"Be quick. We need to move out of here before some others come!" Zeke yelled at his teammates to hasten them up. Their casting speed had slowed down a bit as fatigue began to creep in.
Boom!
Skrree—
Poof!
Another perfectly timed Fire Arrow spell silenced the Skarnid's cry.
'One more down.' Zeke turned his attention away from the thrashing Skarnids, already neutralized. His teammates were starting to tire, the time between each spell getting longer, even with their rotations to cast.
"Watch out!!" Zeke yelled, starting up the Fire Arrow spell again, but it was too late. He had just cast the spell and had to rerun the model again.
Turns out the Skarnids were not just stupid beasts. Just like Zeke's team was adapting to the fight, they were also doing the same. At first, they had defaulted to their natural instinct to defend, hardening their carapace at where spells were going to hit, but Zeke and his team fought like they had already done this a few times.
They only targeted one Skarnid at a time, with a few spells fired at the others at regular intervals to disrupt their attack spell. They encircled the beasts strategically, giving them no space to run. For a team that was formed just a few hours ago, it was really remarkable that they could work in such perfect sync.
It was mostly due to their leader, Zeke. He established his presence from the very start, making all his group members obey his commands naturally. It didn't feel forced or strange. He barked out orders, and they complied. And so far he hadn't failed them.
Fizzzz!!
Squelch!
The Chitin Spear spell sunk into the thigh of a ginger-haired girl, eliciting a sharp cry from her. She had tried to jump out of the way mid-casting in response to Zeke's call, but she didn't make it in time.
The attack was unexpected. She wasn't even the main caster, only supporting from the sides, but the Skarnid had picked her out at a vital moment. Zeke had just cast a spell, the person in front of her had also just cast and was running to the back for her to take over their ever-changing position as he went to recharge his spell.
She was already in the motion of firing her spell at another Skarnid when she heard the call. She immediately jumped to the side, not even knowing where the attack was coming from, just trusting her instincts.
She stared at the spear sticking out of her thigh with a disconnected look as she screamed at the top of her lungs. The spear had nearly gone all the way through. Coupled with the recoil of a miscast Fire Arrow spell, she also had burns all over her right arm, adding to the pain.
Her cry broke the focus of the others, disrupting their already slowing rhythm.
"Fuck!!!" Zeke cursed.
"Cover her!!" he yelled at those closest to the injured girl, the Skarnid that attacked her was already making a mad dash towards her direction.
Zeke fired the spell he had charged up, but it missed the target, exploding right in front of the charging Skarnid. It evaded with its quick reflexes, continuing its charge.
Everyone around immediately changed their point of focus to the mad Skarnid.
All of a sudden, it abruptly changed direction, charging for the now wide-open space they had left in their encirclement. The other two Skarnids also made for the gap, shrieking with loud cries as they disappeared into the forest, away from the bright, fiery encirclement and into the familiar darkness in which they thrived.
"Damn!! We let them get away!" a chiseled guy with brown shoulder-length hair cursed out loud.
He turned to Zeke with a fierce gaze. "Why'd you distract us? She was not in danger! You heard the briefing, the bracelet was going to protect her if her life was in danger!!"
Some of the others also turned their attention to Zeke, actually thinking about it that way.
They now questioned his reasoning for making such a decision. After his streak of good decision-making so far— netting their group thirty-three Skarnid kills, along with sixteen small beasts here and there— they were doing very well. So they naturally questioned why he made the decision, thinking he might have a good reason for making it.
"..." Zeke kept mute, squatting beside the squirming ginger-haired girl, consoling her and administering what little first aid he could with torn clothes and water.
"Come help me hold her down," he commanded, preparing to pull the short Chitin Spear out.
A guy made to help, but the long-haired guy held his shoulder to stop him.
"You haven't answered the question." He enunciated every word with a sharp tone.
Zeke sighed in exasperation before slowly looking up at the guy.
"Hey. Is this what you should be doing right now?"
"Those Skarnids are probably on their way back with reinforcements as we speak."
"What we should be doing right now is getting the hell out of here," he snapped with a commanding tone.
The guy's gaze softened a bit. "Then why are you treating her? You know she's gonna be dead weight." He crossed his ripped arms that strained against his tightly fitted uniform.
"I'm not leaving anyone behind," Zeke said with finality in his voice, like he didn't want to continue the conversation. He motioned for the other guy to help, and together— Zeke pulling, and the guy holding her down— they pulled out the spear, with the girl biting down on a stick, sweat trickling down her forehead in streams.
She held on to Zeke, tired, but thankful. Her lidded eyes locked on to the chiseled guy with an icy glare.
He noticed and let out a dismissive grunt. "So what do you plan to do now... Leader?" he addressed Zeke.
"Same as before. Split the kills and continue on our way."
"You don't have to worry about me... or her. I'm the one inconveniencing, so she's my responsibility."
"It's not like she'll die..." The guy had a bewildered look on his face, wondering why Zeke was going through all the trouble to do something that didn't make any logical sense.
"...If it bothers you, just treat it like she isn't here." He lifted her in a bridal carry, careful not to agitate her legs, but she still grimaced in pain.
The guy still looked unconvinced.
Zeke sighed. "...It's my code." He stared at him dead in the eye.
That seemed to do the trick as the guy finally relented, his gaze totally softening. "Whatever man... Just don't let this hamper your ability to fight. If it does, we're taking her out." He pointed.
Zeke nodded. "You can have my kill for this round. You've done a lot, Jamie."
The guy smiled slowly. "Well, you know I won't say no to that..." He turned his gaze to the injured Skarnids... or should've been injured.
"They're not moving," he muttered.
"Huh?" Zeke turned, along with the other group members. They all looked around at the eight or so Skarnid bodies lying around, unmoving.
Jamie rushed to the nearest Skarnid at the edge of the clearing, the flames from their fight already flickering out, slowly returning the forest to its usual dimness.
"This one's dead." He kicked the carcass.
"So is this."
"And this—"
"This too—" They all called out as they checked the bodies.
"What the hell?!!" Jamie cursed out loud, drawing attention from everyone.
"There's a cut on its stomach." He turned the dead Skarnid on its back, drawing gasps of exclamation from all of them.
Zeke looked around in confusion, before ordering with agitation, "Check all their stomachs!"
His fears were real.
Of the eight Skarnids they neutralized, seven of them that struggled away, close to the edges of their encirclement, were dead.
Jamie bowed his head down, clenching his jaws tightly before looking up to meet Zeke's equally livid gaze.
"Someone stole our kills."