Night Raid (Part 2)

After his declaration I pointed my sword straight at Torfredr's heart to let him know I was his opponent. He ignored me and looked down at the body of Gervas.

"That makes two of my people you've killed. I'll give you all the chance to join me willingly one last time." He said.

"That's still not going to happen." I said.

"Then I'll take those of you that survive by force." He replied.

I didn't see him give any signal but his main people all moved at once. Their archer fired an arrow at us that was intercepted mid-air by an arrow shot by Lariss. The large man with the club charged and before I could react he was intercepted by Thelora. Cedric then moved on the man with the spear. Everyone else aided where needed as the rest of the bandits joined the fray.

As Torfredr's greatsword hit my shield I felt the strength of someone at the peak of the Expert stage of basic aura. I was pushed back several feet and knew that if I still had my buckler, it would have broken in half. Hell any shield without the Osgar Lineage enchantment would have at least been heavily dented.

I tried countering but his greatsword moved quicker than I expected, deflecting any attack I made. He put me on the defensive and didn't let up. I was lucky that none of the other bandits tried to aid him like they did the others or I wouldn't have been able to keep up. I had only seen the calm he exuded in a few other fighters and knew that if he truly pressed me I wouldn't last long.

At least my companions were faring better. Their archer kept taking shots that were intercepted by Lariss' arrows. When he began to place spells on his ammunition, she started to do the same. It led to explosions of arcane energy that were harming both sides. He didn't seem to care but Lariss started focusing more on him directly to limit collateral damage from their duel. That left him with openings to attack our side while dodging her attacks. But since Lariss didn't relent on her attacks, he wasn't able to take good aim.

Thelora was much quicker than her opponent and it was needed as each swing of his club left a small crater in the ground. Her attacks were able to land on his massive body but he would swing quick enough that none of her strikes were too deep. Everyonce and a while another bandit tried to attack her only for her to slice into them while avoiding the club.

The spearman was able to keep his distance from Cedric with his skilled weapon thrusts but Cedric was able to switch between Bolts of Holy Light and extending the Holy Light from his sword. They seemed evenly matched but Cedric kept being put at the disadvantage as the other bandits surrounded him. Thankfully Hrothgar was able to come to his aid and watched his back.

Thorarinn was mostly helping to keep bandits away from Lariss and moved to help Thelora with the other bandits when needed. Off to the side Siguror was fighting two bandits on his own. Despite his age, he was rather spry. In the back Feadr was casting spells in a supportive role, using his Firebolts to keep the bandits from ganging up too much. Vragi's sword was shaking as he waited for anyone that broke free and came after Feadr.

"You're definitely meeting my expectations. Let's see how far you can go?" Torfredr closed his eyes and opened himself up.

I hated that he was playing with me but I couldn't do anything about it. Even though I knew this was a part of his game I couldn't miss the opportunity and maybe I could take advantage of his arrogance. Switching to my aggressive stance I pushed forward driving him back. Leading with my shield I was able to block his attempt to parry my sword but was still unable to connect. He used his bracer to deflect my strikes as if they were nothing.

Lariss was getting frustrated as her opponent kept dodging her attacks while harassing her allies. The only plus was that her attacks were keeping him from taking aim so his shots weren't able to make contact. They were however creating openings for his allies. When she couldn't take it anymore she decided to go all out.

"Wilmaer, get to your left." She yelled at me.

I rolled to that side as an arrow came streaking by. This was only the second time I had seen her use a spell of this level and I knew it was hard on her body. Lightning, fire, and ice swirled around the arrow as it launched towards its target.

Torfredr had opened his eyes and used his great sword to block most of the energy but was still hit by it. The other archer was unable to fully avoid the attack. His face was burned by a slash of fire as his midsection was frozen and his legs were charred and paralyzed by lightning.

Just as I expected Lariss fell to one knee for a moment before rising and taking aim. Only now she wasn't using magic and her aim wasn't as true. Overall it still freed our side from their archer's attacks.

