Chapter 77 - Opportunity (part 3)
*Crack*
*Smash*
The dome-shaped magic barrier broke three seconds after receiving the ray of light from the mercenary mages" spell.
The group of adventurers was surrounded, and their numbers were half of the mercenaries, but they did not panic; on the contrary, they were still very confident in their power.
"Together!!!" Unlike mercenaries who always try to be better than their comrades, adventurers focused on fighting better with each other. Following Olivia"s order, they all split into small groups and went in the various directions of the mercenaries.
Warriors in the front, archers in the middle, and wizards in the back. Wizards continued casting protection, buff, or attack spells, then replenis.h.i.+ng part of their mana with potions.
Archers shot arrows at all visible mercenaries while warriors raised their s.h.i.+elds to prevent attacks that would pa.s.s through wizards" barriers.
But the same was done by mercenaries. The guild had an advantage that they had more powerful people like Glen and Klaus, S-rank adventurers, while the mercenary groups only had their leaders being Diamond-rank.
Since they were two mercenary groups, this left the situation where the most powerful people there were Red Lady and Cornelius on one side; Olivia, Glen, and Klaus on the other. It would be an easy victory for the guild if not for the fact that there were more than two hundred mercenaries against one hundred adventurers.
Adventurers do not enjoy killing people as mercenaries often did as a job. The guild was mainly made up of people who just wanted to live adventures, find treasures, and fight legendary beasts...
But after so many conflicts with the mercenaries, the adventurers were very angry with them and being attacked like that for no reason made them really furious.
Arrows and spells flew from side to side. Then the groups stuck, starting the close combat... The adventurers were fighting mainly with mercenaries from the Red Lady Party while the magic band stayed behind and fired spells.
Red Lady thought she had everything under control as her mercenaries were better equipped than ever... The big s.h.i.+elds with the sun blocked most of the adventurers" spells and arrows. Only a few arrows from Glen were hitting her people.
After losing the barrier, no matter how skillful they were, the adventurers had fewer advantages, and some began to get hurt quickly.
The Red Lady Party mercenaries were mainly demi-human warriors. Being very strong and skilled, they were fighting adventurers on an equal footing while only Klaus"s group had a significant advantage over their adversaries.
The big lizardman was wielding his great spear while killing mercenaries quickly alongside wizards and archers who covered him.
Red Lady, who still kept her distance from the combat center, just had to look at Cornelius, and he understood the problem. It was guaranteed that they would win, but if they could do that by losing fewer warriors, it would be better.
"I got it!" Cornelius took some scrolls from his storage treasure and started casting spells towards Klaus. The wizards cast their protective and barrier spells, but other mercenary mages joined Cornelius, and Klaus"s squad began to have problems.
The adventurer squads were fighting in various directions with the mercenaries while Olivia and Glen were with some people in the middle of where the dome was.
Among these people were some archers, Glen"s apprentices, shooting arrows with him while Jeanne, Mason, and Olivia defended the group.
There was also a wizard in the middle of the group, channeling a small barrier to block spells while Olivia and Jeanne managed to break the arrows shot at them.
Jeanne used her large blade as a s.h.i.+eld, plus her heavy armor was made with the mixture of several resistant metals being almost immune to arrows and common spells. Mason also had very incredible armor, thanks to their family being rich.
Olivia had already equipped a pair of blades, which looked like short swords or large daggers, with 70 cm of blade and short handle. She used her weapons with extreme agility to deflect several arrows from the mercenary archers.
"We are going to die here..." Mason, who was the only one in the group to stand still, was showing everyone he is truly a useless piece of s.h.i.+t.
"We are not going to die, you idiot!" Glen did not stop firing his crystal arrows, and also reprimanded Mason. He didn"t want to die... Not fighting stupid mercenaries... Maybe defending his partner in a fight against 1000 Light Empire soldiers... But not there, not in that stupid way.
Mason didn"t care about Glen"s words. He was sure that they could not beat the mercenaries at the significant numerical disadvantage.
He looked at his aunt, blocking arrows with her sword and armor. "Auntie, no... Jeanne... I know I"m going to die, so I want to say at least how I feel... I always had a lot of girlfriends, but you were always the only woman in my heart!"
"What the f.u.c.k?!?!?" Jeanne, Glen, Olivia, and the wizard exclaimed aloud. They were in the midst of mortal combat. Still, they couldn"t help but be surprised at Mason"s lack of decency.
The first thing Jeanne felt after being surprised was disgust... She knew what kind of man Mason was, and she knew how he paid women to be his "girlfriends."
She was a n.o.ble warrior who followed ancient traditions and was proud of her family. She would defend Mason but did not even love him as a nephew... Other types of love would not only be very wrong, but she would never do with someone like him...
Not even with that arrogant handsome devil... She started to think that "love" would not be something in her life...
*Woosh* *Crack*
It only took Jeanne a second to think of someone and lose her concentration. An arrow would pa.s.s through her guard and hit the wizard, but Olivia acted quickly and broke the arrow.
"Concentrate, guys! We can win, but you need to keep focusing on the battle!!" Olivia looked at Mason before she began to deflect the arrows again. Even though she was wearing the mask, Mason could feel that she made a face at him. The fat man was still not moving because he was terrified of facing so many mercenaries.
Jeanne concentrated again, but she knew that being defensive was not helping much. Glen was killing some mercenaries, but the adventurers were getting hurt and dying too... So, the numbers of mercenaries, which were already high, would be even bigger than the adventurers soon.
"What will we do, Olivia? Our disadvantage is increasing." Jeanne asked Olivia respectfully. She admired the Guild leader, and Olivia also liked Jeanne very much.
