While both sides seed fine with letting the fight end there, there was a small detail neither of them had taken into account. Aurexion wasn’t happy to let things end just as he joined the fight. The dragon continued to chase even after his opening attack combined with Aranor all but forced the enemy to retreat.
“You need to call your bond back, he’s exposed.” Ajax was warned as soon by the leader of the squad as everyone watched as Aurexion was catching up to the slowest of the stragglers. “It’s exposed.”
“He will be fine.” Ajax said with a glare before moving to close the distance with his bond. While he trusted in Aurexion’s instinct he still kept [Last Stand] running and was burning through his Stamina to ensure if his bond needed help he wouldn’t be in a weakened state.
Ten seconds was all the chase lasted for, enough ti for Aurexion to catch up to the slowest of the enemy mages, one who wasn’t a champion but just part of their champion level squad that was there for support.
Despite the enemy launching a number of spells at him Aurexion simply powered through it all until his jaws snapped shut around the mage. A last hope barrier sprung up around the mage bug Ajax could both see and feel the cracks forming as Aurexion turned back with his prize in his jaws.
“You did good.” Aranor stepped up next to Ajax. “Held up in a two versus one and kept them busy.”
“I had the elent of surprise.” Ajax was realistic about why the fight had gone so well for him. “They’ll be better prepared for
next ti. And they had a rune that weakened my [Telekinesis].”
“An ancient half asure.” Aranor said. “Nobody knows where it ca from but it was created to deal with elentals in the dungeon that have access to [Telekinesis]. Physical fighters couldn’t reliably damage them at the sa level and mages would get torn apart. The rune weakens it enough to let a hybrid fighter’s physical stats push through it. But it’s not optimal, it eats Mana quickly and it won’t weaken it enough to let full mages make use of it.”
Ajax was surprised they hadn’t yet found ghosts in the dungeons which would be a much better explanation for intangible beings using [Telekinesis] but then again ghosts might just be too strong for the dungeon to use before the next difficulty jump at level two hundred and fifty.
“Also, that rune is typically on a necklace.” Aranor said. “I doubt they had ti to get it added to the harder to remove pieces of armor.” The aning was clear, if the rune gives you trouble maybe you can just break it since it isn’t part of the durable gear they had made.
“That barrier won’t last long.” Ajax pointed out while looking directly towards Aranor.
The ssage was clear, Ajax was basically asking if Aranor wanted him to ask Aurexion to not kill the mage. Phrasing it this way was all political and as a way for Gryndor champions to not be shown as subordinate to one from Sylvanthal. Ajax didn’t like it, Aranor had the experience that it shouldn’t be a problem but nobody ever accused the nobility of following logic.
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“Does your bond enjoy eating the enemy?” Aranor was actually curious in the answer but his words also told Ajax the decision on what to do with the mage was up to him and his bond.
“I haven’t asked him about the taste.” Ajax admitted. “But considering the level he’d be a lot more filling for my bond than any food supplies we have here.”
Ideally Ajax wouldn’t like to disclose that Aurexion preferred food with high Mana density, it might turn into a weakness to exploit. Unfortunately that was the only way to secure deliveries of the food for his bond so instead he played into it, making it seem that it was more important for his bond than it actually was.
“Can you ask your b- I an Aurexion to spare us the prisoner.” The squad leader joined the conversation once more this ti with a more respectful tone. Having had so ti for his adrenaline from the battle to bleed off he realized his earlier mistake, more than that he actualized that Ajax had fought one versus two against two champions and held his own, he was not soone you wanted to offend. “He may be useful in any negotiations our people might be doing.”
The idea of trading back a prisoner who would just go right back to fighting them angered Ajax, he recognised it as part of the reactions that beca stronger since his bond with Aurexion as his pride beca more assertive. At the sa ti he knew what the realities of war were.
“He will not be traded back for non-combat assets.” Ajax said flintily as he turned his eyes back towards the squad leader. “Equivalently powerful combat assets.”
One thing Ajax did have ti to do on his way to the Republic was read the reports they had on the war. So far the beastkin seed rciless with the powerful fighters from the Republic or the other forces that moved to help them. They did however go out of their way to capture high ranking nobles, especially those that were weaker and traded them back regularly.
With the Republic being led by a council instead of a royal family this ant there was no absolute command even during a war. This democratic approach ant that important noble families had more leverage to push when trying to trade for captured relatives. If Ajax was going to spare soone who fought to kill him he damn sure wouldn’t be doing as part of a political ga.
“I want your word on that.” Ajax didn’t look away even as the bubble broke and Aurexion’s jaws closed, cutting off the mage’s legs.
“You have it.” Ajax picked up on the slight hint of desperation that leaked through, the barrier breaking clearly unnerved the squad commander and Ajax wanted to know why. There was sothing he wasn’t being told.
Despite what he suspected Ajax moved, the ground braking under his feet as his boosted body possessed extre physical power and asked the dragon not to kill the mage. Aurexion complied with the request, yet Ajax could feel the smugness through their bond. The dragon seed to be inclined to let his captive live a little longer even if he wasn’t asked if only to gloat that he did catch sothing once everyone else gave up the chase.
“Anything do more than scratch your scales?” Ajax asked, he knew his bond had [Poison Resistance] but he wasn’t willing to take any chances that they might have done so real damage to Aurexion when they all focused their attacks on him as he chased them.
“I doubt it.” Aurexion could feel Ajax’s concern through their bond so he fought back his own instinct to downplay the attacks he took at the end. “I didn’t feel anything but so of those attacks had quite so power behind them.”
Ajax quickly moved to his bond’s side and started inspecting every inch. While he didn’t find anything that wouldn’t heal just fine over ti he did see more than a few cracked, sliced or smashed scales and used so Life Mana to help speed up the recovery process. Only after he was sure Aurexion was fine did Ajax finally drop [Last Stand] and a wave of weakness hit him. The legendary Skill had been holding back the effects of having both low Mana and low Stamina and with it off both of them ca rushing back on top of the weakness that usually followed [Last Stand].
“You’ve earned so rest.” Aranor said after he froze the stumps of their new prisoner to prevent him from bleeding out. While Ajax hid the weakness that followed the use of his Legendary Skill well, it wasn’t well enough to fool a champion with centuries of experience. “I’ll make sure you get so before anyone cos to bother you.”
Ajax took a second to think and nodded his agreent as well as his thanks to the older elf. “I’d also like to catch up with Arianwyn after I take a nap, I’m sure she has a lot of questions for .” Ajax looked towards the squads that had already moved away and were dealing with the aftermath of the battle, Ajax took the chance and moved closer to whisper sothing to Aranor. “Keep a close eye on our prisoner, I have a feeling sothing is off about his capture.”
“I will also ensure your rest is not disturbed.” Unlike Aranor who said sothing similar as a show of support for Ajax there was no misunderstanding that the dragon’s loudly declared statent was nothing more than a threat for any who wanted to bother his bond.
Ajax also picked up on sothing else through the bond. Aurexion wanted to discuss sothing with him, from his previous statent he clearly didn’t want an audience for it.
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