The Heroine Died!? Did The Plot Armor Fail? (Hiatus)

11) Outnumbered

"Tch, persistent bastards!" Leo mumbled.

"What did you do this time?!" Raine kept up behind him.

"Not the time for this! There's two more ahead of us!" Yule reported.

Up ahead, Leo lead them towards the forest to shake off their pursuers. As they weaved their way around, the distance wasn't enough to try and circle around. Since sneaking behind was out, the only choice was direct confrontation. Yule drew his newly bought dagger, there's no time to set up a trap.

Why did he have to get dragged into this mess? If Yule knew this was coming, he would've purposely stayed in bed until it was time to leave! He sighed in his heart, diplomacy won't get them through this now.

Still, it's unbelievable how this happened in the first place. The three had woken early since the trainees are bound to depart in a couple of days. All of them would be gone for long while, so they stopped by at Ilora's. Or at least that was the plan. On their way there, unexpected gazes watched their every move.

Leo noticed it before they did. The other two picked up on it through the boy's strange requests. By telling them to look at a certain direction or vaguely pointing at objects. Of course, their pursuers just 'happen' to be there. Most of them were aides and servants belonging to the noble kids Leo fought. A few themselves clumsily tried to tail the three.

Even though a few guards were out on duty, they didn't want to cause trouble around them. The plan was simple. The boys purposely exited the city to draw them out, which started this entire chase. About 20 or so people came after them, still a win-win in Leo's book. At least they didn't have to hold back in hitting them!

At the front, one of the servants threw a ball of light at them. The moment Leo saw it, he threw a smaller ball of mana of his own. A quarter of their distance and the ball of light disappeared when it collided with Leo's. Fast. That was a quick dispel. It was a basic one, but it was faster than most novice mages.

That wasn't all, a small spear of ice hurled at the servant. He shouted in pain. The other servant was quick, she drew her sword in one motion and flanked Leo's right. His eyes widened but he didn't stand around. He took rose an arm in front of him and leapt forward.

"Are you an idiot!?" She shouted.

The sword hit. A light graze was left. Leo pushed his arm up, pushing the weapon back. At the same time, Raine rushed in aimed at her sword hand. She took a step back, Raine hitting the air. The girl kicked him into Leo, the two boys crashed hard.

"Gah, you're too heavy..." Leo grumbled.

"Complain later!" Raine staggered upwards.

Meanwhile, Yule didn't give the girl a chance to chain her attacks. He casted an ember towards her. Expectedly, all she needed was a simple cut to stop it. Not that Yule could do anything about it, he's no expert. When she swing her sword at him, he took a few steps back. At his retreat, she kept up her assault. When he couldn't dodge, he parried with his dagger.

Yule didn't take offense, instead leading her in circles. A few mistakes were made no thanks to the ground's slant, but he got a decent distance away from the boys. She was no slouch though, she mixed in heavy strikes when he consecutively parried. On normal standards, this dagger would have broke a long time ago. Fortunately, magic exists for a reason.

"Over here!" Footsteps followed.

Three more showed up, weapons already drawn. He took a quick glance at the others. One stood out from the group. A young girl about the same height as him, probably 5 centimeters taller. Despite appearances, she somehow looked younger than a child. Strangely enough, she was muscular on the arms. No, real muscular.

A Makoff, a sight quite common back in Forsya. Even adult Makoff retained the look of a child's along with their short height. Dwarves, that was the translation of ancient records for this race. Off topic, but it's debatable to say if they devolved considering their ancestors.

Not looking too good here. The other two were Ispins, not much to note. The Makoff on the other hand have Yule a serious disadvantage.

"Keep your eyes in front!" The other girl brought down her sword.

Another joined in with a charge. The man's footing was poor, but Yule wasn't here to give lessons. He gathered mana on his leg and swept kicked the man when he was close. The man tripped forward and Yule threw him into the girl's attack, not before stealing the man's sword in one swoop.

Yule put away his dagger, at the same time made his escape. The Makoff hurled the famous fireball spell, though to be exact, it was half the normal size. Yule almost didn't dispel it in time, the temperature scaling up.

"Out of the way!" The girl shouted.

The man grumbled, arguing with her. But Yule couldn't hear what he said the further he ran. He wasn't safe just yet, the footsteps behind him told otherwise. Occasionally, spells would fly at him. He couldn't dispel them all, only to ones that hurts a lot. Anything else was just minor casualty.

Well, he didn't let that stop him. Even though his dispels were low, it slightly did weaken the spell. This time, shards of ice flew at him fast. At that speed, he knew it would be too late to dispel. He put up the fastest spell he could do. The moment he finished, ice shards were about to pierce him. It hit a transparent barrier, talk about a close call. Thank the gods he painstakingly learned basic warding.

Relief didn't last long. He needed a plan to take out that Makoff girl.