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"Lucia loves Nathan. Lucia won't let Nathan die," she said. "Lucia is stronger now. Lucia can protect too."
I stared at her, and once more I felt that outpouring of love for her again, and Bianca turned in our direction.
"Be safe," I said, pulling her in and giving her one more hug, and she brushed my cheek, smiling at me.
Then she turned and darted off.
"Nate, is that really a good idea?" Bianca asked, and I sighed.
"She didn't really give me a chance to say no," I replied. "Besides, we have more important things to worry about."
I gave the situation a bit more thought, then made up my mind.
"Okay; that's it. Everyone activate your armor," I said.
Francesca and Molly obeyed almost immediately, but Bianca studied me.
"I think I'll hold off on that," she said, and I eyed her.
"You really feel comfortable fighting without it?" I asked, and she nodded.
"I'm quicker; and I'll be able to use my ability more often if I have more energy conserved for it."
But Bianca was actually not my biggest concern.
Francesca was.
But, maybe being back in full armor would boost her confidence a little.
Now that I'd armored up, I knew for certain that our enemies were at least more than a mile away from us, but what worried me even more now was that the presence of those enemies still seemed so... imminent, and pressing.
It made me wonder just how strong they really were.
I mean, that Leona girl alone was a handful.
But more than one of those?
That would be well beyond us to handle.
And even one of those with above tier-three speed would be enough to end us.
I called everyone together for a huddle.
"We're in a pretty bad spot here; our best bet is to survive until our backup arrives."
"Nate. We can't beat that monster," Francesca said, hyperventilating a little, and I shook my head.
"You don't have to beat her. She's slower than we are, and we're better fighters. We just need to outlast her. Fight smart, okay? Keep out of her reach, figure out what her weaknesses are, and just don't let her pin you down."
"Sounds good, right?" Molly said, resting a hand on Francesca's shoulder, as she nodded her agreement to the plan.
Francesca still seemed entirely out of sorts, but Bianca was focused, much to my relief.
Nevertheless, I went through with the group what I'd learned about the shadowy hunter, and what his abilities seemed to do, but it didn't take long for him to make his appearance ahead of us.
These were hunters, and hunters who'd killed several groups of fleeing newbies too, so they were likely to be stronger than the regular groups we'd been facing.
"They don't look like much," the girl said, sizing us up. "Maybe we should have just attacked this morning."
"This isn't their whole squad, dumbass."
I recognized this otherworlder as Lester; the one who'd dealt the finishing blow to the otherworlder I'd tailed.
The third man stepped forward, eyeing me as he did.
"This is the one we're not supposed to harm, right?" he asked, looking over to the shadowy man, who nodded.
"Kill any of the others, and you have your freedom."
Lester drew his dagger and stepped forward at that, but the girl raised her weapon, a mace, to stop him.
"Now hold on there, Les; this immortal armor," she said, turning to the shadowy man. "Anyone who kills the little lioness can claim it, no?"
The shadowy man nodded, but Lester's jaw dropped as he stared at the woman.
"Are you fucking crazy? Leona will rip that thing off of you if she has to!"
"I'd like to see her try," she said.
"You two might wanna actually get this started soon. I'm pretty sure that one is trying to read through all of our abilities."
I bit my lip, as I had indeed been looking into their cores, but for the life of me, I couldn't get a read on their leader, and more worryingly, the shadowy man off beyond them just read as an empty abyss of darkness, and something about it just made me feel unsettled.
The two others looked at each other, then nodded.
"I've got the weakling," Lester said, as he drew his dagger and moved in on Molly.
"That's kind of disrespectful," she said, readying her own sword for the fight.
I moved a little closer to her, however, readying my halberd as I did, as some of Lester's abilities were above tier-two, and leaving him to Molly didn't seem like the best idea.
The other man and the woman, however, were keeping their eyes on Francesca, and I suddenly noted that her knees were a bit shaky, even though her opponents, in my estimation, we well within the range of what she'd usually be able to handle.
"Is this really the little lion? Or did Leona just smack the roar right out of her?" the girl asked. "Maybe I'll leave her to you," she said to the man, as she turned to Bianca. "This one has one of those token thingies, right? How much are they worth again?"
