Chapter 23: Traps
At least thirty bandits surrounded the group, sealing off their escape routes both ahead and behind. Their weapons glinted in the dim light—swords, spears, bows, and axes. On the cliff to the left, archers stood like vultures, their arrows nocked and ready. To the right, only a steep drop awaited, shrouded in mist.
Exhaustion clung to the group like a second skin. Their complexions were pale, their essence reserves running dangerously low from the previous battles.
A bald man clad in thick iron armor stepped forward, wielding a double-edged battle axe with silver engravings. His voice was coarse but mockingly polite. "No hard feelings. It's just business."
Then, with a cruel smirk, he barked, "Leave the women and the kid alive. Try not to scare them too much. And don't damage the goods or valuables."
Ravi and Waker recognised the bald man. He was someone who had recently joined the guild, just like Reydon. But to think that he was a partner of bandits. More likely a bandit himself. To see him now leading bandits stirred a rare and dangerous fury inside Waker.
Waker's blood boiled. He was about to charge when Ravi called out, calm and calculating, "There are only seven Essence Weilder, and none of them seem to possess an Essence Aspect! The rest are normal warriors!"
Garn Trelos snapped on his black spiked gauntlets. "Safeconduct Formation!" The ex-members of the Great Claws leapt into action. Tarin quickly took up the rear as he faced the back of the road, and Sira moved to the left flank, her daggers drawn and eyes scanning. Garn and Velka raised Earth and Wind barriers to protect the group from the archers above. Elyra knocked an arrow, her expression as still as a tranquil lake. Meanwhile, Ravi, Waker, and Dorn took the front lines, standing like a wall of steel.
Earth and Wind walls of Garn and Velka protected the group. But suddenly Garn burst forward, which the archers didn't expect. At the same time, Velka releases wind slashes on the archers. Elyra also unleashes the torrent of illusory blue arrows along with the furry of wind blades. Arrows rained down but were diverted by Velka's wind dome or were blocked by Garn's earth barrier.
Tarin ducked under a swinging spiked hammer and retaliated with a slicing arc that removed the bandit's head from his shoulders. Mirelle was holding Kiran firmly. A man wielding a scythe lunged towards them, but an arrow shot by Elyra pierce through the armoured chest.
Ravi, Waker, and Dorn were like an unstoppable havoc. Ravi moved with surgical precision, his silver sword dancing through flesh and steel. Waker's yellow-green grass shot from his palms, wrapping around enemies and slamming them into the earth or each other. Dorn cleaved the bandits under his Greatsword or under the deadly earth and fire attacks.
Within minutes, half the enemy force lay dead or dying. The bald man paled as he noticed the early outcome. He regretted that he had greatly underestimated the capabilities of this group, especially of Ravi and Waker. He could've expected that Dorn was difficult to deal with, but Waker and Ravi were supposed to be Unskillful Essence Weilder or at least at Ordinary Rank. He started cursing a particular old man.
They were crushing the enemies, but their advantage didn't remain for long. As the group was already exhausted and their tactic understanding had deducted that they had to finish the enemies as soon as possible. If the battle continued to be prolonged, then their disadvantage of low essence would become evident. Tarin, Garn, and Elyra started getting injured as their bodies filled with bruises and cut marks.
Mirelle's body lit up with a faint golden light, and an area of effect appeared, which healed the injuries of the group in that area.
Sira was engaged in an intense duel against an Essence Weilder, whose weapon was a chain attached to a large Shuriken with a bronze lining engraved on it. She was doing all she could to dodge the erratic movement of the weapon. Her illusions flickered, nearly broken.
Suddenly, a bright white light blinded both of them, ceasing their movements. When Sira's vision returned, Ravi was standing between her and her attacker. The man's head rolled across the dirt while his body fell to the ground. It was at that moment that Sira realised how strong was Reydon really. He had killed an Essence Weilder in a blink. Sira said inwardly as she unknowingly started sweating and a chill run down her spine, 'Just who are you, Reydon?'
Dorn was engaged in a battle against another Essence Weilder. Two greatswords were producing sharp metallic sound and sparks as they collided. Waker was moving towards the bald man with ferocity burning in his eyes, crushing anyone on his way.
The bald man said to one of his subordinates, "Conava - one of them's a healer! Don't let her get away!"
Waker was now ablaze with fury. His eyes glowed gold, and the ground beneath his feet sprouted grasses that shimmered with latent power. He crushed two bandits into each other like dolls.
Ravi scanned the battlefield. Elyra, Dorn, Tarin, and Velka were each locked in duels with enemy Essence Wielders.
The bald man screamed in desperation, "Conava! Forget the plan! Kill them all!"
Ravi saw that a hooded archer probably named Conava took out some kind of cybertech weapon. He aimed at Ravi, channeling essence into its glowing core. Ravi sighed inwardly, 'That thing had followed me up to here.'
Before the trigger was pulled, a massive, fur-covered palm burst from the ground and seized Conava. It crushed him into a meat paste. His scream was brief. After a while, a hulking white ape emerged from the ground, four meters tall, its crimson eyes with swirling black mist locked on Ravi.
"ROAR!!!" Then came the roar—a deafening, bone-rattling roar.
The mountain lightly shakes from the scream. Its huge bulky arms rise and fall in a flash, smashed into the terrain that had sent cracks outward. Everyone was looking wryly at the monstrous cursed beast, but it was looking madly at Ravi through his crimson eyes that had a shade of black in it.