Tom started barking orders almost immediately.
“Vanguard at the front! Shieldbearers! Close the formation and watch our rear! Non-combatants in the back!”
Everyone moved with frantic energy all around.
I felt a strange compulsion trying to push me to follow the command. After all, I was part of the vanguard too.
I decided to let it affect me as I wanted to feel the effect of Tom’s skill.
A kind of instinctive sense of direction took hold of me.
It told me where to go and how to move in relation to the group.
I followed the sensation until I found myself right at the front of the whole group.
Nice.
Actually, for someone who had no idea what to do or where to go, it was a fantastic tool.
It gave direction and purpose, perfect for the new combatants with little experience.
And for the ones that already knew where to go it was still useful to navigate around everybody.
It was a perfect skill for managing a team in battle, but had the downside of requiring spoken orders.
I should talk with Tom about the possibility of taking on a telepathy-type skill.
It would complement this quite nicely.
Anyway, I looked beside me.
Rhea was a little in the back.
Her role, despite her higher-than-most stats, was not to face threats head on.
She was already empowering the whole group with her rituals, so she would serve as support.
No, the people who were at my sides were Frederick and Alya.
The two frontliners were the most physically oriented fighters present.
Marcus was still scouting ahead.
Melissa was near Mary, at the center of the vanguard formation, the former ready to protect the group while the latter would heal anyone needing it.
I felt Quinn at our right flank, invisible.
Another roar sounded out from the forest, this time way nearer than before.
“Quinn, talk. Tell us what that thing is and what level you think it is.”
He appeared from his invisibility, all traces of levity gone from his face.
He was looking forward as he spoke.
“It’s a giant animal, I have no idea what to call it. Tall as a truck, and nearly as long. Six legs, big mouth, like a crocodile. Probably over level fifty, but it felt strong to my senses, like an elite.”
Something like that I could deal with pretty easily, but it wasn’t going to do anything for me.
“Baron?” I asked.
“I don’t think so, it was by itself.”
What did he mean by that?
I would ask later, there was no time.
“Anyone willing to take it on solo? It could net some good achievements for those who still didn’t get the ones for defeating a foe twenty-five levels higher than you.”
There was a moment of quiet before a voice spoke.
“I’d take it,” Alya said.
I turned to look at her.
She was dressed in leather again, but this time it was armored, and magical.
A curved greatsword rested in her hands.
She looked ready to fight.
“Ok, make space and get ready to intervene only if something happens.”
I didn’t ask if she was sure about facing it alone.
I could see that she probably needed the fight.
She needed to progress, to prove herself, and maybe to vent.
Most probably to vent.
I would follow her with my accelerated perception, to be safe, but otherwise I’d let her do her thing.
She positioned herself ahead, her small back a contrast to the great weapon she carried.
I just hoped she wouldn’t go crazy again.
“Everyone! Alya will fight the thing alone! Don’t interfere, don’t attack, shoot, or use any kind of skill! Don’t try to help in any way, she needs it for earning an achievement! We talked already about this, so stay in position and defend against any other threat that may come to us in the meantime!”
A choir of “Yessir!” “Aye!” and “I won’t fucking touch it with a pole!” followed.
In the meantime the forest grew silent around us except for the rustling of leaves and the breaking of branches ahead.
It took less than a minute of tense waiting for a creature to burst out of the trees.
It was way worse than Quinn had described it.
It had six legs.
It was tall and long, with an eyeless elongated head, like a crocodile.
But the thing that stood out most was the hairless skin and the many bones jutting out like thorns from its limbs and back.
Actually, every external surface was covered by them.
Some people gagged at the view, and the stench.
Many other creatures were impaled on those bone protrusions.
Some were clearly rotting there for a while, but the beast seemed to display them with a certain kind of pride.
It roared again.
The sound was so powerful that some had to block their ears.
I looked at it.
I could end it in a moment if needed, but it wasn’t my fight.
Alya settled into a stance, then without waiting for the monster to finish roaring she launched forward and sliced at its front left leg.
