Jackal Among Snakes

Nikoletta stared down at a head. She had a strong image of Rovostar in her mind—big, brawny, bald, clean-shaven… but his time on the run made him grow both a beard and hair. And his big body was half-buried in the sand, bleeding even now. He hadn’t even been able to mount a defense—the elves were efficient. He and all his servants were dead. All they managed was a scream.

She had been envisioning this as some desperate struggle, but it was a complete slaughter. Most of that result was due to the man next to her. He was a wood elf and an A-rank mage, and he had been particularly zealous in helping her recover her father. Her father, Duke Enrico, was sitting off to the side, a little bloodied, malnourished, and ill-treated…but decidedly alive. And that was what mattered.

“Argrave told me there’d be a woman with them,” she looked at the elf who’d been so helpful thus far. “Georgina. Did you kill anyone like that? She’d be a mage.”

Every single one of the wood elves she’d seen had red eyes, but this man had rich green-blue eyes that danced like a pool of water. When she’d asked him, he said it had something to do with his A-rank ascension.

“I’m afraid not,” the elf said smoothly. “Only men in their number, I’m afraid. Or extremely ugly women. I don’t care to check…”

Nikoletta laughed through her nose quietly.

“I can say firmly no one escaped,” he added.

Nikoletta nodded. “I’ll ask my father about it, then.” She focused on him. “I have to thank you for trying so hard. I’m not sure that my father would have made it if not for you…” she trailed off slowly.

“Perhaps not,” the elf shook his head. “But I think it best that elves and humans cooperate. It’s in their best interest, wouldn’t you agree?”

Nikoletta nodded. “Indeed. And… what’s your name?”

The elf smiled broadly. “Dimocles.”

Nikoletta blinked for a few moments. She didn’t know anyone by that name, but… even still, it drew her attention for some reason. “That name… it’s from Vasquer, isn’t it?”

see these on my head, can’t you?” Nikoletta looked at them—indeed, his ears were

you,” she politely refused. “Is there some material way I might repay your

family heirloom. I can’t very

Nikoletta narrowed her eyes. “…sure, I suppose I can do

smiled. “Anyway… I’ll give you some

as he walked off, and then turned back to her father the duke. She walked towards him eagerly, overjoyed

reached into his pocket and pulled free a strange purple berry. He twisted it in his hand, then stowed it away. Behind a tree out of sight, he retrieved a mirror to watch

he muttered, putting the

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foe—namely, his [Bloodfeud Bow]. He might take out a large chunk of the ants, sure enough, but the rest of them could reform to recover from the

insects. It had no true weaknesses—not elemental, at least. And with things like this, it was

me, stop me from getting hit or snuck up on. And I… I’m gonna

put his hand on

their assurances, Argrave rooted both feet down. He held his left hand flat off to the side, while the other faced upward

Argrave felt a headache developing from focusing on so many things, and if he’d needed to focus on keeping himself safe this would have failed. He barely saw the earthenware titan—instead, there was

Bullwhip], and a thorny tendril hundreds of feet long erupted out of his hand. The blood echoes called upon their

of devastating power met it, cutting straight into the meat of their constructed body. It endured the power of the attacks ably—it had flinched from S-rank spells, but

deep. Argrave saw ants fall from where the bullwhips struck in droves, one after the other. And this encouraged him to pull his hand back and try again. Twenty more whips came—crack, they echoed, the sound multiplied by the sheer volume of blows. Crack, crack, crack, they went, maroon tendrils spanning

and it called upon his blood. As pain exploded up his wrist, he fell to his knees, his concentration broken. All of the blood echoes returned to him. The [Electric Eels] swirled about the air, a small star of lightning. With so much damage already done, he willed all of them towards

most anything Argrave had fought before. They danced across the battlefield, heading for

compared to most electric magic would never be an issue. But these ants… when they saw the lightning coming, they must’ve separated. He had intended for the shock to spread through all of them, but they split apart, and only a large clump was hit. Hundreds burst into blinding light, but hundreds more