Sequence Four: Mayhem

“You’re that butcher guy in the meat shop!” surprised as he is, Josh could only manage to point his finger towards him.

“Please, don’t call me like that.” The man in front of Josh said while touching his forehead due to the unexpected reaction of Josh.

“And you should at least say ‘thank you’ instead of pointing your finger to me.” He added.

But the idea that this man could slay a terrifying creature easily still bothers Josh’s thoughts. The first time he met this person, his first impression was ‘a nasty guy who likes to tease young girls’. But now, he looks more like someone who has a lot of experience in fighting with a talent on landing an instant kill to the enemy.

His perspective for this person sure did changed after seeing what he can do, as he looks to the body of a dead orc with a deep wound on its neck.

“Cardel, what are you doing here?” Cerise asked, curious about the reason why he is here, most of the time it could be a coincidence but to appear exactly when they needed is another.

“I was taking my family to an evacuation area provided when I saw you guys in trouble.” He answered while walking closer to the two and stops to where Josh is.

He lifts his hand that is currently holding a dagger and points the tip of the dagger to Josh’s throat.

“What’s more interesting is…” He said while pointing his dagger to Josh’s neck.

“The moment you arrived in this village, soon after, this crisis happens to our place. Why is that?” he added staring daggers to Josh while still pointing the actual dagger on his neck.

Though the last sentence was meant to be a question, but the facial expression he has says that he doesn’t need an answer.

“Well, I don’t really know…” Josh answered while having a worried face.

“Huh? Can’t clearly hear ya.” Cardel said coldly while almost trusting the dagger on Josh’s neck while closing in his face to Josh.

“…Coincidence maybe?” he added, as he gulps down his saliva knowing that things are getting serious.

There is a moment of silence for the three, while Cardel’s expression remains the same. Cerise is about to intervene, when suddenly out of nowhere, a small ‘pttf’ came out from Cardel.

“Ha! I caught you this time kid!” he said laughing like crazy.

“I didn’t had the chance to tease you back then.” He added still laughing

And the pair was dumbfounded and annoyed seeing his reaction, especially Cerise that looks so irritated at the moment.

“Hoooh! That was rich. You should see the looks on your faces.” Cardel said still laughing like crazy.

“That’s it; I’m going to take down this clown first.” Cerise said, loading her bow with an arrow and points it to Cardel.

“Hey, hey, Cerise calm down a bit. He doesn’t mean it, it’s a joke anyway.” Josh said blocking Cerise sight on Cardel, both surprised and relief that everything was just for this guy’s entertainment.

But Cerise seems to be fixed on her resolve, every time Josh blocks her view on Cardel, she moves on her sides to have a better view on her target

“Anyway, Cerise, I need your help.” Cardel said, turning the hilarious moment to a serious one

“And you too kid.” Turning his head to Josh.

“Huh?” was all Josh could say

***

“How’s the barrier doing?” a female voice said

“It is currently stable for now, but I don’t think our mages can handle it until reinforcement arrives my lady.” An old man answers.

“Tsk!” was all that is heard from the female while she walks towards the front door of the mansion to check the status of the battle raging on while an old man follows her silently.

Outside, she noticed a huge crowd of orcs beyond the barrier, desperately attacking it just to get through. But the barrier created by her mages is strong enough that any means of attacks are deflected, the orcs are just bouncing off as they hit the barrier like a ball hitting a wall. But the soldiers inside can engage an attack to the beasts which gives them the tactical advantage.

But though it seems like a ‘perfect protection’ for the humans inside, it may crumble any moment because of the tired mages unable to sustain it.

“Just by looking at our mages, I think they can only sustain it for about an hour or less.” The old man from earlier said.

“I know I’m not blind. I can see how tired they are.” She replied, getting annoyed because of the situation of the battlefield.

“So what will you do?” the man said

She looks at the man with irritation, the question the man asked her was simple, “What are her orders for them” but to her it sounded like a provocation questioning her ability to command her troops.

“Ready the archers!” She commanded, and in an instant two diagonal line, composing of ten archers each appears behind her. Raising her hand as a signal, the line of archers loaded their bows with arrows.

“Fire!”

With her command, a hail of arrows flew above her to the area where the enemies are packing up, hitting multiple foes on different areas of their body. Some on the head, others on the chest, a few on their necks while others are hit from the opening on their mouths piercing through the back of their necks. Splattering sounds are heard everywhere.

The barrage of arrows continues until some of the archers runs out of ammunition. Even though it seems like they have the upper hand, the enemies just seems to stack up again now in a much greater number than before.

“Just how many of these ugly creatures are out there?!” she exclaimed, seeing the multiplying numbers of orcs coming near the barrier.

