Sorry this chapter is coming out a bit later than my new schedule would prefer, but writer's block hit me hard last week, hence the chapter's lateness. But I think it'll be well worth it since we're finally getting to see my favorite adventurer team back in action. You guessed it Titan Storm!
:P
Big thanks to Qinlongfei for beta reading this chapter and providing important critique.
With that said, let's get this chapter started!
Interlude 8: Titan's Together
It was supposed to be a simple job. One that they had undertaken countless times before on numerous assaults and missions.
A bandit group had been terrorizing and raiding several villages up north, kidnapping several village women and being a general problem for the local lords. It was nothing they hadn't seen before and they had always to come out victorious in the end thanks to Slayer's guidance and leadership. Alice was certain that there were numerous occasions where they would not have survived if it wasn't for him being there and that just made her feel safe to be around him.
Alice was an Emerald rank at the time when it happened. She had come a long way from when she first signed up at the guild and had grown in experience and skill. They all had. Alice never would have thought that this was how her adventuring career would turn out, being mentored by the famous Beast Slayer of the guild. He had a rather fearsome but respected reputation among the guild, being the capital's foremost bandit hunting expert, specifically those of the demi-human and beastmen variety considering those were the only quests he ever did. Which earned him quite a bit of fame even among the other Silver ranks of the guild.
She was truly grateful that he had taken her and the others under his wing when they first met all those years ago. He didn't have to do it, Slayer had been fine working solo for years before they came along but he still took the time to train them in his ways and strategies. Alice was certain at the time that their fledgling rookie group wouldn't have made it very far in their adventuring career without his help and for that she was grateful.
Alice shifted her shoulder a bit around as she adjusted the chest plate and shoulder pads on her person. Slayer had finally convinced her to start wearing more armor than light chainmail under her priestess robes and to start using a weapon for self-defense. They had spent the last couple of weeks training to get Alice used to moving around quickly in armor and more familiar with various weapons. Alice had never been the kind of person that liked using violence, preferring to rely on her support magic and miracles to help her teammates from a support role, and her dark magic to misguide her opponents with illusions. The thought of actually killing somebody terrified her back then, even if it was a bandit.
But after working with Slayer for over a year and seeing how dangerous the life of an adventurer really was, she decided to start learning. Slayer was a great teacher, having her practice with a variety of different weapons so she would never be restricted to one single weapon. Not enough to be considered a 'master' of any weapon, but enough to have some level of proficiency with them.
The bandits had established their presence in a ruin that was built into the side of a mountain, there were dozens of ruins like this that had been abandoned to time scattered all throughout Melromarc. Whether they used to be a temple of some sort dedicated to the Chief God or an ancient library of sorts didn't matter, as they were now being used as a base of operations for the bandits.
Their group observed the ruins from a distance in some bushes to get a better look at the situation. Slayer had always emphasized the importance of scouting and gaining as much information as possible before entering a bandit hideout. Alice knew by now just how dangerous going into a quest with no information could be, especially when you're fighting against an enemy that is larger than your own.
The bandits security at the front entrance was far too easy for them. Two bandits, a cat and a raccoon armed with spears stationed at the front looking rather bored than focused on guarding the entrance to their hideout.
" Just two. Take them out quickly before they can raise the alarm." Slayer said as he readied his bow to hit the bandits.
" Got it." Rufus nodded as he held his bow at the ready, waiting on Slayer to take the first shot.
Slayer and Rufus took a deep breath as the two of them released the string on their bows that sent their arrows flying. Slayer's arrow hit the cat demi-human square in the head making him drop dead to the ground instantly, while Rufus's arrow did hit the dog beastman but it ended up hitting him in the throat. Not an instant kill as the dog dropped to the floor and tried to scream but couldn't thanks to the arrow in his throat.
" Crap!" Rufus shouted as the group quickly emerged from the bushes and approached the entrance.
" URRKSKAHH!" The bandit tried to scream but could only let out a few gurgles as blood clogged his throat, Slayer ended his suffering quickly with a sword to the head, silencing him forever.
Alice couldn't help but grimace at the brutal end for the dog bandit, choking on your own blood was a gruesome way to die.
" Sorry." Rufus apologized for his shot earlier.
" Its fine, you still managed to land your shot." Slayer didn't seem the least bit bothered by the fact that Rufus was disturbed by the kill.
Nobody in their group said a word as they headed inside the ruins which were lit by torches, most likely left behind by the bandits so there was no need to create their own torches. The ruins were old and decrypted like one would expect, there was strange writing on the walls and paintings that were far too faded to make any sense. Whatever they meant, whatever those who wrote them desired for them to mean have long since been lost to time.
Their group moved slowly through the ruins as to not give the bandits a forewarning about their presence here. Alice kept a hand on the grip of her sword as they moved through the hallways which was wide enough for them to stay close together. She could hear distant sounds echoing throughout ruins but they were far too distant to make anything out, it just served to put Alice more on edge.
After about a minute of walking, their group reached a branching pathway. Alice could see that they could keep going straight or take the left or right path. It would seem the ruin was much deeper than previously anticipated. Alice turned to their leader who seemed to be considering their options on what they should do.
" What do you think Slayer?" Clarissa asked their faceless leader who seemed to be thinking for a moment before answering.
" We divide and conquer. We hit different parts of the ruins fast and hard." Slayer said after a moment before turning to their warrior and monk." Rufus and Nina go left to see what's there, proceed with caution. If you encounter a large group, do not engage and immediately fall back to us. We'll head to the right to see what we can find." Slayer quickly came up with a plan of action, but Alice couldn't help but have some disagreements with it.
" Got it, boss." Rufus nodded as he got ready to move with Nina.
" Are you sure it wouldn't be better to stay together?" Alice questioned. They were in hostile territory that they weren't familiar with, staying together sounded like the safer option.
