We all traded glances, then Guile slowly put himself in front of our party while Scott and Remilia attempted to shield the cave from the newcomer's sight.

My heart started beating hard against my chest while billie rose into my throat, I did not like the way this conversation was going.

“Indeed” Guile said slowly “Damn strong too, we barely escaped the thing with our lives”

“Yeah, the damn thing almost killed my friend over there before we managed to stun it and ran away” Scott nodded but his eyes never left the trees and his hands slowly loosened his throwing knives.

The three newcomers briefly looked at each other and laughed mockingly before the leader focused back on Guile and gave him a smirk “Somehow I don’t believe you”

Shit! sending a small amount of power into my good eye I ignored the pain as it hit me and activated the mangekyo once again.

I wouldn’t be able to use any believable illusions right now but the increased visual power and prediction ability would be the only thing allowing me to survive a fight and, even a second distraction was enough to save my life.

Fuck, could I kill a human… monsters were one thing but I had never gotten into a serious fight before, spars and play fighting yes but I had never thrown a punch and really wanted to hurt somebody.

As all three men unsheathed their swords and started advancing, Remilia shouted, trying one last time to avoid the fight.

“We’re from the Loki familia!” She cried out and lifted some emblem up into the air with one hand while squeezing a beautiful dagger on the other “The monster’s loot isn’t worth that much to us we can just give it to you but, if you fight us now, the Loki familia will never forgive you!”

The men paused when the leader lifted a closed fist, his eyes showing amusement “Hmmm… a good proposal, and what’s to stop you from hunting us down anyway after reuniting with your familia?”

“I swear in my name as Remilia Forestwind I and my companions won’t even mention your existence” She said and I had some hope that we wouldn’t have to fight “we don’t even know your names”

Lifting his large sword to rest on his shoulders the bearded man laughed out loud “Well I do like earning money without doing any of the work after all, why not!”

Ramilia and I both relaxed when the man’s companions lowered their weapons, getting robbed of our well earned loot sucked but it beat getting murdered for it.

Everything happened in an instant. The bandit leader went from relaxed and friendly to grinning like a maniac and delivering an all out strike towards Guile’s head at the same instant that Scott kicked my legs out from under me and jumped towards the elf.

My fall was sudden and painful, it also saved my life as I felt something sailing right where my neck used to be, the air whistling at its passage.

My companions weren’t fooled by the man’s words and had been ready. Scott had saved Remilia from another two arrows by smashing into her with his shoulder causing both her emblem and dagger to fly away from her hands.

At the same time Guile acted fast, lifting his arm he used his shield to receive the blow and struck one of the others.

The second man had lowered his guard in order to sell their ruse and would have received a killing blow to the head had Guile been in perfect condition, unfortunately his leg was still wounded and had faltered upon receiving the leader’s strike.

The mace’s blow struck the man’s shoulder instead causing him to stumble back with a cry of pain temporarily taking him out of the fight but I lost sight of the battle soon after.

A fourth Bandit rushed in under some kind of camouflage skill attempting to stab Scott on the back, the bandit seemed almost invisible as his body changed colors with the background but my improved eyesight caught the minute differences in the air.

“Watch out!” I screamed at the same time that I lifted my spear and stabbed the center of the bandit.

The second I struck I knew I had made a mistake, a combination of using my non-dominant hand and hesitation at hurting another person made my stab far weaker than it should have been, it pierced the first layer of cloth armor the bandit was wearing but barely drew blood and got stuck into his gambeson.

The short man turned around, almost wrenching the spear out of my hand, and struck at my fallen form but I was already rolling into my good side dodging his blow, I’d still have been cut if one of Scott’s knives didn’t pierce the man’s arm causing him to swear

His skill disrupted and opportunity lost, the man jumped back as Remilia rushed him and delivered a series of slashes with her sword forcing him to retreat constantly or risk dying.

Even the single glance I took of her fight was enough to know the only reason the man survived was that she was still tired and hurt, her technique was far better than even Scott and Guile together.

Finally pushing myself up I decided she had the rogue well in hand and rushed the three warriors in front.

Scott and Guile were fighting fiercely, their combined might and my help were enough to reach a stalemate with the bandits.

Wounded as I was, I wasn't much better than a distraction in the fight, even if I had the speed to get past any of the bandits guard I didn’t have the strength to deliver a telling blow but I still used my spear’s reach to threaten them like an annoying wasp.

They may suspect how weak I was but nobody wanted to risk ignoring me and finding out.

Despite the danger I smiled, things were going our way and, soon Remilia would deal with the rogue and come help us, those bastards had chosen poorly.

Of course that's when everything went wrong, I felt the impact before I could react, a crossbow bolt hitting my armor with the strength of a sledgehammer piercing its metal and my chest at the same time.

I stumbled aside, the pain making me lose sight of the fighting for a few seconds as I stared at the large feathers sprouting from my chest armor with a strange fascination. I had forgotten about the… crossbowmen.

Grabbing at the bolt my first instinct was to pull it out, I grabbed the shaft and it sent a jolt of pain through my body snapping me out of my daze and back into the present.

What the hell was I doing? Looking around trying to get my bearings I saw the guy Guile had wounded rushing me, his eyes filled with anger at their failed ambush.

With no time to think I stabbed at his face with my spear but he parried it aside with his longsword and stepped inside my guard before stomping me, aiming for my wounded arm with a cruel smile.