"Double," the shadowy man said, and I cursed under my breath.
How the fuck did they know about the tokens?
There was no way, right?
Although, Astrid did see them in a vision... so did that mean Ethan had a future seer under his control as well?
I'd have to leave that for later; for now, we needed to take care of these three before Leona showed up.
The girl facing off with Bianca was wielding a mace, while the guy in charge facing Francesca had a sword.
These were acceptable matchups.
As Lester charged in at Molly, however, I sprang into action, chasing him back with an arcing slice, but a cry from my left drew my eye, and I spotted Bianca hopping on one foot, obviously in pain, and as the girl with the mace swung, she just barely managed to roll away and escape a nasty hit.
Jesus.
That could do some pretty serious damage to her unarmored.
I tried to activate my paralysis skill, but as my threads extended out, some shadowy threads moved out to meet them, and my threads dissipated into thin air.
I cursed under my breath as I realized that our shadow friend had intervened while also using his energy spikes to interrupt Bianca's movement, but that wasn't the only worrying thing; Francesca was being pinned back as her opponent pressed her with aggression.
"Nate, I can handle myself. You need to support everyone," Molly said.
I hesitated, but suddenly I remembered Casey's assertion that coddling the weaker fighters in our group would only work against us in the long run.
Maybe Molly was right.
She moved off to engage Lester, and I scanned the battlefield, looking for a way to best make an impact, while also keeping an eye on the shadowy figure; then something occurred to me.
Maybe I needed to start with Francesca.
I focused on her for a second, extending my energy threads to her core before uttering the suggestion, "Your focus is entirely on this fight."
She parried a few slashes with her spear handle, then paused for a second as her opponent overstepped in his zealous pressing of her, and Francesca steadied her position and drove her spear past his sword, glancing his shoulder and leaving a pretty wicked cut.
"Fucking bitch," he muttered, taking a step back.
As Bianca charged at the girl with the mace, however, I saw a spike appear in front of her, but before I could so much as get a shout in, she stepped full on it and yelped, hopping on one foot, and I darted in, this time deflecting the blow aimed at her with the bladed tip of my halberd, before making a few counter jabs at the girl, and backing her up.
"You really need to watch for those spikes," I said, and Bianca frowned.
"How are you fucking seeing them?" she asked.
"Go help Molly," I said, as I turned to face the girl, and she screwed up her face at me, resting her mace on her shoulder as she brushed her hair back.
"You- are worthless," the girl said. "How about you fuck off?"
"Make me," I challenged her, and she scowled.
She charged in at me with a swing, and as I deflected the blow, she followed it up with two more swings.
I parried the onslaught then made a counter slash at her, and she leapt clear.
Hmm.
Technique, non-existent, but she was quick, and those swings packed quite a punch.
With enough time, I was pretty sure I could beat her easy enough, but something else was bothering me; she had special abilities, didn't she?
I was pretty sure that they all did.
Yet no-one had used any as yet, and the shadow man for all of his interruptions, was yet to properly enter the fray.
It was strange to say the least...
Were they stalling? Or was it something else?
"OWW! Would you stop fucking doing that?" Bianca yelled out.
The shadow man smirked a little, and I noted, with some curiosity, that he seemed to be targeting Bianca.
Maybe Aletta was right about how skilled she was, huh?
My opponent moved in to strike at me again, and after deflecting several strikes, I maneuvered my way through a particularly wild swing, and slipping into her range, I thrust the spear-tip of my halberd at the exposed spot on her shoulder, and despite her attempt to lean out of the way, I nicked her.
"Fuck," she cursed, as her hand went to the spot on her shoulder and came away with blood, and she glanced over at the shadow man, a glaring look in her eyes.
Wait... was he was sealing their abilities?
As I stared into the woman's core, I noted that there was a special ability in there that she'd definitely not activated yet, and there was only one reason I could think of for why he'd do that.
Ethan didn't want me to mirror their abilities.
I could use this!
"Hey, guys. What do you say we take a little breather?" I said.
Francesca looked over at me, and the man she was facing raised an eyebrow.
"I'm sorry, what-?"
The girl in front of me studied me for a bit, wiping at her mouth as she did, but as she followed my gaze to the shadowy man, a smile crept across her lips.
