Chapter 08: Ambush part 2

This was clearly going to be a difficult situation. While we had plenty of fighting power, the enemy's numbers were concerning. The giant man named Durden ran towards us, positioning himself as reinforcement, under the rain of reduced arrows and tension that could be cut with a knife. It was difficult to fight when there were non-combatants to consider, and I could see Arthur frowning at the situation. He couldn't be happy about being a bother.

In the midst of the mounting tension, a burly bald man with scars stepped forward. "Good hunting boys! Don't touch the women and children too much; damaged items sell for less." He declared.

Arthur stood up from his seat. Alice worriedly gripped his arm, but Arthur's face was furrowed with rage. The carriage's wooden floor creaked as Arthur took a step forward, his blue eyes fixed on the man, ready to strike.

Arthur was aware of his situation based on the way he paused before leaping recklessly. But, to avoid the worst-case scenario, I also grabbed his forearm. I tightened my grip, forcing him to look me in the eyes. His blue eyes were meeting mine. I returned an apathetic look, but with just enough warning.

Arthur sighed in defeat, deflated. As his high spirits faded, I let go of his forearm as well. He'd be a liability to the team if he left right now. Even if we are better than most kids our age, our mana core ability is poor, and we would quickly run out of mana if we tried to fight.

Reynolds lunged forward with a battle roar, as if taking Arthur's place in chastising the bald man for his bold words. Taking that as a cue, the tension that had been building between the two forces erupted into a clash. The sounds of battle echoed throughout the place, and Alice drew us back into an embrace, trying to cover our ears so we didn't hear the bandits' battle cries or pained groans.

Reynolds kept fighting with the leader at the front. His blow combinations were lethal and fast, but the bald man was defending well, and they appeared to be evenly matched. Durden summoned a wall of earth to cushion a tide of arrows that pierced Angela's barrier, causing the carriage to lurch slightly.

Meanwhile, I turned my gaze to the right, where Jasmine had become a blur, and some bandits with sinister smiles collapsed with their throats pierced, stupidly trying to hold back the blood with their hands. She used her agility to her advantage, and the air seemed to dodge her as she danced aggressively among the enemies. She was pretty good, I had to admit. My judgment may have been impaired because I couldn't keep up with her movements due to the speed, but I saw that she was well trained with the daggers.

Jasmine continued to wreak havoc wherever she went until she came across her adversary. He was a rather large man who used a chain as a whip.

Jasmine deftly avoided the first lash of the chain, causing the chain to crash to the ground and lift the earth with a thunderous crack. Because of his reach, the man had the upper hand, and Jasmine could only dodge. This was bad, but if Jasmine could hold out until the man tired, he'd be easy prey.

Alice slid her hand from my ear to my eyes and turned my head to the other side, blocking my view of the carnage the apathetic girl was staring at. However, this caused my other senses to sharpen. A terrifying buzzing noise rang out, becoming sharper and sharper as if channeling energy. I caught a glimpse of Helen aiming her bow from the left side of the carriage between Alice's fingers.

Helen clenched her bowstring, two fingers gripping the end of a sharp arrow. The mana caused the tip of the arrow to turn a greenish color, and the wind seemed to swirl around her, shaking her black hair as well as the remnants of the carriage's canvas roof. Helen let go of the arrow, which whistled through the air as it flew straight for a group of archers on the mountain. The arrow smashed a section of the mountainside, causing many of the archers to collapse in terror.

Helen tightened the string of her bow once more as the archers fell to the ground with dry sounds. Inhaling air for better control, she fired another arrow with wind magic, this time against the cracked mountain.

When the arrow hit the area, it caused an explosion of dust and rocks. The rocks crunched and began to fall, rolling down the mountain and landing on the archers' defenseless bodies, who barely had time to scream before being crushed with wet sounds. Normal people were disturbed by the sight. But I had to admit that it was a clever move. I would have done the same thing.

Arthur's body tensed slightly in surprise at the sight. When Alice noticed his movement, she drew us closer to her, whispering. "Everything is going to be okay."

Along with Alice's comforting words, the battle intensified. Because of her embrace, I couldn't see very well, but it appeared that the bandits were going back because they were in disarray. It was fortunate that we had a surprise element; apparently, when they attacked, they did not expect to encounter a group of well-trained individuals.

