LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 233: Sorry It Took Long
The Mercenaries charged at Andor unleashing their Mana surges as one and striking arcs of mana at him. Andor dodged most, endured the pain of getting struck by a few all so he could remain in place, pull back his arm as though charging an attack before thrusting his spear so hard and fast that his target could not possibly avoid.
The spear stabbed through the Mercenary's chest and as he spat out blood in a violent spew, Angor pulled his weapon free to use the shaft to parry at least three swords that came swinging at him.
*CLANG!*
The strength coursing through his body, increased by the still-active buff on him, caused him to strike the weapons so hard their wielders were knocked away so hard and while they stumbled back and struggled to regain their balance, Andor charged closer, stabbing his spear through the neck of one while jumping to kick his legs at two others.
"Ack!" The stabbed Mercenary let out as he died almost instant but Andor had already pulled his Spear free and was charging at the ones he just kicked. He was coming down at one of them with a powerful spear skewer from above when something sharp stabbed into his back and messed up his flow.
"Ah!" Andor yelled out as he stabbed his spear into the ground instead of into the body of a Mercenary. He glanced back and saw the handle of a dagger sticking out of his back. He gripped the handle and pulled the dagger free but then had to lean back as hard as he possibly could to avoid an arc of Mana surge. Alas, that put just in place to be struck in the side by a second Mana-surge.
The arc sawed across his side. It ripped through his leather armor and had it falling apart now that the strap holding it in place had been cut through. Andor held a hand to the wound but it was too large for his one hand to cover such a large wound.
A sword jab forced his attention away from the wound then and he raised his Spear and parried the sword while leaning his body forward to stab the Mercenary only to have the shaft of his spear slammed to the side right before a leg hit him in the chest in some roundhouse kick that sent him rolling at least six feet away.
When he stopped rolling, a Mercenary was coming at him with a stab. He rolled to the side once and the sword stabbed the ground where he had been a second ago. The Mercenary pressed his lips together tightly and made to pull back his sword and attack again but Andor had already swung his spear through his neck, slitting his throat and killing him.
Right after the kill, Andor returned to one knee before his victim hit the ground with a thud. However, as he made to move again, he felt a violent urge to vomit erupt from inside him and he leaned forward to spew out blood.
Following the blood spew, Andor felt weaker. He raised one hand in front of him and saw it no longer glowed the silvery light of the buff.
'Few minutes are up, huh,' he thought with a sad smile. Even when he had the buff he had not been able to avoid getting struck. Hell, he was bleeding out his side so much, that his skin was growing pale. His chest also felt fractured from where he had been kicked.
'If I couldn't kill them all with the buff, then I sure as well won't kill them when it's gone and I'm bleeding out.'
As despair was setting in, Andor barely noticed the rest of the Mercenaries, the ones he hadn't yet killed (there were about four of them in all) charging at him. And it was then he felt illuminated by silvery light. Explore more stories with empire
He stopped bleeding, his chest no longer hurt like a bitch. And his skin gained color as he recovered his stamina and along with it, he recovered his vigor. He announced this by rolling forward behind the reach of the first Mercenary of the four survivors to arrive within a foot of him. He stabbed his Spear through her jaw so hard the spearhead thrust out of her mouth. Her eyes were still wide in shock when her arms flopped and she hit the ground.
"You're healing him!" One of the now-three Mercenaries yelled at the Clerics where, at the forefront, Meryna had her hands pressed together as though in prayer.
Meryna opened her eyes, her face expressionless,
"As I said, the Goddess stands for Justice."
The Mercenaries, who had paused their charge now that they saw their target was not as down on his much had they had thought, gritted their teeth,
"What justice is there in making the fight unfair?"
"There's three of you and one of him," Meryna said coldly, "I think that's fair enough."
Andor was on his feet now. His healing was damn near complete and feeling quite buoyant after having undoubtedly won the favor of Meryna the Cleric.
Even then though, he was realistic about his chances in this still unfair fight. He no longer had the buff and he was willing to bet every one of the three Mercenaries still alive was as strong or stronger than he was.
As he gripped his spear with both his hands, Andor found himself missing his shield. It lay broken in two somewhere on the field after repeated clashes against Orc axes.
"Fair?" One of the Mercenaries said and laughed before glancing at the Slaves standing aside,
"What are you waiting for? Kill him!"
The slaves shared wide-eyed looks before their eyes fell on the Cuffs on their wrists, their decision made. Neither of these three Mercenaries had the command Cuff on but that hardly mattered. Disobedience to any Mercenary would reward them with powerful jolts of Electricity to their brains so how could they resist?
They steeled up, gripped their weapons tight, and charged at Andor.
"Fuck!" Andor let out and there was a seriousness in his eyes that went beyond what he had had while he faced the Mercenaries. Unlike the Mercenaries who he had no qualms about killing and could go as hard as he possibly could, the reason he and Henry were even inside the Dungeon at all was to save the slaves.
For every attack that came at him from the slaves, he had to dodge, parry, and deflect but not attack too hard which was difficult to do while also trying not to get stabbed to death.
Andor had just managed to parry against the weapons of four slaves whose combined strength sent him skidding across the grassy ground and when he stopped moving, the three Mercenaries closed in putting him in a predicament on where to focus while also bleeding from new wounds that had been inflicted by the bombarding attacks of the slaves.
"Shit!" Andor let out and made his decision. He couldn't face attacks from so many fronts all on his own. He chose to face the Mercenaries instead. The Slaves were closer and larger in number which made them hard to avoid so, at the cost of sustaining a fatal injury, Andor believed he had to at least make sure he killed one of the Mercenaries.
Henry would take care of the rest.
But then, before the Mercenaries got close enough to swing their attacks at him and before they could charge up Mana-surge attacks, a magical beam was fired, striking one of them in the chest and sending him flying back to slam headfirst into a tree.
"What?" The other two asked in unison as their eyes went wide but Eloise was already charging. Her sword flashed and the blade sent through the head of one Mercenary cutting it clean in two. The top half hit the ground while the last Mercenary standing watched with horror.
"You!" He let out.
"I brought him here," Eloise said with a deep frown while gesturing at Andor, "I can't have you killing him, now can I?"
So far, every action Andor had made, every dodge, every Spear swing and jab, and every injury he had sustained had made Eloise move her body an inch in preparation to interfere but she had been torn.
She was very much a part of the Slave-freeing business but should she risk revealing herself when even Henry had made it clear she would have to be a 'secret' participant in going after Ralph Gribbo, might mess up with future plans/agendas.
Ultimately, the sight of a few of the Slaves who lay dead on the ground with the Cuff of bondage still around their wrists and the sight of the ones still living being compelled to fight against their will against someone trying to free them (even if they didn't know that yet), made the decision easy for her.
When she moved to interfere, she felt a strong sense of justice and that feeling only swelled when she pointed her sword at the one Mercenary still alive. THIS felt right. She could sense the look of surprise on the face of her fellow Knights and knew there'd be questions but she couldn't be bothered to care right now.
"Sorry it took so long for me to act," she told Andor.
Andor chuckled and shook his head as he stood to his feet facing the Slaves who had paused their charge at this new development.
"It's fine," he said and he meant it,
"Really, I was hoping you wouldn't have to act."
"I'm glad to," Eloise said with furrowed brows.
The Mercenary seemed to contend with his annoyance for a while. He contemplated dropping his weapon but eventually, he chose wrong and charged at the Mage Knight. To an almost assured death.