A good evening to you all and it's nice to see you all again! I'm so sorry for not updating the story for about two months now, I kind of lost interest in the story and writing in general, but now my spark has been rekindled and I'll try my best to make full use of the remainder of my summer break, which is a bit more than a month so there's still some time to catch up. Since I've got nothing better to do, I'll work on the story a little more and might churn out chapters quicker than the usual one-week interval, but probably only for the first few chapters since things are picking up. The schedule of when I release the next chapters will realistically be more sporadic than that because I write and release chapters whenever I feel like it since I don't really stick to a firm schedule. Anyway, that's all I want to say for now, thank you all for having patience with me and the story and I'll try to get some more mileage done before the next inevitable period of loss of interest strikes. Happy reading and I love you all you beautiful creatures!
I do not own Danmachi
Chapter XVI: Insurmountable
Third Person POV:
Outside the protective and deterrent walls of the city of Orario, multiple skirmishes were breaking out as the defense force took on the opportunistic Rakian invaders. Initially, these skirmishes were localized and sporadic, but rapidly grew larger and more chaotic as more and more adventurers and Rakian soldiers joined in the fray until the entire grassland was one hodgepodge of violent and hectic clashing. Explosions erupted here and there as both defenders and invaders of the city were blown away, and dust, smoke, and soot were all being thrown into the air, generating a suffocating concoction very displeasing to both the eyes and the nose. Both sides suffered greatly, with their manpower rapidly draining due to fatigue or accumulated injury rendering them unable to fight, but both gave their damnedest and refused to let up.
The fighting, though still chaotic and ubiquitous, was broken up into several local hotspots instead of one gigantic cesspool of clashing bodies, for they tried to outflank and outdo the other side but quickly found themselves to be pretty evenly matched
Or, at least that was the case until Loki Familia arrived and began tearing through the enemy ranks like a hot knife easily cuts through a block of butter
"GAH!!!"
"URK!!!"
"FUAH!!!"
The grunts and groans of pain from numerous poor Rakian bastards rang out as the Sword Princess, Ais Wallenstein quickly dispatched them in droves
With men quickly falling to the green maelstrom, the Rakian Commanders shouted commands along with profanities toward their men, they were to immediately prioritize and take her out before she inflicted losses even more severe
"TAKE THE BITCH OUT YOU WORTHLESS DOGS!!!"
A Rakian commander bellowed out as his men eagerly went to obey, rushing the Sword Princess from all sides, leaving her no room to escape
But, here's the thing, Ais Wallenstein didn't need to escape...
With all the dexterity and skill that a high-level adventurer such as her possessed, she began pivoting on her own axis, aided by her wind magic in order to spin faster and faster until she was a rapidly spinning tornado ready to decimate everything unfortunate enough to be within its path
Knocking all of them away at once, Ais abruptly stopped her spinning and then went on the offensive, needing no downtime at all after such a disorienting move, as she was used to performing such stunts and thus no longer affected her
Rushing forward with terrifying speed toward a vulnerable Rakian soldier, he was left utterly wide-open as Ais' powerful yet precise attacks assaulted his being
Her attacks were not lethal as she made sure of that, in fact, the only major thing they did was break through the man's armor and perforate many non-critical areas of his body, leaving him immobilized from the pain her onslaught caused
Seeing the state of their comrade, three adjacent soldiers quickly regained their bearings and rushed her, only to be quickly dealt with by the blonde swordmaster
Deftly dodging to avoid a slash that would have bisected her, she delivered a powerful knee to the man's gut, which was able to bypass the defense that his chest plate provided and launch him far away, crashing into two other fellow soldiers behind him. Then she exacted a similar fate toward the two others, launching both of them far away and taking them out for the count
Seeing as the coast was clear for now, her head snapped back to where Finn, Riveria, and Gareth fought the General who made quick work of her and the Hiryute Sisters, which was quite far away
But before she could take a single step forward, the Rakian Commander from earlier took advantage of the moment and went for an attack from her blindspot, which she had barely seen coming, there was no way she could dodge such a sudden attack
'Cra-'
She braced herself for the inevitable feeling of cold steel ruthlessly slicing through her body and agonizing pain, but there was none
In fact, the one who was currently in pain was the opportunistic Commander, who was blasted away by a powerful burst of energy
Looking at where the blast came from, she locked gazes with a relieved Lefiya
"Lefiya!"
