Chapter-6
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Bexaria
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"Captain!"
John shouted as the knight captain suddenly fell to the ground, the other troops also gathered around their leader and picked him back up by his shoulder
"Thank you for your concerns, but I'm fine soldiers!"
He spoke up freeing himself from their help ad he stood up on his own feet, he then looked around to see the state of his remaining troops before speaking once more
"We all look like a group of rugged bandits right now don't we?"
"..."
"..."
He then looked at the sky briefly before locking eyes with John Haylith who was infront of him, spooking him with the sudden eye contact
"Soldier Haylith!"
"Ah! Sir yes sir!!"
He turned to the others
"Soldier Jill, Manson, Parker, Reckert and everyone of you, as your captain I give you the permission to go off duty right now"
The troops widened their eyes in shock at the wprds of their captain
"What do you mean by that captain?"
"Off duty?"
Alaster resumed before they could continue
"The Commander might have arrived, but the number of undead roaming the streets far outnumber the guards who are to deal them, a group of tired humans have no chance of survival right now, split into a group of 2 each, help eachother and evacuate the city.
In short I am telling you to get your arses to safety you lot"
He then pointed a finger directly at Parker, a young, nervous-looking soldier
"Parker, you'll pair with Reckert, you know the tunnels beneath the old bakery at Rine street, use them to get to the eastern gate, be fast and be quiet"
"Y..yes, sir,l"
Parker managed, swallowing hard
"Jill, you take Manson! Manson, your family lives near the docks, right? Head there, secure them, and get on the first available boat"
"Sir"
Manson, the youngest of the troops spoke up beforw anything else was said and asked his respected captain
"Sir... you coming with us?"
Manson asked, his voice cracking
Alaster gave a weary, genuine smile, a rare sight that seemed to make him look older and more tired than usual, and stood back up with his sword at hand
"Of course not..."
His grip on his sword tightened as he gazed at the hundreds of undead outside the alleyway, knowing that they were now spotted at the place they were in, Alaster firmly declared
"I have a job to do"
Alaster's smile turned to a resolute mask of a man accepting his fate; the exhaustion that had momentarily caused him to fall , now, replaced by a surge of final, defiant will
"Now move, all of you!"
He commanded, his voice sharp and carrying the absolute authority they knew
Parker and Reckert exchanged a quick, terrified glance, then nodded simultaneously, Parker, still visibly trembling, took the lead, disappearing down a narrow side path that likely led toward Rine Street
Reckert followed, casting one last, anguished look at his captain before vanishing
Jill put a hand on Manson's shoulder, his face set
"Come on, Manson
....
Its captain's order"
"But…"
Manson began, tears welling up in his eyes
"Go!" Alaster roared, taking a step toward outside the alleyway
Manson flinched, then with a choked sob, he turned around and ran with Jill right behind him, pulling him along, their heavy hearts beating with anguish and frustratiom
John Haylith stood frozen, his eyes locked on his Captain, he had been given no explicit order, but the command to evacuate was clearly meant for everyone
Alaster glanced back at John
"Haylith"
Including him
"I refuse!"
Alaster faltered at his words for a moment before he recomposed himself
" No listen to me, you are most skilled soldier among this squadron, so you are to get to the Commander, report the status of the northern district, do anything useful, but don't waste your life here!"
"...I...I"
"JOHN!!!"
John opened his mouth, then clamped it shut against the wishes of his Captain's firm order; to disobey now would be to waste a sacrifice
He also knew that the Commander, who is the last hope for this city, would need every piece of intelligence and assistance she could get, so he gritted his teeth and turned around and ran as he was ordered with the sound of his boots echoing Alaster's command for survival
Alaster was alone now, about to die a dogs death at the hands of these bunch of undeads, he really wanted to laugh he he instead focused and pulled his sword into a high guard, focusing the last, precious remnants of his will
He didn't have the strength for a prolonged fight, but he had enough for one final, glorious charge
A soft, azure light began to flicker around his sword; the remnants of his Sword Aura, It was weak, fading fast, but enough to shear through necrotic flesh and bone
"Come on, you rotten fiends!"
