Chapter 348: SLG Woes (1/2)
Mike shook his head to clear the fog that had settled in it after the explosion. Using some of his remaining mana, he sent a wave of Life Magic through Selene, waking her up and healing the multitude of injuries she'd suffered in the aftermath of the bomb.
He'd managed to protect them from the main force of the blast, but the concussive wave still did a number on them, and only their supernatural, System-enhanced toughness had kept them from being liquified.
Once his familiar was well enough to move, he turned his attention to the room outside the blasted stone hemisphere. There were sufficient holes in his creation that he was able to detect a slight disturbance in the air currents, suggesting that something was moving around on the other side of the conjured wall. However, that was the full extent of what he could see.
[Alright, screw this. Time to get out of here.]
Sending his mana into the stones around him again, he quietly created a pathway directly behind them, angled up towards the surface. He grabbed Selene and began flying.
As they moved, beams of crackling energy started punching through his wall. Mike didn't wait to find out anything more, and flew faster while summoning additional walls to block off the passage behind them.
Distantly he heard the girl yell, ”Hey! They're getting away!”
Her exclamation was followed by several loud crashes as their pursuers began destroying their way through the walls he'd erected. Based on the sound alone, he could tell they would catch up to him slightly outside of the tunnel.
Without looking down at the woman that had shaken off her confusion and was clinging on to his cloak as they travelled, he said, ”Selene, we've got enemies at our backs. It looks like they'll be on us soon. Are you well enough to fight?”
The vampire grimaced. ”I've definitely been in a better condition, but I should be able to hold my own.” She paused for a moment to clench one hand into a fist. ”Rather, I think I might be stronger than before…”
There was a second of silence as Mike digested this information, considered what it might mean, and ultimately decided that it wasn't important at the moment. ”Good, we'll turn on them as soon as we get to the surface.”
She nodded. ”Do you know what we are up against?”
”Two that I know of. By the sounds of it, there is a young girl and an adult man, although considering they are probably vampires, that doesn't mean much. The man seems to have the ability to produce high intensity energy beams, but that's the extent of what I know about what they can do. So, be prepared for anything.”
”Great. Nothing I like better than tangling with an unknown number of potentially powerful enemies while I'm suffering from what I can only call a soul hangover.”
Mike's lips twitched at the sarcasm, but he was too focused on the task at hand to enjoy the banter. ”We're near the surface. Get ready.”
She responded by wordlessly bracing herself.
They erupted through the tunnel opening and he quickly angled their path down and to the right in the hopes of avoiding any kind of ambush. Thankfully, it looks like their enemies hadn't managed to get ahead of them.
As Mike set down near a patch of scrub brush, he took a quick look around. They were still inside Gildusi, but had ended up in the band of empty grassland that extended between the city walls and the district on the top layer. By all appearances it seemed to serve as a staging ground for convoys, as the ground had been repeatedly torn up by beasts of burden.
[We could continue running, but I don't know if they have a means of tracking us. If I exhaust my mana fleeing and they catch up, we will be in a much worse shape. Better to just turn and face them now.]
”This is not the best battlefield, but it's better than trying to take them on in the middle of the city. I'll put down a few traps while we have the time, do you need a weapon or anything?” Mike asked while preparing his mana.
Selene was still clenching and unclenching her fist distractedly, but answered after a brief delay. ”...If you have something like a quarterstaff, preferably made as solid as they come, I think I can help.”
Diverting a bit of his focus, Mike channeled mana into the ground, causing a patch of dirt to elongate into a staff-like shape, and then harden until it had a metal-like sheen. ”It's a bit on the heavy side, but here you go.”
He watched her take a few practice swings before continuing. ”I don't know how strong those two are, but we should plan for the worst possibilities. When they show up, I'm going to try to talk with them first. If they attack, I'll have a few surprises for them. Once they are on the back foot, I need you to engage the sniper and keep him from interfering while I take on the girl and any other members they might have brought along. In the event they prove too powerful, I'll hold them off while you make a break for it and then follow you when I have the chance.”
”Whatever you say, boss.” She replied lightly while shouldering the staff, a relaxed smile on her face.
For a moment, he found himself captivated by the sight of her standing in the moonlight, hair waving in the gentle breeze. At least he did until he realized that there was something else that he'd been too distracted to notice up till now.
”Ah...crap. I completely forgot. I'll make you some clothes now.”
”I was wondering when you'd get there.” She shot back calmly while taking the simple shirt and pants Mike whipped up in a flurry of activity. ”Thanks, boss.”
Sighing, he returned to his preparations, putting the finishing touches on his traps.
[Now I just have to hope that they won't just hide at maximum range and attempt to snipe us into submission. If they do that, I'll have to take drastic action.]
He was hoping to minimize the damage to the city, but if it came down to it, he was prepared to unleash wide area attacks to fight back.
Thankfully, the opponents were apparently interested in a more direct confrontation.
A final cataclysmic crash sounded from the tunnel, and a cloud of dust billowed out, obscuring much of their surroundings.
”Ah! There they are! Looks like they were waiting for us. How thoughtful.” The girl's voice emanated from the cloud, and soon a pair of figures could be seen moving through it.
The first was a broadly built man dressed in a long overcoat and wearing a tricorn-like hat that gave him a slightly nautical air. In fact he vaguely looked like a character torn from a pirate movie, complete with a full beard and several tattoos on the portions of his skin that were visible. He was carrying a long rifle made of a dark grey metal that seemed to bear some runic markings, although it was difficult to tell at this distance.
The second was a young girl, who looked to be around ten at the most. She was wearing a simple sundress, with her dirty blonde hair left to flow in the wind. Her empty hands were swinging freely as she calmly walked in their direction, looking to all the world as if she were on her way to a picnic rather than a fight.