24 Taking A Turn (2/2)

”Whew. Thank the G.o.ds you read what I planned to do. His defence was actually good.” Jin plopped down as he breathed a sigh of relief.

”I actually didn't understand what you wanted to do. I thought you gave up but then you started calling out your moves like an idiot then it clicked into place.”

”It worked out well in the end. I was getting tired and I don't have enough mana left now. Can you cast [Signal] please Aima? We should let others know about our status.”

”I can, but what good will it do? I didn't expect him to attack us.”

”You see, I eventually understood what Sebastian was trying to tell us but it was too late. I wonder how he figured it out. Please cast it.”

”Hmm... That does make sense now. Sebastian was acting strangely before we split up. I hope the other parties weren't caught off guard like us. [Signal].”

*

BRAK!

cough cough cough ”PUHAK!”

Sylvie found herself kneeling down in front of Becky while coughing blood clots out. She couldn't hold both her daggers simply because Becky had cut her fingers off. When she tried to escape, Mel was ready and stabbed her sword through Sylvie's leather armour.

”How did you-”

Thud

Sylvie fell down as she continued to gasp for air. Her lungs had started to collapse due to the one-way influx of air into her chest cavity. She didn't have long to live, and she couldn't even say anything as the blood and pain came in rising waves.

”Becky, how did you know she was going to strike us? Are we going to let her die here?” Mel still kept her sword pointed towards Sylvie as she asked Becky with blatant concern.

”That idiot Sebastian actually had a good head. I thought something was off, but he kept hinting that these three were plotting something. As soon as this wench grabbed her daggers I simply used [Shadow Step] to move to her blind side. You also did well to block her escape.”

”But will Sebastian be okay? He's just alone with Oswin! We better get to him soon.” Mel wiped her sword as she sheathed it. Sylvie started to gurgle red foam from her mouth, indicating the wound was becoming fatal. Gasping for air and drowning because of a punctured lung looked painful even if it was a beast or a human. Mel looked away as she gazed to where Sebastian and Oswin headed.

”He should be okay for now, don't worry about him. I actually want to ask this one why she attacked us and what they did with the rest of their party. Should we heal her?” Becky looked down at the drowning Sylvie in front of them. With her condition, she only had moments away from death.

”I don't think we can save her at this point. You and I can only use a basic [Heal]. It might not be enough.”

”Sigh. You're right. We should make sure then that Sebastian is okay. They should -”

BAM BAM WOONG!

”Becky did you see that! Was that a [Signal] spell? That came from where Jin and Aima went!” Mel immediately grabbed her sword as she started to run where the spell came from.

”That's okay Mel, it means that they're alright. Let's head instead to where Sebastian went.”

”What? How do you know it was them and not B, Bori-, that dwarf guy?” Mel was understandably fl.u.s.tered as she started to imagine that Jin and Aima were caught unaware and weren't as lucky as them.

”Because that dwarf will never use [Signal] to let the others know. It's a dead giveaway that something's off.” Becky used her foot to check if Sylvie was still breathing or not before finally sheathing her daggers and headed towards Sebastian and Oswin.

*

”So Oswin, while we're heading towards the rat imp burrow, can you brief me on what happened here?” Sebastian walked beside Oswin as he guided them towards the alleged burrow.

”When we came here the people were still antic.i.p.ating an attack from the rat imps. Their guards apparently reported an increased sighting of these mutated creatures which lead to their request. I came here with my full party, which consisted of me, Sylvie, Bodeth, and a few battle slaves.”

”How many battle slaves were in your party? I only saw the three of you left, and the other survivors from the warehouse looked like they were villagers.”

”There were 5 of the finest battle slaves I personally trained. They helped set up the defences you would have seen on the way in. They slowed down the wave of rat imps pouring into the village. However, while they were helping us get into the warehouse, they lost their lives in the process. They gave up their lives for a n.o.ble cause, I can never replace them.”

”I see.” Sebastian fell silent as he slowly remembered the things he saw on the village streets. He remembered that there were only a few weapons they found in the streets. It meant that the battle slaves were actually fewer than what Oswin said, or they were terribly armed for the encounter.

”My turn to ask you Sebastian, how did the adventurer's guild know about our predicament here?”

”Ah, the guild master, Leo actually created this request and asked our party to look into this. He simply asked us to a.s.sess the situation and then report to him, but as you can see, we got carried away.” Sebastian shyly scratched the back of his head.

”I can't blame you though when someone sees the condition of the village walls, anyone would be shocked. His scouting ability is actually impressive, that Leo.” Oswin appeared to be deep in thought as he continued to lead the way for Sebastian to follow.

”What do you mean by scouting ability?” They seemed to be taking turns in asking questions as Sebastian countered with his.

”You mean you don't know? Ah, you might not know since you're not a mage. That owl that's always perched on his shoulder is actually a physical embodiment of his mana. He uses it as an extension of his self to scout and to check the nearby surroundings. That's probably how he found out that this village was in danger or we were already in danger.”

Sebastian remained quiet as he tried to remember the times when he saw the owl on Leo's shoulder. He vaguely remembered that it was there when he first met him when he transmigrated, but it wasn't there after that. It was noticeably absent during the mutated wolf attack and afterwards. Sebastian tried to think the amount of mana it must consume to maintain a physical output of someone's mana.

As they were reaching the village exit, Oswin suddenly turned around and aimed his mana staff towards Sebastian.

”Don't hate me, Sebastian.”

FWOOM! BWAAMMM!

A fireball flew from Oswin's staff before exploding where Sebastian stood!

<script>