17 - Night Assault - Part 4

-Beginning of the battle-

Mark, Becky, and Drake were struggling to defend the area against 30 bandits, Margret was firing lightning from the back, alongside Leo who was also attacking. Val had left it up to Leo's discretion to choose where he provided his support, and Leo instinctually chose to fight against the larger number of enemies. Leo had an unbreakable faith in Val, and without thinking knew he would win his fight.

Leo was able to kill a bandit with every use of [Lazer Roar], the ability was very powerful, it was fast, precise, and had great penetrative power. The issue was, that it had a long cooldown period, and consumed a lot of mana to use. Therefore, he could not spam the ability and had to pick the enemies he chose to kill.

Mark, Drake, and Becky were defending the area and not allowing any enemies to get close to Margret or Leo, but they were having a rough time, they were heavily outnumbered. The only saving grace was the mana barrier which stopped them from getting overwelled by ranged Magic Skills, and Jamal, who was running rampant through the enemy bandits.

Within the first minute, the enemy bandits had taken a huge hit to their forces. Jamal had killed 7 bandits, including a C-Rank and a D-Rank bandit, Leo had killed 2 bandits, Margret had only killed 1 but had injured several others, enough for the rest of her party to take out 2 of them. Leaving only 18 bandits, 1 C-Rank, 3 D-Rank, and the rest were low-ranked bandits.

If this momentum had been able to continue, the fight would have been easy, however, it was not going to go the way they wanted. After Jamal had taken out a large chunk of their forces, the vice leaders of the bandit gang joined the battle. The 4 B-Rank bandits, had confronted Jamal, it seemed the A-Rank boss was quite arrogant and did not think that he would be needed for victory. With the 4 B-rank bandits confronting Jamal, there was no longer the same pressure on the remaining 18 bandits and they could now focus fully on fighting Lightning Fang.

This suddenly became very tough for Lightning Fang, the party rank was D-Rank but Mark and Becky were individually C-Rank, and Margret and Drake were still D-Rank, the party was close to being ranked up, it could potentially happen after this request. So each of them was stronger than the D-Rank bandits, so if it had just been a fight between the C-Rank and D-Rank bandits, Lightning Fang would have won, but unfortunately, there were another 14 low-level bandits that were constantly attacking them. Leo's support was very helpful, he was able to slowly whittle down the enemy.

The fight continued for a few minutes with the bandits slowly losing numbers, however, Lightning Fang had not come out unscathed. The bandits had 10 people left on their side and no one from Lightning Fang had fallen. 2 of the D-Rank bandits had been killed by Leo, who had strategically aimed for them when they were not expecting. However, Lightning Fang was not in a good position. Mark and Becky were riddled with cuts, marks, bruises, and wounds, but nothing lethal, Leo and Margret were becoming low on mana. Drake was the worst out of the group, his giant shield was cracked and he was covered in blood, he had cuts and wounds all over his body and a chunk of flesh was missing from his side, he was only barely still standing, being given the will to keep fighting by his loyalty to his friends and comrades and the adrenaline pumping through his veins. However, it was uncertain how long he would last.

Things were not looking good for Lightning Fang, Mark had not had an opportunity to spectate Jamal's fight, but he needed to see his position and the possibility of getting support from him.

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Unfortunately, Jamal could be considered in a worse position than them. Jamal was able to kill 2 of the B-Rank vice leaders of the bandits, but in doing so he angered the A-Rank boss, forcing him to join the fight. Jamal was now facing 2 B-Rank and 1 A-Rank bandit by himself, outside of the magic barrier.

Jamal was strong, he was classed as A-Rank but had been trained and groomed within the Dukedom, he had been provided with many resources and techniques for many years and was considered stronger than a normal A-Rank adventurer. But even he had his limits, he was utilizing both his Wind Talent skills and his Broad Sword Talent skills and was still struggling against the enemy. The A-Rank bandit boss had Metal Talent and Earth Talent, and multiple defensive skills, making it incredibly hard to do any damage to the bandits. The 2 B-Rank bandits would normally never be a match for Jamal, but with the support of their boss, they were able to attack without worrying about defending.

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When Mark saw Jamal's situation, he knew it was unlikely that Jamal would be able to provide any support to them. His only hope was to defend and pray that Val and the merchants would win their fight and come help them as soon as possible.

Mark and Lightning Fang continued to fight, they had shifted their focus to defending and attacking only when they needed to or there was an opportunity to damage or kill one of the bandits.

After another few minutes, they had been able to take down 3 more bandits thanks to Margret and Leo, but there was still the D-Rank and C-Rank bandit left. Even though they were slowly killing the bandits, it did not come without a price, Drake was on the verge of collapse, and he would not be able to stay standing for much longer, he may even die soon.

The C-Rank bandit noticed this and directed his full-power attack at Drake. The bandit had a Spear Talent, and a fairly high rank one at that. The spear was of quite high quality, it was not a magic weapon but was definitely made using high-quality materials by an expert.

The strike pierced through Drake's already crumbling shield and pierced him straight through the neck. All of Lightning Fang was stunned, no one had ever died in their party, this was a first for them. They all knew that there was always a possibility, but when you have been together for years without any casualties, you forget that your life can always be taken.

Drake saw the strike coming, but he no longer had the energy or strength to dodge or stop the attack, he knew his shield would not be able to block it. He knew he was looking at his own death. As the spear pierced his throat, blood rushed up into his mouth, and started flowing out of his mouth and neck. As the spear was ripped back out of his throat, Drake with the last of his strength turned around to Margret, he wanted to tell her he loved her one last time, but no voice came out. Margaret could see his mouth moving, attempting to say 'I love you'.

Margret and Drake had been dating for a few years, since they were 15, they did not show it much during requests but they cared for each other deeply and were madly in love.

When Margret saw Drake fall to the ground dead, all she could do was scream,

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

"NOOOOOOOOOO"

Margret kept screaming, she was heartbroken and scared, and she did not know what else to do. The C-Rank bandit had a wicked smile on his face, they had been fighting and losing men for a while but now they had finally inflicted some revenge on these adventurers. He began to laugh crazily,

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

Some of the other remaining bandits joined in, others just had wild smiles across their faces.

The shock had taken over Margret's mind, her vision went red with rage. She stopped screaming and started wildly attacking the C-Rank bandit. He had to stop his evil laugh to dodge and block but his smile never left his face.

After Margret began her attack, Mark and Becky were awoken from their shock. They had pain in their hearts for their fallen comrade and friend, but they had to continue the fight otherwise they would end up like Drake.

Things would become much harder though, they were a man down now, and Drake was their main defense. Margret had also lost all coordination in her rage and would likely completely deplete her mana soon, most likely collapsing from exhaustion.

Becky looked at Mark for instructions on how to proceed, but Mark was stumped, this was a new situation for him and he did not know the best way to overcome the current circumstance.

Jamal was still at a standstill with the leaders of the bandit group and could not come to support them, their main defender was dead and their ranged magic user had lost control and become wild and uncoordinated in her sorrow and sadness.

Everything was falling apart and if he could not improve the current momentum of the battle he and the rest of his party would surely die.

Mark decided the only option they had left, was to continue the fight. They needed to try and take advantage of the chaos that Margret was creating before she fell unconscious. He went to attack the C-Rank bandit, if he was able to kill him, their victory was far more likely, and he was currently very preoccupied with Margrets unhinged and unrelenting attacks.