It took Jake a second to figure out his plan.

In that time Clawdia grabbed a nearby axe and charged the Guard. The Guard charged back, and when they met the cat-girl was slammed to the ground. Level 5 with shitty armor versus a decked-out level 13… there was really no other way it was going to end, unless she’d had a crazy Connection Multiplier and gotten lucky. Just the impact knocked away 37% of her health.

The one thing that surprised Jake was that the human Guard had that move as well. Apparently there were going to be some little differences between this and FTO.

Jake jumped to Ayla and made her toss the grenade right behind the Guard. He jumped back to his own body and sprinted away from where the grenade was about to explode.

“My items!” yelled the shopkeeper in distress.

“Shouldn’t have pointed!” Jake yelled back.

The grenade exploded, stunning the Guard and the shopkeeper. It would have gotten Clawdia, but she was completely covered by the Guard, so he absorbed all the shock.

She kicked but wasn’t able to budge his massive frame on her own.

Jake popped into Emily’s mind long enough to buy the Sticky Trap skill and tell her to start mining the door, then told Ayla to run outside and start preparing to throw spells. Then he ran over to help push the Guard off of Clawdia.

When they freed her, they had seven seconds left of the paralyzation. That was a surprisingly long effect.

“How expensive was that grenade?” he yelled at Ayla.

“Only fifty silver!”

Holy fuck. Fifty silver for a one-time use item?

Better take advantage of it.

Clawdia and Jake sprinted to the door, where Ayla and Emily waited. Emily was crouched and ready to start making Sticky Traps, while Ayla held the new staff she'd stolen and prepared to start casting. Once they cleared the door, Emily began laying traps.

Each Sticky Trap took 3 seconds to make and would hold the guard for 5 seconds. The downside was the trap’s range; they would have to be a certain distance away by the time the Guard reached the door, and at that point he could easily run around any new traps they laid.

“Ayla, start in on the ice bolts if you’ve got an angle past Emily.” The ice bolts weren’t as powerful as fire, especially with her new staff, but this was all about slowing the Guard down so Emily could lay more traps.

Emily was crouched, so by getting close Ayla could get a good shot. She shot one ice bolt and hit; it did 3% damage.

A level 5 scorpidog he was not. Even with her newly-enhanced fire, Ayla wouldn't be able to do damage fast enough. Even with the dodge afforded by the spiked bracers she'd stolen, Emily wouldn't last long in a melee battle. Worse, if he got close enough, he could charge and pin whoever he felt like killing.

“We can’t fight him,” said Jake. “Especially not if there will be others coming to help. On my signal, we bolt.”

The Guard got up and Ayla sent another ice bolt. He lumbered towards them at half speed.

Jake calculated the man’s speed and the range of one of these traps. Better to play it safe and have a little bit less of a head start than to get stuck in the string of traps with him. “Let’s go! Towards the gate!”

They ran.

“Way to tell him our destination,” said Clawdia.

“Well, where else are we gonna go? And it’s the first place they’d think to guard anyways.”

The man triggered the first of the traps, sticking himself firmly in place. Emily had laid two of them, giving them ten seconds until the Guard could give chase.

How far away could they get in that time?

“Jogging pace. As fast as you can go without draining chi. Ayla, you didn’t happen to grab any more grenades, did you?”

She held up two more. One was labeled Ice and the other labeled Miasma.

If FTO rules held — and there weren’t any surprises — he knew exactly what they were going to do.

“Remind me to kiss you when we get a break.”

Townspeople got out of their way as they ran. Word hadn’t spread among the common people that Jake’s women were wanted, so they must’ve assumed he was on important Master business.

The obstacles he knew were in their way: a level 4 guard and a level 9 guard. He wished he would’ve checked their job spheres while they passed, but their equipment said they were some sort of melee class.

“Clawdia, you’re going to charge and pin the level 9 guard on my signal.”

“Am I now?”

“Yes. You’re the only one with a great dash, and if you do it too early you’ll mess up the plan. You won’t have to hold him long.”

“Fine. You better not fuck this up.”

“Ayla, give me the ice grenade.” Unlike skills like fireball, these things weren’t effected by the elemental Power of the thrower.

After he got the grenade, he did a quick DPS check. Even with the extra power in fire Arcane Blast would be a higher DPS, but it used a lot of Chi. Not worth possibly running out of CP if there were surprises… they’d stick with fire and ice for now.

