Chương 75: Ambush (4)

Rowan shut out the world around him, focusing solely on the people before him. He forced his emotions to the back of his mind; there was no room for remorse or regret now. He'd already made his decision. He had no desire to do what he was about to, but if he didn't, then he would be the one who died. And so, gritting his teeth, he stopped holding back. A flurry of mana projectiles shot forth, burying themselves in the flesh of his attackers. As they cried out in pain, Rowan darted in, blade flashing.

He dodged an attack from one of the men and kicked their weapon from their hand, sending it to the dirt floor. He moved to finish the job, but was forced to whip around and block a strike from another one of the men. Before his opponent could recover, he slammed his knee into the man's stomach, unloading a burst of mana at the same time. The man flew several feet into the air before coming back down and landing with a sickening crack.

As he fought, Rowan's chains danced about, blocking weapons and attacks coming from behind him. He would've been able to use them more offensively if he'd been able to see them, but he was occupied with the man before him. After a second, the man forced himself to his knees and glared up at Rowan with a mix of anger and fear. Then, still looking straight into Rowan's eyes, his hand darted down and grabbed a dagger at his waist. For a moment, Rowan hesitated, looking down at the man.

But as his opponent raised the dagger and tried to stab him, Rowan's sword flashed outward. [You have slain Human - Level 7] Rowan let out a shuddering breath as he whipped around. The next moment, he was beset by another attacker. But this one was different from the rest; he was just a child. The kid, who'd been charging him, hammer raised to strike at him, froze as Rowan stared straight into his eyes. For a moment, the boy wavered, and he looked over at the man whom Rowan had first seen: Robert.

It almost seemed like he was hoping for the man to tell him what to do. Robert, who was standing a couple dozen feet away, let out a yell.

"Attack him already, you idiot! You're gonna get yourself killed!" For a second the boy didn't respond. Then, he let out a tentative nod and squeezed his eyes shut as he prepared to strike. But before he could do anything, Rowan kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying away. Then, as one of the attackers—this one a woman armed with a mace—tried to hit him, one of his chains shot out, grabbing her wrist and putting a stop to her blow.

Not giving anyone else time to try to save her, he blasted the woman with a burst of mana, sending her toward the nearest attacker in an attempt to knock them both over. But the man he'd sent her toward had his sword out and pointed toward Rowan. And, as the woman flew toward him, she was impaled on the blade. She let out a strangled cry and looked down in terror at the metal tip of the weapon that had sprouted from her chest. A moment later, her body went limp.

[You have slain Human - Level 7] [Level 13 → Level 14] For a second, the man just stared down at his ally, impaled on his own blade. Then, he dropped the blade, letting the woman's body fall to the ground before falling to his knees alongside it. As Rowan watched the man stare at his trembling hands, he felt some of the emotions he'd been trying so hard to suppress begin to rise up within him. Thinking back, he realized that the man and the now-dead woman had been the ones he'd heard bickering earlier.

Had they been friends? Lovers? Rowan cursed and shook his head. Now was not the time to let his emotions get the best of him. Not when the fight was far from over. But before he could fully refocus, he felt a sharp pain in his back. As he stumbled forward in shock, he heard a curse of frustration behind him. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"How the fuck are you so durable?" Rowan ignored the voice, reaching one of his hands behind him until he felt what had stabbed into him: a dagger. He gritted his teeth and, after a deep breath, ripped the weapon from his back. The blade had sunk into his flesh, but had been stopped by his ribs, preventing anything lethal. Throwing the dagger aside, he whipped around, facing his attacker. It was the same man who'd first confronted him, seemingly the leader of the group.

If Rowan remembered correctly, he was named Robert. Robert was standing a dozen feet away from him, which meant that he must have thrown the dagger. If he'd been close enough to actually stab him with it, Rowan wasn't sure his ribs would've been as effective at stopping the blow. Doing his best to ignore his wounds, Rowan looked over the battlefield, trying to take in his opponents' state. Their leader, Robert, was standing before him, sword drawn, but the rest of the melee combatants were out of commission.

