Rebirth: The Shadow Of Greed

'Woosh' suddenly a large blue orb zoomed across Z's face barely grazing him as he quickly dodged to the left in a panic.

Z turned his head to see a short man with his hand outstretched. Instinctively he felt the danger emitted from the man in front of him.

Immediately jumping off the tiger Z landed in front of Odrunn and Soli, already activating the shield artefact equipped on his hand, creating a buckler and getting ready in a defensive posture.

"Tch, I can't believe you missed that shot, it was an easy target. How much training have you missed?"

A tall skinny guy spoke out. Laughing wildly as he put his arm around the neck of the shorty.

"You try it then, he dodged my energy blast. We should be wary of him."

The short guy on the left said as he retracted his arm.

Behind them a group of 2 that smiled at the exchange that was happening.

"Who the hell are you! What do you want!"

Soli asked, with concern in her voice.

"What do we want? Someone offered us a job to take care of a kid, it's a rare job that offered us 10 times the usual amount. So we want those credits."

The skinny guy spoke as he slowly started to laugh.

"If it credits you want, bring us back to A city, I promise you I'll give you more credits than what's being offered."

Soli shouted.

"Well I appreciate the offer miss, but unfortunately, we aren't the ones calling the shots and besides, our brothers here haven't tasted a woman in many months, so how about you come and help us."

The short dude beside laughed as he licked his lips.

"Zero, Odrunn I'm sorry, I think they are after me. I apologise for dragging you into this mess."

Z immediately extended his arm to push Soli behind him.

Odrunn looked at Soli and whispered to her.

"It's okay Soli, we are teammates and vanguards, we are here to help you."

Unsure whether it was the cute chubbiness of Odrunn or the fact that this idiot could still smile and give a pep talk in a hopeless situation made Z get shivers down his spine.

He looked and Odrunn and signalled to his shield. Instantly, Odrunn nodded and took out his shield. Thankfully the damage the shield had sustained from the battle was not too severe and it could still generate a barrier.

Instantly, the barrier was erected as tensions started to mount.

"Soli, I know it's hard using one arm, but for now, make sure no one goes across our centerline, let's keep them ahead of us and not surround us. Odrunn, let's be prepared to retreat into the forest there."

Z commanded, his hand flipping the Dagger holding it in a reversed grip, ready to take on anyone who comes near.

'boom'

An energy orb blasted against the barrier, dispersing into a blue mist, the barrier trembling at the hit. A beam of electricity flashed forward and hit the barrier again before dispersing.

"Boss, If this goes on, I think the shield might not be able to take much more of this."

Odrunn said, he knew full well how much damage the barrier could take.

"How about reducing the output of the barrier, making it smaller so that it only covers us and nothing else."

Z asked looking up at the barrier that was getting dimmer. Hit after hit rained on the barrier as the barrier flickered as if it was a light show.

"I've done that already, we need to find a chance to escape, I'm afraid the barrier could only take less than 40 hits."

Odrunn replied while looking at the shield artefact in his hands.

A dark hunter ran up to the barrier, in his hand a wooden weapon twisted and formed into a sword, the edge gradually becoming sharper, '

crash'

He swung it into the barrier at full force, smashing the wood into pieces, the splinters flying everywhere. Again, he retracted his arm and prepared to swing again creating another yet another wooden sword. It was as if he was playing the drums, again and again, he was bombarding the barrier with wooden weaponry.

The last dark hunter that stood all by himself at the back, started chanting while the rest focused their attacks on the barrier.

A swarm of insects flew inconspicuously out of the forest and to the side of the barrier. They waited for the hit of the wooden sword to land before diving headfirst into the barrier, wave after wave, timing the hit with the wooden sword.

The situation was dire, and the trio was in imminent danger. The attacks from the dark hunters caused the barrier to dissipate slowly, as flashes of blue, yellow and black shone on the barrier.

Step by step they retreated closer to the forest, tanking the relentless onslaught of attacks that came from the dark hunters. Soli tried to freeze the insect swarm coming to no avail.

"Sorry guys, if it weren't for me, the both of you won't be stuck in this mess."

Soli sighed dejectedly, she had fully put the blame on herself when they came under attack. After all, she was the one born from nobility should anyone be at fault it would be her. Her parents had taught her to protect the weak, even if they were more privileged. This led to her having a saviour mentality, although she does play some pranks from time to time.

Just as the dark hunter swung his wooden sword once again, the barrier started to tremble, a huge telekinetic force suddenly appeared, grasping the barrier and squeezing it like a bottle of mayonnaise. The shield gave way and was smashed in an instant. The trio, now without the help of the barrier, found themselves grasped and bounded together by an invisible hand. The same force had lifted them up off the ground they were standing at and suspended them in mid-air.