NOVEL NEXT Chapter 11 - 11 Dragged
Chapter 11: Chapter 11 Dragged
Nexus' blurred vision came into focus, and he instantly understood.
About two dozen sets of spiteful eyes stared back at him and Crystal, their weathered faces, and intimidating gaits bore down on Nexus with a very peculiar vengeful lust.
Nexus sighed inwardly; Of all the places to land, and of all the people to run into, these hunters again?!
The horseman who had been thrown off, slowly rose from the ground with the unhurried gracefulness, he dusted his sleeves slowly, and purposefully, while a defeaning silence prevailed in the background.
Eventually, he lifted up his face.
"My friend, we meet again, this must be fate. . ." he added with a crunching smirk; "Don't you think so?"
It was the leader. The boss hunter. The chief scum. And he was truly excited to see Nexus;
With that same smirk on his gray bearded face, he rubbed his hands greedily, and looked right past Nexus to the girl behind him;
"Ah, I see you still have my prize---" his eyes lowered down to her bust, and lower body; "And still undamaged I see, even dressed like a mini you! That's wonderful isn't it?!"
Crystal instinctively ducked behind Nexus.
"We both know the situation's changed. Hand over the succubus right now."The smile had completely disappeared from his face.
"Back off hunter. I won't say it again."
"Kid, you practically came running like a lamb from that direction. I can bet that whoever's chasing you is probably closing in on you at this very moment." He mouthed sarcastically;
"Now, I don't know who it is, but I reckon whoever's after you is certainly someone who hates your guts like I do. And guess what?" He squealed;
"That makes them my friend! Hand over the fuckin' girl now!"
Nexus shot him his coldest look; "That's never going to happen mate."
A streak of disappointment blazed across his face.
"Fine." he snapped; "Have it your way then. Boys! Get his ass!"
At once, the small army of men scuttled to surround him. That was their instinct. They were hunters. The believed in numbers.
So, Nexus quickly handed Crystal one of his daggers, and unsheathed his own katana. Sword in hand, and dagger in the other, he got into battle stance with Crystal right behind him.
The men recognized the sinister blade as the weapon that had cut down so many of their colleagues, and they were more riled up than ever. It was all the motivation they needed.
Gnashing their teeth, and seething with burning rage, the first tide of the attack came.
They all swarmed him, mob style. From all sides, not giving him a chance to focus, they rushed right at him with a poorly coordinated battle cry. Nexus' extended his katana and spun. The arc of the slash cut through three men at close quaters- all at the neck.
Nexus wasted no time with blocking and parrying, he evaded the clumsy, heavy handed attacks from clubs, axes, and the occasional spear, and thrust at every single opening he got. The unfortunate, emotional bunch began to drop like flies.
Nexus, eager to break formation, and go on the offense, was cut back when he heard Crystal's cry from behind him;
"Ahhhh!"
It sent cold shivers down his spine. With an automatic-like promptness, he turned back, only to find her on her knees, clutching her shoulder. Over her, was a fat man holding up a club, eager to bring it down on her. Nexus gifted him a neat slash at the neck, slicing through his flesh like crisp bacon, and opening up a very unpleasant gash.
He struck down a couple more men who tried to take advantage of her injury, and very soon, that was all he was doing.
They kept coming for Crystal, and Nexus had to keep them slicing through chunks of flesh, just to defend her. In anger, his sharp blade sliced off a wrist. Some other unfortunate fellow got stabbed in the butt, and a couple of fingers were cut off. His sword covered in blood, and his own vision blurry from battle lust, Nexus kept mindlessly cutting anyone and anything that tried to touch Crystal.
From a few yards out, just beyond the blood soaked battle field, the water mage and the knight silently watched the altercation.
The armored man's raspy voice came rustling out of his helmet.
"You see it too don't you?"
"Yeah," the water mage replied. "I do."
He leaned forward, stroking his chin with his right thumb and forefinger;
"I can't believe we didn't see it before..."
It was too obvious that Crystal was the one sure way of getting Nexus' attention.
"Look," he pointed at the girl: "See how she sways?"
"Aye. She's weak."
Both men, having gotten a full scope of their enemy, slid into the chaos.
The knight in shining armor arrived on the scene, his every step tweaking loudly under the weight of his metal armor, and with less than ten feet between him and Nexus, he charged right at him, as loud as boisterous as he could.
Nexus sighted the knight.
"Shit!"
He braced himself, and planted his feet firmly in the ground, waiting for the impact. Just as soon as their blades were about to crash, a sickening feeling groped Nexus' insides. Wait, where is the other guy???
As if in response, the water mage emerged from behind him with the stealth of a snake. Nexus realized with a start that the knight's attack was just a feint! Within the blink of an eye the water mage unleased another one of his terrifyingly surreal water ball!
Nearly as cold as liquid nitrogen, fast as lightning, and with the force of ten oceanic waves, the water ball rammed right onto Nexus.
His enemies had stipulated that he would not be able to use his sword and his gourd at the same time, and executed it in damn-near perfect, bloodless style.
Nexus on the other hand was flung into the air by the attack, he slammed head first into the sturdy trunk of a great oak tree.
For a moment, Nexus' vision and hearing temporarily shut down. He could not hear Crystal's screaming, he could not see past the hazy gray blanket, and he certainly could not sense his lungs struggling to perform the basic function of breathing.
Pain like he had never experienced shot through him like tiny knives. He could barely move his head without feeling like it was going to explode. His ribs, back, and chest felt like they had been crushed by a a set of 200kg weights.
There was no doubting the fact that he was injured- badly.
In a futile bid to get up, he forced himself to roll over on his sides, and instantly he regretted it. He coughed violently, spluttering blood in generous quantities.
At the corner of his one good eye, Nexus spotted the demonic duo rushing towards him.
When they came up on him, Nexus relished the delicious looks of disappointment on their faces. He was on his feet! Despite being a bloody, beaten up, half-conscious mess, the bloke was still on his feet!
Mage and knight exchanged quick nervous glances. And approached him again, only this time, with a little bit more caution.
The second round began with Nexus trying to keep up. He unleashed his gourd on both of them, hoping for a similar water ball attack. But the mage and knight had prepared for this as well. Refusing to stick together, they both scattered in opposite directions, and refused to stay move in one straight line.
Within a chilling short period of time, they were both on Nexus- for close combat attacks. Nexus felt the strain on his body with every punch he narrowly ducked, and with each step he took.
The mage and knight fought in coordinated attacks. Each man's assault immediately followed the other, complimenting their strikes, making full use of their numbers, and backing poor Nexus into sliding further and further in retreat.
Nexus did not allow his seemingly hopeless situation to stop him from fighting back, but his movements began to get slow, and his techinique sloppy. The occasional blows landed, as well as the sword strikes. If it were not for his anti-blade armor, he would have had more blood flowing out of him like an organic fountain.
Crystal heart broke into a million pieces, watching Nexus take all the heat.