One of the men had been too close to one of Rowan's explosive orbs when it went off. Now, he was lying unconscious in the dirt. As for the rest, two were dead, while a third was on his knees, just staring at the dead body of one of the women. And, finally, there was the boy. Earlier, he hadn't fit in, and now he still didn't. He was standing at the edge of the fight, shaking. Still, his sledgehammer was held before him. Rowan turned his attention to the ranged combatants.

There were the two crossbowmen, both of whom were still struggling to get an angle where they could shoot at him without hitting their own allies. With the way they were moving, though, they would soon get a clear shot. Then, there was the gunwoman. She was—Rowan cursed. Despite her wounds, she was limping toward the pistol that he'd knocked out of her hands just earlier, and she was almost there, too.

Not letting himself hesitate, Rowan turned toward her and, with a thought, sent all of the mana projectiles he'd created after her. Last time he'd fired the darts at her, she'd survived, only being hit on the arm. This time, though, the entire barrage struck her square on the back, piercing into her chest and lungs. The woman fell to the ground and tried to scream, but the sound that came out was weak and garbled.

As she kept trying to breathe through her punctured lungs, Rowan turned his attention back toward Robert. Rowan hadn't noticed before, but the man's body was covered in dirt, and his left pant leg was torn, revealing damaged flesh underneath; he must've been caught in one of the explosions from earlier, albeit not directly. Robert raised his sword, pointing it at Rowan before slowly advancing, limping slightly as he went. Rather than confronting him, Rowan just sent his chains forward.

Robert tried to avoid them, but one after another, the steel links wrapped around his limbs, holding him in place. As the man struggled against his restraints, Rowan realized something: all of the people he was fighting were weak. They'd landed some hits earlier through their weapons and sheer numbers, but now?

If he'd known they were coming after him and had been willing to go all out from the beginning, Rowan thought he would've been able to take out all eight of them with relative ease; they may have had powerful weapons, but his stats and skills were far superior. Not only was he a higher level, but he'd had a class since level 1, meaning he'd been gaining more stat points per level—or at least he assumed so; he didn't know how many stat points people gained when they leveled up without a class.

Rowan was jerked out of his thoughts by the sound of a bang. Instantly, he threw himself to the ground, the movement pulling Robert down with him. The man, still bound by the chains, let out a grunt of pain as he fell to the floor, yanked by the chains connecting him to Rowan. But Rowan paid him no heed, instead focusing on the two crossbow-wielding men. But no bot had flown overhead, so he stood back up and looked around.

It only took him a moment to see what had happened: the crossbowman had been shooting over his ally, who had been kneeling on the floor after having accidentally impaled one of the women. It seemed that, just as the crossbowman had fired, the other bandit had stood up, putting his head directly in the way of the projectile. And now, he was dead, lying face down in the dirt. There was no time to dwell on it, though.

As he faced the two ranged fighters, ready to dodge away from any projectiles, Rowan received two notifications in quick succession. [You have slain Human - Level 9] [You have slain Human - Level 7] It only took a moment for him to figure out why he'd gotten the notifications: the gunwoman and the man who'd been knocked unconscious by one of the mana explosions must've died. And yet, in that brief moment that he was distracted, one of the crossbowmen fired.

The bolt missed him, but it was still more than enough to scare him. But the other man had already reloaded his crossbow and was now pointing it toward him as well. Watching the crossbow carefully, Rowan cursed. The man had reloaded far faster than every time before. Admittedly, though, he'd been under stress from Rowan most of the time, which had probably slowed down his process. Still staring at the crossbow, Rowan saw it jerk back in the man's hands. Not wasting a second, he threw himself to the ground.

But no sound rang out. No bolt flew overhead. The man had tricked him, faking the crossbow shot. Then, seeing that Rowan was incapacitated, the man smiled and fired, this time not just pretending.