Broken Tower Saga: The First Swordsman

Chapter 114: People of the Mah'shai D'borge Clan (1)

Anton moved cautiously from the fortress. Even though crazy Ben said he was free to go if he accepted the wager, he was not relieved much from it.

It was just past morning. Though it was not the brightest of the days, the light made it harder for Anton to hide. On top of that, he still was not able to break the seal that disables him from channelling the mana. As far as he could tell, the seal was not just a temporary one that one could break after trying a few minutes. 

If he was not wrong, then he would have to spend half a day or more to break the seal. That was not the only one of his worries. Apart from that, even moving a muscle hurt, much less he was moving with large strides. Coupled up, it made his situation worse, but what else could he do? 

And in addition to that, he had no food to fill in his empty stomach. In the cell, he was given food twice a day, less than the beating, and less than what he usually eats. And today he got nothing to eat. He made his first goal to find some folks and steal food if they did not give him even after asking, and if they have healing medicines, his job will be much easier.

Anton moved past the fortress to the direction of the grasslandit was somewhere Davin got the emergency signal on the first day of the test. He may find no one familiar, but that was the only lead he got.

Even with a distressed mind, by instinct, Anton gave up on the path that has more people on. But it seemed even with all his effort, some encounters were meant to happen.

Just as he was about to leave the path, noticing the disturbance, his legs stopped. Some folks were fighting ahead. It would be an excellent opportunity if he wanted to find what he needed.

Walking past a dozen tall trees, he saw what was going on ahead. It was a battle just as he thought, but it was not that simple either. Two tall spear bearers were fighting against a group of half a dozen men. Moreover, the two spear bearers were females, though they seemed to not lose any compared to the other group.

Those two were dressed like warriors equipped with armour that have a tint on redness. Even their posture showed they were raised as warriors. 

Contrary to the numbers, those two women were able to hold their own for quite some time. 

Anton's mind raced. He wanted to join the conflict on the side that was almost winning, but seeing the scene of a group of men ganging on two women, his mind started to have second thoughts.

He thought no more, joined with the group of the two females. Even though those two were against a group they were fighting with all, maybe his intervention will solve their problem. 

"Hey, you bastards. Do you have no shame calling yourself a man?" Anton yelled as he rushed into the conflict bearing his blade. The reason he yelled was partly because he wanted to tell the girls that he was on their team, and partly because he felt an eerie threat on his back. Someone must have been hiding.

Anton pulled one guy from the opponent group. Even though his entire body was hurting, he moved with instinctive strength and struck his opponent with sheer skill. 

Scarlet blood sprayed from the slash Anton made on the chest of his opponent. The guy yelled in pain when Anton finished him with a kick on the ankle.

Meanwhile, an arrow shot from behind, piercing one of the guys in the right thigh. The guy dropped down. One of the spear bearer girls threw her opponent away when another pierced that guy's abdomen.

The same thing happened with another one of the men. An arrow pierced a not so fetal spot. Anton had been right, someone really was hiding behind and that someone was with the two spear bearers. He made the right call, deciding to help the girls.

"Run, we have no chance." one of the men that fell at the first yelled at his companion, before moving away from there. The others followed without question, as most of them were in a terrible state to continue fighting. 

One of the spear bearer females wanted to give chase. She just took a couple of steps when her companion called. 

"Let them go, Seriel."

Seriel wanted to give chase, but stopped glancing that there was another foreign man present.

"What should we do with this man?" she asked, pointing her spearhead just an arm away from Anton. 

The one who stopped Seriel said nothing. She examined the fellow that helped them. The male was in a terrible state, his eyes were sunken more than usual while marks of abuse were present everywhere her eyes followed. This man should have fled from a terrible disaster.

Anton gulped at the girl holding the spear against his head, and as well as the other one scrutinising him. Anton answered the question those two were deliberating over. "For starters, as a showing of gratitude, you can give me some food."

It seemed his joke did not work the way he intended, though it calmed the two spear bearers a little.

Another female came from behind, holding a bow. She was tall like the other two, had light brown skin like the other two. Even their way of dressing was alike. She was the archer that shot at the men.

"Should we take a break now, Aeriel?" Seriel asked the newcomer.

The archer nodded, then gestured to take away the spear from Anton's face. The Archer, or Aeriel, according to the other spear-bearer, looked at Anton carefully. Her eyes did not hold pity, nor sympathy, seeing his abused appearance. 

"Don't worry, outlander, we of the Mah'shai D'borge clan know how to show our gratitude," saying that the female archer brought out a loaf of bread from the baggage on her back. She held it towards him, asking him to take it. 

Anton nodded to her, and took the bread. He did not bother that three females were looking at him, and put the bread into his mouth. He did not forget to chew, either. 

"Here," Aeriel said again. This time, it was a flask of water.

Anton's gratitude to the archer was raised to a new level as he gulped down a few mouthfuls of water. Cod water ran down from his mouth, and He felt quite refreshing drinking it.

"Hey, don't drink all. Do you think finding water here is easy?" The spear bearer known as Seriel yelled.

Anton mimicked a fearful stepping back before giving the flask back. The two-third of the loaf was still remaining. He decided to rest his buttock on the ground, and there was a tree as well to lean against.

The three females gave him a second look before moving away from him. They moved dozens of yards away to sit below a tree as well.

.. .

It took about an hour for Wrik, and others to reach the foot of the mountain. They still need a few more minutes to arrive at the cave they were staying in. 

Even though the blizzard had stopped, the cold wind was still ongoing, swaying their hairs and clocks. It was still much better than the blizzard, at least it did not make them shiver. 

Well, for all that matters, their task was more than just success. Not just the flag they were successful in securing a dozen men.

Lily was leading the path. Even though it was almost an easy path, Wrik was not sure if could lead others straight to the cave. 

On the path, Wrik suddenly stopped. It was the emergency distress call. Without a second thought he brought out the crystal bead, as a map appeared in his retina. Wrik sighed and looked past the mountain, towards the grassland--where the location was indicating.

"What's the matter?" Byul asked first, noticing he stoped on the walk. She was moving behind him, with Michelle and the archer that came along with them.

"It seems Davin is in trouble," Wrik said, looking back at her. "He was the only one holding an emergency bead other than me."

"Are you going now?" 

"Yes," Wrik nodded. "You guys moved quickly, I'll see what's the matter."

"Are you thinking of going alone?" Michelle asked this time. 

She was about to join him, but Wrik disapproved her, shaking his head.

"It's quite a long path, your constitution would delay me further." Wrik gave a reasonable reason to silent her. 

"How about I go with you?" Byul said, clasping her palms together. 

She had not forget what happened the other time, nor Wrik, but seeing the resolution in her eyes, Wrik nodded. It would be a good opportunity to boast her mindset, and moreover, her innate ability would be super useful if push comes to shove. 

Wrik discussed the matter with Lily quickly, and left woth Byul with swift speed. It would take a couple of hours to get there, they can't delay even a moment. 

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It is a pain to edit in a cell phone, there still may be a few typos, and there will like that for a couple of days until the laptop gets fixed. Thank you. 

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