" We need to move quickly and strike decisively. We don't know if the guards we killed at the front are due to be relieved soon, so we need to attack while we still have the element of surprise on our side. " Slayer defended his order in a calm and logical manner. Alice couldn't deny that she couldn't really come up with a counter for that, other than wanting to make sure her friends were safe.
" Alright, let's go." Alice conceded her original disagreement.
" Meet back here when you're done." Slayer said to Rufus and Nina who nodded in response before going down the left path.
Alice, Clarissa and Slayer went down the right path, proceeding at a slow and steady pace to avoid alerting any nearby bandits to their location. Alice made sure each of her steps made as little noise as possible thanks to Slayer's training, and thought about how difficult sneaking around like this would be if she still had her old sounding staff from when she first started out.
After about a minute of slow walking, Alice could see what looked to be a door up ahead with light peering through it. Slayer held up a fist and all of them stopped in their tracks, as Slayer gave the signal to hug the wall as they slowly approach the door with caution. Slayer being at the front of their line was able to peek into the doorway to see what was on the other side, before turning back to them.
" Barracks." Slayer whispered back to them." Most of them are asleep."
Alice could feel her breath hitched a bit as they just found one of the most important areas of any bandit hideout: The sleeping quarters. The perfect place to thin the numbers of the bandits as much as they could and from the way Slayer phrased it, there were quite a few present.
" What do we do?" Clarissa asked, her eyes showing that she's ready for whatever is about to happen.
Slayer took out his sword as he turned to them." Stay here. Keep an eye out for any bandits that might come around, I'll go in and take care of them quietly." Slayer said simply, in other words he was going to kill them in their sleep. Alice couldn't help but feel a bit unsettled that this was one of his more subtler tactics.
Both of them nodded in response, before Slayer went into the barracks making as little sound as possible as the door closed behind him. It was honestly impressive how he was able to move silently while wearing armor, she could barely hear any sound coming from inside, except for the occasional gasp of shock. Slayer was always methodical and efficient if nothing else. The priestess and her wizard friend were left on lookout for any bandits that might be roaming around the ruins.
Alice couldn't help but feel a bit uneasy as they waited outside, not just because of the possibility of a bandit finding them standing out here by accident. But the fact that Slayer was killing all the bandits in their sleep, and Alice wasn't sure how to feel about it. It was an objectively better and quicker method than most of his methods, but that didn't make her feel any better. Or maybe because it was quicker that it made her stomach twist a bit at the fact that Slayer would have definitely used another more painful method to deal with them if it was more efficient? She didn't know.
A hand touching her shoulder suddenly made Alice jump in surprise and almost reach for her sword, when she realized it was just Clarissa who had a somewhat concerned look on her face." You okay Alice? You've been tapping your foot on the floor for a bit."
" I-I'm fine, just a bit jittery." Alice tried to wave her off, but from the look Clarissa was giving her, it did not work. She let out a sigh as she confessed. " I'm not sure how to really feel about Slayer killing the bandits in their sleep."
" Its quicker and a lot less painful for them really. Dying in your sleep is somewhat preferrable." Clarissa shrugged. " And at least he didn't decide to burn them alive this time." Clarissa's tone was attempted humorous, obviously trying to lighten the situation a bit, but Alice didn't find it very funny.
" That's not funny Clarissa." Alice said in a chastising tone. If anything it was just a grim reminder of how often Slayer preferred using burning tactics to smoke out bandits in caves and other tight spaces.
" Just saying..." Clarissa shrugged. Alice knew that her friend wasn't nearly as caring about the deaths of bandits as she did. Maybe it was because of their crimes, it was hard to see them as people. But that was a slippery slope that Alice tried to stop herself from going on.
After a few minutes of waiting outside, the door to the barracks opened again and Slayer emerged with blood on his sword and armor.
" Let's go." Slayer said coldly as he kept moving down the right path without a second thought.
Alice hesitated for a moment, looking concerned for her mentor before following after him. The rest of the path wasn't particularly hard or interesting, they encountered a few more unlucky bandits who they quickly dispatched before they could raise the alarm. The rest of the rooms they found weren't of any note, most of them were empty based off the amount of dust that had gathered. It made Alice wonder if this bandit group wasn't nearly as large as they believed them to be, if they couldn't occupy all this free space, but she put that thought away for now as they finished searching the ruins.
Once they were certain the right path was clear of any bandits, they headed back to where they agreed to meet up with Rufus and Nina. They didn't encounter any kind of bandit resistance on the way back, but when they arrived Alice could see that her two other friends were not there waiting for them.
" That's odd, thought they'd already be here by now?" Clarissa questioned their lateness, though there was a layer of concern to it.
Alice glanced up at her status bar of the party and could see that both Rufus and Nina's HP hadn't gone down in the slightest." They don't seem to be injured or anything. Should we go after them, make sure they are alright though?"
Slayer seemed to think about it for a moment, before nodding." Agreed. We'll go look for them and then we can proceed further into the-"
Slayer stopped for a moment and Alice could tell that something had stopped him. She followed his gaze towards the straight path that led deeper into the ruins and it took her a moment of careful listening to pick up the sounds of laughter and footsteps coming towards them.
" Cover now." Slayer ordered and they quickly moved to hide.
Alice and Clarissa hugged the wall of the left path, while Slayer did the same on the right path with his blade at the ready. Alice peeked her head out just enough to see a group of bandits approaching them. They were all dressed in a mix of fur and leather armor, holding a variety of weapons. From swords, axes, spears, bows and even makeshift weapons like long sticks with a knife attached to the end of it.
A raiding party. It would seem that they attacked right as the group was about to go out for a raid and in a few seconds they were going to be right on them.
Alice glanced at Slayer who gave her the signal to blind them with light before they engaged.
The priestess didn't waste a moment as she began to softly chant under her breath the words of power for the Miracle, as she heard the footsteps get closer and closer.
