Chương 15: [LD-1] 14 . In the Heat of Battle

XIV In the Heat of Battle My soul hurled through the void back into my body underneath the guardian's canopy. My eyes shot open. My heart rate spiked as adrenaline pumped through my veins. A swiping glance over my surroundings. Kiba was sleeping. Emily was fiddling with the tree's bark, admiring its texture. Shota, Douglas and Evans were deep in meditation, as was Alexa.

"Everybody up!" I yelled. A wave rippled across the hairs on Kiba's skin. He jumped to his feet before anyone else, gaze locked on the entrance. Emily got in position behind us.

"What…what is it?" Douglas clumsily got to his feet.

"You idiot!" Shota cursed.

"Get your damn weapons out!" His sentence hadn't finished when the doors swung open. A boy in a torn student uniform, bleeding from a gash in his legs. One of his arms hung limp. His head whirled around the malformed cafeteria and landed on us.

"Help me, please!" He dashed our way.

"Formation!" Alexa yelled. Cull phased into my hands.

"Oy!" I yelled at the boy.

"Did you see a floating eyeball?!" I could see in his face that he wasn't registering my words at all. I grimaced. Where— Master… Kil's weak voice echoed in my head. He wobbled through the entrance. I said wobbled because he didn't move straight but like a drunk in the middle of the night. Wisps of black energy escaped his form and entered the air. His body lost consistency, leaving only the arrow embedded into the centre of his pupil. Master. Take this…! Images poured into my mind.

Of a tentacle piercing through the void and trapping its enemies. When the transfer finished and my sight returned, Kil had dissolved completely, and the arrow clattered to the floor. Master… please don't die… A small wisp of his energy floated towards me, burrowed into my skin and settled in my core.

"Kil…" The newcomer darted behind us so fast he tripped over one of the roots of the forest guardian. That wasn't enough apparently because he crawled further away from the entrance, his expression stuck in fright like he'd seen a ghost.

"Hey, what's your name?" Alexa said. His only response was a whimper. Alexa whipped him with the butt of her blade.

"I—Ian," he sputtered while cradling his skull.

"You—you're the student council president."

"I am. Ian, what's going on? What's chasing you? Tell us so we can prepare a strategy."

"Strate…strategy…?" he chuckled. His Adam's apple jerked, and the chuckle slowly turned into a sob.

"There's no fighting that." He hugged his knees.

"How could they spawn us into this hell? We're just beginners…" Alexa jabbed him again, but he didn't speak up anymore. She clicked her tongue.

"We'll—" The floor trembled. Our throats locked up and we stared at the entrance. A silhouette poked through the exit and ducked to keep from hitting its head on the ceiling. Two tusks pried out the side of its mouth. Green skin. Square face. Thick shoulder caps failed to weigh down the beast's movement. At its side, the butt of a spiked club dragged over the floor, the shaft nearly as tall as I was. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. [Orc Brute - lvl. 15]"Fifteen…"

Evans mumbled and stepped back. His knees slammed against each other. Shouts echoed from behind the orc. Figures that were gnomes in comparison rushed past its legs. Eight goblins, three wielding clubs and crude knives, three more bows. The remainder used spears—though calling the sticks tied together that was a compliment. The squad of goblins raised their arms once they spotted us… they were cheering, pointing their leader in our direction. The orc's jaw lowered, and its chest expanded.

Covering my ears didn't stop the roar from rattling my skull. Tears welled up in my eyes, and I went to my knees. A star-shaped gleamed in the distance. My arm whipped out. Jagged bones snapped into place and knit into a shield. The arrow broke on the barrier. Mana: 120/120 (+ 30) A second and third arrow followed the same fate.

"…Shota…" Alexa yelled. Her voice barely registered through the drumming in my ears. The Sarakawa heir seemed to have understood her, though. Three technos—one more than before—soared and whirled towards the archers. The beams blasting from their nuzzles had grown thicker. A fact the goblin frontline became intimately aware of as they useless waved their arms to try and keep the drones at bay.

