Rupegia 11 Duty

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Today is the 16th.

This morning we only had a quick breakfast and we all left to buy the remaining supplies, we spent most of the morning looking for the last few things. Didn't even use my new sleeping bag and instead we bought a bed that fits us 3. We also bought an even bigger tent that you can stand on, a small table for us to eat inside the tent, a lot of different "Items"-ready meals, and a new flying vehicle for all of us.

The vehicle was quite expensive, 30 gold, but it fits 6. It's a polished wood dinghy with wheels and a winds.h.i.+eld. Looks a bit weak but the price was because the magic tool was quite big, almost the size of a basketball.

The tool is a slightly green tinted polyhedron crystal. There's a handle that's stuck to it, it doesn't move but it responds to pressure, it controls yaw and pitch. To apply propulsion you have to manipulate your mana around the crystal, this means that you can fly in any direction, even backwards, but it's not advised. At most you should only switch between applying force upwards to float or forward to speed up. Roxanne and Hana have a little experience with it so they will fly if necessary, I will learn it in the future.

I sent Alissa to pay Ghulam and after that we moved to the west gate where a row of wagons and a crowd of people are already waiting. It's 11 AM so we take an early lunch on a nearby stall. Then we see Silas coming with 5 knights and 2 robed figures.

The knights wear black scale armor and on top a surcoat with the heraldry of the Lord. In the middle of the knights a familiar face appears, black hair, square jaw, the hint of a stubble and a piercing, stoic gaze. He's the Lord, or rather, a younger version of him.

Behind him another familiar face, an elven girl. Silver straight hair, it almost s.h.i.+nes. Short, skin as white as snow. Oval face, upturned blue eyes, nearly asian, small pointy nose, red lips and the unmistakable long pointy ears of the elves protruding on a right angle from her head.

Silvane notices us and smiles at Alissa who returns it.

Silas stops near the crowd and speaks.

"Gather here hunters! We will begin role call! Bring your leaders and we will start the strategy meeting!" He yells, his voice has the characteristic distortion of someone speaking on a microphone.

When the roll call begins we enter a nearby building and sit around a table. Burly men, scarred faces, wicked eyes, stoic gazes, threatening auras. Those are the adventurers leaders sitting on the table, and then there's me. Aside from Silas I'm the smallest and also the youngest here. I wanna run away, help me Alissa!

Thankfully the strategy has been defined already, there's no need for me to speak. The Lord's son, Haaran, is the one explaining things. He's the leader of the expedition and the leader of the elite troops of the Lord. His voice is lighter than the Lord's but it's like he's a clone of him, I just wonder what kind of genetics is going on here.

There will be one fellows.h.i.+p responsible for the vanguard, one for the rearguard, and 4 duo's responsible for scouting. Those are the ones who will protect the main forces during the trip. After we reach the place chosen as our base of operations all fellows.h.i.+ps will contribute with tracking the base of the goblins.

When found, our strike will begin. There are 2 artillery fellows.h.i.+ps that will rain magic as the first strike. My fellows.h.i.+p, the Lord's elite troops and 2 other fellows.h.i.+ps are the shock troops and will fight any enemy inside their base. The scouting troops will make sure as few as possible goblins escape, the vanguard will protect our backs during the attack and the rearguard will guard our base of operations.

The plan is simple, swift and decisive. We will take half a day to get to the entrance to the Sea of Trees, camp there, half a day to move to our base, most likely half a day to scout, half a day to fight, and another day to get back. We will be back before Selina's wedding. The meeting ends and we are ordered to get up on the wagons.

"Greetings, Mr. Ryder, I hope you remember me," Silvane approaches us and speaks to me, her voice is delicate and feminine.

I actually do remember your curves, or the lack of them, when I saw you wearing that one piece.

"Greetings, Miss Silvane, it would be difficult to forget a face like yours," I say. d.a.m.n I nailed that line.

"Oh my," she smiles, oh my heart, "It is good to see you well Miss Alissa."

"You too, Miss Silvane," she smiles warmly, "What happened to you? You are part of the lord's elite squad now?"

"Oh yes. Lord Haaran bought me, I'm to marry him at the end of the year," she brims with happiness.

"That's amazing! It means he will look to conquer a dungeon soon, right?" Alissa seems very happy.

"Yes, I'm also under apprentices.h.i.+p with the court magicians, I will enter the university the next month."

Oh?

"You might study with master then, he's also joining next month."

"Ah, so he's the one with the blessing then?" She turns to me, "The skill you created, [Redirect Mana], caught the attention of many people."

Ugh, I didn't really want to though. I smile wryly.

"How's the research on that skill? ," she continues.

"It's going very well but because of the subjugation I had to stop it for a while, it will delay me a little now."

"That's unfortunate, but this is our duty," she nod with a serious look and Alissa follows, "We can't let that goblin camp get any larger, for the sake of our people."

Then she's back to smiling faintly.

"It seems you found your happiness," says Alissa.

"And you did yours," answers Silvane.

Alissa blushes a bit.

"Let us go, we can speak more when we reach camp," Silvane says.

"Certainly!"

From what I understood Alissa and Silvane met in the Misty Low Forest when both of them were to be brought to Rabanara. They spent a day-cycle together and became friends. Their dreams and goals were similar, to find someone strong for them to serve so they could honor their families or restore the family's honor in the case of Silvane. They didn't say it but I noticed they didn't have any hope of finding love, they only talked about duty.

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The wagons use double horses and run on the road. It's a rather well built road, less well maintained than the one inside the town but it's still impressive engineering. It is made of large square blocks, there's some sort of cement holding them together; it is slightly curved and a small channel on the sides holds the rainwater that slowly drains away from the road. The wagons don't shake much but they make noise.

We share our wagon with Akros, one of the shock troop fellows.h.i.+ps. They have 4 members. A red skinned demon race man, he has a single horn coming out of his forehead, truly a j.a.panese creation, he uses a tower s.h.i.+eld. A large, tanned, and bearded man, he uses a two-handed sword the size of his body. A lanky white man with an ugly black bowl cut, he uses a longbow. A scrawny and cute dwarf girl with boyish black short hair, she uses a small composite bow.

Honestly they aren't very pleasant. They are too crude, they keep talking about the ways they will disembowel the goblins and the dwarf girl wants to make a compet.i.tion with Alissa on how many eyes they will pop.

Hana saves me, she cuts in the conversation and they eventually ignore me. I just zone out and practice my meditation for [Redirect Mana]. It's quite hard to cut your senses with so much stimulation going on. It serves to shorten the trip though, before I notice it Alissa tells me it's time to leave the wagons.

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I stretch and feel how sore my muscles have become. We spent half a day inside that wagon and I spent all of it meditating, it's kind of amazing. I wish I had this sort of skill back on Earth, boring trips done in a second.

It's 5PM. We left early and reached the border even earlier. Haaran tells us to start marching, the scouts run ahead first, then the vanguard goes, and we follow behind it. Behind us are 10 s.p.a.ce mages, they have large [Item Boxes] and are basically humanoid pack mules, the rearguard is tasked with protecting them. I saw Targua leading the rearguard, he waved at us and kept to his business, what a nice fellow.

The atmosphere of the Sea of Trees is always a bit fantastical to me, even charming. Now I know a few plants and fruits and we discreetly collect them. My "Items" is bottomless so I'm the only one who can afford to increase my load.

I decide to lie and tell Roxanne I have managed to acquire [Summoning Magic] on the university, this way I can use my bird for scouting and my dog for guarding us.

"So, Roxanne, my research of [Golemancy] is pretty close to [Summoning Magic]. So close that I have acquire a few spells on it already."

"Hm?" Her eyes slowly regain focus as she looks at me, "Ah! Oh yes, There's a spell called [Summon Small Golem], right? Kinda obvious the two schools intersect somewhere."

Not the angle I was thinking about but okay.

"Y-yeah, well so far I have only managed to summon a small bird and dog. Also, I wanna tell Lord Haaran but I'm feeling a bit intimidate by him."

