Ajax decided not to take Fluffy with him despite his brother’s encouragement. Both of his parents as well as his grandfather assured him that following the visit of so many nobles it would be much better to simply focus his time on the guards and not playing with his brother’s bond while he is watching over them in the dungeon.
Ajax had made many promises to the feline that they would resume their training as soon as he got back. More than that he talked with Kate to spend the time Jake was at school watching over Fluffy as she continued to practice her Void attacks against the stone dummy just in case she got injured again.
Ajax and the thirty guards departed at the same time as the elves did but since they were traveling on foot instead of by carriage the two groups slowly drifted further and further apart.
“I should have brought Fluffy with me.” Ajax muttered as he took in the guards that were coming with him.
Ajax recognised a few of them but all of them fit a specific type. They were the lazy guards who only did the bear minimum to keep their position. This was especially evident in their levels that weren’t even high enough to go to the second floor of the dungeon and would instead only be clearing the first.
Ajax even saw how frustrated Warden Grievous had been when he showed up to see them off. He had apologised privately for the guards that were accompanying him but this was just the nature of politics. In an effort to provide growth for the new guards, the young ones who would most likely form the backbone of the force in the decades to come the Warden had limited this delve to the low ranks.
Ajax didn’t blame the Warden for not anticipating this would happen. He would have overlooked this instance as well as all of the guards that had been happy lazing in their seniority suddenly became motivated enough to delve. Due to the same seniority however the Warden could just reject them.
Ajax had sent a message to Tom letting him know that he should have the Collectors take a second group in a couple of days before they even returned. Seeing as he intended to grant the Collectors a Boon from the dungeon it was only right for him to make them work much harder in the months leading up to it so that it wouldn’t seem unfair to the rest of his retainers.
“My Lord let me just say how thankful my wife and I are for the lessons you are providing for our children.” Despite their less than stellar work ethic Ajax did have to admit that even these guards weren’t bad people. Unlike the nobles he had been surrounded by, none of them were looking for an angle when dealing with him, instead most of them had children who were attending his school and they were very happy with their progress. “My oldest has already gained two Skills related to farming.”
Ajax was about to reply when [Danger Sense] suddenly started screaming at him to move. The sudden change of the situation caught Ajax by surprised, this meant that his reaction was delayed by a moment before he crouched low and to the right preparing to jump from his location.
“Damn it.” A growl was the next thing Ajax heard as his left shoulder felt like it was one fire before he jumped away suddenly aware of two Mana signatures that had been previously hidden.
One of the Mana signatures was the beastkin whose knife had just left a shallow stab wound in Ajax’s shoulder; the other was a mage hiding behind a tree that was chanting a spell. Even worse however was that Ajax used [Inspector’s Eye] and [Judge Threat] on the opponent he could see. The man’s level was one hundred and fifty one and according to [Judge Threat] he was stronger than Ajax, not to the point he didn’t stand a chance against him but the odds would be against him in a one versus one according to the Skill.
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
“Poison.” Ajax cursed as he flooded Life Mana into the wound hoping to stop the spread at the same time as he launched himself towards the location of the caster. Whatever spell they were chanting had enough Mana that Ajax very much did not want to let them finish
Out of the corner of his eye Ajax could barely make out the beastkin tearing through four guards like a hot knife through butter as the mid level thirties tried in vain to help Ajax. As much as he might have hated not restraining the man he knew just how devastating a spell unleashed on the group would be so he continued his charge towards the caster.
Ajax was twenty steps from the tree behind which the caster was hiding when his [Sense Mana] picked up a third signature three steps to his left. While [Danger Sense] was quiet Ajax was now focused enough to react, suddenly stopping his dash towards the caster right as a second beastkin launched towards him.
“You ssenssed me.” The snake beastkin was a lot closer to its animal counterpart than Nashara was, so much so that the forked tongue actually accentuated the man’s ‘s’.
Ajax didn’t bother responding to the man, he instead moved and focused on putting the third assailant between himself and the mage hoping it would interfere with whatever spell they were casting as they had to be close to finishing the chant by now.
“Ssmart move but that won’t help you.” the beastking taunted as he charge Ajax at the same time as the caster released their spell.
Ajax wasted no time in latching [Mana Syphon] onto the spell. He had initially considered himself lucky when he identified the massive spell as a whirlwind of wind blades, not only was the spell large particularly vulnerable to his Legendary Skill but it would also endanger his other attackers and not just him. His assessment had changed however when he noticed that the caster was not only still directing the spell but was also Skilled enough to control every wind blade enough to not hit the other attacker despite the snake beastkin still coming for him.
Ajax could feel as three different wind blades bit into him as the snake beastkin knocked his shield and hammer out of the way. Whoever it was that was attacking him they were clearly not just strong but very much used to working together.
“He’s using [Sense Mana] to track you.” The caster, a woman Ajax would guess from her voice, called out before heading into her second chant despite still controlling the wind spell she just released.
“Thiss iss why I hate hybrid fighterss.” The snake beastkin hissed as he tossed his dagger and dropped a few pieces of armor. Ajax could then see the man using [Camouflage] better than anyone else he had seen before, despite watching it happen he still had a hard time keeping track of the man’s outline.
It was at this point that Ajax decided fighting wasn’t an option, he needed to disengage and run. Ajax was sure he hadn’t surprised the beastking when he charged straight at him, it would have been a fairly common reaction when someone used [Camouflage], what he was sure did surprise not just him but also the caster was his use of [Telekinesis].
While the caster was still just out range to target directly the same could not be said for the tree they were hiding behind. Ajax used [Empowering Restriction] on the Skill as well, he limited himself to being able to only use the Skill for the next two seconds and then losing it for a whole week in exchange for as much of a power increase as he could get. [Telekinesis] was simply too Mana intensive to use in a protracted chase, especially once he lost the element of surprise.
The beastkin’s physical stats were so high that even with the power boost and surprise [Telekinesis] barely brought him down to one knee. The caster on the other hand had a much harder time dealing with the tree that had been torn from the ground and launched at her from almost point blank range. Ajax put about five hundred Mana into his Skill added on to the power boost from [Empowering Restriction] Ajax was sure the only reason the caster wasn’t out of the fight or dead was that the tree he had used as a projectily wasn’t solid enough to withstand the impact against whatever enchanted shield the caster had and had shattered into kindling on impact while also launching the caster backwards.
Not to lose out on his opening Ajax followed up with a Void strike towards the beastkin’s head. Despite his crumbling form and the pressure from [Telekinesis] the beastkin was still strong enough to throw a parry in Ajax’s way. This forced Ajax to spend even more Mana as his hammer was knocked aside, losing all momentul upon contact with the knife. Even more surprising was that the beastking tried to move his head out of the way of the Void strike. He had only managed to change the impact zone from between his eyes to his jaw but even that was enough to send a cold shiver down Ajax’s spine.
Whoever these people were, they knew a decent bit about him. [Telekinesis] had clearly caught them by surprise but they were prepared for everything else he had thrown at them including Void. Even worse was that through [Mana Sense] he could feel the first and strongest of his assailants closing in on him from behind.