Chapter 74: Confusion (1)
Hearing the cry from the voice behind him, Shinto hurriedly looked back. The moment he did so, he saw Kon appearing out of from the shadows.
"Master! We're in big trouble...!" Kon cried out whilst panting.
"...Kon? What's going on?" Locking eyes onto Kon on the ground, Shinto raised his brow in question.
"U-um, well...! There are fights occurring all over town!" Kon said in a hustle. "T-The people that went after that guy in the forest... they're back and are now currently in a fight with him! "
"...Ethaniel's in a fight currently?"
"Yeah!" Kon nodded. "I tried to see what was going on... but I couldn't. Everything was just too chaotic!"
"What's the escalation of the fight?"
"Well, uh, before I came here... I saw that he was holding up his ground pretty well. But I don't think he'll be able to last!" Kon cried out.
"...this, what are they doing all of a sudden?" Shinto muttered out.
"I don't know... they just suddenly appeared all of a sudden and attacked him!" Kon shouted. "Did they come after you too? When I tried to look for you... there was a lot of people in front of the tavern..."
"Well, they did-"
"A-Ah...! They did?! Have we been found out?! What do we do?!"
"Aright, firstly, calm down, Kon," he said calmly. "We haven't been found out yet. The matter for why they came to me was for an entirely different reason."
"Oh... phew..." Kon let out a sigh of relieve. "I thought master would be in trouble!"
"Err... well, the situation is quite troubling right now, but that's beside the point. I'm not the one in trouble," Shinto answered. "There's quite a lot of pressing issues at hand, for one, Ethaniel isn't the only one we have to worry about."
"Ah? Who else?!"
"The tavernkeeper... he's been taken captive," Shinto said in a serious tone.
"The tavernkeeper? The one in the tavern earlier? Ah...! Who did it?!"
"From the same people affiliated with the one's fighting against Ethaniel."
"Argh! What's going on?!" Kon said in frustration.
"I don't know," Shinto helplessly shook his head. "I'm lacking information as much as you are, and I can't get into contact with Frey at all."
"Frey... a companion of yours? Are they in trouble too?!"
"I do not know her situation... but seeing as how she's uncontactable, I can only think of the worst-case scenarios."
"Then what do we do?"
"For now... we need to get a better onlook on this whole thing. Where's the location of the fight with Ethaniel?"
"The last I saw of him... he was in the southeast area of town."
"On the southeast area of town, you say?" Shinto nodded his head. "Alright, we'll head there."
"Right!"
...
Within the town's streets, loud footsteps rang throughout the area as a young blonde-haired man made his way through it. From behind him, several men chased after.
"Grr... you persistent piece of shits!" The blonde-haired man cried out in anguish.
"Oh, Ethaniel, would you just leave it be and surrender already?!" A silhouette of a man appeared from beside Ethaniel, momentarily after, a short blade swung forward to him.
"Tsk...!" Holding up his sword, Ethaniel quickly fended off against the dagger that was directed towards him. "Why the hell should I surrender?" The second he fended off against the attack, Ethaniel quickly turned his leg to the side, with his sword in hand, swiftly striking towards his attacker.
"...!!" Seeing the attack in front him, the man jumped back. "If you want to do this the hard way, then fine!"
"Bring it all you've got! I'm not going down!" Ethaniel frowned as he gripped his sword tightly.
Countless footsteps rang out throughout the fields as it approached Ethaniel. Blades and magic swayed towards him. However, with all his efforts; Ethaniel parried against the attacks and quickly jumped to the nearest enemy, striking them down.
"Do you think you can keep this up?" One of the attackers clicked their tongue. "You won't last any longer than this!"
"Bah," Ignoring the words of his enemies, Ethaniel swiftly made his way over to the man and slashed at him.
"Argh...!" The man cried out as he took the blow, but without backing down, he pushed his sword forward, quickly clashing with Ethaniel's. While he did so, the man turned towards his allies. "Hey, what are you all doing!? Just end this already!"
"What do you think you're doing getting distracted?" Putting his strength into his arms, Ethaniel pressed his sword against the man's forcing it back. Simultaneously after, he moved his sword in an arc, swiftly sending the man flying back.
With heavy breathing, Ethaniel looked around his area, seeing as more men were approaching him. "Tsk..." He clicked his tongue. He couldn't get any breaks.
"Get him!" The men all cried out as they lunged towards him, with their blades all in hand.
With everyone moving towards Ethaniel steadfastly, he could only parry against a single attack while taking blows from the others, thus making his HP drop down into the red.
"Huff..." Ethaniel continued taking a deep breath as he moved his sword around himself, quickly drawing a circle that pushed back his foes. Soon after, Ethaniel glanced at his status. "Ugh... I'm in the red... and my mana is running out..."
If this continues any longer, he'll be dead.
"Damn it... is there any way out of this?" His mind quickly began to move as he took another look at his surroundings to find any escape points. However, he wasn't able to think for long when he heard the shouts from around him.
"He's almost down! Quickly!"
"Ugh... these guys are so annoying!" he frowned, as he saw that once again, the men were lunging towards him. "I can't survive this..." He gritted his teeth.
There was no way he could win against them. His gear was near its end, his resources almost all used up and his health at it's lowest. The only thing he could do was accept his fate, and just as he was about to do so, a fog of shadow protruded out around him.
"...!!" Upon being in contact with the fog, Ethaniel's eyes opened wide in shock. "T-This...?"
"Ethaniel!" Simultenously as the shadow appeared out of nowhere, he heard a familiar voice shouting from the distance.
"W-What...?"