Of Anti-Ambush Preparations

“John… John, get up!” Ela grabbed John’s arm, helping him back to his feet. She turned away for a second as he struggled to find balance. “I thought that Ashcroft was neutral ground, Warden?”

“It is, between the major groups. Whoever set this up must be unaffiliated,” Moira answered, walking over to stand next to the two. “This would have to have been carefully prepared, well in advance, in order to carve around the Witch’s areas. They’d be dead if they’d gone near her. The enemy likely possesses some manner of barrier specialist.”

“Do you think they have a Fateweaver with them?”

The redhead furrowed her brow. “Unlikely. The few remaining of their number are well-tracked by the Order. It would have been hard for one to sneak into Springfield quietly.

“Unfortunately, my armor is stored on my motorcycle,” Moira spat, her brows furrowed. “I am not prepared to defend us.”

Ela shrugged, shaking her head in frustration. “Neither am I. Most of my equipment is at home. I do not even have a weapon on me; my spare is in my car.”

“Urgh…” John groaned, interrupting their discussion.

He shook the grogginess away, picking his phone back up and storing it away. Blinking the blurriness from his eyes, The Gamer focused on willing his equipment sets to swap, the scrap steel and banded leather armor he’d acquired settling into place. The familiar warmth of the [Lantern Bearer’s Battle Staff] gave him a singular sensation to focus on as vertigo passed him over.

“Is his tolerance that low?” Moira inquired, speaking softly as she looked around them.

“No,” the Bookworm Knight countered, placing a hand on John’s forehead. “I have seen him take hits before. He must have some kind of severe mana sensitivity.”

“That… would explain why these barriers always make me feel sick,” John muttered. “What the hell just happened?”

“Someone, or some group, unknown has forcefully pulled us into a trap barrier,” Moira explained, her eyes trained on the doors to their right. “Most likely, an ambush awaits outside these doors.”

John shuddered, taking a shaky and uneven breath as he leaned on the barrier-warped bookshelves next to him. He bit his lip as panic rose to overtake his disorientation. There was a marked difference in the unease and danger he felt now compared to in his dungeons, knowing that there was an actively malicious entity out there that had trapped him. Every cell, every atom, every individual fiber of his being screamed to run away.

He couldn’t.

[Escape Barrier] refused to function, as he knew it would.

“John.” Moira’s voice cut into his internal despair. She spoke with more earnestness and understanding than he’d ever heard from her. He looked up, meeting her noble gaze. “They are probably not after you. I will not hold it against you, should you choose to stay here. You only came into the Abyss a couple days ago. This does not have to be your fight.”

The redhead and blonde turned to him, emerald and sapphire eyes awaiting his response. The Gamer swallowed, and it felt as if chalk ran down his throat.

Would he want to leave Ela and Moira behind? Could he bring himself to?

…Would he be strong enough not to?

Something snapped.

All-too-familiar adrenaline iced his veins, muting the echoes of his heartbeats in his ears. He planted his staff in the ground, feeling the warmth of mana trace up and down the carefully shaped wood. The Gamer resigned himself to the fight, looking up at the women in front of him. Ela smiled at his sudden conviction, a knowing confidence hidden behind the smile on her lips. Moira nodded approvingly, a deep satisfaction behind her stoic green eyes.

“What’s our plan?” he asked, doing his best not to show how scared he was.

“Normally the Blessing would allow me to resist being trapped in such a way, but they were prepared,” the stern redhead said with a tinge of frustration. “If we can stop whoever is locking the barrier down, I can try to free us again.”

Ela interjected, pointing to one side of the building where tall windows overlooked the Ashcroft courtyard, “Look!”

Movement outside drew their attention.

Carefully, the trio crept over to the window, John and Ela on one side, Moira on the other, as they peered out from behind the curtains, trying to remain hidden. The courtyard itself was a well-kept, open stretch of grass with a flagpole on one end, bordered on the far and right sides by two-story academic buildings, and on the left by the administrative offices. The edges of the barrier seemed to cut off relatively close on all sides, especially on the half with the history department in it.

Among the well-kept hedges and pristine concrete walkways, nearly two dozen figures spread out, forming a loose perimeter in front of the library, all turned towards the main entrance. They looked like some kind of mall ninja paramilitary bikers in John’s opinion, sporting an odd mix of kevlar body armor, medieval steel plate, and black leather. They wielded a wide variety of melee weapons - from spiked bats to swords and mauls - all glowing and crackling with magic.

