Surprise Attack part 3

Elmo felt like everything was going faster than he could keep track of. First the bridge collapsed, almost from under his feet – although Jonas hadn't been so lucky. Then while he was given a minute to catch his breath, a moment later Kim and Jonas were arguing. Elmo didn't feel like they had time to waste, so he spoke up, even though he wasn't sure what the argument was about. A moment after that, they were running again. Elmo wasn't sure what was going on, only that he was still trying to catch up to what had happened in the first place.

He only knew that the bridge had broken apart, but he couldn't say what the reason was. If anyone told him, he doubted he'd have been able to remember, so he didn't hold that against anyone. He merely wished that he had been able to figure it out on his own.

When they reached the stone bridge that they had been heading towards, Elmo was about to rush onto it when he felt Jonas grab his shoulder and prevented him from continuing on to the bridge.

"Hold on," Jonas said, looking towards Elin. "We're going to need everyone to have their Agi increased so we can move faster across the bridge. No matter what happens, don't look back. Kim and I will bring up the rear."

Elmo nodded blankly. He heard the words, but that didn't mean it made any sense to him. All he could do was react as events happened around him.

"Stat Enhancement," Elin said each time as she touched Kim, Jonas, then Elmo in turn, before she did the same to herself.

Though when she touched Elmo, he felt like his body was suddenly lighter and springier. It wasn't much of an effect, but it was at least noticeable. Which made Elmo stat to wonder if either Jonas or Kim had noticed something that had caused the last natural bridge to collapse like it had.

Which brought to mind when Jonas had told them to run. It was clear that he either had noticed something or sensed something. Though, Elmo had to side with the likelihood that Jonas had noticed something since he had enhanced senses to work with.

When they started across the bridge at a half-run, half-jog, Elmo kept his eyes scanning their surroundings, unsure what he should be looking for, only that it would need to be big enough that it would have such an effect on the bridges.

When they were halfway across, Elmo heard Jonas say, "Here it comes."

Elmo doubted they would want him to help with whatever they had in mind. Which he agreed with. Or at least on the part about him helping at this moment. Whatever else happened, once he was on the other side, he planned on seeing what he could do with his magic.

After all, there hadn't been a real need for his magic for a few days, so he had his MP fully restored and he was ready to launch spells. Though, he couldn't say if he'd be able to actually cast anything, since as he glanced in the direction Jonas had indicated, there wasn't anything that he could see. Not that let that convince him that there wasn't anything there.

He'd already known there was a lot in this world that didn't follow the rules of what he had been used to in his old world, so he shrugged the issue off his mind. He couldn't say what was going to occur, but he knew that their two frontline fighters were expecting something. Which was all he really needed to know about it.

Elmo didn't pause as Jonas and Kim positioned themselves on the bridge. He wasn't sure how they knew where to stand, but he wasn't going to argue. Elin paused only long enough for Kim to order her to continue on. Though, what surprised Elmo about Elin most was that after she clearly continued on, she passed Elmo with ease. While there was enough room for them to do that easily, Elmo wasn't as comfortable on how secure the stone was. Which made him wonder why he found it so surprising.

When Elmo had about a quarter of the way to go, he felt the bridge lurch beneath him, like it had suddenly become alive and decided to lift itself upwards. However, a moment later, he felt the stone fall away from his feet. Giving him a momentary sense of floating in the air.

When he started to fall down, he was able to catch hold of the stone in front of him, from the waist up, which seemed to still be intact. Although, he couldn't help but notice as he was trying to figure out how to climb up safely, that a giant crack was visible along the center of the stone.

Elmo wasn't sure if it was anything he should worry about right then, but he couldn't help but fear that it was merely about to fall, giving him nothing more to hold onto and leaving him in freefall. However, he did his best to keep those thoughts out of his mind. He wasn't sure what happened to Kim or Jonas, as he didn't have the time to take to check. In fact, he was merely struggling to keep from sliding off the stone rather than climbing up.

All of his surroundings had ceased to exist as far as he was concerned as he carefully did his best to climb up on the stone, even as he felt himself slide down, closer to falling off completely.

Suddenly he felt two hands grasp his own hand, startling him, making him start to slide back. Costing him all of the progress he'd been able to, as well as making him hang off the edge more than he had before.

He looked up to see Elin helping pull him up. Elmo couldn't help but smile at himself. If nothing else, he knew that Elin still cared about his well being, if not about him.

After a moment, needing that time to fully process that Elin was there, helping him, he started to pull himself back up and was surprised to see how much progress he was able to make with another person's help.

When he was laying on the remnants of the natural stone bridge, he couldn't help but lay there, trying to catch his breath. He hadn't expected that he'd have needed to catch his breath after something as simple as that.

However, he knew he didn't have time to just lay there. Not with the cracks in the remaining stone that he couldn't be sure how structurally sound the rest of the bridge was. So, even as he was recovering from that small ordeal, he climbed to his feet, not moving as quickly as he would have liked.

Elin wasn't far behind him as to getting to her feet, though Elmo let her move ahead of her, since he was dubious about if it would remain sturdy if he put any weight to one side of the stone. Fortunately nothing else crumbled away from it, although Elmo still expected it to happen any second.

When he was safely off of the stone bridge that was no more, Elmo allowed himself to take the time to fully gather his bearings and catch his breath. He didn't see much else that he could do, but it wasn't like he could see what there was to do otherwise at that moment.

It felt like it only took a moment or two, but he couldn't be certain how long it took exactly. All he could be confident about was that Elin had recovered faster than he did.

Without, bothering to think about that fact, he looked around, hoping to see that Jonas and Kim hadn't fallen with the bridge. If they had, he hoped that the rocks hitting the water of the river would then make it more likely for them to survive landing in it, but he didn't know if that would be the case or not.

After a few minutes, what felt like an hour to him, he finally spotted Kim and Jonas. They were on something that Elmo couldn't see. Kim had drawn her sword and plunged it into whatever had broken the bridge. Jonas was in a similar state, only he had his two daggers inside whatever it was.

The only thing Elmo could see about the creature was the blood flowing out of the wounds that Kim and Jonas had inflicted on whatever it was. Elmo couldn't say if they were in a secure position or not, only that they didn't look like they could get themselves out of the predicament they were currently in.

Which meant that while Elmo couldn't say what it was that was attacking them, his magic might be able to help them out. Although, he hoped that he didn't accidentally hit Jonas or Kim in the process.

Yet, he was confident that if he or Elin didn't do anything, that eventually Kim and Jonas would fall, since while it didn't look like they were hanging on with their blades, he doubted that they'd be able to hang on without their blades. As such, their strength to hold on would only last for so long.