110. Chapter
Concept art of Selora in her new armor.
The fight on the second floor was growing to its crescendo as another wave of fighters climbed through the windows, joining the bloody combat. Seeing the increasingly unfavorable odds, I was starting to feel desperate. I mean, I'm still kind of proud of my performance so far, but my previous sense of excitement was waning quickly as exhaustion and fear took their place.
Every couple of seconds, people died on both sides. Thanks to my magic, we managed to kill more of them, but with the enemy's sudden reinforcement, that meant little.
Another enemy climbed down from the roof, jumping through a window and landing right beside a strange formation made up by Hilde and Bob, who were already preoccupied with fending off the deadly attacks of two enemy combatants.
I raised my staff, directing its tip towards the intruder, about to send the idiot flying backwards through that very window he used to enter, but to my surprise, my staff was unexpectedly struck halfway, effectively blocking its movement. My eyes widened seeing the elegant sword that presently crossed the shaft of my staff, creating a clean echo that vibrated through the air.
My heart pounded away as I locked eyes with a certain elf who planned to bash in my teeth... among other things. I gulped, fear momentarily weighing down my limbs as the man smirked gleefully. "Where did your bravery disappear, girl?" He quickly slid his blade against my staff, then reached into my guard with obscene amounts of dexterity.
Fortunately for me, the light shield, a variant that only blocked impacts from one direction, was still active, and it managed to stop his strike before the blade could cut the flesh of my arm. The man's manic eyes glinted with a flash of realization. His free arm snapped out as he grabbed the end of my staff that reached through the tightly placed barrier, and with a powerful pull, he tried to wrench it from my hands. I wasn't keen on letting the bastard take my staff. I had practiced to keep hold of it for a reason. Putting my heels into the ground, I did my best to get my weapon under control, only to see a glint of glee in the man's red gaze as he suddenly put his entire weight behind his efforts and pulled my weapon along with me through my own barrier.
Eyes widening, I realized that his true intention wasn't disarming me. "Fuck!" I cried out, hesitating between just letting go of my staff and running back behind the shield, only to remember that I can't pass through it from this side. Yeah, that would be a pitiful way to go, headbutting my own spell. Good call for remembering not to run into it, Selora... I patted myself on the back while my gaze refocused on the opponent.
The bastard was grinning terribly. Looking at my body shamelessly as his words slithered through the space between us. "Oh, Iwill fuck you... No need to be impatient."
I felt a bit confused for a second. What the hell was he talking about? Then I remembered my curse word from a few seconds earlier.
Was I talking in dark elf? I never quite figured out how exactly I swapped between languages. Was it enough to look at someone of a certain race to talk to them in their tongue? Or was there a need or intent to speak in a certain way?
Not that I didn't have better things to worry about at the moment. My staff is still partially controlled by the enemy, and he was trying to pull me away from my companions. "Come along nicely, and I might decide to leave your teeth intact. It would be a shame to ruin such a rare commodity." The man growled, giving another harsh pull to my staff as I stumbled another few steps away from my friends. I decided that enough was enough.
With a pulse of mana, I covered the tip of my staff with a layer of spiky ice that pierced the man's hand. He cried out immediately, finally letting go of my weapon, but the damage was already done. His left arm was partially covered in ice, freezing his hand solid in a couple of seconds.
The pain and disbelief I saw in his expression were enough distraction for me to lift my staff and attempt to clobber the idiot in the head. Unfortunately, my movements seemed to jolt him out of the shock, and he managed to dodge my admittedly not too graceful strike. He was just about to snarl something rude at me when a wave of ice grew out of the ground, following the arc of my presently ice-enchanted weapon and piercing him through at several places. Soon enough, his body was covered in a thin sheen of ice, freezing the bastard in his dying agony.
The sight was quite grotesque, to say the least. My thoughts were running in circles as I felt genuinely startled by this phenomenon.
Recalling my previous experimentation when I turned my staff into an improvised ice scythe. Back then, it also froze the ground and other things that touched the blade, but I had never considered that the ice-enchanted attacks would follow a principle of momentum. Creating a wave of ice that pierced through my enemies.
Such surprises were welcomed additions, though. For once, luck seemed to be working in my favor.
Giving one last withering glance at the ice-covered elf, I couldn't help but feel that this confrontation was quite anticlimactic. I turned back towards the ongoing battle. Spending precious seconds to analyze the situation, I decided that things were far from ideal.
Several of my friends were in trouble. Elin, for starters, was being cornered by two of the attackers, her sword arm injured, along with a pretty large gash on her right thigh. Yeah, I scolded myself internally. I was wondering why Elin didn't block my attacker; it turns out she was occupied without me realizing it.
I was about to intervene when I caught sight of Alita's running form, along with an unknown dwarven adventurer, practically charging down the two fools cornering Elin. They couldn't hear their approach because of the ensuing chaos.
That said, I was pretty sure these so-called elves were not actually elves, even though they wore dark elven armors and weaponry. Aria has mentioned to me that most of the soldiers we are going to cross paths with are not dark elves but slaves of other races, potentially having a fraction of true dark elven blood in their veins. In the end, even the one we fought against after our escape was only a half-elf, and that bastard was actually deadly.
The dwarven man rammed into his clueless opponent's side, pushing him to the ground before finishing him with a heavy strike of his hammer.
The splattering contents of his companion's skull finally gained the other "elf's" attention as he prepared to strike the dwarven adventurer, only for a sword strike to hit him under his chin, slicing his throat open where his armor was nonexistent. Alita then kicked out his legs and, using her body weight, pierced him through the torso. Finishing the struggling opponent.
Elin, exhausted but relieved by the well-timed reinforcement, slumped against Alita's side as she tried her best to keep her injured friend on her feet. Our eyes met, then a spark of fear distorted Alita's expression, her lips parting in a cry of warning. "LORA, WATCH OUT!"
My stomach somersaulted, but my instincts kicked in, hearing the true alarm in her voice. My muscles sprang to action, dodging blindly to the side without even ascertaining the direction of incoming danger.
A second later, a sword cut through the air where I just stood. Followed by a disgruntled growl. Unfortunately, my new opponent didn't seem to share the previous one's conversational nature, as instead of throwing around threats, he simply rushed after me, his twin blades slicing through the air with deadly intent. Seeing his momentum, I figured that this one wasn't intending to keep me in one piece, hoping for a tumble in the hay afterwards.
I wondered if that was good news or not, but after blocking one of his swords with my staff and leaving an icy sheen on his blade, then feeling his other blade sliding off the side of my plate-covered ribs with an eerie screech of metal, I decided that it was not the best outcome.
I winced, jumping back in a panic, my opponent chasing after me without a break in his steps.
My ears twitched as a familiar voice cut through the chaos. "SELORA, GET DOWN!"
There was no time to comprehend the situation. I simply dropped to a hasty crouch, then, losing my shaky balance, I fell on my butt with a wince, closing my eyes in a moment, and when I opened them, I saw the elf lying on his back, a large crossbow bolt sticking out of his chest, a wet, gurgling, wheezing sound coming from his direction as he was drowning in his own blood. A trickle of blood slid down the corner of his mouth, while his red eyes bored into me.
I took in his loathful expression, then with a twist of my finger, I broke off a piece of ice from my staff and sent the shard with a precise push of telekinesis through his eye socket, ending his suffering.
My ears twitched again, hearing the incoming rush of feet beside me, but before I could react, my lithe body was already being lifted with a pair of hands grabbing me under my awfully sweaty armpits.
Being touched there in an uncouth manner like this was not on my priority list.
I gave out a startled kick before Camilla's voice laughed in my right ear. "It's just us, Lora, Ignacio, and me!" She declared, her voice shaky and out of breath. "Nice shot back there, boss." She added, speaking to the veteran adventurer, who seemed to completely ignore the compliment.
"Get your legs under you, girl," he shouted. "We are getting out of here. I want you to freeze the entrance after we pull back, understand? He demanded, and I nodded, being helped up to my feet.
"RETREAT TO THE CORRIDOR!" shouted one of the adventurers, who seemed to come to the same realization. "WE CAN'T HOLD OUT HERE—AGH!"
Nothing could create a barely organized retreat faster than the throat of the announcer being cut off halfway through the statement.
I was part pushed, part pulled into the corridor by my friends as the violent engagement intensified, seeing our retreating group for the enemy was akin to hungry sharks sensing blood. Arrows and weapons clashed around us on all sides as people tensed against each other; their battle cries mixed with the cries of pain and dying screams.
