Embla gulped as she felt the blade of the ax against her throat. How did they get themselves into this situation?

Oh right, we were spotted. She wanted to slap herself for that one.

Emerging from a manhole in the middle of enemy territory was the least covert thing they could do.

She cursed herself for not checking. If she did, they could’ve taken them all out but the map indicated that it led to a part of the castle that had been cordoned off. Obviously, that wasn’t the case. Not at all.

All it took was one slip up. One distraction to land them into this situation. Unfortunately, she made that blunder. As Embla was taking out one bandit after another, she failed to notice the person behind her. Her distracted state allowed him to get the drop on her and take her hostage. And that was where they were right now.

It was a standoff between Memento Mori and the Bandit Chief with her being caught in the middle.

Her red eyes darted to Cal and Red, who stopped attacking but kept their weapons pointed at the other bandits. Pandora gripped her staff tightly, ready to cast a magical skill at any moment. Yuki stood there, biting her lip as she watched Embla being held hostage helplessly.

“So, this is how you act in other people’s homes? You walk in with your friends and start a fight? I have to say that’s really rude of you,” the bandit chief said.

“...” Yuki gripped her swords tightly. Striking now would only put Embla in more danger. She felt rage. Rage at her teammates for not sticking to the plan and rage for not being able to quell the situation. Granted, Yuki knew next to nothing about what her friends were planning but she still blamed herself.

“Lay down your weapons, fleabag,” the bandit said, tightening his hold around her neck.

Embla choked. It was getting hard to breathe. Didn’t this man know how to handle women? This hold was going to choke her out.

“Okay okay… just don’t hurt her,” Yuki said. She held her blades out for him to see then lowered them to the ground.

The bandit chief watched with utter triumph and pride on his face.

Embla bit back a snarl. She needed to get out of this hold and fast. But what could she do? She remembered what her master had taught her during her training.

“If someone has you in a rear chokehold, remain calm. Think of a way out and find some way to relieve the pressure from your neck. Strike any and all vital areas.” Embla remembered those words her teacher had taught her. She smiled. Strike any and all vital areas. As it stood, Embla was pressed against his torso and she had plenty of room to strike at this wall of a man.

Luckily, Yuki provided her with an excellent distraction. Her surrender. It would distract the man long enough.

While Embla had made it explicitly clear that she was no expert in magic, it never meant that she couldn’t cast any. Embla might not have had the best control over her own mana reserves, but she could control it. Koji had once told her that she had mana reserves as large as someone who specialized in magic.

“Round them up. And make sure to take their weapons awa-” he was interrupted when the girl he had hostage spoke. The bandit chief looked down and saw her hand pressed against his side.

“You should watch out for the one person you’re still holding onto…” she rasped.

Pain shot through him, invading every nerve in his body. He pushed Embla away, stumbling back. A small spear made of lightning was embedded into his torso.

“B- Bitch!”

“Yuki!”

Yuki’s eyes grew wide at the sudden unexpected move and jumped into action. She rushed past Embla, grabbing both her swords. The blades flew, creating an x-slash.

The bandit chief barely had any time to react and was nicked in the face by Yuki.

The others took this chance to fight back. Red inhaled and unleashed a torrent of red flames into the group of bandits in front of him. The bandits were instantly consumed by the flames, becoming nothing more than charred corpses on the ground. Red gripped his sword and closed his eyes.

“Red’s activating a Burst! Get down!” Cal said.

Embla’s eyes widened. She immediately readied her blade to deal with a stray shot. Bursts were nothing to scoff at. All adventurers no matter how strong and no matter what rank they were had access to skills. However, there were people with access to a higher level of skills. This higher level was known as a Burst. These skills were learned over time or developed by the user into a stronger version. If two people fought and one of them possessed a Burst, there was a good chance that a burst wielder would win. The most outlandish tales of the feats that could be accomplished by using a Burst could be heard in most stories about the Twelve Sages.

“Nova Ride!” Red’s entire body was engulfed in flames. Intense volcanic heat rolled off his body and washed over the surrounding area. Piles of hay burst into flames and the ground under Red began to melt and turn into molten slag.

