Elemental Accords 1-7

Good Evening!

Chapter 7

We all jogged toward the shop, not wanting to stay on the street longer than we had to. Our group of a dozen wasn’t small, but compared to the crowds the city would normally be experiencing right now. It felt strange. Lara was a decent leader which must have explained why she got the skill as she got the others into a tight group and made sure they watched their surroundings.

It helped that the others weren’t willing to take charge and were listening to her without arguing. I hadn’t asked, but considering she was wearing a nice dress suit, then she likely had an important position before yesterday. My own suit was torn pretty bad by this point and I’d need to change with some of the cloths I’d gotten from the shops.

“Should be right around this corner,” I said motioning everyone to come to a stop. I peered around the corner like usual but was surprised when there was nothing on the street. I waved Rai forward. “Does it feel off?”

She looked around before making a thoughtful expression. “A little, but we did kill a bunch earlier. It might have been all the goblins for the streets in the area.”

“True. I guess there’s no other way then to risk it.” I checked my Knight skill just to be sure. It had about ten more minutes before it would be useful again.

“I’ll go first. I have the front line covered.”

“I can’t let a girl go first!” I argued grabbed her shoulder to stop her.

She glared at me. “Yeah. Just throw that chivalry crap out right now. We both know I can probably punch you before you even knew what happened.”

“Well, yeah. But still.”

She sighed and shook me off heading out onto the street. I motioned for the women to follow and readied my bow for anything. I suppose it was only natural that we made it halfway down the street before something happened. We were walking as we checked the shop names for the gold exchange when one of the buildings exploded.

A huge creature that looked like a man with one eye roared as it swung a club the size of a small car. The women screamed and turned to flee when another one burst from a building at the end of the street. The screaming attracted the attention of the monsters.

“Cyclops!” Rai shouted a little bit of the scared girl from when I first meet her making an appearance.

“Damn it! Knight Order!” I shouted pointing in front of me. I was pissed that I had to use it after all. Knight appeared along with two more that looked exactly like him. To be fair, I didn’t actually know if it was the same Knight from before.

I quickly aimed the bow at the cyclops’ eye. With a rapid release of arrows, the three projectiles appeared to merge as a single line before the impacted the giant’s eye. Only the first arrow managed to hit true. The other two bounced off its eyelid as the cyclops closed it in pain. I ground my teeth annoyed the iron tipped arrows meant for hunting weren’t doing shit on anything better than regular goblins.

“Move forward! We can’t afford to be trapped between the two of them!” I shouted waving the terrified women to move. “The ones with attack skills. Wait for my signal then release them all at once.”

My Knights charged forward while Rai launched Light lances. The spells were cutting the cyclops, but only barely. What they hell were these things! Rai had blown a large goblin’s head clean off with that spell. The Knights came up to the cyclops’ knees and were quick enough not to get stepped on, allowing them to tie up the cyclops for a few precious seconds.

“Now!” All sorts of magic and effects flew from the women toward the cyclops. Sadly, most were too scared to aim properly and missed. Only three managed to hit, and of those three only the acid had any sort of effect.

A loud thud signaled the other cyclops was gaining on the group. I hated what I was about to do but had no other choice. I swapped out my bow for my staff then pumped most of my mana into the weapon as I charged at the cyclops. “Knight! I need a boost!” The suit of armor turned and readied it shield. I jumped and as I landed on the shield, he threw me up and I became a living weapon.

The cyclops tried to smack me from the air, but the other two knights mimicked me and a flying body of steel slammed into the arm knocking it out of the way. My way clear, I slammed into the head of the cyclops, staff point leading. The next moment, it felt like a cannon exploded in my hand with the tattered remains of my suit sleeve fluttering in the wind as the head of the cyclops vaporized into a cloud of blood, gore, and brain matter.

I dully noticed that the other cyclops roared in anger as I fell toward the ground. I felt something collide with me just as I was about to hit the ground headfirst. Rai’s momentum made it so we rolled sideways and I avoid a split head. “Seriously. Warn people if you’re going to try to kill yourself!” Rai said.

I coughed, drowsy from using most of my energy. “Sorry.” She helped me up and we limped over to an alley that the women were hiding in while the Knights distracted the remaining cyclops. Mockingly, the shop we were looking forward was right next to us. Another problem that I faced was that my staff’s end had exploded like a cannon’s when it misfired. It had suffered some loss as I felt my strength drop. I regretfully placed it back in my Itembox while pulling out my spear. My right had was also a charred mess.

“How’s it look?” I asked weakly, leaning against the wall. I’d drained most of my mana during that little stunt. I felt like I could barely stand as it was.

Rai peeked around the corner before coming back over. “The Knights are keeping it busy, but they don’t appear to be able to land a lethal blow.”

“Damn. I was afraid of that.”

I considered my options. I hadn’t used any of my Midas Touch for today. I could find some decently large objects and change them into gold, but more brute strength wasn’t really the answer I was looking for at the moment. I also had the Ark skill to try, but I didn’t think that would be very useful in this situation.

“Leave it to me!” Rai said then suddenly rushed back out onto the street. I tried to chase after her, but nearly collapsed from the strain.

