4-78 Element of surprise?

4-78 Element of surprise?

“We’re almost there,” Erin whispered to her companions while climbing a flight of stairs that was leading them upwards. As to where exactly, none of them had a clue.

Her companions; Aera, Nivia, and Amyra, all nodded their heads in response to Erin’s words. Though they were alone, there was no telling when the next threat would strike, so they were all on guard and their faces were stiff with caution.

Erin was constantly spreading her Mana around her and probing her surroundings with Life Sense. There was no doubt that they were deep in enemy territory and they could not afford to even let their guards down for a brief moment. However, Erin wasn’t completely vigilant. Not because she was complacent, but because she didn’t want to put her mind under too much strain, especially not after she had just used Revenant.

As she had already long realised, the experience was not the only thing taken from her whenever Revenant was activated. It felt like a part of her was also taken as compensation. She wondered if this had anything to do with her being able to come to terms with herself being a woman. Also, the memory of her death’s circumstances was ingrained into her body and mind. She could still remember the cold and hollow feeling of being bisected diagonally. Even now, as they walked up the stairs, she had not stopped rubbing her fingers on her torso, tracing the scar where she was cut in half. Revenant only mended her body and not her apparel, so her garments were in tatters.

To stave her mind off of these dreadful and foreboding feelings, Erin turned to her stats. She was currently level fifty-five and thirty percent away from her next level. She had sixteen points to spare in Ability Points. As she was most likely treading into a face-off with a considerable number of enemies, now was no time to be thrifty with her points.

[Might: 23 increased to 30]

[Arcane: 60 increased to 65]

[Finesse: 49 increased to 53]

Might was a stat she had not touched for a long time, the reason being that she simply had more use in her Arcane and Finesse aspects. However, giving her Might some attention was not a loss and in fact, it had some benefits with the main one being giving her more options in a battle. There were times when brute forcing was the best method she could take. As a good example, she had already come across enemies that could completely negate the use of her Magic Arts. Having stronger physical strength would surely be of great help in the future.

Just then, she received a notification from the System. It read; Conditions met. Body Strengthening - Level 1 acquired. Though it wasn’t exactly a game-changing development, it certainly gave her an edge in the coming fights. To put it simply, Body Strengthening raises one’s physical strength and defence by a certain amount and the amount gets higher with its level. It had very low Mana consumption but the description of a minor drawback. One consumes their stamina faster if Body Strengthening was used repeatedly with short intervals and it could potentially lead to drastic health complications without moderation.

There was not the only downside to Body Strengthening. It was also a Combat Art that was only useful and efficient if one had high value in Might. At level one, Body Strengthening increases one’s Might by twenty percent. Since she had thirty points in Might, it would increase her Might value by six. But if someone had a hundred in Might, it would be increased by twenty.

Erin tried using it but she barely felt any different. At best, she could probably just lift an object that was a pound heavier but she couldn’t be sure. She could not test it out given her circumstances. At Body Strengthening’s current level, she surmised it was a niche skill that would only see its use in specific situations.

Just when she was moving her attention to her Magic Arts, she was brought out of her cerebration by the noises coming from above. More specifically, the noises were coming from behind a door at the top of the stairs. The noises consisted of chattering and singing, tinged with a merry mood.

Erin and her companions came to a stop in their tracks at the sight of the door and the sound of those merry noises.

“Are we under a tavern?” Nivia guessed.

“No,” came Erin’s immediate answer. “Not likely. I smell alcohol but the scent isn’t heavy. A tavern carries the scent of alcohol many times heavier than this. Also, I don’t smell any women. It’s just the stench of men. And no songs are being sung or instruments being played. Moreover, there’s a huge whiff of opium. This is most likely a drug den if anything.”

“So, we would be going against waves of enemies after we walk through this door,” Amyra mused and drew her sword, or so she tried to but her hand caught only the air. “Oh, right. My sword is missing. Damn these ruffians…!”

“Are they all part of the Covenant?” Aera asked, her soft gaze slowly shifting into a raging glare.

“Most definitely but just to be sure, allow me to ask first.”

“What?” Nivia blurted out. “You want to spoil the element of surprise?”

“The element of surprise is not going to give us a great edge considering that all eyes would be on us the moment that door opens.”

Nivia calmed down and her shoulders drooped. “I suppose that’s true…”

“So, what’s our plan?” Amyra asked.

“Follow your instincts. I don’t know the extent of our enemy’s strength beyond the door, so prepare for anything. If they are too strong, we run with all our might. Understood?”

They all nodded.

“Good.” Erin brandished her spell sword. She also made another sword, a greatsword, which she then gave to Amyra. “Here, take it.”

“I can?” Amyra received the greatsword in spite of her question.

“Is there a reason that you can’t?”

Amyra had a look of surprise when she gripped the greatsword in her hands and gave it a few swings. “A spell weapon usually disappears when it leaves the hands of the caster.”

“Well, mine’s different. Just… don’t wander too far from me and it’ll stay… probably.”

