B3 - Chapter 1: Ambush

Seth stretched his neck to peer carefully around the jagged edge of the sunbaked boulder that hid him and the Rogue squad. Selena was crouched tight against his back, close enough that he could hear her grip tightening on the handle of her dagger.

His golden eyes remained fixed on the distant plume of reddish dust rising from the desert floor.

For hours, they had roasted in the shadows, exploring the Rift. They knew the layout now: two identical fortresses separated by a hellscape of sand and cracked mountains. And, just like Seth's squad, the Empire had mounted heavy arcane cannons on the walls of their base.

The sight of the heavy artillery had been a surprise; Seth had hoped their arrogance would make them more careless, yet the empire's soldiers had been methodical in their approach by securing their defense before making a move.

Only twenty minutes ago had their massive gates finally groaned open to let out what looked like a scouting party.

In a standard game of cat and mouse Kastal would have been at a severe disadvantage due to their lack of high-grade concealment spells necessary to contest the open ground. But Seth had an ace up his sleeve.

A hundred yards ahead, invisible to the naked eye, Nightmare was scrutinizing the enemies.

'There are two groups,' the direwolf said through Link. 'The first is bait. Five targets. Three heavies—Warriors or Guardians—flanking what seemed to be a Priest and an Elementalist. They are marching openly and making noise.' He then paused for an instant. 'The second group is trailing them. Five Rogues, moving under stealth.'

The bait and the sword, Seth realized. Lure the enemy out with the "vulnerable" patrol, then crush the ambushers with the hidden Rogues.

It was a solid trap, and it would have worked perfectly—if not for Nightmare's superior sensing, which had allowed him to pick up the aether signatures of that threat.

'We can take them,' Nightmare added with predatory confidence.

'While protecting the others?' Seth retorted. 'I don't think so.'

'...fair point,' the direwolf conceded grudgingly.

Seth analyzed the aura of all those enemies through Link with Nightmare's sense. The bait group was relatively weak—mostly Mid-Iron fodder. But the shadow squad following them... they were all Rank 60 or in the 50s. Five elite killers.

Handling them alone would be a struggle. Doing it while keeping Selena and the lower-ranked squad members alive? That was a disaster waiting to happen. If they had skills anywhere near Kaelen's level, a single mistake could cost many lives.

"So, what's the play?" Selena whispered, her voice barely audible over the breeze.

"They're running a classic lure: visible targets out front, with Rogues trailing in stealth to spring the trap," Seth said, keeping his eyes on the dust cloud. "I'll have Henry send out a small force—maybe six people—to intercept the first group. The empire will see the numbers, think we're arrogant, and move to crush them."

"And then?"

"The moment the hidden Rogues shift position to strike, we engage."

"Shouldn't we wait for them to launch their ambush first?" Alfred, one of the Rank 40 Rogues of the group, asked with a frown. "Let them use their strongest spells first?"

Seth looked at him coldly. "No. If we wait for that, our bait team will be dead in seconds. We have to intercept the Rogues the second they break cover."

Alfred's mouth snapped shut and his face paled slightly as the implication landed—he had just suggested sacrificing six allies for a tactical advantage.

Seth ignored the resulting awkward silence and pulled the communication orb from his pouch. He relayed the plan to Henry in a few concise sentences.

The reply came back almost instantly.

Henry: Approved. Sending a team now. Just make sure you handle everything on your end fast. Don't leave the team hanging.

Seth: Understood. No worries.

Seth pocketed the orb and waited with the other Rogues. It didn't take long. Six figures emerged from the heat haze to their left, marching with deliberate steps toward the enemy lines.

Seth turned to the eight Rogues crouched in the shade behind him.

"Don't hold back," he whispered. "Aim to kill, since they won't hesitate to do the same." He paused, his golden eyes sweeping the group. "If they surrender, we take prisoners. But until their weapons drop? You do everything to put them ten feet under."

Grim nods answered him. Faces tightened, fear warring with resolve.

The next instant, Seth activated Professor Reat's pocket watch, and the air warped around him as he vanished from sight.

Behind him, the squad cast their own concealment spells. Most were decent, melting their body effectively into the shimmering heat haze. But two members only had weak Copper spells—the resulting intense blurs would betray their camouflage the moment they got close.

This tale has been pilfered from NovelPhoenix. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

It'll have to do, Seth thought with a grimace.

They moved out, keeping low, hugging the shadows of boulders and sliding through dips in the cracked earth. Silence was their only armor. A single scuff of a boot, one loose stone, and the ambush was dead.

A hundred yards ahead, still invisible to the naked eye, Nightmare was already ready. Through Link, Seth felt the direwolf's intense focus. The beast was monitoring the enemy Rogues, searching for any shift in their posture that might hint that they'd have spotted Kastal's troops.

Seth and his team closed the distance in the furnace-hot air until he signaled the halt, fifty yards out from the convergence point.

Any closer and they'll detect us, Seth thought before glancing at Nightmare in the distance. 'You'll have to strike first,' he conveyed mentally. 'Stop anyone from getting killed. Buy us the seconds we need to close the gap.'

'No problem.'

Ahead, the two bait groups locked eyes. Five Bridani soldiers against six from Kastal. A heavy stillness hung in the scorching air, broken only when someone from the empire's ranks pulled out a communication orb from his pouch. He nodded once—probably receiving the order—and charged with the four others of his group.

