Return to Jorgaldur Volume III: blood warrior

Betrayal (II)

"It's none of my business..." Gjaki repeated to herself, while sighing.

Despite her words, she was there, and there were three Bats guarding the area. One inside the cave, another guarding outside and the third the surroundings. She had been watching for some time, while hiding in the darkness of the night. Therefore, the vampiress had good grasp of the situation, who the "bad guys" were.

She wanted to rescue those trapped in the cave, but that was easier said than done. Not only were there many enemies, but their level was higher than hers. However, she also had some advantages. One was that they didn't know she was there. Another, that it was nighttime, and the night was her domain.

It was evident that those humanoid lizards didn't have Night Vision. The area between them and the cave was illuminated, thus allowing them to see the cave clearly, but hiding their own presence in the shadows.

They were relying on some kind of floating lamps, which weren't as advanced as the one Gjaki herself had. She could move it at will, but those lamps stayed where they had left them. Of course, she had Night Vision, so she had rarely needed to use hers.

"I need a distraction," she told herself.

Her enemies were very close together. No matter how much she attacked by surprise, she couldn't do more than alert them. At best, she could take one of them down.

It was then that the Bat exploring the surroundings discovered a small group of crimson gorillas. In the game, they were easily irritable. They could chase a player for miles, and more could join them if they were found along the way. They were one of the beasts most feared by the novices.

From her hiding place, she summoned a pair of Blood Hounds, and sent them against those apes. There was no doubt that her invocations could do little against those beasts, but her goal wasn't to kill them, but to draw their attention.

The gorillas saw the two hounds approaching, but didn't pay them much attention. They were fewer and lower level, so there was no reason to fear them. However, that didn't mean they were going to let them get too close. When they were ten meters away, running with no apparent intention of stopping, the apes turned on them menacingly.

However, to their surprise, one of the hounds ignored their threats and pounced on one of the gorillas, without fear. It bit the ape despite the impact received in return, despite being several levels below. The ape was barely hurt, but she had achieved her goal of enraging them.

Gjaki had no choice but to unsummon the hound, as it could no longer even walk. Furious and facing the disappearance of their prey, the crimson gorillas turned to the other hound, ready to get rid of the possible threat. However, unlike the previous one, this one turned around.

Just like in the game, the five of them followed it furiously, through grass or bushes. Behind one of those bushes, they found one of the lookouts.

There was no sign of their enemy, which had been unsummoned just then, but they soon found a new victim to take out their irritation on. They had appeared suddenly, so the reptilian woman had attacked almost without thinking. She had wounded the leg of one of them, and all five had turned on her.

When her companions arrived, she was badly injured, barely able to stand, and had a broken arm, as well as numerous bruises. Her level was higher than her enemies, but there were five of them. So now it was three against five, since she could hardly fight anymore.

The fight was even, but reinforcements soon arrived. Too many for the vampiress to intervene, but not enough for her to help those in the cave. She could only curse.

The distraction hadn't been enough, and soon the wounded one was taken away, while the rest were arguing.

"Dammit! How did you provoke them!? Get rid of the corpses, lest more come, and it led to more problems," Kraga ordered.

The vampiress watched as the wounded lookout was taken care by a healer. Meanwhile, a pair walked away with the corpses, and the rest returned to stand guard or lay siege to the cave. She decided to follow the two who were carrying away the corpses.

"How have we have such bad luck? First the monkeys, and now it's up to us to get rid of them," one complained.

"At least, we haven't been beaten up like Crofia. She's going to be on bad mood for the rest of the trip," the other mocked.

"I dig and you watch?"

"As usual. It's good you have earth skills."

"Sometimes I regret..."

"Ha, ha. Let's hope we're lucky, and they leave us some prey alive."

"Don't count on it. We would be the last."

Gjaki was listening to the conversation and watched from the shadows. It wasn't until the one who was digging was out of sight in the hole, that she approached with Darkness. That lookout's level was 33, 6 above hers, but no matter how high his level, a surprise attack on a vital point can be deadly.

For this reason, assassins are highly feared, and so there are defenses to protect against such attacks. However, they aren't available to everyone, and it was clear that this lizard-man wasn't one of them.

His heart was protected by the armor, but his neck wasn't. It was the place where she Backstabbed deep with the dagger. At the same time, she sunk her fangs into his skin, while covering his mouth with her other hand, and with a rag that contained batrachian anesthetic, just in case. He died in just a few seconds, and gave the vampiress a large amount of experience due to the difference in level. In fact, she had reached level 28.

"I'm done, bring the corpses," a voice was heard.

Although he wasn't telling it to her, Gjaki decided to obey.

"Hey! What're you doing throwing the corpse on me! Stop joking around and help me out!" the reptilian that was in the hole protested irritably.

However, far from letting him out, his alleged partner continued to dump corpses.

"Screw you! This joke has gone too far!" he cursed, as he was getting more and more angry.

Nonetheless, the corpses didn't stop falling. Furious, he was setting them aside and climbing with difficulty, while he promised himself to teach his companion a good lesson. Little did he know that when his head poked out, death would be waiting.