Chapter 16: First Battle (Part 3)
[POV AQUILES VIRIDIUM – YEAR 271]
"To hell if anyone sees me using magic, I won't die here!" Thought Aquiles, with a growing fear in his chest. So, without hesitation, he began to quietly chant his magic: "Skori Darilva." Soon, twelve earth spikes emerged from the ground right beneath the feet of the six men, piercing their feet and causing them to fall on their butts, screaming and clutching their feet and the sharp, pointed earth spikes that had pierced through them.
The man holding the spear immediately let go, and Aquiles grabbed the shaft, taking a deep breath before pulling it out. The pain from removing the spear was worse than when his calf was pierced. "You damn bastard, you won't have an easy death!" Aquiles inwardly vowed, looking furiously at the man who had previously held the spear.
As they screamed, Aquiles got up, the wound in his calf completely healed by the passive effect of his ability {Gift of Healing}. Seeing Aquiles rise, one of the bandits was terrified as a flash of understanding crossed his mind, and he yelled in fear and anger, "It was you, it was you who did this, wasn't it?"
Aquiles wasted no time answering his question and simply attacked with a thrust to the throat of each of the 5 men in front of him, killing them on the spot and leaving the one who had injured him for last. Seeing Aquiles standing, killing his friends, the man shifted his gaze to Aquiles' calf and was horrified to see that it was no longer bleeding, the clothing was still stained with blood, but the wound had been healed.
With evident terror in his eyes as he watched Aquiles approach with a smile, the bandit questioned, "What are you?" Aquiles once again didn't bother to respond; he just drove his sword momentarily into the ground and took his hands to the man's jaw, then firmly gripped his fingers and, amid the man's pleas of pain, stepped on the man's chest and began to pull until he ripped his jaw off.
As Aquiles tore the bandit's jaw off, blood began to spray everywhere as the man cried, screamed, and thrashed against the ground, emitting some spasms. Without wasting any more time, Aquiles withdrew the sword from the ground and struck the bandit's neck as he seemed to have a seizure. This blow to the neck caused blood to spray once again on Aquiles' face, but now there was no more of the terrible sensation he felt when killing for the first time. On the contrary, the sensation of killing his enemy caused a smile to widen on his blood-soaked face.
But then, from his peripheral vision, Aquiles saw Ser Rodrik in trouble and rushed to help him. In moments, Aquiles converged on Rolf's rear, and upon hearing heavy footsteps coming from behind, Rolf turned around and saw that he was completely surrounded. Realizing he would be killed anyway, Rolf chose to ignore Aquiles and launched into a full-on attack against Ser Rodrik, an attempt to drag the knight to death with him.
However, that reckless and impulsive decision was Rolf's final mistake; as he ran furiously towards Ser Rodrik, Aquiles moved closer and acted swiftly. His sword created a single upward arc towards Rolf's back, the sharp blade slammed against the ribs with force and easily cut through flesh and bone, severing the man's body from the first rib on the right side to the left shoulder.
The result was grotesque: guts and blood splattered as they spilled onto the ground in front of Ser Rodrik, Rolf's lifeless body fell separately to two different sides. When the divided upper body fell in front of Ser Rodrik, he could see the man's expression frozen in a look of rage, the same one he had as he advanced before dying.
"Are you alright, Ser?" Aquiles questioned with a demonic and twisted smile adorning his face, a smile that only grew more terrifying due to his blood-soaked face still dripping the blood of the spearman. Just by seeing that smile, Ser Rodrik felt the hairs on his neck stand on end. Still stunned by how easily Aquiles had cut the man in half and by the disturbing smile adorning his face, Ser Rodrik merely nodded in response.
With Ser Rodrik's confirmation, Aquiles moved out to attack the next enemy. "Why the hell was he smiling?" Ser Rodrik muttered to himself quietly as he watched Aquiles move away. Ser Rodrik couldn't help but feel uncomfortable thinking about the expression on Aquiles' face, and a disturbing question settled in his mind: "Is he enjoying this?"
As Ser Rodrik advanced through the battlefield in search of a new opponent, the memory of Aquiles vomiting and then being paralyzed after killing his first human a short time ago emerged in his mind. "How could he undergo such a change in just a few minutes?" Ser Rodrik questioned himself. The dramatic shift in Aquiles' attitude in such a short period of time bothered him somewhat.