'Good. If he can keep them busy, we can—' Desks and chairs scattered. A shadow consumed me. Eyes going wide, I threw myself to the side. The earth broke beneath the orc's feet. My bone shield vanished like it'd never existed.

"Douglas, front and centre!" Alexa yelled. Our tall tank look liked a regular person beside the monster. He dashed forward and lashed out. He cut an ugly scar along the beast's chest. But it was a shallow bite. A chip. With a bored glance, the orc brought its club down. Douglas's shield flared, and a transparent layer formed on top. The clash rang out like a hammer hitting a gong. Douglas flew backwards but landed on his feet and skittered to a halt. That gave the orc pause.

He turned his club over to inspect if something was wrong— A razor-thin blade cut through the moment. Alexa flashed behind the beast and went for the kneecap. But the beast's surprise didn't keep it from moving, and her blade raked across its thigh instead. The cut was deep—deeper than Douglas's—and made the orc shout in pain.

'We can do this.' The thought surged up from my stomach. I pulled back and conjured a deathbolt. The black orb caught the off-balanced orc in the face. So it would've if it didn't catch the skill on its arm. Still, skin decayed. Death ate away at the flesh. The bolt didn't pierce as it'd done the goblins but left a hole the size of my knuckle. Miasma coursed through the wound like a river. But the damage looked worse than it actually was. Its arm was still usable.

'Dammit.' Mana: 120/120 (+ 5) Deathbolt may cost five less mana, but that wouldn't matter against this thing. I'd run out of mana long before we made a dent. Wails on the other side of the battle grabbed my attention. Kiba, who'd ignored the orc entirely, buried his claws into a goblin's throat. One of Shota's technos struck true and popped an archer's eyeball—the goblin went down immediately.

'They've got that side covered.'

"Joy, dodge!" A blur in the corner of my sight. I shaped the bone barrier without thinking and brought Cull up. The shield shattered, and I launched before my mind could register anything else. Something in my side cracked as I smashed against a hard surface, then rolled to a stop. Air stuck in my throat ripped out of my lungs together with a glob of something. Iron filled my mouth. My brain sloshed in my skull, but I pushed myself up on my forearms and rose onto wobbling legs.

Through blurry vision, I looked out across the cafeteria. The orc had smashed me across the room into a desk. It was preparing to jump after me when a timely strike from Alexa forced it to abandon its attack. I coughed again and spit out more blood. Something in my side was stabbing me… I reached out and wrapped my hands around a piece of wood. A broken chair leg. The pain caught up to the realisation. I fell back on one knee and swallowed the scream that wanted so desperately to barrel out of my throat.

My gaze whirled on Kiba and the technos. Five more enemies remained.

"Kiba…!" I sputtered. I grit my teeth and ripped out the leg.

"Throw me one!" Blood spurt as I stumbled his way. His brows touched his skull, but he didn't hesitate. He ducked underneath a wide swipe of an axe, which glanced his forehead, and tripped up one of the creatures. Then he grabbed it by one foot and spun. The greenskin spun like a Frisbee. I lined up the strike…and screamed as my side exploded. Cull rewarded my efforts. The beast fell in two pieces behind me. Relief flooded my body. The gushing blood slowed down but the stream did not die.

"Head towards the others!" I called out to Kiba and the technos.

"Let me handle this!" He nodded and sprinted towards the orc, followed by the three drones. The goblins screeched after them. Their allies had been slaughtered like cattle, now I disrespected them by sending the others away? Four sets of eyes whirled on me, intent on making me eat my words. Fear gripped the deepest part of my stomach.

'It's alright,' I told myself. Cull's blade gleamed, and the scythe's handle trembled.

'They're just goblins.' I'd killed a bunch of them on the way here. What were four more? I put weight on my lead leg…the stabs in my side roared. My knees buckled and broke my stance. Flaring panic suppressed the pain. My head whipped up— A metal tip loosed. The arrow bounded past a spear-wielding goblin, who leapt over upturned desks and chairs alike, the point of its weapon set on skewering me whole. Instincts did the calculation for me—I was too late to dodge.

'Fuck.'