Dream Life Vol 3 Chapter 3.1: “Dark Attribute Magic”

　As we were heading west on the Aurella Road, almost to the town of Rawcliffe, our destination for the day, the caravan with which we were working was attacked by bandits.

　The lead wagon was attacked on a narrow road in the forest, and the line of about one hundred wagons came to a halt.

　We were about fifty meters from the front, and the bandits attacked us as well. Cunningly, they first attacked us from the south, on the left side of the road, to attract our attention, and then, after a time delay, they ambushed us from the north, on the right side of the road.

　About thirty of them.

　A motley group of men in leather armor covered in scars and carrying single-handed swords, double-edged axes, spears, and other weapons rose up as if to break through the bushes and rushed into the area, shouting savagely.

　The four defenders on the north side at that moment were my father, Mathias, two village patrol youths, and Beatrice.

　A bearded man in his forties, who seems to be the boss of the group, smirks and shouts at the men to get them going.

“Only four people! Get rid of them quickly!” (BanditBoss)

　His voice seemed to have convinced his men of their victory, and they responded cheerfully, “Yeah!” They responded cheerfully, leaping on my father one after the other.

　I was feeling impatient that the enemy had taken the initiative.

(That’s not good… From the looks of it, no one seems to be as skilled as Beatrice and Byron, but with only four of them, they’ll be overpowered… But the first guys were decoys. They are smarter than they look. We have to regain the initiative somehow…) (Zack)

　The archers who appeared from the south were decoys, and it seems they were gathering the main force on the north side. Perhaps their original plan was to attack from a long distance with bows and slow down half of the escort.

　Then, taking advantage of that opening, the main force on the other side would push in at once, probably intending to make a pincer attack.

　However, our magic was so powerful that instead of stopping them, they were quickly annihilated, and they abandoned their original plan and attacked us, trying to overpower us using their numbers.

　My father held up his favorite sword, a bastard sword, and gave instructions to Jim, the swordsman, and Kevin, the spearman.

“Keep calm and follow my instructions.” (Matt)

　Although he is inconspicuous in the shadow of his grandfather Govan, who is known as a hero, my father is also an experienced warrior and an excellent commander. Jim and the others, who had been buoyed by my father’s calm demeanor, quickly regain their composure.

　The bandit boss seemed to think that he should aim for my father first, and he urged the three bandits, saying, “Kill him first.”

　One of them, a huge swordsman comparable to Byron, slammed his two-handed sword down on my father.

　Without panicking, my father neatly parried the attack, which was just left to his physical strength, and then swung his own sword to further entangle it with the opponent’s. The sword was aimed at the gap in the arm armor.

　The slash, aimed at the gap in the arm armor, precisely cut off the man’s left elbow. The bandit stared at his left arm, which was splattered with bright red blood, unable to comprehend what had just happened. But he immediately cried pitifully, “My arm! My arm!”

　My father spared no time to finish him and kicked at the man, trying to make space for him.

　But soon a bandit with a big scar on his sallow dirty face, brandishing a one-handed axe, pounced on my father.

　My father easily fends off the man, but one by one, the bandits spring up and attack him.

　Beatrice, who was a short distance away, showed her signature adaptive spear-handling skills, and in no time at all, she had bloodied both of them. Then, she gradually nipped closer to protect my father, who was under a barrage of enemy attacks.

　However, the number of enemies was overwhelmingly large, and even if she could kill them and make them back down, new enemies would soon fill the hole. Even with her skill, she could not easily go to my father’s aid.

　Meanwhile, the bandits who were not directly involved in the attack were slowly closing in around the wagon.

　Although I, Liddy, and Sharon used magic to control the bandits from the top of the carriage, we were unable to stop them.

　Because of the surprise attack, the enemy was able to approach us, and we were in a melee before we could release our ranged attack magic. If we fired ranged attack magic in the current situation, it might cause damage not only to the enemy but also to our allies.

　Therefore, we were unable to use our powerful weapons and magic effectively.

　In such a situation, there was one fortunate thing. That was that the bandits who attacked us from the north had no archers in sight and did not attack us from a distance.

　But in the meantime, my father and the two young men, Jim and Kevin, were slowly being pushed down.

　I was getting frustrated with the situation.

(Are they outnumbered by a large number of people… If the pressure is not reduced even a little, it will be unfavorable…) (Zack)

　In order to attract the attention of the bandits even a little from the top of the carriage, I shot flashy [Light Arrows] so that they would stand out as much as possible.

　Surprisingly, however, the bandits realized that I was afraid of misfiring.

　Under the orders of the bandit boss, the bandits with shields blocked the magic arrows, and as a whole they surrounded my father and the others, preventing us from firing ranged attack magic.

　Furthermore, the bandits were showing an uncharacteristic coordination for bandits, with spearmen thrusting their spears out from between the swordsmiths wielding swords in front of them.

