Other racing parties which had more than twenty members followed suit. One group followed directly behind the Infime guild while others used the opposite shallow shore lines on the right.
The racing parties with less than ten members stayed behind. They knew they couldn't survive against Parjure swamp with their numbers.
They gathered around Smoke's party to see what one of the smallest racing parties would do. The other racers clearly noticed how calm they were.
Smoke gave small bits of grilled blood pheasant to Ental, he massaged his hell boar's leg muscles which made her grunt with happiness, and the Lioumereans fed their stag moose with a handful of specially mixed hay.
After they were well rested. They packed up their belongings and headed to the forest fragment on the right side of Parjure swamp.
Smoke was about to create an opening to the blocked road when two other Flame Knights were already there hacking away the thick trees.
The real Flame Knights belonged to the guild called Confiance. They had giant fire axes, and they were lit with ruby red flames. When the hidden road was revealed the rest of his fellow guild members immediately followed him into the woods.
Their party was composed of two Flame Knights, two Electro Knights, one Aqua Knight, and three Shamans. All of them had bronze jackals for their mounts. These monsters were smaller than the dirus wolves but were also faster.
Smoke and the Lioumereans were the second group to use the old brick road. They were able to bypass the imminent bottleneck of racers in the newly created path.
This forgotten road in the forest fragment had a distance of 80 kilometers. It was more than twice the length of Parjure swamp. It was further, but offered a much safer route.
Twenty minutes passed, and the front runners on the forgotten road enjoyed an uneventful ride, when suddenly twenty black ctenosaurs leapt at them from the sides.
The Confiance guild members followed their standard formation against surprise attacks. They had their healers behind them while the five Elemental Knights protected them from the front.
Each Elemental Knight had to face four Brandal bandits at the same time. If it weren't for their Shaman's healing powers they would have been already killed against the multiple slashes inflicted against them.
Both of the Flame Knights could only manage to inflict some splash damage against their eight attackers with their great fire axes.
However, the two Electro Knights' approach was different. They focused their electrically charged lances on one attacker and endured the damage against the other three bandits.
The Aqua Knight didn't try to attack the four Brandals she was up against. She made sure to protect their three Shamans at all times.
Two minutes passed and two of the bandits were about to die. The leader of this black ctenosaur raiders threw his knives at the Electro Knights.
Unlike the damage from the ordinary bandits, the damage from the knives were high enough to force the Electro Knights to defend against them.
The two bandits who had less than 10% left on their lifebars moved back behind their formation. They rode towards safety while they applied healing salves on their bodies.
Before the two bandits had a chance to fully recover their lives, Smoke created a tall earth ramp, and together with Ental, they leapt over the Confiance guild's defensive formation.
The DarkElf used his flaming Rzeka, and cleaved the two dying Brandals with a back attack from his glaive. The Brandal leader switched targets, and was about to attack Smoke with his whip, when he received multiple arrow attacks from Laernea and Gandiva.
Five minutes later, the other racers who followed them into the forest fragment caught up with them and saw the fight. They drew out their weapons and attacked the Brandal raiders.
This time it was the Brandals who were outnumbered three to one. The Brandal leader saw that the situation was hopeless, and ordered his men to retreat.
Despite the Brandals mad efforts to escape, their exit paths were blocked by the other racers. Everyone knew about the notorious Brandals, and their heinous acts against the villages outside of Coatl.
Everyone was united in the thought of cleansing them from the face of Zectas. The Brandal leader tried to force his way through. He fought against the two Assassins on top of metallic zebras who blocked his path.
He was able to dismount one of the Assassins and was about to do the same to the other, when Smoke arrived and severed the front legs of his black ctenosaur.
The Brandal leader jumped off of his dismembered mount. All the while, Gandiva and Laernea's poisoned arrows never ceased their attacks on the bandit primo. His lifebar displayed (127,786/185,000 HP).
On foot, the Brandal leader had better mobility. He tried to flee into the thick tree formations, but both his feet were stuck on the ground.
Smoke used his 'Earth Manipulation' ability to capture the Brandal leader. The flames from Igniz's infused energy grew hotter.
Flashes of Brandals hurting Sierra and the rest of his private army entered Smoke's mind. He raised his Rzeka with both his hands over his right shoulder and charged at the trapped bandit.
The enraged DarkElf aimed his four attacks at the bandits right shoulder.
+ Attack hit Brandal Leader: Brusco. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 9,011.
+ Attack hit Brandal Leader: Brusco. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 8,998.
+ Attack hit Brandal Leader: Brusco. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 9,029.
+ Attack hit Brandal Leader: Brusco. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 9,032.
Followed by his Quadruple Mountain Strike, Smoke amputated the Brandal leader's right arm.
+ Severed: Brusco's arm. +MAIM DAMAGE. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. DMG 14,064.
The Brandal leader's lifebar was now at (77,652/185,000 HP). He desperately tried to reason with Smoke.
"Wait, stop! I'm one of the riches raid leaders in all of the Brandals. I can give you more than 10,000,000 zecs. If you'll only let me go. I won't even come looking for you..."
Smoke repeated the same attack on the bandit's left arm, and severed it as well. The Brandal's lifebar now displayed (23,652/185,000 HP).
Next, Smoke targeted the bandit's legs and removed them from his body. The Brandal writhed in pain. He kept on shouting cursed words at Smoke. He was left with (5,350/185,000 HP).
