Chapter 124: Intense Battle
Chloe moved through the tree branches, reaching the back of the camp. She waited there a few seconds. Once Vlad and Noah struck from the front, the bandit scouts moved toward the source of the noise, leaving their position.
Once no enemy was around, Chloe jumped from the tree, landing directly inside the fences.
There were numerous wooden huts in the settlement. She checked each of them, looking for any abductees. Most were dark and empty, filled with the stench of booze and sweat.
Only the huts at the front, where Vlad and Noah were fighting, and the large central hut remained to be checked. She decided to infiltrate the central hut first. Just as she entered through the window at the back, Tobias moved out through the front entrance, confronting the duo.
Chloe’s eyes widened as they fell on the horrendous scene inside. The room was dark, with weapons hanging on the walls, a wooden log serving as a chair, and a mattress on the floor. There were abductees as well, a dozen of them, all women. Their limbs were bound in chains, their skin bare to the cold air, revealing numerous bruises. None of them had a spark left in their eyes, as if they had given up on living.
The sight alone sent chills through Chloe, her hands trembling at her sides, her jaw tightening ever so slightly.
How could anyone commit such monstrosity? The question hung in her mind, with no one to answer it. Her heart beat painfully in her chest just from imagining what these innocent women must have endured.
Still, she took a deep breath and pulled herself together. She needed to get them to safety before anyone came inside.
With her bare hands, she grabbed the iron cuffs binding their limbs and ripped the locks open, freeing the abductees.
"I came here to rescue you. You’re all safe now," she said, forcing the words out in a calm tone, even though she had never before initiated a conversation with strangers in Vlad’s absence. It felt to her that she needed to say those words, and the moment she did, the abductees shivered, tears welling in their eyes before they broke down completely, bowing before Chloe.
"Th-thank you... thank you s-so much."
The room filled with their whimpers and grateful voices, which only deepened Chloe’s fury. She gathered whatever clothes lay in the hall and handed a piece to each of them to cover themselves.
She was about to guide them out through the window she had entered from, but her feet suddenly froze as she felt a thick wave of mana radiating from outside.
"Stay here. I’ll be back," she said to the women, pivoting toward the main exit of the camp.
She had only taken a step forward when one of the abductees, a young woman barely twenty, tugged at her skirt from behind. Her auburn eyes looked up at Chloe in desperation, as if pleading with her not to leave.
No one understood the fear of abandonment better than Chloe. She kept her voice even and calm as she said, "I’ll be back. Don’t worry."
Only then did the girl finally let her go, albeit reluctantly.
Chloe hurried out, drawing a sharp katana from her storage ring, an item she had bought at the academy market just a day earlier in preparation for the quest.
I must deal with this one first, Tobias decided as he brought his Aura Blade down upon Vlad, who had yet to regain his balance, in a strike that could only be blocked by another Aura Blade.
Just as the blade reached Vlad’s head, a sudden burst of wind struck his body from the side, carrying him along with it. Tobias’s greatsword struck the ground, splitting it open, as Vlad narrowly escaped.
"Another one?" he muttered, his gaze shifting toward the direction the wind had come from.
He blinked, finding no one there. Suddenly his eyes widened as the tip of a blade appeared before his eye, coming from the direction where Vlad was standing.
He bent his head back at the last moment, dodging the blade that could have pierced straight through his eye and into his brain. Even so, it still managed to slice his eye, blood trickling down from it.
His remaining eye narrowed as he finally saw who was responsible for the sudden attack. Chloe stood before Vlad, her lavender eyes fixed on Tobias, her face expressionless.
Rather than frightened or furious at the sudden ambush, Tobias wore a strange smile, as if the wound to his eye meant nothing. He almost seemed to be enjoying it.
"Hahaha, how famous would I become if I killed three students from the Arcane Academy?" he exclaimed like a madman, suddenly swinging his massive greatsword, now laced with Sword Aura, toward the pair.
"Don’t try to block his attack, Chloe," Vlad commanded, ducking low. "He has Sword Aura."
Chloe launched herself into the sky, the aura blade sweeping beneath her. She thrust her katana at his face from midair while Vlad, on the ground, swung his sword at his torso, the same spot he’d struck before.
"Not so fast!" Tobias shouted, covering his face completely in rock armor, leaving space only to breathe and to see through his remaining eye.