"It's okay to not tell, master," Alissa says, "Not many hunters tell all their secrets. You can just use it whenever you wish and most people won't bother. Unless if you summon something really inconspicuous, like the elementals."

Elementals sound interesting. I haven't updated my magic list yet, perhaps I can get more spells now. I don't know what level I need for elementals though.

"But isn't it a rare magic? I don't want to keep calling so much attention to me."

"You are already the town hero," says Hana.

I look at Alissa and Roxanne and they both shrug.

"Besides, the news of you having the blessing of the G.o.ddess of Knowledge should be spreading too. You can't stop your fame anymore, master," Alissa smiles wryly with a hint of pity.

This is bad, but also good, it means I can more easily say "f.u.c.k it" and do what I want. The problem is the ID checks, I need consistency, if I keep adding or removing skills it will be problematic if they are recording my skill progress.

"Alright, I'm thinking about summoning 1 or 2 dogs and using them as guards, that way maybe we won't need to partic.i.p.ate in the watch."

"Oh-oh, that's a good idea, Wolf! Please do," Roxanne excitedly grabs my hand and squirms, "Mages need a good night sleep for full performance on magic, standing guard will only make me weaker."

"Hm, yes, we will all be able to sleep together this way," Hana looks up for a second absentmindedly.

Alissa says nothing but her tail sways. n.o.body likes to stand guard in the cold, alone.

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During our walk suddenly a grey fox appeared, it ran towards the leader of the vanguard and turned into a grey haired man. He has claws, fox ears and a small snout in place of a noise but no tail. I felt like bragging that Alissa becomes a much bigger fox. It seems he's not part of Alissa's clan though, most of her clan is orange or black colored.

The fox man talks to the leader and they rush forward, a minute later I hear the scream of a dying ogre. Then the leader, a short and wide man with a poleaxe, comes back bloodied and dripping.

The sun sets at the sound of a dying goblin and the scouts come back. Haaran tells us to set camp. I sweat a little when people start bringing out tools and building their own tents. I breath in and pull out my large, square tent who was stored completely built. Then I hurry inside to hide.

"This is actually nice, I should have bought one as big as yours," says Roxanne.

The tent is roughly 5x10m, our bed fits in perfectly and near the entrance is the small table with 4 chairs. I won't let anyone see the inside of this tent though, this is rather excessive.

"But you wouldn't be able to carry it yourself, right?" I say.

"With your stupid [Item Box] it would be pretty easy. Now I don't even want a bigger tent, I wanna sleep on your bed too, the bag is pretty bad," she says while pouting.

"Sorry, my bed is only for my lovers."

I will not sacrifice my privacy even if you are a companion.

Hana smirks at Roxanne who looks away and Alissa keeps her poker face but I saw that tail twitch, I saw it!

"Now it should be okay to leave, master. Let's take a bath," says Alissa.

Discreetly I leave and I pull out a foldable part.i.tion and put a simple wooden bathtub in the middle. Then Roxanne comes, fills it up, and heats it. Roxanne goes first, she can make the water disappear with magic and conjure it again pretty fast. With that I get to wash the girls and enjoy myself, I got a proper gag now and it m.u.f.fles their moans almost entirely. The part.i.tion isn't excessive, it's something any fellows.h.i.+p with two different s.e.xes brings, it's the bathtub that's the problem.

Once we finish there's multiple tents already pitched, a bonfire crackling, a large wooden table with wood benches where people are eating on, and a large pot on the fire where one of the s.p.a.ce mages is cooking something.

Silvane sees us and waves for us to come sit besides her. She's not wearing her robe but a thick woolen red dress, it's not something that's meant to be fas.h.i.+onable but she still looks cute on it. We sit and I bring out our "Items"-ready meals, Silvane also seems to be eating something prepared beforehand and not the soup from the s.p.a.ce mages.

"Say Mr. Ryder. Were you the one who gave the info that the Giant Tarantulas were using the web on their bodies?" Silvane asks.

I blink blankly a few times.

"How did you know that?"

"Only you and Hauberk were the only ones hunting there for the last half-cycle. Since I heard you have a blessing you are the most obvious candidate."

"Hah, that makes sense. So, was it useful?"

"Yes. We explored the Ant Hill after your battle to investigate the battle site and then we hunted the White Arachne. On the way we tested your info and burned to death half the spiders, it was quite the help. Though the smell is quite terrible," she lets out a wry smile.

"Amazing, I'm glad that helped," I smile warmly.

"Though I got a little interested on the second part. The info said that it might be only one of the spider genders that were doing this, with that we did a few autopsies and discovered that was true. We also found you can identify the s.e.x of the spider by the pedipalps, the little legs that float in front of the spider. One s.e.x has rounder pedipalps while the other has pointy pedipalps, the round pedipalps are the ones who burn."

Silvane seems very content in telling us this. I'm a little impressed at her knowledge.

"You seem very happy in telling us this, you planning on becoming a scholar?"

"Perhaps one day. I like to think about the details, there are many small details that we overlook, this one detail you found helped us kill these spiders twice as fast."

"But why didn't anybody discover this first?"

"Perhaps it's mating season, the Lord is going to send a squad to investigate every half-cycle to see if that is true."

"That's good news," says Alissa.

"You telling them about the spiders, Silf?" Haaran comes and sits besides her.

Silf? Is that kindness I hear in his voice? Kind of hard to imagine the stoic man with a piercing gaze being like this.

"Yes, it was Mr. Ryder who gave us the info on the spiders," she gushes at him.

"Hm. You have my grat.i.tude Mr. Ryder," he gives a small nod, "It was quite the odd info but it turned out to be true"

Silvane giggles and then she blushes.

"Oh, the info about on how to break mind poison was also useful, we… confirmed it works," Silvane says and turns her eyes away. Haaran freezes for a second.

I smirk. I also told the guild that the arachnes mind poison can be broken by "pa.s.sionately kissing a loved one".

Silvane coughs and changes the topic. She asks about my adventures with Alissa and then tells tales of her own adventures, me and Haaran just silently stare at them while we eat. Hana is talking to another fellows.h.i.+p nearby, she already got a beer tankard. Roxanne is by the fire listening to some story and she brought her own wine. I'm okay not talking to strangers but I still prefer to be able to talk to my women while eating.

I gather some courage and talk to Haaran.

"Ah, Mi-l-lord Haaran, about the watch. I can summon dogs to keep watch, I could summon two dogs and a bird. Do you think I can, uh, skip partic.i.p.ating on the watch if I make them keep guard?"

"One of my own knights uses a dog as a subst.i.tute for the watch, so I can't deny you. Just make sure it's one with a good hearing and smell."

His gaze gives me chills but he's not ill-intended. I just bow a little and excuse myself to my tent.

I saw him grab the hand of Silvane, then she said her goodbyes to Alissa and both entered his tent.

I summon 2 dobermans and a small bird making all my mana go away, it's a bit risky to do this but the camp is safe so I have time to recover it. One dog stays at the entrance of our tent, Roxanne's tent is right besides ours so the dog protects her tent too, I share my hearing with this dog. The other dog patrols the camp and will bark and come to me if a monster is found and the bird does the same, I don't share my senses with these two.

I spend some time kissing and stroking Alissa and then Hana comes back. When Hana drinks she doesn't get drunk, she gets h.o.r.n.y. She pulls my pants and tells Alissa to continue her oral lessons. The feeling isn't the best but having two women lick your shaft is a perfectly erotic scene, their tongues touch once in a while and I feel tingling in my heart.

They take their turns until I finish inside Alissa's mouth.

"Don't swallow everything, give me a bit," says Hana.

Alissa freezes and stares at Hana.

"Come on, spit a bit on my mouth," she insists and smiles.

I nod to Alissa and she moves over Hana. She opens her mouth and lets a white dribble out of her lips, Hana opens her mouth and lets it fall on her tongue, she comes so close to Alissa they almost kiss.

