"Lightning attack!" a bandit called out, and combined Air and Fire in the right way to shoot off an explosion of energy.
The lightning crashed off the surface of the fortress. But the fortress remained intact.
Two more bursts of lightning followed, with the impact sending out a blinding light in all directions.
But still, the fortress stood in place, without even a dent.
"Hey, hey, we're still alive," Issen laughed.
"How is that piece of shit stone not going down?" one bandit screamed. "Why haven't we killed those three yet?"
There was a very good reason that Kareth had lead the settlement to this place from the beginning. He had heard about it years before he lost his eye, how a Third Tier Creator was travelling around the woods building structures, out of charity, out of divine inspiration; no one would ever know. But Kareth did know and what he counted on was that even a thousand First Tier Axiom warriors could not scratch the works of a Third Tier Creator.
He was right.
One bandit lost his focus, the one needed in battle, and he shot out a lightning attack, while charging towards the entrance. This only gave Kareth an opportunity to release his own counterattack.
He summoned Fire in both his palms and reached formed.
"Axiom Sunlight!"
From the entrance, the glow of a sun flooded out and burnt straight through the bandit's body while scorching the arm of the one behind him. The remaining nineteen stared, almost laughing at the horror they had just seen.
"He just burned his flesh off in one strike?"
"I never knew he could something crazy like that."
"Yeah… I get it now. He hid this on purpose. For a moment like this. That Kareth is more cunning than he lets on."
They had no time to think.
Issen immediately followed up, firing Axiom arrows and ranged Axiom blades through the fortress slots. One bandit fell clutching his throat, two others cried out as they were wounded and forced back into the trees.
"Heh, heh, only eighteen left, you bastards!" Issen laughed.
Maereth smacked him across the head. His laughter stopped instantly.
"So that's their plan?" asked the bandit with the scorched arm. "They pick us off from a distance, wait for us to lose our temper, then incinerate whoever rushes in."
"Annoying little shits."
"Who cares what they're doing? They still can't get out while we control the trees. We just need to start using our brains."
From that point on, both sides waited, locked in a tense stalemate.
"Did we scare them too much?" Issen asked.
"No," Kareth replied calmly. "They'll try something soon. They've been thinking for too long."
Suddenly, several fire attacks exploded in front of the fortress.
"Are they stupid?" Issen scoffed. "That won't work."
Kareth stared at the rising smoke and immediately noticed its unnatural colour.
"No," he said grimly. "They know exactly what they're doing. Those fire attacks were a distraction. They're poisoning the air."
In the Realms, not all warriors specialized in direct combat. Some focused on spellcraft, portable techniques that could be carried and activated at will. Such spells were especially valuable in the forest underworld. When combined with Axiom abilities, poison spells could drain energy even without landing a direct hit.
"How long until they die?" a bandit asked.
"With that many poison spells?" another replied. "Five minutes."
"Then we wait them out."
Inside the fortress, the three coughed violently but maintained their focus. Issen fired shots blindly out of panic, but the bandits were too well concealed.
"Maintain your composure," Kareth said.
"How am I supposed to do that when we're losing control?"
"Who said anything about losing control?" Kareth smiled. "We've forced them exactly where we want them. And haven't you noticed? We still haven't used Maereth's ability."
Issen and Maereth stared forward, their expressions sharpening.
"Five minutes," Kareth said. "That's all we need."
The bandits waited in uneasy silence. When nothing happened, a few peeked out.
Still nothing.
The poison clouds thickened.
"I think that's it," one bandit said. "They're finished."
"Yeah. Didn't last long."
"I bet they've got good loot, at lea—"
A body dropped to the ground.
"What?"
Another collapsed.
"What the—what the fuck is happening?"
Two more fell.
"Get back! We need to leave—now!"
"No! If we retreat, they'll escape! Finish them off!"
Five men charged the fortress screaming, firing every Axiom attack they could while pushing through the poison.
"Axiom Sunlight!"
They were burned to death instantly.
Another bandit collapsed.
"We're under ten now!"
"How are they doing this?!"
"It's Maereth!" one screamed. "Why didn't we realize sooner?! She's the one killing us!"
Maereth's Axiom ability was invisibility, divided into two forms. The offensive form released a non-lethal burst of invisible energy, what she had used to knock Ashar unconscious in the forest. The defensive form created an invisible blanket that concealed anything it covered.
This was Kareth's strategy: every ranged attack Issen fired was shrouded in invisible energy. The arrows were never seen. First, Kareth and Issen forced the bandits into the trees. Only then did Maereth act, when the enemies had been turned into stationary targets.
Another bandit fell, and that meant seven remained.
"You know," one muttered, "they're strong… but they've got to be running out of energy."
"Yeah… maybe a minute left."
"That's it then, I think."
"Then you thought wrong," Kareth said from behind them. "Didn't you know that this fortress has an exit on the other side?"
The bandits scattered in panic, some slipping, and some screaming.
"Axiom Sunlight!"
Explosions erupted in all directions, killing the rest.
"There were so, so many of you," Kareth whispered. "Please forgive me. Once again… I have failed."
He coughed at the end of his words, and blood spat out onto the leaves while his legs gave out.
"Kareth!" Maereth cried, catching him.
"The poison… the attacks… too much for this frail body," he smirked, blood staining his teeth. "At least I could help you two."
"Damn it," Issen muttered. "Why do you always talk like that?"
"More will come," Kareth said weakly. "You must leave."
Issen covered his face with his hand.
Maereth helped Kareth sit against a tree trunk.
"Will you be alright here?" she asked.
"Of course I will, and thank you."
"Goodbye, Kareth." she said in tears.
"Goodbye," he answered with a warm, familiar smile.
Far away, deep within the cave, Ashar felt something stir, moving closer with the curiosity of a predator.
"The mental hold is broken now," he said. "If you come any closer, then I'm going to kill you."