Chapter 14:
Despite the possible premonition he felt during their departure, the journey through the forest went rather well in the beginning. They were travelling along already broken trails by their gatherers. Even after that, it wasn’t that bad. The people at the front of their expedition would switch out occasionally so people only had to break a trail for others for a bit before being replaced.
Along the way, they only ever stopped for Daniel to do some scrying. He’d love to be able to do it on the move, but the rituals he used couldn’t just be inscribed on something and moved around like that. At least not with the materials he had on hand. He’d have to enchant a focus for that, or just to increase his capabilities to cast the spell free hand. Since he didn’t have the resources or the time to practice, they were stuck having to stop every once in a while.
He mainly used Detect Creatures, as his primary concern was keeping them away from Monsters. Occasionally, he used the scrying eye to make sure there weren't any issues with the terrain ahead. The first time he’d used the spell had drawn the same reactions of disgust or interest as it usually did.
These two scrying spells alone shouldn’t have been enough for him to navigate this forest. But, while he hadn’t been on this continent for many years, there were still some landmarks he remembered. Along with having a good idea where their clearing was in relation to the County of Caminus, and all he needed to do was head west until he hit the massive lake over there.
He could still remember it and how the two counties shared a portion of their border through that lake. Once they’d made it past that, they would be able to just head north and they’d be in the County of Lux. He wasn’t quite sure if they were guaranteed to reach the lake from their position with their current bearing, but his occasional uses of the Scrying Eye should be enough to keep them from missing it.
They’d take a mainly North West bearing as they moved, to avoid Caminus but also get out of the more dangerous part of the frontier as quickly as possible. The closer to civilization they got, the less powerful Monsters they’d find.
Unfortunately, as more and more time went on and they continued to travel, issues started to appear.
The first was simple. A lot of the people weren’t used to hiking through this much wilderness. They had to stop multiple times for the least fit of them to catch their breaths.
Then, as they left the range that the summoning ritual had scared the Monsters off to, they started to have to take more and more detours to avoid running into the Monsters, sometimes backtracking. That had drawn lots of complaints as well, even after Daniel had explained they were avoiding Monsters. Some people just felt like complaining for the sake of complaining, but some of them seemed to think Daniel was messing with them.
Daniel was completely un-surprised at who those people were.
Finally, sometime in the late afternoon, what Daniel was hoping he’d be able to avoid, even if he knew it was unlikely, happened. With too many Monsters out here in the frontier, where only adventurers and the stupid went, it was very hard to navigate without fighting Monsters, even for small groups. For a group as big as there's, with their little experience traveling through the wilderness, and lack of Skills to assist, it was only a matter of time before they attracted somethings attention.
Several Monsters were coming from where they'd been. No doubt having gotten their scent or just following their various obvious trails. Additionally, further to the west were several more Monsters that they would need to head north or south to avoid, further complicating things for later.
And judging by the speed he could tell that the Monsters behind them were moving at, they wouldn't be able to outrun them. So the only option left was to fight.
“Alright, listen up!” Daniel called up as he picked up the Monster core he’d been using to power the ritual and stood up. “We’ve got about a half dozen Monsters coming from behind us. I’m gonna use the eye to see what they are, but we’re not gonna be able to outrun them. They’re following our trail, so we’re gonna have to fight!”
He did not get the kinds of shouts of eagerness he’d have gotten if he had said something like that to a bunch of adventurers. Instead, there were shouts of alarm and fright.
“Can’t you take care of them with your magic?” Someone shouted.
That was followed by a lot of sounds of agreement, making Daniel grind his teeth. Before they left, he’d already said his magic was useful but wasn’t all-powerful, and that it was very likely if they came with him they’d have to fight. It was why everyone had a new spear. But of course, it was a lot easier for them to nod along back there where it had been safe. Now it was dangerous, they were panicking.
“It depends on what they are,” Daniel called out, even as he knelt to set up the Scrying Eye. “But like I said before. I can’t protect everyone, just try my best. For the best odds of survival for all of us, everyone will have to at least try to fight back.”
“He’s right!” Clark said, having been caught off guard by Daniel's sudden announcement of danger. But he’d recovered now, as he started to direct people and at least get them somewhat organized and ready to fight. Or at least, not drop their spears and run in the other direction.
Hopefully.
Daniel could also hear Sapphire's voice doing some shouting as well, helping organize people as well as goading them into standing their ground. A bit different from Clark’s encouragement, but probably just as effective.
After all, most guys probably didn’t want to look like a coward in front of a pretty girl. Especially since their group of people skewed pretty young in terms of adults.
