Wind Sense

"Rebecca, 10 o'clock, 40 degrees upwards, there's a mercenary there."

"Got it. HAH!!"

A bright magenta blade of Aura shot out from the tip of Rebecca's sword. It flew and cut through the air.

*BOOM*

The Aura blade produced a loud explosion as it blasted off the top of a tree.

"Tch, they avoided it."

The mercenary narrowly dodged the magenta Aura blade.

"Karn! Incoming on your right! An overhead slash!" I warned one of the knights of another incoming attack.

"I gotcha!"

*CLANG*

Karn blocked the slash and the knights on both of his sides saw an opening and they took advantage of it. The knight on the left stabbed the mercenary's chest and the one on Karn's right cut off their left arm.

The mercenary visibly flinched from the pain but recovered fast enough to retreat. But I wasn't going to let them do that.

"Hup!"

I raised my hands up high in the air, then swung my arms downward. The air above the retreating mercenary slammed them down on the ground.

"NOW!"

"DIE!!" Karn elongated the Aura surrounding his sword and slashed downwards.

The Aura sliced the mercenary's body into two pieces.

One down.

"Haha!! We can win this!" Mason cheered.

"Mason, keep your head in the fucking game! Incoming from your 12 o'clock."

"Oh shit!"

Mason almost failed in deflecting a mercenary's stab to his knee. Luckily the idiot managed to save his skin. If he got wounded in action, it would make everything harder than it already is.

The mercenaries kept attacking and attacking, but each and every time I was able to sense whatever they were doing. Every time they tried something, I would preemptively warn the knights, and they would successfully thwart the attacks of the mercenaries.

The only problem is the strongest of the mercenaries, who's a 3rd stage like Rebecca.

I can immediately sense when they shoot Aura projectiles, but the only one that's fast enough to actually deal with them is Rebecca herself. The other Chromatic stage knights would be helpless in front of a speeding Aura projectile.

With my guidance, we whittled their numbers down slowly but surely, until the strongest one is left.

The last mercenary stepped out of the shadows to reveal themselves. It seems like they came to the conclusion that the earlier tactic of ambush attacks is useless.

Took them long enough. They really had to get all of their teammates to die to learn their lesson.

The mercenary narrowed their eyes. They spoke with a voice that is difficult to determine if it was a man's or a woman's.

"You will pay... soon..."

The mercenary returned to the shadows... and fled to the direction of the campsite!

"Shit! Rebecca, the asshole's going to the campsite!" I quickly warned Rebecca.

"What?! Hop on my back! You guide where to go."

"Alright."

I saddled myself on Rebecca's back. Then she burst off towards the direction I pointed her towards at an insane speed.

It felt like my neck was about to be ripped off by the drag. But I fought hard to push my head forward so that I can still see and sense the surroundings.

"There!" I pointed in a certain direction. The 3rd stage mercenary was running away.

Rebecca paused in her sprint. She planted her feet on the ground and swung her sword with a mighty force.

"RAAAAAAARRGHH!!!" Rebecca roared as her sword blasted a huge streak of magenta light.

The magenta blade sliced off every tree in its path until it reached the fleeing mercenary.

The mercenary turned around and blocked the attack.

The magenta Aura blade kept pushing on the mercenary. The mercenary was being pushed back. I felt the air touch the gouged-out dirt caused by the mercenary's feet being pushed back.

The opposing forces clashing caused shockwaves to split apart trees and uproot shrubs in the surroundings.

But the equilibrium of the clash ended soon.

The mercenary lost to the sheer force of power behind the magenta blade. They were blasted off and ragdolled through the air, eventually coming to a stop as they collided against a tree.

"Did I get him?" Rebecca asked me since she can't see in the dark nor does she have the wind to sense stuff for her.

"Yeah... he's out."

I hopped off Rebecca's and the both of us approached the mercenary to see if they were still alive.

I place my finger on the neck, just underneath the jawline to check for their pulse.

"Alive..."

Well then, no better time to kill a pest than now.

I pulled out my dagger and stabbed at the son of bitch's head.

But before my dagger could even penetrate the fucker's skull, Rebecca grabbed my wrist forcing me to stop.

"What?"

"We need them alive."

"For what?! So that they can try to abduct Rosaline again?"

Rebecca shook her head in disagreement.

I pulled back my hand and sheathed my dagger, then asked her why we were going to keep the mercenary alive.

"The Black Mamba mercenaries sent out people with black Auras, something we didn't expect. We need to probe this person for more information so that we can be prepared in case the Black Mambas send more of their type..."

Rebecca paused in her explanation and looked me in the eyes.

"...you can't always be there to counter their stealth. We need to have our own advantage and must not be dependent on your abilities."

That makes sense. We were lucky this time.

I was able to get this 'wind sense' of mine in the nick of time. It completely counteracted the absolute stealth of these bastards.

The knights must find a way to get the upper hand without my help.