Robert
The Okamimi watched what she could of the scene. She attempted to stand as the mage cast the spells to heal her injury, and numb the pain. She let the mage work, even though she wanted to rush out there, and fight with Ling, feeling rather guilty as it is.
Michael
"Come on, you have bows! Do something!"

*Ling continues to rush towards the area, yelling towards the Oni.*

"Hey!"
Stacey
The mage finished her healing, and then turned back,"Right, you can handle yourself. I will go and fight now." She said, and then turned, running west in a hurry to join the fight. Machi's wounds would heal in the next turn. 

```
West
```
With Ling rushing toward the Oni, the archers moved north and took up position on the ridge. They drew their bow and shot at the spearmen, forcing them to raise their spear instead of stealing the camels, stalling them. 

The caravan master held his own halberd, pointing it forward defensively at the Oni as he moved in. 

The lamellar Oni were followed by his warriors, who attempted to move south of the Oni to outflank Ling, but the ridge was way too narrow to let all of them pass. 

```
Turn 18
Not Shown: Lifeless spearman running west along the river
```
Michael
*The swordswoman rushes at the club wielding Oni, both her swords on the left side. She performs a diagonal cut with the right blade, but it's out of measure. However, she steps to the left, with her left blade glowing blue this time, aiming to cut off the Oni's fingers or hand.*
```Hurricane Blade cast, 5 mana spent, 2.5 regained, 67.5/70 remaining.```
Robert
The Okamimi now that she was healing, and her injury went away, she moved towards the fighting. She rested a had on her katana. She didn't think she could reasonably hit any of the enemy with a fireball, and just moved in, as much as she could.
Stacey
The lamellar-equipped Oni moved in, preparing to hit Ling with his club by bringing it up to his shoulder, while the remaining bandits moved toward the caravan master, who held his billhook stoutly, trying to block them from reaching the archer. 

As the Oni prepared to make a swing, he saw Ling's katana move toward him - out of measure, it was, so he simply moved back, and tried to avoid the hit. The left blade came quickly afterward, and he found himself unable to react in time to parry it. Instead, to protect his hand...

He simply released his finger, making the katana hit the club behind it with a loud, cringe-inducing clang, saving his hand but dropping the club. 

As he backed off, he reached for a dagger in his hand, and another Oni took his place with axe and shield. The Oni were now funneled together, to the point they could accidentally hit eachother or even shove one of their own down the ridge by accident.

The other Onis are lightly equipped - with only a gambeson, axe and shield, but they do have a shield. 

In the western end, with the spearmen pinned down by the archers, they held up their shield and started moving north, attempting to flank the merchants.

```
Turn 19
```
Michael
*The Oni had dropped his weapon, and he now had a dagger. Good. Only problem was with the axe and shield wielders.*

*Ling feints a cut with her left blade at the nearest axe Oni's head, but stops it before it actually hits. Instead, her right blade chops off the Oni's unprotected leg. Should the lamellar Oni attempt to rush her to get a hit in, she swings at his hand once again, forcing him to be careful, and back away.*
Robert
The Okamimi continued her wild dash towards the battlefield. She wasn't sure if she was close enough to accurately try to fling a fireball, yet but figured she must be getting close enough, though at this point.
Stacey
```
Caravan Master
```
The Caravan Master stayed at the side of the fight. As the Lamellar Oni backed off, he took advantage of the length of his weapon - and the fact the Oni cannot back off, to make a swing at his lower leg. The Lamellar-equipped Oni had no protection, and backed off, into his comrade.

He barely avoided the swing, at the cost of slamming into his teammate with his dummy heavy body, sending him tumbling down the ridge to the left as he mistepped. 

"AAuugh..." One could hear a moan from behind the ridge as the Oni fell. 

```
Ling
```
The oni raised his shield to block the hit, only to realize it was a feint slightly late, as a blade quickly came below his shield, cutting off one of the tendon in his lower leg. He dropped down onto the ground with his weapon, screaming out in pain. 

"AGH!" 

The sword Oni behind him would've rushed in to get Ling - but the ridgeline was in his way, forcing him to parkour up - in sight of an enemy. 

```
The retreat
```

"*Run!*" *The lamellar Oni ordered in Runran, - which may or may not be understood by some of the party members. The flankers to the north turned around - except for the lifeless spearman, who charged the archer with suicidical intention

The Oni Spearmen turned south, running there instead of west because of intervening ridgeline, and the limitation of **Map border**, a most deadly magic around this part. They started fleeing, turning their shield across their body to block any projectiles coming their way.

