Chapter 20

It's a wide open field, and this time, Kakashi had four allies. The pursuing force was large, but because each horse could only carry one or two people, the number wasn't as large as back in town, but still a considerable amount.

“Neila, can you equip your sword?” Kakashi asked.

Neila held it tight. Kakashi activated his ability to check. Since she now wielded the weapon, many new abilities popped up. One of them was ridiculously powerful.

The new girl was also a part of their group now, and she too hosted many powerful abilities.

“It's back-to-back battles today, huh?” Syorin muttered, her tone a bit more relaxed compared to when she fought the dragons. They all drank potions, increasing their HP and mana to the upper limit.

“Alright, time to go.”

“I'm ready.”

“Are you the leader?” Four asked Kakashi. Kakashi scratched his cheeks. “I guess my abilities forced me to?”

“Then I shall be under your command.”

“I'll do my best.”

“Get them!”

The lead horses finally entered range. Kakashi pressed the button, pulling both the horses and their riders into battle.

The horses moved first, taking their riders with them. The girls went into a defensive pose as the horses ran straight at them. The surprised riders couldn’t react in time, and the startled horses didn’t do any damage. They did a kick, then quickly retired. With that, their turns end. Four moved after them, followed by Astill, Syorin, and Neila. After them were eleven troops. The others who weren't captured by the barrier all crashed into it. The horses screamed, knocking their riders off their backs, some running away.

“Alright, let's finish this quickly.” Kakashi quickly checked the settings, making sure he wouldn't actually kill them. He then barked his orders. “Four, Dark Slash. Astill, Dark Miasma. Syorin, Double Punch. Neila, Imperial Crest!”

The girls moved, following their orders. Four’s scythe glowed dark, and she swung it straight at the neck of one of the attackers. It's scary how unhesitant she was, considering she didn't know about his ability. The scythe, which should have sliced the guard’s neck clean off, smashed him straight into the barrier. He was knocked out immediately.

Astill moved next. Dark energy swirled in front of the diamond and burst forward. The air turned dark, and a poison status effect was applied to all other riders and horses. Syorin moved next. She ran forward, targeting the two riders nearest to her. The poison took out a fifth of their health. One of them couldn’t defend against Syorin’s punch. He took her fist straight to his face, losing a quarter of his health and falling off his horse. The second one managed to block the attack, losing no HP, but the continuous poison effect reduced another five percent of his health.

Neila aimed her sword downward and stabbed into the ground. A large circle appeared underneath them, giving all of their allies several powerful buffs. It was the pursuer's turn. They all turned to Neila and took turns attacking her. She could block the first and second strike.

“Akh!”

The continuous strikes were too much for her to handle, and a sword stabbed at her stomach. It didn’t hurt her, but it did take a large portion of her HP and knocked her back. Her sword was lifted off the ground, and the circle disappeared. The buff began blinking, with the number one right next to their symbol.

Damnit, Neila needed to move first.

None of them could use her buff on their first round because of her moving last.

I need to give her speed-boosting items.

But things were dire. Their pursuers knew about their weakness, and they began attacking Neila continuously. At the end of their barrage, she had only ten percent of her HP left.

Outside, the rest of the group continued attacking the barrier. The barrier held up much better compared to before; their strength nothing compared to the dragons. It was also restored when Neila gave him her support, even if only for a moment.

The horses were led to attack, but they weren't armored, nor were they trained to fight. Even for Neila, handling the horses was easier compared to their riders. If anything, it allowed her to counterattack, using the chance to take out the horses’ entire HP.

The attackers used this to their advantage. Even while knowing their horses would be taken out, they used the chance to attack. Eventually, Neila lost all her HP and was knocked out.

“Is she alright?” Four asked.

“She's knocked out,” Kakashi said, running toward her. He couldn't move her body, and none of the others could help.

“Kakashi, I can heal her!” Syorin shouted.

Astill looked at her in surprise, but she didn’t comment.

“Let's get them away from her for now. Four, move to that position, then use Wide Strike!”

Now that the riders were off their horses, Four's scythe wouldn't need to deal with their height difference. She took a stance and swung her scythe horizontally. Her speed and strength were too fast for the enemies to react, causing them to fall to her attack. Her single swing took out four at once. The poison continued working, gradually reducing the HP of everyone it targeted with each turn. Kakashi momentarily opened the barrier, allowing the ones banging on the barrier to fall in.

They were much stronger than the bandits Kakashi fought in the forest, and their health took hardly any damage. It did cause paralysis from the shock. It caused all fifteen extra fighters to fall to the bottom of the line. Restarting the battle reset the turns, and he told Four to use Dark Miasma, reapplying the poison.

“Astill, move behind Four and use Nightspace!”

The air above turned dark. Needle-like shapes gathered above the paralyzed attackers. The attack itself was slow, so those who weren’t paralyzed dodged out of the way. Those who didn't couldn’t move away in time, and the spell knocked out all of their HP.

“Huff… huff…” Astill utilized all her mana for that attack, and she needed to rest.

There were six left in battle, all with varying amounts of health.

“Syorin, Deep Punch, that one!” Kakashi pointed toward the one standing closest to them. The attacker went into a defensive pose, but Syorin’s strength concentrated into a single attack. Combined with the damage he suffered from the poison, Syorin’s attack was enough to end him with one strike.

Five remaining. They tried to attack Four, seeing her as the largest threat, but they made a massive mistake. In doing so, they allowed Four to move, which she used as a chance to counterattack. She took out three in one go.

Astill didn’t have any mana remaining, so she used her turn to drink a mana potion.

Syorin used her turn to use Restore on Neila. Neila had a slight part of her HP return, and she stood up. Her turn was skipped, however.

The last two realized that Neila had returned, so they redirected their attack toward her. Neila managed to defend herself this time, taking little damage, although her HP was still in the red. She used her turn to restore her HP with a potion. Four ended the last remaining attackers. After the battle ended, Kakashi deactivated his ability. Everyone but him was visibly tired.

“I’ve contacted the guild. Guild staff will come within a couple of minutes,” Astill warned. Despite the guild being their ally, for now, they still didn’t want to deal with them.

“Everyone, get to the carriage. I’ll be there in a minute,” Kakashi shouted, then ran toward the soldiers lying unconscious on the ground. A quick check revealed that they’re alright. They're still breathing, and they suffer no visible wounds. Kakashi then looked for valuables. Weapons, items, and all other things he could grab.

“Kakashi, quick! They’re coming!” Syorin warned. In the distance, three dragons flew in the sky.

“Alright!” Kakashi threw the loot into the carriage and hopped on board.