"Interesting, one of the Losalfar lives. Make sure to collect her for me." The voice that spoke came from Torfredr but was much deeper and gravelly. His lips also didn't move.

"Understood." This time Torfredr's lips did move and it was his normal voice. Did I overhear him talking to someone that wasn't here?

Before I had too much time to think about it, he started towards Lariss. I intercepted him by sending out a powerful Moonlight Lightning Slash. When he countered and hit my shield the first Lightning Rebuke of our fight arced through him. I hadn't been using it thus far so that it would come as a surprise. From his pained grunting I could tell it worked.

"Just full of surprises aren't you?" He said as he reengaged me in combat. This time each of his strikes was met by a Lightning Rebuke.

With their archer no longer harassing her and Lariss providing even limited covering fire, Thelora was able to start to come out on top of her exchanges with the muscular man. She began to attack his legs more and more, trying to strike the same spots over and over again. He was having greater trouble adjusting his stance to avoid her strikes which allowed her to make deeper cuts. Soon his pants were shredded and soaked in blood. Unable to turn his body to keep her in front of himself, Thelora was able to put her shortsword through his back. With her opponent down, she went to aid Siguror with the rest of the lesser bandits.

Cedric was also benefiting from the end of the others' fights and took a step back to close his eyes and say a quick prayer. When he finished his eyes had a shine to them and had gone completely white. As he looked directly into the eyes of his opponent the spearman's thrusts started to lose their efficiency as his face became more and more terrified.

This allowed Cedric to push his weapon to the side and get close enough for his sword to cut off his enemies head. After he was finished, Cedris fell to his knees and clasped his eyes as he screamed in pain. Blood could be seen trickling through his finger.

With the strongest bandits defeated the others started to lose heart and began to retreat. Torfredr saw this and scowled.

"Get back here now." His voice was heavy and the color drained from the faces of the fleeing bandits as they turned back to fight.

He was distracted enough that I was able to strike at his heart. I wasn't able to get a solid hit as he turned his body but my sword did cut open his shirt near the collar revealing a black and blood red mark. My eyes widened in shock. Even though I only saw part of it I had seen enough Demon Marks in books to know what it was. If I was able to see the whole thing I might have been able to know which demon gave him their aid.

Seeing that his secret had been revealed, Torfredr let out a roar and came at me with increased ferocity. By this time the others were able to come to my aid but it did little good, as he was becoming stronger by the moment. In terms of ability, he had gone from the peak Expert stage to the Master stage.

Thelora struck but her blades weren't able to make deep enough wounds as his skin seemed to have hardened. Without her magic a weakened Lariss wasn't able to land a shot. Hrothgar tried to help but I had to push him out of the way to keep the greatsword from cutting him in half.

By this point I had gotten used to his attack patterns and was ready to use my counter stance but his increase in power made me unsure if I'd be able to take the hit. That was the disadvantage of the counter stance, if you didn't know my opponent well enough they could turn my fake opening into a real one before I'd be able to attack.

Seeing him only getting stronger as his Demon Mark started to glow, I had no other choice and left an opening that he couldn't avoid. His greatsword sliced through my armor and bit into my flesh as my Lydos infused sword pierced his heart.

Time seemed to slow down as that deep gravelly voice returned.

"Hmm, in addition to a Losalfar there is also a potential Shadowwalker and both of them are tied to a Little Star. Learning about all of you was a fair trade for the loss of this measly pawn. I'll be keeping an eye on you. Make me proud." As the voice ended time started to flow normally.

Both of us fell to the ground as our weapons left each other's flesh but only I had enough strength to get back up. As I moved towards his side Thelora came to help me. I kneeled down and tried to get a better look at the Demon Mark. It had already started to fade enough that I wasn't able to get a good picture of it. When she saw it I could feel Thelora tense. I made eye contact with Torfredr hoping that he'd give me anything to go by.

"Haha I waited over 20 years with this mark only for it to throw me away after a few months of direct servitude. Even so, I hope it torments all of you to the deepest hells. Hahaha." He used his last breath to laugh at our fate.