Without my barrier, I felt naked and exposed.
My chest felt tight and breathing didn't co easy. I broke from the lee, clearing so space to try and get my head on straight.
The small man wasn't having it—he seed to sense the change in my deanor and was pressing the advantage.
I backpedaled, doing my best to take stock of the situation while maintaining a semi-safe distance.
My body was strong, constitution pushing my durability far beyond a peak human. My eyes flashed to the razor sharp axe blade…yeah.
Constitution wouldn't be enough. If I took a blow to the head that would be it.
To make matters worse—I was pretty sure I would still need to break his shield. The icing on the cake? He still had at least one more skill he hadn't shown yet.
At least I still had speed, and probably every other stat, on my side. Hell, if it weren't for him using my own shield against , I doubt this would've even been much of a fight.
I set my jaw.
Years ago, my dad took cliff diving. I stood at the top frozen, afraid to jump the forty or so feet to the deep water below. He grabbed by the shoulders and told to close my eyes. Once my eyes were closed, he told .
"You can't think, once you open your eyes, you just jump."
I still rember the breathless feeling of flying before plunging into the frigid water. I repeated the mantra in my head now.
Don't think, just jump.
It was probably a better strategy to whittle the shield down like I had before, before charging in head first.
Too late now though.
Tranquility slapped away the translucent orange arc, I barely slowed, twisting into a heavy two handed back swing. The axe ca up, but it wasn't quick enough, my strike connected with a heavy thwack against his shield.
It wasn't near enough to break through but I wasn't done. I kicked backwards narrowly avoiding a follow up strike while simultaneously flicking my blade forward scoring another strike.
At close range skills were still effective, I unleashed sweeping blade.
It was blocked, but that didn't matter because I followed it closely with another strike from Tranquility, which landed.
Blow after blow landed. The speed of my sword proved a good match for the less wieldy axe. The small man just couldn't keep up.
I knew that I must be getting close—a few more clean hits should do it. My confidence swelled, and I started planning ahead.
Once his shield was down, the armor wouldn't last long.
With that in mind, I saw another opening.
In so ways, fighting against a shielded opponent was actually easier. I didn't need to aim for what I wanted to hit—it just mattered that I did hit.
The man was guarding his upper torso valiantly, but his legs?
I swept low mustering an imnse amount of force—if I was lucky I could break through and take the leg in just this one swing.
This fight had already gone on too long and I was hopeful to be done with it. The attack was so fast, my target didn't even bother to defend…
Or maybe?
It was already too late.
In a move not all that dissimilar then what I'd done against the bandit leader, I'd been baited. Rather than defending, he relied on the dregs of his shield and his armor to tank my hit allowing him to focus solely on a direct overhead swing.
The world moved in slow motion.
In the milliseconds that crawled by, I knew the answer was easy. All I had to do was cast another spell.
Simple. I could reset the fight.
Sure it ant we'd have to start all over again—but that was better than an axe to the brain. I'd be more careful, take less risks.
Except...he was learning too. This maneuver was proof of that.
I closed my eyes.
Just jump.
When I opened my eyes again, I swung with everything I had.
My arms rattled in protest, as sword t barrier.
"ARRRGHHH!"
The swing carried with it all of my anger, all of my frustration, my desire to not just survive but to live.
Finally—the shield gave its last breath and all the montum held behind its protective film resud unimpeded. I hardly noticed the tug as Tranquility t bronze, then skin, then bone passing through it all.
I grinned and jerked my body backwards.
The blade of the axe bit into my forehead. Through so miracle the cut—although painful, was far from life threatening.
Cross eyed, I watched in horror as the blade continued in its trajectory passing to my nose, splitting it, and then onto my forearm.
There was a wet thump and I stared in horror at my disembodied right hand.
The thump was joined by a rhythmic tallic click.
Heal. I needed to heal.
I felt the familiar stirring of mana as I set my mind to casting the spell. A red waterfall of blood drained from my stump of arm, pooling at my feet.
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Just before I released the spell, a few thoughts entered my mind.
The first was why didn't it hurt more that my arm was lopped off? Maybe my brain hadn't caught up to my injuries?
And the second thought?
If I heal myself now, will he steal it?
My understanding of his strange ability was limited. Did I want to risk healing us both? For now, I elected to hold off casting my healing spell.
I looked up.
The bronze man wasn't far off—for the ti being he was preoccupied with hopping up and down on his one remaining leg as blood literally poured from the missing limb.
If he wasn't healed soon I was certain a wound like his would be fatal, mana enhanced body or not.
Maybe now, he would be willing to hear out?
My thought of the pain not being so bad started to fade, as a deep throb began to blossom up my arm. Knowing it was only going to get worse I decided it was ti to start talking.
"I can heal you." I half growled through gritted teeth as the pain steadily increased.
The bronze man kept bouncing, on one leg.
His hand moved and in a second, a red vial appeared.
A potion.
Of course he would have one. I wondered how he planned to remove the stopper with a helt on and an axe in his other hand.
I never got the chance to find out.
He tilted his head, seeming confused and in one fluid motion flung his battle axe straight towards .
With a yelp, I dropped to the ground.
The throw went high, not even coming close to hitting .
Had his hopping thrown off his aim?
A heavy smack gave the answer I was looking for as Corg fell face first into the ground beside , the battle axe buried deep into his skull.
Surprised, I'd completely forgotten about Corg during the fight. But why was he right behind ?
"That red one, he's not your ally?"
