Chapter 74
[Rex's POV]
The main street had become too embroiled in fighting for us to remain any longer, so we followed Lily back into the alleyway.
“Glad to see you're safe, Lily.”
I towered over her in my watery form, and the people around her were visibly startled when I spoke.
“So it really is you… I can't say I wasn't surprised when I first heard you speak.”
Lily stuck her hand into my body and swirled it around.
“Stop that. It feels… weird.”
I splashed her face with a tentacle of liquid.
“Pleh! You taste like blood.”
“A demon like you must find me delicious then.”
“I'm not a dem—aaah! We don't have time for this! C'mon, I'm taking this lot to a safe place to hide.”
She began to stomp away, but Axel and I remained still.
“Actually, we're heading to the Burning Sprite. It would make for a defensible position, right?”
I looked to Axel, who nodded in agreement.
“He's right. We could put the civilians in the back and defend the front until the other groups regroup on us.”
Lily waved her hand, dismissing our plan entirely.
“My place is disconnected from this realm and accessible only to me and Merk. They're better off there.”
If true, then I couldn't really argue with her.
“Really? Well, alright then, don't die out there.”
I turned to leave, until two men stood in front of me.
“Ma'am, if it is okay with you, we would like to join them. There must be more people out there who need our help.”
The Imperial soldier with the spear addressed Lily with respect and awaited permission.
I felt like something big must have happened in this short amount of time for him to act in such a way.
“Fine. Do as you like… just don't expect me to come save you again, I'll be staying where it's safe, thanks.”
With that, we picked up two competent-looking soldiers to help out.
“What are your names?”
Axel asked.
“I am Bodo. Bodo of Salzdorf. Town guardsman and currently stationed at the eastern gate.”
The spearman said.
“Linus Lang. Foot soldier. I was just visiting… glad I was able to get to my gear before the enemy fell upon me.”
The second man tapped his blade against his round metal shield.
“I'm Axel Jaeger. This here's my brother Rex. He's unique, but very much human.”
I nodded silently.
Axel was prudent to keep his name a secret. It would only sow doubts in these men if they knew a relative of the enemy king was in their company.
Then again, they had allied with a devil and a talking elemental, so maybe it wouldn't be a problem.
“I'll be straight up here. I don't know how to get to the tavern through the back alleys. Can anyone else lead?”
Axel peeked back towards the main street and grimaced. Clearly, the direct route wasn't an option.
“We could use the rooftops.”
I suggested.
“There are too many crossbowmen around; we'd be sitting ducks.”
Bodo shook his head.
“What about the old couple's house? The front entrance connects to Porker Street. From there, we could access the rear windows of the tavern.”
Linus said.
Considering he was not a local, he seemed to know the area well. Not that I should be wasting time suspecting one of the few allies available.
“Lead on.”
Axel gestured, and Linus immediately began running.
“What happened here?”
I couldn't keep quiet after seeing the pile of scorched corpses stacked up in the kitchen of an otherwise homely residence.
“...They left us no choice.”
Bodo and Linus both avoided eye contact with us and took up positions by the windows.
“All clear this side.”
“Likewise. You two ready? The coast is clear, but there's no cover for a while. If we get jumped, we'll have to run like the wind.”
Axel didn't bother answering, he just booted the door off its hinges and ran out.
The soldiers were stunned, but I remained hot on his heels.
As the other two had said, we had emerged on an empty, but dangerously wide street.
We quickly crossed to the next block of buildings and pressed up against the wall. What Linus and Bodo had failed to notice was the row of Solean soldiers who had their backs to us further down the road. That was why nobody was fleeing in our direction; it had already been cordoned off.
“Shit… you're gonna get us all killed!”
Bodo cursed at Axel.
“I'm not one for sneaking around. Besides, this is a great opportunity to disrupt them from behind their lines.”
Axel took a couple of steps back and shoulder-charged the solid brick wall we were pressed against.
A painfully loud crash echoed out as our lightning-covered wrecking ball created a new entry point.
“Who goes there?”
The Soleans spun in surprise and immediately came running.
I shoved the two Imperial soldiers through the opening, and we quickly took up positions.
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“Stay clear, you lot, unless you wanna join ‘em.”
Axel had a wicked look and had once again taken that strange stance he had aimed at the heavily armoured soldier earlier.
“Lay down your weapons!”
There were seven Solean men charging through with their weapons at the ready.
But they should never have grouped up so tightly.