Once Daniel’s spell finished, he quickly sent the eye in the direction of the Monster. When he saw what was coming, he couldn’t help but curse. It was a small pack of wolves, being only six in number. But the wolves themselves were anything but small. Daniel was pretty sure they were at least six feet tall on all fours.
He’d been hoping for something smaller. And weaker. He couldn’t get a good grasp on their strength through the eye, but they didn’t feel overwhelming. But at the same time, they were also still quite a ways into the frontier, so they probably weren’t weak either. Still, they only had two level-one combat classes, so they’d mainly be relying on their numbers, their guns, and Daniel.
“It’s six wolves!” Daniel called out as he got up and swiped the Monster crystal to put away. It was about halfway through with all the casting he’d been doing with it. “Big ones with glowing eyes and spiky fur. They’re about five minutes out.”
“You heard him, everyone!” Clark called out from near the front of their spread-out “formation”, spear in hand. It was not anything near organized, but it was as best as they were gonna get. “Be prepared and don’t be scared. There are only six of them and fifty of us. We also have guns. Make sure anyone with a gun has an open line of fire. Jake and Brain. Please make room for Ralph to fire.”
As people settled in, Daniel's mind raced. He knew something like this would happen and had given it a lot of thought. Even still, he continued to second-guess himself as the seconds ticked by.
Part of him felt like he should be on the frontline and jump in. But that might get him shot in the back. Not out of maliciousness, though that wasn’t off the table, but because he was working with amateurs. Illusions would also make things more confusing for his side. So in the end, he had two options. Go confront the Monsters first and let the rest of them finish off the stragglers. Or stay in the back and use only magic. One was a lot safer for him than the others, but the other could lead to more people getting hurt. And of course, if he went the backline route, then he’d burn through a lot of magic.
In the end, though, he went with what he’d planned. And that was to fight from the back, at least for the first battle, unless the odds were overwhelming. Because despite how fast he’d grown, he still wasn’t strong enough to take fights head-on. At least not several battles over the days they would need to travel. And while he could have set up an ambush this time, that wasn’t always gonna be an option, depending on how fast the Monsters moved, or how close they’d end up having to navigate.
Since that was the case, it meant he couldn’t protect everyone alone. They had to fight for their lives too. So better they get blooded now than later when the dangers were potentially even worse. Especially since they’d already spent some ammo the last couple of days and the safety net of the guns would disappear soon.
“Holy shit!”
“Those are massive!”
“No!”
The moment their group caught sight of the massive wolves, panic began to run through their ranks. They were an untrained mob, and despite Clark’s and Sapphire’s best attempts at organizing them, panic set in fast. If something didn’t change soon, they’d scatter in fright.
So Daniel decided to show them that the Monsters were very much killable.
Quickly pulling on almost half of the mana in the Monster crystal of his force bolt wand, Daniel held the glowing monster core tipped stick up. That drew a lot of attention to him, as there was a lot of light. Far more than a properly cast force bolt should have, as the light was excess mana, but he was going for power and speed at the moment.
The people with him weren’t the only ones to have their attention drawn in by the glow. The wolves who’d been stalking forward at a sedate pace, having slowed down once they’d realized they were close, broke out into a run.
But they wouldn’t be fast enough.
Once the bolt was formed with as much power as he could handle, he shot it off at the lead wolf.
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The bright blazing bolt of force blasted through the air. The homing aspect of the magic and Daniel’s aim ensured that it would hit. And seconds after he launched it, the bolt slammed into the head of the lead Monster.
There was a bright flash of azure light and the sound of a boom and squelch from the distance. Then the large terrifying Monster wolf in the lead’s body twitched and tumbled onto the ground. Its building momentum made the carcass smash hard onto the ground and slide forward. One of the other wolves, who’d been close, tripped on its fellow and fell as well while the other four jumped away in surprise.
“Fire!” Daniel called out. “Everyone with a gun, shoot those damned things but control your fire! We only have so much ammo! Everyone else hold your fucking ground. Turning your back on them just means you’ll die! There are only five now. We outnumber them by a lot!“
While Daniel was not a natural leader, he’d learned to at least command groups, especially in combat. His loud and harsh commands were thankfully enough for some people, and soon the forest was filled with the sound of gunfire.
Some people flinched back from the shots, unused to just how awfully loud guns were. Daniel wasn’t the biggest fan either. Magic could be a lot more destructive without having to be so loud and so close.
Still, there was a reason guns became the dominant weapon back on Earth. Despite the poor aim that was normal for handguns, several bullets hit, and spurts of blood blossomed out of three of them. Someone had even gotten lucky and gotten a headshot, downing one of the hit wolves.
