Zectas Volume IV: The Salubrious City of Centzo (4 page)

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The three Brandal Captains in the western part of the forest were in charge of a hundred twenty injured bandits and their black ctenosaurs. They resisted the water arrows and pushed onward until they met two Lioumerean Pathfinders, each riding on the back of a stag moose.
"Well, well, well. Looks like some kittens are here to play with us." teased one of the Brandal Captains while riding towards the Lioumereans.
"Leave the cute one to me." said another Captain and followed after.
Straight away, Laernea and Gandiva set their sights on the Captain who spoke last. Simultaneously, the two of them fired their poison arrows at the bandit. The moment they did, Gandiva turned to her best friend and said, "What's wrong with you? He said he was going after me!"
"What are you talking about? He clearly said he was going after the cute one." replied Laernea. Both of them whistled, and shortly afterwards, four Durcules beetles appeared at their sides. These one-and-a-half-meter-long black armored monsters had horns that were almost the same length as their bodies.
"Aim for the one we just attacked." said Laernea and the four Durcules beetles flew straight into the Brandal Captain and impaled him with their horns. Afterwards, they flew up and disappeared into the treetops.
Laernea immediately aimed her bow at the dying Brandal Captain and released several arrows, depleting his life bar. The Brandals in front of Laernea's target raised their swords and charged at her, wanting to avenge their leader, but her stag moose lowered its head and defended her with its antlers. With a strong plowing motion, Bilis impaled the two bandits in front of it.
The impaled bandits tried to break free, but their attempts to pull themselves off of the antlers only resulted in additional damage. They looked to their sides for help, but found that the other stag moose had performed the same attack and impaled three bandits. As the impaled bandits were raised to a higher elevation, they finally saw the source of the water arrows for a brief moment, before the numerous mounted Bowed Fishermen finished them off.
Laernea and Gandiva intentionally aimed for the ordinary bandits. Thanks to their stag moose’s high movement speed and agility, the Lioumereans easily weaved in and out of the trees and suddenly appeared in front of black ctenosaur riders. They attacked them with their longbows at almost point blank range. At this distance, the front riders couldn’t react in time, and the Lioumereans were accurately hitting their eyes.
However, this recklessness made them prone to attacks from the side. As the Brandals kept a close eye on the stag moose, they appeared from their blind side the next time they came around for an attack and slashed them with their swords. The stag moose's antlers tried to drive off the bandits while Laernea and Gandiva counterattacked with arrows. The Lioumereans would hastily retreat, but would get significantly injured in the process. Outside of the Acolytes’ reach, they used their advanced knowledge in Herbology and applied healing herbs to their wounds.
This impetuous attack slowed down the Brandals’ charge and made them hold their ground. The Lioumereans only appeared to be impulsive; their real plan was to keep the Brandals occupied until the southern Gate arrived, and have water arrows steadily dwindle their life bars. At this point, the surviving bandits in the western side of the forest were left with 60% on their life bars.
Meanwhile, on the eastern side of the forest, Sharanga and a hundred Bowed Fishermen prepared themselves to face four Brandal Captains and two hundred eighty of their underlings.
Sharanga stood some distance away from the mounted Bowed Fishermen. Aiming at the Brandal Captains, she released four poison arrows, wanting to draw their attention to her. The Captains promptly ordered the bandits to storm the lone Huntress.
SHRILL
A cry of a single falcon came from above the battlefield, and Ranga swiftly dropped Sharanga's five-trap system on one of the Captains.
FA-THUD
Immobilised, the targeted Brandal Captain dropped to the ground together with his black ctenosaur. Sharanga remained unperturbed despite seeing more than two hundred Brandals rushing towards her. She steadily kept attacking one of the Captains with her poison arrows, and lowered his life bar to 40%.
BTOOOM BTOOOM BTOOOM BTOOOM
Several exploding traps were triggered by the Brandals and sent many of them flying through the air, black ctenosaurs and riders alike. The explosives also killed Sharanga's targeted Captain and inflicted Burning status on all of the Brandals in the eastern side of the forest.