　As expected, Beatrice, a spearman, did not let the swordsman get into her pocket and handled the attack without incident, but the inexperienced village patrol youths were getting injured little by little by the spears extending after their swords.

　As my father managed to hold the line, Byron leaped out from the other side.

　The two young men with him followed with frantic expressions on their faces and went to my father’s aid.

　Byron, like me, decided that the south side was a decoy and left it to Mel and Dan, who seemed to place the highest priority on supporting my father.

　With the entry of Byron and his men, Jim and Kevin also managed to push back the pressure of the bandits.

　Still, they were only able to recover from their initial confusion and inferior position, and even with the addition of Byron and his men, they still had quite a bit of a disadvantage.

　Byron ordered Brett, the swordsman, and Sid, the spearman, to protect my father, and then he himself pushed forward among the bandits to reduce the pressure on my father.

　He showed his specialty, explosive slashing, and knocked down several bandits. Not only that, but he also rampaged in all directions like a mad warrior, trying to confuse the bandits.

　The bandits, as expected, could not leave Byron alone, and they had no choice but to switch their forces, which were directed against my father, against Byron.

　Beatrice, another fierce warrior, was attacked by about five bandits. They saw Beatrice as a dangerous opponent, and they were on a five-man strategy to suppress her.

　Beatrice’s face showed no signs of impatience, perhaps because of the great difference in skill between her and the bandits.

　On the contrary, she is saying, “You guys are no match for me. Bring out your strongest fighters.” She really was trying to reduce the pressure on my father as much as possible.

　The young village patrol youths, Jim and Kevin, did not have as much time to spare as Beatrice, and were desperately trying to deal with the enemy’s attacks. Brett and Cid, who had come to support them, were also surrounded by multiple enemies and were slowly being pushed back.

　However, although they were bleeding from their arms and legs, none of the four had yet sustained decisive damage.

　My father was also skillfully covering them, and they were attacking desperately to keep the bandits away from the wagons.

　A stalemate ensued, but neither side was decisive. The enemy was prepared for a surprise attack by hiding in a spot only twenty meters away, but Brett and the other young men were unexpectedly skilled, and they were further handicapped by two powerful warriors, Beatrice and Byron.

　On the other hand, we were also having a hard time attacking because of the fear of misfiring by me, Liddy, and Sharon, who were a powerful force.

(We are in a stalemate right now, but if there is even a small chance, the enemy will push in all at once. We have to make a decision now…) (Zack)

　I decided to use my newly developed original magic in this situation.

“Sharon, Liddy, control them for me! I’m going to use dark attribute magic!” (Zack)

　I made the decision to use dark attribute magic as a ranged attack magic.

　The fire attribute magic [Firestorm], water attribute magic [Blizzard], and wind attribute magic [Tempest] are more powerful in terms of attack power, but in a forest with dense trees, fire attribute magic may spread fire, and other magic is extremely ineffective because we are covered by trees.

　Generally speaking, dark attribute magic has a short range and takes time to become effective. This is because it uses a medium called “darkness” and needs to take the form of a cloud.

　However, the dark attribute magic I had in mind was designed for forest battles like this one. Therefore, the speed at which the magic is deployed and the speed at which it is effective is fast.

　As I began to accumulate the power of the spirits, Sharon began to control the bandits with her finely controlled [Swallow Cutter], as I had instructed, so as not to injure her allies.

　However, the enemy began to become accustomed to our magic, and it was not having any effect beyond distracting them.

　Liddy skillfully used her [Whirlwind Blade – Wind Blade] and bow to support our struggling allies.

　In addition to us, the archers who were escorting the carriages in front and behind us were shooting arrows sporadically and beginning to support them. But there was no further support, and the swordsmen escorting us refused to leave the wagons.

　There’s a reason for this, and none of us are being heartless.

　The front and rear merchant teams were all small, about two wagons, and naturally, the number of escorts was also small, about five.

　It was agreed in the caravan that the wagons in front and behind would mutually help each other in case of an attack, but even so, it was not easy to move with such a large gap in strength.

　Especially in the case of small escorts, they are often a hodgepodge of solo mercenaries rather than a single organization such as a mercenary company. For this reason, even if they know that eliminating bandits is the most effective means of ensuring their safety, they are hesitant to leave their employer and actively join the fight.

　If this were an organization such as a mercenary group, the captain could exercise leadership and divide the mercenaries between the employer to protect and the bandits to eliminate, but in a hodge-podge situation, even if a leader is determined, it is often impossible to divide the mercenaries well.

　Since this was another such gathering of solo mercenaries, we did not expect any backup from the start.

　It took me about a minute to finally finish gathering the power of the spirits.

　I cast a spell as I channeled my accumulated spirit power toward my arm.