Black Onyx - Forgotten Magic

Chapter 63: Bandit Attack, Part 1

The whole day went by without much happening. The road to the capital was about 150 km, and with the speed they were traveling, it would take them about three full days to reach it.

Also, because of their slow speed, they were still about ten kilometers away from the closest town by the time it started getting dark. The group had no choice but to set camp by the road, but nobody complained. They had already considered this, after all.

The boys went a bit further away to gather some firewood and possibly catch some game while the girls prepared the site for camping.

Mister Rulgo tied his donkeys to a nearby tree and then went to rummage through his stuff until he found a copper pan for cooking. He lit up a fire where the girls made a place for it.

Soon the boys came back with more firewood, but they didn't have any luck with hunting.

Mister Rulgo took out some salted meat and boiled it in the water while the rest took out their dried rations and ate them as they were.

They chatted and laughed around the campfire until it got really dark, and then they decided on the order of the night guard. Everyone had to stand guard for less than one hour since there were eight of them.

Gerald volunteered to be first, as that way he would have peace for the rest of the night, and wouldn't have to break apart his sleep.

He had all his senses on high alert as he listened for any suspicious sounds. He even used Magic Eyes to observe the darkness. The interesting thing was that even when it was pitch-black he could see Mana flowing around him.

It was the first time he used this ability in complete darkness and he was really surprised by how different the world looked. Especially when he looked back at the sleeping people behind him.

Every person had Mana flowing through them, but each and every one was different. It was quite a noticeable difference, like a barrier, where Mana entered the body.

Weirdly enough, he only saw seven human-shaped forms and a weird blob. The Mana inside it was flowing much more intently and it appeared like it was flowing from one side to the other and back.

Gerald tilted his head sideways and squinted his eyes in the darkness, murmuring to himself, "What the hell am I looking at? Oh!" He shook his head and smiled, not that anyone saw him.

'Nina and Owyndon't stay up too late you two,' he thought and then turned around to give them some privacy and observed the darkness once more.

They had no clocks on the road so he judged the time by the speed of wood burning. When he felt his time was up, he loaded a few more logs on the hot coals and went to wake up the next in line.

The rest of the night went by quite uneventfully and they all woke up with the first rays of morning sunshine.

After a quick meal, they went on the road again.

Today the road took them through a valley. On their left was the river, and on the right, there were steep cliffs. The road was partially carved into the rock and it did not allow for much wiggle room. Two small wagons could just barely squeeze by.

Many people went past them on horses or on foot, they mostly went towards the capital and not the other way around.

Gerald was too preoccupied with his thoughts to notice the shadows that moved on top of the cliffs and the rest were similarly not paying much attention as they were enjoying the time chatting and laughing.

Boom!

An explosion sounded out from above and stone debris started raining down on them.

"Watch out!" Derrick yelled. He pulled his brother Doven back just in time, as a giant stone slab landed where he previously stood.

When the rest lifted their eyes up to where the explosion came from, they noticed, in horror, that a slab of the stone wall was slowly cracking apart right above their heads.

"All of you, get back!" the leader of Silver Phantoms, Derrick, yelled once again as he quickly evacuated.

The stone slab was right above the cart and the donkeys got scared by the explosion and instead of moving and running away, they stood rooted in place.

Gerald was quick to react. But instead of running away, he tried to save the situation by casting his spells, "Stone Wall!"

Half a meter thick and two meters long stone wall came out of the side of the cliff, slanted downward at a 45-degree angle.

Immediately after, Gerald cast another Stone Wall spell, this time it was below the last one, also going on a 45-degree angle, just upward. That way the two stone structures formed a triangle protruding from the cliff.

All of this happened in just a few seconds, just before the stone slab on top completely broke apart and fell down with amazing momentum.

With a loud 'thud' sound of impact, the falling stone slab got redirected from the stone triangle and it fell in the river just a few meters from the cart.

Although Gerald's structure sustained some damage and it even cracked, it was enough to avert the disaster. But the real battle has just begun, and he knew it.

"Take cover!" he roared.

Indeed, immediately after his words left his mouth, he saw a shining bottle falling down from the cliff. He recognized it immediately, it was the widely known Bottled Thunder!

Boom!

Another explosion happened, and this time it was dangerously close. When the bottle touched the ground it violently ignited and exploded. Gerald covered his face with his armored gauntlets and at the same time, he activated the Unmoving Boulder for extra defense.

Part of the Silver Phantom hid behind the shields of their leader and his brother since they were both warriors and had good armor. The rest, including Sera, jumped in the ditch near the river to avoid getting showered by the shrapnel.

Unfortunately for them, it was not over. Another five bottles fell from up high, each of them containing a lethal amount of Bottled Thunder. If they exploded all at once, it would be quite hard to escape unscathed.

"Oh, fuck off!" Gerald roared in anger when he saw the bottles falling down. This cowardly way of fighting was slowly getting on his nerves. He did not waste any more time as he punched out towards the falling bottles, "Wind Blast!"

The gust of wind created by his spell swept up the falling Bottled Thunder bottles and moved them away from the road. A dozen meters away, the spell lost enough of its power so that the bottles fell in the river below.

Since there was no hard impact, there was no explosion either. The bottles just sank to the bottom of the Wailing River without hurting anyone.

Gerald turned to the remaining people who were still stunned from the sudden attack. Since they weren't moving, he had no choice but to yell at them, "Why are you just standing there staring into space?! Do something! Shoot them down!"

The leader of Silver Phantom, Derrick, was first to react and shouted, "Righ, let's move! Gelen, give us some cover! Try to shoot those bandits down, or at least make them back away."

"Yes, boss!" Gelen moved back, out of the range of their attackers, and started pelting them with arrows. As soon as he saw somebody peek from behind the cliff he would shoot at them. He didn't hit anyone, but the threat of it was there, that way the cover provided was quite good.

Derrick then turned to the rest and gave orders, "Doven, take your weapons and come with me! Owen, you and Kara stay here and protect mister Rulgo." He unsheathed his sword and placed the shield in front of him, looking up the cliff, ready for battle.

Lastly, he turned to Nina and said, "Nina, make a way for us! We will charge at my command!"

"I'm on it, boss!" Nina lifted her staff towards the cliff and started her chant, "By the power I control, shifting dirt, warping stone! I call upon the Moving Ground!"

When the chant ended, the solid rock wall started to distort and it became like soft clay. The previously unchanging rock now started to sag and collapse under its own weight. Not long after, the cliffside had a piece of it completely changed and unrecognizable.

The spell created a ramp of stone that connected the road to the top of the cliff. Derrick was waiting for precisely that moment. As soon as the ground solidified again he roared, "Charge! Let's show those bastards what we're made of!"