Embla, Cal, and Pandora all jumped back. The heat was too much for them.

In an instant, Red moved. His body became a flaming rocket that rushed past a group of bandits that numbered in the dozens. The ones that were hit were instantly charred while those that were licked by the flames suffered severe burns on their arms. Red stopped in front of a building, melting the wall. He turned and swung his sword, sending a massive wave of flame that incapacitated the rest of the bandits.

The bandit chief growled as he parried Yuki’s blades. A Burst? This fight was not going in his favor. Luckily, he had them outnumbered. All he needed to do was wear them down. Or at least keep them distracted until the others were ready. As he thought this, Yuki kicked him in the face and sent him crashing into some boxes.

Yuki raised her finger into the air. “Foxfire,” she whispered. Blue wisps of flames appeared on the tip of her finger and at the tip of her two tails. She pointed her finger at the bandit chief and fired a blue ball of fire.

The bandit chief rolled to the side, dodging the explosive ball of flame. He charged at Yuki and raised his ax.

The fox girl grinned, gripping her swords as the flames from her tails enveloped them. She dashed at him and the two met in the middle. The ax and blade moved at the same time as the two passed each other.

“Heh- Huh?” The bandit chief’s eyes grew wide as his ax melted before his very eyes.

A grin appeared on Yuki’s face. Regular steel weapons were no match for foxfire. Refined metals were needed to truly fight against a blade imbued with foxfire. She turned on the balls of her feet and threw an ice spike at him.

Yuki’s eyes narrowed when the ice spike shattered on his skin. She dodged a swipe of his ax. The air created by the swing destroyed the wall of the house behind her.

“A skill… a defense skill and an attack skill. I sensed you when I was in the main castle complex. You’re not a normal bandit, are you?” Yuki said.

“You caught on? Haha! I used to be an adventurer,” he said, hefting his ax onto his shoulder. Red landed next to Yuki and noticed that his wounds were healing as well. A passive trait perhaps?

“Seems like you made a decision to change careers,” Red said, pointing his sword at the man.

Behind them, the battle raged on as pillars of light, arrow rains, and various elemental flashes boomed in the background. The bandit chief stroked his respectably large beard and smirked.

“Of course, this job makes more money than going around competing for missions. Name’s Marius. Not that it matters now that you know my name. It’s not like you have long to live anyway,” the bandit, whose name was Marius, said.

Red and Yuki readied themselves as the remains of Marius’s ax blade glowed. A blade of pure light appeared. He grinned as he charged at them. The two jumped out of the way, surprised by the bandit chief's newfound speed.

“Hold fast! Hold fast until the others get here with- AGGHK!” the bandit fell to the ground, bleeding from his chest.

Embla weaved through the steady stream of attackers that rushed at her. She had been forced to fight off thugs before but never this many. Still, these were regular people with no combat experience and not adventurers or soldiers. Their attacks were as predictable as the next sunrise.

Embla ducked underneath the blade and rammed the butt of her sword into her attacker. Sensing an attack from behind, she extended her leg and kicked the would-be attacker in the solar plexus. She coughed and was sent careening into another bandit.

Her red eyes moved rapidly, tracking all the movement around her. Years of hunting beasts had honed her senses to the rather slow movement of regular people. She flooded her muscles with prana as she used her Eight Fold Dance skill. In a flash, Embla appeared in eight places at once, cutting into the bandits.

The bandits around her fell, all bleeding from the various cuts inflicted on their bodies. She looked around and saw a large shadow looming over her. Turning quickly, she saw the massive hammer bearing down on her. Embla prepared to block the strike when a golden arrow caused the head to explode. She raised her arm to cover her face from the debris.

Several more arrows pierced the wielder, a large orc who let out a groan of pain and fell over.

“You should really watch yourself,” Cal said, landing next to her.

She grimaced, remembering the brief moment she was taken as a hostage.

“Yeah, luckily, Yuki got here in time to distract him long enough.” Embla shoved Cal aside and sliced an arrow. “Looks like you’re getting distracted. That arrow almost took your head off.”

