Isran the Great

“Fuck!” Elysi hissed as she was pushed back by a blue slime. She kicked the slime and continued running, they could hear the sounds of the bandits getting closer.

The gnome was bleeding, an arrow in his back, and even though Isran was carrying Phaedra she was running faster than him.

“Damned bandits.” He huffed, limping more than running.

Isran cursed under her breath and stopped. “What are you doing?” Phaedra whispered as Isran lowered her, the bandits were getting closer.

“Run, follow Elysi.” There was no time to say more, so hoping the healer had listened, Isran turned back and run to the gnome.

When she arrived next to the panting gnome the bandits chasing them arrived. An orc and an elf.

The orc wasn’t nearly as muscular as Desmarcus but he was still a built man. He was bald with a nasty scar on his exposed chest and holding a large axe. The elf had one eye covered with an eyepatch and was holding a long, curved stick. It looked like a staff but also like a useless branch.

The orc snarled and immediately dove towards Isran. She cursed and side stepped his fierce swing. He didn’t waste anytime stabilizing himself and swinging at her again.

Narrowly escaping the second attack Isran jumped back. She wasn’t as light as she’d like considering she was wearing heavy full plate amour but she was light enough to create enough distance to draw her greatsword.

A flash of green appeared in front of her, a green slime whizzed past her towards the gnome and the elf engaged in their own battle. She had no idea which one of them the slime attacked but she hoped it was the elf.

As soon as her sword was drawn the orc swung again, his axe hit the flat side of her blade with a loud clang, rattling her arms.

“That pretty armor will sell nicely don’t you think?” He snarled.

Isran grunted as she pushed him back. He had more experience fighting than her, she could tell from the way her swung. Thankfully he wasn’t stronger than her. She wondered if his strength stat was as low as hers as she swung at him, keeping in mind not to swing too far.

The way he stepped back indicated that his strength wasn’t in his speed stat. Experience truly was an insane factor in Neos.

As Isran swung again she admired how well she was faring against him, Red had not moved since the fight began but she could still feel the boost she was receiving from the cape.

While moving to swing at her opponent again a force hit Isran from the side and send her flying sideways. Her head hit the ground harshly and her vision briefly swam. As soon as she could see she rolled out of the way as the orc brought his axe down towards her head.

Isran was not an agile or dexterous fighter, so as she clambered on to her feet not only did she stumble, but she didn’t move fast enough to dodge the orc’s next blow.

The full strength of her endurance stat and amour shone through as the blow threw her back. The attack cut through the side of her chest plate and scraped her skin. She was bleeding lightly and the wound stung but there was no time to stress about that. She clearly wasn’t going to win in a bout against an experienced fighter.

As the orc lifted his axe over his head once again Isran made a split second decision. She dove head first for the orc. The orc was surprised by the move and was too close to get out of the way.

They both grunted and they landed on the floor, the orc’s head bounced harshly on the floor as Isran’s armormed form landed on him. As he let out a low groan Isran punched him.

His head snapped to the side and blood leaked from his nose. Isran’s amour didn’t cover her fist, instead she had thick leather gloves with hardened knuckles, that, coupled with the force behind her fists was no match for the orc’s face.

Blow after blow she rained down on him. A force hit her again, pushing her off the bleeding orc. Isran had been expecting the second blow even less than the first. They were in a narrow tunnel that led into a baren field with tombstones. She was closer to the tunnel wall and hit it instead of falling to the ground.

Isran made sure to keep her head forward as she hit the wall, it hurt but at least she wasn’t disoriented from the blow. She looked up to see the gnome lying on the ground an obscene amount of blood around him. The elf was walking towards the orc, as Isran picked her sword she caught a glimpse of blood pooling around his head, his chest was moving in irregular patterns.

As Isran walked towards the bandits she thought about how she really had to get extra blades, maybe daggers.

“Fuck stay away from me you beast.” The elf snarled pointing his staff at her. Isran kicked the stick out of his hand. Elysi had told her the difference between those that used channelling staffs and grimoires. But as she looked down at the bandit she didn’t really care.

She glanced at the dead gnome once more while levelling her sword at the elf’s neck and spoke for the first time since their fight. “I think the only ones that are beast are those who kill adventurers.” She growled as she pushed the sword into his neck. “Monsters will be a better descriptor.”

With all her growling Isran was still a little wary about killing. She had been hoping never to meet any bandits for that exact reason. Her words were to distract the bandit from figuring out her feelings on killing him.

Red, ever the observant sentient little piece of fabric took the decision out of her hands. It dashes towards the elf and immediately strangled him. Isran watched silently as the cape killed the man, he flailed against it but the more he tried to get it off the tighter Red got.

His eyes filled with blood and leaked out of the sockets as he drew in his last strangled breaths, Red floated towards Isran leg and lifted it over the orc’s bleeding face.

Isran took a shaky breath. She definitely couldn’t live her life on Neos without killing. It was best to start as soon as was possible. With that resolution and a heart filled with dread she stomped down on the orc. Once, twice, three times.

As she lifted her foot to stomp again she heard the voice of her girlfriend.

“Isran! He’s dead come on.”

Isran blinked, her head clearing from a fog she didn’t know was clouding her head. “Uh.. I—”

“We can talk about it when we get out okay baby?”

Isran nodded and ran.