Chapter 20: Aerial Assault

“Rodon,” Maelise grumbled.

It sounded like they knew each other, Rodon flashing Maelise a nasty grin with his yellow fangs.

“Ah, human blood, a delicacy…” Rodon grunted in satisfaction as he looked my way. “How nice of you to offer this delicious prize to your future governor, Mae.”

“The only prize you’re getting is a mouth filled with arrows,” Maelise snipped back, engaging her bow again.

He snorted. “If you recall, the last we met, you ran away, dragging your guts along the ground! Unlike the others though, you managed to get away. Truth be told, I’m shocked that you’re still breathing. I wonder what potion you’d stolen from my people this time… to grant you another dance with destiny?”

“I didn’t die you jackass!” Maelise cried, pointing her arrow at Rodon. I could tell from where I was standing beside her that she was nervous. “But I’d rather be beaten ten times over than be made one of your sex slaves!”

“Well, I’ve heard just about enough,” I said, looking at Rodon cross. “Your business with Litheenians has come to an end.”

He chuckled. “Well, look at the balls on this one!”

It was fair for him not to be intimidated. After all, he saw me as a human, just like the others who had dropped in from those portals. He snatched the handle of his weapon strapped behind him and heaved, my eyes catching the glimmer of the sun hitting his fine double-sided axe. He pointed the head toward me, and crevices started to etch themselves from the joint of the grip into the blades. I had no idea what would come next, positioning myself to defend, until he laughed, his chest growing even wider. “Level thirty-one, well that’s certainly interesting.” Did he just read my level with his weapon? “Usually, the humans who fall over never break past level five.”

“How about you stroke my ego when you’re dead?” I snapped, Rodon reacting distastefully.

“Do you have no idea who you’re talking to, vermin? I am Rodon! The great general of Lord Wrath himself! I am feared, I AM FEARLESS! And most of all, I allow my rage to do all of the talking,” he said, his chest suddenly giving off a subtle red glow, the branches of his inner power spreading down his enlarged pectoral muscles. “While your level is impressive for a human insect like yourself, it is nothing compared to mine.”

Maelise grinned. “Keep talking you pompous airhead! You clearly have no idea who the hell you’re dealing with! This is Knives of Earth! Lady Lust’s legendary blood squire, and most importantly, my Serrian! And he’s going to mop the floor with you, just like he did your pathetic Reggadon warriors!”

Well, my mate sure enjoyed pumping me up. And she didn’t hold back, even though he was at a higher level than I was.

Level sixty-three to be exact.

“You have a mouth on ya, slut. Don’t worry, I’ll put it to good use soon enough.” He swung his axe, and glared me down viciously. “I’m gonna spill your blood, vermin! I don’t give a rat’s ass who you are!” Rodon mocked, closing in on us fast.

If there was one thing that Brayner had taught me, it was to fight strategically, not selfishly. This Rodon guy was over double my level, and he had a few special moves under his belt. Meanwhile I didn’t. And even with Maelise fighting with me, taking him on while protecting the girls was going to be a challenge.

“Take the girls and get on Pochi, now,” I instructed Maelise, who turned at me stunned. “Now, Mae!” She jumped, and did as she was told, all four of them running toward the wyvern.

Their escape was not left undisputed. Rodon charged toward the girls, forcing me to move. I unloaded a few rounds at him, and he ate my shots. Rodon used the flat of his blade as a barricade for his head and chest, while the rest of his body took the other three bullets head on. 

While my bullets may have slowed him down, it didn’t stop him. His endurance was high, the beast unfazed by his torn flesh. Rodon was bleeding out from one point in his arm and two other points in his stomach. 

Regardless, Maelise and the Litheenian girls needed clearance to get to Pochi, which meant that I needed to get up close and personal with my dagger.

Picking up speed, I tailed him, noticing Maelise turning back to toss an ice shot at him. That move wasn’t the smartest. Not only did he brush it off with his axe no problem, it didn’t stop his speed at all. She allowed him to get dangerously close, and once he lifted that axe overhead, I acted on impulse, tossing my dagger up and forward, slicing him clean through the eyes.