Axel’s arms crackled, and stray bolts of lightning melted through the walls of the building around him as mana was built up at his chest and travelling between his arms, all the way up to his palms.
“
Then, like a human cannon, Axel unleashed a magical attack so intense that the recoil sent him skidding backward.
It was more than a spell. This was such a massive, unstoppable blast of electricity that we were all both blinded and deafened temporarily.
And where there were once a pack of soldiers, there now remained only a trail of flaming body parts. They had been blown back so far that they reached the house we initially ran from.
“...By the gods…”
Bodo had been standing to the side, yet he, too, was knocked to the ground by the shockwave.
“Wh-what manner of spell that?”
Linus similarly commented as he regained his feet.
“Heh. Secret technique.”
Axel blew on his smoking fingers like a gunslinger and smirked at me.
I was fine comparatively; in fact, I didn't think a living body of water could even be knocked off balance to begin with.
“Impressive. Glad I saw it before it could be used on me. I'll think up a counter.”
I brushed off his amazing feat so that he wouldn't get a big head.
“That's what I'm counting on. Don't let me down, yeah?”
My words had the opposite effect, however…
“By the way, that attack takes a long time to recharge. We'd better run now.”
Axel ran to the opposite side of the house we had broken into and knocked down another wall.
With this method, we carved a tunnel through the buildings and used the Axel-made bottlenecks to deal with any pursuers.
There really isn’t much one can do in a tight passageway that has been plugged by living water. Those who became stuck in my mass were immediately finished off by Bodo's spear.
“One more to go!”
Axel practically cheered as we made it to the side of the Burning Sprite.
“Sounds bad in there, we'd better move fast.”
Linus was breathing heavily after all the running around with his heavy shield in hand. Still, he didn't look any less prepared to jump into action.
“Hold up. We'll be the ones defending soon; we don't want another entry point to worry about.”
Bodo blocked Axel from ramming yet another wall down.
“I agree. They already outnumber us. We shouldn't make it any easier for them to surround us.”
I backed Bodo up and pointed a watery tendril upwards.
“We can use the windows.”
“Tch. ”
Axel stopped charging his mana and instead crouched down with his back to the wall and cupped his hands.
“I'll boost you up and follow after.”
I doubt even Axel was strong enough to defy physics and throw me upwards, so I made my own way to a neighbouring window.
My body did not follow any of the typical conventions, and I was easily able to extend my body upwards of 10 feet and feed myself between the cracks of the window frame. Then I just had to reform on the other side. Easy as can be.
The sound of glass shattering suggested the others had just entered the room next door.
The sounds of a struggle continued to escalate from downstairs, so I burst through the door and prepared to assist.
The entire dining area was a mess. Tables were upturned and had been clearly peppered by burn marks, arrows, and crossbow bolts. There were motionless bodies scattered here and there, and a slew of Soleans were already pouring in through the front door.
”
A spellcaster who had taken cover behind the bar popped up and blasted the incoming assailants with an explosive burst of bright yellow liquid.
“Gaaah! My eyes!”
Flesh sizzled, and the attackers quickly took cover to avoid further mutilation.
“Give up, Evelyn! Surrender now and you will be shown mercy! His Lordship does not wish to see you harmed!”
One of the Soleans yelled out.
“Tell my brother he can bite me! ”
A bullet of fire flew from her fingertips in a straight line and ignited the earlier caustic goo.
“
The Solean that was trying to negotiate immediately conjured a rain cloud that took up the entire span of the ceiling. The resulting storm washed away Evelyn's chances of starting an inferno.
“Go. Try not to hurt her.”
He ordered, and his men began to advance.
From my vantage point, I could see the Imperial soldiers in their shiny canine masks hiding behind the wreckage of previous attacks. And with Evelyn drawing the Soleans out, the watchdogs were able to cleanly ambush them.
The initial attack evened out the numbers quickly, but the Soleans responded well by tightening their formation and fighting as a unit. Their leader must have been a support-focused spellcaster, as he was rapidly casting wide-range spells on his own men.
He was proficient and professional enough not to need the command words, so I could not surmise what exactly he had cast.
I was getting impatient waiting for the others to come out of their room, and ultimately decided I had to move alone.
“Elemental!”
I descended on the group and focused my fluid into two points, creating a set of whip-like arms with frozen spheres at the end.
By spinning these improvised flails, I was able to quickly ruin their formation. As I made contact, I noted the strange resilience of their bodies, which should have crumbled under the weight of my attack.
