CH 281: Whittling Down the Numbers

Despite her gusto, Claire didn’t feel good about this at all. She could barely handle the strength of these women normally, she didn’t know how Hannah and her were supposed to fight back against six of them. The worst thing that could happen was them getting to their backline. They needed Elsie’s firepower and Ana’s healing. Those two could help them win.

Bang!

The door flung open, sending rubble flying into the room. The one-armed woman still had that wicked smile on her face. “Fuck. And here I thought this was going to be an easy assignment. First that sneaky whore took my arm and almost all my women, now you’ve rigged a fortress for me. Definitely worth the trip here.”

Claire calmed herself. Something about the woman’s voice was setting her on edge. She glanced back at her companions behind her. Their fear was evident once more. Toni’s arm was shaky, and it looked like he was going to drop his sword.

“Oh?” The woman’s laughter echoed throughout the hallway. “I smell a man here.”

There was a collective hollar coming from the women behind her. Their voices made Claire’s stomach churn. Hannah was restless beside her.

“This fucking bitch.” Hannah snarled. “I’ll kill her.”

“Hannah, wait. We’ll kill her together.” Claire turned to her.

“You will kill me?” The woman shouted from the doors. “What a delusional bunch. Had to get help from two of Efreit’s soldiers. Not only one of her spies, but one of her fucking knights. And you still can’t kill me.”

Claire took a deep breath. She could feel her anger truly begin to set in as her fear burned away. Whatever fear she was trying to instill with a skill was quickly ruined by her threats and arrogance.

Hannah scoffed. She was in a similar state to Claire. She’d calmed down a bit from the woman even hinting at Toni. “Had to fight Victoria 50 to 1.”

“Shush.” Jasmine scolded Hannah. “You’re not helping.”

Hannah paused for a moment. No one could see the smile that formed underneath her helmet as she thought up something. She then turned to Jasmine. “Why? We’re safe on this side of the statues.”

Jasmine tilted her head and was about to respond when Claire cut in. “Shut the fuck up. They can hear you.”

Jasmine was more confused until she heard the group of women murmuring. They were pointing at several of the statues in the room, guessing at which of them Hannah was talking about. Even their leader, who had so much confidence before, was observing the room. It finally dawned on Jasmine what they were doing. The fort’s magic was the only thing that killed any of them with one shot.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Jasmine played along. “Just ruined the plan.”

Their acting seemed to work, since the seven enforcers all collectively laughed. “Fan out. Find the path.” Their leader motioned to the left and right of the statues. “It’s clear they trapped the obvious pathway to-”

Boom!

An explosion cut her off. One of her women was sent flying straight into the wall to her right. It was unclear if she was dead or unconscious, but she wasn’t moving anymore. The other unlucky woman to have stepped too far left was dragged into the shadows. Her screams were cut off the moment the magic pulled her into one of the side rooms.

“Didn’t send their brightest, did they?” Hannah could hardly keep her laugh in.

“Why you-” The woman stepped forward, but hesitated. She looked at the path ahead of her with caution.

“Oh come on,” Hannah laughed louder. “Afraid of a little magic?”

Claire was less confident about continuing this now. The path before them was clear, even if her goading had just taken care of two women. Enraging them could make their situation even worse.

While hesitant, their leader decided to press forward. Slowly, she passed by the first set of statues. Behind her, the remaining four women followed. Their movements were slow and cautious, and there was an eerie silence.

Thankfully, Elsie had snapped out of her fear-induced shock. She’d laid one of her traps before them while they were distracted. Thankfully, she was able to hide her magic from their enhanced perception. Helps that their perception was more for physical attributes than magic.

‘I’m ready, Ana,’ Elsie spoke to her twin in their minds. ‘I don’t have much left.’

‘Me too,’ Ana tried to steady her breathing. She, too, was running low on mana now. Elsie had used some of hers, and she’d used a lot of her skills. But she could throw her ward up to stop a counterattack. ‘Icewall to shroud Jasmine, ward to block the charge.’

‘Right.’ Elsie took a deep breath. The enforcers were growing in confidence, but they were mere steps from Elsie’s Lightning Trap. ‘I’ll be down to two more spells. Have to make them count.’

‘Fall back to Samira after.’ Ana’s confidence was slowly growing.