“Stop firing! Save your arrows!” she ordered and her command was passed down from one person to another.

“Men! Prepare your weapons and eliminate everything that comes near the barrier especially those who doesn’t look like a human being!” She commanded.

As soon as she said it, the remaining guards pulls out their sword and picks up their spear, went close to the barrier and started stabbing everything that moves beyond the barrier.

Confident on the capabilities of her soldiers, she turns her back on the battle and walks away towards the mansion door.

‘If we can maintain this phase of the battle until reinforcements arrive, then…’ she thought while reaching the knob of the mansion’s door.

But before she could clasp the knob a loud explosion shook the whole ground while smoke made of dust are covering the view beyond where the impact was felt.

“What was that?!” she asked, immediately turning her around in surprise.

“From the amount of force it gives off, it’s probably a second tier explosion magic.” One of the mages shouted while still holding its position to maintain the barrier.

“What? How could these savages obtain such ability? And to evoke magic? Don’t mess with me!” she immediately responded, startled by the fact that if it is true, then it can definitely change the tide of the battle.

“But as far as I know, it is definitely a fire type magic my lady.” The mage replied

As the smoke outside the barrier slowly settles down, a huge shadow forming from a distant walks closer to the barrier, gradually revealing itself.

The female commander’s eyes widen from the sight while her men trembles in fear seeing the creature beyond the barrier that protects them.

A huge orc bigger than the normal ones revealed himself after the dust cloud settles, wearing a black hooded cloak with an elaborated design while holding a wooden staff with skulls as decorative on it.

“I-it’s… A-a…” a voice of a trembling man said

“…An orc warlock!” One of the mages said while he stutters his words.

***

The scent of burning flesh along with the cracking sound produced by some scorched wood fills the nostrils of Josh, as bright crimson flames lit most of the parts of the village; their eyes are filled by the sight of burning houses one after another while dead bodies of both humans and orcs are found on almost every corner.

Three shadows could be seen from a distance running on the burning streets of the village.

“Hey guys, can we slow down a bit?” Josh exclaimed to the two running ahead of him while he catches his breath as he tags along.

“We need to hurry kid or we won’t be able to obtain what we intended there.” Cardel said, looking back to the exhausted boy behind him.

“Where are we going anyway?” Cerise asked while maintaining her running speed. Cardel points to an uphill where a huge mansion is located.

“There.” He said.

While the three are getting closer to the mansion, Josh notices something that is glowing that resembles a transparent wall that surrounds the ground of the mansion.

“What’s that high-rise purple light surrounding it supposed to be?” Josh asked in confusion, maintaining his sluggish running speed.

“Seems like a barrier.” Cardel answered, unsure if it is or it is not.

“What are we after there anyway, Cardel?” Cerise asked while still sprinting

“A damsel in distress.” Cardel said with a smile on his face.

“Oh, you mean your mistress?” Cerise said with an arching eyebrow. “I better report this to your wife.” She added.

“No it’s not!” he answered Cerise with a troubled look yet still maintaining his comical personality as he responds to her.

But the three of them stops on running after hearing a loud explosion followed by a thick cloud of smoke on the side of the glowing purple light.

“We’re running out of time, move it kiddos!”

They continued on running towards the mansion but took a little detour on a higher ground on the side to have a safer distance and a better scouting place for them to assess the situation.

***

Raising his staff a red colored magic circle with runic writings on the exterior surrounding the whole circle appears before the warlock and after a few seconds, a massive fireball shoots out from the circle and hits the barrier protecting the humans inside. The impact shook the entire wall protecting the mansion and its ground.

The trembling of the ground made the people inside stumble and fell on the ground.

Noticing it, the warlock again fired another round, hitting the same area where the previous one hits, he do it repeatedly until a cracking sound is heard after the recent explosion.

Everyone is shock, including the female commander leading them when they saw a wide dent on the barrier that is slowly spreading as time passes by. Noticing it, the warlock continues on assaulting the wall that protects the humans inside.

“God, if this continues on, the barrier will shatter.” One of the mages said

“Hold the barrier as long as you can!” the man beside the commander said.

“My lady I think you need to flee now.” The man said worried for her safety.

The female didn’t say a word for a couple of minutes; she just stands there with an agonized look on her face.

“Gearfried, did I just failed again?” she said in anguish, knowing that this will cost the life of his men.

“You did your best my lady.” The man replied, but his answer also confirms her that they are losing this skirmish.

The woman commanding the army that is protecting the mansion could only clench her teeth upon hearing it.