She couldn't help but shout out as the elf rapidly approached
"Miss Ais! I'm so glad you're alright!"
Lefiya breathlessly said as she activated her healing magic and proceeded to heal Ais
"I'll live, and thanks for the save... as well as the healing"
She gratefully nodded at the elf, who quickly became flustered due to the praise she was getting from her idol
"I-I-It's no b-big deal!"
She stammered out as she finished up her healing and Ais thanked her once again
"We have to get back to the others, Finn and the others are strong... but the enemy is too, so we have to tip the balance in our favor"
Not a second later she rushed toward the direction of Finn and the others, while Lefiya was surprised by her sudden sprint and tried to keep up as best as she could but inevitably lagged a bit behind her due to the difference in levels
.
"Woah, that's the Sword Princess for you..."
A group of adventurers who could afford the luxury of standing around idly observed Ais' prowess in battle, which was a rare display since adventurers rarely showed their strength off, and didn't even really have a way to do so unless down in the dungeon against monsters
"She's certainly something ain't she?"
A dwarf adventurer voiced out as they all continued to watch her decimate enemies in her way
"Thousand Elf also packs a punch, she's proved that she's capable of handling herself well without the protection of others"
Another fellow adventurer observed and praised Lefiya for her ability, to which they all agreed as it then fell silent for a little while
"I'm so glad that Loki Familia's finally shown up, it was honestly quite the scare when I heard that Rakia sent even level four adventurers running with their tails behind their legs!"
Another adventurer said as he sighed in relief at their newfound hope of being able to fend off the invasion force
"Tell me about it, how in the heavens did they manage to close the gap in power so quickly?! There's got to be foul play of some sort involved!"
Another said, expressing his troubled thoughts on the matter
"Also... where the hell is Freya Familia?! I haven't seen any of them since I got here"
One complained as all of them sighed and grumbled
"Probably off doing their own thing as they usually do, they don't really do stuff unless it's of some benefit to their Goddess, bunch of sycophants the lot of them!"
An adventurer grumbled, frustrated by the current strongest Familia in Orario's inactivity, even at such critical times as these
"Well whatever, Loki Familia's more than enough to deal with them!"
They all nodded in agreement as they continued to watch the chaos unfold, content with not being part of it as of the moment to enjoy the rare repose they have
Or that would've been if they weren't suddenly rushed by a group of Rakian soldiers who thought that they needed a bit of battling
"YAHHH!!!"
Charging at them like rabid dogs, they quickly went for the offensive as they cried out
With little time to react, they all quickly went into a common battle formation, with frontlines such as swordsmen and tanks at the front while archers and mages were situated behind to assist
"Damn it! Guess us standing idly by didn't sit too well for them!"
A swordsman adventurer shouted as he ushered the others into formation
"Here they come!"
A dwarf serving as one of two tanks screamed out as he braced for initial contact, readying his shield
With a violent crash, the two sides began to clash. But it would soon turn problematic for the adventurers as their formation was quickly overrun and inundated, so things became hectic as the adventurers did their best to regroup and fend off the enemy soldiers, but were finding it extremely difficult to do so
A Rakian soldier was about to strike one of the archers who reached into her bow quiver to retrieve an arrow to shoot, but was stopped short by one of the swordsmen adventurers coming to the rescue
"Like hell you'll do that!"
The man screamed as he put his entire weight into the swing, which the soldier was forced to block
The force of the swing, upon connection, was able to knock the man back a few steps but didn't carry enough strength to fend him off effectively
"Heh, nice swing there... but it ain't strong enough!"
The Rakian soldier then pushed back with overwhelming strength against the adventurer, making his eyes widen as he quickly felt his arms wobble tiredly and his legs buckle under the enormous force he was being subjected to
"NNNNGGGGGGGAAAAAHHHHH!!!"
Feeling his bones groan and creak from the severe stress put on them, he suddenly let go of the sword as the sudden shift in weight from the also sudden lack of resistance caught the soldier off guard, making him lose his footing and leaving him vulnerable momentarily as he stumbled awkwardly
That moment of vulnerability was put to good use
Without his sword, the adventurer decided to let his fists do the talking and unleashed a powerful slug right into the man's chest plate, denting it and knocking the air out of the soldier's lungs momentarily as he stumbled a few steps back from the force
But the attack served only as the opening, for the man quickly followed with a flurry of left and right hooks, connecting with various parts of the man's body, from his temples, face, chest, and abdomen
Stunned and wracked with pain all over, the Rakian soldier could not react in time to his finishing blow
Shrugging off the stinging pain he felt from his knuckles, the adventurer unleashed a devastating leg to the face, forcing his head and neck to painfully twist and making the man crash to the ground in an armored mess
"Hah... hah... that takes care of that"
Taking a moment to catch his breath, he quickly rushed back to the archer who smiled gratefully at him
"Thanks for the save, that was a bit too close for comfort"
She thanked him as he waved it off
"Don't mention it, we adventurers got to look after each other's back right?"
A toothy grin appeared on his face as she nodded, but her face immediately became stern as she deftly nocked her arrow and shot in his direction without warning
"Woah!!!"
Before he could demand from her what the hell she was doing shooting at him, he noticed that the arrow passed right beside his head, missing it by some inches, a mistake which wouldn't be made by a professional archer such as her at such close proximity, so he quickly turned around and saw a Rakian soldier standing rigidly straight some few feet behind him with the arrow having went through the eye slit of his helmet, then a few moments later collapsing onto the ground, motionless
Chuckling to himself, he shook his head
"It seems we're even"
She regained her smile and nodded
"I gues-"
But she wasn't able to finish her sentence because of the shock that she experienced from witnessing the adventurer in front of her having his arm chopped off
It took a few seconds of silence for the man to notice that he was now bereft of a right arm
And then, the bloodcurdling scream of agony came
Having lost the strength in his legs after such inundating pain assaulted his entire being, he doubled over and writhed on the ground pathetically
Blood was gushing out of his wound like a fountain, weakening him even further and rapidly draining his complexion of any color, if it is not addressed soon, he will surely die
Unable to think straight at all and give a damn about his surroundings, he was unaware of the pair of metal boots right in front of his face
"Well, I've had my fun... now how's about ye writhe a bit more before I kill ya?"
The imposing Rakian soldier from earlier reappeared, and he kicked the man's face strong enough to lift him up into the air and roll a few feet away
"NO!!!"
With feverish urgency, she unleashed arrow after arrow at the armored Rakian soldier, who initially felt the first few ones embed themselves within his body as the velocity the arrows traveled was sufficient to generate enough force to pierce through his armor
Momentarily caught off guard by the barrage, the soldier quickly regained his bearings and used his sword to slash at the incoming arrows, slicing most of them into harmless and useless bits of wood and dodging any that had bypassed his defense
Bit by bit, the man approached the female adventurer, keeping up his efforts at defense, which made the woman panic as she increased the pace at which she sent volley after volley of arrows in his way
But it was all for naught for the man didn't falter one bit in his defense and was only a few meters away from her
Seeing that her current attack wasn't working, she stopped her barrage and instead swung at him with her bow with all of her might
But, unfortunately, it also proved futile for the man caught her hand with the bow and promptly applied the force of his grip until a sickening snap was heard, making her yell and whimper out in pain
"Heh, little bitch's got a bit of fight in ye"
The woman continued to flail and resist despite his iron grip on her now fractured right arm, dishing out pathetic, yet irritating jabs aimed at the man's face and even tried kneeing him a few times in the groin, at which point the man had enough
With his other hand, he sent a powerful left hook toward her abdomen, knocking all of the air out of her lungs and leaving her limp and nearly unconscious
The man grunted in amusement at this
"Heh, it seems yer still awake... well, I gots me an idea"
With her limp body in hand, as he was now holding her by the throat, he walked toward the male adventurer from earlier still on the ground, but had managed to calm down enough to grab a recovery potion from his pouch and down it, and was currently in the process of using a makeshift tourniquet made from the fabric of his shirt to stop or at least minimize the bleeding, he was pale as a ghost and was having an extremely difficult time applying it
Seeing the man approaching with the limp female adventurer in hand, the man became enraged and tried to stand up to save her but was stopped by a kick from the man onto his chest, forcing him to lie with his back on the ground
"AUGH!"
