Chapter 35: Chapter 34: Hook and Shield (III)
The man's robes fluttered as locks of hair slick with blood clung to his face, a hurried expression shadowing the arrogance he had shown before prior. It was one of the lackeys of the rich leader, who held a tome to his chest. Nobody spared their attention to this man as he hobbled with a limp gait, weakened and frail.
"You three! You're the cadre by the name of Hook and Shield, right? Protect me! Those barbarians with the small rapidfires are aiming for me, and I can't detect them!" Ulun let out a wry smile as he stood in front of him, knowing that this was a reconnaissance mage who diverted his focus from the battlefield in order to save his own life. Apparently, he had seen Uris track down and apprehend the scout's movements and moved to the three in a desperate bid to get rid of the people tracking him down.
"So much for all-powerful magycks," he muttered, while Uris showed no expression on her face as she took up the area directly in front of the mage. The man let out an indignant whimper as he heard Ulun's statement, unable to tell whether he should rebut or cower in fear as he wasn't all that confident in a crowd of mercenaries being able to defend him. In fact, he was planning to use them as meat shields despite their fame amongst the mercenaries, as most mages spared no time to learn much about what they saw as expendable resources.
Uris stood still; stance poised in order to ward off any fired shots of light that would soon find the high-profile bullet sponge that clung to her back. Her brows creased together while her eyes narrowed, and Ulun stood to her side with his hooks level to his waist and his stance open.
Papapapa-! Sparks spread out from her shield as pellets of light pushed against her firm grip, and Uris whirled the shield about jerkily as she received each and every shot. She circled the frail mage while Ulun ran towards the shooting scientist who was getting frustrated. She was too preoccupied with getting her killing blow to notice the tall man that directly flanked her, ready for the kill.
Suddenly, shots streaked towards the relieved mage in surprise from the opposite direction! The scout had taken the initiative to use his compatriot as bait while aiming for the prize. Fortunately, his shots hadn't connected at all.
A hammer with holes that traversed the head of the blunt instrument stood in front of the mage, as smoke coursed out of the ashy pockmarks. Bie had blocked all of the shots, the scientist's face showing surprise as his eyes widened. A small smile bloomed from blue violet lips as Bie held the hammer out in front of him, slightly imitating Uris's method she had shown earlier with the large blocky mallet. The scientist hurriedly popped another canister into the chamber before letting out two shots, but it was futile.
Bie's feet seemingly faded out of existence to the scientist's uncoordinated eyes, as one shot was blocked, and the other was swung way off its initial trajectory. The stray line of light penetrated a mercenary and a scientist's head, the sharpened metal baton in the latter's grip similarly penetrating through the mercenary whose last expression was an evocation of valiance.
Meanwhile, after Bie let out his weird sidestep, he arrived before the scientist and swung the hammer down onto his kneecaps. The man faltered as his bone shattered, spitting out jets of blood all the while. The hammer's durability was rapidly slipping away as shards of stone evacuated the crumbling structure, battering against the back of the scientist's head that was soon caved in.
On the other side, Ulun had already torn the woman into four distinct portions, two clean bisections forming tidy lines as her blood graced the dry, cracked sand that was clumping due to the thick moisture. The frail mage let out a gasp as his eyes turned into saucers, before he opened the tome and silently recited a passage along one of the many lines of parchment.
The man let out a flash of light that streaked into the sky before falling on several scientists that stood with coolers and even heavier hot weapons. Their faces were obscured by a glass panel that was surrounded with a thick plastic-like lump that covered their whole entire head, the glass reflecting prancing circles that bloomed with small reflections before spreading out in a wave.
"You Hook and Shield people are better than I thought! Your next targets are the sh*theads standing by their metal boxes, pronto!" He let out a shrieking cackle as his voice was laced with contempt, not even thanking the three before he issued them an order. He saw no reason to grace the rabble that switched allegiances and couldn't even be counted as a magician.
Bie's yellow strands of hair underneath the black curtain of the more prominent part of his bob of shook in annoyance, all under the bloodstained hood that hung over his face. He rose up from his now deceased enemy whose corpse still had to bear the weight of the foot Bie dropped on it and made his way up to the mage in frustration.
Uris hurriedly arrived before the mage and nodded, before dragging Bie away with her with the hand she had to separate from her shield. Ulun simply passed by the mage without even glancing back, his hooks tracing lines in the sand as they intermittently glanced off of pebbles in their wake.
--
"Why'd you stop me?" Bie sounded more confused than ill-humored now, though he took the brief interlude they had from combat as they encroached on the coolers. Ulun's lips cracked under the heat as he brought a bottle up to his lips, taking deep gulps of water before answering as Uris was still drinking hers.
"A job's a job. It's not worth arguing with those idiots, it'll just waste our time and our money. Just focus on the fight if you're mad." Bie nodded after Ulun said what he had to say, thinking more about the meaning of his words. He probably wouldn't be able to include this advice in all of his battles, but it should do nicely for the length of the time he would spend in this Path.
They gained ground on the scientist's enveloped in light as the coolers became taller in their field of view. Uris had brought down her bottle and threw it to the ground, stepping on the empty oaken cask and shattering it. She then winded her aching shoulders in wide revolutions, one side at a time as she exchanged the side in either one of her hands.
They were now meters away from the scientists who didn't notice the glow on their bodies, mistaking the waves their sensors picked up on as deviating sun rays. This would be their last and most egregious mistake, as the mercenaries that would end their lives whilst capitalizing on their poignant fates.
A sword of Damocles hung over their head, the figurative edge looming mere inches away from their plastic covered skulls.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone