Chương 21: Chapter 20 - Blades from the Dark

Eli circled around a trunk to break the sightline between the approaching pair before disappearing into the canopy and flattening himself across a limb in the bandit's path. Elias breathed deep to steel his nerves and marshal his focus, readying his spear as the pair approached. Heart racing in anticipation Eli could feel the building rush of adrenaline in his vein as if a silent drum beat began to build a tempo in his heart.

The moment after they passed below his perch, Eli rolled off the tree limb kicking off the surface that obscured him, before whirling to drop knees first, plunging with his spear down towards his target below in a double fisted grip as the familiar beat of the drums of war surged in his chest and a curious sensation descended on him again.

As Eli fell and his target because the singular focus of his will, seeking nothing but the death of the man before him, the song in his chest rose to a fever pitch as time seemed to slow once again. In the moment frozen between one breath and the next he found a clarity like never before.

The path of his spear and the rolling gait of his victim stretched before him in his mind, and as his thoughts raced, it dawned on Eli that his current trajectory would cause his spear head to glance off the target's shoulder blade, a wound for sure, but not the killing blow his heart desired. Thump. One beat of his heart, and Eli found the sweet spot, the place where the tip of his spear would slip between the clavicle and the rib cage punching deep into the vulnerable organs below. Thump.

On a second beat, Eli shifted his grip, sliding his hands along the shaft, guiding the spearhead into position as if an unseen master was guiding his strike. Thump. A third beat echoed in Eli's skull as the tip of the spear touched the exact target he was aiming for, and with a rush his perception caught up with the normal passage of time.

A hot spray fountained up towards Eli as the combined force of four feet of hardwood spear shaft and Elias's full body weight crushed the man's torso killing him instantly, as a the pressure snapped bones and crushed organs, resulting in a fountain of blood and interstitial fluid to erupt coating Eli and the other member of the patrol in a vile concoction as the man crumpled like a sack of potatoes. A soft chime in his mind marked the swift death of his target.

The comedian gaped as the viscera soaked form of Eli rose from the remains of his partner, before scrabbling at the mace dangling from his belt. Eli would never know whether the man intended to attack, defend himself, or flee, since with his focus centered on Eli the dark spectre rising silently from the brush behind him went completely unnoticed. The silent shadow grew behind the man as Eli heard a soft rasp, followed by a flash of silver in the ringlight as the man was bisected at the waist.

A mask of terror raced across the nameless bandits face as the man's hand rushed from his mace to his mid section to hold in the wave of offal splurting from his belly, and before his form could shift any further, a second flash of silver raced through Eli's vision as the man's head was lopped from his shoulders, followed by a dull thump as the head and torso dropped to the ground, giving one last gratuitous spray of arterial blood in Eli's direction as it collapsed.

Elias used the edge of a sleeve to wipe the blood and viscera from his eyes, before arching his brow and directing a grin at Astra as she wiped her massive blade clean with a rag." A little messy, but undeniably effective, good work." Astra gave an amused snort before raking her gaze across his blood soaked form." Speak for yourself, are you sure you aren't some kind of weird mud monster? Or do you just like bathing in the blood of your enemies?"" This is the second time now."

She indicated her relatively clean form with a wry grin, although the humor in her eyes belied the gentle teasing for what it was. She returned the rag to a pouch on her waist before offering him a clean one from another." Here I have spares." Eli smiled and accepted the offering, cleaning his spear before dabbing his face and hand dry so as to not disturb the soot on his exposed skin, dried blood was just as dark at night anyways. Eli smacked the remains with the butt of his spear as he finished his work.

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation." I normally try to hide my handiwork, but the amount of blood in the ground makes it a moot point. This is your territory though, what should we do with them?" Astra shrugged, " Leave them for the wolves, slavers don't deserve the ancients pity, I'm not risking my men to give last rites to arseholes."

She punctuated the last point with a stomp on the crotch of the comedian, Eli raised an eyebrow at her before laughing as she blushed under the soot and responded, " Yeah, you're right, fuck that guy." Yeah if they butchered four of my friends and were cracking jokes about raping me, I wouldn't be very merciful either. He crouched, relieving his target of the crossbow and quiver of bolts, throwing the straps over his shoulder before waving back at the brush with his spear." Ready to keep going?"

"Did you want to check your notifications?" Eli shook his head, " I'll do it on the move". Astra sheathed her blade and nodded, " Let us be about it." Ding [Congratulations! [Basic weapon proficiency - Polearms] has reached Lv 3] Ding [Congratulations! You have defeated a [Woodland Scout] (Air, Lv 13)] Ding [Congratulations! You party has defeated a [Backalley Brawler] (Earth, Lv 16)] Ding [Alert! You have reached your first class evolution. Any experience gained will be banked under after your class evolution has been completed.] Returning to the ferns along the path, the pair continued on towards the bend ahead before following the curve as it left the river and crossed deeper into the forest at an angle. Eli spotted another bloom of light in the distance and tracked further into the brush to approach the area at an angle perpendicular to the trail. Elias could make out a small clearing ahead with a few silhouettes in the distance near a fire.

After he studied the approach the lack of concealing brush concerned him, and he wasn't a fan of approaching with his only cover being the ferns and tree trunks, but was satisfied with the dense network of wide limbs running above. Glancing back at Astra he was happy to note that the soot helped her blend well into the shadows, better than he expected honestly.

Eli tapped the trunk next to him and flashed a thumbs up and after getting one back he deftly climbed up into the lower canopy, before turning to watch Astra. Damn I really have to get some of that armor, Eli watched in bafflement as the plate covered warrior followed him up as swift and as silent as a shadow. Holy shit, this is what she thinks not being stealthy is? What are the good scouts fucking invisible?!

Eli gave her a grin and ok, to get another flash of dazzling white teeth in the dark followed by a returned ok sign, before creeping forward again. Eli slowly padded forward along the tree limb towards the light until he reached one with good sightlines into the clearing below. Elias could tell that the wagon tracks were not being clear cut by the brigands as they went, but was actually a dilapidated path through that was merely not in use and grown over.

The whole clearing was a rough circle a little over 40 feet wide along the path and another 30 feet between our perch and the far side of the clearing. There was a glowing firepit on the nearer side of the clearing and a smattering of a dozen bedrolls surrounding the fire, only three occupied with two men seated around the fire each facing in either direction along the path.

Elias was surprised not to see any one keeping watch closer to the treeline until he spotted an archer in an overwatch position on a tree limb on the far side of the clearing, at least until he triggered [Eagle's Eye] to get a closer look only to find him asleep or the very least "resting his eyes". Elias tapped Astra's arm and called out their positions, miming out the sleeping archer in a game of charades, Eli did his best to suppress a smile of his own as she silently laughed and rolled her eyes at this.

Elias settled in to watch over the camp and get a feel for its rhythm to try and detect any surprises. The two men were, unsurprisingly given the behavior of the rest of the brigands, terrible at standing watch. They barely lowered their voices, just keeping it at a dull roar so as not to wake the three that were sleeping, and Eli could clearly see them passing a container back and forth, which given their flushed faces Eli assumed was alcohol.

Eli tapped Astra on the arm before jerking a thumb over his shoulder into the gloom behind them and padding into the dark as she followed. Ding [Congratulations! [Tracking] has reached Lv 6] Ding [Congratulations! [Observant] has reached Lv 8] Ding [Congratulations! [Eagle's Eye] has reached Lv 3] Regrouping back the bend in the trail, Elias breathed a sigh of relief to soothe his nerves before waving Astra over to whisper in her ear as they once again crouched near the path.

"Ok, so not as much luck as I was hoping for but it could be worse. Care and patience is the name of the game here." Astra nodded before whispering back into his ear." Aye, I concur, but if we can clear this camp it should even the odds a bit."" All right, here's the plan, I'll circle around the far side and try to get the drop on the archer without alerting the watch.

If we can keep it quiet I'll charge the watch from the far side while you do the same from this side, if we can keep the noise down and move fast we should be able to drop watch and be on the sleepers before they arm themselves."" Does that work for you?" Astra nodded while drumming her fingers on her thigh armor with a quiet, " Aye". Eli rapped a knuckle on the same thigh plate, smiling as her eyes met his." I get it, I would be in a hurry too, don't worry, we'll find your friends."

Astra's grim expression relaxed into a soft smile before tapping a fist to her breastplate in a sloppy salute, " Aye, from your lips to the Ancients ears."