" Hey, does anybody else here voices up ahe-"
" Holy Light!" Alice emerged from the corner and raising her sword in the air as a bright light blinded all of the bandits.
" Zweit Fireball! Zweit Aqua Wave! " Clarissa immediately sent out a fire spell that set several bandits on fire and a wave of water that threw the bandits off balance. Slayer emerged and began quickly cutting through the bandits.
"WHAT THE FUCK!? Intruders, kill them!" One of the bandits shouted, as they began fighting back but they were at the disadvantage.
Slayer moved with the speed of a filorial on an adrenaline rush as he meticulously cut through the bandits. He used his sword to slash the necks and body of three bandits, before throwing his sword directly into the face of an unlucky rabbitman. He quickly grabbed a rusty mace from one of them and using it to crush and bash the remaining bandits as quick as he could before they could fully recover.
Alice held up her sword to defend as a dog woman tried to slash at her with a handaxe, treating it more like a sword that had the length to go with it. The priestess focused as she easily redirected the force of her enemy's blow to the ground and exploited this opportunity to deliver a clean cut to the dog woman's head that ended her life instantly. Alice didn't have the time to ponder over it further as she quickly dealt with the next enemy.
The bandits were slowly dwindling down with each passing minute, and Alice was confident they could win this. But as Slayer dealt with the few remaining bandits, Alice saw a cat man with a spear make a charge at her.
" DIE!" A cat man shouted as he attempted to charge at her, but she quickly jumped out of the way. She would have been fine if she hadn't noticed the cat man was heading towards Clarissa!"
" On your left!"
" What the-!" Clarissa was too preoccupied firing off spells to help Slayer finish off the bandits that she didn't notice the cat man with the spear charge at her.
" CLARISSA!" Alice shouted as she watched her friend get stabbed through the gut with a spear.
Slayer was on the bandit in a moment, stabbing him in the side and sending him to the floor before finishing him off with a stab to the throat. Alice didn't pay him any mind as she quickly ran to her friend who had fallen to the floor and was currently bleeding out.
" Clarissa! Clarissa, stay with me please!" Alice tried to keep calm but it was difficult to do as her heart raced with fear and anxiety.
" A-A...Alice..." Clarissa tried to speak but all that came out was gurgles as blood erupted from her mouth.
She quickly assessed the damage done, the spear had gone straight through Clarissa's abdomen which meant that there was the exit wound that Alice had to worry about as well. Alice glanced at Clarissa's HP on her HUD and it was in the red right now, the cat man had landed a critical hit on her which did not ease Alice's nerves in the slightest.
If she could just quickly remove the spear and heal Clarissa, than she should be alright!
Alice was about to pull the spear out in one go, when a gloved hand stopped her. She looked up to see her armored leader standing over her.
" Slayer, what-!?"
" Don't Alice. Its too late for Clarissa." Slayer said in an almost soft tone as he knelled down opposite of her by Clarissa's body.
" W-W-What do you mean its too late!? I can still save Clarissa." Alice shouted, fear and worry in her voice." If I can get the spear out-
" The spear is the only thing that's keeping her from bleeding out immediately. If you pull it out, she'll bleed to death quicker than you can administer a potion or healing miracle." Slayer's words were level, but there was a twinge of sadness to it.
" What are you saying? We can't just..." Alice trailed off as she saw her mentor. Her friend. Her closest ally take out a dagger and held it over Clarissa's throat.
" I'm sorry." Slayer said simply as he raised his dagger and Alice eyes widened as she realized what he was about to do.
" AARD!"
Alice threw her left hand forward as a blue force pushed Slayer away from Clarissa who was still bleeding out on the floor and sent the armored adventurer rolling on the floor. As Alice couldn't believe what she just did, but that was ignored in favor of the anger she felt towards Slayer at the moment.
" Stay back Slayer! " Alice shouted for the first time at her mentor as she raised her blade against him in a defensive stance.
Alice had to admit that it was bit of a surreal experience working with the Bow Hero himself: Itsuki, he insisted they call him.
She had spent all her life with the Church and studying the heroes and what each of their weapons represented to their faith. The Sword Hero signified strength, the Spear Hero represented Trust, the Bow Hero signified Justice and the Shield represented Vigilance. All of these were important lessons and virtues that Alice had rigorously tried to ingrain into her everyday life and she likes to think that she has done her best to follow them all to the best of her ability.
But actually meeting and working with the Cardinal Heroes was something out of an old dream she had in her younger years. Something she never would have imagined happening except in her wildest dreams. Hunting bandits with Slayer and the Bow Hero himself was nothing short of insanity.
She and the rest of her team had set out with the Bow Hero's party and Slayer a few days ago to start picking off some of the smaller bandit encampments and sightings around the area. They had attacked three so far with no serious injuries or problems, with their combined strength the bandits had little chance against them with the Bow Hero's power. Alice was amazed at seeing the true power of the Cardinal Heroes in action, the Bow Hero being notable for having the best offensive power out of the three heroes.
What amazed Alice the most though was just how...different the heroes really were compared to the numerous stories she had been brought up with as a child. She had heard the stories of how the Bow Hero was a Defender of Justice, fairest of them all and the arbiter of judgement. While the 'Shield Demon' as the radical side of her faith dubbed him, was a traitor to mankind, one that sided with vicious beasts than with his fellow men. The two were practically opposites of each other, one was a lesson in justice and the other was a lesson in constant vigilance. As she grew older, she had come to understand that many of those old tales tended to be exaggerated or misconstrued in some way, that was simply the nature of history and that of her faith.
But actually meeting the Cardinal Heroes face to face and seeing them act made her realize just how true that saying was. The Shield Hero wasn't nearly as demonic or treacherous as some of the more radical sects of her faith made him out to be. He actually seemed pretty normal by any standard, not like the traitorous demon that the stories make him sound like. If anything the Shield Hero reminded her more of herself back in her rookie days, kind-hearted, inexperienced but willing to learn. And he had good companions to help him to do just that.