"Halt!" yelled one of the remaining two Brandal Captains, "I bet there are more traps in—" He wasn't allowed to finish as Sharanga fired several arrows into his throat and made him choke.
Unlike the Lioumereans, she didn't intend to wait for Sharur's southern Gate to arrive. She planned to finish off the Brandals by herself. As she still stood in the same spot, Sharanga continued with her arrow attacks, while the mounted Bowed Fishermen behind her kept up with her pace.
SHRILL
FA-THUD
The last surviving Captain and his black ctenosaur fell down, caught in Sharanga's five-trap system. She didn't have any fancy attacks, like the other core members; she only had Ranga and her traps to rely on. However, that didn’t make her any less effective in battle than others.
With the last of the Brandal Captains disabled, the bandits were indecisive about what they should do. Not willing to go back and face the werewolves, or stay still and slowly die to arrow attacks, some of them tried their luck against the traps and blindly charged forward.
BTOOOM BTOOOM
The Brandals' life bars were left with less than 30% after they triggered more explosive traps. Sharanga, together with a hundred mounted Bowed Fishermen, proceeded to finish off the catatonic bandits that were left standing in front of them.
                                             

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The strike force’s morale was at an all-time high and spurred them to fight the Brandals aggressively. In general, the bandits had less than 50% on their life bars at the moment.
The ten Captains who were in the middle of the entrapment were slaughtered by Sierra's werewolves, which left the bandits disorganised. They aimed their swords and knives at the gaps between the round shields of Armored Farmers, but even when they managed to inflict significant damage to them, Heal Balls would mend the wounds of the injured Armored Farmers no less than a couple of seconds later. Realising that they could not win against them, the bandits caught in Sierra's trap fought desperately to escape with their lives.
The black ctenosaur riders in the front suddenly felt sharp claws trample over their shoulders, as their comrades' mounts were trying to climb over them and use them as stepping stones to get past the wall of Armored Farmers. One of the lizards that managed to leap through was instantly met with a red Maneator's glaive. Stark's glaive pierced through the black ctenosaur’s stomach and sliced its body in half. The other Brandals who got past the Gate immediately went after Stark, but they were quickly blasted away by Sharur's bolts. Supported by Stark's Bulwark and the Acolytes inside it, Sharur's southern Gate plowed through the struggling bandits.
They arrived at the western side of the forest just in time to witness the Lioumereans killing off the last surviving Captain in the area. The Armored Farmers shouted as they advanced and took the Brandals by surprise. The Bowed Fishermen used this opportunity to release more of their water arrows, which penetrated the backs of the black ctenosaur riders. The Lioumereans and the mounted Bowed Fishermen moved to the sides closer to the center of the trap.
Sharur took a glance at the eastern side and found that Sharanga had already subdued most of the bandits there. He then heard Stark call out his name, "Sharur, Stark can't believe how easy this is." The red Maneator let out steam through his nostrils and huffed, "Stark remember Brandals to be stronger. Stark must have became really stronger instead. Hmmpf!"
"Well, this is Sierra's plan, after all." said Sharur with a proud smile on his face.
"Rasant is doing good at the center. Stark can't believe how he survived on his own." said the red Maneator.
Sharur then pointed to Adder and his team of Centaurs and Warriors, "They had the support of Balance team the whole time."
The red Maneator let out a boisterous laugh. "Does Sharur think next battle will be this successful?"
"Definitely! With Sierra leading us, I'm sure the next fight is going to be a breeze. When we get more Acolytes, we'll be even..." he stopped mid-sentence after he saw Adder and his team charging towards them at full speed. He searched around to see what made the Balance team look so rattled. Then, when he turned around, he finally saw the reason. A pack of werewolves was almost upon the Bulwark team behind him. And these weren’t Sierra’s.
