Chapter 57: Separate Battles

Jane’s group crashed into the chaos head-on, cutting through the swarm of lesser monsters as steel and magic collided around them.

“Lynis, take point! Shield wall!” Jane shouted, her voice sharp enough to cut through the roar of the battlefield.

“Got it!” Lynis bellowed back. He planted his boots hard into the rain-slick asphalt and raised his shield just as a panicked survivor stumbled unthinkingly into him. Lynis caught the man by the shoulders, shoved him behind the line, and pivoted forward. A goblin leapt toward him, claws outstretched. Lynis drove his shield forward with crushing force, slamming the creature into a bent lamppost. Bone snapped with a wet crunch as the goblin collapsed.

“Porpo, our six! Keep the smaller ones off our backs!”

“With pleasure!” Porpo replied, her singsong tone laced with dark amusement. She spun in place, Tempest Halo expanding outward. The spinning rings of compressed wind shrieked as they cut through the rain, slicing into three goblins attempting to flank them. Limbs separated cleanly from bodies. Blood and bone chips scattered across the pavement, carried away by the swirling gusts.

Jane stayed centered behind them, boots planted wide as she inhaled slowly. Her eyes swept across every ally within range. She forced her breathing steady, grounding herself in the rhythm of command.

“Inspiring Resolution! Battle Hymn! Reinforce Body!”

Her eyes closed.

Mana gathered within her chest, threads of energy flowing from every hunter she recognized. It pooled into a glowing core beneath her sternum, pulsing once, twice, before she released it outward in a controlled surge. A thin layer of transparent light spread across her allies, settling over their skin like a second breath.

Strength surged through Lynis, his stance solidifying into something immovable. Porpo’s Tempest Halo accelerated, wind screaming louder as the rings sharpened. A faint warmth reached Jagger even from a distance, seeping into his limbs and sharpening his awareness while dulling the edges of fear gnawing at his thoughts.

Jane’s eyes snapped open, pupils sharp as blades. She scanned the battlefield again, tracking movement, measuring distance, and reading intent.

“Alright, let’s get this job done!” she barked. Her gaze shifted instinctively to where Jagger should have been. “Where the hell is Jagger? He needs to get up here!”

Lynis slammed his shield down again, boots grinding against wet asphalt as another goblin ricocheted off the reinforced metal.

“WAH, they coming nonstop ah!” he barked, glancing over his shoulder. “Jane! Your buff damn shiok, but my arm going numb already!”

Jane didn’t look at him. Her eyes moved constantly, tracking angles, distances, and enemy flow. “Then adjust your stance,” she snapped. “Stop absorbing everything head-on. Redirect them left. Funnel them into Porpo’s range.”

Lynis grinned despite the chaos. “You hear that, ah? I’m the bait today.”

Porpo spun lightly behind him, wind rings screaming as they carved through a pair of kobolds mid-leap. Blood sprayed across the rain in thin ribbons.

“Bait?” she laughed. “You’ve always looked like bait, lah. Big, loud, and stupid.”

“Oi!” Lynis protested, shoving forward with a shield bash that flattened a knoll. “At least I’m useful. You just spinning around like some angry fidget toy!”

“Say that again, and I’ll test Gale Trigger on your ass,” Porpo shot back, flicking her wrist. A slicing gust ripped past Lynis’s shoulder, decapitating a goblin inches from his head.

He blinked. “Okay… maybe don’t test.”

Jane exhaled slowly, forcing herself to stay centered amid their noise. Their banter wasn’t a distraction. It was rhythm. If they were talking, they were alive. If they were alive, she could keep them moving.

“Focus,” she said sharply. “Porpo, widen your AOE by three meters. Lynis, don’t overcommit. Kade’s group is pulling aggro of the Troll King from the back. We should support until we see an opening and join them.”

Porpo tilted her head slightly, watching Bastion hunters collide with Bloodclaws ahead.

“Support?” she murmured. “Feels more like babysitting. Those Bloodclaw fucker are stepping over civilians just to land hits.”

Jane’s jaw tightened. She saw it too. Bloodclaws laughing, cutting paths through chaos like wolves through sheep.

“We don’t change targets,” she replied. “Not yet.”

A goblin lunged toward Jane from her blind spot.

Lynis intercepted it instantly, shield crashing down. “Got your back, boss.”

“I didn’t need that,” she said automatically.

“Yeah, but I did it anyway,” he replied, breath heavy but steady.

