Restart Again: Volume 2 by Adam Scott (hardest books to read txt) 📕

when the men flanking the camp arrived. Two stood across the fire from her, while one circled slowly to her rear.

With a final burst of energy, I closed the last hundred feet between myself and the camp in just over a second, launching towards the closest man with my sword drawn. The blade cut through his neck with no resistance and sent his head spinning to the ground before he had a chance to react. I skidded to a stop a few feet to Val’s left and pointed my sword at the man holding Lia hostage. “Let her go, now,” I growled through gritted teeth.

There was a brief look of shock on the man’s face as he watched his compatriot’s body topple lifelessly to the ground, but he quickly snapped back to a malicious glare. “I don’t think I will,” he snarled in a deep, gravelly voice. “You two are going to turn around and walk your way back to Yoria, while this one here keeps us company. If we don’t see you in these parts again, we’ll let her go in a few days. If she behaves herself.”

“How do you know where we came from?” Val asked, her expressionless face and voice returned to her.

“Do you think we’re stupid?” he asked coldly. “You’re the fucking King’s Shield. We know where you’re coming from, and we know where you’re going.” The man shared a look with his companions. “We’re here to...change your mind.”

“Lux!” Lia called out, her voice thick with worry. “I’m fine, okay? You don’t have to worry about me.” I hadn’t realized it until she spoke, but my chest was heaving with rasping breaths.

“She’s a smart one!” the man laughed. “You should listen to your little lady. If you turn around now, everybody can still get out of this alive.”

I moved my sword in a slow arc to point at the remaining three men before me. “You all died the moment you walked into my camp. If you let her go now, your deaths will at least be painless.”

The man holding Lia looked at me with a mixture of amusement and contempt. “If you move so much as an inch, this pretty little neck gets cut wide open.” As he spoke, he pushed the edge of his blade harder into her skin, and a small crimson bead formed at the tip. Lia sucked in a quick breath, but her eyes never left my face. Her lips moved as she called out to me again, but I didn’t hear the words.

I felt a small snap at the base of my skull as my mind disassociated from my body. My vision narrowed with dark clouds, and the three men before me began to glow with a faint red aura. The edge of my sword began to shimmer as the blood along its face hissed and bubbled away, leaving an ominous black energy behind that shone like dark fire. Deep within my body I felt a dark desire to not only kill the men before me, but to make them suffer.

My mind agreed. Though I felt like a passenger as my body moved on its own, I fully supported the decisions it wanted to make. I knew what the dark energy around my blade would do to them, and I wanted to see it happen. Jack’s face, streaked with black lines and distorted in agony, flashed before me, and I hungered to see it again. I heard a growl rumble out from my chest, and my legs crouched as I prepared to lunge forward.

Before I could move, I felt a heavy pressure surround me on all sides. It pushed against every inch of my body with a warm, comforting force that settled my mind. My body wanted to resist, to strike death upon the intruders, but I fought the urge and focused on the new sensation. Lia. My vision cleared enough that I could see her staring at me intently as I stood frozen in place. A rushing sense of compassion filled me up as I let her mana past my defenses, and my muscles slowly began to relax.

“It’s okay, Elden.” I finally registered the words she had said. With a deep, shaky breath I nodded to her and lowered my sword.

“Listen to the little lady, that’s a good lad,” the man holding Lia hostage jeered at me. “Go back home now, and take the shield bitch with you.”

They’re worth more to us alive. With my mind back in control, I quickly assessed the situation. The other men had spread out in an attempt to surround us, but they had moved too far apart to support each other. Val eyed me cautiously from her position at my right, her shield held up in a ready position. My Detection magic showed me that although Lia looked complicit in her captivity, her combat enhancements had flared to life in preparation for combat. I gave her a small nod, and she responded by tapping her middle finger lightly on the pommel of her sword.

The man’s face grew hard. “Are you deaf, or just stupid? Fuck off out of here, or I swear to the Primes I’ll—” With a swift push, I crushed through his unconscious mana barrier and suffused his sword arm with energy. The rune on the inside of my ring activated, and I watched the bones in his forearm splinter into jagged shards. He let out a blood curdling scream as the limb fell to his side, limp and twitching.

Lia sprang to life as soon as the dagger left her throat. She kicked backwards into her captor’s knee as she drew her sword, which knocked him away into the dirt where he continued to writhe in agony over his ruined arm. Before the next closest enemy could react to the chaos, Lia was already on him. Her sword whipped up to his chest, but the point hesitated a moment against his fur armor. When he reached for his ax in a panic,