He looked like the touch skin kind of foe, one I didn’t need to be dealing with right now. My attack allowed Maelise to run and climb on Pochi with the girls. Meanwhile, I took this opportunity to attack the beast, leaping over his back and grabbing him by the horns.

I sunk my boots against his shoulders and heaved backward. He went down with my force, applying little resistance. The tumble made him drop his weapon, but I couldn’t get too greedy. The thing looked like it weighed a ton, and trying to pick it up and strike him with it was out of the question. Instead, I dragged it aside, as far as I could while he was still disoriented.

I dashed toward my dagger, snatched it up, and then made a short stop along Pochi’s snout. “Release Faye!”

He didn’t hesitate a second longer, opening his jaws and revealing to me the white mage he was protecting. I helped her up, Faye covered in wyvern saliva. Normally she’d be complaining by now for being so filthy, but her eyes were glued behind me at the giant minotaur reestablishing himself.

“What trouble have you gotten yourself into this time, Butcher?!”

I carried her up on Pochi’s back, then looked over my shoulder to Rodon charging at us. He got back up on his feet quickly, and I acknowledged I had done right by letting this fight go. He roared as Pochi began to ascended, my eyes seeing the ball of flames beginning to swirl violently in his mouth as his chest heated up.

He barely missed Pochi’s flapping wings by a hair, the trail of flames casting over our heads.  

“Pochi, look out!” Faye cried, a barrage of flame javelins shooting upward from below. Our wyvern weaved in the sky, the higher elevation not hindering Rodon any. Faye held onto my waist tightly when Pochi tilted, while I locked my grip around his spine spikes.

“Rodon is a skilled flame warrior!” Maelise shouted. “He has very good range, even without his eyes!”

“We aren’t sticking around to fight,” I reassured her. “Pochi’s specials, does he have any?”

“He has ice and wind breath, and harden, where he can summon a diamond crystal-like exoskin around his body. Oh, he can also cloak with cryptic coloration!”

You are reading story The Deadly Seven: An Isekai Harem Adventure at novel35.com

“Entirely?”

“Yes!”

Great, that was our ticket out of dodge. His cloak would be a perfect answer for this relentless beast. But before I could give Pochi a command, one of the javelins struck him in his wing, piercing right through. He grunted, making a sharp turn that nearly tipped Maelise over. “Now Pochi, use cloak,” I commanded him, the obedient wyvern and his skin starting to give off translucent wavelength colors. In seconds, he disappeared, resulting in the flying javelins to stop.

Smart, quick and obedient.

I could already see this wyvern and I being great companions, Pochi allowing us this moment to recollect ourselves as he glided under the clouds undetected.

Despite our efforts, it was too soon to celebrate. I sensed something from below coming, and I noticed Pochi had the same feeling. Unfortunately, it’d be too late, the biggest flame javelin thus far coming straight for Pochi, jabbing itself right in his chest.

Faye yelped as Pochi absorbed the blow, his body immediately convulsing in pain. He was in distress, unable to bear the weight of the critical hit for much longer. For a blind demon, Rodon executed that toss flawlessly. It’d prove to be detrimental for us, and my party and our rescues were headed for a direct crash landing.

“Pochi?! Pochi can you hear me?!” Faye cried, trying to budge the great beast. But the wyvern was down for the count, the lack of a response from him making Maelise and the girls panic.

I had to be the calm between the girls. I turned to Faye, ready to ask more of her than I wanted to so soon. But in such a life threatening situation, I needed her to desperately play her part. “Faye, you need to summon a healing dome, and encase us all in it, including Pochi.”

“What?” She looked back at me tear-eyed. “I don’t know if I have enough mana to do that! Not only do we have the three girls, I have to consider Pochi’s size as well!”

“Pochi is unresponsive right now. He’s not going to be able to accommodate and shrink down to a smaller size. You have to do this, Faye, and you have to do it, now!”

“We don’t get damage from the fall if you do, including Onessa’s wyvern!” Maelise begged. “Please, Faye! You can do this!”

