68. OutMission (7)
““GET DOWN!!!”” Lex and Mio cried at the same time. The next second black ray was shot toward them at a very high speed
They all were trained in Crimson Eagle, their body react before they can think about it, they all lied down on the ground with Lex and Mio signal
“Everybody alright?” Lex asked once the black ray passed them, he stood up and saw his friends that started get up from the ground too. Except for one person… the only person who was left standing, Lex froze in place when he saw that
(…) Lex’s brain misfunction because of the scene before him,
The next one who stand up was Aria “situation report?” she asked, “I and Cleos are okay” Arthur replied once he made eye contact with Cleos who was near him, while Mio didn’t even try to stand up, she sat on the ground lifelessly, it’s like her soul has left her body, her face was pale, her eyes full with mixed negative emotions.
Aria felt it strange, there are three people from her member who didn’t reply to her, she heard Lex word before, so he should be okay but ('why wouldn’t he reply to me?') Once Aria checked there’s nothing wrong with her body except for little scratch when she lied down on the ground.
Aria looked at her surrounding and… she closed her eyes for a second when she saw it… She took a deep breath to calm herself to accept the reality in front of her
“Arthur!” She called “take care of them” she pointed to Cleos and Mio “we’re retreating,” Aria said
Aria then moved toward Lex who was slowly walking toward the one who was left immobile standing between them and where the black ray came from
Lex was slowly walking toward Max… once he touched Max's shoulder,
(!!??)
Max fell with his back on the ground without moving, no… he can’t move anymore… Lex saw Max’s face, Max gritted his teeth with determined eyes. Lex was unable to say anything about it, it's like Lex's legs become jelly unable to withstand his bodyweight, he collapsed to his knees beside Max.
Lex felt Aria place her hand on his shoulder, but he didn’t react at all “Lex, we need to escape now” Aria said in her usual tone “it’s dangerous to stay here” then she slowly placed her other hand toward Max’s face, she slowly closed Max's eyes. Which will never be able to move by itself again, Max was… died
He died instantly, he was the only one left standing, he most likely shielded the others from the Black Ray, gave enough time for them to avoid the Black Ray, Max… Sacrificed himself.
“Come on, Lex” Aria said it once again when she saw Lex still kneeling beside the Dead Max. she pulled his arm
“It’s my fault….” Lex muttered softly
“Hurry Lex, we need to escape!” Aria pulled his arm with more strength, but Lex still immovable from his position
“It’s my fault” Lex muttered once again (I’m a scout and I missed enemy presence near us…) he thought blaming himself
Aria can understand what Lex’s feeling right now, she can understand Lex’s action too, but they didn’t have the leeway for that, their unknown enemy has started their attack, and it can be said they failed in ambushing Lex and the rest with Max sacrificing himself, but there’s no way they don’t have back up plan for this, especially if they want to eradicate Lex and the rest.
Aria looked to the other side condition, only she and Arthur able to calm down in this situation, they had experienced it’s not their first time losing a teammate too, on the Arthur side, Cleos stood in a daze staring at Max, while Mio…
“Hahahaha” Mio was laughing “as expected this Fucking CURSE! You really know how to do your work properly!” “Fuck you!!!” Mio was… broken. She even tried to gouge her eyes out, if it wasn’t because of Arthur stopping her, she most likely would have damaged her eyes beyond repair
“This is bad…” Aria muttered softly, her party condition far from good
They were shot from the South, Aria gazed toward its direction but she didn’t see another incoming attack she didn’t able to find anything, the next she did was to secure their escape route,
But sadly she found something in that direction, no… she found many things from that direction
*clang *clack *clank *clang
The sun had gone from her sight, only a little light left on their side of the earth, with that little light she found many undead come from the North, meaning between them and the Village, their escape route has been blocked, she quickly looked for another direction, Northwest, Northeast, West, and East they all blocked, numerous undead slowly walking toward them
“CLEOS SARIELA!!” Aria shouted, from the three Mio, Lex, and Cleos, he was the one who was most likely able to snap out, that’s what Aria saw with her own eyes yet before she can say anything useful…
*bzttt
“GET AWAY” Aria shouted, as she forcefully pulled away Lex.
