Chapter 71 – Synergy

“What’s going on?” Erika demanded the moment she was out of the tent.

Even in her exhausted state, the panic on Rochelle’s face had managed to spur her into action. She was a little unsteady on her feet, and Sal had to wonder what torture she was going through on a daily basis to be that battered emotionally and physically by the end of each day.

Brophy gestured toward Ioseph. “Order Rochelle to fix him up and give us the commands. There’s an imminent ambush, so you can assume that all our moves are being watched. If you say it, I’ll go out with Ioseph to fight.”

That gleam in his eye was still there, and it made Sal nervous. It was like an uncontrollable bloodlust that was threatening to spill out if he was left too long without an answer. What made it more impressive was the fact that he was able to display such emotions with his restraining locket still equipped.

Erika took one look at Ioseph and frowned. “Rochelle, heal him.”

Turning to Brophy, she weighed her thoughts before turning instead to Ioseph. “Explain what happened.”

Ioseph gestured into the darkness and smiled. “I was securing the defensive perimeter, which has grown over the last few days. It was close to another camp, and I saw that they were under attack from men and women wearing black uniforms.” He shrugged and pointed at his face. “One of them noticed me and got too close to my perimeter and it activated. I wasn’t prepared for the backlash and ended up with a broken nose. The guy who came for me took the brunt of it though, so I’d say we’ve got awhile before they finish up there and come here.”

Erika’s eyes shone in their radiant gold as she stared deeply into Ioseph’s head. She clearly hadn’t been satisfied with that retelling, so went looking for herself.

“Oh.” Erika straightened as her eyes returned to their normal blue. “You rigged the trees to explode?” She turned to look into the forest as though piecing the information together. The last few days suddenly started to make sense for her. “All those runes…”

Ioseph grinned as Rochelle placed her hand on his nose. She had her other hand extended toward Brophy, who gladly accepted it.

Ioseph withdrew the etcher from his pocket and wiggled it in his fingers. “I needed something to practice on, and the only thing around us that has a connection to essence are the trees.”

“Shush,” Rochelle commanded as she used her Transference ability.

A slight crack echoed through the silence as Ioseph’s nose returned to its normal shape. The trickle of blood stopped as Rochelle moved away from him with a sigh. “That’s fixed now but take it easy.”

Sal looked at all the trees around their camp. “How many did you inscribe runes onto?”

Ioseph snorted. “Runes? I’m not some rookie engraver. Those are battle-wards. Reflection, Deflection, Combustion…you name it. They’re placed tactically around our camp. All we need is someone stupid enough to hit them in the right sequence.”

Brophy’s expression darkened. “I think you’re severely underestimating the capabilities of the guilds.”

Erika pulled her golden-brown hair back into a tight ponytail as she looked around the camp. “Ioseph, are the barriers fit for an ambush?”

He gestured at the sky. “Only from the sides. We’re vulnerable from above. If they can jump the walls, we’ll have to face them in here.”

Erika nodded. “If something jumps over the wall, can you shoot it?”

Her eyes had turned to Sal, and he suddenly felt an immense pressure from her gaze. Moving targets weren’t something he’d encountered yet.

“If he misses, I’ll take them out,” Brophy answered in his stead.

As if to emphasize his point, he withdrew the training knife from his belt. It was the same one he had used to carve the bark off the trees.

Erika glanced around as she sighed. “Get into formation. Sal will attempt to shoot anything coming over the barriers. If they land, Rochelle will try to siphon off their essence while Brophy dispatches them. I’ll barrage their mind to stop them from acting too independently, but we won’t know if Prestige will scramble my power.”

“And me?” Ioseph gestured to himself in confusion.

Erika gestured at the group of them. “Try to keep us safe while we do this.”

An eerie silence fell over the group as they waited for the ambush to happen. Brophy and Erika were by far the most composed in the group, and Sal wished he could replicate it. He scanned his surroundings with the tracker, paying special attention to the woods. His visor had managed to highlight enemies from ridiculously far away in the dungeon, but it was showing up blank as he peered into the darkness. In a moment of curiosity, Sal willed the visor to treat all humanoids as potential targets, excluding the team around him. The moment it happened, he wished he hadn’t.

“There’s seven of them on this side,” Sal whispered as he pointed at each of their locations in the trees. Behind him there were three more. “And three more on this side. They’re navigating around the trees and creeping closer.”

His heart thundered as Erika nodded, with traces of a smile as she looked back at Sal. “Great work.”

“Can you tell their exact location?” Ioseph whispered from behind Sal.

With a nod, Sal read out the distance of the nearest person. They were in a group of three. He pointed in their direction, which was enough for Ioseph.

“Erika, permission to remotely activate the battle-wards?”

Erika laughed at the suggestion as she gave Ioseph a nod.

Ioseph tapped Sal on the shoulder. “You’re going to be my eyes. Keep an eye on them when they start scurrying.”

His etcher was out in a flash and he drew a series of shapes on the ground in front of him. Sal wanted to watch him work but kept true to his word and studied the incoming threats. The group of three had seemingly stopped on their side, while the seven advanced. If Sal was to take a guess, he’d assume they were waiting for the chaos to unfold before ambushing their team from behind.

“Three… two… one…” Ioseph said, and Sal had to suppress a shudder from the sudden memory of Vanessa unlocking his gates.

