Chapter 27 - Large Scuffle!
With all of us prepared and ready, the sudden stop of our carriage did not put us into disarray and the loud clash of weapons a distance away had us all prepared to jump out. It was just that leaping now in full gear would make us a target for later discussions so we waited a reasonable amount of time before leaping into action.
"What happened? What is going on?" Luke shouted as the tension rose in the confrontation a distance away.
"We have been attacked! Prepare for battle!" As the fighting was beginning, the group with us was actually standing their ground. So we did not disrupt their battle plans and stood by watching in case the other side had others in waiting to attack the caravan.
In the chaos, the merchants all hid with their cargo so there was no worries on that end.
Looking at the overall situation, I was surprised to see that the overall numbers of bandits were less than the number of mercenaries on this battlefield. That was when I knew that there was certainly something fishy going on.
Both Luke and the leaders of this mercenary group also felt something wrong with the battlefield. Seeing his confused expression, I told him tactfully the in consistency with this battlefield.
"You definitely noticed right? The fact that there are fewer bandits than mercenaries. Isn't that strange? Most bandits would not choose to fight a battle in which they are out numbered. So, why are they so confident?"
I did not lower my voice so there were a few people who heard me. The bandit's side had a few click their tongues as the leading adventurers caught on to my idea.
"Everyone, leave only those necessary to fight with a few as backup. The rest who are not fighting, hurry back to the carriage!"
With that command, although there was some chaos it was manageable with the numbers advantage that they had. But before they could all regroup, there was chaos around the merchant's caravans.
"Oh no!"
One of the leaders cried out and tried to rush over but it was too late. From beneath the caravan there was a bulge from the ground and as the horses started to panic and try to run away, the earth burst out with several spikes rushing to the caravan.
With a loud crash the carts were slammed with earth spikes and before we could stop them one of the carriages was smashed. Before the other spikes could land, Wendy had made a move.
Hand outstretched in front of her, a blue magic circle appeared that glowed with a bright blue glow. Closing her eyes and quickly chanting, the spell was completed and the other carriages had walls of water emerge that slowed the arrival of the thorns of earth.
Using the time given by this, the various adventuring leaders were able to intercept these earth spikes and arrive to the remaining carriages in. time.
"We will guard these now! Find and kill their earth mage as quickly as possible!" One of the leaders there who protected the carriages now said this to us. To that Luke nodded and he closed his eyes to sense the location of the enemy.
This time, my perception was actually the one that was lagging behind. Because I can't see any target in the area aboveground around the camp, there was either an earth spike trap already preset on the ground here which we would have noticed, or the mage who did this is underground.
This is one of the weaknesses that Space magic perception has in the earlier stages. Because the target is in a closed off position, my spatial awareness sees such things as just a solid block so I can't precisely detect their whereabouts. This is also because my spatial awareness is only really good for matter and not energy detection. So things like mana traces will have to be searched for by the others.
Unfortunately, this Earth mage seems to be rather adept at hiding their traces as both Wendy and Luke were having troubles detecting them from any mana traces on the ground. It could also be a fact that they could be right under the battlefield in the distance and are hiding their fluctuations amidst the chaos. If so this would be rather troublesome to pinpoint their location.
There is also the fact that we don't know what the enemy's trump card truly is. When I first sensed the earth fluctuations, I had assumed that this earth mage was their trump card, but I can see from here that the bandits over in the distance while they are pressured are not in a panic.
So I decided to keep up my perception just in case and lo and behold. There truly is a rat hiding away from us in addition to the underground Earth mage.
Because of this problem, I turn to Vanessa and Mellie who are a bit idle at the moment.
"There is another mage hiding above ground. I will tell you where he is so we can ambush him."
"Go ahead. I will protect you." This was one time where Vanessa truly treated me as an object of protection so a sense of security grew from this feeling.
"You can do your best, we will back you up." Mellie said this as she concentrated on where I had secretly motioned in the direction that the enemy was in.
"If you get in trouble, just call my name. Even if the Earth mage uses this opportunity, it would be better to deal with one of our foes since the other group is already guarding against him." Luke said while still focusing his senses downwards.
Since I have been given so much confidence, I decided to go ahead and casted a rather familiar spell in front of them. Hands appeared in the void that while not as sharp as in their memory, still brought back some bad memories.
"Void Hands! Void Swords! Let's go!"
Two floating hands wielding swords appeared above the battlefield. While the hands themselves were not that big, the effect of having them up above the others in the sky unnerved the bandits around. Even the fighting adventurers paused at the sight before taking the opportunity to strike the distracted bandits.
But rather than them, my blades were after a different target. Hidden in the debris of other attacks, a shadow lingered witching the field between the group of bandits and the carriages.
