8 A Night in Yakul - Part 2

Fifteen minutes passed and Ahli saw at the distance how fire had burned the air. He could see clearly how big the flame had become. The commotion around the gate area was really noisy, as its sound reached Ecuti's house. From it, he knew how the battle raged on.

Concerning how the battle tide would change, Ahli walked from one end of the porch to another. He grew restless. He knew he would not be able to win against any of the bandits in a fist fight, which is why he could only rely on the Card Mage System.

"Someone passed through!" Hearing the yell in the distance just proved that what Ahli was afraid of finally came true.

[With few people, the defense would not able to last long. Sharon should know it. It can only be stopped by the Card Mage system.]

He saw a couple of bandits start to reach the area of houses closed to Ecuti's house. Some of them were trying to break into the houses, while others fend off the incoming help. Ahli's heart boiled with rage as he didn't want them to do as they please.

"Hey!" Ahli shouted at them as he left the porch, running at them.

The bandit heard his shout and some of them ran toward him. They all carried either an axe or a short sword. One even threw his axe at Ahli. Thankfully he was able to see its incoming and sprung to the left avoiding it.

Ahli landed by rolling to the ground. However, before he was able to stand again, he saw a short sword aiming at him in a drop slash attack. Ahli quickly rolled to the side, nearly avoiding the sword. He quickly kneeled and kicked his attacker, making him fall as well as keeping his distance from Ahli.

He tried to take a breather, but it was not possible as another attack came at him. This time it was from 2 bandits at the same time. He jumped to the back as a quick maneuver for keeping his distance from them, yet, they were too persistent in killing him.

"Oh, fuck it." Ahli realized there was only one way to survive that situation.

He touched the gem on the deck box and shouted, "CARTA! Activate Card Mage System!"

In an instant, three giant holographic cards appeared from his side, hitting the two bandits that were coming close to him. They fell to the side, however quickly they stood with one of them gave the code to the other to spread their position.

Ahli looked at the first three cards he got, He saw Flame Blast among them and also another card that could act as a mana source.

"Good hand." Said Ahli as he took the one card that could act as a mana source.

IMPETUS

2+Fire Mana

Target unit gets +2/+2 until your next turn. It must attack another unit or player than you.

"I set Impetus as a mana source." With that command, Impetus quickly transformed into a red shard. Ahli looked around to check the stats of the two bandits that he was facing. One had a 2/2 stats while the other one a 1/1, and therefore it was clear who he need to deal with first.

"Is he a card mage?" Asked the 1/1 bandit to his friend.

"Nah, it can't be. He did not summon any monster." Answered the 2/2 bandit. "However, if he is. If we can kill him, that would be great for our group reputation."

Hearing their conversation gave Ahli an insight into how card mages truly are hated in that world. If the worst people did not like them, Ahli could only imagine how much worst the card mages are.

"I pay one fire mana. Casting Flame Blast to him." Ahli threw Flame Blast at the 2/2 bandit.

The card quickly transformed when the shard's light enveloped it, turning into a ribbon of flame tongue. It danced through the air and swirled as it moved toward the bandit.

In an unexpected turn of events, the 2/2 bandit was able to block the incoming blast by slashing it on time. However, what the bandit did not calculate was how the ribbon of flame was able to split itself into two and rejoined by hitting the bandit from both his left and right.

The flame quickly engulfed his body, which immediately burned to crisp.

"A.J. !!!!!!!!" as he screamed in pain, asking for help from his friend.

His friend A.J. was unable to do anything, watching in terror how his friend died. The ribbon of flame itself retracted and turned into a card again as it spun while returning to Ahli.

"Shit! You killed Nick, God damn card mage!" A.J. shouted so loud and in rage, he moved forward to attack Ahli.

Another card appeared in his hand and as A.J. came at him with his axe swung, Ahli quickly ran to the side avoiding a close-range fight with him. As he ran, he saw the card drawn that turn. It was Hasten, one of the new cards he got from the battle with goblins.

HASTEN

Fire Mana

Target unit gains Quick Strike until the end of turn.

"Set Hasten as a mana source." Haste disappeared from his hand and in turn, a second shard appeared beside the first one. Ahli looked at his behind as he ran toward the other houses. A.J. was chasing him, and he was quite fast, able to close their distance as they kept running.

Ahli was unable to make an attack against him as the last remaining card was a buff spell, and he needed Sharon for it.

"Hey, stop you card mage bastard!" A.J's shout made the other bandits at the other house become aware. One of them who was still trying to break the door before hearing A.J.'s shout quickly stopped his activity and moved further from the door, carrying his big axe to welcome Ahli, who was going in his direction.

