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As the sun disappeared over the peaks and they began their journey again, Rowan was enthused knowing he could now hold his AoE buff active for more than the required running time. As he trotted along, shoulder to shoulder with Nottie, he started a conversation.

“What's your level?”

“Eighty. How old are you?” the girl asked without turning her head.

“I’m twenty-six, why?”

“What?” Nottie tripped and almost fell. "I thought you were like fifty or something."

“C’mon, I don't look fifty,” Rowan snorted.

“I thought you were an elf too… with less pointy ears. I’m thirty-one.”

It was Rowan's turn to trip. “You’re kidding me! You look like sixteen. You age slower or something?"

"Elves, duh."

"And you live twice longer? Thrice?” Rowan diverted the conversation toward more peaceful subjects.

“Depends on the tier. But at legendary, you could live almost as long as an elf, so in the long run, it’s not such big a difference. I plan to marry a human,” she whispered the last words. “They are so much more relaxed about getting drunk and having sex with multiple partners.”

Rowan pretended to cough and get tired, and they ran in silence from that point. There was an hour of walking at midnight, then running again. Like they did before, they avoided highways or resorts, using dirt roads or hiking trails. The traveling patch of darkness was enough deterrence to keep anyone from approaching.

Two miles before reaching their destination, Rowan’s phone buzzed with a special alarm signal he had only for him and his wives. He read the message and speeded ahead, approaching the War Chief. “Can we have a word?”

“Of course, Thane. Group, wait for us at that sign.” The youngsters sprinted, eager for a break, stopping thirty yards farther, and the two slowed their pace to a brisk walking rhythm.

“You know, just from personal experience, shit happens,” Rowan said.

“Go behind that mound, we’ll wait. We have plenty of time to spare.”

“Oh, no, no, I did it before we left… never mind, it’s just an expression. I meant every single time I got my nose out of my town, I was attacked when I expected less. Like I have a Murphy law with my name on it. Anyway, Grace, my wife, texted me: I feel impending danger. Take care. She’s a Seer.”

“Very well,” the elf nodded. “I was going to let you in the secret anyway. I paid a group of Goblins to attack us," the elf made air quotes.

So he does know a few human cliches, Rowan thought. What's he talking about, though?

"They'll feign to be scared away by the kids, and that will raise the youngsters' self-confidence, leading to good Perks, I hope. Now that you know, maybe you can pretend Nottie saves your life. She’s the strongest of the group, that would help her a lot.”

“Oh, shit!” Rowan exclaimed after his phone buzzed again.

“Mound?” the elf gestured again. “I have some spare toilet paper.”

“No. Look!” he forwarded his phone so the elf could see the screen.

There was a satellite photo showing their position, taken moments before. Their group was clearly visible, but so were the troops surrounding them. At the upper part of the valley they were about to enter were hundreds of Neeks and military dressed in white camouflage clothes. On the flanks, having the high ground, Vladivostok's special forces, all Awakened of max Level. Behind the Elves, on the plain, keeping their distance, a few groups with snowmobiles, scouts. All the enemies were tagged neatly.

"What does the text say?" Inglotal pointed his finger at the SMS Rowan received from Cora.

"I'm in Africa. The Dictator had limited success in Vladivostok. Their strongest faction is nuts. A drunk Goblin bragging in a tavern was heard by Neek spies, they found out about the Elves' trek and coopted the Vladivostokans. They plan to kill them as payback but they don't know you're there. I hacked a military satellite, sending you a photo. I activated the Core here and made an executive decision to negotiate with Harbin. In exchange for a few more cores to consume, the Dictator's army and I will teleport to Harbin, join with the Elves, Goblins, and Vampires, and we'll assault Vladivostok. Harbin has put together a couple of Border breakers copied after the Neeks, but better. The System has allowed us the Incursion. Try to break the encirclement and get in contact with Viscardi, he'll arrange for an extraction. Entering radio-silence. Godspeed. Love you, Cora."

"Kids, to me, we have to talk!" Iglotal yelled. "I'm sorry," he whispered to Rowan. "This is all my fault."

Rowan squeezed his eyes shut, trying to overcome his panic. He was the only one around with a guaranteed Rezz, he knew the list by heart.

"What's up?" Nottie asked, arriving near the two adults, followed by the rest of the teenagers.

“We're about to be ambushed, by superior forces," Rowan said deadpanned. "They got wind of the trek and want to get revenge on me through you. There's no other way out other than fighting. They already have eyes on us."

As one, the elves just nodded. "What's the plan?” a girl asked. Blonde and fair-skinned, she made a yin-yang contrast with Nottie's raven hair and darker complexion.

"We can't retreat, they'll hunt us down with their snowmobiles. We go on, after pretending we just had a friendly chat. Once deep in the valley, but before they ambush us, I'll put us all in the in-between and we run up to the ridge, destroying their vehicles and killing some on the way. After that, we lose ourselves in the forests or push for Calgary and ask for an extraction. But first… I need to be aware of the enemy's movement. I and Nottie will mix our AoEs and send them out in a very thin layer, to cover a large surface."

“Oh, Nottie and the Thane are mixing things together,” someone joked. Rowan couldn’t tell who because the culprit was in the back row. Nottie, however, had a better ear and shook her fist.

“Just you wait, Magnus. I’ll skin you alive.”

Rowan ignored the exchange and prepared his Perk. "Nottie, you go first, and I’ll give your AoE a push.”

The girl shivered and started her Perk. Rowan could tell it was more intense now. He let out his own Perk, also at a higher strength, like the first time he had used it. The cold and the darkness mixed together in a dark fog, and then he sent an impulse that spread all over, like the shock wave of an explosion. Soon, the ring of cold and darkness became invisible and weak, but still going on fast, for half a mile, a full mile, two… three... Every hostile target it touched, even with a snowflake or a speck of frost was now tagged on Rowan's targeting sensor.

“I learned Sonar…” Nottie exclaimed. “Thank you so much.”

“Keep your voice low,” Rowan blurted with a growl. “What weapons and armor do you have?”

"Our fur coats are medium armor, and we each have spears," the blonde girl said. "I also have a sword."

“Welcome to America.” Rowan extracted two revolvers from his inventory, giving one to her and the other to Inglotin, along with a couple of speed loaders. “Point and shoot. Technoforge made, hollow points able to overcome Awakened armor and Toughness up to Threshold three. OK, peeps, let's move. Take your spears casually in hand like it's part of the ritual. Now pretend to cheer and let's go.”

"Yey!" the youngsters raised their spears in the air. There was only one worried face there, Inglotal's. Either oblivious of the danger because of their youth or trusting him too much, the young elves' expressions displayed only determination.

“So, basically we destroy their vehicles, from stealth, and run?” the girl with the gun asked while walking.

“Exactly. What’s your name?”

“Nerio.”

“Like the Roman war goddess? There is a statue in… never mind. May you gloriously follow in her footsteps."

"Thank you," she bowed her head.

"Everyone, take a Mana potion. Keep Health Potions at hand, tell me if you don't have any," Rowan said. There was no answer, so the potions were covered. Leading the way into the valley, Rowan inspected his display. The enemies, even invisible to the naked eye, were showing perfectly. There were no movements now, but they most likely were preparing for the ambush.

“We sprint for it when I say go. Three… two… one… GO!”

The group moved as one, nonplussed by the Space, after all, they had experienced it before when exiting the Shore dungeon. Twenty seconds later, they arrived at the first line of the enemy but moved forward.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"Halt, pay attention to me," he yelled, stopping in the middle of a group of six warriors, a party from the rival awakened town of Vladivostok. They were hiding behind a large rock formation, an ambush on the most evident path of escape.

He pushed his threads into their heads and bellowed: "Stay hidden behind the rocks," before exiting the Space. All warriors collapsed, dead, without a squeak. One of his stacks of the Space had been consumed, he had eight at first and now was down to seven.

"Take their armors," he whispered and gestured. The bodies had already dissolved into the mana, but the gear had remained behind. The swords, he didn't care about, but the heavier armor would protect the kids.

"Where did they go?" someone yelled in the valley.

"Don't leave cover, shoot at the Russians first," he ordered. Raising up, Rowan threw at first a flurry of Forest Fire, moving his hands in a circle. It was not the time to be squeamish. Forests in Canada burned regularly, and it was part of the cycle of nature. He hoped that the fire would be contained inside the valley, but he had to do what he had to do. He followed with the Snowstorm in cone AoE form, at maximum strength. It destroyed anything in its path, incoming bullets or soldiers. Behind him, there were gunshot sounds, Inglotal, and the girl.

“Stay where you are, we're going into the space again, in three… two… one,” Rowan screamed. Scores of foes rushed up the slope, assaulting their position. As they arrived, he took the ten claymore mines he had in his inventory and let some fall on the ground, throwing others in an arch toward the parked snowmobiles below. There was carnage in the Neeks and regular soldiers' ranks, unfortunately, the twenty Vladivostokans remained unhurt. Being a Classed with heavy armor had an advantage.

He extracted rebars from his inventory, two in each hand, in a V shape, inserting them in the Russians' bodies, letting go, and repeating the move in a blink. He would have given a hand that this kind of attack worked for the allies he took in the Space too, but he was the only one able to do the trick.

The remaining enemies spread around, which was a good tactic. "Come," Rowan yelled, activating a third stack of the Trip and going up the slope. On the way, he took a look at the valley behind. It was burning. Most enemies tried to escape the raging fire, running westward. Neeks were shooting at the soldiers, to make them stand and fight. It was not working.

Raising his hand, Rowan made the group stop. "Take cover." Leaving the Space, he unleashed a Snowstorm, not at the enemy, but at the fire, pushing it toward their foes, and added another shot of Forest Fire afterward. The valley was becoming a hell.

Bullets crashed on his helmet, snipers, but as long his visor's screen showed Rowan's armor was over forty-five percent integrity, he ignored them, shooting both Snowstorm and Forest fire again.

"We move!" The fourth stack of the Trip managed to get them over the ridge. They had broken the encirclement. Or so they thought. The youngsters had relaxed, and Nottie stepped out of the area covered by his Perk, directly in the middle of another group of foes guarding the possible retreat. A dozen, half Neeks, with guns, half Russians, with spears and swords.

Nottie got shot, and then Magnus ran outside too, sheltering her with her body, and got shot too. Rowan projected his filaments into the six Neeks, to get the ranged attacks off their back, then exited the space, throwing himself at the Russians, flourishing his weapon in a whirl of steel.

The Russians were good fighters, though, and high-level and retreated, regrouping like a good party.

"Catch their weapons!" Nerio, the blonde girl yelled, unsheathing her sword, the revolver in her left hand and running forward.

It made sense. In a blink, instead of aiming his threads toward the bodies, Rowan caught the enemies' spears and sabers in his threads' grip, pushing or pulling, whatever was necessary to keep them out of balance. Nerio shot three Russians in the head, twice, while running forward and beheading a fourth, then a fifth with a reverse swing, and jumping at the sixth, throwing him down, and crushing his head under her heel.

Rowan ran toward Nottie, casting a Combat Heal. She was barely breathing, but the boy was not there anymore, his body had been taken by the Mana.

“Fuck…” Rowan whispered, tears gagging his voice. As Nottie gasped, regaining consciousness, he yelled. “Hide in the forest and wait for me, I'll find you. I’m going back to assess the situation.”

“I'll come with you, we'll kill them all!” Nerio yelled, her eyes on fire,.

“No! I'm the only one who can Rezz.”

The girl growled. The Shadow Elves started to run down the slope while he climbed the ridge back, taking a peek. The fire had all but died down, faster than expected, which was good for the forest, but bad for them. Most enemies were unhurt, and some vehicles were still functional. About a hundred foes on snowmobiles were entering the valley from the southwest, the scouts that had been in the back in the beginning.

And the dozen surviving Russians from the group that chased after them before were coming up hot. "You don't know when to quit, don't you?" he roared, rushing to meet them.

His Trip stacks were precious, and better used at protecting the youngsters. Mana, he still had half of it. Starting Snowstorm at a mild intensity and short range, around him, he added Forest Fire to the game. The blizzard was extracting the heat from around him, but it was redirected to the fire. He was now enveloped in an aura of both Räsvelg’s aspects.

You have unlocked Elemental Shield, a facet of both The Cold Wind and Fire Wind.

The Svartálfar’s Stare he threw at the first Russian was a crit, the individual—man or woman, Rowan couldn't know—collapsed on the knees, screaming and grabbing their face, and then the empty armor fell on the ground, specks of blue light coming out of it.

Catching the next enemy's legs with two threads, Rowan impaled him through the armpit gaps and the visor with the other four filaments. This one was a man, the beard was so big it spread out of the helmet. Throwing a cone of Snowstorm to throw the Russians off the cliff didn't work, one of their Tanks had a Perk offering Stability, or so the brief notification said. The next Stare also failed.

The good part was that the trail was narrow, and he could face them in groups of two. Transforming his weapon into a rifle, Rowan made a Russian's head explode, then he changed it into a Barong machete and a shield and started retreating up the slope. The combination was good, but the Vladivostokans were not dumb. The ones in the front started to use short swords as well, while those in the back poked at him with spears.

The protection aura was holding well, though, the hits that got through and touched his armor felt weak and did next to no damage. Changing to threads again did skewer another Russian, but granted Rowan a few stronger hits from the rest. The threads were good at attacking at CC but not so much at parrying.

A couple of enemies were making their way to the front, and Rowan's senses read what was going to happen like an open book. An off-tank was going to Charge or Bash at him, and while at that, the Rogue would go behind to stab him, while the rest would attack with spears. A good tactic, he conceded, grinding his teeth.

Allowing himself to go into Delayed Truth and kill the Rogue and the Tank, or entering the Space and dealing with the Russians once and for all?