The impact aggravated his injury, as the bleeding resumed, draining his strength further
"Heh heh... little missy here gave me hell after what I did to ya"
The man then pressed his armored boot on the wounded adventurer's chest, keeping him on the ground and in pain
"Right about now, the rest of yer adventurer buddies earlier ought to have been taken care of by my buddies"
The man mocked as he added more pressure with his foot, denying the man the ability to breathe and slowly suffocating him
"This is always the fun part! Making people watch as their comrades or loved ones die right in front of their eyes! HAHAH!"
The female adventurer limp in his grip could only muster up a weak whimper as a plead for him to stop, with all the pain from earlier eating away any strength from her body and leaving her barely conscious, she could only hopelessly watch as the man denied the adventurer under his heel the ability to breathe, suffocating him slowly until he dies a terrifying and agonizing death
Her consciousness was slowly starting to bleed out of her as the man increased his grip on her neck, strangling her even further...
But then, she suddenly felt her body fall onto the ground as the man was clutching his now broken arm and screaming in pain
Somebody had come to save them, all she could make out with her blurry vision was hair of pure white and eyes with rubellite irises, and she lost consciousness the next moment, leaving things in the hands of the person who had come to save them
The man, preoccupied with the pain coming from his broken arm, was left utterly vulnerable to a leg sweep that forced his foot off of the poor adventurer on the ground and suspended him in the air for a second, then was sent flying by a powerful haymaker far into the distance
The adventurer on the floor coughed violently as he took in lungfuls of air after being allowed to breathe again, he opened his eyes to see what had just happened but only saw a group of people around him and the unconscious female adventurer, who was being tended to by a Prum and a Renard, while three other adventurers looked down at him in concern, and upon noticing one of them did he immediately recognize who they were
"H-Hestia Familia!"
The man weakly coughed out as his throat was sore from all the shouting and coughing from earlier
"Yo!"
Welf gave the man a greeting, he carried with him two swords situated behind his back
"That was a close call, good thing Master Bell is fast!"
Mikoto let out a sigh of relief, she was wielding her signature katana along with various other items that might be useful
"Are you alright, mister?"
Bell asked as he crouched down face level with him, handing him a health potion, which he respectfully declined
"It's Paul... thanks for saving us"
He weakly nodded gratefully toward them, to which they responded with nods of their own
Bell offered a hand, which the man gratefully accepted as he pulled him back on his own two feet
"I'm sorry we couldn't get here in time..."
Bell started, his gaze falling onto the bloody stump where the man's right arm had once been
Noticing where the albino boy's gaze was fixated on, he waved it off with his remaining arm
"Oh come on now, if you guys hadn't gotten here when you did... both of us would have been dead"
He looked toward the unconscious female adventurer being nursed by Lili and Haruhime
"I suppose I'll just count my blessings"
He gave them a grateful smile, which was infectious as the rest couldn't help but also smile
"Alright then, why don't we escort you both toward the medical tents real quick so that you can have that looked at"
Welf answered for them, pointing at the man's lack of an arm
"Sounds like a plan! Master Bell, we'll take care of it from here, you head on out and provide assistance to the others!"
Mikoto suggested as Bell and the others nodded
"You can leave this to us, Master Bell!"
Haruhime smiled as she let the unconscious girl rest on her back while Lili stood beside her
"We won't take long Master Bell, we'll regroup over by the large torch over there!"
Lili said as she pointed toward a lone torch pole close to the wall of Orario that illuminated its surrounding area, reflecting warm, orange light off of the wall
"Alright, I'll meet you guys there!"
Bell agreed to the plan as the rest of them nodded and went their separate ways, promising to regroup soon
.
Further out the plains surrounding Orario, the fighting that went on was intense. The three High Executives of the Loki Familia worked together against a single foe that held his own very well even against three level sevens. The ongoing battle was so intense and awe-inducing that most of the surrounding people halted their own clashing to watch in awe at the display of power.