The open area in southern Gate’s formation was filled with bloodthirsty lycanthropes in no time at all. Forty of them engaged the Iron Knights who were protecting the Acolytes, while twenty jumped over them and went straight for the healers. The Armored Farmers on the sides of the formation instantly went to help the Bulwark, but forty more werewolves spread out and slaughtered them. Once a werewolf got its claws on an Armored Farmer, it wouldn’t stop slashing his body until it finished its job.
Enraged, Stark swung his glaive with both hands and severed the arm of one of the werewolves. The lycanthrope screamed in pain, and before it could retaliate, Stark's glaive came at it once again and relieved the monster of its head.
Even though werewolves are Therianthropes, they are still classified as beast-type monsters. As such, they are susceptible to the Maneators and the Hunters' Scourge of the Beast ability.
The Strafe team quickly fired their arrows at the werewolves slaughtering the southern Gate, but their attack speed was slower, as it took them longer to aim properly and avoid friendly fire. Members of the Illusion team followed suit and came to the aid of the southern Gate. Sharanga's falcon steadily released its master's five-trap systems on the monsters, while Sharanga herself was steadily firing her arrows. Laernea and Gandiva's stag moose and Durcules beetles put their antlers and horns to good use and impaled some of the werewolves with them. The Lioumereans rode closer to the werewolves and fired their arrows at them at close range, drawing their attention away from the dying southern Gate members.
As soon as the extraordinary fighters killed a couple of lycanthropes, the werewolves started to huddle together and backed away. After these core members of Vagrant Vigilantez secured the Bulwark, they checked the number of casualties and found that ten Acolytes, twenty Iron Knights and a little more than a hundred Armored Farmers were missing from the battlefield.
Adder and his Balance team members finally arrived as the Vigilantez and seventy werewolves were at a momentary standstill.
Sharur hurriedly asked Adder, "What about the Brandals at the center?"
"Don't worry, Sierra and Ledur's teams are there to help Rasant. There are only less than two hundred bandits left." replied Adder, with his eyes fixated on the new enemies.
The number of Vigilantez members in the southern part of the forest was a little over five hundred. Although they had the advantage in numbers, the Armored Farmers and Bowed Fishermen were no match for Werewolves in one-on-one fights.
Slowly, the werewolf pack moved to the sides to make way for a brown and a black werebear to step forward.
ROAAARRR
The black, female werebear let out a loud roar before speaking. "Werewolves! Today, I, Vexant, your Alpha mistress, shall lead you to glory! We shall feast upon Smoke's army and leave nothing behind but their bones!"
AWWWOOOOOOOOOOO.
The werewolves howled in unison. Vexant then turned to the brown werebear and told him, "Tracas, you deal with the Warrior riding on a dirus wolf."
The brown werebear nodded and fixated on Adder.
Vexant then yelled "Charge!" and the therianthropes all rushed towards the Vigilantez. She decided on Stark as her target. The three-meter-tall red Maneator swung his glaive in a wide arc but missed the werebear's head. Vexant counterattacked with a Double Slash and knocked Stark back into the Armored Farmers behind him.
The brown werebear called Tracas blocked numerous arrows with his arms and came face-to-face with Adder. He took a wide swing at Adder with his claws but hit nothing but air, as the Condortlian Warrior had already leapt off of his mount.
Adder brought down the full force of his BlitzSturm on the brown werebear's left shoulder. Tracas reflexively countered with his right claw, slashing Adder across his chest and knocking him to the ground.
The Centaur Rangers and Condortlian Warriors tried to help their team leader, but forty-five werewolves were keeping them occupied.
Adder hurriedly stood up and faced the brown werebear while his subordinates around him fought frantically for their lives. He charged straight for the werebear, with his massive BlitzSturm over his left shoulder. His double-bladed sword slashed the werebear's paws and forced him to take two steps backwards. Adder finished his attack by slashing the tip of the werebear's front leg and sliced off two toes.
Tracas roared in pain. The brown werebear raised his claws over his shoulders and they came crashing down on Adder. BlitzSturm blocked one of the claws, but the second one scratched Adder's right shoulder. The werebear's claws got drenched in Adder's blood and he followed up his successful attack with an uppercut. Adder got blown backwards once more and his life bar now displayed (175,185/217,750 HP).