Before he answered his own question, the Tank charged, but his assault was met in the air by someone else's dash from the back, and the man literally exploded into pieces. Cutting the Rogue in two with an oblique strike, Nerio shoved the next Russian off the hill with her shoulder and shot the next one in the face with Rowan's revolver. The four surviving Russians fled down the valley with tremendous speed.

Of course, a teenager won't obey orders! Rowan groaned, putting a hand on the girl's shoulder to stop her from giving chase. "Where did you learn to fight like this?" he asked.

"I'm a champion for Historical Elven Martial Arts," she explained nonplussed.

You are pinged with a private message from: Flame, Griffinoid Intergalactic Mercenary (she/her): 'Don't shoot, I want to talk.' A System Oath has been taken by the Intergalactic Mercenary not to harm you. Accept the Parley: Y/N A copy of this message has been sent to Nerio Fern, to prevent her from engaging in hostility.

This is a crazy day. What the heck does a Merc wants?

He pressed Yes. A few moments later, a shooting star approached at a very fast speed, landing near them. The Merc's helmed had an unusual oblong shape toward the back.

"It's a Griffinoid, make sure you reply with a rhyme for the last word they say, or they get offended," Nerio whispered in Rowan's ear.

“OK, You want to talk, talk? Please be brief,” Rowan addressed the Merc

“Of course, chief,” the Merc said. “The Neeks betrayeth us. We bid our time and followed tracks, and now revenge is due."

"Here's my cue," Nerio interjected. "You want to help us get rid of the Neeks once and for all?"

"But it's your call," the Merc said, bowing to Rowan. "If you accept, I'll do my best."

What the fuck, really? Rhymes? "Be my guest," Rowan gestured toward the valley. Down there, the Russians had arrived and were gesturing vividly, from what he could guess, it was about getting out of the valley on snowmobiles and going around, trying to catch up. Persistent bastards!

The Merc produced a short-barreled shoulder rocket launcher and fired it. Seconds later, a bright explosion engulfed the mountain. Rowan entered the Space by instinct, taking Nerio and the Merc with him. Clouds of dust, debris, and heat erupted out, without reaching them, though.

"What the fuck, a nuke?" he yelled.

"Nothing serious, you'll just puke," the Merc replied.

"Radiation is nothing for us Awakened, you can let go," Nerio said.

As soon as he dismissed the Joint Trip, the Mercenary addressed him again: "Our Boss, The Smuggler, offers you a deal. After you get the cores you need, you give us the Sensor and ten cores of the best quality. She pardons Blackswarm and opens a line of smuggling with Earth. No one else will dareth approach your planet with the Warlord roaming free.”

“I see…” Rowan nodded. “A question first. Your kind tried to enslave my friends and subjects, the Swarthy Elves. That’s a bad thing, by our standards. How can I trust you?”

“Your words ring true. But it was not this Merc's team who did it. The Apian group has disappeared, they must be the guilty ones. Now, do you find our proposition proper?”

“Counter offer. Six cores of any kind, and you work for us until we finish our business with the cores. The Sensor was stolen, but will be yours after we recover it.”

“Hahaha…” the Merc roared in laughter. “You have no wit? In weaker position than thought, yet you asketh for more?”

“Yeah, Shakespeare, I asketh for more because this is war!" Rowan sneered. "Think: What do you need that only I can provide? Do you have a base, perchance? A safe haven?”

“Your offer is acknowledged, raven. Give us access to your County, attuneth us to your Town’s Rezz, and we’ll do your bidding.”

“Fitting. Very well,” Rowan said.

“Farewell,” the Merc said, taking flight.

"This is so crazy…" Rowan sighed, inspecting his notifications.

You have been deemed the third major contributor to the killing of a force of nine hundred soldiers, sixty Vladivostokan warriors, and fifty Neeks. Second contributor: Nerio. First contributor: Intergalactic Mercenary Flame. You have cleared the Quest: Complete the hike. +1 AP. You have completed the Quest: Survive Ambush. Secret subquest: You have led your fledging warriors in battle and won, saving 10/12 of the Raid members. +10 AP.

XP gains have been postponed.

Rowan’s heart skipped a beat. “Who else died?” he screamed, fearing his Healing had been sloppy, and Nottie succumbed to her wounds.

“Inglotal… he shot himself…” Nerio sighed, lowering her head. "Losing Magnus broke him."

“Oh my God… Was he related to that kid?"

"No… but he did love each of us like his own."

"May he rest in peace…”

There was one more notification, on which he chose Yes as soon as he read it.

I, the Warlord, have witnessed your performance in an almost hopeless battle and graded it at 90%: Great. Reward: Altruistic choice. Accept to divert all the XP you gained in this battle to the young Elves: Y/N