In an uncannily quick movement, the beast raised its leg and used one of the bones to block the incoming cut.
The blade went through the bone only halfway, then got stuck.
But Alya roared too and with a twist she snapped the bone in half, retrieving the sword and pirouetting into another cut, putting a lot of momentum into it.
The blade ignited with a maroon flame, hitting the middle leg, always on the left side.
The strike was different from before though.
Faster and more powerful.
The blade slid through the skin and bone of the actual leg, severing it at chest height.
Alya’s chest height, basically she managed to sever the leg at the ankle from the beast’s perspective.
But still, it would help reduce the thing’s mobility and bleed it dry quickly.
A different roar sounded out.
One of pain, as the beast clawed at Alya in reflex.
Four limbs attacked her from four different directions, even the severed one.
She moved with a kind of preternatural instinct, avoiding the first claw only to block the second with her blade and use the force to push herself back and out of the strike range of the beast.
After that, she sprinted back in, trying to reach the monster’s underbelly, but now it was wary of her approach.
It moved back and snapped its head forward.
Its mouth opened to an incredible degree, showing a maw chock-full of teeth.
No, not teeth.
More bone spikes, jutting out of its blackened gums.
I didn’t want to know how bad it smelled in there, but Alya didn’t show any reaction as she slid down, passing under the head just to somehow twist and get back up all while swiping at the neck of the monster.
She then used one of the bone spurs as a platform to jump higher onto its shoulder, leaving another deep cut there before vaulting back and resetting her position in front of us.
Damn, that was fucking impressive.
Now I got why Vix said she had talent.
He was right.
I could never do something like that.
It never even came to my mind to move or act that way, and for sure I wouldn’t be capable of repeating that feat.
Well, I think I would be able to do it well enough now, but if I had her stats?
No way.
She reset her stance while swiping her sword toward the ground.
A splatter of dark blood flew from her blade, but still some remained.
She was looking at it in anger, as if the presence of the dirty liquid offended her deeply.
The monster, on the other hand, was thrashing around on the forest floor, clawing at the dirt and trees.
I noticed the terrible ease those claws had in slicing through the trunks.
If she got hit even once, she would have died, or lost a limb at the least.
Luckily that hadn’t come to be.
But now the beast found its wits and didn’t seem to want to die alone.
It stopped thrashing around and bounded forward toward Alya, and us behind her.
She looked back for a moment, tsking.
Then she raised her greatsword above her head and shouted as she brought it down way before the beast was near enough to hit.
A crescent blade of maroon energy flew from the greatsword, going straight for the charging monster.
It impacted it on the head.
Not cutting it in half, but more like breaking its jaw and snout.
The bigger effect though was bringing the charge to a complete halt.
That attack…
It was a skill, but it used aura too.
A lot of it.
I could see the effects on Alya.
She wasn’t panting, but she stood with her shoulders slightly slumped now.
It must have taken a toll on her.
Though it was powerful.
It wasn’t sharp, but it had a great weight to it.
And now the probably concussed monster could only twitch as it died of blood loss, its throat spilling its lifeblood on the ground.
“Level 83 Corpse Collector. Got the achievements too, but it wasn’t a Baron,” she said.
So Quinn was right.
Interesting.
“Good job, everyone! We’ll take five minutes of rest, then we continue.”
Murmurs and chatter started as everyone began to move around, sitting here and there.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing! You three! You’re still on guard duty! Do you want us to get eaten while you eat your sandwich!” I heard Tom roar at a group.
I shook my head, then sat down.
We needed more of this.
More challenge for the strongest members.
Maybe we could go face some of the dangers pointed out on the map while the others proceeded toward the safe zone…
I would have to consult with the others first, but it was an idea.
Of course, if these kinds of beasts started harassing us by themselves, it wouldn’t even be necessary.
But maybe I could attract some and make everyone face them.
We would come out way stronger than before like this.
And we needed any scrap of power we could gain before reaching the safe zone.