However, not everything was going as planned. A rumble was heard. Our carriage was violently rocked by a collision.

Alice raised her head abruptly, and I could feel her body tensed. "Stay here!" she commanded urgently. She jumped out of the carriage after that, and when I looked up, I saw her running into a cloud of dust. "Honey!" she exclaimed.

I watched her run away, planning to heed my new mother's command, but apparently Arthur had other plans. He dashed out of the carriage and ran after Alice. "Dad!" he yelled as he raced away.

I considered staying, but eventually sighed and jumped out as well. Ignoring Angela's concerned cries.

The rumbling came from the front of the carriages; judging by the screams of the two, Reynolds had been injured. I couldn't see what had happened, but it appeared serious.

I followed them both closely, feeling the earthen floor vibrate from occasionally from the fights that had not yet ended. The cliff to the left seemed especially intimidating, as if it were waiting for someone to fall and never return. The dust cloud that had obscured our view of where we had heard the rumble had settled, and I caught a glimpse of Reynolds' figure amidst a heap of rubble.

Alice approached Reynolds' wounded figure "Honey!" She became alarmed when she noticed blood pouring from his mouth and quickened her pace. She eventually got to him and knelt beside him, holding her hands up. "Don't worry, you'll be fine!" She gave her assurance.

Reynolds' blue eyes were slightly blurry, but his gaze sharpened as he looked at Alice. He grasped her hands tremblingly. "Don't. They'll try harder to catch you if they find out you're a healer." With a small smile on his face, he let go of Alice's hands. "I'm going to be fine." He declared, but the puff of blood he spat out with his words made it less credible.

Arthur, who was waiting next to me, was visibly nervous, his eyes darting between Alice and Reynolds with obvious concern.

I just looked at Reynolds and quickly concluded that his injuries were beyond my ability to treat at this time. The impact most likely caused him to bleed internally due to broken ribs puncturing his lungs or simply crushing other organs. It was best to let Alice heal him.

She seemed to have reached the same conclusion because she ignored his words and the greenish but dim light spread from her hands to Reynolds' body, slowly healing him.

The bandits noticed what was going on while we were waiting for Reynolds to be healed, because the greenish light emanating from Alice was not particularly inconspicuous. "They have a healer!" Exclaimed the bald man. And I could see how the news energized the bandits who had lost their fighting spirit. "Don't let her escape!"

This was extremely inconvenient. A bandit approached quickly, his black cloak flapping behind him and a black dagger in his right hand. Arthur and I both stood poised, pulling the knives Jasmine had given us from our sheaths at our waists. However, before the bandit could even get close, an arrow pierced his chest. The man flew backwards as a result of the tremendous force.

Helen had an arrow in her calf but had still helped us. Very impressive.

Adam, who had been fighting one of the more powerful bandits, split the bandit in two with a simple twist of his red spear.

I nodded to Adam, who turned and continued fighting more hooded men.

Reynolds addressed us as Alice sobbed and healed him, now with a brighter complexion than before. "Listen. I can defeat their leader, but not if I have to protect Alice at the same time." He reasoned. "That's why you're leaving; we'll make an opening for you to flee." He stated.

I nodded, and Reynolds nodded back, realizing that I understood. The plan sounded reasonable, and we would remove dead weight from the team for them to handle the situation, as they didn't appear to be having much difficulty besides a few scratches. Angela, though pale, was still sending wind blades at the approaching bandits as Jasmine overpowered the chain man. The others were doing well too.

But Arthur seemed to disagree. "No, Dad! I'm staying!" He yelled, his blue eyes welling up with tears that threatened to overflow. "You saw me, I can fight!"

I looked at him, and reconsidered what I had thought. 'Did I get it wrong, and is he not a reincarnated adult? Or is he just overly sentimental?'

I placed my hand on his shoulder, intending to reason with him, but Reynolds interrupted me. "Listen to me, Arthur Leywin!" His voice echoed loudly, drawing Arthur's attention away from his sobbing. "You and Kiyo must look after your mother and the life within her."

At Reynolds' words, Arthur froze, his blue eyes widening in surprise, and his mouth hung loosely, as if processing what he had just heard.

