The Hyrule Paradox: Worlds Collide | BOTW Isekai (Book 1)

Chapter 43: Vanquished

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It was a cheerful whistle. Somebody was heading towards them up the stairs, their shadow turned grotesque by torchlight, and it certainly wasn't going to be friendly. Thinking quickly, Jordan handed Maria off to Olivia and knocked an ice arrow to his bow as quickly as he could. As soon as the person, which turned out to be a Yiga Blademaster, came around the wall at the turn of the staircase, Jordan fired his bow, catching the man in the chest and freezing him solid. Jordan hastily dashed over to the new ice sculpture, and dragged him out of sight of the staircase. He pushed the sculpture around and down the other set of stairs into the gatehouse, hoping that he would stay frozen for as long as possible. To their dismay, he heard more voices as he returned to the top of the steps.

"Hey! Did I just hear the chink of an ice arrow? Did anybody fire an ice arrow?" Jordan heard a murmur of 'no's', and then they heard a deep, angry voice. "There must be intruders! Get them!"

They heard a scraping of metal against metal as swords were drawn, and thundering footsteps as they charged up the stairs. Behind him, he heard Allison and Maria whimper at the sound. He drew a bomb arrow on his drawstring out of desperation this time, and when he saw the next Yiga soldier charge out from behind the wall, he didn't hold back. The arrow hit the wall at the corner of the staircase, and Jordan saw at least four red bodies get thrown back down the stairs and out of sight. The explosion also created a large hole in the wall, and cracks started to spread across the chiseled stone. He watched as the cracks reached all the way up to the ceiling, and he realized that if he kept shooting, their only exit would collapse under thousands of pounds of rock.

There was a pause. The Yiga had stopped their charge for some reason, probably to look at the wounds of their fellow warriors. This gave them a chance to regroup, but Jordan knew they were reaching a breaking point. Olivia asked the logical question, but her voice was filled with fear. "What are we going to do?!"

Jordan glanced at the entrance and then back at her. A plan was formulating in his mind, and dark energy sparked up his arms as anxiety swirled in his chest. "I think this is our only way out, since Link is probably dealing with other members of the clan at the other exit right now. If you guys can carry Maria and Allison out, I'll find a way to take care of the Yiga, and we can escape. Once we get past the entrance, we run as fast as we can and meet Link at the rendezvous point."

"You think you can take on the entire Clan by yourself?!" Olivia asked like he was crazy.

"I don't need to beat them, I just need to prevent them from getting to us while we escape." he said, "Quick, they're coming! Let's go!"

He moved closer to the stairs as he heard thundering footsteps. He concentrated and thrust out his hands and a powerful wave of water that burst forth and swept down the staircase. With such little space and so much power, the wave crashed down the stairs, knocking anybody in its path down and out. Jordan moved down to the corner halfway up the stairway, and gestured for the rest of them to follow. Allison and Maria still couldn't seem to move for themselves, and Olivia and Matt were doing their best to support them.

Jordan leaned over and peeked around the corner down at the entrance plaza. He immediately pulled his head back as several arrows went whistling by his face, hitting the opposite wall and falling harmlessly to the floor. His heart rate exploded as he realized he had almost just died. Jordan tried to shake off the shock and readied a bomb arrow on his drawstring and blindly shot it into the Yiga mob in the plaza. He heard screams of anguish as the explosion rocked the chamber. The cracks in the stone began to snake across the ceiling like impatient harbingers of doom.

Jordan knew that they had to get rid of the archers, otherwise they would be pinned behind the wall without a way out. He turned to Olivia for help, but before he could, a Yiga blademaster teleported into existence right in front of him in the small space. Olivia screamed in surprise and fear and adrenaline surged through Jordan's body. The muscular man towered over him, and raised his katana. Almost instinctively, Jordan thrust out his hand and blasted him right in the face with a beam of dark energy and the blademaster fell to his knee. Jordan didn't let up, ripping the blademaster's sword out of his hands and slashing at his torso with it, leaving a deep dark cut. The wounded man teleported away before Jordan could attack again. Jordan tossed the weapon away and turned to Olivia who still had a look of shock on her face.