"Holy s.h.i.+t, and I thought I was the depraved one," I say.

Hana just smiles and cleans the tip of my d.i.c.k.

We all sleep with leather armor so no naked touching or breast pillow for me, but it's still a wonderful nights sleep.

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Today is the 17th.

As soon as the sun comes out Haaran's knights wake everyone and hurry us to break camp and start marching.

Since our tent is just a simple b.u.t.ton press we take our time and again Hana starts her morning by sucking my soul through my d.i.c.k.

"Sorry, master. But this is my first battle in 7 months, I'm really excited," Hana says while playing around with my d.i.c.k.

"You really don't need to be sorry for this. The maximum you can do is give me another level on [Enhanced s.e.m.e.n Recharge]."

Hana smirks and I spend a few more minutes kissing Alissa. Even Alissa seems to be in a good mood, is she eager for battle too?

"I heard that men sh-… men or women should sleep with their loved ones before battle, no need for thoughts of regret or unspent desires on the battlefield," I say.

"I agree with that. Unfortunately I never had someone to use my desires on," says Hana.

"You are free to make up for lost time," I say.

"Master, be careful, one day Hana will break you," says Alissa with a wry smile.

If Alissa is saying s.e.x jokes then the world is one step closer towards world peace.

We get up and recover our tent. Roxanne is bored watching the others dismantle the camp while she sits in one of her stools. I see Silvane helping by storing a few things, she seems to be br.i.m.m.i.n.g with happiness. I guess in private Haaran is a fellow vigorous man.

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We keep our march and it goes the same as yesterday but the screams of dying goblins get more frequent, even two ogres are found. One time a group of 4 dumb Mossy Fangpines appears just to be zapped, burned, crushed, and shot by all the hunters around.

Haaran makes us march fast but I cast [Swift Foot] on my party and I put [Stamina Enhancement] on the two girls so we have a pretty sweet time. I just wished I could help Roxanne a bit more, if she gets tired I will have Hana carry her.

The landscape changes a little and it gets more inclined, we are pa.s.sing by a hill slope. From between the cracks in the canopy you can see the mountain to our left. I decide to summon a bird and have it scout above the trees, I will try to avoid Dragolites this time.

The breathtaking view above the canopies makes me wish I could share my senses with the girls. Flying fast and low over the trees gives me a sense of freedom I never felt before, I almost forgot I had to keep walking. The sea of green of the leaves, gold of the reflected sun and the random patches of colors all serve to lift my spirits.

I can see a crack in the tree lines, there's a river nearby. We are going west so to my left is south, over there there is a hill covered in green with an eye catching tree at the top, its darker than the rest and a huge amount of vines hang from it the south. Behind the huge tree the Sea of Trees extends indefinitely and it's almost like it's calling, waiting to be explored, like an empty stage waiting for the first actor to enter the play. Far in the front the mountain range appears on the horizon, on the other side is Alissa's homeland.

When I get back from my trance Alissa is smiling besides me. Was I showing a stupid face?

"I saw a huge tree through my bird summon," I say to Alissa, "Makes me curious to investigate."

She smiles wryly and speaks, "Not the best idea, could the the home of the forest's guardian."

"Guardian?"

"In some forests magical beings appear and fight to protect its home. It's hard to imagine the Sea of Trees doesn't have a guardian."

Interesting, but now I'm a little more frightened of coming out here.

We keep our pace, eventually we pa.s.s the hill and get near the river. We divert a little south because a scout reported Giant Dragonflies are over there. There's no need to fight them, to the disappointment of Hana.

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We climb another hill, steeper than the other one and some hunters start complaining. But the effort is paid and we reach the summit at 9AM. It's a plateau with a pretty good view of the surroundings, very difficult to be attacked by surprise here.

We make camp, have an early lunch, and then the trackers are called for the meeting. Haaran brings a map of the surroundings and show the locations of goblin sightings, along with the 3 possible locations for their camp. Alissa is the fastest of them all so she will go the second location, which is the furthest, she will go alone since she can conceal herself. We will tie her bow, quiver, and sword with a belt and she will carry them in her mouth, she can control saliva so it won't get dirty.

Alissa got 1 level from the Symbol and she increased her [Bow Use] by 2 (now 22), her [Quiet Steps] by 1(now 4) and her [Hide Presence] by 1 (now 4) so she still has 4 points left. I put 2 in [Quiet Steps] and 2 in [Hide Presence], she's quite the a.s.sa.s.sin like this.

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Alissa Skill Report

Physical

Skill Name: Level Skill Name: Level Skill Name: Level

Sword Use: 9 Bow Use: 22 Parry: 4

Dodge: 2 Sense Presence: 5 Hide Presence: 2+4

Enhanced Olfact: 5 Enhanced Hearing: 3 Hawk Eyes: 1

Muscle Explosion: 1 Quiet Steps: 2+4 Quiet Action: 2

Tracking: 2

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Magical

Skill Name: Level Skill Name: Level Skill Name: Level

Sense Mana: 1 Mana Control: 1 Fire Magic: 1

Light Magic: 1 s.p.a.ce Magic: 1 Conjuring Magic: 1

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Miscellaneous

Skill Name: Level Skill Name: Level Skill Name: Level

Housework: 3 Cooking: 2 Cleaning: 2

Was.h.i.+ng: 5 Riding: 2 Oral Technique: 4

Hand Technique: 2 Pain Resistance: 2 Fox Transformation (innate): 4

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The other hunters can only rest so I decide to train my dogs in sparring with Hana, while I don't make them bite her enough to hurt they can still hinder her. It takes a bit of effort since I can only communicate with voice commands but it's doable, specially if I bring 2 dogs versus a single opponent. I can't call wolves but a huge Kangal is still dangerous. I attracted some of attention with my sparring so I started to feel a little uncomfortable.

I wished these dogs had personalities. I miss my dogs, I had two. One reminds me of a taller corgi while the other a bigger and stronger orange beagle. One liked belly rubs and the other like being scratched near the tail, one was lazier and fatter, the other was energetic and thinner. They would play with each other once in a while and it was the cutest thing ever.

At 3PM, while reminiscing during a break Alissa comes back. She turns back into a humanoid and she looks a bit pale. She immediately comes to me.

"Master, this is bad. The camp is a full blown village."

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Monsters generally work in small groups or alone, once in a while a leader-type is born and manages to command large groups of monsters, like the Orc Lord. A leader can then evolve and become a breeder-type, these breeders are the worst nightmare of hunters, they capture men or women and use them to birth more monsters. Men are used as sperm donors, women are raped and forced to give birth to children. The children from both men or women humanoids are born with intelligence similar to their parents. The children from men are weaker but are born faster, the children from women are much more developed and dangerous.

If a breeder-type captures humanoids, in a year or two depending on the monster race he might have an army. An army that could topple a town. These monsters are emergencies and all measures are used to kill them and make sure not a single monster should escape.

The difficulty of this request just increased a few levels. That's just my luck, isekai protagonist rotten luck strikes again.

A "monster village" is a very large gated camp where life is not so different from a humanoid village. The villagers have their own small farms and livestock, they build their houses, weave their cloth, smith their tools, hug their children, and make love at night. They train their guards and soldiers to stand watch and protect their fellows from attack. They sing and dance when they are at peace and curse and fight when attacked. But they still can't change that they are monsters, they will always one day grow enough that their leader will order an attack. There's no negotiation, no diplomacy, their reason of existence is to kill humanoids and ours is to survive and kill monsters. Such is life here.

Alissa tells Haaran and he gathers the leaders for a strategy meeting. The village is small enough that they can pick their things and move if they discover we found where they live. They will disappear and they will know we are hunting them so they might only be found again when they are marching an army. This is a risky situation no matter what you do, if we leave we risk losing their location, if we attack we risk dying since the difficulty is much higher now.