Currently, the Prum captain of the Loki Familia engaged the General known as Walthers, moving at high speeds nigh imperceptible by the eyes of lesser adventurers. Together, they were locked in a deadly, yet elegantly refined dance with their weapons in hand, generating sparks and shrieks of metal every time their weapons collide
It had been a few minutes since they had begun fighting, and although struggling initially against the three High Executives' combined might, the General quickly adapted to the situation, strategies that worked on him initially were now rendered useless as he quickly read their intentions and quickly formulated counters, forcing them to get creative with their next approaches
The battle quickly devolved into a battle of attrition, with all three of them up against the General
And though he was prioritizing Riveria as she was a more serious threat than the other two, he quickly found that her two companions were very adept at keeping him at bay
'Despite him being up against three level sevens, he's not even breaking a sweat... in fact, he seems to get stronger as time passes'
Finn thought as he and Walthers continued to increase the pressure, each of their attacks thrown with even more power than the last until an impenetrable dome generated from the force of their blows surrounded the area and forced any and all off their feet
"Hah! You're not too bad, scrub! But let's see who's the better leader between us!"
Walthers mocked as he continued to up the ante, just enough that it was starting to give Finn a hard time
"Hmph, there's no need to see..."
With one sudden flick of his spear upwards, Walther's sword was bisected, catching him off guard momentarily
Before he was about to do something, Finn beat him to the punch, literally. With all of the speed he could muster, he pushed off of the ground and delivered a nasty slug right onto the General's nose, breaking it and sending him crashing far away
Landing gracefully on his two feet while shaking off the pain he felt in his right arm, he finished his words
"For it's apparent who's the superior leader"
Gareth and Rivera rushed toward the Prum, seeing that the coast was clear
"Finn! Are you alright?"
Riveria rushed with her healing magic ready in case he broke his arm after administering such a powerful blow
"Actually, I'm not, could you please cast your healing magic on my hand?"
His words made the High Elf's eyes widen as she quickly went to inspect his hand, it was badly fractured, even bleeding and with a few bone shards sticking out
Wasting no time, she quickly doused it with a recovery potion she had with her, the elixir serving to take care of most of the damage while she applied her healing magic for extra potency
"Finn, ya crazy bastard! Ya actually threw that with all of yer strength?"
Gareth shook his head in disbelief, even he wouldn't think of doing that despite his sky-high defense pain tolerance
"Indeed, what in the world were you thinking, Finn?"
Riveria followed up on the dwarf's exclamation, also in disbelief that the Prum would be this reckless
"I had to do it, had I held back even in the slightest it wouldn't have caused any real damage"
He admitted, which made both Riveria and Gareth fall silent
"Well, let's hope that'll keep the bastard down"
Gareth murmured as Riveria nodded, but Finn was strangely quiet
"Finn?"
She asked the Prum, but before she could receive an answer Gareth rushed right in front of her, guarding her vulnerable form against a devastating punch that sent both of them flying away
"GAHHH!!!"
Even the incredibly formidable defense of Gareth Landrock had been bypassed as the punch sent him crashing right into Riveria and sending them both rocketing away
Finn jumped back a few meters to put some distance between the two of them, General Walthers came back for more, bloodthirstier than he was before
"Not too shabby, scrub! It's about time I let loose as well... you don't mind, do you?"
Wiping the stream of blood that continuously trickled from his nostrils down to his mouth, he gave it a lick and smiled at the Prum captain maniacally before disappearing at speeds imperceptible
Finn's eyes widened as not a second later, the General violently crashed down onto the ground, creating a large upheaval of dust and earth and sending Finn, as well as some debris flying, pelting the Prum
'He's gotten even stronger!'
Finn observed as he did his best to avoid any incoming projectiles, doing a fairly decent job for there were simply too many
The entire surrounding was surrounded by dust that clouded and limited one's vision and ability to breathe, a place where Finn very much did not like to be in
But before he could vacate, he felt impending danger coming from behind him
Trusting his extremely well-honed intuition as a seasoned and veteran adventurer, Finn deftly dodged to the side, just before a dagger went shooting past where he had once been, a second too late to dodge and he would have been struck
But he wasn't allowed any time to regain his bearings for he immediately felt his instincts flare up again to warn him of incoming danger right in front of him
And as his gaze turned forward, the smoke cleared as General Walther's being appeared, with an arm cocked back ready to unleash a devastating blow
With all the speed in his being, Finn ducked to avoid the General's swing by a hair's width
Not wasting any moment, Finn thrust his spear forward, right toward the General's chest
But it proved to be insufficient for the General appeared to be wearing armor that was much harder to penetrate, only achieving a minor dent
"Nice try, but it'll take more than that to punch through my armor!"
