Chapter 34 – I Hate Escort Quests

Aenon clung to the shadows as he followed the group, silent as a cat. He wanted to ascertain what these guys wanted before he decided on how to interact with them. They could be potential citizens of his new village but could also be potential problems. Their group leader, a behemoth of a man, made him especially cautious. His soul was unlike anything he had seen so far. By now Aenon could easily distinguish between a human and an animal’s soul. But his soul was… different. It was neither here nor there. Not to mention, the power that radiated off him.

The fact that he couldn’t see the man’s level meant he was stronger than Aenon. So, he had to be careful. He didn’t want to drag anymore problems into his backyard. Moreover, his party was also interesting and dangerous. This was Aenon’s first encounter with dwarves, and there were two of them. Their happy and carefree nature brought a certain calm to the group. The gruff behavior would perhaps take some time getting used to, but their souls elicited nothing but straightforwardness and honesty. He wasn’t sure they could lie to save their own lives.

The other woman in the group was perhaps the only one who was shrewd and calculating. Not once had he seen her facial expression match what she was feeling. She was laughing at the antics of the dwarves right now. But Aenon could clearly feel it was for the benefit of the dwarves themselves, not because she found them funny. She felt a deep connection with the two and had an especially strong connection of love towards the berserker. She cared for them, much the same way they cared for her. This was a group of people who regularly put their lives in each other’s hands.

The last member of the party, however, did not share the same level of trust and support. If Aenon was to guess, he was new to the group. Much the same way Jenny was. Every single person felt defensive of her, like they needed to protect her. Given the circumstances, it made absolute sense. She wouldn’t survive 5 minutes in this forest. They were guarding her like a mommy chicken protecting its chick.

Their pace was very slow, probably since Jenny wouldn’t be able to keep up if they used their regular speed. But Aenon was itching to see them in action. He never really got to see how a truly experienced party would operate in this new world. It would not only help in learning a few things, but also let him make contingency plans when he was up against one.

“Are we going to ambush them, Alpha?” came Bane’s voice through their link.

“No. I want you all to retreat to a safe distance and observe. Do not engage unless I ask you to,” Aenon replied.

“As you wish, Alpha.”

Thankfully, the path they took was heading straight towards a treant. Aenon had decided he would not interfere unless necessary. And so, his clandestine operation continued.

………………

Jenny

Jenny struggled to keep up with the group, despite them slowing down to a snail’s pace. Stamina wasn’t really her forte, and everyone knew it. Still, she kept her head down and marched on. Just to avoid discussing her embarrassing actions at the bridge earlier.

Why did I have to scream like a hobo? She scolded herself for the hundredth time. The others were gracious enough not to mention it, to her face at least. She did overhear some murmurs from the twins a while ago. Which was followed up by a sharp slap on their heads by Lady Elara. Honestly though, she felt good after that scream. She had never done anything like that before. Her mom always… She shook her head. She didn’t want to think about her. Not now. When she was surrounded by deadly dangers on all sides.

She was so lost in thought that she ran into Eskad who was leading the party across the forest terrain. “Sorry…”

She was silenced when Mave’s hand covered her mouth. She looked around to see what was going on. They were in a clearing and Eskad had his hand raised in some kind of gesture she was not familiar with. Which was followed by the rest of the party drawing their weapons. Which is when she realized, she didn’t have one. She was still dressed in her clerical attire, not armor. So, she was not only unarmed, but also unprotected. Thankfully the party of five had made a defensive circle around her, which was far better than any armor in her opinion.

The dwarves had some kind of fist weapon on their hands, like a gauntlet with claws on the knuckles. They had taken a weird boxing stance on each side of her while Lady Elara was wielding her famous crimson colored magic staff behind Jenny’s back. Mave was standing right in front of her and had a wand of some sort. It looked like a normal twig you would pick up off the forest floor, if not for the faint green light it was emitting. Only the berserker stood outside the defensive square around Jenny, but his massive figure, along with his humongous blade, completely protected Mave from any possible frontal assaults.

“What is it, Eskad?” Elara asked from the backline.

“I don’t know, to be honest. We are being followed by 7 monsters, but I stayed quiet since I didn’t feel any blood lust from them. This clearing though. It reeks of blood and death,” Eskad responded in a whisper.

Jenny felt goosebumps all over from the giant’s comments. They were being followed? How come no one tells her these things? Once they were out of this mess, she needed to lay down some ground rules. She tried peeking past the big man, but he was blocking the entire view up front.

“Well, should we go around the clearing then?” Mave asked in an equally low whisper.

“Something tells me its too late for that,” Eskad responded grimly.

“What? Why? We are two steps away from the forest edge. Let’s just hop back,” Jenny tried putting in her two cents.