As they came within sight of the gate, he jumped to Emily.

Go stealth and start approaching them. I’ll tell you when to strike. Don’t do a killing blow on the level 9 unless I tell you to.

Might as well reward the guy for letting them in earlier.

** Understood.

He jumped to Ayla and started casting a fireball at the level 4 the second they got in range. Then he lobbed the ice grenade.

The ice hit, doing only a little damage but encasing both of them in frozen blocks. Fifteen seconds on the level 4, twelve seconds on the level 9.

This might work even without Clawdia’s charge.

The fireball hit, knocking off 55% of the level 4’s health.

Oh yeah.

“Another!” he yelled. “Everyone else, keep rushing the gate!”

After this one hit, then the level 4 would be dead, Clawdia would pin the level 9 for a few seconds, and then once they were out of the gate he’d throw the Miasma grenade to trap everyone else in town for fifteen seconds.

From there it would be a simple matter of running faster than the trackers. A breeze, as long as their pursuers didn’t have both horses and hunting dogs, or the fantasy equivalent. FTO had mounts, but no hunting dog mechanic… was that because it didn’t exist in this world, or because the translation wasn’t faithful?

He forced himself back to the battle, just in case something needed his attention.

The fireball hit, killing the level 4.

Then Ayla screamed.

He jumped to her perspective, panicked. Her health was at 81%.

He tried to make her run, but her feet wouldn’t move.

Status Effect: Convicted. Held in place by the power of conscience for 3 seconds, then movement slowed by 30% for 30 seconds.

There was a Paladin somewhere. Within twenty yards, and probably closing the distance fast.

He scanned the horizon, saw a woman with silver hair in cheap plate armor approaching them. He charged up a frostbolt while checking her stats.

Level: 6

Current Job: Paladin

Stronger stats: Power-Special-Holy, Dex-Accuracy, Defense-Special-Darkness, Defense-Physical

Weaker stats: Power-Elemental, Power-Special-Darkness

Level 6 Paladin. High defense and healing abilities… he could defeat her easily, but it would take too long. The level 13 Guard would catch up by then, and the somewhat friendly level 9 Guard might not be able to hold off interfering for too much longer.

Ayla needed to get out of there.

He switched to his own body, used his AP on Dispel, and cast it on her to clear up the movement effect.

She shot off the frostbolt, slowing the Paladin, and he switched back into her head.

Run to the gate, now!

** Yes, Master.

Where was Emily?

Stealthed, somewhere.

He jumped into her head. She was halfway to the gate. Less than ten seconds had passed since the battle had started, and moving in stealth was slow even for a Rogue.

Clawdia was still waiting for his command, but looking increasingly antsy. She was going to want to free the Paladin. That would spell disaster for their escape attempt and get them all killed.

Just a few more seconds, when Ayla was closer to the gate, and they’d be ready. He started casting Heal on her.

The Paladin’s Master appeared from behind a building wielding a bow. “Come on, bitch!” he yelled. “I didn’t buy you just so you could keep failing! Catch them and you eat well. Lose them, and…”

The girl’s face took on an anguished, panicked expression. This was one of the bad Masters he’d heard about.

Jake looked at Clawdia. “Don’t do it!” he yelled.

She was already sprinting towards the Master, wielding the axe that she’d taken from the shop.

The enemy’s eyes got wide and he shot wildly towards her. It hit, taking 12% of her health. She kept running.

“This isn’t right! You’re not supposed to go for the Masters!” The enemy Master motioned to Jake as if expecting sympathy. “This is a war crime!”

Clawdia tackled him, pinning him to the ground and slamming her axe into his jaw. He screamed and flailed uselessly.

The silver-haired Paladin kept healing the Master, her face a mix of hope and horror, but there was only so much she could do… at her level, if she’d bought Convict and Long Light of Justice, then her only healing spell would likely be Grace of the Heavens, an unstackable Heal over Time spell.

The enemy Master died.

So they didn’t have to worry about the Paladin anymore… but the level 9 Guard was breaking free of his ice, and the level 13 Guard was barreling down the street towards them.

There was no way they’d be able to defeat both of them. The level 9, yes, although it would make him sad to kill a man that had helped them. The level 13, maybe, if there was no interference. But both, together… they were as good as dead.