Jinggu and Sharur looked at each other and nodded. From on top of their fort, both of them leapt at the same. They managed to land safely behind Sierra's back.
"I told you guys to run away. I've got this."
"We know that your tough and strong, but seriously. You can't expect to win against this many opponents."
Sierra focused on the enemies in front of Jinggu and Sharur and knocked the bandits back with her claws.
"I never said I expected to win."
Sierra picked both of the OrkElves up and threw them inside the fort. Swiftly, she slashed the rope that was holding the fort gates open. The gates immediately closed.
Relieved that the Range Siegers were now safe inside the fort, Sierra turned to face the Brandals once more. As she turned she saw the blanketed wagons unveiled.
The wagons were actually catapults primed with gigantic barrels with a burning fuse on top. The four catapults were all released simultaneously.
The barrels flew past Sierra's head and went directly inside their wooden fort. The four barrels caused a massive explosion and blew their fort apart from the inside.
Sierra was blown away by the huge blast and damaged her severely. Her lifebar displayed (159,700/242,200 HP). She was gravely injured but she worried more for the Orkelves, their lives were only at 80,000 HP.
The red Werebear was down on the ground and was faced against Canalha and the rest of the raiding Brandals, who were only a few feet away from her.
Chapter Four: Missing Mausoleum
With purposely slow strides, Canalha leisurely rode over to where Sierra had fallen down. As he approached the injured Werebear, the bandit leader was laughing sadistically on top of his black ctenosaur. The rest of the Brandals joined in on his maniacal laughter.
"BWAHAHAHA. Curious, this is the first time I've seen someone like you. I've heard about Werewolves but I've never heard of a Werebear before. I take it that you're the leader of this tiny resistance?"
He made a circular motion with his hands, and the Brandals surrounded the wounded Sierra.
"I bet you're wondering how we found this 'secret base' of yours. I'll have you know that 'Trap' abilities are not exclusive to you bastards. We, Brandals have our own specialized unit. I'd like you to meet Ladrão and Morrão. Their levels are over 120. Both of them have advance levels in Trap and Stealth. Although, we only have two of them in the special unit at the moment, but these two are more than enough. I do admit that aside from their special abilities they're absolutely useless, but they're not here to fight anyway."
Sierra didn't mind the ramblings of the bandit leader. She kept on staring at the ashes of fort Amitié. No living thing was moving from within the flames of the blown up fort.
"Oh, I'm guessing you're worried for your fallen comrades, right? Don't worry I'll have you join them soon enough. Boys! Do your thing."
Sierra's lifebar indicated that she still had (159,700/242,200 HP) left.
The surrounding Brandals took advantage of their numbers. Two black ctenosaurs pounced at Sierra simultaneously. Both rider and mount attacked her for 350 damage points and 700 damage points respectively.
"Noooooooooooo!"
The red Werebear shouted and looked up to the skies. She had hoped that Jinggu and Sharur would drop down from the heavens, but nothing happened.
Sierra was in pain, not from the attacks of the bandits but from her heart tightening. She felt like it was being squeezed from the inside.
As she stayed motionless, groups of four black ctenosaur riders took turns and slashed her from all four directions.
Sierra saw that the blue sky was infinitely high and crystal clear and so was her goal. Her claws extended as she looked at the Brandals' leader.
The moment she spotted him she ran towards him with all her might. The attacks from the Brandals did not stop for one second.
Canalha laughed as he saw the Werebear running towards him. He readied his sword and his whip. The moment Sierra was in range, Canalha cracked his whip, and struck nothing.
Sierra leapt to the side and pounced on the two special Thieves who Canalha was so proud of. With one Thief in each claw, she pinned them to the ground.
She flipped them around so that their backs were right side up. From that position she started hacking and slashing.
The other Brandals were alarmed and tried their best to remove Sierra from on top of Ladrão and Morrão. Canalha tried to restrain her with her whip, but the Werebear was undeterred.
Sierra's lifebar was quickly draining, but so were the lifebars of the two Thieves below her. Canalha and the Brandals were desperate.
Five minutes passed, and the lifebars of the two special Thieves were below 4%.
Sierra raised both her claws and plunged them deep into the backs of the two men who led the Brandals to their fort. She finally killed the Brandals' special unit.
The Werebear's lifebar displayed (62,108/242,200 HP) left. She estimated that it would take less than two minutes before she would die.
With her sharp claws, she lashed out at anyone who was near her. As a result, some of the black ctenosaurs' eyes were gouged out.
Her furious warpath made the bandits back off. Only Canalha was brave enough to be in her range. He kept on using his whips.
However, Sierra ignored him completely. She was after the weaker Brandals. She planned on reducing as much of their attack force before they could kill her.
Her lifebar was left with (10,096/242,200 HP). All the bandits stayed out of her reach. When she moved the surrounding circle of bandits would move with her.
Canalha's damage of 1,024 meant that she would be dead in the next ten attacks. Sierra tried her best to gouge out one more eye.
Sadly, she couldn't get any more victims. The Werebear snarled at the cowardly Brandals who kept running away. Canalha was about to crack his whip when an arrow knocked it off his hand.
The Brandals' leader turned around and saw a one armed man carrying a menacing double bladed sword. He was accompanied by a Hunter and ten Betulite Fishermen, each Fishermen carrying multiple fishing spears.
