A coward's story

While Alexandria was busy fighting for her life, a group of people were doing something very similar not too far away.

In a nearby field, there were four people, in the front there was a muscular human man with black hair and brown eyes carrying a sword and shield and wearing leather armor, and an elven woman with yellow hair and green eyes carrying a bow and a few arrows in her quiver also wearing leather armor.

Behind them was Beastman, with the genes of a lion, he didn't have the crown most of his kind held he had sharp teeth nonetheless, in his leg a small arrow could be seen, making it difficult for him to walk. He had no weapons, his claws were more than sufficient on their own. his stronger skin also allowed him to save on armor, though he now wished he bought it instead of being cheap.

The last member of the group, a young Genasi woman with robes and a wooden staff desperately tried to keep up, but since she is a magician, her mana has a greater impact on her physical condition than the rest.

When a normal human's mana is expended, they can't cast magic anymore, that's it, but when a mage exhausts their significantly larger pool of mana, it causes their body to shut down to recover, leading to her current predicament.

The human man turned around and ran to the Genasi woman, carrying her and running once again with the extra weight.

Eyes could be seen staring at the group from not too far away, and arrows continued to rain at them.

The goblins were toying with them, taking sadistic pleasure in the hunt for these trapped souls.

The elven woman fired a couple of shots back, successfully hitting two goblins and incapacitating them, but this only caused the other goblins to intensify their fire.

The human fighter was nearly hit multiple times in the back, the shield on his back protected him from the arrow fire.

The same couldn't be said about the elven woman, as the arrows hit her back and legs, causing her to tumble and fall to the ground face-first.

The Beastman saw this, and as he turned to help, he saw the large goblin contingent approaching.

They would be here any second now, and there was a good chance he would be caught if he tried to save her.

With a guilty conscience, he turned and ran, ignoring the screams of pain and the shouting of goblins enjoying their newly captured slave.

The human man had already pulled ahead, but that would be his downfall as another group of goblins ambushed him right as he ran up a hill, killing him and muffling the screams of the genasi woman.

He could hear her begging for aid from him, but that would mean risking his own life, and he wouldn't do that.

No, he, Imbellis, would never do that.

And so he rushed into the forest, begging all the Gods for mercy for his worthless life.

He is a filthy coward, a waste of breath, and a stain on the Beastman race.

That is who Imbellis is.

He ran deeper and deeper into the woods, his intense desire to live gave him great strength, and he rushed through the trees at speeds that Alexandria would marvel at.

However, he could feel his body overheating, Beastmen didn't sweat as much as humans, so he knew he couldn't run forever.

The mud trapped his feet with every step he took too, the periodical flash flood in the region had come earlier than expected, it seemed like the Gods truly wished him to die.

Imbellis continued running, he took deep breaths as he tried to suppress the pain coming from his leg, the poison in his veins already doing its work.

He stumbled eventually, falling on the edge of the woods, he could feel his body collapsing from the head still trapped in it, and he was desperate for aid.

The last thing he saw was a young human female running towards him, shouting words Imbellis didn't understand.

Chapter end