The Bow Hero on the other hand was quite different from what she imagined. It was actually surprising that she was older than the Bow Hero himself, yet there was something odd about the way he acted that made him different from the Shield Hero. He carried himself with confidence and experience that the Shield Hero didn't have whenever they went on a mission. Alice could tell that it wasn't just arrogance brought on by his Legendary Weapon that caused this, but real experience that could only have been gained by previous training.
His suggestions during planning, tactics, skill and even the way he moved during battle showed that he was trained well. But the most obvious sign was just how little reaction he gave when he killed someone. Alice knew from experience that killing someone for the first time, deserving or not, changed you. It had a major impact on who you were as a person and as scary as it was, it did get easier overtime. The Shield Hero was incapable of actually killing anybody on account of his non-existent ATK stat, but she could tell that he was unsettled by all the death and violence.
Yet the Bow Hero didn't look the least bit phased or disturbed whenever he killed. If anything he seemed pretty calm, way too calm for someone of his age to be doing work like this without batting so much as an eye.
It made Alice wonder if all the Cardinal Heroes were trained back in their previous worlds or if it was only just the Bow Hero? She tried to recall back to some of the journals that were left behind by past heroes to try and remember what she could from heroes of the past. Most of them tended to just document or talk about their time here in Medea, very few seemed interested in elaborating about their past lives in their former worlds before being brought here. And even then it was mostly in vague details and descriptions that left her wondering what they could mean.
" Alice? You still with us?" A soft voice and a light shake on her shoulder, shook Alice out of her thought. She turned to her friend Nina who was looking at her a bit concerned.
" Sorry, mind wandered off for a bit." Alice said feeling a little embarrassed that she let her mind wander for so long, but she quickly refocused on the task at hand. They were currently taking a break near the main road and planning their next move, with the Bow Hero looking over a map of the surrounding area.
" The last two bandit camps we attacked were human, the third one was a mix bag of humans and demi's." Itsuki let out a sigh as he looked over the map." None of them had any real ties to the Hound Lord from what we found."
" Yeah, that prick seems to have a demi's only policy going on." Armina said spitefully.
Slayer nodded in agreement." Yes, even the one that had demi's was only using basic leather and fur armor. Not consistent with the metal gear that we've seen all the Hound Lord's men frequently using."
" Still Hound Lord henchboys or not, we should clear some of these bandits out before we take out the big boss." Itsuki said with a shrug as he stood up." How many more bandit camps have been reported in this area?"
Slayer looked over the map once more. " Only one more it seems. We can quickly destroy it and head back to Silver Keep within another day or so."
" I see, that's going to be a bit troublesome for me then." Itsuki put his hand to his chin in thought as a strange expression crossed his face, it wasn't quite concern really, but more like mild annoyance mixed with frustration.
" Is there a problem?" Slayer asked.
" No, not really a problem per say, more like a personal inconvenience." Itsuki tried to explain as he paced for a moment, before he stopped in his tracks and turned to the rest of them with an idea. " Actually Slayer...how about you take Titan Storm to deal with this one?"
Alice needed a moment to fully comprehend what the Bow Hero just asked them to do and she couldn't hold back the mild shock she felt from it. The Bow Hero was asking them to work directly with Slayer again and it wasn't just her who was surprised by this sudden ask. Rufus's face was slack with shock, Nina seemed taken aback by this and Clarissa was handling it the best with only a slight eyebrow raise in response.
"Why?" Slayer's spoke up again after a minute, his voice still level but Alice could detect the hint of shock in it.
" Well...I have some business to take care of in Rabier City and a few others, it would be better to kill two birds with one stone. I can do my business and you guys take care of the bandits in the meantime " Itsuki explained, but he could very quickly sense that his suggestion may not have been the best one." Though if you guys aren't okay with it, I don't mind delaying some of those errands for later, its not that important anyway."
Alice was almost tempted to accept the Bow Hero's offer of putting off his errands for now to just go take down the bandit camp together, yet some part of her mind stopped her. What was the big problem of working with Slayer again that made her act like this? They've been working with Slayer again all this time while hunting down the Hound Lord, so what's the issue of fighting alongside Slayer to take down a bandit camp?
That is what she told herself, but she knew that wasn't quite right. They had been working together through the Bow Hero as a kind of middle man and neither side had really taken the time to approach the other about it.
She could feel the eyes of her friends and even Slayer turn to her, waiting on her word about her decision. It was a sobering reminder that she was the leader of her own party, no longer just the second-in-command to Slayer who really kept them all together back then when they were still just bright eyed rookies.
Nina's words from when they first joined the Shield Hero in his quest back at the capital to take down the Hound Lord echoed in her mind: ' It was fine when we just left Irving's group and you needed time to sort things out, but at this point you're really just running away from the issue between you two'.
Her friend was right of course, she was running away from the issue. She didn't want to directly work with Slayer, because she was scared of all those nasty emotions rising up again from what happened that day would come flooding back and overwhelm her. But if things keep going like this, things will never change. Mother Altara had always taught her that hesitation was the worst kind of killer. At least if things go bad, she can at least rest knowing that she tried at the minimum.
" No, no problem at all Sir Itsuki." Alice agreed after a moment of thinking about." We'll take out that bandit camp with Slayer."
She was done running.
Alice could see that her friends were surprised for a moment, but they smiled at their leader at her choice. The priestess turned her attention to Slayer who only gave a slight nod of agreement about her choice, which made her feel a bit better.
" Great to hear. It'll be good for you guys to work together again." Itsuki said with a smile and a knowing look in his eye. It made Alice wonder if he realized the tension between her group and Slayer, and deliberately push them to work together.
She didn't question him on it, there was no point backing out now.