Walthers mocked as Finn retracted his spear
"It seems you're far stronger now than earlier when we first started fighting, are you really a level eight or did you just suppress your strength?"
Finn tried to get some answers from him, which the General was all too happy to explain away since he was in a good mood
"Hah! I wouldn't reach that level even if I busted my ass! Would you believe me if I told you that I'm actually just a fresh level four?"
A satisfied smile erupted from his mouth at Finn's disbelief and stern gaze indicating that he was expecting a legitimate answer, he decided to humor the Prum and explain
"Indeed, I am but a level four... but thanks to Evilus and their gods, we've been able to achieve feats far beyond what our statuses should allow!"
Throwing his hands up in the air as if thanking the heavens above itself for his newfound power, everything finally sunk in Finn's head
"Evilus... is behind this?"
He couldn't help but ask for confirmation lest he was hearing things
"Correct! They've fashioned a trinket that can siphon the divine energy of gods and transfer it to mortals in order to increase their strength, and since the gods possess huge amounts of divine energy, it only took the energy of a few gods to bolster the entire Rakian ranks, with two of us Generals having gotten the privilege to have our strength increased to as much double as that of our status"
Finn's eyes widened at this
'Such a way is possible? Wouldn't that...?'
But before he could ask his question, the General had the answer ready for him
"I know what you're going to ask, and you're absolutely correct! Gods, with all their omnipotence, still possess a finite amount of divine energy, so they can run out of that... and the consequences would be that the god 'dies' and is sent back to the heavens"
Walthers clarified, finding the Prum's expression filled with mixed emotions to be of utmost amusing
"I see, but I'm afraid a little boost won't be enough to overcome the resolve of Orario's inhabitants to defend the city!"
With as much speed and strength as he could momentarily muster up, he leaped into the air and brought his spear down on the enemy's head, or tried...
Catching the head of the spear with both hands, Walthers snapped the head off of the body in one clean motion and threw the useless bit away
Finn landed some distance away, seeing that what was left of his trusty spear was but the handle, looked backed at his opponent and decided that he needed to end things right now lest he be put in a disadvantageous position
"Hah... it seems I'll need to use it..."
Muttering to himself, he raised his thumb toward his mouth and bit down, drawing blood
"Magic spear, penetrate my forehead offering blood..."
His eyes gained a crazed and animalistic reddish glow to them as the earth beneath him started to tremble
"HELL FINEGAS!!!"
The pressure that the Prum was exerting was overwhelming, he was now far stronger in this temporary state, with his abilities now comparable to that of a level eight
Whistling at the dramatic power-up, the General smiled as he readied himself for the exciting battle up ahead
"Finally! I was starting to get bored!"
.
"Screw off you bastards!"
The yell of Loki Familia's Vanagrand was heard as he sent four soldiers all crashing away at the same time
He was growing tired of the sheer persistence of the enemy, with wave after wave attacking which did not allow any repose on their side as they tirelessly fought them off
But it seems no matter how much they beat them back, they keep coming back in greater numbers... and it was really starting to get on the werewolf's nerves
"""URGH!!!"""
"""GURK!!!"""
"""ACK!!!"""
The berserker Bete Loga administered wanton and absolutely brutal beatdowns to any and all that dare cross his way
He normally wasn't bloodthirsty by any means, but there were moments like these when he just let himself loose
"How brutish and unrefined can you be, Bete?"
Alicia let loose a few more arrows as she mocked the werewolf, further adding to his irritation
"Shut up, elf! Why don't you focus on shooting some more arrows than running your mouth?!"
The werewolf snarled, yep... he totally was not in a jolly good mood
"Yikes, remind me not to anger Mister Bete..."
Raul commented as he gulped down his saliva while both Anakitty and Alicia sighed
"In any case, the mangy mutt can take it from here, we should go help out the others!"
Alicia suggested as the two nodded
"I heard that!!!"
An angry shout from the distance, but they did their best to ignore it
"Well well, what a cute dog you guys have over there! What's his name?"
