Chương 23: (23) B1 C23: Ambush

"Regardless, I don't think anything else will be happening tonight," The mage in charge sighed. She put her food on the ground, then quickly rose to her feet. She looked at the others and nodded, "We should set up a more permanent camp. I know we weren't expecting an overnight stay, but we've already been here for over twenty hours and there's no sign that the wait will end anytime soon.

Jonathan and Hamund, why don't you two start checking the perimeter one last time, just to be sure no critters have accidentally wandered too close? Start on opposite sides, then rotate like usual. Malyn, you and I will have to set up wards where Jonathan and Hamund have already checked. Standard security stuff—I'm not expecting us to stay here longer than an additional two days. Drew and Roley, you two clean up and set up a more permanent tent for us."

The Paladin, Jonathan, and the Shieldsman, who I assumed was Hamund, nodded first. They rose from their positions, then turned to the edges of their clearing. Both of them began to move at the same time, Jonathan heading to the north side while Hamund went to the south. I quickly backed away from the foliage as they drew closer, but I was luckily too far for them to notice me. The other mage—must've been Malyn—nodded and stood up as well. Then, she and the mage-leader began to follow the two frontline fighters.

Mayln followed Jonathan while the other mage followed Hamund. Finally, only after the rest of the group moved away from the campfire did the two rogues, Drew and Roley, finally stand up to clean the mess they'd made.

"Good, they're already separating," I mumbled quietly, my eyes turning toward the group closest to us. Malyn and Jonathan were swinging to the west, toward the treeline we were hiding behind, which meant they were nearly within reach.

"There are six of them… what are we supposed to do?" Lucia asked.

"Divide and conquer," I replied. When Lucia stared back at me with a confused expression, I sighed, "What? You don't have that expression? Fine. We'll separate them so that they're easier to take down, then kill them one at a time. That way, if we do get discovered, it's all but guaranteed that we don't have to fight all six of them at once."

"This feels like a horrible plan."

"The alternative is to run away," I smiled, "but that's just boring." I brought my attention back to the approaching pair of slavers. Then, I slowly moved forward, my feet gliding along the forest floor with practiced efficiency. I was starting to get good at sneaking around. Malyn and Jonathan were still twenty meters away from us, but both of them were moving slowly. Jonathan was keeping a vigilant eye on the treeline while holding up a ball of pure light in his hands.

I recognized the cantrip as [Create Light], a basic holy spell, while Malyn continued to set up protective wards where Jonathan had checked. The wards weren't anything special, as they were only focused on keeping common beasts out, but they were decent enough for a simple spell.

"Let's move," I whispered as I picked up my pace. I swung around to the left, to where Jonathan and Malyn had already checked. Twenty meters of space was crossed within moments, though my pace grew slower as I closed the distance to my prey. Once I was within the ten meter mark, I stopped. Any further movement might've caught their attention, which was risky beyond reason. Now for a way to pull them from the main group. I looked down to the forest floor. I found twigs, leaves, and the occasional pebble.

I could throw a pebble, hope it gets their attention? Ha! It was a classic, but honestly unlikely to work. I turned my eyes to the protective wards stacked on the floor behind them and an idea sparked in my mind. Maybe throwing a pebble wasn't such a bad idea? If I threw one to activate the trap, it'd get Malyn's attention, at the very least? She'd stay behind and investigate the disturbance while Jonathan might continue on? Shit, or would Jonathan stay with Malyn? Would Malyn even care about a stray pebble?

I dug my fingers into the earth and lifted from the dirt a small rock. It was barely the size of a grape, yet just as dense as granite. Well, no time like the present to find out. Once the pebble was firmly in my grasp, I waited until the pair walked just far enough so that they wouldn't see the movement of my arm. Then, I swung my shoulder and launched the tiny thing forward. I watched it sail through the air, briefly lost it, then found it again as it slammed into the protective wards.

The wall of light flickered and let out a loud zap, as if a fly had slammed right into a bugzapper. Malyn turned around, surprised, and Jonathan immediately drew his attention to the forest. The sound was loud, but luckily not loud enough to alert the entire group. Were the protective wards designed to detect mass, rather than movement? I didn't recognize the style, though I wasn't surprised by my ignorance on the subject.

I never focused on wards back during my FFO days, but I had a suspicion that my theory was correct.

"What was that?" Malyn asked, her voice shaking. She had a surprisingly soft voice.

"A bug of some kind? Maybe a bird?"

"Mundane animals are deterred by my barrier, not attracted to it," Malyn countered, "No sensible creature would voluntarily fly into it—no matter how malformed their brain was."

"Then something is hiding in the darkness!" Jonathan smiled, "Finally. Malyn, come!"

"Shouldn't we alert the others?"

"And lose the glory? Never!" Jonathan laughed. He charged forward, his steps blindly leading him into the forest. Malyn reluctantly followed him, though her steps were much slower and quieter than his. It wasn't long before the two of them were separated, even if they were within sight of each other. Holy shit, that worked? Both of them just abandoned their group? Just like that? Jonathan, you big beautiful idiot!

As the two of them somewhat approached our location, I silently gestured for Lucia to move out of the way. Jonathan was the more powerful of the two, but he was also the least likely to be taken out in one attack. I didn't have access to my vampiric abilities, at least not while Lucia was around, so I had to turn my attention to Malyn, instead. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings. She was using a focus—the telltale sign of a Witch's weapon.

Witches were the magical equivalents of rogues, and like their martial cousins, cared little for their survivability. She'd probably put most of her points into Will or Clarity, then had left Arcane and Vitality alone because she'd run out of points. If my expectations were accurate, she'd be an easy target. I moved to the side, specifically away from Jonathan and toward Malyn.

