Chapter 163: Ambush
The convoy made their way through a mountain range. Walls of rock that rose into the heavens stood on either side like guardians, looming over the carriages below. Every sound caused a little crack that threw rocks down the side. Many had believed these unstable mountains would have crumbled years ago, but they stood the test of time, standing tall like a heaven-defying warrior.
The carriages rolled through it in silence, the kind of silence that preceded danger. Ren could already feel it in his bones, the air was heavy with malice, and it was targeted at him.
He reached for his sword in a slow manner, hands wrapping around the hilt. It pressed into his palm. He relaxed on it a little, allowing his blood to flow, then he looked up, eyes pinned on Ezra. She caught his gaze, staring back, waiting for instructions her mind told her would come.
"Get ready," he muttered, tone flat yet heavy.
"Is something wrong?" Lia asked, curious as to why he spoke in that manner, but he did not respond. Rather, he looked out the window, staring into the mountains again. Then he saw it, a hole in the rocks, one large enough for a human to fit into. It looked far too suspicious to pass off, and so when he focused on the hole, there was a figure inside, lying down on the floor and covered in dark materials to ensure that he could not be seen, and in his hands was a black round ball.
’We are being ambushed.’
The thought ran through his head faster than light, and at that same moment, the figure acted. He clutched the ball tight and then infused it with mana. He hurled it soon after, and the ball flew through the air toward their carriage.
Ren saw it coming. He closed his eyes for a moment, and when they opened once more, he vanished from where he sat.
He appeared outside the carriage, sword drawn as he slashed the ball in half, and a massive explosion followed. A ball of orange flames and smoke filled the air. The horses were startled and started to rush around to find their freedom. The coachmen fought with their whole strength as professionals to ensure that they stopped the horses.
At that same time, everyone rushed out of the carriages, coming out to see what was happening, but they were not alone, as more and more holes broke open in the rocks, and from them rushed out men cloaked in similar black and with tons of weapons in their hands, eager and ready to kill.
It was clear what was happening now. They had ambushed the group.
"Seems someone knew of our passing," Count Liam spoke. He scanned around them, seeing all the mercenaries that were around them. Their formation, their coordination, he knew that they were no normal bandit group but rather a trained organization.
"These are not bandits," he said.
"Mercenaries," Lia stated. She already had her sword whipped out and ready to fight.
Ren looked around at the mercenaries surrounding them, reading their positions, their spacing, the way none of them had moved since they emerged from the rocks.
"Does anyone know which mercenaries these are?" he asked.
Silence for a moment.
Then Liam spoke.
"There is a town not far from here," he said. "Kaldak. It was taken over by a mercenary organization some time ago. They dug in and refused to leave. Their operations run out of there. If I had to guess, this is them."
Ren looked at him.
"And you just allowed them to stay?"
Liam said nothing, which was its own answer.
The mercenaries held their positions. Not a single one had moved since they formed up, every blade and weapon angled forward, every eye locked on the group at the center of the mountain pass. Watching. Waiting.
"Why are they not attacking?" Ezra asked.
"Something feels off," Remu said quietly.
"They are waiting for someone," Ren said.
He activated his heightened vision and pushed it outward, scanning past the mercenary lines and into the distance beyond the pass. Something was moving. Coming toward them, fast enough that the dust it kicked up preceded it, and large enough that the dust was substantial.
He narrowed his eyes.
A monster. Mutated, heavily built, shaped roughly like a bull but wrong in the particular way that things were wrong when something had been pushed past what nature intended for it. It came down through the pass with the weight of something that had stopped caring about what stood in its path.
It stopped in front of the gathered mercenaries.
And on its back, Ken and the Black Cobra boss.
Ren looked at him.
The moment Ken dropped down from the bull’s back, the entire stance of the mercenary formation shifted, the collective posture tightening, blades angling with a precision that said they had been waiting for this specific signal.
"Is this the thanks I get for my mercy?" Ren asked.
Ken shrugged. "You should not have let me go. I do not forget what you did to me." He met Ren’s eyes. "Today you die. Simple as that."
Ren smiled, but there was nothing particularly warm in it.
"These mercenaries," he said, looking around at the gathered forces. "This is what you brought to kill me." He shook his head slowly. "I do not show off much, but even I have to say, that is a serious underestimation."
Ken reached back and pulled his sword.
He pointed it forward.
And Ren felt it immediately.
Something in his body reacted before his mind caught up, a response that came from somewhere underneath conscious thought, the same instinct that had kept him alive through everything this forest had thrown at him. His eyes moved to the blade. His nostrils picked up something underneath the metal smell of it.
Wrong.
Something was on that sword.
He squinted.
"Do not worry," Ken said, reading whatever showed on his face. "I have a way to kill you this time." His grip tightened. "I will not lose."