Chapter 51: Hot Pursuit (Patreon)

Damian and I turned and ran back the way we came. Bolts of magic and arrows whizzed past us from Martin’s group as they pursued us. But the deadliest of all were the four giant vampire bats that I could hear flapping behind me. Each of them was about three feet tall and twice that in wingspan. Big enough that one of them might be able to wrestle me to the ground if it caught up to me while at the same time still being small enough to follow us into the forest and weave through the trees.

[Hugo: What should I do?]

[Lucas Hudson: Get to town and wait for me there!]

[Damian Sutter: Lucas, follow my movements.]

I took up position behind Damian as we kept running. We were heading back to the area where Damian had set his traps. If I didn’t pay attention and step exactly where he stepped, then I’d set one off. Damian wasn’t very clear earlier about the nature of these traps, but considering his Class was called Stygian Assassin, I doubted any of them were gentle.

We made it to the trees, and I risked a glance back. Aside from the terrifying bats, Martin was chugging a health potion with the twins standing by him while the rest of their group pursued us. It must be around ten to twelve people. A third of them were ranged archers and spellcasters, while the rest were melee fighters.

Damian fired his crossbow at the closest bat and shouted, “come on!”

The bolt carved a hole in one of the bat’s wings, but it wasn’t enough to stop it from flying. It just slowed down a little and let the other bats take the lead. At level 14, they were the main threat unless Martin or the twins decided to get more involved.

As we ran through the trees, it quickly became clear that I was faster than Damian. It was frustrating having to hold back my speed until he ducked down while running at a certain spot. I copied his movement and kept going for a few seconds.

Boom!

A powerful explosion roared behind me. Close enough that I could feel the heat on the back of my neck and smell the smoke. I guess that bat didn’t duck.

The bat closest to the blast was dead and smoldering on the ground. The other three was singed and appeared a little dazed but continued to fly after us.

We kept going, and when Damian jumped over a patch of leaves, I did too. Whatever it was, it was too low to be triggered by the bats. I felt a little disappointed until Damian spun around and aimed his crossbow. As soon as the bats got within range, he fired down into the ground below them. The crossbow bolt punctured some kind of container hidden beneath the leaves. A green gas spewed out over two of the bats that became corrosive. They fell out of the sky, wailing as the substance began to melt their skin.

At that point, I no longer felt frustrated about keeping to Damian’s pace.

The bat with the hole in its wing and Martin’s group weren’t far behind, so we kept moving. There were more traps further back in the forest, but Damian didn’t want to go that far. Eventually we double backed around while skirting around the clearing and a made a straight run for the town. The safe zone border became visible up ahead. Now it was a loose stone wall that came up to waist height. There were no workers around to continue building it up at this point. It seemed they were satisfied with their progress and had gone back to town.

I got halfway across the field before Anders tackled me, and I dropped my sword. An unhelpful notification appeared a moment later informing me of this and that he was level fifteen. Damian turned to help but was immediately set upon by Carina and put on the back foot with her swinging her axe. Meanwhile, Anders tried to wrestle me into submission. It was immediately clear that he was stronger than me, but that wouldn’t matter. He should have known better than to try to wrestle with someone who carries knives.

I stabbed my Viper Fang into his leg and side several times until he let go and rolled off of me. I picked up my sword and got to my feet while he took out his large axe.

*Poison activated*

I grimly smiled.

“What’s so funny?” Anders asked.

“I’ll tell you in a minute.”

He roared and charged at me with his axe raised. The weapon thrummed with energy and as he brought it down; I blocked with my sword. Except this time, the axe bit down into the blade and chipped a piece of it away. I tried to use Heart Strike with my Viper Fang, but he danced away from me.

I frowned at the notch in my blade. I couldn’t keep going toe to toe directly with his axe or soon I won’t have a sword left to use. I had to make up for it with greater speed.

I dashed towards him and as he swung his axe; I side-stepped him and used Savage Rupture with my sword. The blade sliced into his side as I passed. Blood splashed on to me and returned my energy levels to their peak. The only problem was that Anders seemed to feel no pain from the cut. He calmly jabbed me in the back with the wooden handle of his axe, and I heard one of my ribs crack.

I gasped and quickly retreated. Is this part of his Battleborn Class? To feel no pain in a fight?

I winced in discomfort. The cracked rib was making it hard to breathe and even harder to move. Anders twirled his axe around and slammed it into the ground. I tried to get further away, but I missed a step as a burst of energy was released from his axe on impact. The ground shook and broke apart, causing me to trip and fall.

Anders closed in. He towered over me and pulled his axe back for one final big swing.

“Looks like this is the end,” he gloated, with a kind of manic energy in his eyes.

Suddenly, there was an explosion in the forest, and people began screaming. Anders hesitated and looked towards it. Some of Martin’s group must have gotten lost in there trying to find us and triggered another of Damian’s traps. Judging by the pained voices, it made even more sense why Damian had wanted to retrieve the traps in the first place.

Still, their pain became my gain as it distracted Anders long enough for me to strike. I let go of my sword and pulled my other knife. A short blade in each hand was just faster in close quarters.

I stabbed down into his feet and then worked my way up his legs with quick thrusts. He didn’t even notice at first, since his power allowed him to feel no pain. Anders only became aware of me just as I stood up, but he was too slow to react. I used Savage Rupture and cut under his arms to sever the brachial artery. Blood gushed out of him and felt my rib heal when it sprayed over me.

For some reason his power had also resisted the poison from my kunai but it didn’t matter now. I sheathed my knives and moved away to pick up my sword.

“Hey! We’re not finished!” barked Anders.

He tried to take a step but couldn’t. His face went from anger to fear as the drawback of his power dawned on him. Just because he couldn’t feel pain didn’t mean that the damage wasn’t any less real. Against his will, he dropped his axe next because he couldn’t supply his arms with enough blood to hold it. Even without more of my help, he’d bleed out soon.

I was about to finish Anders off for good when Martin, now riding his goblin dog, leapt through the trees with some surviving members of his group. A bolt of blue magic zapped me before I could reach Anders and it made the whole left side of my torso go numb.

I tried to retreat instead. More magic shot out in front of me, causing me to stop. Martin and the group stopped too. It was odd. They weren’t attacking, they just stood there. Then the vampire bat with the hole in its wing flew through the trees and it all made sense. Martin wanted to keep me alive long enough to feed me to his creature. That was a part of how he and his beasts grew stronger.

A feeling of revulsion twisted in my stomach and I looked for help. Damian and Carina were still fighting hard. Both were bleeding and breathing heavy, almost worn out from it. Evidently Damian’s crossbow was doing a better job holding up against her axe. But Carina stayed close to him, never letting him get far enough away or concentrate long enough to reload his crossbow.

The vampire bat, Martin, and his group moved forward to intercept me.

Fine, no more running. I’ll fight them too. I’ve still got one good arm. Once one of them starts bleeding I can move on to the next.

At least that’s what I told myself, but the odds were grim.

I tightened my grip on my Viper Fang and waited for them to draw closer.