"I think I can get on board with that," she said, as she walked over to the man with the sword. "Take a little break; sort out some... inconveniences?"
He stared at her, and I smiled, glad that she had caught on.
"What are you playing at?" the man asked.
"If you're throwing this fight, Daisy, Leona will have your head," the shadow man called, but the girl merely shrugged.
"Throwing? I don't think so. I mean, it seems pretty clear that we're still fighting, right?" she asked, turning to me, and I nodded.
"We are," I said, gesturing to Bianca, who seemed confused for a moment, before catching on to where my gaze was directed, and after another moment of hesitation, she vanished, appearing beside the shadowy man and stabbing at him from the right.
He deflected the strike, but as he moved, I activated my paralysis skill, focusing it instead on only his leg, and as he stumbled, partially rooted to the spot, Francesca moved in, and he just barely deflected her thrust, before focusing on breaking my hold on him.
He broke out just as Bianca descended on him again, and he evaded her strike before hastily leaping clear.
"Ethan won't let this slide!" the man shouted, the warning in his voice evident as he glared at Daisy.
"Yeah? Are you gonna run across this forest to tell on us, or are you gonna relinquish control of that puppet?"
The man scowled, and Daisy smirked in response.
"Thought so," she said.
"You'll regret this," he said, as he faded into the darkness and slipped out of sight.
Daisy turned to me at that.
"Now... where were we?" she asked, smacking the handle of her mace into her palm as she eyed me.
Francesca returned her attention to the man with the sword, and Bianca eyed me for a moment, before turning to Lester.
"Guess that break's over, then," I said, and Daisy smiled as she darted into me.
She made a swing at my head which I evaded, but as I parried the next three strikes, each collision seemed to generate a strange kind of energy, and as I parried a fourth blow, I went down onto one knee; my hands shaking from the sheer power she'd managed to generate.
What the fuck was that?
Each strike seemed to connect with more force than the last, and as she made another horizontal swing at my head, I rolled out of the way, dodging again as she pounded into the earth where I'd just knelt.
She followed it up with another strike, and as I was forced to block, I once again reeled under the sheer force of the blow.
Wait, that last strike wasn't as strong as the one before.
I got to my feet and braced myself just as she made another swing, but this time, the force actually lifted me off of the ground, and as I went rolling, I had to quickly scramble out of the way as she followed it up with a thunderous smash into the earth.
There were energy threads connecting her weapon to one of her skills, and I quickly noted that there was also energy stored in her weapon as well.
She moved in and as she aimed at my leg with her next swing, I danced out of the way, and immediately noted that the energy in the mace seemed to be dissipate after the miss.
So, the more hits she landed, even if they were blocked, the more power she could generate on the next swing, huh?
It was a pretty neat skill, but wouldn't it have been much more useful if she weren't using a heavy, unwieldy weapon like a mace?
I mean, I did understand the logic as her blows were packing quite the punch; but with a short sword or knife, she could easily rain a flurry of blows on her opponent and overwhelm them much more quickly and efficiently through the incremental increases in power generated.
I evaded a few more swings before focusing my energy threads into my own weapon, mimicking her use of the skill, and as I met her next swing full on with the axe-blade of my halberd, a wave of energy pulsed out from the clash and a loud clang rang out across the battlefield, pausing the other fights for a second as all gazes were drawn to us.
"How the fuck...?" she began, but the other man quickly cut her off-
"Switch!" the man yelled, and I took a leap back as he lunged at me, and Daisy glared at me for a moment, before going after Francesca.
I studied the man as he tried to press me, and I noted that his expression was slightly panicked, and as an intimidating presence began to creep upon me, I quickly guessed why.
Leona was coming.
"Lester, are you gonna stop fucking around and kill that woman already?" their leader yelled, and Lester grunted in annoyance.
"Maybe I would if one of you would help keep this bitch off of me!"
Lester's blade, it seemed, was obscured by a bit of dark smoke, and his attacks were deadly quick, but Molly had now activated her aura in a smaller radius, and was using the speed boost to dance circles around Lester while Bianca pressed him.