"You"re wrong, my friend..." Olivia smiled as she continued to deflect arrows. The group was a little confused because they did not see how the situation was not getting worse.
Olivia was paying attention to several things at the same time. Her perception was very good, and she explained her thoughts to the group.
"At first, I could hear over a hundred mages from the Magic Band behind the trees... Then the Red Lady group arrived, but... Tell me, why are the magic attacks decreasing so quickly?"
Jeanne was confused, but Glen had also noticed something like that. "It is true. The magic attacks are decreasing very fast... Klaus was killing mercenaries quickly, but now he is having difficulties in moving because Cornelius is bombarding him with powerful spells..."
Glen continued to fire crystal arrows while confirming his suspicions with Olivia. "Even I"m having a hard time shooting at mages behind the trees... So there must be someone behind their group... Helping us?"
Olivia looked at Red Lady, who was surrounded by mage and warriors with s.h.i.+ning s.h.i.+elds as she responded to Glen.
"Red Lady would have come to attack us at the same moment that the barrier broke... But she is hiding behind her guys... Something must be happening, but she doesn"t seem to know what it is either."
"So, what should we do?" Jeanne didn"t quite understand what Glen and Olivia were talking about and tried to get some explanation.
Olivia looked at the mess that was around them. Many adventurers and mercenaries were dying... She didn"t like that unneeded slaughter, but there was no way to easily "knock out" people who were trying to kill them.
"We have to keep defending Glen while he must try harder to shoot at the targets... Klaus is managing to resist Cornelius" attacks, so at some point, he will run out of mana... Our biggest problem is Red Lady and those s.h.i.+elds..."
When Glen heard about the s.h.i.+elds, he couldn"t help but comment. "My arrows don"t penetrate those s.h.i.+elds! Is it really Light Empire"s blessed s.h.i.+elds? I thought that only armies led by generals had access to these s.h.i.+elds... How could Red Lady manage to get them?"
Olivia had many doubts... Everything seemed very absurd. "I don"t know how she got them but yes, I"m sure they are blessed s.h.i.+elds. Just try to kill as many mercenaries as you can... Whoever is killing the mages behind the group is undoubtedly our ally."
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The dome cast by the adventurers created an area of 300 meters, where the adventurers and mercenaries of Red Lady were fighting. However, most of the Magic Band"s mages were still hiding behind the trees while casting spells.
While Olivia"s squad held steady in the center of the combat area, Red Lady was increasingly anxious, watching everything about 200 meters from them.
She planned to attack Olivia and Glen quickly while the Magic Band fired spells at the adventurers... Not only did they have the numerical advantage, but many of her mercenaries were equipped with blessed s.h.i.+elds to block any counter-attack from the adventurers...
But as soon as the barrier broke, she noticed the magic attacks subside... They were in the middle of the forest, so the distant vision was not clear, and with several different sounds from the combat, she also could not hear anything suspicious.
Still, Red Lady could feel that something was wrong. She did not attack Olivia as planned, but entered a defensive position, surrounded by mercenary guards equipped with blessed s.h.i.+elds.
She sent some of her best scouts to check on the mages behind the group, but no one returned, causing her to send more people to look for them...
After a few minutes, Red Lady was upset and questioned one of the mercenaries at her side. "Why the h.e.l.l are they taking so long? What is going on??!?!"
The man trembled with fear when he saw his leader so angry. It was obvious that their plan was not going as they planned... They had no way of knowing that not only the mages, but also the mercenaries who went to check on them were now dead behind the trees with arrow holes in their heads.
"My Lady, I will personally see what happened!" The man wore black armor very similar to the one Lucien took from Brian, the brother of Black Hand. But that armor was even better... Red Lady Party was the richest mercenary group in Portgreen, and they were always equipped with the best equipment.
"No! I don"t know who"s back there, but we have to take Olivia down first. If we capture her, we can use her life to threaten the adventurers... You know how stupid they are." Red Lady was concerned that there were other adventurers behind their group, but sending her men back was not helping.
In a battle, leaders had to make quick decisions and always be prepared for unforeseen events. Red Lady had a growing feeling that something was wrong, but she didn"t want to retreat yet... More than half of the adventurers were already dead, and the way to Olivia"s squad was clear...
"Keep shooting at them. Warriors, with me. Total focus on killing Glen and capturing Olivia, alive!"
Red Lady ordered the archers who were already shooting arrows at Olivia"s group to continue, as she went towards them with her group of mercenaries. Those equipping s.h.i.+elds went ahead, making a barrier that prevented Glen to fire them while blocking spells as well.
Olivia"s squad saw Red Lady approaching, but they couldn"t move because they were under attack from various directions while Glen tried to kill as many mercenaries as possible...
Olivia was concerned that they couldn"t handle so many attacks while Red Lady was feeling her "sixth sense," warning her that something was wrong...
Red Lady prepared to attack Olivia as soon as they got closer to them, but then... She felt fear, even though she was surrounded by the blessed s.h.i.+elds, and looked towards the trees behind them...
"?!?!?!"
*Woosh*
So fast that no one could see, an arrow came from the top of a tree and went through the heads of two mercenaries, then stuck in the helmet of the mercenary with the amazing black armor, that was next to Red Lady.
"AAAAAAAHH" The mercenary"s armor was really tough, and after the black arrow went through two heads, it lost a little strength, not killing the man on the spot, but hurting his face, making him scream in extreme pain.
If someone could stop paying attention to the sounds of battle and have an excellent hearing, they could hear a murmur coming from the top of that tree.
"d.a.m.n! I missed one."