There are ten barbarians busy uprooting the trees at the border of the forest, throwing them behind them as if they were just nasty weeds with long roots.

“Ken-kun?” says a very pissed alfr, who is on the same branch as me.

“Yes?”

“Let's kill them.” Ara-san always is pissed whenever someone is tearing down trees, because she sees this as a total waste. In her culture, trees are houses, orchards, servants, and so much more.

“Phew...” I look down to Jii-san—who has somehow painted his body and looks like a proper tribal warrior—who nods while Rine draws her sword. “Alright.” I would have loved to talk it out, but I’d rather have this ambush than waste the surprise for people that don't even get the message when delivered by a fallen comrade.

It's not even like they're pissed. They're laughing and calling me out with 'Red Ranger, where aaaaaaaare you?' or 'Red Ranger, cluck, cluck, cluck!'

Seriously, why are there so many idiots in this fantasy world? Well, because any world is full of idiots, I presume.

“Alright, if they flee, let them. I’d rather have them tell the story this time, and I counted twenty-seven, so fighting in a way that no one can escape is just too much of a restraint. Ara-san, start with a [Tidal Wave] and some [Quagmires] afterward, use other spells to support the rest. Rine and I get closer.” While I would love to have her sling some big spells as well, I would like her to practice with less lethal opponents first. “We go for fast attacks and kills, then retreat inside the forest. If they don't come after us, we use ranged attacks. That's where you can also use your spells. Jii-san, you stay behind us, if you see someone of importance, one-shot kill.” Jii-san has maybe two or three attacks, but each of them should count. “Kyou-san, stick to Ara-san and concentrate on buffing me and healing everyone. Any questions?”

““““No.”””” It still seems strange that I'm calling the shots here, especially with Jii-san here, but after Gottfried I no longer feel anxious about it. As if this was beaten out of me.

As Rine and I approach, I whisper to her: “You go there. Wait for the [Tidal Wave], they will probably use [Iron Defense] to block it, which opens a chance to kill two out of cooldown.”

“Yes.” She dashes ahead with her [Swishstride]. Rine will fight better without me around, as then she can move freely between her opponents.

I don't even bother with a [Stealth]-skill and only use [Mask of Wildlife] to make others around me think that I'm part of the trees.

There, Ara-san's [Tidal Wave] is collected, now *Pow* it's dispersed by a barbarian behind the tree tearers throwing a punch at it. The shockwave is enough, huh? Well, nothing we can do.

Rine already jumps out of her hiding spot and thrust her sword between the eyes of one barbarian, who hardened up too late. With him in the [Iron Defense]-state and basically dead, she steps on his chest, and throws him with her feet in a bicycle kick to not only get her sword free, but to throw him against one of his companions, who hardens himself.

Victim found. I change to [Pikeman]: “[Speedthrust]!” My spear pierces through his head from behind, as going for anything but their heads may cause them to go on. This is what Jii-san has hammered into me the last few days.

I jump back, as Rine slits the throat of another one open. Could it be that her overpowered sword is actually too sharp for their [Iron Defense]?

One [Quagmire] appears between the former tree-tearers and the ones waiting behind them, but that doesn't mean that some of them won't throw their punches. Literally! Good thing their aim sucks, but they're getting their weapons ready: “Retreat!”

Rine kicks the severed head of her fifth victim to disarm one barbarian across the [Quagmire], which will buy two seconds at best, but certainly pisses that one off immensely. “OK!”

I swap to my bow and to [Ranger]: “[Seeker]!” The one who got disarmed now also got an arrow in his throat, as he already used [Iron Defense] reflexively against the kicked head.

Five Rine, two me, seven in total. Twenty left.

“FUCK!” There seems to be a boss, a bearded man in his middle-ages... probably. Guessing westerner ages is always a hassle. Let's call him Sunflower, as he has blonde hair. “CHARGE!” I guess losing a quarter of his men doesn't make him consider retreat.

Oh well, he's probably right to charge now, as with their current tactic they can't keep putting on the pressure and are pushed into a passive role.

Shit! One of them uses his club to strike the ground, which sends ten of them forward, all of them probably using AoE-skills with their weapons.

Meanwhile, the last uprooter chases after me and Rine. I evade an axe, still in [Ranger] and quickly touch the shaft of his weapon to [Inspirit] it: “[Entangle]!” Confused what is happening, the barbarian fights with his own weapon, while I draw my knife, which I demanded back before moving out, then I swing my bow between his legs, which causes him to use [Iron Defense] to protect his balls, which in return allows me to slit his throat just a second later.

