District 42-Chapter 93: The rescue part 3

A different kind of tension raised in the air. The Ridire’s legs were trembling slightly. Nobody knew exactly what was going on, but they had an idea at the moment they saw Alfar beside Olaf with his eyes closed while running.

A chill went down their spines and made them shiver. Their minds said loud and clear "Get out!". But they were warriors, they couldn’t run away. They needed to stand in their feet until the enemy fell, or they fell first.

The pressure kept increasing, getting to the point where they couldn’t breathe properly. Even Olaf was starting to panic, not knowing what was happening to Alfar.

However, it all ended when a loud thud could be heard echoing in the entire corridor.

Both, the rescuers and the Ridires got surprised and looked to the responsible for that sound.

They just noticed Anton when he was already with his knee stuck in the face of a Ridire, in middle-air. The strike knocked down the warrior immediately, blood running down his mask.

In a matter of seconds, all the Ridires gathered at that corridor were in the ground. And Anton was standing in the middle of them, with no scratches. Even his knuckles were unharmed.

Suddenly, he turned to Alfar and Olaf, puffing his chest and then shouting:

"Don’t stop to run you idiots! Don’t let them make Casper enter the damn laboratory!" Then he ran through the corridors, leading the way. Without hesitation, motivated by his shout, the other two followed him.

The corridors were filled with Ridires making the guard of that place. All of them seemed to be aware of the group’s approach, because every turn, cross, or straight corridor had a warrior already prepared to shoot on them.

And the deeper they got, the more cold and serious the Ridires became, and at some point they would shot without hesitation or warning.

Anton showed incredible speed and combat acumen, not letting them barely touch the trigger of the guns before giving a single, but amazingly accurate blow that would knock them down.

Alfar and Olaf did what they could to keep running and avoiding the Ridires, but they weren’t as trained as Anton, so sometimes they needed to engage in combat for a while.

They could catch up with the people carrying Casper to the laboratory. However, as they approached, the number of Ridires on guard waiting for them increased as well.

Anton was still untouched, but the same could not be said for Alfar and Anton, who got shot several times and had bruises all over their bodies.

"Go ahead! They are in our reach!"

"I know, Anton! I know! Easy said than done..." Alfar complained, receiving a strike with the butt of the Ridire’s gun and seeing everything spinning around him.

Olaf came and saved Alfar, bumping onto the Ridire and striking him also with the butt of a gun he stole.

"Catch their weapons and defend yourselves, hurry!" He said, giving a rifle to Alfar and helping him to get up.

The Dark elf didn’t know how to use properly a rifle, and Olaf was not so experienced either, but it was better than just keep going with their bare hands.

Anton did not pick a weapon for him and preferred to use his hands only.

As far as Alfar remembered, they were already getting closer to the laboratory, but they came to a point where they could not pass.

Ridires appeared from different corridors and tried to stop them, getting in their way.

It was when three of them showed from nowhere and shot at the group, they needed to take a turn to the left to avoid their shots and take their breath.

"Anton knows these guys, the three of them are experienced Ridires, you two are no match for them in corporal fight or exchange of shots, and they probably have powerful devices. We will not get any closer like this, they will slow us down until Casper arrives at the laboratory."

Alfar and Olaf got pensive.

"And what do we do? If we don’t keep pressing forward, the time will come when we will be surrounded by Ridires, right?" Olaf, who was the most insecure and pessimist, could always bring these kinds of clever conclusions by analyzing the situation with his negative perspective.

"We will, indeed. But we are completely stuck now, anyway." Anton shrugged. "I can take them down, but I don’t have 100% of certainty that I will get out of this unharmed, and I don’t work with 99.9% of chance."

They felt like they were stuck in a mousetrap. They had nowhere to go, and every second they passed reflecting on it increased the distance between them and Casper.

Alfar bit his lips, then presented a bold plan.

"And if I and Olaf go ahead? You could buy some time, right?" A brief glint passed through Anton’s eyes upon hearing this. Alfar didn’t know if it was excitement or, somewhat, anger.

The middle-aged man clicked his tongue then looked to the corridor.

Of course, the three Ridires were not waiting for them and were approaching slowly the corridor they had hid.

"Very well, go ahead then. I am counting on you two... But if you got shot in the wrong place and turn into dead weight, I will leave you behind." He said straightforwardly.

Both nodded. Olaf was up to it as well.

Alfar started to count, holding his rifle as tightly as he could.

The two inmates jumped to the other corridor, aiming towards the approaching Ridires, and opened fire without hesitation.

One of them used a device on their chest and put himself in front of the shoots. The bullets got stopped from a slightly reddish barrier that appeared in front of him.

"A shield!" Alfar exclaimed.

Another enemy threw a grenade. It rolled on the ground and stopped right on Alfar’s foot. He jumped to the side, trying to run away.

"No, don’t run! Close your eyes, it is a..." Olaf was starting to say but the flashbang exploded in an intensely bright light that blinded the Dark elf.

Olaf didn’t get blind, but a bullet came piercing the air and got stuck in his leg.

He cried in pain, kneeling on the ground, and another one reached his arm, making him drop the rifle.

"They are good! These guys indeed are damn good!" He thought desperate.

The warriors began to approach again, but just like a shadow, Anton showed among them, holding one of their flashbangs.

The enemies didn’t have the time to avoid it, and they received the explosion of pure white light in a short distance. They felt that their retina was burning.

In a matter of seconds, Anton disarmed them and stroke each of them in vital spots, taking those Ridires down.

"Hurry! We are almost there!" He shouted.

The group gave chase in Casper again. Olaf tried to stand up, but his leg wasn’t working properly.

Alfar exchanged looks with Anton, and the old man just shook his head negatively.

"I am sorry, man. We will bring him back, don’t worry." He murmured, then followed Anton. On the way, he picked up three flashbangs with those knocked Ridires, just in case.

After a flight of stairs going down, they got into a wider corridor, and finally saw Casper being carried again.

"That door at the end of the corridor is the Lab’s door! We need to stop them!"

That corridor was wider than the others they passed before. However, it had more space for the guards as well, and there was a whole troop spread through there.

"Don’t fight back, Alfar! Sprint! Sprint and ignore all of them, the priority is to stop those two carrying Casper!" Once he said it, the middle-aged man used all the strength on his legs to pass through the dozens of Ridires positioned in that corridor.

Alfar did the same, the noise of his strong steps echoing there.

At first, the guards just kept looking at them, coldly, eagerly... And then, someone yelled something, a command... And a rain of bullets, rays, and all sorts of different device’s effects started to fall upon Alfar and Anton.

As the two kept sprinting, they didn’t run out of gas, but their speed increased even more in a frantic onslaught through that place.

Anton punched and kicked every Ridire that got in his range, never stopping to move. His movements were swift and accurate. That man was relentless. His reflexes allowed him to pass through the multiple attacks and dodge everything.

Alfar was also pulling through, just lowering his head, and with courage and determination facing whatever that showed in front of him. He wasn’t a combatant like Anton, but he had what it takes to follow him through that chaotic place.

At some point, Olaf could drag himself to the start of that corridor with guns in hand, and give support for both of them from behind, shooting in every Ridire that tried to get in their way, and targeting those who had the most powerful technologies.

"Keep going, Alfar! He is right on your reach! Right there!" And so the Dark elf shouted for himself, nearly able to regain his freedom.