" We'll meet you later after we finish." Slayer said as they quickly worked out where to meet once they were done, before the Bow Hero teleported away with his party.
Which left just Titan Storm with Slayer standing near the road. Alice took a deep breath as she knew there was no going back from this choice.
" So...guess we're all working together again, huh?" Rufus said in a somewhat forced optimistic tone." Titan Storm is back together again!"
" Yes...back together again." Slayer muttered under his breath.
The bandit's 'base' didn't seem especially daunting for them to deal with, it was not like some of the forts they had dealt with recently with the Hound Lord's men. Those were always the toughest to deal with as forts like that had proper defenses or at least the remains of it with usually sturdy walls, watchtowers and the like. Instead this bandit group's base was in a simple clearing in the forest, it had makeshift wooden walls constructed out of large logs that had been sharpened at the tip which provided the camp with some level of privacy from the outside. There was a large wooden gate at the front that seemed to act as the sole entrance to the camp.
Alice and others observed the camp from the outside in the bushes, based on the perimeter of the wall surrounding the camp, it didn't seem especially big. She was willing to make a guess that the inside was more or less just a loose collection of tents set up. Besides the walls, there were no other kinds of defenses set up by the bandits.
" No patrols, no sentries or guard towers of any kind. We have the advantage of surprise on our side." Clarissa surmised.
" Think they have any captives inside?" Rufus commented.
" There have been no reports of any women kidnapped recently in the area, they could have taken some travelers but I doubt they have the means to keep them alive for long." Slayer gave the grim yet realistic view on what happens to captive women. Most bandits didn't particularly care about the well-being of their captives beyond their own amusement and only did the bare minimum to keep them alive. There was a reason why the number of captives had tend to diminish by the time adventurers came to the rescue.
Alice could only hope that these hadn't taken any women prisoner. She has seen far too much of bandits cruelty for ten lifetimes.
Slayer turned to her surprisingly enough." What do we do?"
The priestess was taken aback for a moment by Slayer's question. He was asking her on what to do? Alice knew that even after all this time, Slayer was still the most experienced adventurer out of all them and the foremost expert at taking down bandits. She had to admit that she half-expected Slayer to be commanding the entire quest from start to finish, the fact that he was willing to defer to her judgement on this quest showed that maybe there was still some trust between them.
Alice took a deep breath as she formulated a plan of attack in her head. " A frontal attack at the gates is too risky if we just charge in blindly. We don't know enough about their numbers, so I think we should use the wooden design to our advantage."
" I can blast through that weak gate easy with a single Zweit fire spell." Clarissa said confidently.
" I know you can, but not quite what I had in mind. I was thinking we set the walls on fire as a diversion and to draw the bandits out of the camp and into the open." Alice explained her plan as she pointed at the walls." The camp is situated far enough away from the trees that we don't have worry about a forest fire happening. When the bandits are out in the open we attack them all at once. Nina and Rufus you flank them from the right, me and Slayer will charge them from the front. Clarissa you hang back and provide magical support."
All of three of her friends nodded in agreement. She glanced over Slayer who had raised no disagreements about the plan, which made her feel a bit more confident in it.
Titan Storm wasted no time getting into position for Alice's plan. Clarissa stuck to the treeline as she moved to get a shot on the left wall, while Rufus and Nina moved to the right flank but not before Alice cast Zweit Defense and Agility on the two of them to boost their speed and defense. Slayer and Alice held their position, waiting in anticipation for Clarissa to fire off the spell.
After about a minute of waiting, a large ball of fire emerged from the forest and impacted the left wooden wall setting it ablaze. Alice wasn't certain what level of spell Clarissa used but the magical flames quickly spread all over the wall and turned the wood a charred black as they burned. Alice could hear the shouts and curses of the bandits from inside the camp all the way from where she was situated in the bushes with Slayer.
Within moments the front gate was thrown up and a dozen bandits rushed outside carrying buckets of water and wondering what in the world could have suddenly caused their wall to burst into flames. The bandits being far too occupied dealing with their wall being set ablaze to bother looking for the source which gave them the perfect distraction.
Right on cue.
Slayer and Alice emerged from the bushes and charged at the bandits as quick as they could. Alice throwing off some dark spells to thin the bandits numbers along the way. " Zweit Dark Cutter!" She sent forth a slash made out of darkness that easily decapitated three bandits in one go. Rufus and Nina had already begun their charge as well, flanking the bandits right.
" WHAT THE FUCK!?" The bandits screamed out as they were suddenly attacked from all fronts.
The bandits were clearly caught off-guard by the sudden attack, some of them didn't even have weapons on them as they weren't expecting an attack. Which allowed Alice to easily cut down two additional bandits, as Slayer tore through their center with ruthless speed and efficiency. Rufus and Nina had already begun tearing into their right flank, with a flurry of slashes and punches and kicks to the bandits.
"[Horizontal]!" Rufus's blade glowed with blue energy as he cut a dog bandit in half with the weapon art.
" Windstrike Phoenix!" Nina released a flurry of kicks that let loose blasts made out of chi that took out several bandits, instantly killing them as a result.
Alice herself wasn't having any trouble as she easily parried a sloppy sword slash from a bandit before countering with a cut to the throat. She grabbed his sword and twirled around before using it stab the next bandit that had tried to bring his woodcutters axe down on her head, but had pulled his arm back too much. The priestess glanced at her former mentor and could see that he was having no problems, except that his current sword was getting bloody and her old instincts picked up that he would need a new weapon soon. Without waiting a moment, she grabbed the axe from before just in time as Slayer threw his sword directly in the eye of a rabbitman archer.
" Slayer here!" Alice shouted as she tossed the axe to him, which he easily caught in response.
" Thanks!" Slayer said in a rush as he kept cutting down the bandits with his new weapon.