“Not how this works, lassie. If the big guy says we are stuck, then we are. His big ol’ nose has steered us true on more occasions than the hair on my pappy’s beard. So, a word of advice. Do not as much as fart without his telling so,” the dwarf to her right said.

“Bhahahaha! Fear not, lassie. We got your back,” guffawed the other dwarf from her left.

“Shhh! Quite you two. Let me run a scan of the area to see how many things we are facing,” Elara said while holding her staff closer.

“No need, my love. There is just one opponent. And it’s a big one,” Eskad said while pointing ahead. He briefly stepped to the side, allowing everyone to see what he was pointing at.

Jenny’s knees gave out when she saw what they were up against. It was a gigantic tree that stood in the clearing. But it was standing on two wooden legs and had the ghastliest face she had ever seen. Its ridiculously long claws were colored red, no doubt from the countless things it must have killed so far.

“Oh my. That is a big one indeed. Although, how did a treant come to this place? Aren’t they supposed to be sent at a much later stage? Guess the reports from the survivors were true after all. Seeing is believing I suppose,” Elara spoke softly.

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“Oh, might be a bit late to ask but what are your classes, lassie?” asked one of the dwarves.

But Jenny was too engrossed in staring at the big monstrosity to respond. She wanted to flee but had no strength in her legs. She had felt so confident a few hours ago, but all that bravado had seeped away in an instant.

“Sigh. Alright boys. You know what to do,” Eskad announced loudly while raising his sword up high. He made a deafeningly loud war cry and charged ahead.

The shout at least snapped Jenny out of her shock, and she witnessed a scene that would have made her laugh if she was just a casual observer. A giant, and two dwarves were running across the field towards a bigger giant. Elara and Mave had hung back, perhaps to protect her, and were charging up spells of their own. She saw Elara’s staff form a flame at its tip as she closed her eyes and did… something. Jenny hadn’t investigated how this magic thing worked. Mave on the other hand, was throwing some green pellets as far as he could before aiming his wand at the location they fell at. Jenny noticed small saplings sprout where they landed.

CRACK

There was a vicious sound that echoed all over as the two giants contacted each other. The berserker’s great sword was more of a bludgeoning weapon and had hit the tree hard. But the treant was deceptively fast and had managed to grab the sword in its hands, earning it a few cracks that ran up its arm. But before Eskad could withdraw, thorned vines shot up from the ground and wrapped themselves around his legs, cutting deep gashes into his flesh as they coiled their way around.

The berserker though, didn’t even flinch and simply tore up the vines as he leaped back a few feet. Just as the treant was about to retaliate, two massive fists made of rock pummeled it from two sides. The dwarves had joined the fray and pounded the tree like two mad bulls. Jenny looked on in wonder at the expertly coordinated display. The three men weaved in and out like synchronized dancers as they unleashed their attacks relentlessly.

She was entranced by the savagery, the beauty, and the trust between the three as they threw themselves into the meat grinder again and again. Many a time the treant managed to counter and land a solid hit on one of the dwarves, leading to a massive shower of blood and gore. But the tank was always there the next instant, absorbing the follow up fatal blow. The berserker was covered in cuts and bruises all over. But against her expectation, the man got more savage with each injury.

The injured party members would retreat to the safety of the now 4-foot-tall trees which Mave had managed to set up in strategic locations all over the field. Jenny felt a soft breeze coming from one of the closest ones. She didn’t know how exactly they worked, but she saw injuries getting healed at a visible rate around them.

The treant tried destroying these healing areas multiple time. Either through projectiles, or by trying to move towards them, but Elara never let it. Her fiery infernos never let it get close to these areas and rain hell on it whenever it tried. It had lost more than half its branches to her fires and was wary of her. Any attempts to target her were immediately shut down by the three melee fighters.

“Keep it up boys,” Elara cheered while conjuring another fireball and chucking it across the field.

“I just wished I had my axe. Would have been an excellent tree to grind against. Don’t ya think, Toff?” Boff hollered while ramming an upper cut against a branch aimed at his brother.

“Bah! Hammers are better to squash giants down to size,” Toff responded in an equally boisterous tone.

“Giants? Aren’t talking about me, are ya? Hahahahaha!” Eskad joined in the conversation.

Jenny was stunned speechless at how casually these 5 were handling the monster. She was sure they were doomed, but these guys were dealing it like a picnic. The treant was battered and burned all over and was probably on its last legs. She looked on either side of her. Mave and Elara had a huge smile on their faces too. They had eased up on their spells, perhaps because they were low on mana. They had used two mana potions each throughout the duration of the fight, and would not be able to use any more. But it probably wasn’t needed by now. The entire fight had lasted a total of 20 minutes, and not once had she truly been in danger. Despite her earlier trepidation, Jenny smiled. If this is what adventuring parties were like, maybe it wasn’t so bad after all.

