CHAPTER 107 Did Someone Call for Backup?

CHAPTER 107

Did Someone Call for Backup?

Rufus

I entered through the main doors and found Lady Amy at the bottom of a grand staircase that started smaller at the top but swooped down and wide at the bottom. The elf saintess, chosen avatar of the Green Oak Tree, stood with her bow drawn. Her long brown hair was intricately done up in braids, and her dress was torn high at the hip on the left side but longer to her knees on the right.

She was crying silent tears even as she restrung her bow with a strange untipped tree-branch arrow.

A gray elf in comfortable black evening attire with a pair of glasses and a short wand stood at the top of the stairs. “You should have drunk the poison like your father.”

“You will never get away with this!” Lady Amy declared, releasing her arrow. The shaft shifted midair, twisting into an elemental missile that would’ve hit Duke Lector if he didn’t portal suddenly three steps to the right.

The duke nodded at a cloaked figure obscured from Lady Amy’s viewpoint, but I managed to catch a glimpse of the small woman with shoulder-length blonde hair peeking out from her hood. To the saintess, he said, “Ah, but I already have.”

“Did someone call for backup?” I asked, running up beside Lady Amy just as ten Blackfog spies poured out from behind the duke. Weapons drawn, the group split in half, and each jumped down to attack us.

“Commander General Rufus?” the saintess asked, a new bolt already pulled back and flying. “How did you—?”

[You have attempted to use the Skill: Examine . You have succeeded. Six targets may be observed. 5 Blackfog Spy selected. Duke Lector selected. Target(s) under observation. Predictive analysis: 12%. Available predictions: attack trajectory.]

Faint lines appeared, letting me know the oncoming attacks of each Blackfog spy that jumped me. There were a few extra lines where the skill offered multiple trajectories, but the longer I fought, the easier this would be. There were two humans and three elves attacking me.

My claws grabbed an arrow out of the air and turned around to stab a close-combat human spy that had foolishly come within arm’s reach. I dropped the arrow, ducked a [Sword Art: Slash], then caught the close-combat spy by the ankle. Righting, I swung my human spy in an arc. He took a blow from an ally, knocked over an elf, and when I let go, he flew off into a group of three elven knights that came running into the lobby from a hallway on the left side of the grand staircase.

[You have defeated a Blackfog Spy (Level 21) . + 21 EXP]

“Any chance,” I said to the human Swordsman, stepping cleanly out of the way of another [Sword Art] skill, “that you want to defect to evil? Your form is excellent.”

The elf that had been knocked down jumped to his feet. “Don’t listen to him! [Fireball].”

At the same time, I easily dodged another arrow from the elven archer who hung back. The other elf, a fighter type by the looks of his brass knuckles, attacked the knights.

The fireball was avoidable, but I didn’t want to dodge it. I was sure the wooden palace in the wooden tree in the wooden city was spelled against fire … but just in case. “[Protector].”

My shield’s durability from the previous fight meant that it could only take one or two hits before the cooldown, then I wouldn’t be able to activate it again for fifteen minutes.

The shield dissipated the flames but didn’t break.

“I’m serious.” I turned to the swordsman. For some reason, my senses were telling me that this Blackfog spy wasn’t happy with his lot. “You’re what? Level twenty-five? You shouldn’t be lost in a group of masked figures. We have an excellent afterlife plan.”

He hesitated for the barest instant, and the mage elf threw up his arms in exasperation. “Seriously, Barry! We’ve been through this! You are a valued member of this team. Now stab him .”

The human, Barry, took a half-hearted stab at me, which I easily parried. “We also have free health care. And a four-day workweek. ”

Barry lowered his sword. “For real?”

“Argh!” the mage said. “That’s it!”

[Update: Predictive analysis: 40%. Available predictions: attack trajectory and perk activation.]

The notification came just as the mage lifted his hand high in the air. I thought he was going to cast an area of effect spell, but there were no predictive lines showing that. Instead, he slammed a small ball to the ground.

Billowing plumes of wolfsbane exploded at my feet, knocking me back from the sheer unpleasant experience.

[You have taken 14 points of Critical Damage. Health 602/616.]

[Warning! You have been poisoned by Wolfsbane . You will lose consciousness in 00:00:10]

[Unique Effect Wolfsbane triggered: Beast Form . Spend mana to maintain current form or revert to Beast Form .]

[You have taken 14 points of Critical Damage. Health 588/616.]

[Warning! You will lose consciousness in 00:00:09]

Wolfsbane was the poison best suited to hunting down and trapping any of my kind of canine beastman—werewolf, wolfman, coyotekin, foxkin, foxfolk, fox spirit, or mythic jackal. It also trapped us in beast form so we couldn’t hide, and it was an almost automatic critical hit.

I coughed and jumped back toward the exit. It wouldn’t matter if I popped my antidote now if I was standing in the poison radius.

Lady Amy had successfully defeated all of her Blackfog assailants and was already running up the stairs. And the knights had successfully detained the human that barreled into them and the elf archer. “You were supposed to save that for Their Royal Highness!” Barry’s voice criticized. “Now what do we do?”

“The portal mage can make another for all I care! Let’s get out of here.” the mage elf grabbed the swordsman by the scruff of his neck and dragged him off to the unguarded hallway to the left side of the hall.

The fresh air from outside filled my lungs, and I collapsed to the ground.

With little time to spare, I summoned a wolfsbane antidote from my storage.