The last move, and the wrong move

SLAMMMM

As I swung the book towards the attacker, its pointy and hard edge hit the man's spread-out hand's wrist. The man's face contorted at that exact instant and he lost his posture. That hit must've hurt a lot... I mean, I hit a sensitive spot so...

"Gah!"

He gritted his teeth as he stumbled for a second and lost his focus. From the way he lost his balance and concentration so easily, I could say that he wasn't much of an experienced fighter. Probably, he had only dealt with normal travelers and foot soldiers until now, and his strongest opponents were his own subordinates. It was obvious that he had never experienced a real or intense battle by the way he was fighting.

And, that's good for me.

The boss was distracted by the hit he received. It was only for a second but that one second was enough for me to take a long step forward, grab the book with both hands, and swing it in the opposite direction of my fist move.

SLAMMMMM

I slammed the boss's face with the hard and flat part of the cover. I swear I heard the sound of his nose breaking. Blood sprung out of his nose as soon as I moved back the book. The boss staggered backward as if he was dizzy while raising his hand to wipe his bloody nose.

But why would I give him the chance to do that?

"Motherfuckerrrr!"

I switched the angle of the book and with a loud yell, slammed the man's face again with all my might.

I sensed my surroundings go quieter and quieter, but I didn't mind that and once again switched to the position of the book in my hands. With the sharp edge of it pointed at the man's temple, I smacked his head as hard as I could. The edge of the book got folded inside a little bit and some red liquid was seen on it.

Once I moved away my hand, red blood oozed out of the tiny wound on the boss's temple, wetting his face and dripping down his chin.

The man took a step back and lowered his head. His body swayed back and fro and he stumbled on his feet. The sword he was holding slid out of his hand and fell to the ground with a jingling sound.

I'm not sure how long this man would be in his dazed state and how long it will take for Liam or any other knights could rush to my help, so I have to do something myself. I have to deal fatal damage to the man so that he wouldn't be able to attack me for at least a minute until either I run away or someone rushes to my help.

'I'm sorry sir bandit!'

I had to take another step forward to reach the man as he had moved a little bit away from me, and when I was a few inches away from him, I raised my right leg a little bit in the air, before kicking the man in a... a really painful spot.

Call me cowardly but I am fighting here with my life on the line! Why would I care about honor and such things as long as I manage to survive? I... I'm truly sorry mister but you started it first! You kicked me in the chest first! Actually, you deserved it! Who knows how many people you've killed so far?! You deserve more kicks in that spot than one!

The man's shrill cry echoed in the vast plain, bringing shivers to the backs of every single male present in the area, as well as me. The bandit's knees gave out and he fell down to the ground, squealing and squirming in pain. The wound on his temple and his broken nose were still bleeding and his body was shivering all over.

'Well, it's not really the time for me to stay here and look at this pathetic fellow.'

As that thought crossed my mind, I hurriedly took a few steps back, turned around, and ran away from the boss of the bandits. Once I moved around, I saw Alaric still sitting on the ground and staring at me with his jaw wide open and his eyes bulged out. He sent a glance at the man behind my back, then looked at me with a frightened expression.

"What?"

As soon as I arrived beside him, I grabbed his collar once again and pulled him up.

"Get up and run!"

I pointed at the place where Ranger and the rest were curled up behind the knights as I dragged my young master with me. Ranger and Ralph were not too far away from us, they were only a few meters ahead and Liam was also fighting someone in the area between us and Ranger.

But for some reason, Liam and his opponent seemed to have stopped their battle and they were both now staring at the fallen boss of the bandits.

"B-boss..."

Liam's opponent mumbled with a shaky voice. Following him, more similar voices rose to the air from different places. The shocked and shaky voices changed to angry and mad ones in the span of a few seconds, and the next thing I saw was a bunch of furious people rushing at me like rampaged beasts.

'Whaaaat?'

The bandits that were higher in number than the knights suddenly went into a frenzy, forgetting the things they were doing and rushing at the fallen man and at me. It happened so fast that the knights couldn't even react. Seriously, what are you here for if you can't even hold back a bunch of thugs!?

"Move your ass!"

I pushed Alaric forward and hastened my steps at the same time, but then, I stopped moving after I realized something.

'Won't these people attack Ranger and Ralph as well if I run to them?'

I let go of Alaric's shirt and turned around. Liam's opponent had abandoned his fight with him and was rushing toward me with an enraged face, however, his back was sliced by Liam before he could even take two steps. The thug let out a scream and fell to the ground. Liam turned around and glanced at me for a second before swinging his sword once again, cutting off the hand of another bandit.

Thud

Thud

Thud

The bandits that had moved without considering the situation they were in were easy prey in the hands of the skilled knights. They were cut and killed easily with a few swings of swords and their bodies fell down to the ground one by one, however, they were still higher in number. As some of the thugs were sliced and defeated, some managed to run past the line of knights and approach their boss, some helping the man up and some pulling out their weapons and rushing towards me.

'I... I guess the last move was a wrong decision...'

I should've just beaten that bastard with the book! I should've smashed that face of his with the cover until he fainted!

"Kill these bastards!"

"Kill that fucker and the noble bitch!"

A bunch of angry bandits jumped toward me and Alaric but before they could reach us or do anything, Liam moved in front of us with a large leap and deflected their attacks with a sweep of his sword.

"Move back!"

He didn't look back at us when he said that and instead turned to face the enemies. I did as I was told. I turned around and resumed running towards the old man and the kid beside the other carriage while also dragging Alaric with me.

But just before reaching the due, when I was a few steps away from them, I stopped moving once again.

I stopped upon seeing a figure jumping out of the carriage we were approaching.