「Ashna」Shameless Fighters

I rushed in the direction of the archer in the woods and shouted back to my warriors. "Follow me! We will draw the archer out!"

The warriors behind me charged forward by my side. I caught a glimpse of the archer again as she retreated into the forest to the west. I held my hand out to stop my warriors from progressing any further.

"Hold! I have a bad feeling about this."

Ronan had said the Alorae were after me, and they were a cunning and mischievous threat. From my past experience fighting cunning monsters back on my home world, I learned that they were shameless. Cunning creatures did not fight alone if they had the option to group. Whenever there was an advantage to gain, a cunning creature would shamelessly snatch it up. These Alorae were not creatures that I would consider to be bold or honorable.

Something was telling me that it would be a bad decision to go off and follow this woman deeper into the forest. My instincts were telling me that I should retreat to the east and meet up with father.

"Warriors," I said. "We will be led into a trap if we continue our pursuit. We must go to the east and find my father."

One Veldan warrior responded back, "But Ashna, if we don't hunt her now, we may not be able to in the future."

I nodded. "That may be true, but my father must know that I am being hunted. I don't think…"

At that moment, I felt the presence of the archer. I was not sure of it before, but I am now. She was trying to bait us deeper into the west of the forest. She was drawing us away from my father and closer to what I would expect to be an ambush or trap.

I turned to face the warrior. "She's baiting us. We cannot fall for the provocation."

He reluctantly nodded his head. I could tell he did not want to let her be, and I understood his eagerness to fight. Suddenly, a barrage of light arrows flew in our direction. I instinctively blocked the attack by expanding my shield energy. The arrows bounced off harmlessly, and the archer's energy disappeared, only to reappear at the edge of where I could sense her presence when she stopped moving.

I was no fool. I turned and ran east. "Quick! Warriors, we must go!"

All of the warriors followed me as I ran east. I motioned for them to run ahead so that I could take up the rear. I mounted my shield to my back and focused my shield energy to help cover us as we retreated.

I felt a surge of energy coming from behind us and anticipated another large arrow of light. I felt something slam into my back, rocking me as my shield energy reduced the impact and nullified the attack. I was shot forward several meters and almost overtook my warriors thanks to the force of the strike.

I slowed to give them time to advance and sensed nearly a dozen creatures in pursuit of us. "Warriors! You must run faster! The archer was leading us into an ambush. I can sense that we are being chased by many enemies."

I felt our enemies start to close the distance between us. They were a mere ten meters away, so I decided that I must do something in order to save the others. My father was only minutes away, so I needed to only stall, and perhaps he would reach me in time.

"Warriors, run! Do not stop; I will hold them off! You must reach my father!"

I stopped abruptly and turned to face our pursuers. I attached my shield to my left arm and began to focus my hammer energy into the warhammer I held in my right arm. I let the warhammer slide down my hand, caught it by its strap, and then began to spin it.

The hammer energy began to form a ring of purple that followed the motion of my warhammer. I felt the pursuers slow, and the first one came into view. It was a beautiful Alorae man with light brown hair and pure white skin. I released the hammer from my grip, and it flew towards him.

The hammer collided with the man's head, and I watched as it burst into a gory mess of bone, brain, and some kind of dark yellow fluid. I was unfamiliar with the bodies of Alorae, so seeing dark yellow blood was surprising.

Notification

Achievement: First Kill

Congratulations! You have killed someone of another race for the first time! For this achievement, you have received the following benefits:

Title: Novice Killer

+10 Strength

+5 Agility

I mentally dismissed the notification and extended my arm to summon back my hammer. As it was on its return path, an arrow of light cut through the forest on a path to strike me. I directed the hammer to intercept the arrow of light and deflect it into the sky. The force caused my hammer to slam into the ground at my feet.

I surged shield energy into my shield as I saw two more figures appear from the forest, both with orbs of magical energy floating around them. The figures appeared to be Alorae twins with the same pure white skin and bright cyan hair. Their facial features were uncannily similar. They both began to simultaneously rain down spheres of concentrated magical energy on my location.

The spheres of energy impacted against my shield with tremendous force, but I managed to hold the attacks off. I concentrated on my warhammer, and it flew to my free hand. Three more figures appeared behind the twins as I began to spin my warhammer again. I heard them speak and received a notification from the system.

Notification

The user has learned the Alorae language. The user is now capable of speaking, reading, and writing in Alorae.

I felt a flood of knowledge enter my mind. It was uncomfortable, but I welcomed it.

The archer from before shouted at me from behind the twins. "We will not hurt you if you don't resist! Just come with us quietly!"

I shouted back at them while still spinning my warhammer and channeling my energy. "Why are you after me?"