Porpo’s wind rings flared brighter. “You two flirting again? Can we do that later? Preferably somewhere without screaming monsters?”

Jane ignored the jab, but a faint tension left her shoulders.

“Check your mana levels,” she ordered instead. “We don’t burn everything before the Herald.”

Porpo rolled her eyes but obeyed, pulling one ring tighter around her waist while the others continued spinning. “Still got juice. Enough to slice a few idiots who think chasing civilians is fun.”

Porpo leaned closer, voice dropping. “BTW, where the fuck is the ’Liability’?”

Jane didn’t answer immediately, and that is when she spotted him moments later.

He stood several hundred meters back, not frozen or hesitating, but moving with a strange, deliberate purpose that made her frown. He was not watching the Troll King. He was not watching the Bastion line.

He was watching the Bloodclaws.

“What is he doing?” she muttered under her breath.

The answer lay far from her reach.

Inside Jagger’s mind, Ophilia’s presence lingered like a shadow coiled around his spine. She was not simply whispering anymore. She guided him, nudging each decision, redirecting each instinct toward a colder objective. Every step felt like a negotiation between his will and hers.

His gaze swept the Bloodclaw ranks, skipping over the berserkers carving through monsters at the front. He searched for something else. Targets that were isolated. Distracted. Vulnerable.

Then he saw one.

A lean Bloodclaw hunter chased a terrified woman clutching a child to her chest. The hunter’s laughter cut through the rain, high and mocking. He did not strike. He herded them like prey, dragging out their terror for his own amusement.

Jagger’s grip shifted on Jane’s dagger. He reversed the hold, blade angled upward, and broke into a sprint.

Water splashed beneath his boots as he cut across the battlefield. He vaulted over a stalled car, landed hard, and pushed forward through a pile of shattered concrete. The chaos around him blurred into motion and sound. The world narrowed until only the Bloodclaw remained.

He slammed shoulder-first into the man’s side.

The hunter staggered, laughter dying as surprise flickered across his face. He twisted instantly, Indian tulwar flashing into a defensive arc. The curved blade whistled through the rain.

“You little shi-”

The insult died mid-word.

Jagger surged forward, driving his dagger upward in a diagonal slash. Steel met steel. The Bloodclaw deflected the strike with brutal efficiency, sparks skittering across wet asphalt. His boot snapped forward, catching Jagger square in the chest. Air rushed from Jagger’s lungs as he stumbled back, boots sliding across slick pavement.

’Spin right, and drive the blade into his head.’

Ophilia’s command was a cold spike in his skull.

His body obeyed instantly.

Jagger pivoted on the ball of his foot just as the Bloodclaw lunged forward, tulwar stabbing toward his ribs. He twisted past the strike, letting the momentum carry him around the man’s flank. His arm snapped backward, dagger flashing in a tight arc.

The blade buried itself in the Bloodclaw’s temple.

The hunter grunted once. His body went slack, knees buckling as he collapsed into the rain.

The mother and child scrambled away without looking back, disappearing into the shadows between ruined cars and broken storefronts.

Jagger stood still for half a second, chest heaving, rain sliding down his face. The dagger’s hilt felt slick in his grip, warm blood mixing with cold water.

A translucent panel flickered before his eyes.

–

[Quest: Kill five Bloodclaw hunters]

[Progress: 1/5]

–

’Good. Now four more,’ Ophilia purred, satisfaction coiling through his thoughts.

Across the battlefield, Jane caught the final movement. She saw the spin, the precise strike, the familiar brutality behind it.

“He is going for the Bloodclaws,” she said, disbelief edging into her voice as understanding settled in.

“Let him,” Lynis grunted, raising his shield to intercept a charging goblin. The creature slammed into him, claws screeching uselessly across reinforced metal. Lynis drove his kukri down, splitting its skull with a wet crack. Another rushed in immediately. He shoved forward with his shield, knocking it off balance, then slammed the rim down onto its neck. Bone snapped loudly as the creature collapsed.

“Our aim should be the Troll King. That’s what Shin Lu wants,” he added, breathing hard.

Porpo snorted, wind rings circling her lazily as she flicked a hand and sent a slicing gust through a cluster of kobolds. “Kid’s got a death wish. Or balls of steel. Either way, he’s making a dent.”

Jane watched Jagger sprint deeper into the chaos, disappearing between clashing hunters and monsters.

“Yeah,” she muttered, tightening her grip on her dagger. “Move it up.”

Lynis grinned beneath the rain. “Alright! Let’s get to that ugly bastard!”

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