“I shall accept your challenge, but I would like us to fight somewhere else. If you can not accept this arrangement then we can simply have all our men fight to death. Myself...I would not prefer so much bloodshed,” the elfin outlaw put forward his proposition.

  “Very well, we shall follow you.” Graftel agreed immediately.

  They made their way into the depths of the cave. It could have been a trap all together, but Graftel had made up his mind. He was sure that he could take out every single one of these bandits if they tried to go back on their word.

  Soon they were at a section of the cave which was rather spacious. It was the perfect arena — wide and tall enough to not compromise any movements.

  There was no-one present there except for their two parties, so it was pretty clear that all the other bandit forces had gone to deal with Fitz’s group.

  “Now then, state your name so I may remember it after having slain you,” the elf asked with arrogance.

  “I will not state my name to someone who has betrayed their race’s honour and dignity; only to turn into an outlaw — the scum of society. You will die without knowing the name of your executioner which suits someone in your position.” Graftel responded with pride.

  “WHAT DO YOU EVEN KNOW ABOUT ME!” The elf lashed out.

  “Let us not waste anymore time arguing. Let the swords talk.”

  Graftel pointed his great-sword in his opponent's direction. It was a weapon which was quite heavy, but the wielder was handling it with ease.

  His opponent had a short-sword in one-hand and held a dagger in the other. Everything and everyone were silent. There was no movement for a while, but the first move was from the bandit's side—

  The elf leaped forward with great speed — trying to slash his enemy in one hit, but was slain immediately by the sword-saint.

  Only a few could come close to his level of sword-play in the world. The other elf could not even strike once before being cut in half. Unlike Farelen, Fitz or any other elfian warrior that Graf did not like to waste any more time than necessary to defeat his opponent.

  If he was given an opportunity, he would exercise his full strength at that moment. It was not as if he was scared, or not confident in his ability, but it was something to do with his past. He did not want to repeat a mistake again which had costed him dearly in the past.

  The bandit leader laid dead infront of his companions who charged at once upon witnessing this gruesome sight. They had of-course done things more atrocious and grotesque in nature than what they had just witnessed, but their leader had just been cut in half in a single strike. It was the most humiliating scene even for such dishonorable men.

  It was, however, stupid of them to engage. Graftel cut all of their heads before they could even reach him themselves. He moved so swiftly that if someone had blinked at that moment, they would have missed the entire scene.

  Fitz had used his surroundings to achieve this level of skill, but Graftel had achieved similar or even surpassed the speed of his second-in-command with minimum effort.

  His party members who had rarely seen him fight were in awe at this sight — inspired by their commander’s strength.

  “That is why you are our commander. Graftel the sword-saint,” Farelen proclaimed, his eyes gleaming with respect.

  “No need for such flattery. Move your feet, and inspect the entire cave for any remaining enemies.” Graftel ordered.

  They spent quite a while looking around for any more bandits, but it became clear that these were the last few bunch that had remained back. They collected any valuable items that they could take as the spoils of battle. After all was said and done, they made their way back to the entrance.

  “Stay back now. I am going to use eco-shards Iquaral had prepared.” Graftel ordered.

  Eco-shards were just ordinary stones though they were infused with magika after a skilled mage inscribed them with complex incantations. These were able to store a single spell, and were only usable once.

  Everyone took cover. They were already near the edge of the entrance with their backs turned towards it. Graftel threw a strange item as far as he could manage, after that he lunged back himself as well.

  Soon an explosion was heard and major portion of cave fell on itself. It was a dangerous, yet necessary step.

  The item that he threw acted as a detonator for all the other explosive magika infused eco-shards placed around various spots around the cave by Graf, while the others were finding for any traces of bandits.

  Now, none would be able to occupy this place again. All the routes were closed down, what remained was the entrance.

  These eco-shards were incredibly difficult to craft, and required great knowledge of magika. Even Iquaral could only craft basic variants of these that was equivalent to basic magika spells, but a large number of these infused with explosion spells could cause great destruction especially in a closed space.

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

  They made their way out of the entrance, but suddenly rain of arrows were fired towards them. Farelen tried to shield all of the other members as soon as he could manage but it was a bit late—

  Two of the elves took a shot straight to the head. One of the marksman was hit in the arm as well. Farelen himself had been shot with two arrows, but not in any vital spots. His giant muscular frame also contributed in minimizing the damages as much as possible.

  They made their way back inside of what was left of the cave, while Farelen held his shield in the front.

  Graftel casted a few of the healing spells (which was the only thing he was capable of as far as magika was concerned) on the marksman and Farelen. Of-course, it was not effective on the already dead comrades, but Graf did not have time to lament their death.

  “We have to somehow inspect our enemy's location and numbers. Farelen, you will shield me.” Graf instructed.

  It was very difficult to see as his line of sight was almost being blocked by the huge shield, and on top of the giant stature of his subordinate, but he was somehow able to count. There were about fifty or more men standing below — in-front of the cave entrance, in an open field.