"FOCUS, ELF! FREEZE IT NOW!" Ignacio's voice rang through the absolute chaos as he impatiently shook my arm to get my attention. I immediately lifted my staff in the direction, holding its shaky tip above the fighting groups, and then, with a burst of mana channeled from the already half-empty mana gem tightly clutched in my left hand, I released the spell. A cold breeze filled the halls as the wide-open double doors, or well, their place was quickly engulfed in a spiky layer of magical ice. Simultaneously engulfing several of the closely following dark ones while leaving a handful more stuck on this side of the barricade, suddenly find themselves cut off and outnumbered.
The adventurers, seeing the momentarily stunned enemy, rallied and made short work of them.
I looked around, counting the number of people standing in the corridor. There were about twelve of us present, less than half of our original numbers. The others seemed to follow my example, assessing our pitiful state; half of our numbers were injured, some more than others. I was immensely relieved to see all my friends present. Slightly wincing from the sight of their roughened-up appearance. Elin and Camilla looked the worst of the bunch. The half-dwarf lass was covered in gashes, while Camilla had a large bruise around her left eye, her hair partly undone and sticking to her sweat- and dust-covered face mixed with a few pieces of spider web.
Hilde seemed fine, if tired, and her armor sprouted several fresh dents and scratches. Alita wasn't much better on that front.
Was I the only one who got out of that encounter surprisingly unscathed? Yes, well, kudos for the idea of not getting into close combat as much as possible. The moment I failed to do that was when I kept finding myself in situations that could easily end with my death. Also, as I am now, I can't really provide meaningful help while locked in close combat.
I thought internally while pushing ahead towards my friends. In the meantime, our group began to march down the stairs, intending to get into the hall on the first floor, where our injured were being treated.
I glanced at the magic stone to my left. Its previously deep crimson now became that of a soft pink, meaning that its magical capacity was about one-third of its filled state.
"I wonder what a brave beauty like you is wandering about." Sounded a somewhat familiar voice from my left. "Would you care to share your thoughts, sweet elven maiden?"
My ears twitched as I turned my face towards the sound, my eyes meeting that of the radiantly glinting gaze of Camilla's ex-boyfriend. "Bob?"
The man seemed taken aback that I actually knew his name, but he leaned into his act with a natural flow of camaraderie. "I see my fame has already reached you, my lady."
I tried to say that I just heard him sharing half of his life back in the hall, but he didn't give me a chance to interrupt.
"No matter!" He continued. "I have been floored with the show and variety of powerful spells, such a soft elven maiden showcased in the face of mortal danger!" He shook his head. "I can see why my sweet Milla has decided to join forces with a person of your skills. I can't help but ask, would you per chance ever grace me with your presence in a less official setting in case we survive this dreadful invasion?"
I blinked. Was he trying to hit on me? I looked him in the face, taking in the wide smirk and radiating charisma. A sense of dread immediately ran up the length of my spine.
He was definitely trying to hit on me... Fuck.
Then a streak of red appeared in my peripheral sight, followed by Bob's warm expression turning several shades paler as he scurried away, spluttering some ridiculous, barely coherent excuses.
"DON'T YOU DARE!" Echoed Camilla's voice as she appeared by my side with the momentum of an enraged buffalo. "Shameless bastard, we just broke up, and you're already sneaking around, trying to get into my friend's skirt!"
"It was you who said it's over, Milla... or did you perhaps speak in your anger and not mean it seriously? I see..." The man shouted back while squirming between the annoyed adventurers in an attempt to get away from Camilla's rage, only to be sneakily kicked in the butt by an annoyed Alita.
"Ouch! "Who the hell?!" The man complained but couldn't seem to find the culprit, as he was among a handful of people, and half of them broke into wild laughter seeing Alita's action.
I guess Alita didn't like his attempt to pick me up more than I did.
Her eyes glanced at me while giving me a wink, which basically settled it.
My eyes turned back to the blurry magic stone lying in my left palm, and I finally reminded myself of the original reason we decided to help out here first.
I glanced up with fresh determination and started to look for Ignacio; it was time to get my hands on some filled mana gems for a change. The guild should have more than they could actually supply their mages with. It wasn't like you could use them endlessly, but I would be a lot more relaxed with several more at hand.