She pulled up her class descriptions for the second time since she got them. The first time was when Erwin had basically forced her to choose them.

Class Name: Novice Mage

Class Type: Ranged/Magical

Class Rarity: Common

Class Description: The most common magical damage type class across the multiverse. Based on specialization, they are the most versatile of magic based classes with the option to evolve into the notoriously infamous Archmagi, who are the masters of their chosen element.

Class Stats per level: +6 free stats

Class Name: Novice Healer

Class Type: Ranged/Magical

Class Rarity: Common

Class Description: The most common healer type class across the multiverse. Can advance and specialize into a variety of support classes.

Class Stats per level: +6 free stats

She had wanted to get rid of these classes and get non-combat-oriented ones. But it would take a long time to get there. So maybe…

She took a step back to get a better angle for the only spell that Erwin had made her learn – mana bolt. She had never really used it, but he had told her it was basically a point and shoot type of thing. She tried gathering her mana, but didn’t know how. She concentrated hard. More than she ever had before, wishing for it to do something. Finally, she felt it. There was something gathering in her palm. So, she pointed it at the treant and took aim. She wasn’t worried about hurting her teammates, she was level zero after all. And fired. The force of the projectile surprised her, and she stumbled backwards and fell.

She saw the projectile flying towards the treant as she fell backwards. She was ecstatic, it was on target. She knew from her current job experience that any minor participation gave XP. So, this would finally gain her a level. The world seemed to slow down as she saw her tiny bullet fly across the field. She saw Elara notice her projectile and turn towards her. Jenny was expecting a look of incredulity or surprise on her face. Maybe even pride at her accomplishment. But all she saw was a look of pure horror.

Before she could reconcile what that meant, Elara disappeared. In fact, everything did. Her entire view shifted in a moment. She was about to stand up to see what was going on when she noticed something casting a huge shadow above her. When she looked up, she froze. She was right below the treant. And unfortunately, it did notice her.

She saw a huge, clawed hand heading towards her chest. She knew she could do nothing about it, so she closed her eyes. But the blow never came. When she opened her eyes, she saw something large being thrown away at high speed. It was Eskad. He had taken the blow for her, like he always did for his team. But this time it was from an odd angle, and he lost his footing.

Without the tank, the two damage dealers tried to distract the treant but within seconds they were tossed back like ragdolls. They tried heading towards a healing ward, but the treant destroyed them using projectiles in quick succession. And since Elara was low on mana, she could not stop it either.

Mave made a dash for the collapsed berserker, who was yet to get up from the ground. But before he could take five steps, vines erupted from the ground and bound him. Only the two women were left conscious in the entire field, one prone on the ground, paralyzed with fear, while the other was leaning against her staff due to mana exhaustion.

Jenny saw with utter dread in her heart as the treant pointed its claw at Elara and shot a barb right at her. A barb that flew true and fast before piercing its target right through her abdomen. She saw Elara collapse to the ground and stay there unmoving.

One mistake. That was all it took for the entire tide of battle to shift against them. Jenny felt guilt and horror unlike anything she had ever experienced before. This was all her fault. They were all dead because of her. She heard a loud roar from where Eskad had fallen. A glimmer of hope arose in her heart as she looked his way. But the hope was squashed just as easily.

Eskad was in his Berker’s Rage form. He had grown 2 feet in height and his skin was dark crimson. Blood was flowing from his open wounds like smoking lava. She had heard of this form. People often talked about it. This was the trump card of Berserkers. But it was a double-edged blade. It taxed the body heavily and the current state of his was…

The mad behemoth charged his opponent with no regard for defense. Or offense, his weapon lay forgotten on the ground. He was like a mindless animal, clawing and scratching the hard exterior of the treant. Which did absolutely nothing. The treant swatted him away like a fly, making him hit the ground like a meteor a dozen feet away. But he kept getting up and charging. Again, and again.

It was painful to watch the state of the proud man’s body. Broken, bleeding, torn. Jenny finally gave up hope when Eskad finally fell after the fifteenth strike. She saw the treant turn to her. She fell to the ground in a fetal position, tears running down her cheek, as she waited for her end.

But suddenly, she felt something. Something she had felt once before. A dread so deep, she couldn’t breathe. She tried looking up and saw absolute darkness around her. Not a single ray of light was visible in any direction.

She finally saw something but wished she hadn’t. Eight pairs of grey eyes floating in the abyss. She heard a voice, so cold it froze her very veins.

“It’s our turn, Bane.”