Chapter 231 – A Battle

There were explosions and sounds of fighting in the distance. “Pick up speed. Don’t stop for anything,” Ulmer said. It was the ninth day of traveling. We had passed through several towns and two cities so far without issue.

“Really, shouldn’t we wait it out?” I asked.

“Who knows when they will stop fighting. We can’t wait. That destroyed bridge cost us a day,” Ulmer said. Chris let out a sigh and stood up on top of the moving magical carriage. Ozy moved off my shoulders onto the roof. I got out my blade and set it on my lap.

We were passing through farmland at the moment. At the last intersection I could have turned towards Crownsmith and then my old childhood home.

Ulmer had gotten more fuel in our previous stops. The magical carriage, while old, was well maintained. I accelerated to a higher speed and we quickly traveled along the dirt road past the farms on either side. I saw a couple of people tending the fields, but they were also looking worriedly in the direction we were traveling.

I felt some Mana and my Danger Sense was increasing. Spell skills were being used. “Hang on tight. I will have to maneuver quickly,” I said over the sound of air rushing past us.

“Don’t worry about me. I won’t lose my footing,” Chris said. Ulmer nervously gripped his seat. Ozy kept watching from behind me on the roof.

We crested a hill and my heart chilled at the battle in front of us. The road curved towards the battle site up on a hill, and then back down and away from the battle. One side was entrenched and trying to hold out from the bombardment of dwarven war machines and advancing soldiers. I didn’t recognize the flags on either side.

I sped up. “Halt!” A soldier called out. Slowing down would get us mired in this conflict. We had a chance to get past.

“Don’t stop!” Ulmer shouted back. I moved around the sandbags that had been set up on the road. The other army was pushing hard against the one we had to pass through. We had less than a minute before the battle lines collapsed towards us.

“Fireball!”

“Ward!”

I blocked the spell skill as we continued to speed along the road. A large lightning beam shot past us, barely missing. A huge chunk of farmland exploded. The army that had been in the trenches was falling apart and retreating, towards the road and us.

The dwarven war machines were advancing along with a couple hundred soldiers. Ozy blocked a large Lightning Beam attack, but it still broke through his Ward and left scorch marks on the magical carriage, damaging the outside paneling.

“Clear the way!” I shouted loudly as I pushed the magical carriage to the limit. The internal implosion engine and frame began to groan as we sped up.

One soldier ran in front of us. “Ward.” My spell skill was linked with me, so it retained momentum, slamming into the soldier first and sending him to the ground. The magical carriage ran over him, crushing his body.

A huge chunk of the ground was blown apart near us, showering us with dirt. We needed to get out of here. Couldn’t they have held on for a little bit longer?

“They are moving to cut us off!” Chris shouted. One of the dwarven war machines had split away from chasing the fleeing soldiers and was moving towards the road ahead of us as rapidly as possible. Their heavy treads allowed them to cross farmland, where a wheeled magical carriage like ours would get mired and stuck.

“Lightning Beam! Lightning Beam!”

Both of my spell skills struck the dwarven war machine which slowed down slightly. The turret on top swung towards us. We were too close to shield against an attack that was about to occur. I waited until my Danger Sense peaked.

I swerved the magical carriage to the side and then back the other way. The massive Lightning Beam flew past us. I could feel my hair stand on end from that attack.

“Slice! Slice! Slice!”

Flying sword slashes were unleashed by Chris as the ground under the dwarven war machine turned to a highly liquid mud. The front dipped down and the sword attacks struck the turret, cutting partway through it. I whipped out my wand as we drove past.

The front of the dwarven war machine took an Explosion head on. The entire thing jerked up and out of the muddy pit slightly, while pieces of metal went flying away. We got past it, before it blocked the road.

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“Ward.” I countered a Water Beam while Ozy used Ward to counter another spell skill aimed at us. We had gotten out of the immediate war zone as we sped down the road. Ulmer looked nervously around the side of the carriage that had taken the glancing hit and let out a sigh of relief.

“Hang on, I am not slowing down,” I said. Ulmer quickly scrambled into his seat as I took a hard turn. We crested a hill, and fear gripped my heart as a wave of Mana hit us and I saw two legends exchanging blows ahead.

The nearby farms had been completely destroyed, and I saw several ruined homes. The legends were moving quickly exchanging skills at a rapid pace all over the battlefield and the road was partially destroyed.