"Hey, Howie! Brian! We got a big fish!" Shouted the one who was waiting for Ahli.

Two more appeared from the inside of the house that they had broken in. One was carrying a short sword and the other was carrying a hand axe. Along with the one who called them, the closed Ahli's path.

Ahli quickly break his run and turned to the opposite way, but A.J. was already just two meters away. It was close, and Ahli still got hit on his right side, however, he was able to avoid a full-body smash with A.J.

Ahli tried to stand as quick as he could. At the same time, he made one of the cards he got since turn 1 as a mana source. He turned to face them, technically, he was surrounded by them as his back was facing another house's wall.

"He killed Nick! Careful! He's a card mage!" Shouted A.J.

"He's a card mage? Fuck man! We're toasted!" Said the one who carried the short sword.

"Ain't no worry, man! He got no monster! We've killed one before, we can kill this asshole for sure." What A.J. said truly had an effect. Ahli could see how their facials changed from being worried to super confident. It seemed what they said was true, which means that there were also other card mages that started without summon magic like him.

[Seriously, what's up with Carta? The division of the starter is so unfair.]

"You sure about that? What if I have one in my hand?" Bluffed Ahli to A.J.

"BULLSHIT! Monsters are always the ones they summoned in the beginning. Do you think we don't know that?" With his bluff challenged, Ahli tried to keep a poker face.

[These guys surely know a lot. If only I can ask him regarding card mage.]

"Kevin, you go by the middle. Howie and Brian, guard his right." Ordered A.J. to his friends.

The one carrying the hand axe pulled out another hand axe from his back. Ahli looked at his stats. Other than 2/2, nothing changed. However, a Dual Strike symbol popped suddenly, beside the stats.

[Ah, just great…Another Dual Striker.]

Ahli saw the remaining two cards in his hand. One was Demolition and it could be used as a mana source. However, Ahli then thought that it might be more useful against the Dual Striker bandit, to remove one of its weapons. Hopefully, by doing so, it would remove the Dual Strike status as well.

DEMOLITION

2+Fire Mana

Destroy any inanimate object on the battlefield

[Okay, the next turn should be any time soon. I just need to worry about the Axe swing.]

All of them were on a standoff, and Ahli had to look to the left and right to keep aware of the bandit's movement. Their position was quite spread out and it was quite hard for Ahli to do so. The bandits were on their stance, moving their feet slowly closing unto Ahli.

The notification of the new turn was the signal for Ahli to execute his escape. He ran toward A.J. and aimed to tackle him. Ahli could see A.J.'s face who was surprised for a second, but quickly back to his composure. He welcomed Ahli's attack by pulling his short-sword to his back, going for a full volley swing.

Ahli was able to tackle him first before he was able to land the blade on him. As he and A.J. hit the ground, Ahli's feet quickly stepped on the ground again, pushing him to start running. He stepped on A.J. and did not care for it.

"AAAH! FUCK!" In pain A.J. reacted by swinging his short sword blindly.

"AAAAAAAHHH!" The swing hit Ahli's left leg, grazing it with a wound at the outer side of the shin.

Ahli rolled to the ground holding the wound. At the same time, his life indicator showed the change from 5 to 4. He wished to stay on the ground, but he remembered his aim to put a distance from the bandits. Gritting his teeth, Ahli pulled his body up and started to drag his wounded feet, continued to run away.

He looked at the new card he got for the turn. Ahli glanced at the bandits, among the 4 of them, two had the stats of 2/2. With the new card, he knew he can cut the opposing force by half.

SHAKING FIRE

2+Fire Mana

SHAKING FIRE deals 1 damage to each unit without Flying.

"I pay 3 Fire Mana to cast SHAKING FIRE!" Ahli threw the card above his head. As the shards covered it with light, the card dipped into the ground. The ground below the bandits started to shake, making them halt their run, holding their standing. Then from the cracks of the ground, flame tongue burst unto them. It covered them and killed A.J and the other one with the short sword.

The Dual-Striker bandit and Kevin still stood firmly as the damage only hurt 1 life point. However, Ahli knew that it would be temporary as the Card Master system had a unique system of restoring the units at the end of each turn. He did not have any experience with Carta, however, if it turned out to be the same as Card Master, then it meant that this winning situation would be temporary.

"AAAHHHH! HELP!" A scream was heard from the direction that Ahli was familiar with. He quickly turned to look at Ecuti's house. There, two more bandits had broken into the house.

[OH NO! DAMN IT!]

Dragging his feet, Ahli ran toward the house in desperation.

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