My eyes darted away from the body, to the source of the gruff voice.
In the ti that I looked away, the man in armor already downed a potion and had the stopper off a second. Before my eyes the pink stump of a leg was growing from the ruined armor plating.
Between watching him heal himself and the blood pouring down my face I figured there really wasn't any point in putting off healing myself—even if it did bleed into his strange shard.
I cast heal and felt the familiar warmth spread through my body.
As expected, so of the healing mana did escape and I could see the faint mana strands like little golden ants marching directly into the purple shard.
"No, he wasn't my ally." I grunted, reaching down for Tranquility. I flinched. "But I don't think it's a good thing for that he's dead."
What did it an for Xander and Sadie now that Corg was dead? It was impossible to forget his cryptic warning.
Aggard would know.
Did that still apply now that he was dead?
"Would you rather that I let him stick you with that blade?" He asked, pointing at a dark black short sword still in his grip.
My eyes narrowed. Was he suggesting that he'd saved my life? How did that make sense?
Aggard sent here to clear out the goblins in the quarry, how was I supposed to do that if I was dead?
Keeping an eye on him, I reached down and snatched up the blade. Studying it with my status screen up my nose wrinkled.
Blade of bleeding (uncommon) - Victims stabbed by this blade have increased bleeding. Bleeding effects cannot be cured by common or weak level healing.
Not quite to the level of Aggard's dagger—still…without my shield it was a very dangerous weapon.
Did Aggard even care about the Quarry? Or had I beco the target of assasination for a second ti today?
I shivered. Was it possible Aggard knew about the strange purple shard lded into this man's bronze armor?
That felt like a stretch. Was it just a stroke of luck that Corg had attempted to capitalize on? Way too many questions were buzzing through my head at the mont.
"I didn't expect him to attack ." I tossed the sword at his feet. "You saved my life, thank you."
He picked it up, examining it. "A nasty weapon."
The weapon popped from view, being stowed in his dinsional bag.
"If you're not with this filth, then why attack us at our ho?"
Technically, I hadn't attacked. But I doubt he was in the mood for technicalities.
"My na is Layton. I'm a faction leader a few territories away." I paused, wondering how much I should share. I knew what conventional wisdom would suggest, but as usual, I decided on my own brand of wisdom.
"I was making my way here, to this quarry, peacefully—if possible." I pointed to what was left of Corg. "Things changed when two of my people were captured by his faction. Their leader, Aggard, is holding them at knife point."
The man listened, even nodding occasionally.
"She told if I didn't take this quarry for her that she would kill my friends."
The man's leg was now completely regrown but naked and barefoot.
"That's quite a situation." He pulled off his helt to reveal long dark hair that fell past his pointed ears, fair skin and a long beak of a nose. "You can call Trasnik."
I nodded.
Supposedly these were supposed to be goblins but Trasnik didn't look like the goblins from my first dungeon. His skin was fair, so white it bordered on translucent.
"If what you're saying is true, Layton, are you still planning to take this territory for the red ones?"
That was a fair question. Aggard still had both Sadie and Xander, which ant she still held the sa leverage as before. At least Corg wasn't watching anymore.
But his warning echoed in my mind.
Be careful what you say, Aggard will know.
I didn't see how that was possible, was he lying? How careful should I be?
"My faction's priority is peace. But I'm in a bind. If I co back empty handed, my friends could die." I scratched my chin trying to piece things together. "Trasnik, how well do you know the Red Orcs?"
He folded his arms. Clearly not impressed with my change of subject.
"They have been around here and there, but they have mostly left us alone." Trasnik eyed . "But many know of the red orcs in the universe. Their clan is strong and widespread."
"Corg, the dead one there, he told that their leader Aggard would be aware of all my conversations. Do you know anything about this?"
He tapped his toe. I had the feeling that he wasn't enthusiastic about asking all the questions and not stating my intentions clearly, but if he did know sothing that could help see the puzzle more clearly I needed to know.
"You presu to interrogate ? My mory is not so poor that I'd so easily forget the loss of my leg at your blade. You ask questions like we're familiar, and skirt my own."
OK, that was a good point.
"Yeah that's fair." I shrugged. "If I knew that Aggard wasn't listening in, I could speak more freely."
He didn't seem any less annoyed, but his brows furrowed which I took as a sign he was considering my point.
"You've been exposed to mana long enough to know the possibilities. She may very well have a thod." His tone was stern. "If you're here to take this mine, then let's be on with it."
He moved to restore his helt onto his head.
"Stop, I never wanted to attack you. I just need to figure out how to help my friends."
The helt slid over his head and his words ca out muffled. "Your friends are probably already dead."
I glared at Trasnik.
"I'm not going to fight you anymore."
"Then leave." He picked up the leg of armor I cut off, the old leg very much still inside.
This was not how I'd hoped the conversation would go.
"I can't leave, we have to work this out together."
Trasnik, who was working a latch on his boot, looked up at . Even with his voice muffled, I could still hear the venom.
"Why? Because mbers of your faction might die? You ca here to kill hundreds to save two of yours? You're a naive child. Leave here or fight."
His words hit like actual blows.
"What is your—"
Trasnik dropped the leg altogether.
"You claim to be a faction leader! Pah! A true leader wouldn't be played with like a cheap toy!"
He humphed and turned his back and limped back to the stone opening. My mouth worked but I couldn't find the right words, I wanted to stop him.
The door ground open, Trasnik stepped through and it snapped closed behind him leaving alone with Corg's cooling body.
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