Ray carefully constructed the second ring when a blaring alarm shattered his concentration. He cursed, pushed himself to his feet, and threw on his armor.

  “Is that the alarm you set?” Erith asked.

  Ray nodded, pulling his crossbow dagger and short sword from his bag.

  Erith quickly put on her armor and grabbed her weapon before they exited the tent to see what was happening. They stepped outside to see a large force of armed warriors surrounding the camp. A man clad in full plate armor with a longsword belted at his hip stepped forward.

  He cleared his throat and shouted, “Peacefully hand over the individuals named Ray and Erith to us, and we will be on our way!”

  A small crowd had gathered by this point, most dressed for war. A golden light streaked into the air as Vaelora took flight, hovering above, fully armored and spear in hand.

  “Tell me where Draven is,” she shouted with a snarl.

  “I’m right here.” Draven walked through the line of soldiers, staring straight at Vaelora. “Now, hand over your daughter and Cedric's son. Don’t make me slaughter more of my clansmen.”

  “Where aren't your clansmen anymore.” Vaelora shot like a falling meteor straight at Draven.

  He met her head on, knocking the spear aside with a well-timed punch.

  He sighed. “Don’t make me do this. I won’t spare you a third time.”

  Vaelora let out a growl and swung her spear with practiced precision. Draven stepped back, dodging the blow.

  “Fine.”

  A wave of anger blanketed the area, and Draven's soldiers howled out with rage. Ray focused on the wall of soldiers charging toward him, as an incantation spilled from his lips. An arrow flew straight toward him, forcing him to dodge out of the way, fumbling the spell.

  “New plan,” he said through his mental link.

  Horde Breaker responded to his thoughts, as it split in two, the right half forming a small runic disk hovering behind him that began sparking with lightning mana. The left half remained as close to a regular arm as possible, allowing Ray to use his dual welding skill. He steeled his resolve as lightning began speaking around his body. His limbs twitched with anticipation as mana coursed through them, and with a nod to Erith, he exploded into motion.

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  With speed rivaling a lightning bolt, Ray weaved through the crowd, delivering pinpoint strikes to their arms and legs using as little force as possible, in an attempt to disable the frenzied warriors while using as little stamina as he could.

  He flashed from one point to another as warriors buckled, but it was all in vain as a second wave of rage impacted them, forcing them to fight through their inquiries. Warriors with cut tendons rose to their feet and surged forward. They quickly overwhelmed the smaller group of warriors, cutting down person after person. The only thing still giving Ray hope was a flicker of blue flame cutting through the assault.

  The army was quickly surging forward, and the few warriors managing to hold their own were quickly overwhelmed.

  “I’m sorry,” he muttered.

  All pretence of trying to show mercy left his mind. Even if that aura was manipulating these people, if he did not do all he could and someone he cared about got hurt, he would never be able to forgive himself.

  He flashed back through the crowd but was not aiming to disarm this time. Dagger and sword tore through flesh as he pierced the neck and vital organs of over 20 soldiers in less than 5 seconds.

  He glanced away from the falling bodies and blood slowly dripping off his blades as he found himself next to Erith again.

  She looked up at him with a worried expression.

  He simply nodded, agreeing with what he had just done and was about to do. Black bolts of pure spatial mana materialised above him.

  “They brought this on themselves,” He muttered to himself.

  Another 15 warriors fell as half of their bodies disappeared into the bolts.

  Erith looked back from the scene to Ray, nodding with a frown. “They brought this on themselves.”

  She dashed forth blue flames, growing into a roaring inferno as they consumed anyone who tried to bar her path. She moved with practiced precision, outskilling every opponent, leaving a field of still-burning corpses in her wake.

  Their counterattack grew more intense as others finally steeled their nerves and joined the fight. Several warriors fell as a blade of wind cut through the air as Chio charged forward. A barrage of arrows followed, slamming into what reminded them of their front line as Nevala joined the fight.

  Seeing he was already low on stamina despite his best efforts to maintain it, Ray switched his tactic back to spell casting. He fell back, taking shelter behind a nearby tent, and began an incantation. Another arrow flew at him, causing him to abandon the spell.

  He wondered, scanning the tree line for movement.

  A tree branch rustling caught his eye, and he saw an archer repositioning. He summoned another volley of spatial mana bolts and sent them flying at the archer. They dodged out of the way, but one bolt destroyed the tree branch they were jumping to, sending them crashing to the ground.

  Not wasting any time, Ray began chanting as Horde Breaker transformed and began resinating with him. They performed the same spell resonance as during the ambush, but with a tiny change. Violet tendrils exploded onto the battlefield, searching for their prey. They latched onto frenzied warriors, entangling them as they raged to break its grip, but it was useless. Ray turned away as their battle cries slowly turned to screams of panic. Ray turned away as his spell dropped the dried-out husks of the enemy warriors to the floor.

  “I didn’t have a choice,” he muttered to himself.

  375 followers - Bonus chapter -

  ?????????? 90%

  100 favorites - Bonus chapter

  ??????????? 91%

  If you’ve enjoyed the story so far, please remember to follow and rate it.

  It helps me out a lot. If you really like the story, please remember to favorite and review it!

  Thanks for the support!