" Run away! Everybody run away!" Some of the bandits shouted as they tried to make a break for the treeline and leave their comrades to die, but they didn't expect balls of fire and slashes made out of pure water to cut them down before they could even reach the trees. It would seem that Clarissa was more focused on picking off the strays than trying to land hits on the main group, which was probably better than risking a misfire.
Alice could see that a few of the bandits had run back into the camp, probably to try and make a last stand. They would deal with them later.
The bandits numbers were dwindling fast and Alice thought that she should end this fight quickly now. But she was going to need some space from her friends.
" Grave Lord incoming!" Alice shouted to her friends, who understood what she was trying to warn them about and quickly jumped away in response. Slayer looked at her perplexed at the sudden order.
" Run now!" Rufus shouted as he grabbed Slayer by the arm to pull him away.
" Kill this bitch!" One of the bandits shouted as they all charged for the closest target, which was what she intended for them to do.
" Grave Lord Sword Dance!" Alice shouted as she felt the holy power in her hand and slammed it into the ground.
At that moment, a dozen giant ethereal red blades emerged from the ground and stabbed several bandits in critical spots. Some of the blades penetrated through their bodies, striking their hearts, while others stabbed them in the head which killed them instantly. A few bandits that hadn't been instantly killed were instead cut in critical areas such as their feet or arms, which made them easy pickings for Slayer to kill with a quick stab to the throat.
With that the battle was over, they easily dispatched the leftover bandits who had been caught off guard by Alice's miracle. Alice turned her head to see Clarissa come out of the bushes and approach them just as their battle was wrapping up.
" Everybody alright?" Alice did a quick check of everybody present and it didn't seem like anybody was injured in the battle. " There are still some bandits inside. Let's go." Alice said as they all quickly ran inside the camp to deal with the few bandits that were left.
The inside of the bandit camp was exactly as Alice imagined it would be. There didn't seem to be any facilities set up or dedicated spaces, instead there were just a bunch of tents set up around the camp, with what looked to be two makeshift sheds that were constructed out of wood at the back.
" DIE!" A bandit wielding a spear ran out of one of the tents in an attempted surprise attack, but Slayer was already on him, using his shield to deflect the attack and allowing Alice to counterattack.
" Aard!" Alice used the miracle to push the bandit away, sending him crashing into the tent he emerged from. Slayer didn't waste anytime finishing him off with a stab in the throat with his own spear. But Alice was shocked as she watched an arrow bounce harmlessly over Slayer's metal helmet.
" Look out!" Nina shouted as she caught two arrows aimed at herself and Clarissa with incredible reflexes. Alice whipped her head around to see three bandits armed with bows shooting at them with arrows.
" Protection!" Alice didn't waste any time as she threw up the miracle barrier that stopped the arrows from harming them. Slayer quickly jumping back into cover with them as a few other bandits armed with close range weapons charged at them.
" Clarissa, take out the archers!" Alice ordered as the bandits rushed them.
" No problem." Clarissa began reciting her spell as flames started to build up in her staff and she phased it through the barrier." Zweit Fire Arrows!" A swarm of fire arrows shot forth from Clarissa's staff, and it ended up hitting two of the three bandits. The last one, a rabbitwoman managed to jump out of the way in time, but her attack was enough for the rest of Titan Storm to counter-charge the bandits.
Alice noticed the last rabbitwoman make a break for it while the rest of her comrades were busy fighting. The priestess could practically feel her old training from Slayer about not letting a single bandit get away kick in.
" I'm going after the last one!" Alice shouted to her friends as they dealt with the few remaining bandits, as she sprinted after the rabbitwoman.
The rabbitwoman didn't run particularly far, as Alice watched as she ducked behind the other makeshift shed at the end of the bandit camp. Which was unfortunate for the rabbitwoman as that meant she was essentially trapped with no way out. And the priestess could hear the bandit archer's tired breath all the way from where she was standing.
" You should work on your stamina, I can hear that you're out of breath from here." Alice said as she slowly approached the shed with her weapon sheathed." Come out quietly and we'll take you in."
The rabbitwoman didn't respond, instead there was only silence between them and Alice wondered if she was considering her options. Alice let out a sigh as she didn't want to kill the bandit when there was no immediate need for it. Her judgment was up to the lords and the Chief God.
" What's your name?" Alice asked out of the blue, in an attempt to get through to the bandit.
"...What?"
" I said, what's your name? I figured we could at least talk on a first-name basis."
"...Alin." The rabbitwoman responded after a moment." What does it matter to you?"
" It matters because we both know that there's no other way out of this. If you come in quietly, I'll argue for leniency on your behalf."
" I-I-I could kill you...I'm pretty fast." The rabbitwoman warned in what Alice thinks was an attempt in intimidation, but she just sounded more fearful than anything.
" You could. But my friends would kill you before you can make it out." Alice said with a sigh." Come into the light, there has been enough bloodshed today."
There was a moment of silence, before Alice saw a longbow get tossed to the ground from behind the shed followed by a quiver of arrows.
" Good choice." Alice smiled under her mask as the rabbit woman came out from behind the shed with her arms raised. Alice quickly tied Alin's wrists together with some rope she had in her pack, before guiding her back to the rest of the group who seemed to have finished off the rest of the bandits.
Clarissa noticed her approach first and gave her a curious look. " Hey Alice, who's your new friend?"
" Her name's Alin, we're taking her back to the nearby city. They can decide what to do with her there." Alice said as she handed Alin off to Nina, who gently grabbed Alin's arm to keep her from running away.
Slayer gave her a pointed look, as he stared at Alin for a moment before turning to Alice. " I didn't know we took prisoners now." Slayer's voice was calm and level as it always was, but Alice had known him long enough to know that he didn't agree with taking prisoners. He certainly never did when they were working together.
The only good animal is a dead one.
" You don't Slayer. I do." Alice responded calmly. She liked to think that she didn't kill, unless absolutely necessary and Alin had surrendered by this point. It wouldn't be right to kill her now as if she were judge, jury and executioner.
