Broken Tower Saga: The First Swordsman

Chapter 133: The War (2)

"Did you really think you could win against me?" Ben asked, giving a slight swipe on the arm that met Wrik's sword.

"Like I said," Wrik said, attacking again. "We will see." 

Ben was probably making the conversation for taking a breather, but how could Wrik let him. He did not give Ben time to breathe and attacked again with full force. The one hundred and eighty-two maha point inside his circulation system swirled with madness, forcing out his full potential. 

Ben did not pull away again, smiled as Wrik gazed at his arm. They had a sharp edge like a gauntlet sword now, but it was a part of the body and it was not any bit inferior to his sword. Appeared like it was made of metallic bone, and it was looking pretty nasty and deadly. 

A frown appeared on Wrik's brow, noticing the blade like extended bones. He did not know if it was some ability gained after an experiment or innate, but he did not have time to ponder. His opponent was coming right at him with those nasty arms. 

Ben smiled like crazy and threw his arm at Wrik maniacally. They were coated with armament reinforcement and so was Wrik's sword. 

They two collided together, making the metallic sound again and discharging white and azure blue mana. 

"Not too shabby to go against my Bone reinforcement," Ben added, forcing out. "But you will lose out mana soon while I have abundant in it."

Wrik snorted. As If he would believe that. If what he said was true, then Ben had almost a similar quantity of mana comparing with a mage. Wait, that may be possible, Wrik thought. Isn't this guy a hybrid between mage and warrior? I need to finish it quickly.

Wrik pulled more strength and swung his sword ruthlessly at his opponent. They again collided together with the metallic noise and discharging mana. 'How in the world was that bone?'

"You see, this is not just bone," Ben said, showing off the metallic blade attached to his arm. "It is reinforced by some good quality alloy." 

The battle continued. Both of them attacked, holding nothing back. Wrik was looking for an opportunity to capitalise on it. And he found some, but his opponent was not some fool. Ben might be crazy, but he was no fool.

Wrik gave a faint when it was in contact with Ben's arm, and pulled it down, giving a large scar on the light armour of his opponent. 

Wrik twisted his body ninety degrees, and Anton joined the conflict. The shadow stalker was waiting for the opportunity for a while now. He pierced a dagger in the side of Ben's abdomen, while Wrik assaulted the legs, dropping him on the ground. 

Anton took the opportunity and pointed his blade touching Ben's neck.

"Did you really think you were invincible here?" Wrik asked finally, exhaling.

"I'm not, but the one behind you is," Ben laughed like a crazy person, eyeing behind them. His eyes had no fear, only a mad glee. 

Wrik face darkened but when he turned around, he saw nothing. That guy was just making it for a chance and he got it. With him, Anton joined in turning his neck.

Ben lunged behind and was about to run away from here when an arrow pierced him. He dropped to the ground again. 

Fortunately, Aeriel was there. The female archer aimed another arrow at Ben, and would shoot with the faintest movement.

"Fu#king Bastard," cursed Anton, jumping at the crazy fellow. He punched Ben in the face a couple of times, while his knee assaulted the crazy guy in the stomach. 

Ben coughed out dark scarlet blood, yet he was laughing. "You guys are really frightened, aren't you?" he said among his many coughs and laughs. "That was fantastic." 

Anton did not stop his assault, hitting the guy with punches after punches, yet Ben seemed to not feel any pain. His face was already bruised badly, eyes swollen, yet the guy was still laughing. 

Wrik heard from Anton this guy was half-crazy, and it appeared he was not wrong. Only a maniac would laugh like that while getting beaten.

"Does this outlander feel no pain?" Aeriel could not help but ask. 

Wrik was about to say something but his attention was transferred to behind. He saw a large beacon of light about ten miles away. Soon, it was not just one. A few more perpendicular beacons of light appeared all over the test zone. 

"The signal of ration drop?" he asked instead. "Why now?"

"Isn't the ration drop supposed to be tomorrow?" Byul asked, confusingly. 

"Shit," cursed Wrik. He already made a plan to collect the ration and deal a blow to Arjamith, but that damn tower they had to drop the ration now when they were least prepared. 

"Ton," Wrik yelled at Anton. "We have more problems."

Anton gave a last thrash to Ben, making sure he was truly unconscious, and stood up. 

"What do we do now?" he asked.

"You bring the captives with Aeriel," Wrik said, making a quick decision. "No matter what happens, you have to imprison this guy even if you let the other guys go. Kevin's fate and our chances of success depend on it."

Anton nodded, understanding the gravity of the problem. If they could imprison all the men here, then they would have a lot fewer problems, and would be able to buy more time. But even if one of them was successful in fleeing, he would definitely bring the news to Scythe. 

They were not ready yet for Scythe. Especially when they had not dealt with Arjamith and his men. 

"Byul, come with me," Wrik said to the short-haired girl, after making sure Anton understood his job. 

The short girl joined Wrik in the run. They moved swiftly towards where the light came from, leaving Anton and Aeriel to deal with the two dozen injured men. 

They moved among the thick trees, in the yellow light of the setting sun. Even though it was quite cold with the bitter wind, none of the two felt chills. They were running on adrenaline after a tough fight. 

The spot where the beacon of light appeared was quite close to the grassland. It would take them less than half an hour with their full speed, but they were quite tired and needed to leave a little strength for reserve.

When they reached there, as Wrik had expected, a war had started, a war to claim food, and it's between his people and Arjamith's. 

In the middle of the place of conflict were over a dozen sacks of rations. But none were going after it. It seemed the ration was protected by a halo of barrier.

It had been half an hour yet, and none of the group had taken the lead. Their side was led by Lily, fighting the large man, Arjamith, on her own. Tanya, Michelle and others could be seen among the crowds dealing with the men.

So far, they were only able to balance out the conflict by sheer number. They had more men than Arjamith, but most of them were not as skilled at combat. That was the only reason they were still behind, moreover there were a lot of men missing. Davin was not here, and so was Jacob, with the men under them. 

Wrik pulled his sword from the sheath and entered the war from behind Arjamith's side. He refrained from using his mana for now, mostly because his mana was now recovering, and partly because the Borgemen did not have that much mana either. 

The Mah'shai D'Borge clan was blessed with warriors. Their blood sings the song of war, and everyone of them was born a fighter with a spear or any weapon they practise. But they had a weakness as well, quite an unfortunate weakness. They had a low affinity towards maha mana. If not for that, nobody in the tower would be able to stop the Borgemen from conquering it.

But Wrik did not let himself swayed by their weakness in mana. Everyone of them was a tough fighter. If he left his concentration lag for a blink of an eye, a spear might pierce in his chest. 

He fought two spear bearers alone with no mana, mostly blocking and looking for opportunity. 

While in the middle, before the sacs of ration, Lily and Arjamith were battling each other for almost half an hour, baring their spear. None of them are backing a step. 

"You should give up now, Cameliliel," Arjamith said with cold eyes. "In the end, the ones who will be hurt will not only be you, but all of them. Dairyl, your sisters, my sisters, even the outlander you made friends with will suffer."

Lily, or Cameliliel as Arjamith said, spat on the ground and roared with her strength. "Let the spear talk."

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End of the Chapter: The War. 

Next Chapter: The Blood of Mah'shai Clan.

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