Return to Jorgaldur Volume II: the druid archer

Pursuit (III)

One of those who had emerged from the traps was a male muscular greenish creature, an orc full of cuts. The other, a female, was similar, also cut and furious. The mage attacking Goldmi was still hidden, but her size was much smaller than the orcs' slightly more than two meters tall. They rushed towards the archer, so leaving the human facing the lynx to his fate.

Unbalanced, he tried with both hands to keep her jaws from reaching him. He used Reinforce to double his strength for a few seconds, at the cost of high energy consumption, thus managing to push his attacker back. However, he had suffered several wounds from his enemy's claws and fire. Therefore, he took advantage of that moment to draw a healing potion.

Meanwhile, Goldmi relied on Fallback to gain distance from the orcs, dodge another attack from the mage, and get closer to her. She shot an arrow with Accelerate towards the enemy of her sister, and put away the bow. She then wielded sword and dagger to face the mage, who possessed a shield capable of stopping her arrows, and which wasn't easy to weaken while being pursued. Through her Slide, she managed to quickly win the mage's back, so placing her between her and the orcs.

A face of disbelief appeared on the man when the potion he was about to consume exploded almost on his lips, as it was pierced by a fast arrow. That moment of distraction allowed the feline to jump on him.

"Damn beast!"

He raised the sword and shield toward his attacker, to parry and pierce her at the same time, but the blade was stopped by the claws reinforced with Shred. He could barely stand before the impact against the shield, for the explosive but brief effect of Reinforce had already expired. The warrior was too slow to realize that his enemy hadn't been repelled by it, but had used it as a platform to jump behind him.

When he turned, powerful fangs were already piercing his jugular, while powerful claws were ripping, burning, and pinning him on the ground. He was at level 48, three levels higher than her, but it weren't enough to counter the feline's experience and her swift surprise attacks.

In turn, the elf pressed with Multi Sword Thrust on the magician, who had no choice but to reinforce her shield to try to counter physical melee attacks, against which she wasn't well equipped. Her natural place was in the middle distance, protected by warriors.

Luckily for her, the orcs were arriving. The first to do so attacked Goldmi without hesitation, who used Feint to the Foot combined with Surprise Dagger. With the first skill, she fooled her opponent by dropping to dodge and attacking with her foot. With the second, she added a dagger to that foot strike, so stabbing it into the huge orc female.

She stumbled and was about to fall, which made her partner collide with her. He had rushed to attack after her, and couldn't stop. The collision wasn't strong, but allowed the elf to buy time. When the orc lunged toward her again, he encountered another Wind Abyss.

Her partner entered Berserker, so she ignored the foot wound to attack the elf, while the mage hesitated. Her ranged attacks could also harm herself from so close.

Goldmi again used Fallback and drew the bow from the inventory. She immediately fired an Arrows Rain at the three of them, and summoned a Wind Ring. The orc lunged toward her despite the ring and arrows, though her speed was reduced by a Wind Push as she passed over it, thus increasing the damage.

On her side, the mage was busy defending herself from the barrage of arrows that the female orc ignored. Meanwhile, the male orc also entered Berserker, so freeing himself from the trap at the cost of worsening his wounds.

The archer relied on Block and Recoil to counter the orc's massive two-handed sword. It is true that a dagger by itself couldn't block that powerful attack made with fury and Skew, but what her skill did was precisely take advantage of the strength of the opponent to be dragged by it. The stronger the attack, the greater the distance traveled.

Thus, while her enemy practically felt that she had struck air, the elf gained distance and, as she flew back from the force of the impact, she returned to wield the bow. Aided by Shoot Anyway, she could start shooting even before stopping.

She was able to shoot three bursts of three arrows before landing, at which point she put the bow away and rolled on the ground. It was a movement that she could easily do thanks to being the continuation of her skill.

The nine arrows had nailed down in the orcs' legs, since she was trying to hit their knees and ankles to impede their movements. They, in their frenzy, kept advancing on her, while ripping out arrows without worrying that they would tear their muscles by doing so. Their hands were damaged too when attempting to grasp mana arrows. While it is true that the tough skin of these had prevented the arrows from piercing too deeply, they hadn't emerged unscathed either.

On her side, once the pressure on her had subsided, the magician again threw several Fireballs towards the archer, but she soon had to stop. Her magic shield vibrated and threatened to collapse. A huge feline was attacking her from behind.

She turned almost in a panic, and released what looked like Fire Breath from her mouth. Of course, the fire had little effect against a lynx with Lineage of Flame. However, she did not wrap herself in fire. As long as the magician continued to cast fire spells on her, she wasn't going to give her clues about her near immunity.

From a distance, several shadows watched the fight, somewhat astonished that the less numerous side still remained standing, and had even eliminated one of the opponents.

Although, more than the battle, they worried about the interior of the cave where the dryad was located. Their mission was not to intervene unless it were essential, and to do everything possible not to be seen. Above all, they had to make sure that the dryad left, alive or dead. Also, they needed to ensure that nobody could associate them with anything that was happening there.