Chương 63: Book 2 Chapter 15 - Killing Bandits

Mason had been following the group, but hadn't engaged with her yet, instead watching the fight play out to gather information. She was hesitant to cross blades with Hugo again, due to the shock it gave her each time. She used her speed to keep herself separate from the bulk of the bandits, engaging with just a few at a time. Hugo, frustrated with being unable to engage her for an extended period of time, began unleashing small lightning bolts at her in rapid succession.

She braced for impact as they approached, but they dissolved when they hit her, just like Nash's ice magic had. She came to a sudden realization. While the magic itself dissolved on contact with her, if it was instead used to affect the natural world around her, she was not immune to that. If someone used magic to set a building on fire, the fire magic wouldn't hurt her, but the burning building would.

Hugo became more and more frustrated with each lighting bolt that she ignored, until he stopped chasing her altogether. It only took a second or so, but the lighting that was crackling all around his body began to gather in a large, glowing ball of energy in front of his chest. She watched him out of her peripheral vision as she fended off the other bandits. With a massive yell, Hugo unleashed the bolt of lightning at her. He looked immediately drained afterward, slouching slightly in exhaustion from the effort.

KHKH-DUM The massive electric discharge was accompanied by a loud, deep roll of thunder. The shockwave rippled out across the ground, momentarily flattening the long, flowing grass in its wake. Kiara was too busy parrying attacks to try and dodge the electric bolt, and it moved much too fast anyways. In the instant that it left Hugo's body and moved towards her, she saw the air warping around it from the immense heat and energy it was giving off.

It grazed one of the tier 1 bandits on its way to her, completely overwhelming his mana shield and tearing a hole in the side of his neck. It immediately cauterized the wound as well, preventing bleeding, but he was left with a giant gash in his neck, the skin black and peeled away around the wound. He fell to the ground, screaming in pain. The majority of the lightning bolt collided with Kiara's chest, momentarily blinding her and everyone near her.

The magic did nothing to her, of course, but the light and sound from the attack left her slightly disoriented, with a ringing in her ears. In the moment after it struck, [Magical Sense 3] picked up quick movement. Mason had apparently held back long enough, and was taking advantage of the chaos following the massive lightning attack to launch a surprise strike. She jumped quickly away from the bandits she had been engaged with before, and intercepted Mason's attack.

She tried imagining his spear to be the tip of a sword thrust, far from her opponent's body. That was similar to how Air Form would have worked, had he been using a sword, so she instinctively took up River Form to defend while she repositioned to Mason's side. His stance and steps were unfamiliar, as she wasn't familiar with any spear forms, but his movements were clearly trained and efficient. He moved with the confidence and grace of someone with years of practice. She gave him a mental nod for his effort.

He was the only one who had analyzed the fight, and strategized against an opponent who was clearly stronger and faster than the rest of them, rather than just rushing in swinging. She even mentally applauded his thought process: wait for a big distraction then rush in when your opponent least expects it. Unfortunately for him, she wasn't as distracted as he might have hoped.

She had been temporarily blinded and deafened by the lightning attack, but [Magical Sense 3] warned her of his approach, and the lightning attack hadn't done any actual damage to her. What she wasn't expecting was the speed of his first spear thrust. He moved faster than she had ever seen a tier 2 move before, and she briefly wondered if he was really only tier 2. His movements in repositioning himself felt very normal for a tier 2 though, and weren't nearly as fast as his actual spear thrusts and attacks.

That gave her another realization. He must be using magic somehow to amplify his movement speed above and beyond what his body could naturally do. On top of his body being stronger and faster just from having magic flowing through it, he could use his stored mana to further enhance and empower his attacks and movements momentarily. It was the first time one of the bandits' attacks came at a speed similar to her own. It may have even been slightly faster.

Her many days and hours spent practicing with the sword saved her life, as she was able to instinctively block the strike and slide to the side in time. Before the other bandits had recovered from the lighting blast, Mason had attacked, and they exchanged a few blows. She slipped past his first spear thrust and gave an attack of her own, but he blocked it with his shield in a single, fluid motion. He adjusted the grip on his spear to hold it more in the middle.

Instead of resting it on his shield, he carried it like a one-handed weapon, now that she was close. He tried a few more attacks of his own, hiding behind the shield when she swung back. She hated to admit it, but the shield was effective. He was clearly the most skilled fighter among the bandit group, but even with his mana-enhanced attack speed, if she had another few seconds fighting him one-on-one, she knew she would have him beat.

She was already starting to see the openings in his movements, places where she could strike effectively. Before she was able to capitalize on the openings in his defense, the other bandits rushed back in. Kiara was forced to break off the attack, and resumed circling to the side of the group where she could engage just a few bandits at once. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

Kiara hadn't put as many stat points into Endurance as the World Engine had recommended at each level, which she assumed meant these bandits could all probably outpace her in the long run. She was already starting to get tired. She was much faster than them in the short term, but if she only moved at the speed they did, she would be quickly overwhelmed. To gain an edge, she was forced to go all out, and was tiring out much faster than they were.