Being hit repeatedly, the dent of the barrier widens until it almost covers the entirety of the barrier that’s protecting the scared soldiers who are slowly losing their morale to fight.

Knowing that if the barrier is breached, the orcs can now attack them directly and just by looking at their numbers, it will definitely be a massacre.

As the orc’s warlock raises his arm that is holding the staff to launch the final attack to break the now cracked barrier, a flashing light on his side coming from a distance passes through the warlock then hits on a tree nearby snapping it into two.

Due to it, the orc halts his attack and changes his view to the direction where the projectile landed and saw an arrow pierced deep on the ground.

But before he could turn his eyes to where the arrow came from, a warm red-shower starts to spray on his face followed by a tremendous pain he felt on his shoulder. The warlock screams in agony due to the immense pain and realizes that he lost his whole arm on the process.

Crippling in pain, he desperately points to the location where the projectile came from and ordered the other orcs near him to go to the location he is pointing.

***

“Looks like you pissed him badly.” Cardel said

“I think so, I just did what you told me.” Cerise answered while holding her bow.

“Can you cast another one on that area?” Cardel added, while pointing to a horde of orcs charging on the side of the mansion.

“You’ll be paying me big time for this. And I won’t accept goods as payment.” She said while frowning.

“Sure, sure. Whatever you say.”

Cerise then loaded her bow with another arrow then pulls its string as hard as she could. While stretching her bow, a small bluish-white magic circle appears on her left eye just enough to cover its entirety, followed by a bigger one in front of her arching bow. The circle in front of her bow created another one bigger than the other and then followed by another until it creates three layers of magic circles that the latter is larger than its predecessor is.

Using the magic circle on her left eye as a vision amplifier, she can clearly see the enemies and now has a higher accuracy to hit them because of the zooming effect it has.

After stretching her bow far enough, she releases her hold on the arrow and in an instant the arrow flies in light speed as it creates a straight line of bluish-white light.

Upon impact, the horde running towards the side of the barrier that is being targeted by her scatters like a mound of leaves blown away by the wind.

“Based on the impact and damage, I’ll give it a perfect ten.” Cardel said with meticulous eyes observing the destruction made by the arrow.

“But for your posture… probably a seven.” He added while squatting, observing Cerise’s posture after releasing the arrow, with a ‘yeah, probably around that range’ look.

“Quit joking around. A crowd of orcs are going this way.” Cerise said loading another round on her bow.

“Do you think he’ll be alright?” she added while looking on the approaching orcs and stretching her bow to fire again.

“Who? Your man?” Cardel said, still not taking the situation seriously.

“You want me to shoot that goofy face of yours here and now?” Cerise said recalibrating the bow to Cardel’s position.

“Don’t worry, He’ll be fine… I hope so.” He answered.

“Anyway, let’s welcome these visitors that we have first.” He added while he starts on unsheathing the daggers he has that are strapped on his sides.

Cerise fires another shot with the same level of destruction to the mass running towards them, greatly reducing the amount of orcs coming their way. Seeing it as an opportunity, Cardel took the initiative to attack the remaining forces.

Dashing towards the orcs outnumbering him, Cardel charges forward with unbelievable speed, as he slash the one running ahead from the group with his blades and immediately kills it then dashes forward again, taking down a few more.

The orcs then started so surround him, creating a circle to block any means of escape. Seeing this as a form of challenge, Cardel, instead of being troubled by the act of the orcs is now all fired up and excited.

“So, you wanna dance?” he said with a grin on his face while being surrounded.

An orc initiates an attack using his club, swinging it madly, but the only thing he hits was air because Cardel dodged every single one of his swings. Then at the same time another one attacked using his axe but Cardel just dodged if gracefully.

Cardel jumps towards one of the beasts that attacked him and slashes its neck quickly, as he lands on the ground the blood coming from the neck of the orc he just slashed is spraying the others nearby. The spurting blood was so sophisticated that the neck of the orc resembles that of a fountain.

Although it is not normal for this savages, the remaining orcs then coordinated their attacks. A swing of an orc’s axe when dodged is followed by another one wielding another weapon and so on, this continues on for some time but Cardel managed to dodge it while taking down an orc one at a time.

“Hey is that all you got?” He said while jumping backwards to distance himself from the barrage of attacks the orcs are sending him. But as he landed, he slips one of his foot.

‘A puddle?’ he thought, but he remembers that it didn’t rain the whole day, so it would be imposible for a puddle to exist.

But when he took a quick look on his foot that slipped, he then realized that it is not due to spilled water that there is a puddle nearby, it is due to the blood of the orcs that he slayed and has already moisten the soil around them, making it both slimy and muddy.

