Chapter 16

A moment after the man fell off the roof, all hell broke loose. I saw three people scramble as Dinah hopped onto the top of one of the houses, holding an arrow trained directly at their heads from above. Then, she yelped in pain as a spell hit her and she fell into a tumble on the rooftop.

Another figure climbed onto the roof of the building beside them, and they began shooting arrows at her as well.

I noticed two other men approaching behind me, probably about half a block away. I gawked for a second. One had a sword in hand, while the other nocked an arrow and aimed at me.

Screw this.

I ran for my house up the block in a zig-zag pattern, pulling out my wand as I did so. If we're under attack, I need to alert Lori right away.

The wand crackled to life in my hand, glowing blue with magical power, and then released its light into our front door. As I sped forward to get back inside, I watched with dread as another arrow whizzed past me, barely missing me by inches before it crashed through our home window. A purple bottle of some sort crashed through a window of the house next door.

I cried out in surprise when I felt the sting of splintered glass along the side of my arm, and then a large explosion rocked the neighborhood around us as a fireball blew through the wall of the house next door, tearing a massive hole into the brickwork and shattering our windows. The building next door seemed to be on fire now, and the roof collapsed into the alleyway between houses while black smoke poured into the sky.

The walls of the opposite building of mine shook slightly but thankfully didn't collapse; I could still see a small part of Dinah standing atop the chimney as she fired arrows down at whoever was trying to climb onto her position. Dinah fired off arrows like she was shooting a freaking assault rifle.

"Dinah!" I called out urgently over my shoulder as we rushed towards my house. She looked over her shoulders as if surprised at hearing her name and then nodded at me with a thumbs up and a wink.

We arrived outside my house, where all the windows had been broken open from the explosion.

God. Fucking dammit!

The door of my house slammed open, and Lori came stomping out in a bathrobe and sandals carrying a kitchen cleaver in one hand. Her hair was wet, and she looked positively furious.

"What in seven hells is going on?" She yelled angrily without even acknowledging that there were other people around who might have heard her voice. Then, her eyes landed on my scratched-up arm.

I trembled in fear and anxiety for a second before I raised my good arm and pointed at the two tattooed men directly pursuing me. "That's them."

She paused for just a second to glance back toward them before turning back to me with fury burning in her eyes. Literal eyes lit by flame.
Lori growled, then she disappeared from my view with a crashing boom. Somehow, the fire that had started up next door grew in my perception to cover the city block.

Then, she swung the back of her cleaver with incredible force towards the knees of the man who'd aimed a bow at me. He screamed out in pain as his leg shattered into pieces beneath him, and he crumpled awkwardly. Then, she smashed her cleaver directly down the center of each hand once before moving on to his companion nearby. She blurred in and delivered a one-handed blow to the back of his neck, and he fell onto the pavement with a sickening crack and groan.

The first man thrashed in agony, but she just coldly picked him up by his broken leg as he flailed in agony and tossed him onto the doorstep. Lori definitely looked like she deliberately avoided dealing him a finishing blow with the blade.

Then, she grabbed his right eye and gouged it out mercilessly. Blood flowed freely down from her hand as the man screamed and cried in agony beneath him. After, she stomped on the ankle of his broken leg, then again as he cried out in sheer agony.

I shivered. I swear - flip a switch in her, and Lori becomes one of the scariest people I've met yet in this world. By far.

Something that looked like a barrage of firebombs suddenly flew toward our house, and I froze.

I threw my hands out of reflex, calling up my basic telekinesis spell, and froze them in the air. I breathed a sigh of relief as I slowly levitated them down to me.

Whew! That was nerve-wracking.

"Seriously? You guys were ACTUALLY stupid enough to come for us?!" Lori shouted furiously as a dozen men moved to surround her. "Get it through your braindead skullss. You're messing with B-rank adventurers. MULTIPLE B-rank adventurers. IN THEIR OWN HOME. SURROUNDED BY FRIENDS."

The mob paused and remained silent before turning to look at each other at once; they didn't answer or say anything. She shook her head and said, "I'll give you one. Chance. Take your companions and go home, and tell Fals to piss off. This is your only warning. Otherwise, I'm turning the blade of this cleaver around here, and I'll move on to take the standing commission on his head after."

Around eleven men were surrounding her now in an even semi-circle formation with weapons pointed in our direction. They looked at each other uneasily as the man on the ground continued to scream and squirm in pain.

I tiptoed away from the action nervously as I moved to our neighbor's house. It was turning into an inferno fast. A massive plume of black smoke rose into the night sky over their burning home while more people came out of houses across the street. Some had torches or lanterns held aloft so that we could see what was going on. Others carried weapons like swords and spears along with them.

The sounds of breaking glass and shattering wood rang loudly outside, and a small part of me felt bad that some innocent person might be hurt by it. But it wasn't like I had much control over it anyway; I focused on tracing some symbols in my mind's eyes and began to put out the fires in front of me.