Behind the loose formation, a single figure stood out, leaning on the gym across the courtyard. He was scruffy and unkempt, with long, ratty brown hair falling in layers over his dirty scarlet coat. The gruff man wore torn jeans, a ripped shirt, and old fingerless gloves in lieu of any manner of armor. A black electric guitar hung loosely around his neck, plugged into a junky amp next to him. He brought up a single hand and ran his finger down the strings, sparks popping from where he traced, a trail of flames left dancing down the instrument.

Though his mouth never moved, the man’s voice echoed through the library. “Surrender, Warden, and we will spare your friend. You have five minutes before we take you by ****.”

’Are we really locked in here with edgelord supreme?’ John thought, staring at the man across the yard. ’No way I’m dying to a Fallout Boy wannabe.’

“John,” Ela whispered, poking him in the side. “Can your [Observe] skill find who among them is controlling the barrier?”

“Uh, I can try…”

The Gamer set to work as quickly as he could, pinging every enemy in sight with his scrying ability. The majority of their enemies were just around Ela’s level, with little of note about any of them. From what little he could cobble together from their bio blurbs, it seemed as though these guys were some type of Abyssal street gangsters. Nothing indicated that any of them should be able to trap them inside, especially considering Moira’s level compared to their average.

Above all, the guitar-playing enemy stood above the rest considerably in power.

“Nothing that stands out. None of them have anything to do with barriers in their descriptions or anything,” John lamented, reading over his final [Observe] result before sharing it with Ela. “That one dude in the back is the majority of their firepower. They aren’t exactly pushovers, though, most register around your level.”

The blonde mulled that over for a moment, while The Gamer turned to Moira. “Here, let’s party up again. It should give us some bonuses, and then I can show you what I’m seeing.”

“...Right.” Moira nodded, seemingly having been pondering something herself. “Your powers have such strange conditions.”

He shrugged, offering the best smile he could. “Once we’re out of here, remind me to show you some games. I promise it’ll make more sense.”

John’s UI flashed in bright reds and golds as the glowing rose bloomed upon the Warden’s health bar. Additionally, he could see in real time as his and Ela’s bars grew with the additional stats that her presence provided. Moira gazed intently at the features of the UI around her, almost with a reverence that confused John. Remembering that time was of the essence, The Gamer shared what information he could with her from his recon.

“I was still able to get an [Observe] to stick on this guy, and it looks like he’s stronger than you, by my metrics at least, whatever they mean. It’s not a massive disparity, though.” He brought up a copy of her own [Observe] result for comparison, noting to himself that her RP had increased considerably.

She nodded. “I am not entirely sure how these levels work, but I doubt a small gap in strength like this would be so much that I could not even try to resist being captured. Someone else must be anchoring the barrier.”

“OK… if we can’t see them, then is there any other way to find them? Or are we going to have to try and fight our way out?”

“I do not have the ability to trace a barrier to its owner directly, not without time to prepare the spell.”

“Wait a second. John,” Ela said, grabbing his attention, “what about your eyes? You said you could see mana with them, right? You might be able to find who is connected to the barrier.”

"You can do that?" Moira inquired, looking over to The Gamer. "You didn't mention that yesterday."

"I couldn't do it yesterday, at least not until after I left your manor. No idea if it'll work, but it's worth a shot."

The Gamer turned his gaze back out the window, activating his [Unawakened Eye]. A single ring of tarnished gold appeared within his pupil as he witnessed the magic of the world with his bare eyes. The sensory stimulation was almost overwhelming as he tried to look at the edges of the barrier, brilliant waves of color assaulting him.

Determination fueled him, however, and he pushed beyond the pain, forcing himself to focus on what he could see. The gold in his eyes began to shimmer as clarity returned to him. The edge of the barrier bubbled with colorful mana, roiling with energy; a great tension stretched across the vast surface.

As he gazed longer into the aurora of mana, some of the pain began to fade, and he found what he was looking for. Bands of mana boiled off into threads, falling away from the barrier’s wall as he'd seen pillars of fire swirl away from the sun. Just barely, he could follow those threads downward, as they twisted and spun down and outwards, beyond the courtyard over the administrative building.