Adder could clearly see a smirk on the brown werebear’s furry face. He got up and taunted the werebear to come at him.  As the therianthrope rushed forward, Adder met his attack with his double-bladed sword. As soon as he felt the werebear's claws parry his weapon to the side, Adder followed the direction of that force and turned his body in one fluid motion. BlitzSturm slashed the werebear’s arms twice as it completed a full turn. He felt it make contact with his opponent’s bones, but failed to slice through them.
He instantly backed away as he had learned the timing of the werebear's counterattack, but was still taken by surprise when the therianthrope managed to reach him despite his injured toe. Adder was blown backwards again and hit one of his Centaur subordinates behind him. Frustrated, he stabbed the werewolf his comrade was fighting and hurried back to face his opponent. He proceeded with caution and observed the therianthrope's life bar, which displayed (328,901/360,000 HP).
While Adder was thinking about what to do against the brown werebear, multiple Heal Balls hit his back and filled his life bar to 100%.
"Life team, please focus on healing the other guild members." ordered Adder, as he observed that most of his allies had life bars below 50%. Even with a full life bar, he still had less HP than the brown werebear. Despite thinking that he still needed more training to properly handle his new fighting style, Adder decided to use it now.
"Trager, my shield please." he shouted to the bulky Centaur. Immediately afterwards, Trager kicked away the werewolf he was fighting and threw Condortl's Emerald Tower Shield in his direction. Adder easily caught the griffon-embossed shield with his right hand and brought it to the ground with a loud sound.
CRASH
Equipped with his massive BlitzSturm in his regrown left arm and the Condortlian shield in his right, Adder dashed forward with the shield in front of him. The brown werebear tried his Double Slash attack, but Adder held his ground and wasn't pushed back at all. With the werebear's claws still on his shield, he lifted it up and swung his double-bladed sword across the therianthrope's stomach. The brown werebear brought his arms down in defense, but his already-injured arm was then targeted once more. This time, Adder's BlitzSturm sliced through the bone.
The brown werebear's mouth widened and instinctively came down on Adder. However, the werebear's teeth were met with an emerald and obsidian-colored shield.
TWAANG
Adder used Emerald Bash and stunned the werebear for three seconds. With his opponent immobilized, Adder then used his shield's strongest ability—Emeridian Slash. A green light radiated from the embossed griffon. For a brief moment, Condortl's legendary creature came to life and slashed the brown werebear with its claws. As the therianthrope's defense was temporarily reduced to zero, Adder quickly brought down his heavy weapon and made a deep cut across his opponent's body. He was about to perform another attack when the brown werebear finally came to and raked his claws across Adder's face, forcing him to back away.
Blood flowed down Adder's face from where the werebear's claws left their mark. He checked the therianthrope's life bar once more and saw that it was quickly brought down to 30%. He steeled his resolve and charged towards the brown werebear.
Suddenly, Tracas spoke to him. "You're as impressive as ever, Adder."
This made Adder stop in his tracks. He had to stab his BlitzSturm into the ground to support himself from falling.
"Why do you know my name?" asked Adder cautiously.
The brown werebear snickered. “Lady Horrabelle was right! You guys really took the bait of the divided supply lines. Who would have thought that my pack would be the one lucky enough to find you.”
“This was a trap?” asked a dumbfounded Adder, “Be that as it may, I still want to know why do you know my name?”
"How could I ever forget you? How could I forget one of the men who failed to save me back in Condortl!" said the werebear condemningly.
Adder frowned, puzzled by his opponent’s response. "Condortl? What are you talking about?"
"Ha! Of course you've already forgotten about me." said Tracas and let out a sarcastic laugh, "How convenient for you. Just sweep Tracas under a rug and forget about him."
Slowly, Adder's eyes widened as he finally realized who this brown werebear was.
"Yes, Adder. It's me, the boy you and Smoke failed to save from the mutated Centaurs!" Tracas screamed at Adder.