  There could also have been numerous archers hiding in the forest which surrounded them.

  'Did Fitz fail,' Graftel thought to himself.

  “Farelen, let us go back and devise a plan.”

  There were five of them left, but one marksman was injured. Though, he was not in lethal condition, but it was impossible for him to use the bow in this condition.

  “There are fifty or more standing openly, but trouble lies with the ones hidden in the forest. We have to make a distraction, and make our way towards the forest. Only then, can we manage to defeat them.” Graftel said.

  “How can we do that?” one of the marksman, Tyzl asked.

  “I can gladly act as a distraction if you command.” Farelen presented himself for the sacrifice.

  “I admire your spirit, but that would not be necessary. I still have a few of those explosive shards that Iquaral had prepared. They will greatly divert the enemies' attention by creating explosions, and smoke in the entire area.”

  Graftel grabbed a few of the items attached to his waist, these were like grenades but not lethal:

  “Now I will not be throwing these as it will be neither precise nor effective that way, so Tyzl you will be shooting your arrows with these etched to them. With the speed of your arrow, the enemy will have no time to react even if they want to.”

  Everyone nodded.

  It took some time for them to affix the shards to the arrows. None of the enemies made their way into the cave entrance. Farelen was sent from time to time as to show the bandits that they were still inside. Each time he was met with rain of arrows.

  When everything was ready, Tyzl made his way towards the entrance while being taking cover behind the mighty shield. There was a small opening to inspect, but to shoot the arrows, he would have to reveal himself —leaving himself completely open to the archers. He was willing to take the risk, and he had already located his target.

  After calming down his nerves, he begun to shoot. The enemies held their shields up thinking they were the targets directly.

  Tyzl shot about five arrows while the enemy archers were firing back as well. He had narrowly missed one of the arrow.

  Finally the last arrow, which acted as a detonator, was shot, and all hell broke upon the enemy lines. The shard, singular, was non-lethal, but thrown collectively were extremely effective. Even if not killing in one blow, they could still make the target immobile for a while, and on top of that, it severally effected the sight of the targets.

  Seeing the opportunity in this chaos, the elves made their way towards the forest as fast as they could.

  There were stray arrows here and there but none were precise enough to reach them due to the smokey atmosphere left as a residue of the explosion. The injured marksman was carried by Graftel. It did not affect his mobility as he had experienced these sorts of situations before.

  They finally reached the forest —safely blending in with the forest. They were now fairly distanced from their enemies who were still busy trying to recollect themselves from the panic. Almost a quarter of them were injured enough to not be able to move.

  It was almost dusk. Seeing the opportunity, Graftel and Tyzl began slaying all the archers that were hiding in the vicinity. It was easy enough to eliminate the archers now, when they were one with the forest, and had the entire environment to defend against any incoming arrows.

  Soon they had gotten rid of all of them. It was then that Graftel made his way down to finish the remaining bandits. Tyzl remained within the forest to spot and kill any more enemy archers that might appear.

  Farelen seeing his commander land on the battle-ground, jumped for the action as well. He had left his shield with the remaining party member, and finally wielded the giant battle-axe that he had been itching for a while to use.

  The enemies stood no chance against this mighty force. They were mostly inexperienced bandits except for one—

  He appeared to be the last seasoned warrior among them, and challenged Farelen to a duel whilst Graftel finished all of the others around. Tyzl also had their back — raining down arrows at anyone trying to run, or attack from any blind spots.

  Farelen came face to face with this challenger who appeared to be a beast-men, however, this one was completely different from Borman. He was neither too tall nor short. He used dual machetes, and had more of a humanoid bodily structure, well except for the hair on his body which almost looked as if thick fur.

  Farelen over-confidently swung his great-axe. He thought, he could take down his opponent in a single strike, but his great-axe was deflected by the machetes of a man who did not even reach his shoulders.

  They exchanged many more blows, but Farelen could not even graze his opponent who appeared to be stalling.

  “You are quite good for a lowly bandit.”

  Farelen complimented in a sarcastic tone while their weapons were interlocked. (He spoke the human tongue which he was fluent, due to his time spent serving in the royal army.)

  “I am grateful, though I am also quite impressed by your fighting style. I had never known that brute force could constitute to a style of combat, but I suppose a man of your size seldom has the discipline and patience required to master any of the refined skills of battle.” the beast-man mocked.

  Farelen knew better than to be tricked by words so he did not lose himself to anger yet.

  “You speak quite profoundly for the lowest of scums. I commend you,” He replied with a bit of an agitation.

  Their fight continued. It was a fight between a bull and a wolf. One was incredibly strong while the other danced around the battle-ground with no care in the world, but even when he hit the bull there was hardly any damage done. His strikes were precise and fast, but lacked power to back them up.

  It was a tedious fight to say the least, as neither party was at an advantage or a disadvantage.

  Graftel was taking down one opponent after the other but their numbers just kept on growing — each stronger than the previous one. If this continued, could the sword-saint succumb to a loss as well?