It's impossible for us to fail, but at what cost will we succeed. The hunters follow the guild but they are not sworn to the land like the knights are, we can still retreat and retain our honor. But Haaran doesn't want to retreat, neither does Silvane.

"You ain't paying us enough to die," says one of the hunters.

"So it's all about money? I'm the son of the Lord, I can bring you much more money, the town is rich. It's not about money, you know that. You are afraid."

"s.h.i.+t, of course I'm afraid."

"Then say it from the beginning."

The man cringes and does not talk back.

"We are all afraid, all of the time. Just like how the population is afraid too," his stern gaze pa.s.ses through every hunter, making them shudder.

"If we don't fight here and we go back, how can we look at the people and tell them we did our best to protect them," adds Silvane.

"We are not going to die here, this is not a suicide attack," continues Haaran.

"For the first time we are actually in danger now. That's our situation, but it's also the situation of the town," helps Silvane.

"They are far too advanced to be left alone, they need to be stopped. It's our duty as sworn knights of the town but so is the duty of the hunters who protect us. Even if you aren't sworn to die, you are sworn to fight," finishes Haaran.

The posture of the hunters hunch over as they get intimidate.

The hunters are at an impa.s.se, they do not want to budge but they can't find the words. It's incredible how Haaran straight truths and Silvane's warmth backed us all into the corner, aside from admitting to being chickens, n.o.body can run away now. They need just a little push.

Didn't I tell myself I would at least try? I'm not gonna throw my life away for these people but it's true I have a lot of power right now. I don't want to fight, but I feel like I have to. I can't see this world as a game, I can't see these people as NPC's, I can't see Alissa and Hana as just toys, even if I do occasionally treat them like that I still feel some sort of love for them. They are part of this world and so am I, at least for now. Nothing tells me they don't want to fight, even Roxanne wants to blow some s.h.i.+t up, but I'm the leader I'm here to make the rational sensible decision for the best of all of us. But there's no simple answer here.

I look at Targua, I nod. He stays still for a moment, then he nods. We start looking for the other hunters, we stare at each other, gauging reactions, then we nod. A silent agreement is emerging.

"We should fight, even if we are scared, even if we are forced into risking the lives of our friends. This is one of the times we should fight," one of the hunters says.

Sighs are released and heads drop.

"We should fight," I gather the courage to say.

"We should fight".

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Alissa managed to get into sight of the village so she described the best she could the surrounding area. It's gonna be difficult to enter, but they don't have a place to escape to. The place is on the other side of a river, which means there's an open field you have to cross. It's on a raised plateau with a single entrance, the ground troops like us are f.u.c.ked. The only good thing is that the hill on the other side of the river is higher than the plateau, giving us the opportunity to use artillery on most of the village.

"Silvane, you can use [Earth Wall], right?" I ask.

"Yes, I'm very proficient in [Earth Magic]."

"I can also use [Earth Wall], what if we make a ramp?"

I get a few confused eyes since n.o.body knows I have this magic, which I don't, technically.

"You can use it too? Then it's a valid plan, with us both together we might reach the top of the cliff. But we might need to use all our mana…"

"This is not so good of an idea, Silf is a healer, isn't Mr. Ryder also a healer?" Asks Haaran.

It's true, if I use my mana I can't heal anybody, even if my [Heal] is inefficient it can still save lives. Silvane even more so since she's more experienced, but the alternative is storming that death corridor... Maybe if I use [Redirect Mana]…

"I'm developing a skill called [Redirect Mana], I used it once to quickly recover mana, it was just once but I could do it again. If I get a guard I can meditate and forcibly recover the mana on the spot.

"'Forcibly'?" Haaran asks.

"That's how it is, I forcefully absorb the mana dispersed in the environment. It takes a lot of willpower, but it's doable."

"Then will you have your companions wait for you?"

I didn't think of that, they will be fighting without me, I feel really bad about this.

"It can't be helped. I will keep everybody alive until then, don't worry about it, master," Hana says.

I know it's the best decision but I just don't want to accept it. f.u.c.king h.e.l.l.

I hesitate for a second but I make my decision.

"I will only need one person, it doesn't matter who. I cut my senses when I meditate so you will need to shake me to bring me back if we are attacked," I say.

"We will have one of scouts stay with you then," says Haaran.

"Understood."

"Then we will have to divide the squads. One shock squad needs to hold the real entrance so no one escapes. The scouts need to clear the area of any guards or returners and keep the watch. The vanguard will support the detached shock squad."

"We also need a clear line of communication, this will be a b.l.o.o.d.y and long battle. We have to kill all of them, no one must be left alive, " his gaze sends s.h.i.+lls to our spines again, those f.u.c.king eyes of his, "So the scouts need to be able to reinforce if necessary and even the artillery needs to rest and recharge so they can rejoin the battle."

Haaran keeps going on about the plan, I'm not required to hear too much of it though. It seems he really is trained in warfare, he knows exactly what he's doing and he does it with confidence. He has a different atmosphere from the hunters and specially from me, the quiet, small and rather cowardly man.

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Tonight the atmosphere was tense, no alcohol also helped with that, but you could see much more constant talking. People getting to know each other, to know how they fight, what they like and what their history was, to know who they are so if someone dies by their side they will at least feel something.

I sit by the fire to think. Hana is talking and laughing, Alissa is with Silvane, Haaran is with his knights. Roxanne is by me now but she's quiet, she seems to be practicing [Mana Control].

Targua comes and sits by me.

"You are pretty reclusive, it's quite hard to get close to you," he says.

"I'm not very talkative."

"So it seems. But still you can't stop bringing attention to yourself, it's quite a predicament. But I want to know, why do you fight?"

"That I can't say…"

I fight to go home, but I also fight for the people, I think. I'm not sure anymore.

Targua gauges me with his eyes and then speaks.

"Well, I fight for myself, because I enjoy it, because it's my talent."

"You enjoy it?"

"Some are meant to burn like a candle, some are meant to burn like a [Firestorm]."

I can hear this conversation being repeated around me. Knowing why a warrior fights is knowing the heart of that person.

"I fight for my women... because I love them, and they can't live without fighting," I confess.

"Oh, I see…"

Saying "love" makes me cringe, but there's no real reason to be picky with words.

"I just want to keep the town safe so we can go back to our quiet days…"

I was eager for this expedition, but now I'm regretting it. But if it weren't me someone else would be here, someone else would be fighting. I can't run from this world forever.

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Tonight I take them with all my heart, and they took me with all of theirs. It's different from just l.u.s.t, we are risking our lives tomorrow, we have to live like it's the last. You have to show your love and your heart.

Alissa was the first, she was eager, she wanted me, she needed me, she depends on me and I depend on her.

Hana comforts me, she keeps me safe, she keeps me happy, the least I can do is to give my all to keep her happy too.

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Today is the 18th.

We wake up at before dawn. The chilly air, the faint mist, and the darkness create a gloomy atmosphere. Everyone is quiet and serious, there's no time to waste, we move as the first sun ray hits our faces. Targua waves as we march.

Hey, G.o.d of War, I guess this is the first time I talked to you but I really need your help. I don't want to fight, I don't want glory or spoils but I have some women that I deeply care about. I have a duty to this people with the power I'm given, even if I don't want this duty, even if I hate whoever brought me here, I will accept this power and ask for more. I want to protect, I want to fight, I want to kill, and I want to live after to enjoy my life. I know you are listening so that's why I know you can help me. I know what I want and if you know what you want you know you should give power to me. You should give me what I need to protect others, because I will, I will succeed.

I feel something change within me, I look at my stats and see my "Piety" has risen by 4, it's now 10. Thank you, I will keep everyone alive.

I feel like there's something more that changed. I check my magic schools again and now I can see up to level 20 and 25 on all magic schools. There's one spell that puts a smile on my face, [Summon Elemental].

Ten choices of elementals, one for each of the base elements. I have a good hunch of how they might be useful, specially the earth one.

I catch up to Haaran and he looks towards me.

"Excuse me, Lord Haaran," I say, my excitement overriding my meekness.