Ozy looked back and let me know that more dwarven war machines and soldiers were approaching from behind, most likely coming to support the legend they were supporting. I really should have let Ulmer drive, but with no skill levels, he would have struggled, and would have been blasted apart since he didn’t have Danger Sense as far as I could tell.

The only option was to get past this battlefield as quickly as possible. The magical carriage was practically flying down the road. The legends glanced at us and one began to maneuver towards us while his opponent harassed him.

“Ozy, don’t let him get near!” The legend approaching us suddenly slowed down. His opponent rushed in and Ozy couldn’t maintain the Alchemic Bounded Field. The legends began engaging in melee as we zoomed past them.

I didn’t want to get involved, but I wouldn’t let one legend drag us into the battle forcibly. If they were losing, they should either run or not have gotten into the fight in the first place. If they wanted to take land, then there were risks that came with that.

Namely, fighting others. I had no stake in the battle, so keeping our interference as low as possible was for the best. Once we crested another hill, I let out a sigh of relief since we had escaped from the battle.

Ozy slithered back onto my shoulders as I put my blade away. Chris sat back down. I slowed down the magical carriage slightly. “That was intense,” Chris said.

“We should have waited until the battle was over,” I replied. That was what I was going to do next time. Everything had been too rushed to properly think through.

“I am alive,” Ulmer muttered. Clearly the merchant wasn’t used to life and death situations.

“How much further to Meldon?” I asked. It wasn’t worth the risk or hassle of driving through the night. We still had a ways to go. About another week at our current pace.

As we traveled there were a couple of other battlefields. Thankfully the fighting had happened already and farmers were working to recover their crops and the road. There was a growing sense of resentment I could pick up from the civilians about the conflict, impacting their lives. More people talking about the growing conflicts. In the local area, the two legends we saw were fighting for control, but they had armies all over the place, hoping to gain an advantage against opposing forces.

There were calls going out for recruits, large bonuses and other benefits being offered, but the enthusiasm was quite low. If a person wanted to fight they would just go into the dungeon and fight monsters.

So, while the conflicts were widespread, they didn’t involve large amounts of the population. The biggest source of power and wealth would be the cities, but making one submit was far more complicated than just waltzing in.

That was a good way to get assassinated and there were rumors that one legend had already died that way. At least I had the strength to survive. Unless there was a team of elites or a legend, I was confident in my fighting ability. Even against a dwarven war machine.

They were powerful, but against someone who knew what they were doing and Ozy’s support abilities, I had confidence in my ability to triumph in lesser fights. While it might not seem like it, I was on par with a Professional or a weak Elite despite my low stats.

The simple fact was that I had too many skills, which allowed me to close the gap. Also, my equipment was very good. I was around level 30 by counting 20 stat points per level. Being able to fight up against level 60 people, was due to my skills.

I would definitely struggle against an elite that was from level 80 to 99. The stat difference would be too big at that point. Against a legend, I could only hope to run and delay them. The demons were weak in terms of mentality.

They targeted weaker beings and didn’t have systematic training or equipment. I had been thinking about my free stat points more recently. After the couple of close calls that I had. I could put them all into Vitality. It would ensure my health was strong compared to my level and that I would live for a long time.

It was just that doing so would make it very hard to gain any more stat points in that stat. While tempting, I was going to stay the course for now.

But going forward I would probably travel through the dungeon. Getting caught up in battles and other drama on the surface wasn’t something I wanted to deal with. I hadn’t thought the risk would be this high. I knew there was fighting, but the continent was big, and it was quicker in my mind.

One day out from Meldon we ran into more trouble at the last major intersection before the city.

“Road is closed,” the soldier said.

“Why? We are just one day away from Meldon,” Ulmer said.

“City is under siege until it submits to Legend Silver Sword. All merchants, travelers, or people not engaged in fighting are asked to turn back,” the soldier said.

“But I have a contract to deliver to the city,” Ulmer said with despair.

“Then you are out of luck. City is completely closed off. Now move along or you will be arrested and your goods confiscated,” the soldier said.

I turned the magical carriage around and went back into the town. “Well, this appears to be the end of the line for us,” I said.

“I can make the rest of the way on foot. It was fun Justin. Good luck in the dungeon. I expect you will be a legend one day,” he said. I nodded at the older adventurer as he left.

“Wait,” Ulmer said as I began climbing off the magical carriage to leave as well. “The College. We can head there together,” Ulmer said. I wouldn’t mind, since a magical carriage was fast.

“That is the magical carriage, Captain,” a soldier said and I noted several soldiers approaching, including an elite, probably their Captain.