*booom
An explosion between Aria, Lex, and Arthur, Mio, Cleos. “ah!” Lex let out a voice when he saw the blown away Max body, Lex tried to reach Max but he was under Aria’s clutch and Lex himself didn’t have the strength to move.
Once the smoke disappear Aria checked the other side, Arthur brought Cleos and Mio away, and Cleos made a barrier between them and the explosion, seeing that Aria let out a sigh of relief, she saw Cleos snap out too.
“Arthur! We’ll re-group later, escape for now!” Aria commanded, Aria then turned her eyes toward South, where the first and second magic was shot from, there’s a single undead stood over there.
“Lich…” Aria guessed out the other identity.
*don *don *don *don
A huge wall of earth was made between Aria and Arthur, now their group was separated from each other, they can move to the other side but that way they would be vulnerable being attacked by the Lich in front or undead from behind
Aria called out her Ethereal Body, “Arthur! Escape!” she commanded once again before she ran toward Southeast with Lex a deadweight on her hand. The only place left open was Southeast and Southwest she can’t help but feel it was left open on purposes like trap or something, but Aria and the rest didn’t have leeway to choose, they can only face it.
She fired a few small Magic toward the Lich to distract it. While escaping, she looked toward the Lich, again and again, it was then she saw another being behind the lich “Skeleton King….” Skeleton wearing full plate armor and big sword in hand (‘this is the worst!’) she thought as she ran toward the Mountain Forest.
***
On Arthur Side
“Arthur! Escape!” Aria shouted from the other side, Arthur saw the undead who fired Magic toward them too,
(‘Lich!?’) Arthur was shocked, it wasn’t their enemy… normal undead without any equipment should be on lower Rank E Monster, normal undead was like a normal human with extra strength and didn’t know pain, but Lich was different they can be called the evolution of normal undead, a Lich was an undead who can uses magic, if they can use even one Magic they rank bound up toward lower Rank D, you need a different tactic to kill it depend on which Magic is learned.
(‘and this Lich had shown us three types of Magic, it should be Rank C Monster…’)
(‘The worst!’) Arthur looked toward his teammate the one he need to protect while escaping, he’s glad that Cleos able to snap out from his shocked state, he did help him with the barrier when bombarded by the Lich, the one he was anxious about was Mio…, (‘phew…’) he sighed deeply when he saw Mio sat there with a lifeless eye (‘at least she won’t try any self-harm’)
“Inventory!” Arthur called, then a flying shelf-like, box-like, room-like space suddenly appear behind him, he took a shield and a sword from there “….” He hesitated before placing back the Sword then “Inventory” he called it once again and it's disappeared.
It was ‘Magic Weapon’ prepared by Crimson Eagle, maybe it’s more appropriate to call it “Magic Item’ this ‘Inventory’ was similar to how item-box in the game world works, and of course, without 'time-stop' and ‘weightless’ attached to it, it’s size depending on the quality of the Inventory, and without 'time-stop', you can’t save food for long or it becomes ruined, while the item weights added toward the one who had the Inventory. This means if the user (60kg) saved an item (5kg), the user's weight would become (65kg) if the user's weight was measured. And naturally, Lex let out a bitter smile when Aria explained to him the ‘Inventory’ (anything works in this world….) he thought.
“Cleos!” Arthur cried “prepares your Magic we need to run now” then he moved toward Mio pulled her up with his other free hand, then he made a run toward the other side of Mountain Forest, the other side of Aria’s direction, if he want to chase her, he has to clash with the Lich so he didn’t have any other choice.
Cleos saw Max’s body which was blown away by the explosion too, he closed his eyes he gritted his teeth very hard before he turned toward Arthur following them from behind.
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