Chapter 59: Twist

( Rocky's POV )

Rocky always knew Buhara had superhuman strength, however, when he saw Buhara chopping down wood the size of his body and splitting it down the middle with ease, Rocky realized just how strong that orc was.

By the time, Erin and Rocky had rejoined with him, he had single handedly chopped down three trees and pruned off the branches as Rocky was left awestruck by his technique and efficiency.

" Wow, Sir Buhara, your technique is amazing!" Erin exclaimed, as Buhara laughed out loud after receiving the compliment and began flexing his muscles.

" BUHAHAHAHARA, Back in my village, I've chopped wood since I was a kid. The trees here are soft and weak. The trees in my home town are strong like Buhara" he said as he proved his point by pruning off an arm sized branch off the tree he chopped down like he was swatting a fly.

"Alright, I think we can make three pikes with each tree at least, so as long as we finish within the next two hours, we should be able to comfortably complete this quest.

Erin, you draw the outline along which we should chop the wood down and me and Buhara will follow it to the T" Rocky instructed, as Erin began notching a rough path for Buhara and Rocky to follow with his axe, while Rocky and Buhara did the heavy cutting as they began manufacturing the replacement parts for the village wall.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly, there was smooth breeze flowing, friendship fostering, sweat pouring, however, never in his wildest dreams could Rocky have imagined that this perfect day was about to go majorly south-hill from here.

*Crush*

*Crackle*

The sound of twigs snapping alerted Rocky as he turned towards the source of the sound where for a moment he saw nothing.

The trio were pruning trees right at the edge of the abandoned forest, in a clearing that demarcated the plains from the forest, however, they were still very close to the forest tree-line.

"Did you guys hear that as well?" Rocky asked Erin and Buhara, who were glancing in the same direction as him, as they too heard the sound.

*SHUA*

*SHUA*

Two poison darts flew across Rocky's face, missing him by mere millimeters, as goosebumps ran all over Rocky's spine.

*THUD*

" Who are these people?" Rocky asked Sophia, who seemed to be trembling.

She had no weapon in hand, and had taken a flimsy battle stance, however, she seemed to be really shook as her body trembled violently.

As Rocky looked towards her, he could make out that Sophia was not pretending and that by the horrified expression on her face it was clear that whoever these people were, she was scared of them too.

" The crest on their chest ..... These are agents of Olympus. Someone from my own family has ordered a strike on me-" Sophia said, her voice breaking as Rocky observed the crest made on the assassin's robes that looked like Mount Olympus.

' What?' thought Rocky, as he moved two steps away from Sophia, becoming even more suspicious of her, as he could not believe that the agents of Olympus would hunt down their own Champion.

*SHUA*

One of the assassin's, threw a dagger towards Sophia, who barely deflected the attack, but in the moment that Rocky and Sophia were focused on him, the other three assassin's moved in towards them, reaching their location in a heartbeat.

*Block*

"Aiiighhh" Sophia blocked one of the assassin's, who were trying to plunge a dagger into her throat, but because she was fighting him bare handed, the dagger pierced her palms, leaving a bloody and nasty gash in her flesh.

The other assassin, who tried to attack Rocky, was surprisingly repelled away by an invisible barrier at the last second as although Rocky himself did nothing, the gash that he would have received if the assassin manager to land his attack, was magically returned to him as a deep wound opened up in his chest, with blood spurting out.

*AGGHHHHHHH*

The assassin screamed, as Rocky finally realized the nature of the protective spell that Pope Cole had gifted him with!

An invisible barrier protection spell that returned the damage of any attack with twice the efficiency.

A God level protective artifact! One that would ensure Rocky's safety in dangerous situations.

However, while Rocky himself sighed in relief for having been saved, the brutal fight between Sophia and the two assassin's trying to kill her was a sight that was imprinted deep into his own memory.

A bleeding, struggling Sophia tried her best to save her own life, but she was no match for the stronger, faster opponents who inflicted several small wounds across her vital veins, before finally plunging a dagger into her chest, as Sophia collapsed onto her knees, staring straight into Rocky's eyes with a desperate expression on her face.

" Save me-" she mouthed, before falling out unconscious, as Rocky felt the world spinning under his feet as he could absolutely not make any sense of this situation.