"Yes?"

"For this battle I will be calling earth elementals if my mana allows. Is that alright?"

A smile flickers through his face then he turns stoic again.

"It will be a great help. Use them well," and he nods.

I bow lightly and go back to the girls to tell the news.

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Along the way I cast [Wind Armor] and [Swift Foot] on all of us and [Sharp Blades] on me and Hana. My mana is not sufficient for casting everything all at once but my recovery is quite good so I can do it before reaching our objective.

It takes us an hour of forced march but we need to use the morning laziness to our advantage, if they have personalities like ours they will also be weaker just after waking up.

The scouts take out multiple sentries and we reach our target without being discovered. But now we are inside their territory, it might be only a matter of time until the enemy gets alerted.

We see a small hill and when we get closer we hear the sounds of water. We reach the summit and see the village.

A small river and a large sandbank. A large wooden palisade covers part of the village, it's there to make the only entrance corridor into a death trap. The cliff wall is unprotected, it's 8 meters tall, we will have to make a considerable ramp for us to be able to cross. The village itself is a collection of ugly, filthy, hastily-made wood huts, they lack any sort of fas.h.i.+on, but they are all neatly organized in a grid. Behind the village there's another huge cliff, this one is impa.s.sable even for us. There's only one way in and one way out.

"Artillery, stay here. Wait for the signal," Haaran says.

We run down the hill and reach for the point of the cliff that's furthest from the village. Everyone is fully armored, the Knights pulled their full plate armor from the s.p.a.ce mages [Item Boxes] and helped each other put it on. Hana's armored figure is imposing, the red brigandine covers her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, unfortunately, but the armor makes her look even more majestic, even frightening. The hunters and their mismatched armors also look imposing, they fit well with their armor so they walk fearlessly.

I have 71 skill points, I put 21 in [Earth Magic], 20 in [Mana Control] and 20 in [Mana Efficiency] and 10 in [Blessing Magic] so my blessings keep active. Engage maximum power.

Me and Silvane stand near the river, I wait for her to gather her mana and start my spell the same time as her. A 10 meters wide ramp starts to form in front of us, it slowly inches forward. Little by little, centimeter by centimeter, it aims towards the cliff edge.

My mana is going fast, I don't have a large mana pool because I didn't practice magic since I was a child. Even with this specific spec, creating a large and st.u.r.dy wall isn't easy or efficient. Silvane suffers but soldiers on, she's also young and inexperienced but we are the only 2 with earth magic, it's us or nothing.

We hear a commotion, clinking of metal, footsteps, and weird throaty screaming. The watch noticed us. A knight ignites a wick, there's a small pouch stuck on the tip of an arrow. He fires the arrow and it explodes in the sky with a thundering noise. Immediately I feel mana gathering far from here.

A few seconds later the wall finishes and a large group of armed and heavily armored men runs pasts us. Hana turns her head and sends me a kiss as she runs past me.

Now it's their turn.

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My heart hurts but I hide behind a tree and sit down on the ground, a bowman stays nearby and keeps watch. Silvane went back to the Artillery position to meditate, she will take a long time to recharge, even if she didn't use all her mana like me she still lacks a lot of mana.

I close my eyes just before a firestorm starts razing the village.

Now I concentrate, those who are important to me need me. No matter how much I hurt I need to concentrate.

I start the same process from before. I see a large amount of mana in the sky above the village, I go there, my soul moves with ease this time. I can feel the heat of the current, I can feel that delicious taste of mana that is just waiting for me. Come to me. I feel it twitch, good, obey, you will serve me well, I will keep everyone safe. Come to me. I will make you turn into all sorts of magic, from healing to killing I will reunite with my lovers. Come to me! I will keep living on happy after this, safe and surrounded by those who I care about, I will live in this world and be part of it, I will fulfill my wishes. COME TO ME!

I feel like laughing, the mana is coming, it is obeying me and it's filling me up!

I open my eyes, it's time to move.

At level 15 I have 60 Skill Points to use plus 11 I got for free. I put my skills like this:

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Wolf Ryder Skill Report

Physical

Skill Name: Level Skill Name: Level Skill Name: Level

Sword Use: 9+4 Dodge: 2+5 Parry: 1+5

Block: 2+6 s.h.i.+eld Bash 0+1

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Magical

Skill Name: Level Skill Name: Level Skill Name: Level

Sense Mana: 0+5 Mana Control: 0+4 Mana Recovery: 3+0

Mana Efficiency: 2+4 Reduced Mana Cost: 3+0 Mana Overuse Resistance: 0+1

Blessing Magic: 10+0 Light Magic: 9+1 Summoning Magic: 20+0

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Miscellaneous

Skill Name: Level Skill Name: Level Skill Name: Level
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Andraste Language 10+0 Dismantling: 0+1 Enhanced s.e.m.e.n Recharge: 0+1

OBS: Level means (free point)+(trained point)

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I always wanted to try summoning more, but I didn't have the courage, the knowledge, or the opportunity. I can summon 2 elementals without sacrificing that much of my maximum MP. The best part is that if they don't get hurt then a lot of the MP used is refunded when I dismiss them.

I rush over the wall and feel like I entered h.e.l.l. The air is hot, the wood huts are all on fire, there's unbelievable amounts of blood on the ground, and goblin corpses are everywhere. My courage vanishes for a second, but only a second. Then I rush into the village.

A large, 3 meters tall bronze skinned orc and 10 other smaller green orcs are in combat with the knights. It's an Orc Chief, he's wearing dirty full plate armor with only a few vulnerable spots. What the f.u.c.k is he doing in this village?!

I look for Hana and she's fighting two orcs at the same time. One of her legs is slightly lowered, obviously hurting; her sword swings lack power, the arm must be very bruised. She doesn't have any cuts thanks to the armor but she's clearly being pushed back.

Alissa is on close combat with a goblin, there are more goblins nearby rus.h.i.+ng towards her. She has a cut on her flank, I don't know the seriousness but it's bleeding. f.u.c.king h.e.l.l.

Roxanne is behind, safely charging her mana.

I call an earth elemental. A storm of sand appears and from it appears a two meters tall man made of floating rock and sand, his hands are giant b.a.l.l.s of stone. I tell him to charge towards the goblin and protect Alissa.

Then I charge towards the orcs. These orcs are wearing leather armor and have a significant amount of cuts, but they are still too strong to take 2-on-1 even for Hana. One has a sword and s.h.i.+eld the other a 2-handed sword. I slash towards the s.h.i.+eld user and they both step back and observe the new opponents.

"Hah! Things got interesting, master," Hana says on the small breather I got her.

"Orcs? What the f.u.c.k?!"

"I know, right?!"

The orcs attack again, then we counter and slash towards them. Orcs are aggressive and anger quickly, they have stupid strength but not that much experience and speed. Their counter, is to counter them.

I cut the side of the sword arm of the orc, he pushes his s.h.i.+eld forward to bash me but I take it and use the push to dodge backwards. I slash at his forward feet he used to push me and cut his s.h.i.+n, I feel the bone being scratched. The orc roars.

He savagely slashes downwards, I use my s.h.i.+eld to deflect and jump sideways to the left, then I slash again at his exposed arm. He tries to swing again upwards but his angle is awkward and I deflect it again.

"Eat s.h.i.+t you sc.u.m of the earth!" Hana yells.

Hana pushes the left orc and gets closer to him so he can't use his sword's reach to his advantage, he has to contort himself to parry her attacks with his sword. Then he kicks her s.h.i.+eld and pushes her back, Hana doesn't have enough leg power to withstand that kick.

I feel a surge of mana coming, I jump backwards and a fireball flies towards the orc. He raised his s.h.i.+eld and the ball was blocked but it was still an opening and I slashed at his flank. His s.h.i.+eld was in the way so the wound was shallow.