The orcs noticed that Cardel lost his footing and finds it as an opportunity initiated an attack, but before they could even come closer, Cardel flings one of his daggers hitting the orc advancing on its head then with the use of his other foot, he pushes his body forward tackling the orc in front and slamming him on the other two orcs that are waiting to attack behind.

As the four of them crashed on the ground, Cardel immediately pulls out the dagger he threw with his right hand on the orc’s forehead and stabs it to the other orc underneath on its face while the remaining one was stabbed directly on its eyeball by the other dagger he has on his left hand.

Feeling victorious and tired, Cardel puts his guard down and sat on the dead bodies of the slain orcs, breathing deep and hard. But when he looks up, a shadow blocks his view of the night sky. Alas! Another orc was standing behind him, ready to swing his sword to split him in half!

But in his surprise, the orc was immediately neutralized by a shot on the head with a piercing arrow penetrating through its skull, leaving a huge hole on its forehead then falls down quickly to the ground.

Knowing that it was Cerise who helped him out, he lifts his hand and gave Cerise a thumbs-up.

“Jerk.” She said looking at Cardel sitting on the dead bodies of the orcs.

“I hope he made it.” she thought while looking on the mansion.

***

Just a few meters away from the battle, Josh managed to enter the mansion grounds unnoticed by both the orcs and the humans inside. Creeping and hiding on the bushes and other dark parts of the mansion, Josh looks for a possible entrance to get inside.

‘Why did I even say yes in the first place?’ he thought getting worried and scared of what he is doing now.

Worried on being caught either by the humans inside the barrier or by the orcs outside, he carefully infiltrates the mansion and was able to find a way inside when he discovers an open window.

He slowly slips one of his leg inside followed by other leg until more than half of his body length got through. Just as he’s about to slips his head in, an explosion along with a strong racking of the ground occurs and by that, Josh accidentally bumps his head on the window frame and slides inside the mansion.

‘Damn that Cardel, he should be the one doing this!’ he taught, holding the bump on his head as he walks inside scanning the area.

The whole interior of the mansion is almost covered by dark shadows especially the corners; if not for the lighting provided by the windows on the sides the whole place would be pitch-black.

Since the people guarding the mansion are busy fighting outside there are no guards on standby, making it easier for Josh to search the whole area.

‘Hmmm… if I remember carefully Cardel told me to…’ he thought while recalling what Cardel told him.

***

“Listen kid, that barrier only allows human to pass through it.”

“Look for a girl around her teens inside the mansion.”

“She’s definitely on the second floor… then tell her this…”

***

‘Oh now I remember!’

Josh then starts on looking in every room in the mansion’s second floor, opening it slowly one by one looking for the girl Cardel vaguely mentioned.

“Nope, not here.” He said to the first door he opened

“Neither here.” He said on the fifth door

“Not also in here.”

And after a few more minutes, he arrives on the last door on the inner most part of the second floor.

‘This is the final room in this floor.’ He said to himself and slowly opening it.

“Hello?” he said while slowly opening the door wider until it is completely open.

‘Hmmm… looks like no one’s here.’ He thought and then turns around to walk away from the room.

“Who’s there?” a soft, gentle voice stops him from walking further away. He turns around but saw nothing in the room.

‘This is getting creepy.’ He thought, not seeing a single person inside the room.

“Uhm… Where are you exactly?” Josh said, while scanning the room.

“I’m under the bed.” The voice replied

“What are you doing under the bed?”

“I hid myself after hearing a lot of explosions.” she answered

“Oh, makes sense.”

“Can you help me out? I’m somehow stuck.” The voice pleaded

“Sure, I’ll get you out of there.”

Josh slowly walks inside the room, he gently kneels down near the bed then carefully lifts the skirts of the bed and found a blond haired girl on her early teenage hiding under, wearing a cute looking white nightgown while hugging a large pillow. He helped her get out under it, and assisted her to sit on the edge of the bed.

“Are you one of the guards?” she asked calmly as she looks straight to him without blinking.

“Well… no, sad to say.” He answered while waving his hands in front of her continuously.

“Oh I see, then, how is it outside?” the girl said, still looking straight at him

“Well, it’s… kinda messy if you ask me.” Josh answered stopping the thing he is doing then takes a side step, but to his surprise, the girl is still looking straight on his previous position without even moving her eyes then answers him normally.

“Is that so?” she said with a worried tone and an anxious face.

“But I’m sure the guards can pull this one off.” He declared, assuring the child that everything will be fine.

“Anyway do you happen to know a girl named Stella la Berviere?” Josh asked the girl.

The girl just smiles in front of Josh and gently responds to his question.

“That would be me.”