Slayer grumbled but didn't say anything more about her choice. He had given her command over this quest and he seemed to at least respect her decision to take a prisoner in.
They did a quick investigation of the camp, but a quick look at the kind of equipment the bandits were using was enough to tip Alice off that this group wasn't associated with the Hound Lord either. The bandits had all been using cheap and makeshift weapons, along with fur and tattered leather armor. Not unlike the good equipment the Hound Lord's men seem to have in abundance. And a quick questioning of Alin, confirmed this that they hadn't received any offers to join the Hound Lord's army and Alice could tell she wasn't lying.
The walk back to the main road was a quiet one with Rufus giving a hand on Alin to make sure she didn't try to make a break for it, but Alice wasn't particularly concerned about their prisoner as she is about Slayer. They had finally worked together for the first time in 3 years, it feels just like old times...but the priestess that they still hadn't addressed the underlying issue between them.
Alice wanted to say something but couldn't quite rustle up the courage or the words to speak. She almost wished that Slayer would make the first move to brooch the subject at hand.
Should I say something? Or talk to the others first about it? Maybe-
" Are we finally going to have a talk or are we all just going to keep ignoring the gigantic filorial in the room?" Clarissa's blunt voice broke through her internal thoughts and that made the entire group stop in their tracks.
Her friend's words were blunt but they were needed. Alice was still too afraid to even broach the topic at hand between them, she glanced over at her friends who she shared looks with. They were all thinking the same thing, they were just unsure of how to even begin that conversation.
"...I'm sorry." Slayer's words were sudden and out of the blue that it caught her off guard.
" What?" Alice asked in surprise.
" I'm sorry...about what happened during our last quest together in the ruins." Slayer's voice was actually apologetic as he spoke." I gave up too quickly and tried to kill Clarissa."
Alice flinched at the internal reminder of what happened, what Slayer tried to do. She fears thinking about what would have happened if she was just a bit slower. Nina, Rufus and Clarissa shifted uncomfortably at the words, with the wizard subconsciously rubbing her abdomen where the spear wound was.
" That's why you left wasn't it?"
" I was pretty angry with you about trying to kill Clarissa...but that wasn't the only reason we left you Slayer." Alice confessed.
Slayer rolled on the floor before coming to a stop, he quickly regained his footing and turned to her but didn't reach for his weapon. " Its too late for her Alice, better a quick death than bleeding out at the hands of a dirty animal." The priestess hated how cold he sounded at that, like death at his hands was somehow better.
" Fuck you! I'm not giving up!" Alice cursed at her mentor, but some part of her knew the validity in his words to an extent.
He was right that if she removed the spear than Clarissa would bleed out faster than she could utter a healing miracle. Her friend's HP was already in the red and if she bled out anymore than she would be dead. Alice could feel her heart racing as she tried to think of a solution to the problem, and it was difficult to do because of how dim the light was in this part of the ruins.
Alice felt like she just got slapped in the back of the head, as she looked at the darkness around them.
Wait a second...of course!
The priestess didn't waste anytime as she set her weapon aside and knelled down before her friend, looking her in the eyes with an apologetic look.
" This is going to hurt. Sorry." Alice apologized before she yanked the spear out in one go, causing Clarissa to let out a gurgle of pain as blood poured out. She quickly held her hand over the wound as she channeled the mana to it. " Zweit Shadow Binding!"
At her command, a thick vine made out of pure darkness came out and wrapped itself tightly around Clarissa's gut, stopping the bleeding temporarily. But that provided no reprieve to Alice as she still had her wounds to take care of.
" By the Chief God's mercy, lay your hand onto this child and restore her to health. Heal!" Alice chanted as she felt the power of the heavens course through her and a bright golden light form at her hand, and pass onto Clarissa. Closing the entry and exit wound and restoring her HP to at least the yellow.
Alice let out a breath as the bleeding seemed to finally stop and the shadow vine disappeared into nothingness, revealing that the miracle did its job of closing the wound. The priestess heard armored steps come closer and she instinctively grabbed her sword off the ground to turn to Slayer.
" You...You saved her." Slayer breathed, surprised at her ingenuity.
Alice didn't respond, instead giving a spiteful look at her mentor for what he had just done. Clarissa seemed to have fallen unconscious from the pain of everything she just went through in such a short span of time.
" Guys! Guys where are you!?" Rufus's voice shocked her, and she turned to see both him and Nina approach them with worried looks on their faces." There you are! We just saw Clarissa's HP go down and-"
Rufus was cut off when he saw Clarissa's body laid on the ground with the dozen of other dead bandits surrounding them. Nina having a similar reaction, and Alice could tell they had feared the worst.
" She's not dead, just injured. I already patched up the wound, but she's unconscious." Alice turned to her sleeping friend, who was in no condition to continue. " Rufus, take her back to the entrance and protect her."
" O-Okay..." Rufus nodded as he gently picked Clarissa up and carried her out of the ruins.
" Nina, come with us. We're ending this." Alice gave a pointed look at Slayer, who seem to stiffen at her gaze. Nina looked like she wanted to say something but couldn't find the words as they moved deeper into the ruins.
The rest of the ruins passed by like a quick blur, there were only a handful of more bandits to deal with. It would seem that they had already destroyed the bulk of their numbers through their attack of the barracks and the earlier raiding party. The ones that were left behind were no problems for them to deal with at all, on account of them being unaware that most of their group was already dead.
Finally they reached what seemed to be the 'common room' of the ruins where the last of the bandits were playing with the captives. They were too busy with the captives to even notice the sword go into their back or Nina cracking their skulls with a single punch. With that, the last of the bandits were killed.
" That's the last of them, I think." Nina let out a breath of relief, as she took a moment to collect herself before helping the women. Who were all sporting bruises and cuts from the abuse they suffered at the hands of the bandits.
