No. Right now was not yet a loss. Giren planted his feet down and held his blade out in a vertical position. “Combat Skill [Renegade Sword Stance 100%]. With that, he bolted one quick push and the sound of thunder came from his jump. Like a bullet ricocheting straight towards its target, he was upon the enemy in a matter of seconds. 

The technique was interesting because regardless of the amount of force he exerted, there was no counter force. For instance, when he kicked off the ground towards the enemy, there should have been a gust of wind and dust with the strength of that kick. No such thing existed.

As he was ready to strike the man down and lounge forward towards the other, the earth man turned around, grabbed his blade arm and pulled his face forward to collide with his fist. The punch was strong enough to send him flying back to where he came from. 

However, almost as if he took no damage, Giren launched himself right back at the opponent. Something was strange with how he was moving. Lusha wasn’t sure about it right off the bat, but now she was fairly certain. This man was negating blunt force… no, all types of force. He was negating drag and wind resistance, as well as blunt force. She watched closely as Giren got into the stance again.

There, his legs grew powerfully charged. One could see the veins growing stronger and stronger, and with a boom, push off yet again. 

“You’re beginning to piss me off.” The stone attacker said. Turning around and withdrawing his sword. One quick slash was all he needed to finish this off. He visualized his movements and tracked his speed for just the right timing, the point in which the man could not possibly dodge. 

Yet, as the slash occurred, Giren did an action that one should not have been able to. Without any delay, he did a sharp turn to the left, before continuing around the man at the exact same speed as he had done before. Since the technique negated force, he was able to completely bypass the forces he wanted to at will. This meant that he could easily stop and turn and return without giving into his momentum, or losing any of it.

Now that he was behind the man, he only needed to take down the abductor. His comrades were not a factor.

“Terrain Magic [Wall of Mud]!” A giant wall appeared around the area. This was not necessarily an obstacle for Giren, but he deduced the best way to get around it would instead be traveling along the width of the wall and going around. If he were to go Airborne, he’d instead be caught in a vulnerable position. 

He went along the length, only to realize the wall kept expanding continuously in the direction he was traveling. It was a supplementary magic technique. Meaning, the druid could simply continue expanding it by applying more magic. 

He had been stalled. Absolutely bested. He’d have to take a chance on scaling the wall and avoiding the damage dealt, if he could. He leapt upwards. The wall continued expanding upwards as well. Of course. This was not something that could be so easily bypassed. 

 “Terrain Magic [Terraflect]!”

The opponent then used the same technique he did earlier, submerging himself underground and appearing out of the mudwall he had created. It must be a technique allowing travel through the terrain and foliage.

As he appeared from the middle of the wall, he was at just the right height to intercept Giren. He leapt out of the wall and tackled the man with full force, clinging onto him and causing him to fall. Of course the damage didn’t do anything to Giren due to his negation of blunt force, but he was now pinned. The druid had wrapped his hands around him entirely, pinning his sword to his chest and placing his full weight on the man.

“Earth Magic [Cicada Shell].” He became encased in earth. In a brief moment, the man had emerged from the wall again, leaving Giren trapped with an empty, heavy shell of earth.

“Bye now.”

They had failed.

Lusha enjoyed watching the little scuffle, but it seems they were outclassed entirely. She sighed and got out of the carriage. She began stretching her arms as if she was about to engage in a bout of infighting. She then leaned over, picked up three rocks and grinned. “Your combat skills are pretty impressive. But, let me show you something.”

She leapt to the sky as high as she could, launching herself 200 meters above the mud wall. “Combat Skill….” Everyone watched in anticipation to see what this kid was going to do. She did an impressive spin and got into an unusual stance. This looked like it was going to be a powerful technique.

[Three Strikes!!] The end result was entirely underwhelming. She threw the stones at the assailants. This wasn’t even a combat skill… she was just using brute strength to throw stones. The rest of them watched with complete shock that the technique actually worked.

The stones found themselves striking the two men ahead of them right through the head. So powerful was the force, that their skulls shattered. The third stone had missed its mark and went through the druid’s shoulder. He flew and tumbled several feet away, clutching the hole that was now in his shoulder. He saw the bloodied rock on the ground near him. 

She… threw that?....a stone? Fuck. I need to exit. This was not how it should have gone. Reies should’ve been here as well. He melted into the ground, utilizing his earth traveling technique. The man had escaped, but it was of no consequence. They at least have recovered the girl.

Giren just stared in absolute shock. The man he tried so hard to kill just now… was killed so quickly…. By a stone. Who in the world was this girl? In any sense, they had gotten lucky. They came almost too close to losing their merchandise.

Lusha landed gracefully back on the ground and gave a reassuring victory thumbs up. The other two were just lost in complete awe. They must’ve thought her Combat Skill was impressive. As expected of a being of her caliber.

She calmly walked over to Giren and pulled her blade out of her sheath, aiming it right at his face. There was something that seemed off with this mission from the very beginning. But, she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Firstly, it was described as an escort mission, and that their main worry was of demons. Yet, they had asked her to only protect the little girl. Surely, they too would fear for their lives.

Secondly, just now, she could have sworn the enemies called her as merchandise. If this is truly what she thinks it is, she’ll most-likely slay them on the spot. 

“Now…. I’m going to ask you. What exactly is the true nature of this mission? Who is that girl?”

Yuumei

Special shoutout to anyone who guesses correctly what this type of mission is.