If he wasn’t about to get himself killed, Maiya might’ve laughed. As it was, her frustration only grew. She wasn’t ready. She didn’t have a plan. What was she to do now?
“Hey! Rector!” she called to the prostrating cultist, who’d somehow avoided the wrath of the Zards thus far. “No harming them, but everything else is game, right?”
There was no reply. The cultist was chanting something under his breath.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Maiya breathed. “Alright, Yamal, listen to me…!” She turned, looking for her reckless companion, and gasped.
“Follow me, you craven beast!” Yamal yelled, facing off against a Zard.
The beast’s eyes were full of primal hunger, sizing him up as an opponent. It was eyeing its next meal.
Maiya clutched her C Grade Wind Blade orb. She hadn’t slotted her mejai aiming bracer in the interest of drawing less attention—a decision she now regretted. She wouldn’t be able to aim the orb… But even if she could, it wouldn’t have helped.
I’m too late!
The Greater Zard raised its forepaw, poised to slice Yamal. A single strike would cleave him to pieces. Maiya was filled with anguish at her inability to prevent his death.
Yamal dove, but she knew it’d do him little good. He was up against an Ash Beast, after all. One with a Balar Rank somewhere in the thirties.
Maiya braced herself to witness his gruesome demise. While she hadn’t regarded the man as anything other than overly nosy, he didn’t deserve to die. Not like this.
The Zard’s paw blurred.
And Yamal dodged.
What?
Maiya did a double take. No. He hadn’t dodged. He’d tripped.
The Zard’s paw blurred past… and smacked right into the rump of another Zard that was happily gorging itself on some fresh meat.
The strike shredded the Zard’s invisible layer of armor, digging into its rump.
The beast roared, whirling in anger, searching for the perpetrator. Its eyes landed on the other Zard, and a fierce battle ensued. Claws flashed, tails whipped, and jaws chomped as each beast attempted to gain the upper hand.
That… could work! Maiya thought.
She flew toward Yamal and dragged him away, relying on her boots’ Enhance Speed orbs to get him away in time.
“Y-y-you saved me? You saved my life!” Yamal stammered in shock. “I thought I was dead!”
Maiya shook her head. “You might just have saved everyone left. Or at least, facilitated it. Listen to me. You need to do exactly as I say, alright?”
Yamal locked his eyes with Maiya and nodded. “I trust you.”
“Good. Now move!”
They worked well as a team, much to Maiya’s surprise. Though, it was less of a team, and more of Maiya barking out orders, commanding Yamal to position himself at precise locations at exactly the right time. If nothing else, the man knew how to obey.
Using Maiya as bait, with Yamal serving as a distraction, they managed to lure another Zard toward the other two that were currently fighting. While the new Zard wanted nothing to do with their fight, the combatants had been whipped into a frenzy. Anything that got too near suffered their wrath, and the third Zard had been too near to get away.
It, too, was drawn into the fight.
“We’re… winning? We’re winning against Ash Beasts?” Yamal whispered in disbelief, wiping beads of sweat off his brow.
“Not winning, no,” Maiya replied. “I don’t know what we’re doing, other than it’s stupid. Stupid and reckless. But it is nice that these beasts aren’t too smart.”
Unlike others I’ve fought, Maiya thought with a shiver, thinking back to her month of training near the Ash Boundary. The records she’d found said that Ash Beasts had gone mad—that they weren’t capable of higher-order thought—and to be fair, the stronger of them tended to be. But not all. Some were plenty intelligent. Especially the Ash Wolves that popped through. Though their Balar Rank wasn’t all that high, they’d proven among her toughest opponents.
“Maiya!” Yamal shouted, pointing at a group of Initiate hopefuls who’d huddled behind a tall man. A very tall man with shaggy dark hair. They faced off against another Zard.
It’s the one from before!
“You ever seen a man that big?”
“Can’t say I have,” Maiya said, monitoring the situation. The tall man she’d spotted in the forest earlier was sheltering several people behind him, and it seemed his size had given the Zards pause.
“I say we let him handle that one,” Yamal said, turning away.
Maiya grasped his shoulder, stopping him. “He might be well-built, but he’s still just a man. Unless he’s secretly a powerful Talent wielder or a mejai, he’s dead meat,” Maiya said.
“And what? You are?” Yamal asked, raising his brows. “Are you secretly a mejai, Maiya?”
Maiya gave him a tight smile. She was about to speak when the Zard attacked.
The beast lashed out its tail with blinding speed, but what surprised Maiya more was the stellar instinct the tall man showed, backing away right as the Zard initiated its attack.
But quick reflexes weren’t enough to bridge the gap between man and Ash Beast. The whip-like tail grazed his forearm, but even just that slight touch tore through his skin, cutting deep to the bone.
Yet there was no scream, nor even a grunt. The man took the attack in complete silence.
“Did you see that?” Yamal exclaimed. “He’s invincible!”
Maiya certainly saw. But what she saw was something else entirely. She saw a normal—albeit well-built—man. One with an exceedingly high pain tolerance and a desire to protect others.
What’s someone like him doing here? Maiya wondered, before shelving the thought.
If she didn’t act, she’d never get those answers.
“Yamal. Flank the beast on the right. I’ll get the left. Draw it back to the others,” she said, glancing at the three-way brawl that raged between the beasts just twenty paces away. More of a two-way affair—one looked to be on its very last legs.
Maiya only hoped they’d keep fighting until one of them succumbed.
She lunged in, forcing the Zard to divert its attention. The beast hissed at her in irritation, and right before it attacked, Yamal let out something halfway between a scream and a roar, which prompted the beast to switch targets.
Catching on, the giant man stepped forth menacingly, once again causing the Zard to change targets.
“Lead it to the others!” Maiya shouted, working with the two to bait the beast. Their strategy worked, though they hardly got away unscathed. The big man took another blow to his other arm—though, yet again, he said nothing. Maiya started referring to him as the Silent Man in her head.
Maiya took a blow directly to her torso, but her magical armor absorbed the brunt of the attack. The Silent Man regarded her appraisingly, though she doubted Yamal noticed. He was too busy feeling terrified for his life.
That’s the normal reaction, Maiya thought. The Silent Man shows not even a trace of fear. He’s built different.
By the time they lured the Zard to the others, one of the other combatants was dead, while two others had worn themselves to the ground.
The two turned to snarl at the newcomer. There was a pause, and Maiya panicked.
They’re not going to fight!
Either they’d wizened up to her ploy, or the Zards were simply too tired to fight.
They each backed away… and then they turned tail and ran. Back to the Ash Wall.
“Huh,” Yamal said, walking up beside Maiya. “I s’ppose that’s one way of dealing with them. All according to plan, eh?”