He ignored Chloe’s incoming blade, which could no longer harm him, and turned his focus to the one who actually could. With a sweep of his free hand, a sharp rock lance erupted from the ground, aimed at Vlad’s chest.
He cut it cleanly with his Mana Blade. But the delay was enough for Tobias to swing his sword down at Vlad.
Vlad had already foreseen it with his Foresight Eye, and knew exactly what would happen in the next half second. He didn’t bother to dodge, instead swinging his sword straight at Tobias’s side.
Vlad’s decision made no sense to Tobias. It was as though Vlad were sacrificing himself for the mere chance to land a blow that might not even kill him.
The greatsword was about to split Vlad in half when a katana pierced Tobias’s wrist, the one joint the rock armor didn’t cover.
The sudden strike broke his Sword Aura for a moment, the energy blade that was about to hit Vlad vanishing as blood splattered from the wrist, staining the ground crimson.
"Damn it!" Tobias muttered, redirecting all his mana to protect his injured side.
He was too late.
Vlad’s sword dug into his side again, blood seeping out. With both hands, he pushed the blade forward, but then...
Thump!
Vlad’s heart pounded in his chest as the mana blade vanished from his sword and the lightning faded from his crimson eyes.
[Alert! The Host has suffered Mana Deviation due to insufficient mana in the core.]
"Fucking hell," he muttered, blood spilling from his mouth as he broke into uncontrollable coughing, the strength draining from his arms.
"Vlad," Chloe called out in worry, her gaze snapping to him.
Tobias didn’t let the opening go to waste. He punched Chloe in the gut with his free arm while her attention was elsewhere. The blow, backed by a stone gauntlet, sent her tumbling backward. He yanked the katana from his wrist and wrapped his greatsword in Sword Aura once more.
"Pathetic. Is this really the level of second-year students the Academy sends on outside missions?" Tobias sneered, unaware that the Academy’s rules had already changed to allow first-years on quests as well.
"Now, become the stepping stone to my fame," Tobias declared, slamming his foot onto Vlad’s back. The impact drove him into the ground, one hand still pressed to his chest, where each heartbeat sent waves of agony through his body, leaving every muscle unable to move.
With both hands, he gripped the greatsword and drove it straight down.
It struck empty ground as Chloe unleashed another gust of wind, shoving Vlad clear. She had already risen to her feet, ignoring the internal injuries from the punch.
"St-stay away from my Vlad," she muttered. In a blur, she vanished from where she stood, snatching her broken katana from the ground as she rushed at him, swinging it at his wrist again.
Her speed was noticeably slower than before, easy for Tobias to read. With a mild swing of his Sword-Aura-laced greatsword, he snapped the incoming katana in two.
His lips curled into a smirk as he swung deliberately at Vlad, ignoring Chloe entirely even though she now stood before him unarmed.
"I said stay away from my Vlad!!!" Chloe screamed, her mana erupting outward in a storm powerful enough to uproot the huts and fences nearby.
"Wh-what the hell?" Tobias gasped as his massive frame was hurled into the air, flung in the exact opposite direction from Vlad.
"Huff... huff," Chloe’s breathing turned ragged as she rushed to Vlad, who lay sprawled against the fences.
"V-Vlad," she whimpered, tracing his face with a trembling hand.
Instead of answering, Vlad pulled her into his arms and turned, shielding her with his own body.
What Chloe saw next was Tobias’s greatsword descending on them; he had already closed the distance and reached their side.
"Vlad, move away, let me go," Chloe pleaded, trying to pull free in terror, but Vlad held her in an iron grip, refusing to budge.
Clang!
A sharp ring of blade meeting blade echoed out.
"You should know when to stop, bastard," Noah murmured coldly, his silver hair fluttering as he blocked Tobias’s attack with his sword, wrapped in a bright, chilling mana that doubled its size.
"S-Sword Aura?" Tobias gasped, shock written across his face. "How could a brat like you already manifest Sword Aura? N-no! Impossible! It must be a fake."
"See for yourself," Noah said, tilting his blade before swinging it upward with both hands.
It sliced clean through Tobias’s Sword Aura, then split his sword itself straight down the middle.
"Who the hell are you? You can’t be an academy student," Tobias demanded, unable to believe what was happening.
"I’m Noah Silva."
The name sent a chill through him, or more precisely, the surname did.
"Y-you’re the son of D—"
Slash!
His head rolled across the ground before he could finish the sentence.