“I… think I see it… Mana is flowing from the barrier out towards the front circle. Someone out there must be running it-” A chill ran from the back of The Gamer's eyes into his mind, followed by a searing heat. John cut his ocular spell off, holding his head in pain as he adjusted to his normal senses again.

He heard the faintest whispers from his redheaded companion. "Incredible…"

“Definitely mana sensitivity,” Ela said, putting a hand on his back. “You have too many sensory-type abilities for someone with so little exposure to mana.”

Suddenly, the glass of the windows shook as soundwaves crashed into them like a tsunami. “ONE MINUTE,” rang all around them.

“We’re out of time,” John groaned, looking up at his party members. “You think we can take enough of these guys to get to the barrier's source?”

"We may not have to," Moira said, pacing away from the window. “I believe that they said 'friend' when they asked me to surrender."

"OK, and?" John wondered aloud. "We could be friends."

The Warden blushed, taken aback for a moment. "That's… that's not what I meant! The word they used is singular."

He tilted his head in confusion.

"You are a Late Bloomer, John. An unknown," Ela said, realizing where the redhead had been going. "It is possible that they were unprepared for you to be here. They may not know that anyone besides the Warden and I are trapped within the library."

Moira nodded. "If your eyes are to be believed, then they kept their barrier specialist at a distance for safety. They may not yet have heard that they have trapped you.

“You can see where the barrier originates.” Her speech began to pick up, conviction returning. Again, the noble paladin stood in place of the imposing student president he knew. “We can try to buy you time to sneak past them and take out the caster.

"If you can do that," she continued, locking eyes with him, her voice stirring confidence within him, "then I will wrest control of the barrier and free us."

"My car is just outside the library," Ela added. "Once we are out, we can take it together and retreat back to the manor."

John swallowed, his body as tense as he’d ever been. His heart pulled in two directions - was he afraid to go alone? Was he afraid to leave them behind? He couldn’t tell anymore. The Gamer bit his lip, focusing on the pain in lieu of freezing solid again. “Can… Can the two of you hang on long enough for me to try and find this guy?”

“We do not have to win, just waste their time,” Ela said, doing her best to sound sure. “You have that sword and shield still, right?”

“Yeah. Here.” John quickly withdrew the [Sword of the Final Knight] and its accompanying shield, handing them over to the Bookworm Knight, who took a moment to judge their balance before nodding thankfully. “I have some more scrap armor, too.”

“We do not have the time for either of us to change into armor,” the blonde said, holding the sword up in front of her, looking at her reflection in its darkened steel blade. “This will have to be enough.

“Here, take my library key,” she continued, pulling a key chain from her pocket. “You can get out the back loading exit once we have their attention. The door is through the sorting room behind the checkout counter.”

She paused, a look of serious concern passing over her face. “Also, John, you must be prepared to kill out there.”

“...What?” John balked.

“They are going to try to kill us, to kill you. If you do not kill their barrier specialist, then you leave them the possibility of healing them and trapping us again. We are only going to get the element of surprise once.”

“I-” He felt nauseous. From playing games and reading manga and the like, he’d generally agreed that killing could be necessary, but the feeling was so very different as he thought about the need to do it himself.

“I am sorry, but it is the unfortunate reality of the Abyss.”

John nodded silently, backing away to think to himself for a moment. The blonde obliged. As Ela turned back towards Moira, the redhead stopped her for a moment, concern flashing across her usually stern features. “Are you sure that you are ready for this?”

The Bookworm Knight smiled far too jovially for their dire situation. “The Order has been asking about my return to duty for months. You are not allowed to say no now.”

With that, she stood at attention, her equipment presented in front of her unwaveringly. “My shield is at your side, Warden.”

“Thank you, Knight Grzmot,” the redhead answered, allowing the formality of her station to slip through for a moment, before relaxing with a smile. “Please, call me Moira. I do wish to be more than just comrades.”

As the pair exchanged their pleasantries, The Gamer gazed back out the window. ’How the hell did this all happen this morning..? Am I even prepared for what they need me to do?’

He looked over at them. Serious expressions adorned their faces as they discussed how they would engage their foes. Was he going to let them down?

’I’ve gotta try… for them, if not for myself.’

“Alright,” he called over to them. Mustering all the courage he could, he put on a brave face. “Good luck. You two better be ready to go when I get back.”

Ela smiled back. “Just do not keep us waiting too long.”