ALL NOVEL Chapter 679 – Do not Bite Off more than One could Chew
“Overestimation of one’s capabilities only leads to embarrassment and failure at best, or to death at worst.” - Old folk saying.
“There’s fighting up ahead,” stated Kino all of a sudden.
The group was on their third and final day of travel, probably only a few hours away from the destination. They covered the distance normally covered by carriages in three to four days in only two and a half days of travel, owing to the group members’ great stamina and ability to keep a fast pace in their travel. That allowed them to cover more distance each day compared to most convoys.
“Oh? You could tell from here? I thought our hearing’s around the same,” asked Eilonwy with some surprise from beside her. Both elves and therian descendants like Kino had sharp senses of hearing, though in Kino’s case her bloodline had grown so thin that her hearing was only around the same as the elves instead of better. “I couldn’t tell it was fighting I’m hearing up front.”
“I couldn’t either, to be honest. It just sounds like some sort of hubbub to me,” admitted Kino readily. She was closest to Eilonwy out of the three elven siblings and the two often teased each other or got competitive over random things at times. “But I can smell the blood even from here, smells more metallic and earthy than usual, so dwarven blood at that.”
“Ah, that explains it,” said Eilonwy. Elves had sharper senses compared to humans but it was most prominent on their hearing and sight. Their sense of smell was maybe half again to twice as good at most, and definitely nothing compared to certain therian breeds. Kino’s thin heritage alone was enough to give her a much sharper sense of smell, while a pureblooded ancestor of hers might have possessed a sense of smell a thousand times more sensitive.
“Do we intervene?” asked Rhys with a hopeful tone. Out of the three siblings he had the most philanthropic tendencies and liked to help people, rather fitting for someone of the Life affinity.
“It’s likely some people from the next cavern over on one side. We weren’t close enough to the previous convoy from the previous cavern to have caught up to them,” mused Áine in contemplation.
“No reason not to get some people to owe us if we can help it,” said Aideen with a nod. Their group had a lot of leeway despite their small size due to their composition. “Let’s speed up and see if we can get there before it’s too late.”
They took off running the next moment, Aideen and Celia going all out in a sprint as they abused the endurance they had built up over the centuries of training their unliving bodies. Kino and the elven siblings kept up with them with a more easy pace, as Kino’s therian heritage allowed her to keep up just fine over medium distances while elves were natural runners to begin with.
Before ten minutes had passed, the altercation in progress entered their sight, between what appeared to be two groups of dwarves, one arranged in a circle and clearly defending a few wagons, while the other surrounded them and attacked wildly. Several fallen dwarves in pools of what was likely their own blood were also visible on the tunnel floor.
At a glance, both groups of dwarves fighting each other were pretty well armed and armored, but that was nothing strange given the race’s predilections. Practically any dwarf who worked in occupations where armor or weapons are needed would splurge to get good ones, and even those who didn’t often collected some either to use as showpieces or otherwise.
The equipment worn by the larger group that encircled the smaller ones around the wagons showed more wear and tear though, with bits of rust visible here and there. That alone made Aideen almost certain that they were likely outcasts and outlaws, as dwarves were known to be meticulous in maintaining their equipment. The only reason some would wear poorly maintained gear would be if they live somewhere without access to the facilities and tools needed to do so, like a hideout in the deeper side tunnels, for instance.
“Eilo, you want to take care of them?” asked Aideen nonchalantly as she looked over at her grand-niece. Out of the group Eilonwy was perhaps the one who enjoyed fighting the most, and in any case, her magic happened to be the most appropriate for the situation. The others didn’t exactly have much from their respective affinities they could use in combat other than reinforcing their bodies, while Kino was generally keeping quiet unless it was an emergency situation as Void mages were often feared for good reason.
“Sure thing,” replied Eilonwy cheerfully. A moment later, her eleven bone constructs appeared around her, and took off, running faster than even the group.
Eilonwy’s bone constructs were handmade by her mother Èirynn for her use, and they were constantly upgraded using experimental techniques as well. By experimental techniques, Èirynn generally used methods that were either too cost-inefficient or complicated for use on a larger scale, usually ones she developed on her own. Eilonwy’s constructs were thus a notch above most of their kind, the sort other necromancers in the Lichdom envied and wished they could have as well.
Said constructs rushed forward with inhuman speed and grace under her control and fell upon the dwarves on the outer encirclement with brutal force. Both groups of dwarves were surprised at their sudden appearance – they had been too focused on fighting each other to notice Aideen’s group in the distance – but it only took a moment before the smaller group around the wagon realized that the undead were not targeting them.
As such, they quickly intensified their resistance while their enemies were occupied by the sudden assault by the undead constructs. Eilonwy controlled her constructs from the distance even as she ran closer together with the rest, and mostly refrained from killing this time around. Instead, she targeted the joints of the dwarves, where their armor often had weaker or less covered areas, or knocked them silly with concussive blows to the helmet.