All of the Brandals' attention were on Adder and his men. They were laughing at the small rescue group before them. Then, out of nowhere four falcons swooped down from on top of the forest. Each falcon took their turn and attacked Canalha for 800 damage points.
Canalha madly swung his sword around him to drive off the dangerous falcons.
"Boys, check the sides. I think they have other Hunters hiding behind those tall shru..."
Canalha took an arrow to his side. It came from the northern shrubs, and a second later he took another arrow which came from the opposite direction. The Brandals immediately turned to face the tall shrubs and searched for the other Hunters.
Adder, Thyrsus, and the Betulites came charging at the Brandals, denying them the opportunity to search for their other companions.
They took advantage of the fishing spear's range. The only range weapon available to the Brandals were Canalha's throwing knives, which had a shorter reach.
All the Betulites threw their fishing spears and focused their attack on the nearest mounted Brandal. Each spear damaged the bandit for 1,200 points.
After taking all ten spears the targeted bandit fell down and died. The Betulites prepared to do the same attack on another bandit, but not before the grouped Brandals received a shower of fishing spears from the north and the south sides of the forest.
The Brandals saw twenty pairs of bundled fishing spears towering over the shrubs on each side. The spears were gradually drawing closer to them.
"Primo, they have us surrounded. I think there are about fifty to sixty of them altogether."
Canalha's lieutenant discerned that it was too dangerous for them to stay any longer.
"Please, it's time to run. I beg you; sound the retreat."
"Retreat? Why would we retreat when we've just burnt down their bas..."
Another arrow from Thyrsus attacked the Brandal leader. Canalha's lifebar was still at (162,369/185,000 HP). He was confident that he could survive this battle.
As soon as Canalha finished talking, one more Brandal fell down and died from the multiple fishing spears lodged all over his body.
There were only twenty six Brandals left. The bandits' focus were only on Adder and his men that they forgot about the powerful Werebear deep inside their clustered formation.
Sierra stabbed her claws on two bandits at once and threw them towards Adder. She then gouged out the eyes of their black ctenosaurs and made them run away.
"Wwaaaahhhh!"
The Brandals were shocked to see two of their comrades flying over them. The thrown bandits fell directly in front of the charging Adder.
Adder leapt over them and attacked them from behind. As each bandit was writhing in pain, five fishing spears flew towards them killing them simultaneously.
In order to avoid friendly fire, the hidden attackers from the sides focused their fishing spears on the bandits furthest away from Adder and Sierra.
"I'm sorry, Primo, but we have to leave right now."
Canalha's lieutenant and another bandit grabbed their leader and dragged him off of his mount. They forcefully carried him westward.
"Nooo! Tenente, you better release me now or you'll suffer the consequences!"
"I'm ready to sacrifice my life for yours and our men. When we're safe I will not run away from your wrath."
Canalha understood, the situation did look disadvantageous. He ordered to sound the retreat.
As the Brandals were running away. Sierra snatched two more bandits and held them down with her claws. Canalha saw what the Werebear did and shrugged of his lieutenant and ran off to finish her.
Sierra's claws were busy with the two pinned down bandits when she felt the sting of a knife on her back. Leaving her with only (6,096/242,200 HP). Adder, Thyrsus, and the Betulites were running as fast to save her.
Canalha saw that they would reach her soon. He hitched a ride on one of the unmounted black ctenosaurs but not before he aimed six of his throwing knives at Sierra's back.
With the running black ctenosaurs on her sides, Sierra's eyes were fixed on Adder. She felt like everything around her was in slow motion. She didn't know how to tell him that Jinggu and Sharur were dead.
Sierra was still in a daze at the turn of events. She couldn't comprehend why Adder and Thyrsus were waving their hands frantically at her.
She tried to turn around but it was too late. Canalha's knives served their purpose.
Sierra's vision turned pitch black. A second later a system notification popped up.
- You have been killed by Canalha's throwing knives!
- You lose 1 level!
- All The stats that have increased in the last level up will be rolled back!
- Because you have DIED You cannot log in to ZECTAS for another 24 hours!
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* * * * * *
Sherry trembled and cried as she stepped out of her special edition gamepod. She remembered how Nash described the feeling of dying in Zectas.
This was her first time to experience it. Nash told her that it was like falling in your sleep, but that wasn't what she felt. What she experienced was an extreme anxiety attack.
She thought that it could be a different experience for everybody else. She also considered the fact that she was distressed. Seeing as she just witnessed the death of Jinggu and Sharur right in front of her eyes.
Zectas' realism was more than enough to make her grieve for the NPCs. In between her sobs she realized an obvious problem that she completely forgot.
How in the world was she going to explain this to Nash.
Sherry started to panic. The gears in her distraught head started to turn. 'If Adder chose to contact Nash inside Zectas then shouldn't he have called by now.'
She got her cellphone and stared at it with anticipation. She felt that Nash's call would come any time soon.
An hour passed and she still did not receive the dreaded call. She wanted to log back into Zectas but she still had twenty three hours left.
Sherry tried to cook some of her Zectas' recipes but she was too distracted. Her eyes would always find themselves looking at her phone waiting for Nash's call.
She paced around the kitchen, she decided to go back to her room. She remembered that these many hours was more than enough time for her to get some much needed sleep.