What a hassle, but—oh shit, his throat is closing minutely, he grabs his throat while coughing, trying to survive long enough for [Regeneration] to save him.

No time for him, but I need to keep him in mind.

Blind shots of shockwaves are thrown into the forest, tearing clearings into it. I quickly check Kyou-san's and Ara-san's status, but they seem to be unharmed. Problem is that we now have ten more enemies here.

Rine killed two more already on her end. Oh well, I quickly take out and swing my spear and decapitate the one before me, taking a page of the 'Book of Brutally Killing' written by Princess Katarine von Stolzherz in the blood of her enemies.

Shit! The ten that were thrown here have realized how to deal with Rine! They do the same wind-up as before!

I can't tell what the skills are that they're using, as I didn't activate [Pitch], but flying cuts, balls of air, slithering slices, and the like all move towards Rine.

She extends her hand, her muscles receding: “[Heatwave]!” A strange noise crackles the air, and I see miniature flames where Rine's spell hits the different skills, which all implode on themselves. I'm sure there is a logical explanation to this, but I'm busy fending off two barbarians, who try to flank me.

One of the two is hit by a water jet, courtesy of Ara-san, who jumps from tree to tree to keep our enemies at a minimum by delaying them. The hit barbarian activates [Iron Defense], so I kick the other one and from that unbalanced stance: “[Speedthrust]!” Without a delay, I propel myself against the jetted one, though even without his hardening skill he has so much bulk that my attack only results in a medium deep stab.

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“[Burndrill]!” Rine throws a fiery punch and while her enemy laughs at first, as the flames don't seem to penetrate his skin, he begins to cry in agony, as the spell lasts longer than his skill. Then Rine swaps back to [Princess Knight] to jump over a flying cut from behind, which makes her look like a professional high jumper.

I get kicked and thrown against a tree, but at this point I can take these kinds of hits well. “I'm Frett, and I will take your head, Red Ranger!” I’ll call him Guitar, I guess.

“Then I will get her!” A gray-haired barbarian adds, that's the one who almost got Rine from behind: “My name is Tjim, and-” Rine swings her sword, and this time *clank* it is deflected by his cheek. “-I will take you on.”

“The rest of you,” a third one yells: “Get the elf!”

“No you-” Rine tries to say something, but has to block Jim's sword. She turns into the attack and evades a flying slash this way at the same time, then she kicks his shin and punches his nose, but it doesn't seem to do any damage. “[Crescent Moon]!” Even that one amounts to nothing.

“My muscles are the strongest armor there is!” She still has [Dismember] though this skill comes with a big opening.

“Don't look away!” yells Guitar at me, who takes offense that I'm more bothered by Jim than by him. He uses a pole with a big stone on its end as a weapon, and it's no problem to keep evading it. “Stay still!”

His attack hits the ground, which blows up with the force, throwing dirt and dust around, but with [Wild Eyes] I can clearly see his spirit, which makes it easy to repeat my cheap trick of touching his weapon, [Inspirit] it and then use “[Entangle]!” to give him the option to either shatter his weapon or fall victim to it.

Could it be that I actually developed an OP tactic?

Still, this looks bad, and we should regroup. Sunflower is here now as well, the boss of them all. “Come on, don't hold back!”

Guitar breaks free, destroying his weapon in the process, while Jim now swings again at Rine. The AoE attackers from before now rush into the forest, following the order of their boss.

*Boom*

OK, that takes care of them. As the sound of exploding air takes place, some clumps of flesh are flying back. From the quiet, cracking sound that accompanied it, I guess Jii-san just broke his arm in this attack.

“What the-” Sunflower is understandably confused, and it increases as more bodies are thrown at him, all of them severely wounded from multiple stab-wounds from all sides. I guess Ara-san made [Root Lances] work somehow and Jii-san threw them afterwards. “This is a joke, no!?” His face contorts in anger and fury. He picks up a tree and throws it into the direction his comrades came from, breaking several other trees in the process.

It doesn't travel far though, as Jii-san catches it with one hand: “You're a joke.” He says, and for some reason, even I feel like pissing my pants right now, even though Jii-san is on my side and he's still jovial: “The Northfarts really only use their rage for temper tantrums and when they fart, because they're so tight-assed that they can't even take a shit normally.” He gently puts the tree down.

“What is a Lizar--” He doesn't even come to finish his sentence, as Jii-san charges at him. Sunflower lifts his mace, ready to answer in kind. But Jim—the one who fought against Rine—throws himself into Jii-san's attack, his muscles hardened to a degree that it rather looks like rock or ore, all softness vanished. The strongest armor, an immovable object.

