walking towards them. Min, Kemah, Kor, and Haemir, on the other hand, couldn’t help but back away, but behind them stood the fort. They could try and retreat back inside, but then they’d have no other way out.
On the enemies side, there were ten people, not counting the leader. Min was outnumbered more than two to one. But if the enemy wasn’t too strong, they would be able to handle that.
“Come on guys, they’re just bandits. We should be able to handle them,” Kor said, as he went into a fighting stance, his knives held high.
“Let’s do this,” Kemah said, as she adopted a similar stance. Her eyes were lit up with eagerness. She had been trained for combat, so she was confident in killing all these bandit bastards.
“Let me start,” Min said, as she summoned forth her dark mana. A large ball of chaotic energy appeared between her palms, but it only stayed there for a moment. Min sent it flying towards the bandits.
As it neared closer to them, it quickly formed into a missile. A short moment later, the missile struck against one of the bandits. The dark energy burst into an explosion of black acid. Everyone near the struck bandit was showered in the acid, causing skin to melt off. But it was only superficial damage.
However, the struck bandit was much worse off. There was a large hole in his chest, and most of his upper clothes had been melted off. His chest and face was almost devoid of skin, and his eyes had turned into liquid.
The man tried to scream, but all that came up were some gurgled wails of pain. After only a moment, he fell down, either dead, or dying.
Everyone present was shocked at the pure cruelty of the spell. But the assassins were quick to take advantage of the situation.
“Attack!” Kor screamed, as he charged the bandits. Kemah was even quicker, bolting towards the nearest bandit like an arrow. Haemir, on the other hand, was loosing actual arrows, rapidly.
The spell Min had cast, was also her most powerful spell, Dark Missile. It cost three hundred mana to cast, so Min would only be able to use it seven times. However, she couldn’t possible cast it again so soon. She’d need to wait quite a while, before she was able to cast it again.
Many powerful spells were like that. They put a strain on her mind, making it simply impossible for her to cast it again. But once her magic got stronger, Min would be able to cast it rapidly.
While Kemah and Kor were doing their best, fighting, Min started casting another combat spell, Black Crescent. This spell was different. It only cost fifty mana to cast, and it could be cast rapidly.
However, something was becoming clear, to the assassins. When Min had used her first spell, she’d expected for several of the bandits to die. But only the one who’d taken the blunt force of the spell had actually died.
Kemah and Kor were taking several bandits on. If they were normal bandits, they should have killed a few already, but now, they were actually struggling.
Kemah jumped around like an acrobat, constantly slicing with her knives. She hit several times, but each attack would only leave shallow wounds. Each time Kemah attacked, the bandits would move their bodies slightly, so that her attacks did minimal damage.
Clearly, these bandits weren’t ordinary. They weren’t much weaker than Kemah and Kor, and they were expertly experienced in battle.
Kor fought against them with all his energy. But he wasn’t like Kemah, who was the best frontal fighter of the group. He couldn’t dodge and attack at the same time. He had to block most of the bandits’ attacks.
But he wasn’t to be underestimated, either. Several of his attacks had struck home, drawing quite a bit of blood. But the fight was clearly desperate.
Min and Haemir were using their long ranged attacks, which, in turn, made them into targets. The bandits wanted to reach them and kill them, but Kor and Kemah were doing everything they could to keep the bandits at bay.
Kemah jumped between several bandits, fighting all of them at the same time. Each time a bandit got too far away, she’d either appear behind him in a flash, or throw a couple throwing knives.
Kor on the other hand, was much more stalwart, keeping four bandits locked around him.
Kemah had excellent reactions, and so far, not a single strike had struck her. But finally, something happened that she couldn’t react in time for.
The fat, muscled man in the back suddenly drew a small cross bow, while Kemah’s back was turned. Min just barely managed to see it, and wanted to warn Kemah, but the leader was too fast.
In the span of a single second, he’d drawn the crossbow, and pulled the trigger. A bolt spun through the air, and struck Kemah right in the back of her thigh!
“Aaagh!” Kemah screamed, as she fell to the ground. The bandits took quick advantage of the opportunity, and immediately, two swords pierced into her abdomen. A third sword followed, cutting into her chest. Kemah spat out a mouthful of blood, as she gurgled out pained screams.
“No!” The others screamed! Kor immediately charged at the five bandits around Kemah, while Haemir and Min focused their attacks on the same area. Suddenly Min shouted towards Kor,
“Draw back!” She screamed, as she started summoning forth another large, chaotic mass of dark energy. Kor saw what she was doing, and immediately jumped back. Min sent the Dark Missile into the face of a bandit who was just about to stab Kemah. The burst from the Dark Missile caused his head to explode, as acid sprayed all over him, and everyone around him.