"Hehehe!" Dinah giggled from above, "Fellas, you're already seven down with just Dinyah here!! Think the twenty of you can do better with the Azure Wind out here waving a cleaver too, friends on the way, and little ol' muah up here taking potshots?"

"Hey..." one of the henchmen began to speak up close behind me, but I ignored him. The man on the ground had devolved into whimpering, and I was pretty sure he had vacated his bowels down there.

Instead, I made a few quick gestures with my wand, casting magic without thinking about it. And just as he started talking again - BOOM. The flames in front of me went out with a flash of light.

"You know what? This crap ain't worth it," I heard another voice call out from beyond Lori's circle of men, still pointing their weapons at her.

"Gang's gonna be donezo soon, anyway." another voice agreed, "Let's scram."

Tension seemed to ease throughout the mob around us, and they all began to break ranks and flee as the town guards approached us rapidly on the backs of some pony-like mounts. Most of the group turned to leave immediately before the guards arrived, and they hurried away with no regard for the direction or destination that they'd taken off towards. They just wanted to get away from here as quickly as they could. One of the bandits hoisted the man that had been left a broken, whimpering mess by Lori into a fireman carry, and dashed off into a side alley.

The guards didn't bother chasing anyone further and simply rushed into the house to ensure everyone inside was okay after the explosion.
Lori walked over to me and grabbed my arm gently. "Let's go back inside, alright? And...I'm sorry, once again." she whispered under her breath so quietly that I almost missed it entirely while we ran over together in unison,

"I'm going to do better. I promise..." she whispered to me.

I looked at her with a shocked expression as we moved across the street, where a few of our neighbors stood with concerned expressions on their faces, staring at us with confusion.

She smiled awkwardly, then turned back to the crowd leaving the scene.

"Go home! That goes double for you idiots!" Lori called out to them loudly before turning back towards me again, "C'mon." She gave me another soft pat on the shoulder.

Then she strode purposefully towards the front door, holding me tightly by her side until I began to stumble and trip along behind her like a child dragged by her hand.

We entered through the front door, and I noticed immediately that the front room was trashed. The sofa cushions were scattered everywhere, and there were bits of glass still sticking from the walls; it must have been one hell of an explosion.

Dinah entered behind us with her arms and whistled. "Daaamn, sisters. Those cats were pushovers, but wow, did they leave a hubbub here..." she commented with interest before hopping to squat on top of the single layer of brick on top of our fireplace in one nimble hop.

I gaped at her dexterity. Her boots were twice the length of that brick layer, so how did she... never mind.

High fantasy anime catgirl logic.

Lori's eyes fell onto the blackened stone fireplace, and she grunted. "Dammit."

"I've got this," I spoke softly as I started waving my wand toward the debris. It took only a few seconds for my spells to finish cleaning everything away now, including the smoke, soot, ash, glass, and all the rest. I compressed it all into one ball before floating it out to sit in the yard.

Then I opened my mouth wide and breathed out sharply, thin air while simultaneously cooling down the whole house.

"Giiirrrrrlll!" Dinah exclaimed, watching me work while turning to lie on her side on top of the fireplace, "Are you sure we can't keep you around with the crew? Even a little?"

She turned into a caricature of an excited anime catgirl and looked at Lori with sparkling eyes. She had a ":3" face and everything.

"I wanna keep her, Lorinyan! She's so cute!"

"Dinah," Lori warned dangerously. She glared daggers at Dinah and put her hands on her hips, "She isn't ready. And probably won't be."

I quickly walked over to stand between the two girls and waved at Lori, "Hang on a sec, Lori."

It was obvious that Lori's been seriously shaken up by that attack on us tonight. I wanted nothing to do with throwing myself into harm's way, but hey...actually.

I'd considered their pitch entirely from an angle of 'joining the Avengers' at first, which is probably what that Lucky Charms go-go gadget elf in the green tux and top hat wanted.

Maybe I could...actually work something out that's support based? Something where I wouldn't get hurt or anything?

"I'm working on a project right now, and honestly, I've been turned off the idea of adventuring. However! I think I could work some stuff that'd help your team out in the near term from the back! How about that?" I suggested brightly.

Lori turned and gaped at me with shock across her face as she listened intently, but she didn't say anything immediately as she seemed lost for a moment. Then she took a deep breath before letting it out slowly as she spoke again.

"That...sounds like a good balance?" Lori said in a forced tone while shaking her head slightly in thought.

I felt a warm tingle of happy realization wash over my entire body. This would be perfect for helping out Lori while also keeping my safety in mind!

I had no problem doing my part to contribute and help them out if they needed me to do so, as long as it didn't involve putting me in the line of fire.

Maybe things would work out after all.