We were getting closer and closer to the surface, Pochi dropping like an impending lightning strike. His wings flapped loosely as he sailed to his own death, with terrified passengers on his back. The girls all huddled together, the taller one cradling her head over the other two, whispering something that sounded like a prayer. I couldn’t force Faye to do anything. She needed to believe her mana was enough to pull this through, because only she understood the limitations to her own powers.

All I could do was hope that fate wasn’t this unforgiving. I’d told Faye that I’d be there to protect her, but she needed to step up and protect herself, and the rest of her party. Faye fixed her face serious, brushing away all of that doubt and fear and gathered up the courage and strength she needed to trigger her white mage powers. She clasped her hands together and called out to her Light Shield.

Confidence looked great on her. And not a moment too soon. The spell was almost instantaneous, and the golden transparent orb swallowed us whole, branching from a focal point a few meters over our heads, then blanketing its way down around Pochi.

That was too damn close for comfort, but Lady Belmauer proved herself useful. When the orb struck the ground, all I felt was a light rumble from the impact, the orb itself scraping along the course and dry terrain, then disappearing when the acceleration faded. Faye dropped to her knees exhausted, while Mae dropped to her knees from being thankful she’d survived the narrow escape.

“I’m alive!” she cried, while throwing two fists in the air. “Sweet goddess, I’m alive!”

The girls hurried off the beast, Faye following them soon after. One of the girls had their eyes on Faye, the look on her face confused. I had to imagine that she’d never seen a white mage before, judging by how ultra rare one was in all of Relo-Hell.

I leaped off and rushed to Pochi’s aid. The flying companion was lying on his side, tilted from the flame javelin that had long hardened. Now all that was left was blackened rock, the after effect of Rodon’s attack.

Pochi was breathing rapid and heavy labored breaths. The poor creature couldn’t even open his eyes to acknowledge us. Blood continued to drip off the pointed end of the weapon that wounded him, and when I turned to Faye, I saw how she was unable to accept how fast things turned dark for us.

Shit happened. The true test was how well we could recover from critical blows such as this one.

“White mage,” the tall one with the red hair addressed Faye, “You are running out of time. You have to heal him now, before he dies.”

“But I can’t!” she whimpered, burrowing her head under Pochi’s neck. “Light Shield sapped away all of my mana!”

“Faye, you’re the only one who can help him!” Mae said, our ranger on Pochi’s head, easing him with soothing strokes. “Max out your mana.”

“The restoration vial…” I whispered to myself, remembering the gifted item given to me before we left the castle. I reached over my sash and handed Faye one, who didn’t hesitate to take it from me.

“That should bring your mana back to 100%,” Maelise said to her, Faye then guzzling down the small red vial immediately. Sure enough it did the trick, our blond priestess mage suddenly giving off a light yellow glow around her entire person.

“We still have to remove this thing so she can work her healing magic,” I advised the girls. They nodded and helped me heave the javelin out of Pochi, the blood gush coming right after. Faye rushed to his aid, working quickly to seal his extensive wound.

“Come on sweetie, please be okay…” she whispered as she concentrated, Faye dealing with the first massive injury in our party.

Regardless of how soon it was, Faye continued to impress me. While she was still shaken from being here, in a world of demons, she was a quick adapter. Sure enough, our resourceful giant friend stopped bleeding, and recovered enough strength to jerk his limbs and lift his head. The gratitude that followed was heart-warming, the grey-blue wyvern stretching his head over to his skilled nurse friend, brushing his snout lovingly at her.

“Hell yeah, we all made it!” Maelise cheered, putting all of our emotions at ease.

You can find story with these keywords: The Deadly Seven: An Isekai Harem Adventure, Read The Deadly Seven: An Isekai Harem Adventure, The Deadly Seven: An Isekai Harem Adventure novel, The Deadly Seven: An Isekai Harem Adventure book, The Deadly Seven: An Isekai Harem Adventure story, The Deadly Seven: An Isekai Harem Adventure full, The Deadly Seven: An Isekai Harem Adventure Latest Chapter