```
Turn 20
```
Michael
"Good. Back off!"

*Now they were backing off. The caravan was safe. Except for that one spearman. Did he have a death wish?*

*Ling dashes towards him, using her left sword to push the spear upwards once again. Only this time, instead of going for the hand, she would rush in and plunge the blade into the spearman's heart.*

"You asked for it. I warned you."
Robert
She continued to approach, starting to slow down, as she readied her katana, just in case. She saw they were running, but wasn't sure if this was a feigned retreat or not.

"Damn it... I missed most of the fighting."

The Okamimi sighed, shaking her head, and her ears drooped a little inside her helmet, in response. She felt like she had let herself down, the merchants, and Ling to a degree. Getting wounded in the foot, and all.
Stacey
Ling moved north between the group of armed merchant toward the spearman. The spearman threatened to charge the archer, stopping them from shooting at his fleeing comrade. 

Then, as Ling rushed north, and the bandits moved south, the spearman did the unexpected. 

He turned around and randomly stabbed one of the horse in the face, killing it. Unfortunately, his spear is now stuck, leading one of the archer to draw his dagger and prepare to close in.

"OI! YOU FUCK!" One of the merchant shouted out, it was *His* Horse, after all. 


```
Others
```
The mage walked up on the ridge, and fired a fireball at one of the fleeing Oni's ass, setting his pants on fire. 

The lifeless spearman fleeing from the fight in the east rushed toward Machi - holding his spear two handed again. It seems these two are determined to ensure the rest of the gang escape. 

The Oni who was shoved down a ridge stood up, running alongside the rest of his comrades. 

```
Turn 21
```
Michael
"Watch it, don't be brash! He has his weapon!"

*Ling runs to try and get in front of the merchant, stabbing the lifeless warrior if his spear was stuck in the horse's head, deflecting it instead if he was able to get it out and _then_ stabbing him. If she wasn't able to get in front of the merchant, well, there was nothing she could do.*
Robert
She took in a breath, readying her sword as she saw the spearman charging. Her off-hand began to glow red, and she launched a fireball at the spearman, grinning a little, as she began moving backwards towards the rest of the group, instead of meeting the spearman's charge, head on.

`Fireball cast, 5 Mana spent, 3.5 regained, 128.5/130 Mana remaining.`
Stacey
Ling rushed forward and thrusted her sword into the summon's head, piercing through his skull and killing the lifeless warrior instantly. Within a moment, the blood on her blade disappeared - alongside the summon. 

The fireball flew straight toward the spearman's face, setting it on fire and deforming it, ending the charge shortly after as it dropped dead onto the ground, unable to even scream. 

With the two summons disappearing and the imminent threat of attack gone, the remaining Onis fled, leaving one of them to throw up his hands in surrender, and the rest fleeing successfully. 

All in all, a good day. 

The caravan master started unloading the goods from the dead horse, distributing them between the remaining animals - bringing one of the spare up as a pack animal. And then enlisted Ling and Machi to help tie up the captive, who would be brought over to the next city to be sold into forced labor. Or slavery.

Unfortunately for them, there were barely any rewards to be had from defending a caravan. But since Machi and Ling were the one who saved the caravan, the merchants decided to award them out of their own pocket, plus all of the proceeds from selling that one single captive. 

Plus, this was quite the learning experience. 

```
Turn 22 - 

Quest Complete. 

Ling learned quite a lot from those practical application of her dual sword style - 8 UP 
Machi learned by failure, these lessons would be very memorable. - 8 UP 

The merchant awarded them 500 silver each, out of their own pocket - they weren't exactly the richest people in the world, but they do have money.

And of course, the Oni were sold for a hefty sum of 40 Gold after being healed up. 

Equipment Fund Per Person: 1000 silver 
Asset Fund Per Person: 1500 silver

For future record: The caravan master introduced himself as Gregor, a foreigner in Dezabia with quite a lot of connection in the country. Perhaps he could be a lucrative source of future works.
```

And thus, I wrap up the story of these two warriors in the desert for now. And I shall head to eat lunch. 

*Slurp*

We'll talk about the next page in the Chronicle of Drase soon.