Her sword class and sparring sessions had conditioned her for long training sessions, but she always had time to rest in between sets when she was training. Now, however, she realized that if she kept this up for much longer, she would start to flag. Once that happened, she would be overwhelmed by their numbers advantage. The thing giving her the most hope was that the tier 1 bandits were also showing signs of fatigue. They couldn't keep up with her as well as the other three.

The one who had taken the lightning bolt to the neck was still writhing on the ground in pain. Hugo was back to chasing her down, but was much less enthusiastic in his advancements now that his massive lightning bolt had failed. Mason was more heavily engaged in the fighting now, but still attacked her cautiously, waiting for another advantageous opening. Nash had stopped pelting her with ice shards, and was sticking to his axe attacks for now. Kiara decided to switch things up.

Instead of circling like she had been, trying to stay away from the bulk of the bandits, she rushed headlong into the group, catching them slightly off guard. With how fast she was moving, they didn't have time to react before she planted a firm kick in the stomach of one of the tier 1 bandits, and a solid punch to the face of another. She immediately rolled to the side to avoid any follow-up attacks from the other bandits.

The bandit that she kicked folded in half around her foot, then flew backwards into another bandit, sending them both to the ground. The one she kicked began coughing up blood. She felt bones break on the one she had punched, as his head snapped to the side. He didn't get back up. Their mana shields acted like tough leather armor might. It prevented piercing wounds, and distributed the impact, but with how much power she was putting into the blows, it wasn't enough protection.

The one she had punched had his mana shield dissolved on impact, meaning he took the full force of the blow with his face. As she rolled away from the follow up attacks, spears whistled over her head. She took back up a defensive stance, standing her ground this time. She had kicked one bandit into another bandit, and while they both had tumbled to the ground, one of them had got back up.

Counting the one who Hugo had dropped with his lightning bolt, there were only 5 bandits left, and running around was tiring her out faster. It was time to stand her ground. She realized that her sword strikes that landed were rebuffed effectively by their mana shields, and weren't doing the damage she needed. It was great in a spar, but not in a group brawl like this. Her kicks provided way more power than her sword swings, enough to damage an opponent through their mana shield.

Her punches disabled the mana shield altogether, delivering the full force of her blow to the opponent, which was considerable. The five remaining bandits tried circling around her, and she let them momentarily. Once only two were immediately in front of her, she feinted moving left, then dashed forward into them. It was Nash and one of the other tier 1s. She easily dodged the swipe from the tier 1's spear, then used her sword to block Nash's axe swing.

She rolled between the two, grabbing the tier 1 by the throat as she did. With his mana shield disabled, she put her sword straight through his chest. Four bandits left. Mason, who had been circling to her left, rushed in when her back was turned. As she turned to re-face the four bandits, he was there, stabbing with his spear. She dodged, but the strike was fast, and it found the side of her leg.

With the other three bandits not having closed the gap yet, she took the opportunity to grab the spear before he could retract it. She was faster than him, and before he could react, she had pulled him close enough to land a full-powered punch straight to his face. The combination of his forward momentum and her full-powered swing was the last thing he ever saw. The gash on her leg hurt, but he hadn't cut through any muscles, so she was still able to put weight on it.

She grimaced a bit from the pain, but was still able to intercept Nash's next swing. Hugo rushed in on her right. In the distance, she saw the last tier 1 bandit had given up, and was running for his life. Two to go. She was exhausted by this point, and the pain in her leg was distracting, but her opponents no longer outnumbered her as badly as before. She fell into Mountain Stance, determined to hold her position. Both Hugo and Nash used close-range one-handed weapons, and Mountain Stance would be a good counter.

Fighting two opponents at once was different from sparring, but with her superior speed, she was able to fend off the first few blows from each of them. She blocked one, then the other, back and forth, until she found her rhythm. Anytime she couldn't block in time, she moved slightly, just enough to avoid being hit. With only two opponents left, the fight was much less chaotic. The two bandits that had been heavily injured were effectively out of the fight.

One of them was on the ground unconscious, possibly dead, and she still had eyes on the other one, off to the side. That knowledge, plus [Magical Sense 3] gave her confidence that she wouldn't be snuck up on from behind. Hugo's attacks still sent little electric shocks through her hand and wrist each time their swords connected, but she did her best to ignore it. His attack patterns were as sloppy as before, but having to defend from Nash's attacks as well left her no time to punish the openings in his form.

Kiara waited for a moment when both fighters slipped up at the same time, leaving them both exposed with little threat to herself. She had just blocked Hugo's blade, when Nash made an overhand swing. She channeled her inner Handel, and stepped to the side, allowing the axe swing to whoosh by her face. With her free hand, she caught Nash's wrist. She pulled him toward herself, into the path of Hugo's next thrust. Her contact with his wrist disabled his mana shield, and Hugo's sword went right through his chest.

The momentum of Nash being pulled to the side jerked Hugo slightly to the side as well, since his sword was stuck in Nash's body. Kiara rushed in while he was off balance and kicked him hard in the leg. His leg broke from the impact. His mana shield was apparently overwhelmed as well, probably due to his massive mana expenditure from his earlier magic attacks. She followed the kick with a swing of her sword, ending the fight.

The bandit who had fled had run in a different direction than the family they had robbed, so Kiara let him go. She slumped to the ground from exhaustion, breathing hard. She lay there for a few minutes, letting her energy levels recover somewhat.