" H-Help me..." One of the captives begged, as Alice knelled down.
" Its okay, we're going to get you out of here soon." Alice said as she quickly helped the woman and any other who required first aid.
The bandits had taken 9 captives. There were only 5 left.
Alice gently helped the women lean up against the ruin wall, covering their bodies with some blankets they had brought with them. The priestess turned to Slayer, who didn't seem concerned about the women at all, noticed that his attention was focused towards a wooden door that they hadn't checked yet.
" Stay with the women Nina." Alice said to her friend, as she went to go check on Slayer.
Slayer stood in front of the door for a moment, before opened it and walked in.
" Just as I suspected." Slayer said as he entered the room and Alice followed behind him. And what she saw shocked her.
A small collection of children were there, a mix of dog ears, cat, raccoon and even bull demi-humans all huddled together in fear. They all stared up at Slayer as if he were the grim reaper himself.
" Alice, shut the door." Slayer said calmly as he took a step towards the children.
" What?" Alice said in disbelief.
" I said...shut the door. You don't want to hear or see this." Slayer spoke dispassionately as he held a mace in his hand and Alice realized what he was about to do in horror.
Alice reached for her sword faster than she ever thought she would and raised it to Slayer's head.
" Slayer...do not take a single step towards those children." Alice said in a threatening tone as she held her blade to Slayer's neck.
" You were going to kill children Slayer! I wasn't going to abide by that!" Alice shouted with more emotion in her voice than she ever thought possible. She had disagreed with Slayer on a lot of things, even when she was still just a rookie. She didn't enjoy a lot of his more brutal tactics, but she couldn't deny that they were necessary under certain circumstances. But killing a bunch of unarmed scared children?
That was a line she would not follow him across.
"...They would have ended up following in their 'parents' footsteps one way or the other. Even if they didn't, they would face a lifetime of discrimination in Melromarc." Slayer tried to justify his actions, but that just served to make Alice more angry.
" That's not for you to decide!" Alice shouted back.
" Is that why you really left? Because it wasn't my right to decide for those children?" Slayer questioned, in almost agitated tone.
" I left because you were losing yourself Irving!" Alice responded, using his real name to try and get to him." You were becoming consumed by your hatred of demi-humans and I wasn't going to just nod my head along as you committed atrocities! I never wanted to leave you, you dying was literally my worst fear back then, but I couldn't stay with you any longer after that."
Alice could tell that her words hit hard, as Slayer shifted somewhat uncomfortably at the harsh truth. He turned to the rest of the team." Do the rest of you feel the same?"
" You tried to kill me, what do you think?" Clarissa said sarcastically, still upset with Slayer for obvious reasons. She had never been the type to forgive easy.
" I respected the hell out of you back then...but that's too far Slayer." Rufus shook his head in disagreement. Nina didn't say anything, but her silence was enough of an answer.
An uncomfortable silence washed over them, as Alice considered her next words carefully.
" I asked you a long time ago why you did what you did, and you didn't answer me. It was on that day, that I felt like I got my answer." Alice felt like she had to hold herself back from crying during all this. " You didn't start all this because you cared about helping people. You started all this because you were just looking for a crutch to avoid dealing with your own pain." Alice's words hurt to say because of just how true they were, she took a deep breath as she spoke again." What happened to you was terrible Irving and I will never not feel bad for you about it, but all this-"
She pointed to all of him. The armor, the weapons, the cold and unfeeling demeanor he had put up.
"-Is by no means healthy. If you don't figure out how to deal with that, than you're going to burn out in more ways than one."
Alice finished, letting out a breath from all the shouting she had just done. She looked at Slayer who was dead silent, contemplating everything she had just said to him. Roughly a minute passed before Slayer spoke up again.
" Do you think...we could ever work together again if I did figure it out?"
Alice felt her heart sting a bit, but she stood strong as she let out a sigh. " I don't know Slayer."
You all have no idea how long I've waited to get to this interlude in particular. I have been dying to show you all what exactly made Titan Storm break away from Slayer and showing their backstory here gives me such a rush. I hope I managed to show in a realistic way why Alice decided to break off from Slayer in the flashback of their last quest, along with showing how Alice has managed to grow both as an adventurer and leader of her own group in her time away from Slayer. And showing the major differences in their personalities.
And there is something ironically fitting in the way Alice breaks away from Slayer. Some of you might notice in the flashback scene that it mimicked their canonical meeting event (Clarissa get hurt, hunt, Slayer trying to kill her, etc). It feels poetic that the event that turned Priestess into Slayer's fangirl was what ultimately drove them apart in this story. Which was unintentional while writing this chapter but I still love it.
:P
The icing on the cake of this chapter was Alice's confrontation of Slayer, which was a long time coming in the context of how long its been since the two split up. Alice trying to reach out to Slayer by calling him by real name instead of the persona he has built up for himself. And her ending line where she says she doesn't know whether they could work together again leaves things somewhat open ended.
All in all, hope you all enjoyed this chapter.
Now to let's respond to some reviews shall we?
To EXCUBITORE:
That was 100% intentional and the inspiration for that line.
To jmwilliamsart:
Glad you enjoyed the chapter! Yeah, last chapter was rough for both Eclair and Malty. The former losing one of her closest family friends, and the latter being reminded about how she sucks at boundaries and respecting them. You are correct that how her relationship ended with Keith definitely left a mark on her as a person and I think that shows well in the last chapter.
And you are right that Naofumi and Malty need each other. Malty keeps Naofumi grounded in the real world and uses her knowledge that was taught to her by Thomas to help them survive. While Naofumi stops Malty from falling completely into the darkness and becoming the next Shadow Demon all over again.
Don't worry, I'll make sure Naofumi gets the message...eventually.
:)
With that said, I will see you all in the next one.
Angel Out.