Alaster shouted, his voice hoarse but loud, ringing with challenge
He burst from the alleyway like a thrown spear at the nearest undead, a giant demihuman with a half Rhino figure in tattered clothes, a hulking, bloated corpse with his sword
"AIA"
BZZZRT
But he dissapeared into thin air before he even reached his target
[Item item has been acquired]
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Bexaria
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At the western gate, sitting at the sides while being guarded by his men, the Raven cloak leader of this group, looked at the object on his hand, a heart made of red magic crystal that shone with power, the elder lich's phylactery, the source of its life and immortality
Ineed, as its summoner and the head of this operation here at Safra city, he was responsible for its security, the elder lich was powerful, being one of their trump card, a monster of the Calamity tier
BOOMMM
His bored eyes widened hearing the howling of the wind from the center of the town, seeing the ray of white light climbing up the sky he immediatly figured out who that was and hid the phylactery in his magical bag and gave it to one if his grunts near him and told him to leave town, and the moment the grunt left, excitement crept up his spine
"Finally she's here"
He flared up his magical energy like a becon of fire in tge dark to attract his true target, the amount of mana he released was enough to pressure all of his men near him to the point where some of them fell down on their knees
A crazy grin began to form as he felt a powerful aura signature heading towards him
A piercing white light flashed through the roads, the alleyways and the ruins from the center of the town, breezing clean through the shadowy chaos
As it closer to the him and his group of terrorist, the air seemed to tremble under a heavy pressure that surpassed even his causing most of his men there to pass out, and all eyes that were still openat the western gate turned towards owner of such a powerful sword aura as hen she arrived
The main reason as to why he, one of the mos powerful Elite rank mage of his organization volunterred on a small misson at the countryside like this
The greatest prodigy in history of the humans and one of geniuses he despised
Knight commander of the Livonian Order, Audrey Victoria Artis
Cladded in a bright aura of white, her blonde hair danced along the winds generated by her surging aura, as she arrived and stood before the men who were standing in the middle of the corpses of civilians, with her rapier on her right hand and the skull of the defeated elder lich on her left, her sharp viridecent eyes instantly locked on the leader of this group and she asked
"Identify yourself before I detain you and kill the rest"
Audrey stood strong, radiating her iron resolve, the skull of the Elder Lich, still faintly smoking, rested casually in her left hand, a silent, gruesome declaration of her power
The Raven cloak leader, however, simply chuckled, a dry, grating sound that seemed utterly out of place amidst the carnage, he stood tall, the oppressive weight of her mana making his cloak billow
"Detain?"
He sneered, a wicked grin stretching across his face
"Commander Artis, such a pity that a genius like you, who manages to lay waste to Calamity tier monster elder lich like that, is still a child playing at justice...My name is Kaiven, and I..."
Before he could finish, the tip of a rapier cloaked with white winds shot at him, aiming for the sides of his chest, shaken at the speed that surpassed his expectation, Kaiven found himself helpless and would've been struck down if not for his magic items activating automatically; generating a barrier over him
Banggg!!!
Kaiven's shaken eyes met with Audrey's cold focused green eyes that looked at him dead in the eye through the barrier as she said
"Have it your way then"
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Bexaria
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"We're late"
[It appears so sir]
Simon muttered while Aia replied
Bang!!
"
A tower of flames shot up towards the sky and stormed towards a figure cladded in white aura who dodged it's approach and now found herself being followed by said flame tornado
[They are at a stalemate sir]
"Really?"
Simon asked while looking at the battle from the sides, behind a wrecked house while using one of his skills [Stealth(Lv1)] to hide his presence as best he could, he did think that he would be discovered if the fighting ended and they
Because her display of power honestly frightened Simon who was studying the whole fight with the help of Aia who was breaking everything down for him to easily understand, the use of mana and aura, the deployment of magic items and the effects of aura items and their effects in combat and how to use them
He was practically getting a full on example on how to fight in this world right now and he wanted to make every moment of it count
{How are they both even human?}
Simon honestly asked, the two figure clashing infront of him seemed like those heroes from movies that would fire beams and fly through the skies like gods
[Both of them are currently in the Elite rank of power in their respective class so this level of power is not that strange sir, however miss Artis's technique and mastery over her white aura and wind energy will soon overwhelm the Raven cloak leader's fire magic and ite-]
Bang!!!
Before she could finish, Kaiven fell from the sky like a small meteor and crashed through the gravel, if he had not deployed shock absorption and barrier magic, Simon was sure that the guy would've splattered apart from the impact
"Yeah it seems we're not needed here Aia"
[It seems so sir...So what's do plan on doing with those civilians you put in your inventory alomg the way here sir?]
"I'll let them out outside of this chaos"
Simon got up and replied made his way towards the nearest gate, the southern one
[Your actions are truly exemplary sir]
End of Chapter