He kept his visor on the group of three, or rather…two. A huge explosion ripped through the forest as the tree beside one of the red figures sent a powerful essence blast directly at them. It likely wouldn’t have been enough to cause a high-ranking guild member any issues, but the chain reaction that Ioseph had set off guaranteed the demise of their group. Sal watched as the first red figure was thrown like a rag doll between sets of trees, their body not having time to hit the ground before the next explosion propelled them in another direction.

“Talk to me, Sal,” Ioseph said in a voice filled with concentration.

Sal moved his eyes away from the group of three who were now all on the ground and turned to the group of seven.

He brought his voice down to a whisper as he filled in Ioseph. “The seven have stopped and are holding their hands to their ears. The ones you hit are on the ground over there.”

Erika followed Sal’s gesture to the fallen group as her eyes turned golden. “Thanks for giving me a line of sight, Ioseph.” She sounded happy, and it was more terrifying than any of the glares she had given Sal so far.

Sal turned his attention back to the group of three and saw they were getting to their feet. Just as he was about to warn Ioseph, they started to attack one another. He looked at Erika and saw her grinning as her gold eyes glowed in the night. It was truly one of the scariest things he had seen, and he was finally grateful to have her on his team. When Sal looked back at the seven, he gave instructions to Ioseph, who needed a few clarifications.

The next explosion rang out but it was too far from the intended target. Ioseph cursed when Sal relayed the information, but the chain attack was broken. All seven of their assailants rushed toward the camp at breakneck speed, with Sal registering two of them launching into the sky. One of them disappeared from view completely, and Sal suddenly felt a huge sense of dread.

“Two in the sky, and one disappeared from sight!” Sal shouted as there was no benefit for them to whisper anymore.

Erika’s eyes were still locked on her targets, so there were no commands coming from her.

Brophy’s knife was launched through the sky, embedding itself into the shoulder of one of the attacking Heroes. A startled gasp was his reward for his pinpoint accuracy.

Sal raised his gun into the air and aimed at the second target. His visor gave him the trajectory information and instinct took over as he took the shot. A blast of searing red light illuminated the campsite as his shot pierced through the air to hit the leg of the incoming Hero.

Both of them crumpled to the ground, with one clutching their shoulder and the other gripping their leg. Sal’s tracker tried to pick out the remaining five assailants, but he could only see four of them. Two stood on the other side of the barrier, their faces completely concealed with black cowls. Their entire outfits were black to blend in with the night.

One of them threw a series of punches at the barrier, causing it to flicker under the assault.

“Ignore them. They’re trying to scare you. Focus on the ones you can hit,” Brophy shouted as he plucked the knife from the downed Hero.

There was no way that their attacks were enough to put them down, so Sal guessed that they were merely acting as though they’d been dispatched. The real question was whether it was a ploy to get them to lower their guard. From Brophy’s lack of finishing the job, Sal guessed that it was fine to leave them on the ground as they were. When he looked around to see the Hunter punching the barrier, Sal was surprised to see him spear tackled from the side by two assailants wearing black.

Erika’s face was still adorned with a bright smile as she caused the Heroes to attack one another. Sal quickly checked on Rochelle and saw that her eyes were glowing green. Her hand was outstretched to the Heroes on the ground, with her other pointed at Brophy, who was on the other side of the barrier. It was pure chaos, with Ioseph still on the ground trying to gauge when to activate his wards, and Rochelle needing to move closer to the tree line to support Brophy. Erika’s orders were nonexistent as she let her power roam free against her enemies. Sal could still see a few of the Heroes hanging back in the trees and realized that Brophy was likely going to target them, which meant Rochelle would be in danger.

Sal ran toward their tent and vaulted onto the roof, climbing up to the top point of their campsite. He carefully aimed his gun at the red figures through his visor and treated them like rocks nestled among branches. If he could take them out before Brophy, then it wouldn’t lead to their Healer being compromised. Sal took his steadying breath before pulling the trigger.

Solar Scatter.

The shot he had used against the leechers that had proved to kill them with sunlight was the perfect attack against people hiding in the darkness. It launched forward in a straight line toward the Heroes, impacting against a tree in front of one of them and illuminating the entire forest for a few seconds. Those few seconds were all Sal needed to fire again.

Shock Lance blasted forward with a slightly higher trajectory, clearing the tree and slamming directly into the Hero covering their eyes. Sal couldn’t hear the reaction, and didn’t care to listen out for it. The next in the cartridge was Spiral Flare, which had managed to ignite the leechers with ease. Sal lost sight of one of the Heroes, and knew in his heart that he was likely to be put down at any moment, but he still needed to do his part. He was supporting the team, and if it meant just taking out one more, then he’d take the risk.

A searing flame whipped around the muzzle of the gun as another jet of red flame shot toward his prey. Swirls of wisp-like fire followed the attack through the trees before exploding viciously against the unsuspecting Hero. Sal didn’t bother checking his handiwork as he slid down the cover of the tent, his Epic-grade clothing absorbing all the pain that should have pierced through his skin. Before he hit the ground, Sal threw his internal essence into his gloves and transformed his uniform into the black suit of armor.

His visor flashed rapidly, and Sal barely had time to lift his arm to block the incoming blow. In front of him was an imposing male figure dressed all in black. His arm was extended from the punch he had thrown at Sal. Adrenaline coursed through Sal’s veins as he saw that many of their camp barriers had been destroyed. His team was nowhere to be seen, and all Sal could focus on was the man in front of him. His visor told him that the shift in stance was going to lead to a kick to his side and suggested that Sal move in a certain way to avoid it.

Sal smiled as he ignored his visor and shot the attacking Hero point-blank with his revolver, slamming him in the chest with a bolt of ice.