The DarkElf rode over to the mutilated body of the Brandal leader.
"No one messes with me and my private army!"
"What? I don't even know you..."
Smoke swung his Rzeka glaive and decapitated the Brandal leader's head.
+ You've dealt a fatal blow to the Brandal Leader: Brusco.
+ You've killed the Brandal Leader: Brusco.
+ You've gained 300,000 exp.
+ You've gained a level.
His anger wasn't satiated by the death of the Brandal's raiding leader. He tried to fight the other remaining Brandals, but Gandiva and Laernea quickly stepped in, and blocked their leader's path.
"Please calm down. I don't know if you've noticed but you've been using your Earth Manipulation ability rather haphazardly. Gandiva and I have been blocking the view of the other racers, but if you join in on their fights they might see you use it."
Gandiva joined in to help Smoke regain his senses.
"You're really out of it, to the point that you even forgot to pick up the Brandal leader's item."
Smoke took a deep breath. He had another one of his rage outbursts. He couldn't believe that in his maddened state he even forgot such an important act, to gather the Brandal leader's loot.
+ Acquired rare bull whip: Brandal leader's Sting.
"Inspect bull whip."
Brandal leader's Sting (whip)
A rare black whip said to be the symbol dominance over the average Brandal bandit.
Restricted to any variations of the Thief job.
Damage: 20-30
Equipment Ability:
*Hold (Active)
+ can temporarily hold any monster with a medium type body size.
+ duration depends on the difference in Strength between the user and target.
|
"Thanks, you two. If you weren't here I think I would've really blown my cover as Ilad the Flame Knight. Alright, let's head out first. While the rest of the racers deal with the remaining Brandals."
Smoke, Gandiva, and Laernea did not run directly to the first village. Instead they spent the next twenty minutes hunting blood pheasants, just enough time for the other racers to catch up with them.
The three of them joined together with the rest of the mounted racers headed for the northern village of Utara.
* * * * * *
It took Smoke, Gandiva, and Laernea nine hours, but they finally reached their first pit stop, Utara village. It was a thriving agricultural village.
There were fifty stationed Cavalry Knights in the area. They were sent here to protect the citizens who were mostly made up of farmers.
Smoke noticed that the parties that went through Parjure swamp had already settled in the village. They were either treating their injured or were busy preparing their meals.
The DarkElf and the Lioumereans had their Race Sigils verified, it was the process that assured the participants passed through the correct checkpoint.
There were a total of 752 mounted racers gathered in Utara village. Only the racers from the straggler group were missing.
Smoke ordered the Lioumereans to start with their needed preparations for the next phase of his plan. Smoke searched for the Elemental Knights that opened the path to the forgotten road.
The DarkElf ordered Gandiva and Laernea to set up a camp besides the Confiance guild members. They prepared a campfire to cook with and started to grill the blood pheasants that they hunted earlier.
Smoke didn't want to associate with any other players, but the situation with Sierra and his private army was extremely perilous. He needed to reduce the Brandals' manpower ASAP.
The DarkElf faced his fear of potentially being betrayed. He would sacrifice anything in order to protect Sierra and his private army. He thought that this approach was the best way to protect him from potential treachery.
The Confiance guild members only ate stale bread. The aromatic smell of the grilled blood pheasants drove their starved leader to partial insanity.
Their leader was the female Aqua Knight that protected the Shamans against the Brandals. She went towards Smoke and spoke with him.
"Hello, my name is Mamelon. I'm the representative of the Elemental Knights and Shamans that you see there."
Mamelon pointed at her companions.
"Hi, my name is Ilad. I'm the leader of our small group of three friends."
"I'd like to thank you for coming to our rescue earlier. If you hadn't jumped in we would've been dead."
"What are you talking about? The other racers were only a few seconds behind us. You should thank them, not us."
"Well, it was your flaming armor that I noticed. My men and I were curious how you get a dark purple flame when most Flame Knights only have ruby red flames?"
Smoke clearly noticed that Mamelon tried to make some pleasant conversation before she would tell him the real reason why she was there.
"I really don't know myself. When I activated my flames they were just naturally that color. Oh, right we've cooked some extra grilled blood pheasants. Perhaps you and your guild mates would want some?"
"I wouldn't want to impose, but since you insists I'll tell them to come over."
Mamelon went back to her group and all of them followed her to Smoke's campsite. She introduced her party members.
"These two Flame Knights are Tirer, and Virer. The two Electro Knights are Flux and Courant. Our Shamans are these three beautiful ladies. Aida, Sauve, and Crisa."
This time it was Smoke's turn to introduce their names.
"Hi, my name is Ilad, the tigress Lioumerean is Gandiva, and the lioness Lioumerean is Laernea."
The Electro Knight named Flux shouted his astonishment when he heard Smoke's name.
"Ilad? So it really is you. I saw your fight in the Swordsman to Knight championship and the way you handled your matches were amazing. It's really an honor to meet you."
Flux shook Smoke's hand enthusiastically.
"Umm... Nice meeting you too. Well, the food is ready so why don't we grab some grub?"
The two groups had a pleasant meal together. They talked about their experiences and expectations in the race. After they finished their meal, Smoke asked the members of Confiance to spare him a few minutes.
