“Raiders,” Darya said with a tone of fear in her voice, moving closer to me.

Karl, Frank and their sons hopped off the wagons, pulled out weapons and moved to stand behind me. Wands in hand, I walked up front hoping that the raiders would see me and think twice. And they must have noticed me, because they looked toward the man at the head of the group, as if seeking reassurance. He unsheathed his sword in response without slowing down.

“Seven of ‘em,” Darya said “The rest must be somewhere at a hideout in the area. What do we do?”

“If they take our gold you won’t be able to buy planting seed,” I said. “Without that, everyone back in Rosedale will starve. Be ready for a fight.”

The small group stopped a distance from us where we could see them clearly. They were a rough bunch that hadn’t seen a shower in months. Their armor was worn and torn, soiled with mud and grime. Yet, their swords didn’t look rusted and chipped. They must have taken good care of their tools of the trade. Most wore a helmet, but a couple didn’t. [Keen Eye] had them all at ‘Green,’ but what did that really mean? At the least, that was more serious than the ‘Gray’ that everyone around me was showing up as.

[Keen Eye] threat estimations didn’t seem very reliable to me. Same with the tiers of the monsters. One [t2] nearly killed me, while another [t2] didn’t even get close. There were way too many factors that Keen Eye simply ignored. They were ballpark estimates at best, misleading at worst. Did it simply go by the average of the attributes? Or maybe their levels? I had no idea.

The raider leader pointed the sword in my direction. “Hand over the valuables and you’ll-”

“No,” I said, lifting my wands up. “How about you get lost if you know what’s good for you.”

“What manner of freak are ya, eh? Did yer mum fuck a lizardman? Yer sort don’t scare me, I dealt with worse.”

Trying to intimidate them wasn’t going to work. This was going to go down the only way possible. I felt a spike of adrenaline as my heart and breathing sped up.

The nine second power up of my heavy ivory wands wouldn’t work well in this scenario. They could reach me at a sprint in less than four, three seconds maybe. If all else failed, I could use the wands as a club, they were meaty enough for that. I just hoped that the amethyst tip, or the power crystal didn’t come off in the action. Armored in a breastplate and natural scales, I could probably take a beating, but their sharp swords gave me pause. I took note of a fist sized rock laying on the ground.

“I’ll say it one last time,” the leader said. “Hand it all over-”

I could let them come at me, or I could do the opposite. I had no reason to let them take the initiative. And for that, I had just the thing to close the distance, [Leap]. For practice and to test it out, I had used it many times during the walk. I placed my thumbs on the wands, creating a low whine that grew in tone. Darya raised her bow, nocked an arrow.

“Get em!” he yelled.

I targeted the rock at my feet and flung it at the leader with [Telekinesis.] At the same time, my clawed feet dug into the ground, and I pushed off. I felt an immense force catapult me forward. The air rushed past me as I leaped toward them at neck-breaking speed. The rock ricocheted against the leader’s armor without causing any damage, but I threw it only as a distraction.

The leader’s look of surprise was brief, and he quickly threw himself aside. The guy behind him wasn’t so lucky. With a resounding bang, I kneed him in the chest with every bit of my weight and force of [Leap.] I felt the shuddering force of the impact travel up my leg and body. He crumpled to the ground. I landed, ran past, and turned to face them.

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The guy on the ground was gasping for air, eyes bulging out. He wouldn’t get up any time soon. It was down to six, and they were sandwiched between me and the villagers. Though, I didn’t have high hopes for my guys to do much else than to act as distractions and a possible threat.

A moment of confusion and shock rippled through the raiders. I took the opportunity to keep backing up, making space. Every moment of their hesitation, was a moment closer to me firing the wands. The now familiar whine of the wands told me that they were about half way to firing.

Darya’s arrow to the back of the head of one of the raiders brought them to action and fast. He should have worn a helmet. Two down, five to go. While the raider dropped dead, the leader charged me, others fanned out to surround me.

His charge took me by surprise, one instance he ducked, and the next he was up in my face, blazing sword coming at my head. A split second shift to the side made the difference between living and being skewered through the head. I felt the searing fire of the blade come close to my cheek.

I stepped back and the blade sliced diagonally down. It clanged against my breastplate, sparks and embers flying.

Out of nowhere, another raider’s attack from the side struck me. It connected against the side of my forearm. All I felt was a sting, yet something changed about the strength of my right hand’s grip. From my left, a blade sliced across the top of my left arm, shredding the side of my poncho, drawing blood and pain. I was confused. The raiders weren’t so close to have reached me. It had to be magical attacks.

“Get in there!” The leader growled. “Rip him to shreds, boys.”

I was alone and surrounded. Panic grew, desperation crept in. Warm blood streamed down my arms. I glanced over my shoulder, the road behind me was clear. I could make a run for it - the whine of the wands intensified - or I could fight. One thought ran through my mind.

Kill, or be killed.

An arrow clunked against the side of the leader’s helmet. Rocks thrown by Frank, Karl and his sons pummeled the raiders, drawing their attention. [Leap] was ready again, and I leapt high up in the air aiming to land on top of the leader.

I felt a momentary weightless feeling at the apex of my leap, the cool breeze, and then the pull of gravity. The bastard didn’t flinch or move, but took a wide stance, sword aimed up at me.

He looked up at me with a grin on his face, flames dancing down his sword. His ugly mug drew closer as I fell, gaining momentum like a wrecking ball. I targeted the tip of his sword with [Telekinesis] and yanked it aside. A moment of surprise was the last emotion that he felt. That, and over a hundred kilos of weight as I came crashing down on top of him.

The sudden collapse of their leader had an instant effect on his men. Their expressions of malice and determination vanished, replaced by terror.

At my feet, blood pooling out of his mouth, he tried to cough, tried to breathe. The whine of my wands were at their peak, and I aimed for the closest raider with both wands. Petrified and not moving, he was an easy target. The ten bolts boomed like cannons blasting.

The impacts lifted him off the ground, the air distorted with the magical explosions, flung him back. An instant later, something profound happened. Something unexpectant. An intense feeling of ecstasy filled my mind as wisps of black smoke like plastic burning burst out from the battered remains of the dead raider. They flew right at me and enveloped my being. At the same time, a searing pain enveloped the front of my right forearm. The first of the strange symbols, now covered in blood, lit up for a brief moment in molten light, and grew dim.

I didn’t have time to think, as the same bliss repeated again as the leader stopped breathing. It was soon followed by a third as the raider I had pounced on at the start had succumbed as well. The remaining three raiders flung their weapons aside and broke into a mad run. One without a helmet didn’t make two steps before an arrow took him through the head.

The blissful bursts put me into a bloodthirsty mood, as if a demon had woken up inside of me. The thought of killing humans was but a faint whisper at the far back of my mind. Looking back over my shoulder, everyone stood in stunned silence with fear in their eyes.

I wanted more.

I thumbed the wands for a second time, and walked casually after my desperate prey.