The sudden presence behind them nearly made all three of them jump out of their own skin
They quickly turned around and came face to face with a tall, well-built man wearing a complete set of armor save for the lack of a helmet, exposing his head and messy, black hair. His face was similar to that of a well-groomed and sophisticated gentleman save for the large, stitched scar that stretched from around the left edge of his mouth to near his left cheek. Sword in the scabbard on his hip, he radiated an imposing and terrifying overwhelming, yet restrained aura
Alicia, Raul, and Anakitty felt their instincts flare up and warn them of extreme danger, that this unknown person that had just made himself apparent to them was insurmountably superior to them
Every particle of their being yelled at them to run and never look back as their primal instincts of fear went into overdrive, it was as if they were standing in the presence of a predator biding its time for the right moment to strike, the feeling of utter hopelessness and futility, that even the slightest movement would make the predator attack was the single and only thought present
Gulping the incredibly uncomfortable and suffocating lump that formed in their throats, one of them boldly asked the question present on everybody's mind
"W-Who are you?!"
Raul stammered as he asked the question, feeling his very spirit leave his body after such a bold and presumptuous move
There was an uncomfortable silence for around half a minute, the man's terrifyingly stern gaze bored a hole into their being and seemed to be meticulously studying them until his spirits lifted up and a congenial smile appeared on his face
"Oh, where are my manners... I am General Alexander, one of two Commanders of the Rakian Army, alongside General Walthers whom I believe is currently up against the Captain of the Loki Familia"
He introduced himself briefly as their eyes widened at his words
'One of two Generals? And the other is up against the captain? If theother is this strong...'
Raul didn't want to finish the thought. Although he had complete faith in their Captain's intellect and battle prowess, witnessing the monstrous presence in front of them made him dare to second-guess his confidence in Finn
"It seems the lot of you from Orario are doing quite well fending off our attacks thus far..."
The commander started, with all of us reluctant to respond... all but one
"A-and what if we are?"
Anakitty dared to respond as a bead of sweat trickled down from her forehead to her chin
The General's face suddenly became stern again
"Then I'm afraid we can't have that, Lord Ares demands the complete and unconditional surrender of Orario to the Kingdom of Rakia, and it seems this time he won't tolerate any outcome other than success"
The trio quickly braced themselves to face off against an enemy that was woefully much superior to them
"Well, how about we get started with the warm-ups!"
As soon as he finished uttering the last syllable, he vanished from their sight, moving at speeds that were imperceptible to them
The trio's momentary confusion and fright were very quickly replaced by pain and surprise as the General rammed all three of them at once with his hulking body, sending them all shooting away
"Heh, come on now, this is just the warm-up!"
He mocked as he sighed, discontent with how easily his opponents were taken down
"I'll give ya' a warm-up alright!!!"
Bete suddenly charged forward with a powerful swing of his outstretched leg aimed toward the General's head, his Flosvirt boots having been imbued with fire magic to heighten his abilities
Deftly blocking his strike with his forearm, he chuckled to himself as he hummed in acknowledgment after feeling the weight behind his attack
'I'm guessing intermediate level six...'
He recognized that he was the strongest one out of the four of them, but he still won't stand a chance against one of the two great commanders of the Rakian Army
"So... the pup wants to play with me now, does he?"
Sending the werewolf a mocking smirk, Bete clicked his tongue and followed with a double axe handle blow aimed straight down onto the General's head
But with a heavy swing of his arm, Alexander waved off Bete's attack, as if he were merely swatting at a pest
"Pup's got some bite in him!"
With the sudden change in weight and mid-air orientation, Bete was unprepared for the enemy's counterattack, which came in a powerful fist straight to the abdomen
The air was forced out of his lungs, and his entire body was sent flying and crashing like a rag doll in the distance just like the others earlier
"Oops, I might have used too much strength there..."
He said to himself, then proceeded to stop an arrow that was sent his way with his index and middle fingers
Looking toward the direction where the arrow came from, the General's disinterested gaze met with Alicia's stern one
"Heh, what was this supposed t-"
""COME ONNNN!!!""
His ears suddenly picked up loud shouting on both his left and right sides as both Raul and Anakitty rushed him, both with their sword in hand
"Clever, but..."
