Ch 88. Hunting the Hunters

The four figures were struggling through the mud, and by this time they had made it about a third-ways across the field towards my house. It hadn't really even been a minute, but I was starting to lose patience. 

I was trying to guess when they would notice, but they still had no idea I was behind them and by now I was practically close enough to reach out and grab one. It wasn't as if I was trying to be stealthy, but the lack of footsteps really gave me an edge hear, not to mention these guys were just too focused in on their objective. With how focused they were on hunting me, they had no idea they were being hunted instead. 

"Are we really doing this?" Marcella asked again nervously, her legs failing her as she moved forward. She was going to kill someone for the first time tonight, and she was certainly having second thoughts.  

By now I had gotten a pretty good idea what the dynamic in the group was. Marcella wanted to skip town immediately, Gawn hated my guts, while the other two, minus their headless friend, barely even knew who I was. Condolences to them, but they should have picked better friends. 

"Stop worrying, Marcella. It's going to be fine. Two minutes and we'll be out of here, headed on our way. You were the one who wanted to do him in the first time, remember? What's it matter if we finish the job. You aren't forgiving him for what he did, are you?" 

Marcella was quiet, not knowing how to respond.

This Gawn fellow just had the worst luck, if he was going to pick a rival, he should have picked someone else. Trying to kill me hadn't worked out for him so far, and something told me that this time wasn't going to be any better. Rather, I'd make sure of that. Feeling a bit tired of their antics by now. 

They still hadn't noticed me, we were now halfway there and I was running out of patience. Letting them get any closer to the house was too dangerous, not for myself but for the two girls sleeping inside. Fighting near the house would just needlessly endanger their live. 

Pondering the question of how best to announce myself, I started the process of picking a target from out of their group. Honing in on the big man who was bringing up the rear of their group. Gawn and Marcella were in front, difficult to target, and this guy seemed like the next best choice. He was somewhat physically imposing, and getting rid of the physically strongest in the group just played to his own strengths. Not to mention the torch he was carrying made him an easy mark. 

The group had gone largely silent by now, they knew they were getting close to the house, and none of them wanted to alert the residents. Nothing but the sound of pouring rain beating against their cloaks, and the sloshing of their boots in the muddy field. 

The big man in the back letting out a strange gargle, the noising cutting through the relative silence and stopping everyone in their tracks. 

"Al?" 

Gawn said the man's name, speaking for everyone when he questioned the man's strange outburst.

The man clutched at his chest, where a sword emerged from the other side. Dropping his torch as blood welled into his throat, turning every attempt at speech into a garbled mixture of bubbling viscera. Falling to the floor as dead just as soon as the blade was withdrawn. 

My figure underlit by the fallen man's torch, casting shadows across my armor as I greeted the dwindling group of night-bound conspirators. 

"You wanted to see me?"

Enjoying the horrified reactions, all with open mouths and uncomprehending faces. Gawn mortified at my appearance and his friend's death, while Marcella was pale as if she had seen a ghost, the blood draining out of her face. 

Even so, the group had a veteran fighter, Gawn in particular moving the quickest. Showing the kind of meddle he had that allowed him to survive a harrowing brush with the dream eaters. Snapping into action as he charged in towards me, trying to close the gap and act as a buffer between him and Marcella. It made sense given she was mainly a midrange fighter from what I could tell, but her bombs weren't particularly useful in cooperative combat. 

He wanted a direct fight, but I didn't have to go along with that. Outmaneuvering him with ease as side-stepped, running along the mud with the slightest of issues, while the earth grasped at their feet, slowing their reactions. 

I had my eye on the extra, the man still too dazed to react properly. Not even realizing he was the target until it was too late, his head rolling to the ground not a second later. The two of us trading blows, the difference being he struck armor while I struck soft flesh, barely even any force behind his panicked retaliation before he died.

"Marcella!" Gawn shouted, waking her up as she scrambled to take position. Even being a silver rank adventurer, much of that came from her status as a mage. She had plenty of experience in combat, but very little of that was ever spent on the frontlines. And such a sudden battle had caught her completely off-guard. 

"Box him in!" He commanded again, trying to chase after me, but failing miserably. The combination of enhanced agility and soft steps allowing me to avoid him with ease. 

Glowing purple mana dripped from Marcella's hands, forming into round pustulant orbs, growing and shrinking in size as they morphed, maintaining just a vaguely spherical shape as the two orbs floated out, pulsing with an eery shrill sound every time the orbs morphed. Neither directed at me, but rather to my sides, and to sides of Gawn. Apparently intended to box me in and force a confrontation with Gawn. 

She was too far and I knew it, her mana bombs would never hit, and I wasn't going to place myself next to them. Back-peddling and choosing to go around the long way, giving the orbs a wide berth while I tried to circle around to Marcella. 

"Gawn, he's coming at me!"

The two previous orbs de-stabilizing as they drifted even further away in the wrong direction, the sweat on her face and the focused expression she held made it readily apparent to me that two bombs were probably her limit, and it looked like she had to maintain control the entire time. 

Needing to summon a new pair defensively, she detonated the old ones. A massive explosion ringing out like thunder, concussing the air with a fiery burst just a short distance down the field, while night turned to day for the briefest of moments. No doubt the people of the city were going to hear that one, how long would it take them to put two and two together to realize Marcella was the culprit?

The girl managing two coin sized orbs in a rapid manner, sending them flying towards me to intercept; suddenly the slow moving projectiles I was used to dealing with were not so slow anymore, the two orbs flying at me like a hurled rock.  Raising my shield quickly before they detonated, my shield ringing like a hammer had struck against it as the air cracked with the sound of a whip. 

My sudden anxiety alleviated by the lack of firepower behind the fast orbs. Seems there was a pretty direct trade off between speed and power, scoffing dismissively now that I knew these fast bombs weren't even worth my time. Even without the shield or armor I could probably take these no problem. 

"Whole town must be awake after that, how long do you think it'll take for the guards to get here. Ten minutes? Five?" I questioned confidently, already getting the feeling that I had won this battle. Ten minutes would be astoundingly fast, I'd be lucky if they came in an hour, even if they were to respond immediately, but these two here weren't really in mental state to questions things like that. 

They were the ones with an executioner's axe over their head after all, not me.