A quick slash in their direction put the hidden member on full blast as my blades rushed to thrust at and slash at him from above.
"Mmmph!"
A shadowy figure dodge rolled out of the rubble before my blow could land earning a click of the tongue from me. Then relying on my spatial awareness, my void hands moved through the dust that was kicked up to see if I could sneak up on him.
The blow was about to land, but the attack was weirdly dodged as he seemed to melt into the ground from my perspective.
"He dodged my attack! Be careful everyone!"
With my warning, the others were all on alert as a shadow burst to action heading towards our direction. Seeing this, Mellie and Vanessa knew what was going on at this moment.
"Shadow mage!"
Thrusting a staff in front of her, Mellie then quickly chanted some magic words before a great flash of light shone at the moving shadow. Caught off guard, the figure was forced out of its shadowy form and revealed in the open.
"A light mage! Or priest!"
Before he could retaliate, Vanessa had already charged in front with her shield and with a quick dash using her shield a blow landed on the disorientated figure.
With this set of combined attacks, we and the group guarding the carriage were able to see one of the hidden attackers who were around the place. While they were down, my void hands were already ready to strike at the prone figure.
But before even I could make a move, Luke had already jumped in to join the fray.
"Light Magic - Sword of Light!"
With a shout, he leaped into the air and his sword in hand glowed with the light of the sun. Right when he did that, the bulge on the ground suddenly appeared again.
It seemed like the earth mage was waiting for the vigilant Luke to stop paying attention to him. But that would be their biggest mistake.
Both Wendy and Luke turned their gaze and stared in the direction that the magic was coming from. Casting their spell like this would only serve to help pinpoint the precise direction and position that the Earth mage was hiding.
Staring to the hero's left side, the sword of light that he emitted suddenly changed directions as it aimed right for where the Earth Mage was hiding.
When that happened, the mage cancelled their spell and took the spell backlash from this action and quickly moved to dodge the strike.
But Luke was not the only one on his case at the moment.
The moment that he revealed himself, Wendy had manipulated the water element underground and it was now that the opportunity had arisen that she turned the area around him into water.
Being stuck in water and no longer dirt had negated the effect of his hiding and Earth Melding spell while also trapping him in place just long enough for Luke to get full hit down where he was.
With a slam, the area was quickly caved in by the strike full of light. From the crater, I saw a splash of blood which confirmed to me that the strike struck true and so I ignored the situation and focused on the shadow mage here.
The Shadow mage had shifted his position in the time I was distracted so I aimed my swords once more at him as he tried to do the same stunt once more on me.
"Oh no you don't!" With a shout, Mellie had casted a new light spell, this one with more casting time that would bind the mage more thoroughly in place.
"Chains of Light! Bind him!"
Illusory chains made of the Light element rushed over and entangled his body right as my swords went to pierce towards him. But I noticed that when the blades approached the figure showed only a slight grimace.
Sensing the situation, I did not find a body around and shouted out that he was not there.
Checking around, the three of us watched carefully about the surroundings until a small shadow dashed out of cover. Seeing this, I sent a void hand over to strike, but the shadow was a feint as it was only his cloak flying out.
From the other side also away from us, another shadow went out which Mellie had intercepted. Unfortunately, this too was a false alarm as was another cloak that was sent out.
Then there was one final escape, this time three figures in three directions. Each of us keeping track of one, I thought for sure that we would get him this time, but once again it was a fake out.
What was worse was that the dust finally fell and the answer was revealed before us.
In the area that he was at, now a Hoel appeared in the ground that he escaped from. With a click of my tongue, I prepared two follow him in, but was dissuaded by the others.
"An escaping shadow mage is one of the hardest foes to catch. You have already done your best. There is a reason that this criminal has never been caught despite causing quite a ruckus. For now, we should regroup and clean up with the others."
This was said by Mellie so I calmed down and looked at the situation.
The bandits fell in morale when the shadow mage fled so they were quickly handled. The earth bulges had to be watched just in case the mage left a trap for the carriages before he left so they were carefully protecting the remaining cargo.
At this time, one of the merchants hopped off of his caravan and shivered over to the adventurer group and complained about this protective service to which they apologized.
He wanted to complain to Luke as well, but was intimidated by the figure of Vanessa lurking from behind.
Soon after the situation was all cleaned up and the damages were recorded. While this happened, Luke had informed the adventurer group leaders of the marks and eyes on him when he went to patrol and asked them to check and clean up their forces.
Although skeptical, they did indeed check and found that five of their members had secretly fled with no body to be found anywhere. It was obvious who they were and why they were missing now, though.
With a sour face, one of the leaders informed us that they will be officially kicking those members out of their group unless they could prove themselves as completely clean.
Accepting the situation, Luke then called all of us back to our carriage that was still intact after all of that ruckus.
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