Chương 25: Chapter 24 – Bridgehead

"Let's set up at the bridge. Gnolls don't like water, they'll cross here," Kai ordered.

"Alright." Alexander swiftly marched ahead, the heavy plate carrier strapped to his chest not slowing him.

"Should we hold this side or cross over?"

"Here," Lena replied quietly, almost inaudible over the wind on the open field.

"You can engage their melees one by one once they cross, and I can pick off their archers from across the river."

"Sounds good, let's do that," Kai decided.

"Can we improvise some cover?"

"No large plants around," Marie said apologetically.

"I'll only have good terrain-shaping options once I hit Tier II."

"We could use that." Alexander pointed at an abandoned car a few dozen meters down the road.

"Push it here, and we have something like a bridgehead."

"Technically, a bridgehead is…" Lena mumbled, but her sentence was lost to the wind. A few minutes and a broken car window later, Kai and Alexander pushed the old VW into position, with Marie at the steering wheel. They were barely done when Lena, who had been on lookout duty, announced the arrival of the gnolls.

"I see them," she shouted, voice suddenly loud and steady.

"Five gnolls, three melee, two archers." Alexander promptly moved up to the bridge. Lena and Marie hunkered down behind the car, while Kai positioned himself slightly behind Alexander, waiting for him to catch the brunt of the gnolls' rapid approach. And rapidly approaching they were. Much faster than the party had anticipated, even. They howled and laughed while racing down the road, eyes locked on the humans with fanatical glee.

Kai was suddenly very aware of the fact that his father was busy clearing monster infestations instead of hovering far above their heads as usual. He could now make out their equipment. Of the melees, one was carrying spear and shield, the other two had notched cutlasses. The archers had spears strapped to their backs, a backup for the short hunting bows. Their armor looked like… Oh fuck. That's not armor. They were clad in leathery rags that suspiciously looked like human skin.

A hand dangling from one gnoll's neck like a macabre amulet reinforced that impression.

"[Counter Shot]," Lena cast, summoning her interceptor orbs.

"[Barkskin]." Marie targeted a defensive support spell at Alexander. His skin briefly shimmered, then grew something that looked like a mix of callus and tree bark. It would fall off and dissolve once the spell ended, but it still wasn't a nice view. Alexander didn't seem to mind. Kai himself focused briefly, remembering the feeling he had when he first used sorcery on his sword. With a mental prod and a quick application of Safe Spell, his innate magic came to life, covering the blade in living flame.

~ MP: 8/10 Damn, it feels nice to have so much mana. By the time their preparations were done, the gnolls had closed in enough that Kai could see the drool dripping off their snouts. The archers split off to take position, and the melee fighters ran onto the bridge– The cutlass-wielding gnolls suddenly broke formation, leaving the spear gnoll to cross the bridge alone. One went to either side of the bridge, still howling and laughing. The remaining monster went to face Alexander alone.

~ Gnoll Fighter, Level 11 What are they– Shit! With a flex of powerful muscles, the gnolls jumped. One of them didn't quite make it, landing in the shallows with a splash and a shriek. The other one actually reached the shore. It stumbled briefly, then found its footing and set its manic, bloodshot eyes on the two casters behind the car. ~ Gnoll Slasher, Level 10 On the bridge, the spear gnoll crashed into Alexander with a dull 'thunk'.

He staggered, but managed to smash the edge of his shield into the gnoll's lower jaw, causing it to howl in pain. Lena was busy dealing with the archers. They acted very differently from the goblin hunters, weaving in and out of cover instead of hunkering down. It was almost impossible to catch them standing still, so Lena resorted to the safer Zap instead of more powerful projectile spells.

"[Root Grip]!" As Kai prepared to intercept the slasher, he caught movement in the water following Marie's spell. Strands of river weed shot up and wrapped around the fallen gnoll, slowly pulling it under despite its desperate struggle. She looked on in horror, still unaware of the other cutlass-wielding monster closing in on her. Kai reflexively activated Safe Spell.

"[Look at Me]!" The heads of both remaining melee gnolls whipped around, their eyes focusing on him with predatory intensity. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"No, you don't," Alexander growled, smashing his armored shin into the spear gnoll's unprotected knee. It collapsed to the ground, but kept poking at him while protecting its torso with its shield. The slasher took one step towards Kai, then shook its head and snarled, turning back towards the casters. Marie was staring at him with wide eyes, until she too snapped out of it. Too little emotion in the spell? Kai wondered briefly, but did not have the luxury of time for introspection. [Charge].

The skill helped him slide across the hood of the car, leading into a slash towards the gnoll's head. It blocked with its cutlass, but Kai won the bind and caused a small cut. Not a noticeable wound in and of itself, but the second steel bit into flesh, the living flame sprang over to the monster's face. It yowled, flinching away for a moment. Lena repositioned herself so the gnoll stood between herself and the river and shouted, "Pushing!" Marie reacted immediately.

"[Air Burst]!"

"[Wildgrowth]!" A patch of reeds shot out of the river bank, knotting itself together at shin height. At the same time, a visible ball of whirling air mana formed between Lena and the gnoll. She released it, and the resulting pressure shoved them apart violently. Lena was smashed into the car and briefly lost balance, but still managed to intercept an arrow flying towards Marie. The gnoll staggered backwards, its feet got stuck in the reeds, and just as it was about to fall to the ground, Kai closed in. [Shove].

This was the first time he had tried this skill in combat, and it did exactly what he expected it to. It told him where the gnoll's center of mass was, where to push it, and how to avoid its wildly flailing arms. In the end, it was a close thing. The monster was distracted, off balance, and unprepared, but it was still level ten and clearly specialised in Strength and Dexterity. Still, with all these advantages, Kai managed to exploit the moment and pushed it into the river.

"Roo– [Root Grip]!" The weeds took it, and Kai briefly checked his resources before turning his attention towards Alexander. ~ EN: 7/10 ~ MP: 6/10 Alright. Alexander and the spear gnoll were deadlocked, with Alexander slowly losing ground. The monster was stronger, faster, and vastly more aggressive, but Alexander's shield and armor let him fight it toe to toe. Neither of the two had done serious damage to the other.

Kai joined their violent dance, focusing less on dealing deep wounds through the gnoll's high Constitution and more on building up the living fire, which intensified with each hit he landed.

"One charge left," Lena updated, still rattled from her collision with the car. Moments later, she missed her last intercept. The arrow burrowed into Kai's thigh, and he quickly ripped it out to prepare for magical healing, clenching his teeth from the pain.

"[Regrowth]!" Marie's spell gradually took care of the worst of it, and Kai lifted his sword to deliver another cut to the gnoll fighter, only to see Alexander's spear pierce its throat with a nasty squelch.

"Nice," he commended. Alexander chuckled with grim satisfaction, then ripped the spear out and nodded towards the archers.

"Go?"

"Go," Kai replied.

"You take left."

"Got it." Marie dropped Barkskin so Alexander could move unimpeded, and the two men sprinted over the bridge towards the archers. Behind them, Lena recast her Counter Shot and downed a mana potion. At first the gnolls appeared to begin a fighting retreat, but the moment they felt safe from Lena's spells, they immediately stopped, and swapped from bows to the short spears on their backs. Smart bastards, Kai complained silently.

He and Alexander couldn't advance any further without leaving Marie's range, and bringing her and Lena over the bridge would leave them vulnerable if the Fighters failed to keep both gnolls occupied.

"Potion status?" he asked, keeping his sword levelled at the gnoll in front of him.

"Two left." That's not enough. He used the brief lull in combat to inspect the monsters. Not the basic version he usually did, but the in-depth analysis. The first attempt failed, but the gnoll didn't seem to notice. The second one worked. ~ Gnoll Hunter, Level 10 ~ CON: 6 ~ STR: 6 ~ DEX: 8 ~ INT:? ~ WIL:? ~ PER:? Good fucking god, what are those stats?! That thing can kite us forever with eight Dex!

"Come over!" he shouted at the backline. They had to engage as soon as possible, taking advantage of the monsters' aggressive behaviour. Going in without support wasn't feasible with Alexander almost out of potions. The gnolls cackled as they saw Lena and Marie cross the bridge. Kai found it impossible to tell whether it was amusement, fear, or tactical discussion. But it didn't matter. The moment Marie was in range, he activated a skill. [Charge.] The gnoll flinched backwards, but the long grass had wrapped around its feet. Kai's sword lightly cut its arm, leaving behind a smoldering patch of fur. To his left, Alexander traded blows with the other gnoll, visibly struggling to match the monster's explosive speed and power. Kai's gnoll ripped its feet out of the grass and took a step back. It lifted its spear to attack, but shifted its stance at the last moment while Kai was getting ready to parry.

Sinewy muscles flexed, and the spear flew past Kai's head, straight towards Lena. A charge of Counter Shot hit it mid-flight and it lost some momentum, but not nearly enough. It hit Lena square in the chest, and while it couldn't penetrate the steel in her plate carrier, the impact knocked the air out of her lungs and sent her tumbling backwards. She fell over, gasping for air. Shit, that broke a rib at the very least!

Trusting Marie to take care of his sister, he refocused on the gnoll, hoping for a quick resolution now that its weapon was gone. Instead, he found himself facing a wild beast armed with razor-sharp claws and jagged teeth. Without the Druid's support, actually hitting the damn thing proved a challenge in and of itself. It dodged and weaved between Kai's attacks, sneaking in claw strikes more often than he would have liked.

And when he finally managed to land a cut across its chest, the monster simply moved closer, faked another attack, then twitched. Its head flashed towards Kai's right shoulder, jagged teeth taking a chunk of flesh with them on the way back.

"Ow! Fuck!" He stumbled backwards. While he was fumbling for a potion, the gnoll chewed twice, then devoured its spoils. As Kai's shoulder struggled to knit itself together, he saw blood spurt from the gnoll's wound. But instead of flowing down, it formed a macabre cocoon over the cut. Then it dissolved into dust, leaving behind unblemished skin. What the fuck?!