Rob found me pretty quickly. I jumped on, and he retraced his steps. When I got back, the rat was on its last leg, literally. Phil was back on his feet, and there was another guard there, I assume the one who had been unconscious. That is the value of a healer.

Further down the branch, the Sergeant and Squad Two didn’t seem to be doing so well. We need to finish this one and go and help. Just then, a Power Arrow slammed through the rat's eye and into its brain, and it collapsed. Good on you, Pok.

Myantha landed next to me and looked at me head to toe, looking for damage. She said, “I didn’t realise how much of a difference your Rejuvenating Aura makes.”

“At least you appreciated something about me,” I replied.

“Squawk!” said Tāwai, landing on my shoulder.

“You two seem to agree on a lot,” I said.

“Chirp,” Tāwai agreed.

Phil, Pok, Akina and … and … and the other one came up.

“Let's go and reinforce the Sarge,” Phil said.

I stored the giant rat for harvesting later, and it also cleared the branch so we could move. We all took a Stamina potion, and Myantha and Akina also took a Mana Potion.

Austin ran past us, so we followed. He was treating Joe when we arrived. The Sarge was in the front line with a round shield and spear combination. Ryan, Wella and Hist had formed a shieldwall, but I gathered Hist only stepped in when Joe was knocked out.

Both remaining giant Rats were side by side, but there was no more room to manoeuvre. The shield wall was retreating slowly, and the Rats had a forest of vines to fight through as they advanced. One of the Rats was bleeding, but the other didn’t appear to be.

I used Assessing Eyes. The damaged one was water-aligned, and the non-damaged one was wood-aligned. It seemed caught in the vines regardless, so I suspect the wood is acting like armour.

This was not good. They were being forced back, and the damage they were causing was not heavy.

Pok started firing arrows. This alerted the sarge we were here. “Switch out, right to left,” she commanded. The guards moved to obey and relieve their fellows.

I looked at Myantha, “Hit from the back?” She nodded.

Then Hilke came up, “Have you got room for me as well? I can help, but not from here.”

I nodded, indicated Rob and said, “Hold on tight.”

She mounted, and I mounted behind her. I manipulated the Light around us, and we hung on as Rob went over the edge of the branch, enough that we were almost upside down. He travelled along with his Suction Paws, not having a problem with the weight of both of us. My Feather Fall skill helped to reduce the weight.

We came up behind the big rats, but the branch was swarming with smaller ones. Rob chomped down on some. I landed my Umbral Cold, and as soon as his tail was up, he Tail Smashed a huge number, making space.

Tāwai swooped down on a dog-sized rat as Hilke and I jumped off Rob. Myantha was running on air to us. I wonder how long she can keep that up.

Hilke was a close-in fighter. I guess that is why she couldn’t fight behind a shield wall. She had sharpened half circles with a handle in the middle. The half-circle blade curved right around her hand, and she had one in each hand. She was slicing through the rats like she was reaping a field of wheat. I saw her use it to punch at one point, and the curved blade just kept cutting.

I joined her with Shadowbane and Lightreaver. And we cleared up to the back of the two giant rats.

“What are they called?” I asked when we had a minute.

“Hand Chakram, or Half Chakram. It is more commonly known as the Crescent Blade. How do you want to handle the big ones?”

“That one will be tougher as it is wood-aligned. That one is wounded and water-aligned. We take that out first, and then everybody piles on the other one.”

“How?”

“Fire to combat Water, also light,” I said. I was lining up Radient Strike and Burning Strike.

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“Asshole, asshole,” Tāwai squawked.

Hilke raised an eyebrow.

“Right. It is weak in the asshole.” I put my weapons away and pulled out a spear. “You guys want to open me a spot? It can’t manoeuvre, so throwing it off the edge works for now as well. It will give us time to deal with the other one.”

Myantha and Hilke cleared rats. I stored as many corpses as my Helping Hand could reach. Take everything you can.

I ducked under a sweep of the Rat's tail. The asshole was there about chest height. Burning Strike was level 4. Radiant Strike was Level 3. Radiant Strike still had the highest damage because of my high affinity with light.

I was in my Spectral Cloak, but it didn’t cover the spear as it was not soul-bound. In fact, this was the spear I got off the Orc in the Land of the Undying Lord.

I lined it up, and then the rat farted with bits of shit. I activated Charge for one step to get the bonus and then Thrust. Radiant Strike. The spear went about halfway in, and I left it with a stick up its butt. I grabbed Shadowbane and Lightreaver and started cutting for all I was worth.