With some effort, and a bit of help from Lara, I made it to the edge of the alley. Rai was dodging much better than I could ever hope to move while firing her Light Lance at the cyclops. It wasn’t doing much damage, but it was adding up. Knight backed her up like they’d worked together for months rather than a few hours.

My breath caught for a moment when the cyclops looked like it had managed to corner Rai, but she dodged at the last second. She could have touched the beast’s arm with her nose if she leaned forward. Kicking the ground, she took some distance from the cyclops. Gritting my teeth, I swapped my spear for the bow then used Midas Touch.

The surface rippled as it turned to gold. While it grew three or four times as heavy, my strength increased along with it. I was surprised that the three arrows that had been mounted on the bow turned to gold during the change. Not that I was going to complain.

I grabbed one, at took aim quickly. I put the little bit of mana I had regained into the arrow before I released the string. The golden shaft streaked through the air and slammed into the side of the cyclops’ head. There was enough force to knock the beast sideways. Rai didn’t waste the chance and rushed in. With a heavy blow, she unleashed a Light Lance directly into the monster’s eye causing it to roar before it stopped moving.

Once again, I collapsed to the ground. Breathing heavily, I asked the women if one of them would check on Rai and retrieve my arrow. Blackness threatened to take me, but I fought it while I recovered with Gold is Health. I wasn’t sure how long I faded in and out of consciousness, but when I really came to, I found myself inside a building lying on a something soft.

“What… Where am I?” I asked. I felt ten times better than after the battle. Gold is Health truly was remarkable.

“We broke the lock and retreated into the shop. Its been an hour or so,” Lara replied. I coughed in surprise as I found my head lying on her lap on a beaten-up cough.

Sitting up quickly proved to be the wrong action, as blood rushed to my head and I collapsed back. “Don’t force yourself!”

“Why am I lying on your lap?” I asked covering my face with my hand to hide my expression. Lara was very attractive even if she was looking a little bruised at the moment. I wasn’t a virgin or anything, but I was sure that any man could appreciate getting to use a woman’s lap as a pillow. It didn’t help that her chest was of considerable size. Like a mountain they cast a nice shadow over my face.

“I made the call when you looked to be suffering after we laid you on the couch.” I peeked through my fingers and noticed that her face was a tad red. Whether she was doing this to increase her chances of survival or another ulterior motive, I didn’t mind the least at the moment.

“I see. Thank you,” I replied sitting up a bit more slowly.

Looking around, a dark room met my gaze. Afternoon light was bleeding in from the curtained windows. I spotted the other women a bit further into the shop. They appeared to be gathering up anything that might be of us.

“Rai is keeping watch on the second floor. You can see both streets from one of the rooms up there.”

“Got it. I assume there weren’t any survivors holding up?” I asked standing up and stretching. I was still sore from the mana lose, but rather than life ending it felt more like I had just worked out for a few hours.

“Nope. Rai said she saw fighting in the distance about half an hour ago,” Lara answered.

“At least there are more people actually managing to put up a fight.”

“Aurum!” called one of the women drawing my attention. “We gathered up all the gold we could find.”

“Thanks! That is a big help,” I replied with a grin moving over to her.

“It was nothing,” she coughed looking away quickly. I raised my eyebrow, curious to why she averted her gaze, but considering I blew the head of a giant monster off, she might be afraid of me.

I whistled at the pile of gold that was laid out in front of me. I eventually cut it by a third when I removed all the fakes, but it was still a good load. It gave me a boost nearly equal to my spear. I went ahead and used Treasure Hunter to make sure the ladies didn’t miss anything. My interest was perked when I sensed something from two places upstairs.

Excusing myself, I moved up the stairs to find a bedroom. Following the sensation I came to a closet. I wanted to spit out blood when I found what was calling me. If I ever found the owner of this shop I would need to give them a big hug.

A suit that was obvious only meant to be worn on highly special occasions was on display at the back of the closet. It was very professional looking, while keeping to a casual setting. Frankly it was something I would greatly enjoy wearing. Personal preference aside, that wasn’t the best part. When I touched it I felt my strength increase slightly. It was made from a golden weave that had then been made from some form of black gold.

Looking at my attire, this couldn’t have come at a better time. The suit I had on was the one since the beginning of this hell started. It was torn, tattered, and stained in blood. I checked to make sure no one was nearby before I started changing. The suit fit like a glove, I was seriously wondering if it had been made for me by the time I finished dressing. With my Gold is Steel skill, it was better to call it a suit of armor for just me.

“Aren’t you looking nice,” Rai commented from the doorway.

I adjusted my tie and turned to look at her. “A gentlemen must always look his best.”

“Speaking of cloths. Can I have a set from the last shop?” Rai asked holding her hand out. “Mine got torn pretty badly from the cyclops.” I nodded and reached into my Itembox to hand her some cloths. “Thanks.”

I passed her so she could use the room to change. “Let me know when you’re done. We’ll talk about what we want to do next before we talk to the others.” Patting her shoulder, I moved into the other room on the second floor. I was getting a vibe from Treasure Hunter from behind a picture on the wall. Rubbing my hands together like a thief, I moved over to the spot. “What’s behind door number one?”