Chapter 156

156 Don’t disrespect the priests, please! part The soldiers snapped out of their reverie and started hunting down the badly wounded Anne and the exhausted Sera across the open field. They didn’t have the time to process the events that transcurred in front of their eyes, but that didn’t make their duty any less important.

They had to follow the chain of command.

Ryu was now being chased by the paladin, the priestess and the captain.

“You coward! Aren’t you a man? turn back and face us!”

The captain yelled to the top of his lungs. His words reached the young F rank adventurer, but he wasn’t embarrassed in the slightest.

So far he’s been doing his best to avoid any sort of conflict. Not only because of his peaceful nature, but also because he was too used to being the weakest among everyone. Even now, after his new found strength, his health points were still lower than the average which meant he could fight for a limited period of time.

Ryu’s mind was trying to think on something, anything that could help him defeat his enemies because he knew if he had to face them upfront he was as good as dead.

After retrieving his lost pets, he travelled the western forest and the plains trying to find his way back to the goblin village without facing any enemies. It was a lot more difficult that he expected and he eventually got so lost he couldn’t find his way back to any known place.

Only then he thought of asking the amarok to follow the smell of people he knew, unwittingly meeting with Anne. But the happiness that came after the reunion was quickly obfuscated by the difficult situation he was put on.

.....

‘Why do I always end up in the worst situations!? could it be the curse that’s still trying to kill me?’ he thought inwardly as he treaded across the rim of the forest.

Now that even the paladin was after him, he knew he would be eventually caught, but there was something he had his enemies didn’t.

He quickly popped a pill into his mouth, it wasn’t a healing medicine but a stamina regeneration tonic. Then he gulped down a speed potion that allowed him to move twice as fast as before.

Of course that something as useful as that had a downside, while the speed potion increased his speed, it also multiplied his stamina consumption thrice. The only reason he quaffed the potion without hesitation was because he thought he found a way to get rid of the people following him.

“Conceal, camuflage, stealth”

He muttered, activating those skills instantly. All of them had the same purpose, but worked in very different ways. Stealth made his presence less noticeable, conceal allowed him to seemingly vanish in front of his enemy’s eyes and camuflage made it so the enemies wouldn’t be able to see him unless their perception was high enough to nulify it’s effect.

For just a brief second Ryu was able to feel safe, only to be disappointed after the priest shouted loudly the activation of a skill that countered ryu’s skills.

“Reveal!”

Ryu could now feel again the infuriated stare of his enemies and the only thing he managed was losing his precious time and giving them the chance to almost catch up to him.

After his skills failed him, he could only rely on his strength and wits which is why he ventured into the forest. He knew that hiding would be pointless, but sensing his presence and actually seeing him were two different matters.

He was certain that he could defeat the captain since he was weaker than the other two, but he was at a great disadvantage against the priest and the paladin because he didn’t know the first thing about their skills.

The only reference he had was Helena, but up until the last time he saw her she still had but a single skill and she had no control over it whatsoever.

After finding an appropriate place to set up a trap, he tied a rope to two trees that were on each side of the pathway, forcing whoever followed him to either stop or trip on it.

It wasn’t concealed, instead, he made sure it was visible, because the real trap wasn’t at ground level but on top of a tree.

“Where are you little coward?”

The captain taunted at Ryu, who was standing in the middle of a clearing.

“There you are!”

The captain, believing Ryu had finally decided to face him like a man, ran in a straight line at him at full speed.

He didn’t even notice the trap, but Ryu’s joy was short lived as the captain kept running without so much as tripping. The rope wasn’t as strong as to be able to held back a charging soldier and it was cut in such manner that it’s tips looked like a blossoming flower.

The captain waved his sword at his enemy and Ryu easily dodged it, but as the blade went past Ryu the captain used a skill.

“Slash!”

The tip of the blade became bright blue, but kept going in the same direction about to completely miss Ryu, and then “Single strike!”

Defying all logic, the blade moved in the opposite direction as if time itself was being unwinded. Ryu couldn’t parry the attack in time and received the slash across his chest in full, but not before being able to throw a knife at a seemingly random location.

“You better say your prayers kid”

The captain said with a mocking tone that got into Ryu’s nerves.

“I’m not a religious person actually”

Ryu said with a hand over his chest as if trying to stop his bleeding, but it was useless. Even so, he held a satisfied smile.

“What are you laughing at?”

“I won”

A hornet nest had fallen right behind the captain, thanks to the knife that Ryu threw at it just before receiving the attack.

“Ouch!”

The captain yelled after being forced to turn his back to Ryu by the sharp pain he felt from behind, without knowing that it would be his last word.

Ryu’s sword cut off his head in a clean movement.

Meanwhile Famine had just finished his own opponent and was feasting on his corpse in an unsightly and brutal scene that would have struck fear into most people’s hearts.

Anne walked shouldering Sera to keep her walking as fast as she could, but Lea and the soldiers were about to reach them and hope was as scarse as water in the desert.

“Leave me here miss Anne, I’ll keep them distracted for as long as I can”

“Don’t be stupid Sera, I won’t leave you behind!”

“Don’t worry, I think they want me alive so...”

Before she could finish her sentence a mace landed right in front of them cutting their path. They turned around only to find out Lea, the priestess was running full speed at them and the mace had been nothing but a distraction.

The soldiers huffed and puffed trying to keep up the pace, but it was impossible for them because they were wearing a heavy set of armor.

It was Anne’s chance to attack because Lea was unarmed and too close to dodge a close range attack. Contrary to Ryu, Anne was already familiar with a priest’s skills. At least the basic ones.

Helena had learned some of them while in their travel and Anne witnessed first hand their effects. A priest’s blessing provided an increase in all stats as well as a minor defensive buff. It was useful, but not to a point where it would make a huge difference.

Sadly, she wasn’t aware that a paladin’s blessing worked at a completely different level since it not only increased stats and defense, but also boosted the proficiency in all skills.

Anne attempted to kick Lea back, but she blocked the attack with her arms crossed to diminish the impact to the minimum. Anne was at a loss, she couldn’t understand the sudden change in her opponent’s fighting prowess and was unable to react to Lea’s counter attack.

While Lea wasn’t necessarily a violent person, her punch carried the strength of a well trained body with the blessings of a high rank paladin.

“Miss Anne!”

Sera stumbled as fast as she could towards Anne, only to find her breathing with difficulty. A small stream of blood manated from the silvery archer’s mouth and her eyes were lost.

“This is terrible, make way so I can impart god’s mercy upon her soul before she passes away”

Lea said with a face that showed an honest concern for her fallen enemy. Sera wasn’t ready to give up on Anne just yet, but there was nothing she could do to save her.

Just when she thought all hope had been lost, a blond man appeared out of the thing air and stood in between the priest and the novice mage.

“It’s ok Sera, we came to rescue you!”

Bob’s manly voice was heard from behind Sera, making her feel safe already.