The Insider System

Chapter 363: Stashed Away Pt.4

With Hampton now using normal water magic, Lake turned his full attention to the fight he was currently in. He had fought Donny before so he knew the man could be dangerous and even if that had been a long time ago there was still a real chance he could get hit by the weird glowing shield that the man was using.

Lake still remembered the feeling of having his shoulder almost severed by the original shield this formation was probably based around and while the feeling of fighting the same guy again after all this time was a bit nostalgic he didn't want to die because he was overly careless. He also was holding back quite a bit so at the speed he was moving the shield was more than fast enough to hit him.

...

Donny couldn't help but wonder why the guy he was fighting hadn't tried to attack a single time yet and had instead spent the whole time dodging. It was like he wasn't taking it seriously enough to actually try and kill anyone. This was vastly different when compared to the battle that was taking place between Hampton and the other two.

The adventurer who had teamed up with the guard had already closed in on Hampton and was slashing at the older man constantly while the guard was holding back dealing with the spells Hampton was sending towards the two of them. "Who do you think is going to win?"

...

Lake couldn't help but ask this to Donny to get the man to pay attention to their fight again. He knew the fact he hadn't attacked yet had probably made the other man think it was safe to look away but it really wasn't a good idea even if what was going on on the other side of the room was definitely more interesting.

Seeing his question wasn't going to be answered even now that he had Donny's attention, Lake figured it was time to try to tell the other man he wasn't with Hampton and their fight was pointless even if there was no chance Donny would believe him. "I hope the old man will lose. I'm tired of how selfish he's being here."

Lake knew his words were too obvious to be really convincing but he hoped the fact he wasn't attacking would add some believability to them. "Are you not with him? I thought you were a friend of his." Hearing Donny ask this question Lake did his best not to smile as he answered.

...

"No, I was blackmailed into this. I'll be happy to see the old man dead." Donny knew it would be foolish to just believe the young mage but their words felt sincere. Of course this could just be the effect of his low Charisma on his ability to detect lies from those with a higher stat.

"I'll believe you if you attack Hampton." Donny didn't like saying these words because Hampton didn't deserve to die here but there was a good chance they wouldn't be able to kill the older man even if they all worked together so he didn't worry about it too much.

Of course the older man escaping after they had turned on him was a disaster for their reputation but if they were able to take the things that were here it would be worth being seen as a bandit by the people of the Earth Domain because they would be heroic in the eyes of their own people back in the Metal Domain.

"Alright but don't try to kill me as I turn away because I'll get serious in our fight after I dodge." After the young mage said this he turned away and dashed towards Hampton with his hand out like a spear. It was an odd attack method but he knew there was a small number of people that used unarmed attacks opposed to weapons while in close combat.

...

Lake knew he could probably kill the older man now that he had seen him fight but it really wasn't time for that just yet so taking a limb off would probably calm everyone down long enough for him to take control of the situation. "Swish." Since he hadn't activated Mute like he normally would when fighting there was a loud whistling noise when he swiped towards Hamptons outstretched arm.

The noise didn't matter though because Hampton didn't seem to be capable of reacting to an attack as fast as this one and his arm was sent flying away before landing onto the ground. "Ah." The small scream Hampton gave out after he lost his arm was enough to bring everyone here to a sudden stop.

This was what he had hoped for so he started to talk not wanting to give anyone the time to do anything. "Alright. Let's go up there to see what it is he was trying to hide from us." Lake knew there was a chance Hampton would try something to get away after he said this so he kept his eye on the older man while the others accepted he was not only in charge but about to let them go see what they had been fighting for.

Of course after they got a look they really did have to go and let Hampton deal with the formation that was causing the quakes before anymore happened but once that was done he was free to kill Hampton and anyone else that got in his way before taking everything that was here.

...

Donny was really surprised when the man he had been trying to fight had been able to end everything with just one move. It wasn't just him either, everyone was just silently looking at where Hamptons arm had been just a few moments ago. Hampton was the first to snap out of it and asked. "Why'd you agree to come here if you were able to do this to me all along?"

Hearing Hamptons words Donny guessed the story that the man had been blackmailed into coming here was true. "You didn't seem aggressive and I was a bit scared you could beat me in a fight. Oh, and the money made it seem this was a better choice than fighting you to the death in the forest. Come on, let's get moving."

It was funny to hear the younger guy use the same phrase Hampton had been using on them just a few minutes ago but it really struck home the fact a new person was now in charge of their group. "Would you be fine with me reattaching my arm first?"

...

Lake hadn't expected this question because he had just assumed most people would regrow an arm using magic or a special potion but hearing Hampton could just put it back on he wanted to see how it was done for the future. "Are you going to do anything that will help you run or kill me while I let you?"

Even if he wanted to see it he still had to be safe so he wanted Hampton to answer this to see if he was lying or trying to trick him in some way. "No I'm not going to risk my life anymore than I already have just to keep what's up there secret." Lake didn't detect a lie in this statement so he nodded and said. "Go ahead and put your arm back on."

...

Donny couldn't believe the man let Hampton pull out a potion under the pretenses of healing his arm when there was a good chance he would just use it as a weapon against them but he had to assume the man had a reason to just let this happen so he stayed silent and watched while slowly taking steps back away from the pair.

He was able to get twenty or so feet away before Hampton pulled the top off of the potion and Donny readied himself to dodge whatever foul poison or gas came spilling from within the bottle but had to blink a few times when Hampton just started to pour it onto the stump. After a few seconds of waiting he then bent down and grabbed the arm off the floor and put it back on.

After holding it there for a while Hampton let go of it and tested it out by moving it around. "Was that just a normal potion or was there something special about it?" Hearing the question for the younger man Donny was also interested since regaining lost limbs was usually time consuming and expensive.

"Normal, just extremely high quality. The only way to get one that's able to be used like that is to make a deal with the Alchemist guild or become a high ranking member." Hearing Hamptons answer Donny guessed he was just going to have to deal with not having access to such a good potion.

...

Lake guessed that meant he was already using the potions that he could use to reattach an arm if he needed to. This was interesting but they had already spent too much time on this so he said. "Let's go up onto the bed now. I want to get this over with before another quake happens."