Chapter 19, A Party.

The three of them were confidently sitting facing the fire with their backs turned towards the tent. It didn't matter which way I approached them as there was no possible way to approach them without them seeing me coming.

The one with the shield was sitting in the middle with the swordsman on the left and the archer to its right. Its shield was similar to that of the armored satyr from the mill, it seemed irritatingly sturdy. In its other hand it held a ball mace with a band of metal around the middle and a spike at the top.

The archers bow was more than a bent stick like mine, it had a wrapping for the handle and some metal affixing the string to the wood. The metal reflected the firelight, I had a strong suspicion that his arrows were more than simple sharpened sticks.

The swordsman had two swords, both of them were similar in shape to the other swordsman. He had a helmet with a large red plume that stuck up at an amusing height. This trio seemed to be ready to protect the shaman, or at least they didn't want me to bother it.

I changed to my bow and fired at the swordsman, he took the shot in the chest but it was mostly blocked by his chest armor. Unfortunately my bad aim finally reared its ugly head.

This notified the trio of my position and they seemed to get into a formation. The archer stood up on the 'chair' they were sitting on, the shield carrier stood in front of it and the swordsman charged at me.

It was fast, he was the same speed as me so there was no chance of escaping him. I changed to the Weapon Set with the shield and ran forward to meet the charge. My shield stopped its initial swing and I was able to get my first blow to land on its shoulder.

A second after that though I received an arrow to my arm. It pierced through much further than the other arrows I had received. 'F#%$k so this is their strategy.' I began to retreat and the swordsman ran to try and get behind my back to halt my retreat.

Thankfully we were equally as fast on foot, otherwise this would certainly be my grave. While the two of us were running away I pulled out the arrow, it had penetrated nearly 3 fingers into my shoulder. On the bright side it didn't ruin anything that would impede its motion.

We were nearly around the opposite side of the central stone when the satyr realized its plan wouldn't work on me. It tried to go back but I was in the way, forcing it to engage in combat.

I wasn't that smart, so after some provocation it abandoned its desire to rejoin its comrades and focused on taking my life. It could attack very fast and every fourth attack its second sword would also attack. I received a nasty cut on my side the first time it did that. The only good news was that it was alone.

After the time with the crows and boar this will without a doubt be my deadliest encounter. It took 13 exchanges for me to finally kill this satyr. At the end of it I had two large cuts on my arm and side and another one nearly eviscerated me. As soon as the creature fell I dropped my torch and started to drink potions. The first one wasn't enough, it barely healed the gash on my stomach.

The second one brought me to full health. And I picked up the torch again and walked back around towards the archer and guard. As soon as I was around the corner an arrow came shooting at me. Luckily it hit my shield because those arrows are bad news.

Then an idea came to me, this is the perfect situation to check if the infinite arrows are due to my Divine Grace or if that is just how all bows are. I started to run back and forth to make myself a more difficult target to hit, I kept my shield low and raised it randomly to provide a better chance to block any that would hit me.

I counted the arrows that came at me and after the 12th one there were no more flying at me. I waited a bit longer to be safe but there was still nothing so I changed the direction of my run and went towards the two of them. The archer had stepped back and was standing by the tent of the shaman.

It was time for the battle between the shield users, I was tempted to just go blow for blow with the opponent but I was afraid his weapon would do more than mine. I decided to take out a potion and hold it in my mouth for the duration of the combat. If it gets going for too long I can always just drink it mid combat, it'll be awkward but it could save my life. I could feel the leveling essence getting closer to the barrier, hopefully after killing the shaman I will level up.

The first crash of the opponent's ball mace completely knocked me off my feet and the landing broke the potion. This battle wouldn't be easy either, somehow I need to hit him without getting hit in return.