The way the two of them were separating from each other proved advantageous, as Jonathan had somehow managed to veer off completely while Malyn had somehow wandered off in the other direction.

"Jonathan!" Malyn shouted, "Where did you go?" So they finally lost sight of each other? Was that why they'd separated so cleanly? I crept closer to my prey, Lucia following behind me like my shadow as I moved closer to Malyn. Her attention was directed to the areaJonathan had disappeared to, so she wasn't paying attention as I snuck around behind her. Before I moved too close, I held out an open palm to Lucia. To my relief, she understood my intention and handed me the shortsword.

I'd be able to kill Malyn without it, but the kill wouldn't have been as clean.

"Jonathan!" She shouted once more, her palms cupped around her mouth as she tried to get his attention. Then she sighed and let them drop back to her sides, "Shit. Better go tell Ismena." I charged forward, lifting the shortsword in a tight grip as I quickly approached Malyn from behind. The sound of my footsteps were far too loud to carry me silently, and I wasn't surprised to find my prey turning around as I pounced on her.

Before she could even scream, however, my sword had already found purchase in the underside of her chin. My body's weight continued forward, tackling her to the ground as my blade carved through her mouth and into her skull. The impact from the fall only forced the sword deeper, as the momentum continued to carry me even as we landed upon the earth. Malyn's eyes bulged and her throat quaked with disbelief.

Blood pooled from her open mouth and the wound beneath it as the point of the shortsword shot out of the top of her cranium. I quickly put my free hand over her mouth to silence whatever sound managed to escape her in her final moments, but the effort wasn't needed. She was already dead.

"A clean kill," I whispered gleefully as I tore the blade free from the corpse. I ignored the tempting smell coating the atmosphere as I turned my attention back to Lucia, "Now we just need to do that five more times."

"I doubt it'll be that easy," She replied, her eyes staring back at the campfire just a dozen meters away from us. I followed her gaze and found the group huddled together. Only Jonathan and Malyn were absent.

"Shit, they're not already suspecting something, are they?" I whispered in alarm.

"I don't think so," my companion replied, "at least, not yet."

"Jonathan! Malyn!" The remaining mage, possibly Ismena, shouted into the darkness, "Get your asses back here!" I ducked closer to the earth as I watched Jonathan's bulky form stumble into the campsite. His entire body, from his uniform to his hair, was somehow covered in layers upon layers of leaves and twigs. How he'd managed to get that dirty in such a short amount of time, I—"Sorry, sorry," Jonathan laughed as he approached, "Thought we saw something. What's up?"

"Where's Malyn?"

"Uh, she should be right behind me…" Jonathan turned around and froze, "Malyn? Where are you?" When nobody answered, the group quickly looked between each other. Some of them were more tense than the others, yet all were confused. One of the rogues, who seemed the most tense out of the five of them, looked at Jonathan.

"You didn't fucking lose her, did you?" He asked accusingly, "I'll fucking kill you if something happened!"

"Relax. I saw her only a minute ago. I'm sure she's just lost," Jonathan smiled. He turned back to the forest, then cupped a hand around his mouth, "Malyn! Get over here!"

"Fucking idiot," The rogue groaned. Then, he charged, much to the displeasure of his companions, toward the treeline. Before any of them could grab at him, he disappeared into the forest and began to search wildly for the missing member of theirs.

"Shit. I'll cast a [Companion Communication]!" Ismena exclaimed with a voice of panic. Companion Communication was a basic utility spell in FFO used to communicate with members of the same party. It was largely redundant because of the call system, which allowed players to do the same thing, but in environments when such a system was unavailable, Companion Communication was extremely valuable.

Although its main purpose was to communicate with a party member, one of its lesser known functions allowed the caster to confirm the status of any of their party members. Specifically, whether they were dead or not, which was incredibly unfortunate for me. Ismena lifted her staff, then slammed it back upon the earth. A green explosion of light erupted from where the butt of the staff hit the ground before continuing outward to expand over the campsite.

The ring of color moved slowly, as if matching the walking speed of an older dog when they were in a good mood, which meant I still had a minute or so until the ring met with Malyn's corpse. I turned my attention to the rogue. He'd made good progress through the woods around him, as he'd been searching in a snake-like pattern to cover ground as thoroughly as possible, and was now starting to get close to us. I held the sword in my hand once more, this time in a reverse grip as I crouched lower to the ground.

I brought my attention to his pathing as I tried to predict when he'd arrive at our hiding spot. He wasn't as predictable as some NPCs would be, but the man was dedicated in his search and therefore easy to track. I looked at Lucia, nodded for her to back up, then turned back to the rogue. A few seconds later, I stood up and swung my arm. The rogue stepped into view, just as I predicted he would, a foot or so to the left.

I quickly adjusted my aim, then watched as the point of the bloody shortsword carved into his temple. He fell to the ground with a heavy thud, blood already coating his face even before he lost the momentum from his search. His eyes were glazed over, yet the expression covering his face was that of panicked worry. The man had been so focused on finding his companion that he hadn't been expecting a sudden sneak attack. Two down, four to go.

"That was easy," Lucia muttered silently.

"Too easy," I nodded as I turned up to the glowing circle of light, "You see that spell she's casting?"

"Yes?"

"Once that hits these guys," I pointed a lazy arm to the corpses beside us, "They'll know about the ambush."

"So that's a detection spell? What if it hits us? Will they know where we are?" Lucia asked in a panic. I shook my head, then turned to the rogue so I could get my sword out of his skull.

"No, but it will mean that this will get a whole lot more difficult."