CHAPTER 22

We continue to walk to Bread Village. It fills me with dread to think what it looks like. If we based it on the name only, it sounds like a village filled with bakeries. However, that sounds too positive and naive. I’ve been in multiple fights in this world. If that’s any indication, that would imply that the Bread Village will be full of trials and tribulations. We have Demons, Feys, and a mystery group that destroyed a Contractuary. The Barbarian is still out there. So does my stalker. I’m not sure about Nostrazeus. That’ll depends on whether Nostrazeus would chase us or not. He stopped chasing me after I fall. In fact, he also stopped chasing me when I was adrift by the river. I don’t count on him appearing, but I’m ready if he does.

It was widely agreed that Timothy shouldn’t use the baseball bat. He’s a Wizard that can cast a lot of spells. He already has a lot of utilities. Plus, he will need free hands to cast multiple spells at once. Wanda already has her sword. She can’t swing both weapons efficiently. The only options left are me and Salty Ray. We both agreed that we’re better at using our fists. However, since it was made with my pain, I should have priority over it. So in the end, I ended up with a baseball bat that can revive me. It’s not exactly a downgrade, but it just feels awkward to swing it around. I can’t make it spiky or burning, so that’s two types of damage locked out of my options. I also can’t use Timothy’ deflect magic with it. It has a better reach though. I’m not sure if that’s enough to offset its downsides. One upside for three downsides. I can still revive once more today because of it. I can at least look forward to that.

How should I even use it in the first place? With my arms and legs, I don’t have to worry about losing it. I could be disarmed with this bat. Luckily for me, I can use my arms’ limited shapeshifting to hold on to it tighter. That’s one problem solved. The second one is that it’s made out of wood. I’ve broken at least one Demon’s arm before. I don’t think that this wood can withstand that much damage. All four of us used or floating words, but we all came to the conclusion that it’s just a normal wood.

Wanda had used her floating words to see if there’s any special effect if she used it. I was expecting that she could combine the bat with her bastard. Both start with B after all. But nope. She can’t do anything else that I can’t do with it. This thing is a drag. I’m not going to make it later after this.

Why would her subclass gave her this ability in the first place? It requires her to sacrifice and ally, and it can be used by her ally. Is this more of a roleplay focused subclass? Her offensive ability is situational and can disrupt herself. Her downtime ability requires a sacrifice. If this is fiction, she would be the traitor of the group. That would’ve turned extremely bad for us. I should keep track of her.

Finally after walking for long, we can finally see a building. Our floating words say that it is Bread Village, but it doesn’t look like it. There is a wall made out of black mineral. Floating words say that they are obsidian. Normal obsidian, but knowing this world, it must have strange reactions to some creatures. Is it pushing Demons? Or more likely, is it pushing away the effects of Contractuary?

There are turrets on top of the walls. Futuristic. Not medieval as I expected. The turrets aim at us. A voice comes from the wall.

“Identify yourself.”

All four of us look at each other. This is the first time we ever witness this. None of us expected any of it. At worst, we assumed that it would be a fortress with guards addressing us at a gate. There is no gate here.

“Preliminary scan complete. Adventurers. Identify yourself.”

I step forward. Come on instinct. Do you thing!

“Keyward Stone detected.”

Wait what?! I haven’t said anything yet!

The wall opens up. A group of knights in blue armors march out of the opening. Floating words! What are they?

DETAIL CHECK
Ambrous Knight
Pride of Ambrousian Empire

Okay. So this is Ambrousia’s world like the lore drop mentioned. That means that we have to kill them twice because they can survive a fatal wound. At least I got to test my baseball bat! If this is the minions like the cultists and faceless men, this should be easy. My party already has the experience of dealing with minions. Plus, we didn’t instigate this encounter first.

The front row of the Ambrous Knights display their arms. An orange blade grows out of each gauntlet. Okay. That’s their gimmick. All four of us have our gimmicks too. We have tools to deal with them if they come too close. We also have tools to deal with them if they don’t want to come any closer.

Suddenly, several of the Ambrous Knights from the back throw something at us. It’s not aimed at us, but it lands near us. Whatever they are, they’re not meant to deal instant damage. Timothy casts his stone walls near the objects. Even if they explode, we won’t be damaged by it.

There is an explosion. But… it’s not loud. It’s rather soft and continuous.

Suddenly, one of the turrets fire at one of Timothy’s stone wall. It’s not aiming at us? Shouldn’t it try to one-shot us if they deem us as a threat? Why the stone wall?

A smoke creeps into our space. Smoke bombs! That’s what the knights threw at us! They want us all to pass out so that they can take us alive! The voice mentioned Keyward Stone. They want me!

I need to pull everyone away. First, I’ll need to take the smoke out. I take out my harmonica from my metallic arm, then, I wear it. I can’t give anyone any order due to the harmonica sound. We’ve worked together before. We can do it again.

I inhale as deep as I can. It turns out that my lungs capacity increases to a superhuman level due to the harmonica. I want to test what’ll happen if I take it out, but this is not the time for it. That can come after we’re safe.

My vision is getting narrower. I have a limit before I go blind. That’s okay. We’ll survive this first. Then the rest of the party can carry me later.

The turrets keep firing at the stone walls. Timothy stops making any stone wall. Instead, he tries to deflect the shot. Unfortunately, the shot goes through his hand, arm, and shoulder. He lost an entire arm. The shot was not magical in nature.

Salty Ray throws a punch at one of the knight. Unfortunately for him, the knight catches his hand. Salty Ray tries as best as he can, but the knight’s grip is too strong for him. Even the knuckleduster didn’t deter the knight. Okay, they are above minions.

Wanda is engaging a knight. She slashes her bastard sword, but the knight block her sword with their bladed gauntlets. Another knight comes in then stabs Wanda in the stomach.

Okay. This is dire. We can’t win this. I have to save everyone! “Retreat!”

I pull Timothy up from the ground. I push him to run away.

A knight approaches Salty Ray. With one hand, he tries to fight them. The knight simply takes the hit without flinching. I take my harmonica out of my face. Then, I create steam as cover. I pull Salty Ray out of the steam. Then, I push him to run away.

Next, Wanda. She’s in dire condition.

I create steam to cover us. Then, I pull Wanda. This causes the sword on her stomach to be dislodged. I give her the baseball bat. As soon as she holds it. The baseball bat disappears. Her wound disappears too. Good. She’s saved. I push her to run away.

Now, it’s my turn. I need to save myself!

The entire squardron is after me. The turrets are aiming at me. They want my Keyward Stone to seal this place off. Considering that they came from an empire, it’s safe to say that they need the contract magic to create loyal slaves. I can’t let them have it!

My vision is still limited because of the harmonica. I create as many steam as I can from my body. After that, I run as fast as I can. I don’t even know where I’m running. All I know is that I need to keep moving!

I run and run and trip. I roll down some sort of hill. I try to create a solid steam as a shell around me to cushion my fall. The shape isn’t consistent and I cannot stop from rolling down!

I hope that the others are safe.