Hana steels herself. The orc charges and slashes, he tries to shoulder check Hana immediately after but she parries and takes the charge head on. Through the top of the s.h.i.+eld s.h.i.+eld she stabs at him and cuts at the shoulder, it was a clean hit. The orc retreats.

I block a slash and now my arm starts hurting. The orc is going berserk, he's using his s.h.i.+eld to bash instead of defending. I'm being pushed back.

"MASTER!"

I jump backwards and an arrow penetrates the upper left arm of the orc, his s.h.i.+eld loses power. This gives me a breather and I distance myself from the orc.

"Prepared to be f.u.c.ked!" Yells Hana.

Is she using [Taunt]?

Hana summons her wings, beautiful emerald fleshy wings, the part where the bone is supposed to be there are emerald scales s.h.i.+ning in the sun. With instant speed she flies at the orc, this time he's not strong enough to take it and he's blown away a few meters. In an acrobatic move Hana turns to me in the air and lands on the ground, then she charges the orc fighting me. She cuts his sword arm off and at the same time bashes him with her s.h.i.+eld.

The orc falls on the ground and I slash his throat. He rolls on the ground unable to breathe anymore, in a minute he will be dead.

The remaining orc is charging towards Hana, he receives an arrow on the chest and slows down. Then a [Fire Arrow] on the shoulder and falls on his knee. Hana jumps and slashes downwards, his head is split open, his brain pours out.

I look back and the earth elemental is a few meters from Alissa, crus.h.i.+ng some small goblins. Her wound is not bleeding anymore, she must have drank a potion. Roxanne is coming closer and charging another spell. There are still enemies nearby.

Haaran and his knights are holding back the other orcs, the other shock troop squad is farther away dealing with a swarm of goblins. There are still random goblins appearing near Alissa so that elemental stays there.

I rush to Hana and cast two small [Heals], one focused on the sword arm and the other on the lame leg.

"Better?"

"Better."

I summon another earth elemental and tell him to help the other shock squad. Then I point toward the remaining orcs.

"CHARGE!"

A normal and a [Fire Arrow] fly past me.

The situation changed. It was 5 knights and 1 mage versus 8 orcs and 1 Orc Chief. Now there's a new killing force charging towards the orcs. The Orc Chief that was facing Haaran understands this and now he gets enraged.

"KILL!" Screams the Orc Chief, the other orcs repeat.

Wait what?

"URAAA!" Screams back Haaran, his knights scream too and a new vigor also reaches them.

An orc gets grazed by an arrow on his thigh, another orc blocks a [Fire Arrow] but loses his momentum and is forced on the defensive.

The knights can hold on for longer, me and Hana charge at a single orc. She strikes him head on and I slide and slash his flank. He tries to move back towards his closest friend but Roxanne uses [Fire Whip] and holds his leg in place. The orc roars in pain, he pushes Roxanne and she falls on the ground. She releases the whip but that was enough.

"Meet your death!" Hana yells.

Hana strikes again and the orc is forced to kneel. I get enough time to move behind him and slash at his neck. He uses his sword arm to block the strike and it gets severed. His friend comes back to help and pushes Hana back but he receives an arrow on the shoulder when he lowers his s.h.i.+eld.

The knight he was fighting regains his footing and attacks but his sword gets parried. Hana lunges forward and the orc is forced to fall back further.

The one-armed orc drops his s.h.i.+eld and picks up a nearby sword. He receives an arrow on the chest for it but he still manages to attack. I receive the one armed orc and deflect it easily, he's weakened. I counter but I don't have a good reach and only cut his belly shallowly.

Hana turns to the one armed orc and slashes, he parries but now he's exposed. In his anger he went towards me and left the safety of his nearby colleague, now he's occupied with Hana and I thrust into his chest. I feel his disgusting breath on top of my head, I missed the heart.

Thanks to my blade being sharp I can pull it back. Hana kicks his foot and he loses his balance. Then she bashes him and he falls down. I jump forward and push my sword through the bottom of his jaw, the blade peeks out from the top of his head. 7 to go.

The nearest orc is being kept back by Roxanne's spells and Alissa is firing at the Orc Chief, giving Haaran a breather.

A knight is pushed down and loses his s.h.i.+eld, he desperately defends against the slashes. One orc grabs his leg and pulls him in, the orc gets an arrow on the shoulder but shrugs it off. Another orc bashes his helmet with a sword. Then another arrow hits the arm of the orc and they both get pushed back by a helping knight. The bashed knight doesn't get up.

The Orc Chief loses his pressure and starts attacking Haaran again. Haaran's white helmet is dirtied and bloodied but he stands tall and keeps on fighting.

We charge towards the nearest orc, now it's 3 on 1, the nearby knight is holding the orc back. The knights energy runs out and Hana takes his place. The knight moves on to help his other friend. Currently there's 2 knights on a 2-on-1, 2 on a 1-on-1 and one incapacitated knight with Haaran fighting the Chief while we gang up on the last orc. Alissa and Roxanne are moving to help the knights that are disadvantaged as the mage seems to be running out of mana.

"I fought goblins with a bigger d.i.c.k than you!" Hana yells.

The orc starts to berserk on Hana who takes it on without much problem, leaving me to slash at him. I slash his belly, his sword arm and then finally his leg and he slows down. Then Hana counters with a deep cut on his sword arm. His attacks lose power and he's forced to defend, his sword arm is weak so I hit his s.h.i.+eld while Hana overpowers his sword until his sword slips and his arm is severed.

He tries to fall back but his friend is also occupied and he can't help. He's being pushed shoulder to shoulder with the other orc until he falls and one of his legs is cut off. He starts crawling back towards the nearest sword, his friend stands in the way and receives attacks from the 3 of us.

Hana and the knight overpower him, they push him until he gets out of balance and falls. For trying to protect his dying ally he gets a sword in neck. 6 to go. I jump forward and stab the crawling orc in the back of the neck, 5 to go.

"UROOOOO...!" The Orc Chief roars and the ground shakes.

He ignores a slash from Haaran on his flank and jumps towards the nearest knight. The chief strikes once and the knight is forced on his knees, the orc he was fighting stabs the knight on a vulnerable spot under his armpit, the knight loses the grip of his sword. With a second strike the Orc Chief's sword splits his helmet and his head in two down to his neck, the orc gets dirtied by blood and brain matter. 3 Knights fighting.

f.u.c.k f.u.c.k f.u.c.k f.u.c.k f.u.c.k, he's dead! That stupid strength is not something you can defend from, if you get hit once you are f.u.c.ked, we gotta evade all attacks.

We try to help but the orc who stabbed the armpit stands in front of us. He receives the attacks and falls back near the Orc Chief. Haaran stabs the Orc Chief in the kidney but he ignores the attack. The Chief forces his way back and gets back in line with his other orcs. The knight near us goes to help one of his friends who's being pushed back.

Now it's me, Hana and Haaran versus an orc and the Chief. The Chief is still enraged, he's ignoring attacks and using crus.h.i.+ng attacks to kill, you don't want to get near him.

"Alissa! Suppress the Orc Chief!" I order her. She can hit the c.h.i.n.ks in his armor, if she holds him for long enough we can kill the orc near him.

"Hana! Rush this one!" I order her. She throws herself into the orc.

I try to slash while he's busy with Hana but he's good at defending. He starts to retreat and the Orc Chief comes in front of us.

Hana is wary and moves back, she receives a strike with the tip of his sword but that's enough to almost make her lose her posture. The orc circled around the Chief and is fighting Haaran now. This is not optimal, we can't kill the Orc Chief just the 2 us.

I circle Hana and move besides Haaran. The Orc Chief pushes Hana back further and on the opening he jumps towards me.

Oh no.

He slashes downwards and he pushes me down on the ground. I slip and roll on the ground, I pull up my s.h.i.+eld and hold it with both hands.

"Don't ignore me you worthless c.u.m stain!" Yells Hana.

A ma.s.sive strike hits my s.h.i.+eld and nearly crushes my chest. My s.h.i.+eld arm is broken.