Aether flared around their weapons, bright and violent against the desert backdrop. They rushed forward with the explicit assurance of men who knew that their hidden allies would make short work of Kastal's numbers advantage.

Seth didn't wait. He let his form blur for an instant, hand flashing in a signal his group could likely barely catch, and they advanced even closer, creeping across the fifty-yard gap.

The trap snapped shut.

The moment the soldiers clashed, the air shimmered and tore open. The five Rogues of the empire dropped their concealment, materializing from the flanks like jagged shadows.

But Henry had prepared the bait group well.

The two Kastal Guardians didn't panic and instead slammed their boots into the sand before bellowing a synchronized Heavy Provoke. The Taunt skill hit the battlefield like a physical shockwave, and four of the five assassins jerked mid-stride. Their blades, meant for the Elementalists and the Priest, were snagged toward the Guardians' raised shields.

But the net wasn't perfect: one assassin had briefly turned into a dark pool to slip through the compulsion spell.

Ignoring the Guardians, Holrus shot past the frontline, eyes locked on the terrified Priest in the rear. He closed the distance in a heartbeat and his dagger flashed toward the youngster's exposed throat.

He was fast, but Nightmare was faster.

The direwolf materialized from thin air directly behind the man's back. His large jaws clamped over the Rogue's shoulder, fangs shearing through leather and sinking deep into the muscles. Dark, corrosive smoke hissed as it surged from the direwolf's maw, eating away armor and flesh alike.

The Rogue let out a cry of pain and slashed blindly behind him. His dagger cut only air.

Nightmare had already cast Shadow Step to reappear behind Holrus and bit down on his hamstring. Another scream tore through the battlefield as the direwolf jerked his massive head and tore a chunk of flesh from the assassin's thigh. Blood sprayed across the sand.

"Now!" Seth roared, dropping his invisibility.

He poured aether into Huntbound Rush, and his legs swelled with power as they propelled him forward like a fired arrow.

"A-ambush!" an imperial soldier screamed, voice cracking.

The battlefield lit up. The shimmer of a Protecting Belt flared to life around the wounded Rogue, followed by a cascade of light as every combatant—from the Empire and Kastal alike—triggered their defensive artifacts.

Dark green energy surged around Seth's arms, coalescing into the spectral skeletal gauntlets of Armored Phantom Fists. He hit the fray with the momentum of a battering ram.

Seth punched two startled soldiers aside and zeroed in on the fallen Rogue, who was scrambling to his feet. The man tried to bring his dagger up for a desperate block, though Nightmare denied him that chance. The direwolf lunged, seizing the Rogue's arm in his jaws and yanking it violently to the side, leaving him wide open.

Seth stepped into the pocket and drove his fist into Holrus' chest.

The heavy spectral gauntlet crashed into the shimmering barrier of the Protecting Belt before tearing through the matrix and consuming half the artifact's reserve in a single blow.

The Rogue's eyes went wide. Panicked, he tried to retreat, his form blurring into a cascade of shifting afterimages—a skill identical to Kaelen's. But the core in Seth's chest pulsed violently, flooding his system with primal instinct and slowing down his surroundings. He saw through the illusion with ease before the man even took another step.

Seth's spectral gauntlets cut off the soldier's escape route; the left one slammed first into the Rogue's shoulder to finish the Protecting Belt's blue layer, then the right rammed straight into his face. As Nightmare simultaneously shredded the man's arm with Gloom Fangs, Seth's fists rained down like meteors and crushed his facial bones with several sickening crunches.

Holrus's scream died in a wet gurgle as his jaw shattered under Seth's fist. He hit the sand, then Nightmare was on him instantly, tearing out his exposed throat before the dust could even settle.

One down.

Around them, the other Rogues of Seth's squad had launched their own attacks on the taunted enemies. They struck hard, chipping away at their opponents' barriers, but the compulsion spell soon faded, and the momentum began swinging back.

Having recovered their senses, the empire soldiers launched a counterattack, daggers glowing with dark aether as they slashed out.

"Focus fire!" the one who seemed to be their leader barked while gesturing frantically toward Nightmare. "Drop that beast! And that—"

He never finished.

Seth vanished with Shadow Step to spring out of the man's shadow and buried a fist deep into his side. The officer folded in half, though Seth followed up instantly with a savage uppercut. The impact lifted the man off his feet, the remaining aether of his Protecting Belt vanishing in a shower of blue sparks.

Yet it wasn't enough to stop the rest of the enemies to launch a counterattack.

To the left, Selena parried a glowing dagger. The timid woman, who was holding her own surprisingly well despite the attribute gap, cast a Wind spell to boost her speed and dodge the following strike. But just like the rest of Kastal's group, she was on the back foot.

The power gap was undeniable. Seth's squad of Rank-30s and 40s was trying to hold back a tide of Rank-50 and 60 elites.

A scream ripped through the melee. One of the Kastal Rogues dropped to one knee, his defensive barrier gone and a large wound now bleeding across his chest.

This is no time to hesitate, Seth thought, gritting his teeth. 'Now, Colossus!'

The air distorted violently. With a tectonic rumble, the giant scorpion erupted from the teardrop necklace, crashing into the center of the melee with a heavy thud that shook the ground.

"What in the nine hells is that?!" someone shouted, their voice filled with so much shock it was impossible to tell which side it came from.

A smirk appeared on Seth's face. The real battle could now begin.