Three men went flying, but the rest supported one another to hold their ground. Their movements were flawless and faster than what should be possible for their builds and the weight of their equipment.
“Don't let it engulf you!”
The leader blasted me with a sudden burst of force that disrupted my body. Even with the leader distracted, his men still seemed to have the upper hand on the watchdogs. Their speed and reflexes were outstanding, and they shrugged off all but the heaviest attacks.
“
A frozen spear materialised from the water pooling beneath us, then launched into my head.
Luckily, I had no organs, and such a wound was no worse than if it had hit my foot.
My body sank into a puddle, and I began to drink up all the water in the room.
“Damnit, dry the place out!”
The leader yelled at two robed men who had also been firing spells from the back.
The rain cloud was dispelled, and all the moisture began to dissipate as they conjured some kind of miniature sun that fired thin rays of flame all over.
But they acted too late. I had already tripled in mass, and I was beginning to better understand my capabilities.
I created two long tendrils and froze them again to make a pair of scythes.
The two spellcasters had their legs sliced off in a single motion. Their surprise at my range was surpassed only by the pain that followed.
The leader remained composed, and he leapt at me, producing a blue staff with a green crystal at the end. He used it like a cross between a quarterstaff and a spear, hitting me with quick stabs and wide, arcing blows alike.
It was my first time seeing a staff-user in action, if we excluded Poggy. But this Solean had a wholly different approach to the weapon. He would cycle his mana through the weapon at the moment of impact, capitalising on the fact that my body was weak to magic. But he could also punish any attempts at attacking from out of his range by firing spells with increased speed and power from the staff’s crystal.
My scythe-like arms were fluid and swift, but my opponent was a well-trained, experienced soldier. He did not try to match my speed, but rather expertly angled his staff to block from two directions wherever possible. He did not leave himself open by casting powerful spells, but instead stuck to the basics to both rebuff my flurry of blows and counterattack.
I was losing mass slowly but steadily. There was no more moisture to absorb in order to repair myself, leaving me at a disadvantage in this battle of attrition.
And so I decided to stop analysing this man’s combat style and end things effectively.
In an instant, two scythes became eight, and a whirlwind of frozen blades descended on my foe.
He never said a word. He didn’t have the time. But I had to respect the expression of grim acceptance that came over his face moments before he was diced to pieces.
“Master has fallen! Retreat!”
The remaining Soleans understood their chances of victory were low now that there was nobody left to hold me down while they struggled against the Imperials. They ran out the door, covering one another from our opportunistic attacks as they went.
But despite none of us pursuing outside the tavern, the sounds of combat did not end, and two of the men who had just escaped came tumbling back in through the windows. Shortly after, uproarious laughter followed them through as Axel jumped in and pummelled them while they were down.
“Is this all you’ve got!? Is this the best my uncle can do? Pathetic!”
Axel finished off his victims and focused his mana into one hand, conjuring a sphere of violently crackling lightning.
“
He tossed it like a grenade through the window, and several cries of pain echoed out, along with a shockwave that shook the walls and rattled the glasses in the bar area.
“You’re running!? Cowards!”
He yelled out at them, but thankfully did not pursue into the middle of town.
Silence followed as all parties looked uncomfortably between one another. The Imperials kept hold of their weapons and were particularly sceptical of me. Although the aggressive young man who just killed two armoured soldiers with his bare hands warranted his own level of wariness.
“Axel? Oh, thank the gods!”
Evelyn broke the atmosphere and vaulted over the bar before taking Axel’s hand into both of hers.
“I don’t know what the hell is going on here, but I’m running out of steam here. Help me out and we’ll settle your tab, yeah?”
“Deal.”
Axel shook on it before she could reconsider.
“By the way… is this yours?”
She pointed at me with her thumb.
“You don’t recognise me? I’m offended.”
“That voice… No way! Rex? Though... I suppose I should expect this level of weirdness from apprentice.”
“This has nothing to do with Ada… Why were you out there?”
I directed my question to Axel.
“What? I was being strategic ‘n shit. Flanking manoeuvres or whatever.”
He didn’t even try to sound convincing. I imagine he had left quite the mess outside waiting to greet us.
“So are the others out there, too?”
I asked.
“Huh? Aren’t they with you? I definitely launched them up there before running off to pl—flank the enemy.”
“Over here. Sorry, we found a civvy in a panic.”
Bodo yelled out from upstairs.
He and Linus emerged with a short boy who was visibly trembling.
“Is that…”
Axel began, and I promptly finished his sentence.
“Oliver?”
