Black Onyx - Forgotten Magic

Derrick and his brother Doven ran up the stone ramp with great speed and confidence.

Meanwhile, Gerald observed the ramp and Nina with great interest. He was using his magic in a completely different way, and her spells were a great attraction for him. Just as he was about to run after the two warriors up the cliff, he noticed Owyn also preparing to cast a spell.

"By the power I control, shifting dirt, warping stone! I call upon the Stone Javelin!" As Owyn's words ended, a stone javelin came out of the ground near him. It looked similar to Gerald's Stone Bolts, but it was only one and almost two meters long.

Owyn lifted his staff and the javelin followed his movements. He pointed it towards the ledge of the cliff and left the Javelin to circle around there in the air in case a bandit tried to, once again, attack them from above.

'Ooh, that looks more familiar! But, the chants are so long… I wonder why? I'll have to speak with them later.' After making a mental note, he quickly unsheathed his Fire Sword and ran up after Derrick.

Arriving on top of the cliff Gerald came to see a peculiar sight.

There were about a dozen or so of the attackers and they all wore the same clothing. They all had red leather armor that had a unique design.

Pieces of leather were joined together with small metal rings and because they overlapped with each other, it looked like they were wearing armor made of scales.

Currently, the fight didn't start yet, because the two brothers were greatly outnumbered and didn't dare to mindlessly attack. Meanwhile, the red-armored bandits slowly encircled them while taking out their weapons.

'I need to break them apart! We can't fight that many at once unless I really exert myself with my spells…' Gerald thought and then slowly took out his two potions and drank them before attacking.

"Stone Shower!" Gerald summoned his first batch of stone projectiles and then showed himself on the battlefield.

He didn't join Derrick and his brother and instead went towards the closest red-armored guy in the group. With a simple wave of his hand, the thirty-five bolts rose in the air and then oriented themselves towards Gerald's target.

With a popping sound, which came from air pressure bubbles accelerating the Stone Bolts, the projectiles were blasted forward, straight to the unprepared red-armored bandit.

Screams escaped from his throat as he got pounded by ten Stone Bolts. The force of the impact broke many of his bones and knocked him back. Blood spewed from the wounds the stones inflicted. He was severely wounded, but not quite dead yet.

The quality of his leather armor was quite good and it saved his life, although just barely. That didn't matter much though, as it was only a matter of time before he bled out.

It all happened so fast and in such an unexpected way that nobody had time to react. Gerald never wasted any time after he decided to fight. Since these guys tried to sneak attack with explosions, he didn't see anything wrong with returning the favor and striking unannounced.

His actions obviously enraged the red-armored bandits and they focused their attention on him. One of them yelled, "You guys, get that mage! Don't let him get away alive!"

Half of the remaining bandits ran towards Gerald with angry faces, ready to cut him to pieces. They all had swords in hand and they appeared to be quite well trained as they spread out in a formation to encircle him.

Gerald gave them a mocking smile before he turned around and ran away, into the forest that surrounded the cliffside.

He did not give his pursuers any chances of catching up to him and he even attacked them with the Stone Bolts that remained from his Stone Shower. Although the bandits were now prepared for it and they either dodged or blocked the flying stones, the attacks achieved the desired effect.

Gerald was trying to mess with their mind, making them lose patience and become enraged. That way they would do more mistakes and it would become easier for him to fight them.

He drank the Swiftness Potion so he could sprint for a whole ten minutes. There was nobody that could sustain that amount of energy expenditure, except him.

Now, as he ran in the forest he had to slow down, as the low tree branches and shrubs, as well as the undergrowth, were getting in his way.

The forest was not the best place to fight, as his spells would lose its effectiveness among such dense foliage. Because of that, he ran in a big circle, just trying to split up his pursuers even more.

After a good five minutes, he ran back out on the open and hid behind tall grass. He waited for the first guy to come out and then he would bury him under a barrage of stone.

Not long after, his first target came running out of the forest. He had plenty of scratches on his face and hands and he was breathing heavily. As he came out under the bright sun, he made shade for his eyes with his empty hand and observed the grassland before him.

"Damn, that mage is fast! Where the fuck did he go?!" the red-armored bandit cursed as sweat was flowing from his exhausted face.

Suddenly his ears picked up some cracking and popping sounds that came from the side. He turned his head towards the origin of the sound and his eyes enlarged in horror.

Dozens of Stone Bolts flew in the sky like a swarm of insects and without any warning, they all flew straight at him.

The bandit roared and took a few vials from his pouch and threw them in the sky, screaming, "I refuse to die like this!"

The bottles were the famous Bottled Thunder and they cost one gold coin each. But these bandits were using them like they were bottles of water.

The bandit Gerald was fighting threw at least five of them at once. One of them managed to collide with the incoming Stone Bolts and an explosion followed immediately after. That created a chain reaction as all five bottles exploded almost simultaneously, taking out most of the flying Stone Bolts.

The few that were left, veered off course because of the shockwave. Red-armored bandit was now sweating even more. He was nervous, scared, and angry all at once.

"Get out here and fight me like a man! Show your face, you cowardly mage!" the red-armored bandit yelled. Unfortunately for him, the only response he got was the rustling of dried grass and the sounds of insects flying around.

'Hah! You wish! Why would I listen to some shameless bandit?' Gerald thought when he crawled on the ground, slowly moving further away.

"Stone Shower," he whispered and then moved forward. Deadly Stone Bolts came out of the ground one after the other, but this time they stayed low, near the ground, hiding in the grass. They moved like stone snakes, slowly circling the bandit without the guy noticing.

Since he could blow up a concentrated group of Stone Bolts, Gerald decided to attack him from all sides at once. He slowly moved around until he came to the desired distance and then he abruptly stood up.

The bandit immediately noticed him and with an evil grin on his face, he roared, "There you are! Just you wait, you bastard! I'm going to cut you into a thousand pieces!"

Gerald showed a mocking smile under his helmet and laughed, "I don't think so…" Then he waved his hand, and Stone Bolts flew out from all sides.

"Wha-!"

Before the bandit could even say anything or react, his body was pierced in dozens of places. Blood sprayed on all sides for a second and then it stopped. At the same time, the red-armored bandit collapsed, dead.

"You-!" A sound came from the forest and when Gerald looked, he saw another red-armored bandit standing there with a burning anger in his eyes.

Gerald grinned and shouted, "What? You want something as well?"

The bandit gritted his teeth and roared, "You dare-! You dare kill my older bro! If I don't tear you apart right now, then I'm not a man!"

The man roared in madness and ran towards Gerald with three bottles in each hand.

'Oh, it's my fault he's dead, eh?! It's not like e ran after me with an intent to kill, eh?! Such hypocrites!' Gerald thought in anger as he watched the man running towards him. Now he was just close enough so Gerald could recognize what was in his hands.

'No way! More Bottled Thunder?! Are these guys made of money?!' He lifted his hand and shouted, "Stay away from me, you lunatic! Stone Shower!"