Arthur's eyes, however, became determined, and he spoke with resolve. "I will protect her!" His gaze shifted to me, who was still staring at him with the same expression, and he seemed to realize something. He smiled. "No. We will protect her, Dad!"

At his words, I gave a small practiced smile. It wasn't entirely a waste of time to spend all this time practicing a smile. Arthur seemed to regard me as an equal, which was a little sooner than I expected but still useful.

Alice had finished healing Reynolds, and she was so pale I thought she was going to pass out.

Alice stood up after she finished healing Reynolds. Her breathing was labored, her skin was sickly pale, and beads of sweat drenched her lovely brown hair. She appeared to be about to pass out.

Arthur and I used mana to keep her legs from stumbling. Alice smiled tiredly and, seeing her sons attempting to assist her,

she improved her posture, still wobbled but it was better.

I watched Reynolds stand up, almost completely healed. His fists were completely engulfed in flames. "We'll make a way for you." He said, then charged back into battle.

Alice was in a state of trance, leaving her at our mercy. Arthur stepped behind her and gently pushed her in the right direction. I walked to the front, Jasmine's knife drawn, to protect myself from any potential enemies.

While walking, I replenished my body with mana and sent periodic pulses to maximize mana efficiency by not using a fixed amount in an inactive state. This way, I could lengthen my time using mana reserves even further.

We moved quickly but stealthily towards a location with fewer enemies, as this appeared to be the path we needed to take. Arthur was diligently covering the back.

I moved my gaze to the location where the enemy's long-distance attackers had been. There were few archers left; the majority of them had been killed. And there were only three remaining mages. However, I noticed something peculiar. I had previously counted all of the enemies and knew there were four mages. But all I could see were three. Had he died?

My response came in the form of an archer abruptly laying down his bow to point a wand in our direction. Energy swirled around him, and he shot a massive water ball in our direction with a watery sound.

I infused the knife in my hand with mana, and it began to vibrate as if eager to prove its worth. I drew back my arm, reinforced it with almost all the mana I could muster in the short amount of time I had, and threw the knife with all my might. The knife spun, making a blade sound as it attempted to approach the man directly, passing right next to the water ball. Despite my poor stance and grip, the knife went straight into the man's skull, piercing through with a rough, wet sound.

The water attack was heading straight for me, so I rolled to the right, narrowly avoiding the water ball that was launched.

I felt the hardness of the ground against my back as I rolled, but I was unharmed. When I looked up, I saw that Arthur had pushed Alice out of the way of the water ball. And now Arthur was falling off the cliff, and Alice was on the ground.

I pushed the ground beneath my feet while strengthening my legs with the remaining mana from my core. My speed, however, was not as quick as I would have liked. Arthur's fate had been sealed.

The ground rose up right next to me, and a massive hand, much faster than me, reached out to save Arthur from his fall into the void. But not even Durden's magic could reach Arthur, who fell with a panicked expression on his face.

I reached the cliff's edge and looked down. Arthur's blue eyes met mine. In his eyes, there was only one emotion: regret. But there was still that cold apathy in mine that I couldn't shake.

Arthur shut his eyes, as if he didn't want to see his fate. I wondered what he was regretting. His impending death, or something he didn't get done before he died? Whatever it was, it doesn't matter now because regret is a feeling that only appears when it's too late.

I also wondered, "What should I be feeling right now?" Is it agony, anguish, or sadness? I didn't know because I didn't feel anything at all. I just thought Arthur had potential, but it has now been squandered. Arthur vanished from view, and I stopped looking down. He was useless to me if he didn't exist.

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Before you guys kill me for my decision to have Arthur be the one to fall off the cliff, I should clarify that Kiyo will have his own OP powers, he missed Sylvia's chance but others will come.

And even though one of my favorite characters is Sylvie, as much as I thought I couldn't find a way for Kiyo to take a risk to save Arthur or jump suicidally after him since it's not his personality. Besides the fact that Sylvie's character is shaped by Arthur's personality by reading his thoughts. If she were to read Kiyotaka's thoughts she could do a 180 degree turn to her personality.

Also, I didn't sleep much this week because of my midterms, so there might be more mistakes than usual in the chapter, sorry~.