Not even Kemah could dodge acid, but she was still better off, as she was down on the ground. She lost a lot of skin, but it wouldn’t kill her. Her other wounds, however, might.
As soon as Min had sent off the Dark Missile, she summoned forth a second spell. This time, the area around Kemah turned dark.
Finally, Min used a third, and last, spell. By this point, she only had around six hundred points of mana left, and this spell, would continuously draw mana from her.
She cast Shadow Cloak on herself, Haemir, Kor, and Kemah. It cost forty mana points to cast the spell on everyone, and would take another forty points away per minute. She would be able to keep the spell up for fourteen minutes.
With all her spells cast, she drew forth an ability she’d never used before. It was in inborn ability that came with her evolution into a Moon Blessed Dhampir. Her body became filled with might and energy.
She burst forth with speed, arriving by Kemah’s side in an instant. She grabbed hold of her, and immediately ran.
“Let’s go!” Min screamed, as she headed to the woods. The other two were able to follow her, the moment she left the area affected by the Darkness Shroud. After all, Cloak of Shadows didn’t make you invisible. It only hid you in shadows.
Since it was daytime, they were all still very visible. However, it was much darker in the woods, so it would be very effective there.
Min was running much faster than the other two, but she could feel her stamina drain. She would only be able to keep this up for a minute or two. Any longer, and she’d faint.
As soon as she got inside the woods, she let her body return to normal, but she didn’t stop running. She was sprinting away at her top speed, followed by the other two who were starting to catch up.
Min turned to look behind her, seeing that the bandits were starting to get out of the Shroud. But they had no idea which way Min and the others had run.
After Min had shouted for the others to run, she had actually turned around, and gone in the other direction. So the bandits were looking the wrong way.
But after a short while, it seemed like the bandits had given up. After all, Min, Kor, and Haemir had left behind all of the treasure they’d looted.
Even though the assassins had killed everyone in the fort, and two of the fat guys enforcers, it didn’t seem like he cared enough to chase through the woods.
But Min didn’t stop running. They didn’t stop running until dark. They only took a short break, so that Min could use her healing magic on Kemah, and feed her some blood.
Min’s blood had healing properties, so even though her healing magic wasn’t that good, it still did something, along with the blood.
By the time it had been dark for an hour or two, Min, Kor, and Haemir finally stopped. Finally, Min started treating Kemah’s wounds for real. She cut of her leather bra, revealing her nude breasts. But no one was in the mood to enjoy the sight.
Min topped up her healing with some magic, and a bit more blood, before she had Haemir and Kor tear up the shirts they wore underneath their armor.
Min didn’t have a single piece of cloth on her body, and even if she did, it would be a minimal amount. Thus, she needed the guys’ clothes.
Min hadn’t only practiced the magical healing arts, she’d practiced a bit of the physical kind, too. Using a needle and tread that she had taken with her, she sewed Kemah’s wounds shut. Her wounds were very deep, so not even the combination of her magic and blood was enough to heal her. It had only mostly stopped the bleeding.
After treating her wounds, she wrapped her torso in bandages, made from the two shirts.
“That’s all I can do for her,” Min said with a sigh.
“Will she live?” Haemir asked, the worry apparent in his face.
“I don’t know. Her wounds are terrible. A lung was punctured, and they nearly hit her heart. She’s been unconscious for a while now, but she’s still breathing. But death is a real danger, here,” Min said, as she stroked Kemah’s hair.
“We should keep moving. I don’t think they were chasing us, and even if they were, they probably can’t move well in the darkness. But just to be safe, we need to get as far away from here as possible. We were too sloppy yesterday,” Kor said.
“Yeah, we were sloppy. But we’re in the middle of nowhere. The nearest settlement is days away. Who’d have thought something like this would happen?” Haemir replied. Everyone was shocked. No one had told them this outpost belonged to a large bandit organization.
“I don’t think I can move anymore. I used a lot of energy back there. I have an ability that makes me stronger and faster temporarily, but it drains my stamina. I was moving purely on adrenaline, until now. I’m so exhausted,” Min said, as she sat next to the sleeping Kemah.
“That is okay. We’ll carry you two girls. You’re both tiny, so it won’t be a problem,” Kor said, as we walked up to Min, taking her into his arms.
“Thank you. I’ll get some sleep, if you don’t mind,” Min said, while resting her head on Kor’s chest. She could barely keep her eyes open at this point, so she quickly trailed off.
Meanwhile, Haemir picked up the wounded Kemah, using great care, as he held her.
This mission, which had originally went so well, had quickly turned into disaster. It was seeming unlikely that Kemah would survive.