“I guess we’re even now,” Cal said.

The two stood back to back, facing their attackers. As they prepared to move, a hailstorm of elements ravaged the area around them. Bandits were burned, frozen, and thrown to the side.

“Show off,” he said as he watched his twin wade through a sea of bodies. Pandora had a smirk on her face that only younger siblings could make. She raised her hand and a large magic circle appeared above them.

“Triple Complex Cast: Element Triplex.” Upon saying those words, the circle rained lightning, fire, and ice on her foes.

“Are you sure she’s a Priestess? She fights more like a mage.” Embla watched the elemental maelstrom destroy the bandits around them.

“Trust me, she is. She’s an unorthodox priestess but she is one,” Cal said.

“Looks like you two needed a bit of help,” Pandora said.

“We weren’t in any trouble, you know that right?” She looked at Pandora with a deadpan expression on her face. Pandora kept smiling and raised her staff. A ball of fire shot past her head and impacted a goblin bandit that was about to stab Embla from behind.

Embla looked over her shoulder and sighed. Now was not the time to get distracted. “Thanks,” she said.

“Weren’t there more of them earlier?” Cal asked.

“Yeah, I think Red beat you to using a Burst to take out most of them,” Pandora remarked. She twirled her staff and pointed it at two bandits. The two had their manacasters aimed at Pandora’s head.

“Dual Sparks.” Two jagged bolts of lightning erupted from the tip of her staff and hit the two snipers in the center of their chests.

“Looks like the numbers are thinning out,” Embla said. Still, she kept her guard up. The five were still deep within the bandit stronghold. Lowering one’s guard would be a fatal mistake. She gazed upon the battle between Red and Yuki and the Bandit Chief. The horribly one-sided battle where the Bandit Chief was being tossed around between the two. If she could feel pity for the poor man, she would have long before the battle even started.

“Should we go help them?” Pandora asked, seeing the battle unfold. She raised her hand and blocked a sword strike with a yellow barrier.

Cal rushed past his sister and stabbed an arrow straight into the attacker’s throat. The bandit fell with a thud. He reached down and pulled the arrow out of the corpse. With that same bloodied arrow, Cal took aim. He held his breath, steadying his aim as he prepared to fire a hard shot.

With the twang of the bowstring, Cal’s arrow flew. The arrow whizzed through the air and found its home between Marius’s shoulders. The Bandit Chief didn’t even register the pain as the force of the shot knocked him over.

Red and Yuki stopped attacking when they saw Marius go down.

“You’re welcome!”

The two looked at Cal and nodded.

Marius groaned as his body slowly began to register the pain. The arrow had embedded itself deep into his shoulder. He felt the tip poking at his lung. Marius needed to get it out and fast. He also needed to deal with these brats before the end of the day. The chief got to his feet, using his ax as support.

“Give up.” Yuki pointed her blade at his face. Marius paused for a bit before seeing something out of the corner of his eye. He smiled.

“Hehehe… I was wondering… you know. Why hasn't the tower fired at you all yet?” Marius said, getting on his hands and knees.

A pregnant pause filled the area as Marius shakily got to his feet.

“You took out the tower cannon didn’t you?” he said. The look on her face was all he needed to see in order to get the answer he wanted. The tower cannon was meant for long-range attacks. She must’ve learned of it through Albert. That fool. He always had a loose lip. Nearly the entire force had been led to believe that they only possessed one Gusisnautar but in truth, they had multiple cannons hidden by spells. And one of them was positioned near their location. It would only be a matter of time before that cannon fired.

“What about it?” Cal asked. His arrow was trained straight at Marius’s head. If the chief so much as twitched with the intent to attack, the arrow would find a home between his eyes.

“Hehehehe… you think that a base as big as this only needs one cannon to defend it?”

Their eyes widened when they saw the shit-eating grin on Marius’s face.

“Fire!”

Pandora immediately leaped into action. She slammed her staff into the ground while Marius dove out of the way.

However, it was too late. A bright beam of blue light fired from one of the castle walls and a large explosion engulfed the entire area.