But, despite the two kills they’d gotten, the Monsters were not deterred. That wasn’t unusual. Some Monsters still had their self-preservation instincts. Others, the stronger ones usually but not always, didn’t. These ones were apparently eager to rip and tear and charged as one. Three wolves, two bloody and one still fine, rushed their line and it was too much for their group of untrained and unblooded people.
There was a scream of terror and they started to turn and try and run. Despite not having fired that many shots, even some of the ones with guns did the same. Only four of the gun-wielding people still fired. One was Joseph and a guy with him, the other was Ted, and the last was Sapphire who was further back. Around the three men were part of their scouting groups who also remained with their spears raised around the gunmen in defense. Made sense as those two groups were the only ones to have already faced Monsters.
Around Sapphire, several of her followers fled as well, though Jessy and five others stayed at her side, shaking. Understandable as they had no experience with this kind of thing. Sapphire though, just held her ground and just kept slowly firing, making sure to carefully aim her shots.
Daniel didn’t bother to shout at the fleeing people as they broke the sorry excuse for a formation. Instead, he reached into his pocket for a Monster core and decided to use the same trick he did before to hopefully kill a wolf and break the charge. In just a second, he cast a daze spell at the leading wolf, then chucked the small Monster core right at its head.
It flew true and the confused wolf almost tumbled over before it snatched the pre-prepared core in its mouth and Daniel detonated it through his connection. With a loud boom, its muzzle exploded, taking half its head with it and sending another corpse smashing into the ground, even as a bullet slammed into its chest. The other two wolves flinched at the explosion, and two more blossoms of blood burst from the one on the left. It slowed but still struggled forward, until another series of bullets hit it, ending its life.
The one on the right, the one heading towards Ted’s group, was hit as well, as blood burst from its shoulder, but it still managed to leap off the ground and lunged for their group. One more bullet shot into it, sending blood flying but not stopping its momentum.
Too quick for Daniel to do anything, the wolf flew through the air and crashed into Ted’s group.
Daniel rushed over, wand ready to blow the things head off, but slowed down as the dust settled and he saw the wolf impaled on several spears. It still twitched and let out some gurgling growls but it was done. Its brain just hadn’t realized it yet.
Several of the men were on the floor, having been shoved over, but none of them seemed to have any serious wounds. Seemed like the wolf fell a bit short and just impaled itself on their spears and knocked some away.
Not wanting to waste any more mana, Daniel went over with his spear at the ready. With quick sure steps, he approached the barely struggling wolf and stabbed it right through the eye into its brain. Then, bracing his foot on the finally still carcass, he ripped the spear out. Seeing a couple of the spears buried in the wolf were broken, he handed his own to the nearest man who’d just gotten up and still had a shell-shocked look on his face. The man just took it dumbly.
“Good work!” Daniel said, his voice loud but calm and in control. As if they hadn’t just probably gone through one of the scariest things in their life. Despite having some experience with Monsters, the scouting groups hadn’t ever encountered such a large group of big Monsters. This was definitely outside their normal experiences but they couldn’t dwell on things while they were still out in the wilds. At least not unless they were protected by some illusions. “Try and recover any spears that didn’t break and maybe get a drink and take a breather. I need to gather up everyone that fled.”
Without another word, he left the group, giving encouraging nods to them as he went. He wasn’t sure how much that might have helped but felt like he should at least try. They did manage to stand their ground, unlike the rest of the cowards…
Daniel didn’t break his stride but took a deep breath to calm himself. No, that wasn’t fair. They weren’t cowards. They were just normal people from Earth who’d never encountered something like this. They didn’t grow up in this world and didn’t have any experience with this kind of thing. And while Daniel had done a lot better on his first fight, it was because he had no other choice and was alone. And it seemed that his instincts were more fight than flight.
“Clark!” Daniel shouted when he saw the other man. He'd looked better but managed to maintain at least a semblance of composure. Daniel had seen him trying to keep people from running, before giving up and moving to help Ted’s group with Nathan and a few guys who listened to him. “Try and organize everyone still here. If anyone isn’t a mess, send them that way into the forest to gather up the people who ran. I’m gonna go this way and gather as many people as I can before they run into more Monsters.”
“A-alright,” Clark said, his voice a bit shaky before he calmed himself with a breath. “I’ll keep things organized here.”
“Good,” Daniel said, then he spotted the look on Nathan’s face. He could have probably left it for later, but he’d always been the kind of guy to care for those close to him first instead of others.
“You okay,” Daniel said, his voice lower but still calm as he put a hand on Nathan’s shoulder.
The other man looked flustered but not shell-shocked. Then he shook his head as if to clear it and nodded. “Yeah, man… That was something. I know you warned me how bad it could get, but now I really get it.”