I tried to dodge it but I was just too slow. The kick hit me with such strength I lost my footing and went flying. With how much pain I was feeling in my arm I didn’t even register falling on the moss covered floor.

I knew I had to move if I wanted to live but I couldn't, the pain was just too much, curling up into a fetal position I threw up on the floor and felt hot tears soak the bandage over my eye.

The damn bandit took his sweet time, the fact he wasn’t worried about my companions made me even more afraid and I finally managed to slightly push myself up, looking around I saw my spear laying just beyond my grasp and tried to crawl towards it.

Putting one foot on my wounded arm the bandit pushed away from the spear to fall back on my back

“Tennacious little fuck aren’t you” he mocked before stepping on my chest and pushing me down, giving a twist of his wounded shoulder he asked “Any last words?”

I took a deep breath, then I pulled one of my throwing knives from under my pants and stabbed him on the back of the leg as hard as I could.

His greaves only protected the front of his legs so my dagger pierced deep into his flesh, with a scream of pain the man lifted his foot at the same time as he swung his sword towards my head.

I rolled towards his good leg causing him to completely lose his footing and fall over my own body.

“Goddamnit!” the guy screamed as I grabbed at his body to stop him from getting up “My leg, you stabbed my leg you motherfucker!”

Ignoring the pain of my broken arm I hugged the man’s arms, desperately trying to stop him from killing me, fear and leverage giving me the strength to resist him.

Without the room to swing the weapon he started hitting my head with the pommel again and again, we struggled like that for a few seconds, my face getting covered with blood and sweat.

When he pulled his hand back for another hit I managed to knee him between the legs causing him to finally drop the sword.

With a roar of rage the bandit grabbed me by the hair and pulled my head away from his armor, my burst of adrenaline fuelled strength had finally run out.

I could barely resist as the man rolled us aside, putting my back against the floor and squeezing my neck with both hands. His face a mask of incoherent rage he leaned in and screamed at me finally meeting my eye.

Bleeding, exhausted, almost completely out of mind and slowly getting the life squeezed out of me I still smiled as I used ‘greater visual illusion’. In an instant I sent the man an Ilusion of the only thing I could think about, pain.

His roar of rage turned into a whimper and he released my neck to cradle his arm against his chest. Grabbing a second dagger I screamed and jammed it up into his neck, then I did it again and again.

I continued to scream and stab him in the face even as he fell on top of me forgetting everything else but my need to survive.

A clap of thunder snapped me out of my stabbing, letting the dagger fall from my numb hands. I tried to wipe the blood away from my face, turning my face aside. I started dry heaving until a second bolt of lightning filled my vision.

Following the path of the lightning I found Ramilia on her knees, one hand holding her shoulder where a bolt had pierced her and a second holding the ornate dagger she had dropped at the beginning of the fight.

Another swing of her dagger released a third bolt towards the trees. I watched as she swung the dagger another two times before it crumpled to dust in her hand and she collapsed back, apparently spent.

Without the strength to even move I turned my face away from the dead man on top of me and waited to see if one of the bastards had survived to come kill me.

After a few minutes, when nothing happened, I managed to gather enough strength to push the body aside and crawl away.

“hey… haaa… you’re alive” Guile said from above causing me to look up.

He looked like crap, his face was covered in cuts, his nose and lips were busted and it looked like he was gona lose an eye while his other one was as red as my own, it was already starting to swell up too making it look twice its usual size.

“You… coff, cof… you look like crap” I said, too tired to even care.

“Thanks, you too” Bending down the large man grabbed my good arm and pulled me up, and onto his back.

My legs felt like jelly and I couldn’t find purchase into the floor no matter how much I tried so I was forced to just let them drag on the floor as he carried me towards the cave.

“Sowy fho noth healing yoh” he said with a swollen lip “ran outh pothions outh here”

Doing my best to keep my wounded arm and the crossbow bolt still sticking out of my body from banging against anything I didn’t say anything, I had nothing to say really.

Guile dragged me inside the cave and carefully laid me down on my back, watching the entrance I saw Ramilia still pressing down on the bolt at her shoulder to stop the bleeding followed by Scott.

This time he hadn’t escaped unharmed, he was missing his left arm from just below his shoulder and had tied some cloths around it to stop the bleeding, he also had a large sword gash on his chest.

“What. Happened?” asked Mord, having finally woken up again.

“Thieves” said Scott as if that answered everything.

“Fuck”

Yeah, fuck was about right.

Eventually, Ramilia bent over me and carefully poked at the bolt on my side, her own bolt was still stuck on her shoulder, held in place by bandages so it wouldn’t shake.

“Roland, right?” She asked but didn’t wait for me to answer before looking me over, she cleaned the cuts I had and bandaged them but left the bolt alone “We don’t have enough potions to heal you if we pull it out so you’re gonna have to take it until we reach Rivira”

“OK” I was so tired of this delve I had gone monosilabic, I just wanted to be done with it as fast as we could.

After that I just went numb, losing track of things and barely managing to follow instructions as we made our way back towards the village.

I think we stopped to fight the dungeon spawns another two times but I didn’t even see which monster it was, my eye refusing to really focus before we finally reached Rivira, the second I caught sight of the entrance filled with adventurers I felt my body give out.

Everything went black.