“Sounds good to me. I’m ready, m’lady.”

“Me too,” Aera said.

Nivia nodded.

“Alright, then. Let’s do this,” Erin said and kicked the door wide open.

Her harsh and loud action instantly drew all the attention to her. As she had guessed, it was an opium den and it did not look legitimate. No, it was not an actual opium den. It looked more like some bandit hideout but everyone was smoking opium, hence giving the vast room the likeness of an opium establishment.

“Greetings, everyone.”

No one responded to her. They were all just glaring at her, their hands slowly making their way towards their weapons.

“Are you all part of the Covenant?”

It was a simple question that could be answered with a mere yes or no. But that question alone told Erin of the lookers’ affiliations. As soon as she asked that question, Erin nearly lost her balance due to the brief and unified strong thumping of their hearts. It would seem they were all acquainted with the Covenant, or at least knew of the organisation.

Their hands no longer hesitated in reaching for their weapons. The clangour of metal resounded clearly across the room. That was just how many weapons were present in this vast room alone. The room had two additional floors, though they were more of a platform protruding from the walls. The ones on those upper floors also had their attention garnered. All eyes were on Erin and her companions.

“Six crossbows…” Erin mused in her heart at her quick assessment. “It’s doable.” She shrugged. She had more ways than one to protect not only herself but also her companions from the onslaught of six crossbows. She also sensed two spell casters in the midst. Those two would be her priority. They were a fire mage and an earth mage and they were at the rear of the ruffians that had left their comfort positions and began approaching Erin.

The moment Erin heard the mages at the back begin chanting, she shouted “Get off the ground and target those two at the back!”

Nivia and Amyra leapt into the air at the same instance. Aera didn’t have such acrobatic abilities, so she resorted to charging straight into the ruffian group. As for Erin, she climbed onto the air using Arcane Aegises as footholds.

The ground underneath Erin shook just as she stepped onto the Arcane Aegises. Spikes erupted from the solid dirt. She was only a few feet from the ground and these spikes grew up to six feet. However, since Arcane Aegises were under her soles, she was unharmed. The spikes broke against the ethereal shields.

The conjuration of the earth mage’s spell became something of a signal for the ruffians to attack. Aera easily ploughed her way through the ones meeting her straight on. She threw only a single punch. It didn’t connect with anything or anyone but the shockwave was enough to send the ruffians flying.

When the ruffians saw Aera’s ferocity, half of them overlooked her and charged at Erin instead. Though they were a bit better than the usual street thugs, they were no match for Erin. She hopped off from the Arcane Aegises and swung her sword at the approaching group. Her sword cleaved through two necks before being stopped by a cutlass, wielded by a half-naked ruffian with hair all over his bare torso. Erin winced in disgust and cleaved right through the cutlass and the half-naked ruffian’s neck after applying Arcane Edge on her blade.

The remaining ruffians came at Erin from her flanks. At the same moment, the arbalists from the upper floors released their bolts at her. She could easily repel them all with Thunder Shell but she didn’t. There was no telling who she would face after this wave. It was better to conserve her Mana as much as possible for the time being. Besides, it wasn’t as if Thunder Shells was her sole saving grace from the ruffians’ assault.

The ruffians attacked all at once. Erin gripped her sword tight and swung. She cut down the bolts first before dealing with the ruffians on her flanks. She parried the blades on her right and countered with a high cut. As for her left flank, she blocked the blades with her tails, clad in Arcane Armour. After finishing off the foes on one side, she spun around and dealt with the ones on the other side.

Barely ten seconds had transpired and all the ruffians that charged at her were cut down. But she couldn’t let her guard down just yet. There were still the arbalists to be taken care of. She unleashed Lightning Bolts at the arbalists. Two were instantly struck down while the other four were quick on their feet. Or rather, they had more time to react since they were further away from Erin than the two who were struck down.

While Erin was eyeing the arbalists as her next targets, Amyra and Nivia reached the rear of the ruffians’ formation, if it could even be called a formation. The pair landed right in front of the mages just as the fire mage finished chanting. Multiple balls of flames flew towards the two.

Amyra huffed in derision and stood in front of Nivia. She did nothing and simply let the fireballs strike and engulf her.

The ruffians’ gazes were set alight with triumph but their hope was instantly doused when they saw Amyra was unharmed after the smoke had dissipated.

“That’s it?” Amyra asked with a sneer. “You are pathetic. Is this all that a back alley mage amounts to?”

“Silence, you wench!” the fire mage snarled and cast a quick fireball spell.

Amyra snorted and cut the fireball into half with the greatsword given to her by Erin.

The fire mage shrieked at the unbelievable sight. He was no novice by any means but he was neither an adept mage. Still, cutting down a spell with ease was not a minor feat even if the spell in question was of a novice level.

“Woo, this sword cuts well,” Amyra remarked in delight. “It cuts even better than my cleaver sword. Speaking of which, have any of you here seen a cleaver-sword that’s around my height?” she asked with a merry smile.