The Rat did not like a stick up its butt and squealed in protest and turned to face us by raising itself up on its mate. This caused the spear to hit the ground and move, causing more pain and, I hope, many internal injuries.

Tāwai was attacking its face as it turned, and Rob used Crushing Bite on its tail and pulled, making the turn more difficult. Myantha and Hilke were trying to cut off a rear leg.

An arrow slammed into the side of its face, and vines grew out of it, digging into an ear and eye. Then it was around, and Myantha air stepped out of the way, but it caught Hilke and she went flying off the side of the branch.

I cloaked up, and before the Rat could target anyone, a massive Wart Toad appeared in front of it, and I croaked for all I was worth with Mimic Sound and Voice Throw. It tried to attack the image and just passed through it, but it was enough time for me to get into position, and I Thrust Shadowbane up under its chin, hoping to get to the brain, and at the same time, Frostshade Rend its throat with Lightreaver.

Blood spurted out all over me from the throat. I left Shadowbane embedded and tried to roll away, but the rat-fink collapsed on top of me.

This one was dead, and I was lying under it in a pool of blood, listening to the fight with the other one. I need to invest more in strength. Then I realised what an idiot I was and stored the corpse.

Everybody was piling into the other rat, and it was literally a cornered rat. I just sat and watched. I was out of mana anyway. I was almost out of stamina, too. Rob came nearby and chomped at the little rats. I took a stamina potion. It was really too soon after the last one, but I was too vulnerable.

I sent Rob to see if he could find Hilke.

Ten minutes later, the biggest rat was dead, and the little ones scattered. Austin came over to see if I was alright, but he was only dealing with the big stuff as he only had so much mana.

My biggest problem was the blood and shit. I cast Self-clean five times.

“Where’s Hilke and Myantha?” Juth demanded when she did a head count.

“Went over the edge. Hilke involuntarily, Myantha, Tāwai and Rob went looking after this one was dead.” I replied.

She looked at Pok. She didn’t need to say anything, and he jumped off the edge to follow.

“Okay, people, let's get harvesting. We need these rewards.” Juth looked at me. “You have the other bodies?”

I nodded, moved away a bit, produced one, and then moved again to produce the second. Suda started harvesting one, Akina, the water mage, started the second, and I started on the third.

We were about halfway through when Rob appeared carrying Hilke, who was alive but damaged. Myantha and Pok were with her, and Austin got to work. Broken bones would take a lot of mana.

Once the bosses' bodies were harvested, the Loot appeared. There were skill stones and armour and weapons. There was something for everyone, and Juth knew her guards and distributed it fairly well. She didn’t know Myantha, Hilke, Tāwai, or me that well, so we had to speak up.

I know Suda was pleased when she got Heartwood Bones. I was surprised when Pok got Flame Cloak. It was a black fur cloak that seemed to be smouldering. He could activate it so it could burst into flames. My Apraising eyes showed he had an affinity for fire, and I guess Norm was not here and didn’t participate.

I didn’t see what Hilke got, but Myantha got a wooden cloak. It wasn’t actually wood unless she activated it for defence, but it had bonus camouflage in forest environments.

I got something I wasn’t sure about. It was a Spear, and it was strongly focused on Light skills. It was a named spear, but not soul-bound. It was the Brightlance. Spears had never been my favourite. There were a number of top spearmen here, including the Sergeant and Joe. Neither wanted Brightlance, and I was really the only light user here.

“I’ll get your Basic Spear skill maxed out,” Juth promised, “Then you might be worthy of the spear.”

I kind of doubted it.

Tāwai’s reward was obvious. I really didn’t like the reward he got. The Trial is messing with me again. He already has a Mocking Call. Why would he need an Excruciating Screech? That is just nasty.

“OK, everybody, spend some time levelling up. Grab food and drink. Then we have some missing members to find,” Juth ordered.

People started getting out their supplies. I did the same. I could level Spectral Slayer, so I did. I put a few points into strength.

“Sarge,” Pok called out. She looked up. “Advanced Class, Ma’am. I am now a Level 1 Trailblazer. Firecut, Speedrun and Fire Eyes.”

“Congratulations.” He got a lot of congratulations. This was what they were all working towards and risking their lives for.

I was still holding a lot of Rat corpses. I need an opportune time to harvest them, but that won’t be until we find the missing six.