"AAAAAH!" I scream.

I roll to the side and crawl away. I look back and there's an arrow on his armpit and Hana stabbed him on his kidney. Hana has to jump back with the power of her wings so she doesn't get skewered by the counter. Multiple arrows. .h.i.t the armor of the Chief and only leave a few dents, we don't have bodkin arrows and Alissa's bow does not have a strong draw.

I crawl back and cast a strong [Heal]. Most of my mana is gone, I can cast only 2 or 3 weak heals now. My arm cracks once in a very unpleasant way and goes back to being straight, but it's sensitive and it's still hurting, it won't hold.

I feel mana gathering behind me and a volley of [Fireb.a.l.l.s] flies towards the orcs. The orcs are forced to defend and for a few seconds the battlefield stands still. The artillery team is back, they are not fully rested but they have some mana left.

I feel a large amount of mana gathering, it's Silvane, she's casting something. The Orc Chief jumps with all his power backwards far from his line of soldiers. The next moment a large patch of the ground turns dark-brown and hands emerge from the earth, they grab the orc near us and holds him in place. It's the [Earth Magic] spell [Soul Sand].

Hana doesn't hesitate and uses her wings to charge the orc stuck on the ground. He doesn't have the posture to receive her and bends backwards on his knees, his feet are being held in place by the spell. Hana flies high and drops down on top of him, her sword craves on his face and he dies. 5 to go.

The 2 artillery squads have 2 melee hunters that were guarding them so now it's the orcs that are outnumbered and being pushed back. The earth elemental that is guarding Alissa is receiving a lot of damage but the new mages burn the goblins ama.s.sing nearby. The other earth elemental stabilized the situation and the hunters gather around him, they are crus.h.i.+ng the goblins.

Silvane runs to the unconscious knight and starts to heal him. Haaran gathers his breath and starts to move towards the Orc Chief. The ugly little eyes of the Chief scan the battleground and he gets a horrible idea. The purpose of monsters is to kill humanoids, whatever way it may be, so the Chief decided to kill, no matter what. He's gazing at Silvane.

Feeling his gaze Haaran charges forward but the orc has one goal in his mind. Haaran's sword can't hit an opening in the armor so he puts his body on the way. He gets his foot stepped on and receives a s.h.i.+eld to the face and he falls backwards, the Chief slows a bit. Hana charges one more time but her wings are losing power and she only makes the orc lose balance for a second.

I recall the earth elemental protecting Alissa and call an electric elemental, my head explodes and I lose my hearing, my vision blurs. A floating globe of plasma and sparks appears, I tell it to stop the orc and it flies towards it, I charge behind. The orc can't stop the elemental and it's hand absorbs the attack, the elemental enters the armored hand and runs through the entire armor of the orc, shocking him. The out of balance Chief cramps his muscles and falls down on the ground.

My vision is going dark, I can barely see anymore. I can't strike, but I can see the head of the orc. I drop my sword and s.h.i.+eld and jump towards the head of the orc. I feel something hard, I pull it and after a small resistance it comes with me. I run back a bit and feel the round shape, yep, it's a barbute.

I run back to where Silvane should be and drop on the ground. I can't see anymore, I can't hear anymore. I gotta concentrate again and regather my mana but I'm lacking in power. I can't pull the mana again, all I can do now is wait and rest. I trust the girls will keep me safe.

I feel something cold touch my lips and a warm liquid drops in, it's a potion, MP potion. At least this time I can swallow without problem.

I feel a warm hand hold my hand. I'm an expert in the bodies of my women, this isn't Alissa's or Hana's, it's Roxanne's. After a squeeze I feel something touch my cheek and then the hand releases mine.

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I stay in darkness for a while and my hearing slowly comes back. First a buzzing, then a murmuring, then a few words here and there and then finally a proper phrase.

"How's his condition?" A male voice says.

"Unconscious, his skull was cracked but he will survive," says Silvane.

"Good, how much mana do you have?"

"Enough for a single deep wound."

"Understood, start meditating, I will guard you."

"Thank you."

I think things are fine for now so I will focus too on meditating. I dismiss the electric elemental.

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"You are now level 16."

I put all my points into [Mana Recovery]. Even with my eyes closed I can still see the menu.

The sounds of clas.h.i.+ng die down a little and I open my eyes. Things are still blurry but I can see the outlines of people. There's a few people around me sitting down and two standing. I meditate for a few more minutes and I can see things properly right now.

The artillery teams and Silvane are by my side meditating, the unconscious knight is besides Silvane, there's the two guards of the artillery team standing guard, and the surrounding orcs are all dead. The Orc Chief lost both his eyes to arrows and his head is a meter away from his body. The dead knight is a few meters away, there's a piece of cloth over his body.

I stand up.

"What's the situation?" I ask.

"Wow, uhm..." One of the guards nearly jumps in surprise, "There's still goblins around so the shock troops are still fighting but the orcs are all dead, now it's just slaughter."

I feel my earth elemental is still alive and killing. I share my vision with him and it's all red blood and pieces of goblin meat, I cut the vision. I feel the girls are ahead near the cliff wall at the back of the village.

I'm a little unsteady on my feet so I sit down again.

Another half hour pa.s.ses and the sounds of dying goblins reduce a bit more. Silvane opens her eyes and looks at me surprised.

"You can see again?" She asks.

"Yeah, I have some resistance to overuse."

"Let me just say it now, thank you. You saved me from the Orc Chief," she gives a tired smile. Still beautiful.

"You are welcome," I nod back at her.

Enough mana gathered so I summon another earth elemental and tell it to crush some goblins. My head starts to hurt, oops, I overdid it again.

"You really should rest, the battle is won," Silvane says.

"I can't just stand still while my women are fighting."

Silvane shrugs. She uses her staff to stand up and starts to leave.

"I will join Lord Haaran," she says and she goes off.

I take a quick look around. The wood huts of the goblins were extremely simple buildings, they were also very weak. The initial attack blew off most of the buildings but there's some wood left which is still burning. The smoke isn't so bad here but it makes the air uncomfortably hot and hard to breath due to the ashes.

I take a quick look at one of the elemental's vision. He's crus.h.i.+ng goblins side by side with Hana and a knight. The girls must be behind Hana and I see an arrow flying towards a goblin's head. The goblins are making a s.h.i.+eld wall but they are cornered and they look afraid. There's goblin women in simple clothing crying while hugging their children, there's old looking goblins clutching a spear and shaking.

I feel sick, I cut the vision, there's no way I can join them now. I close my eyes and meditate to calm my heart.

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My head slowly stops hurting and the sounds of battle die down. Eventually there's silence and only the cracking of wood burning can be heard.

A few minutes later I hear footsteps and I open my eyes. Extremely bloodied knights and Hana appear. A tired looking Alissa runs to me and hugs me.

"You overdid it again," she says.

"Yeah… couldn't be helped…"

"I know," she sighs, "But it's over now."

I smell blood, sweat, and ashes on her but I don't care. We are safe now, we did it.

One of the hunters comes carrying a body covered in cloth. It's the guy from Akros, the red skinned oni. Akros was the shock squad holding down the death trap. There's another hunter being carried, he lost his right arm but a red skin covers the wound, I see a hand peeking out of a cloth bundle, [Heal] can still be used to reattach that arm. There's a mix of solemn and happy faces all around.

Haaran comes, he's also bloodied. He removes his helmet and a bruised face appears. He takes off his gauntlets and holds Silvane's hand.

"Let us move, there's nothing for us to gain by staying here," says Haaran.

"I will use my elementals to carry the bodies," I say.

A painful smile flashes over Haaran's face.

"Thank you..." He says.

I tell the elementals to carry the bodies and to follow me. They look a bit beaten and there's plenty of missing pieces of their original bodies but they could still easily carry a body. A single [Clean] was enough to remove all the blood from their bodies.

I heal Hana and the unconscious knight until he awakes and Silvane heals all other wounds. The armless guy gets it reattached but he has little movement on it for now. My mana is spent again, my head hurts and I feel my energy go low.