“You did good for your first time,” Daniel said. He couldn’t really talk about his own first time without lying, so instead he just squeezed Nathan’s shoulder in support. “If you need a moment, just stick around here. Don’t lie down just yet and just walk around a bit. Maybe take a drink. I need to go gather everyone that ran before they run into trouble.”
“O-okay,” Nathan said, nodding.
Daniel would have liked to stay longer, but he’d used too much time already. So he just nodded in turn and moved off.
Off to the side, he could see Sapphire supporting one of the girls who’d stayed and was now crying. She looked up at his rushed approach, and despite her attempts to look nonplussed, he could see the stress in her eyes.
“I’m gonna go grab everyone that ran off,” he said, quickly. “If you or anyone else recovers enough before I get everyone, send people off that way to gather people. If not, just stay here and I’ll be back.”
Sapphire just gave a nod in response.
He nodded back before rushing off, finally ready to go gather everyone. He’d just hoped that they hadn’t run too far or spread out too quickly. He’d be able to scry them, but not if they managed to get themselves eaten first.
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“Alright!” Daniel said, drawing everyone’s attention to him.
It was an hour after the battle with the wolves. He’d managed to track everyone down and lead them back. Some had been more reticent than others, but he’d manage to convince even the stubborn ones who didn’t trust him, or for some reason thought he’d lie about things being safe now. He made sure to remember all those people, as he hadn’t realized so many distrusted him. Or maybe the fear had made things worse.
Despite all that, they were all safe and alive. Some had gotten injured in the rush as most of them fled, but it wasn’t anything serious. Not something he’d waste his mana on when they were out here in the wilds. Even if they would be safe for the moment.
Once he’d gathered everyone up together again, he’d scryed out a good defensible spot hidden amongst a copse of trees and led everyone to it. Unlike before though, he spent the extra effort and mana to hide their trail as best as he could to avoid another attack like this where they would be resting. Then he’d started setting up his wards, as he didn’t think their group was gonna be ready to move out any time soon.
He’d just finished the last of the spells around their clearing. Illusion and shadow magic to hide them from sight and to keep sound in. Along with an alarm spell to let him know if anything approaches and a very weak barrier spell that just kept any mana inside from getting out. As well as one more illusion that straddled the line between illusion and mental magic, which should cause fear in any unwanted visitors.
It wasn’t quite the same as the catalog of spells he’d like to put up when he camped in the past, but it was as good as he could do at the moment.
“I just finished setting up several spells to keep this place safe. No one will be able to look into this area, and there are spells to dissuade anything else from coming in. Also there is an alarm spell which will ring bells if something approaches, so make sure to be alert if you hear that.”
He didn’t get many responses back as most people still seemed either in a state of shock or were just too exhausted to care. A long day's hike through the woods followed by a Monster attack and then running through the same woods had done a number on these people.
“Alright, then,” Daniel said softly to himself before meeting eyes with Clark and then Sapphire. He gestured to the side with his head and they followed him away from everyone to speak.
“I’m going to head out for a moment,” Daniel said, raising a hand before either of them could object. “The clearing is as safe as I can make it. And I need to get back to the wolves before something tears into them. They have Monster cores in them, which I’m gonna need to keep scrying or fighting.”
Neither looked happy with that but nodded anyway. They weren’t stupid and understood that this was a necessity.
“So you're both good at managing people. Just keep everyone calm and try and set up camp with what you can for the night. It’s fine to light a fire here. It won’t draw any attention. Also, check up on Ted’s group and see who got classes from that. Level 1 Classes aren’t much but they are something.”
With that said, Daniel walked off, back into the woods, before he started to run. They were a decent bit away from the battle because he didn’t want them too close in case the fight drew anything’s attention. He’d also scryed for Monsters when he looked for their current camp, and it was mostly safe, so he decided to conserve some mana and just head back without any more checking, trusting his own awareness to avoid ambushes.
It took him 15 minutes at a run through the woods before he got back to the battle site. Nothing had touched the carcasses yet, with normal animals having probably fled from the battle and having felt the Monsters. And thankfully no other Monsters came around.
Still, ever cautious, he made sure to carefully survey his surroundings, before heading over to one of the carcasses to begin his gruesome work. At the very least, with how strong these things had felt, he should get better cores than he’d gotten from those other wolves or the goblins.
10 minutes later and getting arms deep in the chest of the wolves, Daniel finished extracting the Monster core from the last wolf. Then he cast the cleaning charm, thankful to get all that blood off of himself, and began to make his way back to camp eager to get some rest before they continued on their journey.
He just hoped tomorrow would go better than today.
But something nagged at him in the back of his mind, and he couldn’t help but think things would only get worse. Hopefully he was just being paranoid.