To his credit, he was handling her quite well, but I quickly realized that if Bianca was actually trying to kill him, the fight would have been long over.
Bianca truly was skilled, but she still lacked the killing intent that she needed to give her an edge when it came to opponents who were more skilled than the novices we'd been taking down all day.
As I refocused my attention on my opponent, however, I realized that I hadn't sensed any skills being activated as he'd pressed me, so I decided to go on the offensive, but as soon as I struck, I saw it.
A thread connecting his skill to his sword as he parried my strike, and as I struck at him several more times, I noted with interest that he seemed quite proficient at parrying with his sword.
Actually, it was more than just parrying; it was as if the blade of his sword always seemed to perfectly detect the trajectory of my swings, allowing him to counter my strikes with utmost precision, disrupting my stance and briefly leaving me open after each strike.
I pressed him a bit, studying the skill intently until I was sure that I could reproduce it myself, and as he slashed at me and I deflected the blade perfectly, his eyes narrowed on me, and I used the momentary disruption to kick at his knee, and as he went down on one foot, I slashed at his open left side, striking him on his armor just where his ribs would be.
Interesting...
Was it that if the attack was out of his weapon's range, the skill didn't activate? Or was there perhaps a limit to how often he could activate the skill consecutively?
"Bianca!" I yelled, and it took no more than an instant for her to appear beside my opponent, but as she swiped at him, his blade quickly moved into place to deflect the blow despite him seeming quite surprised at her sudden appearance.
So... he could deflect attacks even if they came at him outside of his range of detection, huh?
This was a really useful skill.
I moved off from him, letting Bianca go at him in earnest, while I changed my focus to Molly's fight.
Lester seemed to be using some sort of skill which shrouded his blade hand in a haze of black dust, making the trajectory of his quick, rapid strikes difficult to follow with the eyes, but to Molly's credit, the skill seemed to do little to faze her in handling her opponent.
It was curious, wasn't it?
Molly would probably be considered one of our least skilled fighters, yet she was easily holding her own against a seasoned killer.
Had our struggles against the monsters really given us that much of an edge against even hunters?
Or were our sparring sessions really that effective?
Come to think of it, Bianca became one of my best warriors before I'd even realized just how good she was, hadn't she?
It was a pretty comforting thought to say the least.
Nevertheless, I focused on Lester's skill until I was sure that I could replicate it, then ended the fight by activating my paralysis skill to incapacitate their leader.
Bianca relieved him of his sword, then put a dagger to his throat.
"How the fuck are you imbeciles losing to these fucks?" Daisy asked. "None of them have any abilities higher than tier-three!"
"Abilities don't matter if you're not skilled enough to use them," I replied. "Besides; if any of us were being serious, none of you would still be breathing."
The man looked up at me, but as he moved to speak, he stopped himself.
"Right... can't speak after you surrender, huh? My terms are simple. Surrender and you'll be spared, or else I'll have to kill you before your buddy gets here."
"Doesn't matter; Leona will kill us anyway," Lester said.
"Not unless we kill her first," I replied, and Lester scoffed.
But as their leader glanced over his shoulder and shot him a glaring look, Lester licked his lips nervously.
"Fine-"
"Nuh-uh uh," I said, as Lester moved to drop his dagger. "Before you surrender, I wanna know about Leona. I know you can't tell me anything about Ethan, but she should be fair game, no?"
Lester licked his lips again, then Daisy spoke-
"She has tier-two weapon immunity, and it's not tied to her armor."
"Weapon immunity?"
Daisy nodded, and I sighed.
What the fuck kind of cheat skill was that?
Too bad we didn't have Blair's new tier-three axe...
"Do my fists count as a weapon?" I asked, and Daisy shook her head.
"No," she replied, "but she has a tier four combat skill. Jiu Jitsu, from what I can tell. So good luck with that."
Francesca frowned at this, and I nodded.
See? I thought. You weren't beaten by just anybody.
At tier-four, she might as well be a master.
"Any other weaknesses you can think of?" I asked, and Daisy shrugged.
"You'll have to figure that out yourself; but her mental skills are tier-three to four, so that immobilizing trick of yours probably won't work either."
"Nate, we took care of these. Can't we just make a run for it?" Francesca asked.