What happens when an unstoppable force hits an immovable object? No idea, and this is rather a shotgun shooting through a piece of paper. One moment Jim was there, and now he's everywhere!

I think I will vomit when this is over...

“Ah-” I use this opportunity to thrust my spear into Guitar's groin. The reaction is very satisfying, though he still somehow managed to harden himself up, but it seems that the lack of muscles there to support the skin-hardening makes [Iron Defense] much less effective there, especially when I’m using a proper melee weapon instead of my bow. Good to know. “....uuuuuuuuuuuu...” Still standing though.

“YOU!” Sunflower swings his mace, but Jii-san takes the hit—which I feel even from here—directly in the face, probably using [Iron Defense] himself.

Though Sunflower didn't account for someone who just lost her opponent: “[Dismember]!” The screeching of Rine's glowing sword ripping through the Sunflower's [Iron Defense]-shoulder pierces my ears, but just a second later his arm falls to the ground, and Rine is about to land her second attack. Yet she cancels her skill, something she never did before! Instead of chopping off more, she glares down at the man, who is a head taller than her and whose remaining hand jerks towards his new stump. “Get your people and leave. Now.”

In three seconds, Sunflower went through three emotions: Disbelief, anger, and restraint. “NORTHWIND CLAN! GATHER AND RETREAT!” He picks up his severed arm, runs a few steps, before looking over his shoulder: “That's not the last of us!”

Guitar limps away, holding his balls. The ones who are still on the ground also stand up, groaning with their wounds, but they seem more like a bunch of bullies that were beaten up by other bullies, instead of suffering from lethal wounds.

Still, I guess we won?

Ara-san and Kyou-san return, the latter's hair all curly and full of foliage. I guess she hid in the underbrush. “That was close,” Ara-san comments.

Yeah, we somehow managed, but if they come with more people, things will get much worse. Heck, without Jii-san we wouldn't be able to fight back at all. “What happened on your end?”

Ara-san answers nonchalantly: “If you look over there, you may notice a lack of trees, and wounding them takes a lot of effort. If they rebounded in time, we would have lost within a few minutes.”

“Also...” Kyou-san adds beaten: “My powders did nothing.” Guess her [Herbal Weapon]s are a bad fit against barbarians and their inhuman toughness, and she lacks the pure power to penetrate their defenses.

“Phew... if they attack again, we'll have a problem if they come with even more people.”

“Don't worry lad, if they attack all at once, it'll be easy. I still have my legs left.”

Following these words, Kyou-san stares at Jii-san: “Both your arms are broken!”

“Kehehe, yeah. May I ask you for treatment, lass?”

This doesn't look good. To overcome that toughness together with that power, being smarter isn't enough. I overperformed here, but it’s mostly by being able to pick them up one by one while Rine got much attention.

If that fight continued, I eventually would have gotten one-shot killed. Yeah, working on [Skills] seems to be the right way to get more tools to deal with that.

“We need to go back to the farm for real treatment,” Kyou-san says, and while she can't avoid looking at the bloody mess, she takes it better than expected, I guess being [Herbalist] does make her much more resilient towards this. She's absolutely pale though, especially considering Jim’s mess.

Which reminds me of something. “I need a second.”

Guessing my intention, Kyou-san decides to follow my example, while Rine and Ara-san seem to be OK. But one has her emotion in an iron grip, and Rine does messes like these herself, so nothing surprising about it.

Just Jii-san is strange, as I hear his whisper with my [Ranger]-sharpened ears while vomiting to my heart's content: “So lucky...” Just why is he looking at the bloody spray while saying it?

Nah, not my business.

―○●○―

Harkon still can't believe what just happened. Tjim may have been old, but he was strong. Yet he was...

SHIT!

Who is that lizard!? Though his childhood memories, the stories he heard, are screaming at him, his adult senses refuse to listen to them. Because it's impossible.

No, the lizards are far away, they can't be here, so even if he's still alive, he couldn't be here. If even half of the stories were true, then none of them would have survived today.

Still, there is the doubt.

Harkon feels like a coward, as he doubts his decision to ignore the warnings earlier. Now he flees with his tail between his legs, the only thing he can think of is to get away, to tell the chieftain about what happened here.

However, there is a small part of him who swears revenge. Revenge for making him feel weak and cowardly.

He presses his dismembered arm against his wound, allowing [Regeneration] to slowly let it grow together. This is another insult he has to pay back!