After the death of two of his sons, Jorik, now witnessing the carnage that Aquiles began to create before his eyes, felt fear. Besides realizing that victory was impossible, he understood that if he didn't give the order to retreat, he might even end up being killed himself. "Damn it... If I had known I would have to face such a monster, I would have brought all the men. As things stand, even if we win, the big man will still kill almost all of us!" Jorik was filled with anger and sadness, but above all, he was afraid of dying.
Giving one last look to see Aquiles taking the lives of his men as if it were nothing, Jorik vowed: "I will remember you! And sooner or later, I will kill you." He then began to run, and as soon as he entered the bush, he shouted ordering the retreat. During the brief battle of just over 10 minutes, Aquiles left behind a trail of death, killing a total of 16 bandits and doing so in such a brutal manner that it left an indelible mark on the minds of the surviving bandits.
Upon hearing the retreat order, the remaining bandits didn't hesitate and ran for the forest, quickly plunging into the woods in a desperate and clumsy escape. Some even stumbled and fell; however, they quickly got up and continued running. Others, carrying heavy weapons, even abandoned them to lighten their load and run even faster.
Of the initial 50 bandits who attacked the village, only a small group of 15 bandits remained alive, and most of them were either wounded or terrified after witnessing Aquiles killing their people. The scene of Aquiles using one of them as a club was still vivid in their minds and would likely be etched forever in their memories.
Despite the victory the village men had achieved, there was no cry of triumph as the bandits fled. The reason was clear: despite winning, it was a Pyrrhic Victory. Of the thirty men from the village who had engaged in battle, only 7 survived, and most of them were severely wounded, so injured that their lives hung by a thread due to the abundant loss of blood.
With a sigh of relief, Ser Rodrik thought, "We won." The feeling of relief washed over his mind and body, relaxing him as he leaned against the village fence. Although he leaned back and was more relaxed, his eyes still closely followed the retreating bandits, their figures growing increasingly distant.
As he stood there, watching the invaders flee, heavy footsteps approaching from behind caught his attention. Ser Rodrik spun around to face who was coming, but he soon felt relieved to see it was Aquiles. He carried his sword, but its blade had broken. So, Aquiles stopped in front of one of the fallen bandits, crouched beside him, and tore the fingers from the hilts of the two swords, then took them from the corpse.
"We must pursue and kill them all, or else, sooner or later, they will return to attack the village," Aquiles asserted with fierce determination. Ser Rodrik shook his head negatively, noting Aquiles' determined look, and replied with scorn in a questioning tone, "Look around you. Does it seem to you that we are in a position to pursue them?" The knight gestured to the bodies scattered around the area and then to the survivors.
Aquiles' sharp eyes scanned the scene, and then he said, "You're right. Stay here and tend to the wounded while I go after the enemies!" And then Aquiles gripped the wooden fence with one hand, ready to jump over and start his pursuit. However, before he could leap, Ser Rodrik reached out and grabbed his right shoulder. Aquiles immediately turned to Ser Rodrik, thinking to question him, but before Aquiles could ask anything, Ser Rodrik spoke in a tone that left no room for discussion: "You can't go! You're the only healer we have, and if you leave, they will die!" Ser Rodrik now pointed to the survivors.
Aquiles's eyes reluctantly scanned the injured figures scattered around, and he watched as women and children emerged timidly from their hiding spots. The weight of the decision rested on his shoulders for a moment. However, he understood that his goal was to protect the village, not to exterminate the bandits. "Saving them is the priority!" Thought Aquiles.
"You're right, let's help these people!" Aquiles asserted, although his eyes still gave one last glance to the path through the woods that the bandits created while fleeing, but Ser Rodrik didn't notice and only nodded his head, releasing Aquiles's firm grip on his shoulder as he asked, "What do you need to save them?"
"I've already prepared the herbs in advance, they're in the house. I'll go get them, meanwhile, prepare hot water and ask the women to bring all the clean cloths they can find. The more, the better!" Aquiles's voice echoed with urgency and purpose. Without waiting for a response, he dashed off towards his house, leaving Ser Rodrik with the task assigned to him.
Aquiles was eager to save those people, but he wasn't willing to openly reveal his powers. Therefore, his plan was the same as the day he arrived in the village; he would use his 'medicines' as a façade, thus disguising his abilities, applying his healing to the wounded without anyone noticing, since the cloths would be soaked in 'medicine' and covering the wounds.
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