Ahead of them, all four of the frontline were contemplating when to attack. It would have to be soon, because they were slowly realizing that the path was clear. Ursa was just about to lose her patience, thanks to her Berserker Trance, when the trap went off. It only took a second for them to catch on.

“Fuck!” Their leader roared. It was more due to her being on edge and expecting harder-hitting magic. While Elsie’s trap did hurt her, it was nothing compared to the rampant magic. “Charge them, you fucking morons.”

That was when Elsie erected her icewall. She tried to freeze the women, but they were quickly able to burst out. Their leader almost immediately burst the ice. But it was enough time for Jasmine to disappear into the fog of battle.

The assassin had one last use of her Lethality skill. But it’d take more than a moment for her to build the stamina. She’d need to use another one of her Assassin skills to refuel her mana. Mana Drain. She’d need to poison her target to sap away their mana. Another expensive skill that’d take the rest of her reserves. She won’t be able to use said mana until the target dies, either.

So she had to choose wisely.

One of the women was hit in Elsie’s first barrage. She had cuts and burned armor, but looked relatively okay. Or she could try the woman who slammed into the wall. But that woman wouldn’t last long enough for Jasmine to siphon enough mana, if she’s even alive. So the only one that looked mildly damaged had to do.

She made her move right after the icewall burst. All five rushed her party’s position, letting Jasmine slip behind them. Claire and Hannah followed Ursa as they charged to meet them. However, Ana’s ward stood in their way.

This was when Jasmine struck.

She stabbed the woman and poisoned her, causing her to cry out in pain. The ward shattered a moment later, causing more confusion among them. The poisoned woman was looking for Jasmine, while the other four were focused on the visible combatants. “Carle. Another sneaky bitch!” The poisoned one called out.

Carle was evidently their leader’s name. She snapped her head back towards the woman, then scanned the area. She left herself open to Ursa, who slipped past the three remaining women to charge their leader. She raised her axe to swing at the distracted woman, but Carle reacted faster.

She raised her curved sword to block the strike. It was impressive to block one of Ursa’s blows, but to do so with one hand was on another level. She even shoved the Ravian away. The poisoned woman got to her feet and was looking around wildly. She was focused on finding Jasmine, who was already hidden.

Carle was solely focused on Ursa. Who, for the first time in a long time, was losing a contest of strength. Not only that, but speed. In between Ursa’s hits with her axe, Carle would slice at Ursa. Some she could dodge, but others cut at her. They weren’t enough to be threatening, and Ana was quick to heal, but they were adding up.

Behind her, Claire and Hannah were shoulder to shoulder. They had to fight a two-on-three at the moment. Elsie was downing another potion in hopes of being able to cast another spell. She was getting dangerously close to exhaustion, both from her mana and the potions she’d consumed, while Lily was slinging anything she could at them.

Toni was the most effective, though. His taunting dance kept distracting the women from pressing any advantage they could. If Claire or Hannah stumbled under their overwhelming strength, they’d catch a glimpse of Toni and pause. It was all the more reason for Claire and Hannah to weather the barrage of slices that cut into their armor.

Their one advantage came when they both synchronized their Defensive Strikes. Both of them slammed into the middle of the three, knocking her back and sending her stumbling to the ground. They could focus on a more even fight for a moment, just as Elsie readied up her Firebolt. She shot it directly between them, risking hitting either one of them, but nailing one in the face.

Another enforcer was sent tumbling down.

That let Hannah and Claire gang up on the last one standing. They took turns stabbing and slamming their shields into her, until her human form was worn down. But sadly for her, they were ready for her wolf form. The moment her wolf form sprang free, Claire stabbed at the wolf’s chest and drove it to the ground. She held it down long enough for Hannah to hack its head off with her handaxe. The two were covered in a mix of werewolf and their own blood as they stood up to face the remaining two.

The numbers were more even, but the power still wasn’t. Ursa was quickly losing ground to their leader, even when Jasmine started to help. The poisoned enforcer had given up on chasing Jasmine and was heading towards Claire and Hannah. Elsie hit one of the enforcers with one last Lightning Bolt before exhausting the last of her mana. She was officially seeing double and struggling to stand. She leaned against Lily and was led back to Samira.

The lamia took one glance at Elsie, then at the state of battle. She exhaled slowly and steeled herself.

“I’m stepping in.”