Chapter 81

Chapter 81

The dagger striking seemed to be the trigger as five more people became visible. Unlike the first one they seemed to have dropped from a slightly raised platform about two inches off the ground. With the stealth spell gone Ajax and the other mages were able to clearly pick out that the person struck with the knife was a caster and the others merely cloaked by his spell.

Ajax knew full well that this didn’t mean they weren’t casters themselves as he also hid in plain sight by simply not using his mana where others could detect it, that combined with the odd mismatch of gear the five wore meant that there could be another caster.

Among the six there were only three with clearly defined roles. The initial caster wore some rather form fitting robes, one was decked out in full plate and a third had leather gear with a bow and daggers on his belt. The remaining three all had loose cloaks covering their bodies and hoods above their heads.

One thing was clearly obvious, these people were all above the average level found in the skirmish. A quick use of [Judge Threat] gave him a quick run down. The caster, while probably decently high level, was clearly a bad match-up against him so he was scored as a low threat. Four more were ranked as a mild threat with the final cloaked figure being a decent threat. Not only that but the last one also jerked his head to look at Ajax the moment he used the skill.

This might seem like good news but it was in fact quite bad. The people were around level thirty-five to forty meaning engaging them without his mana was suicide. On the upside he wasn’t here alone. His side had more than twice the people giving him a good reason to bow out of the fight.

“The cloaked one on the left seems to be the strongest but I can’t get a read on the mage.” he called out to the stunned defenders which seemed to have broken them out of their shock.

All but the two physically blocking the entrance of the tent moved to engage them. They had superior numbers with two casters on their side; victory was all but guaranteed now that they removed the element of surprise.

“Their levels are all well above mine,” he continued “I’ll retreat and keep a look out. Chances are this isn’t the only group they sent.”

He kept in mind that the people posted here could very well have a lie detection skill so he used level as a reason for avoiding the fight. Getting a quick confirmation nod from one of the more decorated soldiers he started to back away.

That he narrowly managed to hit the deck a moment after the strongest cloaked figure dashed out of his line of sight with the help [Danger Sense] let him know he was most likely correct about there being another group. That or they wanted him out of the picture so they could disengage and use their caster’s stealth again.

He saw a second knife coming towards him but this was intercepted by one of his comrades. This was one of the veterans who had given him an annoyed look when he first showed up thinking he got the post due to nepotism or bribery. That look was long gone, transformed into an excited smirk. He gave Ajax a quick nod to get out of range before he focused on the enemy and started to advance with everyone else.

Feeling at ease with the group being handled, Ajax dropped back and took another look at the direction they must have come from. Surprisingly he could now make out tracks in the dead leaves he had spread around. With this he narrowed their stealth spell to one which produced an illusion and prevented noise from escaping. This is why they triggered the trap as it was activated by the weight stepping on it.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

His hand instantly went to the knife at his belt drawing it as he was turning ready to throw. Thanks to his trap layout he didn’t even need to be looking at the target to know the general area he needed to aim for, he wasn’t going to see anything anyway.

As he was about to release the knife he felt a strong grip take hold of his hand.

“Woah, easy there.” the same veteran that seems to have taken a liking to him and had been sticking closer to him since the ambush said.

Ajax’s reply died in his throat as he turned and noticed people carrying injured towards the tent were what had triggered his trap. Had he not been stopped it was likely he would have harmed one of his own, maybe even killed depending on where the knife hit.

“So that’s how you did it?” the tied up mage exclaimed.

“What do you mean?” the dangerous cloaked man I now identified as the leader of the hit squad asked.

“I was thinking how it didn’t add up. He managed to see through my spell but couldn’t gouge my level of power but had no problem with you. It just didn’t add up, if he had enough skill with spells he should have had no problems.”

“It was just a double layered trap, the leaves were masking strings and I just stepped on one.” he continued to silently curse his misfortune.

A trickle quickly turned into a stream and the tent was filled up in no time. This lead to quickly forming arguments from some of the people in one of the future baron’s entourage demanding that space be made for them before the commoners.

A frustrated one with a decent slash on his arm fumed as he angrily kicked the ground breaking up the ground and leaving a small creator.

The rubble exploded in every direction with the sound of the impact drawing everyone's attention. A few of the pieces seemed to hit an invisible wall no more than five feet from the entrance of the tent.

Three daggers joined Ajax’s in striking the same spot where a man clad in plate armor appeared a moment later before all hell broke loose.