18 Retreating

Jack's situation was the most dire. It seemed as if his opponent was not even moving at this point and just allowing him to circle around her.

"Delaying her from being able to assist her comrades might be enough, but I need to prove to myself that I can get past her defensive maneuvers." Jack pondered as he got ready for his next attack.

"It seems that there was really backup nearby, it does not matter though, your deaths here are inevitable." the woman said as she finally retreated backwards as Leo's shadow finally approached.

"I tried to stay hidden, but you were able to sense my presence and notice me?" Leo asked mockingly. After hearing the death threats to his new friends, he felt his blood boil. However, he still kept his composure, given the enemy's strength.

"Jack, go assist Natalia, you can leave her to me." Leo said as he withdrew only his dagger from his inventory screen. Hearing Leo's confidence, Jack agreeing, started to head towards Natalia's position. Out of the three of them, Natalia was struggling the most, but Leo felt that Jack would be in just as bad of shape if he did not handle this opponent in his place.

"Very interesting. You have observed my defensive maneuvers up until this point, and decided that you must have been a better fit to face me instead of him. Unfortunately for you, I was not using my full strength." the woman said as she quickly discarded her cloak to reveal her leather combat armor. Due to Leo's confidence, the woman chose to no longer hold back.

"Thank you for the compliment. Indeed I thought that far, however, I also felt that you seemed to be holding back as well. Do you think you have what it takes to subdue me?" Leo replied to the woman as he dashed towards her at full speed.

"Subdue you? Hmph! Do not think so highly of yourself!" the woman replied in a sinister tone as she also dashed towards Leo at full speed.

Now facing the opponent with Jack's help, Jacob's other underling found it hard to keep their battle in a stalemate. It could be said, that both sides were relying on Martin or Jacob to finish their opponents in order to end the stalemate.

At this point, Natalia was running out of steam and was unable to help Jack too much while facing their opponent. Though they outnumbered him, Jack could be said to be facing him alone at this time as Natalia tried to use the most basic of the spells in her arsenal in order to assist Jack in taking him down.

"Who would have thought that you would have a little backup hiding and waiting for the right moment to act? It does not matter, you will all die today regardless of how many of your allies are waiting nearby!" Jacob couldn't help to cry out as he now unleashed all of his combat potential.

Jacob's scythe in his hands, now had flames covering the weapon as his blood lust penetrated Martin's defenses and stunned him.

"Not bad, but I must warn you, being so defensive will not allow you to win this fight!" Leo shouted out as he was struggling to gain an advantage against the woman who was now his opponent.

"You haven't proven that you are worthy enough for me to use some of my more advanced techniques on. But, you are criticizing my choice in combat against you?" the woman said in a calm manner. Due to Leo being unable to get by her defensive stances, she felt rather confident at this point.

"Damn it, even if I decided to use both my sword and my dagger to face her, I still do not think that I could get by her defensive maneuvers and stances. Knowing she has so many more hidden, is rather terrifying to me." Leo pondered as he continued fighting the woman without pulling out his sword.

In the distance, a loud scream sounded out which caused Leo to flee backwards. The loud scream was Jack being stabbed and heavily hurt by his opponent's weapon. This situation seemed to be heading in a horrible direction, and it even caused the woman Leo was facing to respond.

"If you would like, I can allow you to head over to prevent your friend from dying. You are not worth my attention and if that is the case, you have no chance of harming Jacob." the woman told Leo as she folded her hands behind her back after picking her cloak back off the ground.

"Oh, then I must thank you for your kindness. It seems that you have no problem watching your friend die." Leo said, before another scream sounded out.

"Well played, we will meet again. I just hope for your sake, that you are stronger than you are right now." the woman said as she quickly retreated into the forest behind her.

It turns out that before the battle that had taken place here, Leo had not just given Martin some of the potion, but, he also gave Jack some of it as well. This allowed Jack to catch his opponent off guard before landing a finishing blow.

Now with Jack completely healed, Natalia now able to rest, and Leo at full power, Jacob halted his attacks against Martin. At this time, he knew that if he continued to push Martin back, it would give his friends enough time to surround him.

"Hmph! You may have survived this time, but do not think for a moment that this is over! I, Jacob, will be the one to bury your corpse under my scythe and throw your soul down into the underworld!" making his statement, Jacob removed the flames on his weapon and his blood lust and chose to retreat.

"Thank you Leo, if it was not for your potions, we would have not found the opportunity to survive that battle. Let's head back to that village immediately so that we can from there head back to the city at full speed. Only in the city walls, will we truly be safe for the time being!" Martin praised Leo as him and Jack helped him off the ground.