City Siege

The group stood in stunned silence as they stared at the scene before them. Mateo and Blair regained their wits and quickly dragged everyone back into cover. Roger, in particular, was the most affected by the sight of the waves of bandits laying siege to Defy.

“Calm down, we can’t just charge forth with no plan.”

Blair was the one who tried to reason with everyone while Mateo was busy observing the army of bandits, or more specifically, looking for Tilch. Unfortunately, there were too many bandits and far too much chaos going on. The lack of any response from the sigil on his hand also added another layer of doubt.

Was this not the work of the demons? Surely Tilch would have warned him. The bandits had become bold due to the influence of the demons, but even this seemed to be a little extreme. He couldn’t help but consider another factor that might affect the Bandit Leader’s decision-making; was the demon blade awakening?

“Mateo.”

He felt someone grab his shoulder and give it a shake. He looked over and saw Blair as she looked at him with concern.

“How is it?”

“Chaotic. How’s everyone else?”

“They’ve cooled down, but I don’t know how long Roger can hold himself back.”

“What’s our course of action?”

“Well, we’re in the perfect position for a sneak attack. Did you notice any chain of command among the Bandits?”

Mateo turned back and looked at a particular spot he had noticed before. There were several individuals gathered together with a ring of normal bandits standing guard.

“Over there. As of right now, their fight seems to consist of those at the knight level, except for a couple of exceptions. At the forefront, I can see two Knight Captains fighting two bandits. I’m not sure yet, but I think one of the archers on the bandit side firing at the castle walls is also a Bandit Captain. If we’re launching a sneak attack then getting rid of that archer is imperative.”

“You think he’ll notice us?”

“Not just that, but I believe his main role in this fight is to counter the Archwizards in Defy. If we attack, he might target you. As for wizards on the bandit side, I haven’t seen any.”

“Makes sense, magic is usually closely related to education, I doubt they would be bandits otherwise.”

“I believe the best choice is for you to lead both parties and attack the chain of command while I snipe the archer.”

“If only we hadn’t sent Olivia back, she would’ve been able to help you.”

“I’ll be fine on my own.”

Mateo would actually prefer to be on his own in this situation, he needed to find Tilch or some other demon.

“Alright, we’ll attack first, once we do so the archer should be distracted, that’ll be your best chance to snipe him.”

Mateo broke off from the group and found himself a good vantage point. As for ignoring the archer, he had already volunteered. Too many slip-ups would affect the trust the others had in him. While he might not be suspected of being a traitor, they may not rely on him in the future and leave him out of big operations.

As he watched over the battle he suddenly saw the strike force led by Alicia charge out, with Blair laying down cover fire and clearing a path. Seeing his chance with the archer shifting his focus over to Blair, Mateo drew his bow and loaded the arrow with the Basic Weapon Art, Flight of the Shadow.

Of all of the weapon arts Mateo had learned under Belle, this one was his second most stealthy, after Null Impact. As for why he didn’t use Null Impact? He couldn’t afford such a massive spend on mana right at the beginning.

Even though the shot had been perfect, Mateo knew he couldn’t rely on just this to blindside an Archer. At least he knew such a thing wouldn’t work on either him or Belle. Right after he had loosed his arrow he had already prepared a second, more destructive arrow.

As he had predicted the Archer was able to grasp the incoming danger through his enhanced senses, but even then he wasn’t able to avoid it completely. The arrow had gouged out a chunk of flesh from his side. Ignoring the pain the archer immediately turned to face the direction Mateo was hidden at.

Mateo released the second arrow empowered with the Basic Weapon Art Power Shot, the first weapon art he had ever learned. Even for the current him, this particular Weapon Art had a destructive might second to none.

This particular weapon art was so universal that even the Bandit Archer immediately recognized the danger heading his way, or so he thought. What had initially been a single Power Shot flying his way split into many different arrows mid flight. The bandit panicked and raised his own bow and hurriedly released his own Weapon Art.

Around the arrow that was fired was a fierce gust that circled around him, sweeping aside everything in its path. The next scene, however, was not the one he had envisioned. Instead of the wind around his arrow sweeping away the multitude of arrows, rather they flickered out of existence.

Before he could register the disappearance of the arrows that had been flying his way, the arrows that had been at the edges and were completely missed by his own arrow finally touched down on the ground.

While for the most part the arrows once again flickered out of existence, one in particular had struck the ground with a massive impact. The ground exploded and kicked up a massive amount of dirt, creating a veil.

The bandit panicked and tried to see through the dirt cloud in the air, only to miss the arrow that shot up from below him. As he observed the final moments of his enemy, Mateo couldn’t help but nod in satisfaction.

Normally, with his senses, the Bandit Archer would have immediately noticed something traveling through the ground, but the vibrations were covered by the impact of the Power Shot hitting the ground. While his attention on the other hand was completely occupied at the thought of something breaking through the dirt cloud around him.

Mateo was about to move away from his sniping point before any other archers could pinpoint him, but first he had to address his guest.

“Tilch, what’s going on.”

“Tch, damned archers. The lot of you are no fun.”

“Enough of your games, answer my question. Why wasn’t I informed?”

“Don’t look at me, this wasn’t my decision.”

“The bandits then?”

“Oh no, it was a demon, just not me.”

“I thought the other demons knew about me, why would they leave me out of this?”

“Well, it’s a little complicated.”

“Then uncomplicate it.”

“Well first off, look over there.”

Mateo looked in the direction the demon was indicating, and saw both Blair, her party, along with his own party currently all fighting against a singular bandit, and the bandit wasn’t losing. Particularly noteworthy was the grotesque blade he was swinging around.

“The demon blade awakened?”

“Yup, just a few moments ago. More than likely the death of that archer along with the Bandit Captains your friends killed were the final push. As for the main reason, someone above ordered it.”

“Above?”

Mateo’s first reaction was confusion, but then his mind went over the information Blair had relayed to him when he first met her. His eyes widened as he focused on the demon in front of him. Tilch’s expression was one of agitation, sullenness, and even a hint of fear. The playfulness Mateo had associated with the demon had completely vanished.

The next moment, as he studied the demon's face, he saw Tilch’s eyes widen. Mateo’s head snapped and looked back over to the battlefield. What he saw made his own eyes go wide. The battle had stalled as everyone watched in horror as the bodies that had littered the ground stood upright once again.

Without looking away Tilch continued from his earlier statement.

“The General has taken control of the plans surrounding Defy. To be more accurate, he was always the one in charge. It’s just that the matters of the Demon Blade and bandits were a side plot so to say. However, now that he’s here, things are just going back to how it originally was. As for you? Well, as you can see, I don’t think your involvement matters to him.”

Mateo’s suspicion had been answered just by this one scene along with Tilch’s words.

The Lich was here.