As soon as they both got within striking distance, they both swung their sword at the General
But the General moved faster than they could pick up, avoided both of their attacks, grabbed Raul hoisted him up by the face, and slammed him straight onto Anakitty's surprised person, sending them both crashing onto the ground in a limp and motionless mess, they were both immediately out cold and down for the count
"Ultimately futile"
He finished his sentence
Alicia, seeing as her comrades were taken out with ease, began to tremble
Yet she remained firm, she had her dignity and pride as an elf to never back down against a foe, especially when that foe had hurt people she considered her friends
"Oh, my fair lady... would you be so gracious as to accept my request to dance this evening?"
General Alexander asked, and without waiting for an answer, he disappeared and then reappeared right in front of her in the blink of an eye, closing the meters of distance between them almost instantaneously
"!"
Rendering her main weapon useless at point-blank distance, she reached for her dagger
But the General wasn't going to make it easy for her, for he sent a barrage of strikes against her
The speed and strength behind his punch were nothing compared to what he dished out for the others earlier, it was much slower and weaker
She was greatly offended that her opponent was taking her lightly, and she was determined to make him regret it
Taking out her dagger, she went for a swift swing aimed right toward his head
She could have sworn that her strike would have hit its target, but the General surprised her by moving with blinding speed to evade her attack and send a punch right toward her face, which connected and sent her crashing and rolling down onto the ground some meters away
"Agh...!"
Alicia tasted iron as pain assaulted her entire body while the General looked pleased with himself and slowly started approaching her still figure
She tried to force her body to move but only succeeded in propping herself up with her elbows and forearms
Alexander stopped a few feet right in front of her as he looked at her pitiful display
"Come on now, I thought you'd give me a better challenge than those three..."
He mocked as Alicia glared defiantly at him as if she would actually be able to inflict damage upon him if she glared hard enough
"But I'm afraid I'll have to admit that I was thoroughly disappointed with the strength you displayed; or lack thereof..."
Rubbing salt in her wound, she grits her teeth in annoyance then lets out a pained cry after he forcefully grabbed her hair and lifted her up
"Well, I guess fun time's over... so I suppose I'll be killing all of you lot now"
Suddenly his features became icy cold as that of a merciless and inured killer, he then took her dagger and pointed it right at her face
"It's a shame I have to take the life of such a beauty, perhaps in the next life I suppose"
Glaring as if he were the more disgusting scum on the face of the Lower World, she shut her eyes as she prepared to meet her fate with her head held high, as any elf would
'Please... I can't yet... if there's anybody, please save me!'
Though she knew her situation to be futile, she couldn't help but hold on to the slightest bit of hope that somebody might come to save her
And her plea wouldn't go unanswered as the arm of the man was grabbed by somebody and was bent awkwardly
"!"
The man was surprised that the person right in front of him was able to force him to let go of the elf
"I'm warning you, leave her alone"
Alicia's eyes snapped open when she heard the voice of the one who spoke
"B-Bell Cranel...?"
She weakly looked up at her savior and saw him angrily staring directly into the man as if challenging him. Unbeknownst to her, a test of will was taking place between the two as they both continued to stare each other down
"And do you suppose you can take me on, Bell Cranel?"
The man asked, trying to pry his arm off of the clutch of the albino, but found himself unable to do so
'He's strong... for being a child still'
In fact, Bell increased the strength of his grip further when he tried to pry his arm off of his hold
"If it means protecting her, I'll gladly take you on"
With the fires of determination burning bright in his rubellite irises, he challenged the General to a showdown
The battle to defend Orario from the Rakian Army's Incursion continues on
-Fin-
Welp, we've finally reached the end of the chapter. I hope you guys didn't find the fight scenes too repulsive because I tried a new approach to that, I made them more decisive and impactful so to speak, instead of being flashy and all over the place. Every blow now actually carries weight and significance instead of just dealing tickle damage to the opponent so they're more realistically depicted. Also, if you haven't noticed, I'm setting things up for Alicia. I plan sometime in the future to publish a story where Alicia's route will be taken instead of Lefiya, think of it as an alternate universe if you will. Not to worry for all you harem lovers there, Alicia won't be the only girl to get a separate story, there will also be others, but I won't name them yet for even I'm not sure who'll be included yet, just stay tuned for more info. Anyways, please leave a comment with your suggestions on what I could do better in the story of my style of writing as a whole in order to better deliver to you guys! All comments are appreciated and taken into mind, so thank you, dear readers!
I'll see you in the next one! Stay funky!