As we slowly move everyone brings out simple food like skewered meat and eat as we walk. It's 10 AM but we are all already hungry from fighting so much. The simple meals feels like a banquet and gives some energy to our bodies.

The woods are clear, the scouts killed everyone, even some monsters who wandered about. Our journey back is uneventful.

­

It's 11:30AM when a scout comes running towards Haaran.

"The camp is under attack! Orcs!" He yells.

Time freezes for a second. That's why the Orc Chief was there, he was commanding a group of orcs and visited the village, different monster types don't mix so easily so they negotiate. He could have even been a breeder-type too, we forgot to think deeper into this.

"Ryder! Drop the bodies. Artillery, you will take them along with the wounded! Artillery will join the battle but will be responsible for the safety of the wounded! Everyone else, run!" Haaran barks orders.

I obey.

"I will go ahead on Alissa!" I yell.

I grab her equipment and mount her. We dash towards forwards and the earth elementals run besides us with frightening speed while shaking the earth.

In a few minutes we reach the camp. A few tents are burning and there's benches, tables, cooking wares, clothes, and food everywhere.

Honest s.h.i.+eld is a group of 5 hunters, 3 s.h.i.+eld users, including Targua, 1 archer and another archer who knows a bit of magic. They are fighting against 9 orcs, there's 3 orcs dead. The s.p.a.ce mages are also fighting but they only have swords and leather armor, they are on the defensive and 2 s.p.a.ce mages are already dead.

I tell my earth elementals to protect the s.p.a.ce mages and Alissa leads us behind the orcs. She transforms back then immediately draws an arrow and shoots the back of the head of an orc, 8 to go.

I ready myself and raise my s.h.i.+eld. 2 orcs come towards us, I'm tired, my body hurts, I can't counter them I can only defend. One block, two blocks, a parry and a deflect. I bash to push him back and thrust, he steps back and waits while the orc on the left takes the offensive. They want to surround me but an arrow on the flank of the right orc tells him to stop.

One earth elemental crumbles, he was too weakened. The s.p.a.ce mages form a line near the last elemental, he's their only hope, Honest s.h.i.+eld is too busy dealing with the remaining 4 orcs. I see Targua is barely holding himself, his posture is crumbling.

I hit the arrow on the flank of the orc with the flat side of my sword. He squirms and roars then steps back, holding his flank. The left orc enrages and savagely slashes at me. My s.h.i.+eld arm explodes in pain, it's gonna break again, I can't hold it. One arrow, two arrows, on the third arrow on his chest the orc calms down and protects himself with his s.h.i.+eld.

The other orcs quickly changed their line and are now partially facing us so no more chances for a quick kill with Alissa but at least they are split. There's 4 with Targua's group, 2 with the s.p.a.ce mages and 2 with us. We only have to hold, no more deaths.

I cast [Heal] on my arm, my head hurts again, my vision worsens a bit. No! I have to hold it in! I can defend again, I can't lose my sight now!

In anger I slash at the left orc and he retreats, the right orc charges and tries to help. I meet his sword with mine and nearly crumble at his strength but I manage to deflect it and counter. I connect an upwards slash at his armpit then I dodge back and a sword slashes my left cheek, I feel it hit my armor but it's too tough and doesn't cut. Too close, but now the right orc is even slower and his attacks are more bearable. I feel blood run down my neck.

The left orc is having trouble breathing, one arrow must have pierced the lung. I need to harm him a bit too, I switch to him. I deflect an attack from the right orc with my s.h.i.+eld and lunge towards the left orc, I feel a slash at my left shoulder but it lacks power, I'm too close to him. I bash and thrust at the same time, I managed to enter his guard and thrust my sword at his chest, it enters a little then leaves. I should have pierced the lung, could have been more but his leather armor reduced the damage.

The right orc slashes at me and makes a deep cut in my sword arm. If not for my armor and [Wind Armor] it would have neutralized my arm, possibly cut it off. I wince and jump back, another arrow appears on the flank of the right orc. He retreats too.

We spend a few minutes staring at each other, weakly slas.h.i.+ng and countering. Now we are all too weak to fight properly and Alissa keeps me covered from being trampled. I saw Targua on the ground, s.h.i.+t.

"URAAAAAAAAH!" The scream that brings me relief.

Haaran and his men charge from the trees. He and the knights are not wearing plate anymore, only the scale armor. The hunters come alongside him.

Hana lands in front of me and I drop my s.h.i.+eld. It's done, I'm safe now. I retreat and fall down near a tree, I drink a potion and just watch.

"I'll butcher your shriveled d.i.c.k for daring to hurt master!" She yells, the orcs twitch in anger.

A [Fire Whip] holds the right orc, his posture crumbles for a second and Hana decapitates him in an instant. The other tries to attack but Hana blocks it effortlessly, then she thrusts and jabs the belly of the orc. He doesn't slow down and bashes Hana's s.h.i.+eld but he's way too weak now, he's the one who loses his posture. Hana slashes and his sword arm flies, he retreats a few steps.

He throws his s.h.i.+eld at her and draws his knife from his waist. He jumps at Hana and she bends backwards with the orc on top of her s.h.i.+eld. With herculean strength she recovers and pushes him away. The orc falls down on the ground and an arrow pierces his face. He still tries to move and a [Fire Arrow] pierces his eye, now he drops dead.

The other knights and hunters make quick work of the remaining orcs, they were heavily outnumbered now. I recall my last elemental and cast a weak [Heal] on my right arm. I see Silvane rus.h.i.+ng to Targua, then I close my eyes and let myself lose consciousness for a while.

­

I open my eyes, it's a bit past midday now. Hana and Alissa are sleeping beside me. A few are also dropped down randomly around the camp, we are all exhausted. The ones still standing are cleaning the camp and making food. There's a row of 5 people sleeping down on sleeping bags, they have bandages all over, Targua is among them. There's not enough mana to fully heal all the wounded.

My head hurts a lot and my muscles are all sore, I think I can barely cast a [Heal]. I close my eyes again and properly fall asleep.

­

I wake up all stiff but feeling a little better. Alissa is awake by my side and Hana is eating on the half destroyed table. Roxanne is inside her tent.

"Okay, now it should be over," I say to Alissa.

I lay down on her lap and she strokes my hair.

"I hope so. There should be no more loose ends unless if the orcs were even dumber and divided their last remaining forces for some reason," Alissa says with a tired voice.

Her fingers are rough and her hand is weak. I cast a small [Heal] on her hands. Oh, my heart is tingling, overuse is stacking, I feel I shouldn't cast anymore magic for a while.

"You should have saved that mana for the wounded."

"Sorry, not sorry, I'm selfish. Also it was only a small [Heal]."

She sighs.

"Thank you, master."

My stomach growls.

"Oh… well, I guess I should crawl to our tent."

Alissa has to help me walk, I'm unsteady on my feet. Luckily our tent was the furthest away and is undamaged, only Haaran's tent and another got destroyed. I weakly eat my meal, roasted veggies, mutton, and bread filled with bean paste. I take out my armor, drop down on the bed and sleep.

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Intermission 3

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I'm really glad I chose him. The story I heard of the Symbol was neither a lie, an exaggeration or a fluke, he's actually someone dependable. He gave his all to protect someone he barely knows, someone he has no duty to help, yet he goes to battle until the end, then he put his trust in me to protect him when he's vulnerable. If I don't follow him into the depths of h.e.l.l and bring him back safe and sound then my life has no value, I wouldn't be appropriate as a slave to him, I wouldn't be worthy of serving him.

Even though he's shy he needs me to save him from a conversation with a stranger. I don't find it to be a bad trait, it's actually really adorable that the hero brave enough to save strangers is such a small man with a weak impression on others. But it's all a lie, he's a scholar, a warrior, a mage, a kind man, and a hero. He's someone I want to protect with all my power, may the G.o.ds help me do as much.