Even before we’d entered the forest, dozens of monsters began emerging out of it to attack the caravan.

[Dire Wolf Lv. 5]

[Wild Mare Lv. 9]

…

[Twin Tail Fox Lv. 7]

I raised a hand to fire a string of mana blades, but Anbu stopped me and shook his head.

“Let them bloody their spears while we can still leisurely watch over them. Hopefully, it’ll push some of them into earning a class or a combat evolution.” He said, readying his weapon but remaining still otherwise.

It looked like a thick club with sharp teeth embedded in it, and I’d have called it a mace if not for the large spearhead attached to its head, with wicked hooks designed to rip and tear flesh from its victims when pulled out.

I turned back to the villagers, who stopped moving and were bracing themselves in a shaky front line, spears pointed ahead. I quickly made use of my core to create earth mana and used it to push the dirt in front of the villagers downwards, creating a makeshift trench.

Anbu raised an eyebrow as the villagers were surprised.

“Stop looking lost! Brace your spears and prepare yourselves!” I yelled, and the villagers were shaken out of their stupor.

It was just in time too, as the monsters jumped down into the trenches and rushed to climb at the villagers. I transformed into Nisos’s [Polymorphic Enhancer] just as the first of the monsters impaled themselves on the villagers’ spears.

Some of them fell back at the sheer weight of the monsters, but immediately stood up to push back against the beasts. I used my racial traits to move around attributes from the monsters to the villagers where needed in order to make sure that no one died and that the fighting didn’t collapse into a disorganized brawl. I also made sure to make my aid strategic so that I took as little of the experience as possible.

Anbu and I were ready to intervene directly if needed, but thankfully, it turned out to be unnecessary. The villagers fought with the tenacity of a cornered beast, and they managed to butcher their opponents without a single casualty.

Cheers erupted as the villagers celebrated their first victory against the monsters, with about eight of them getting a new class or evolution. Many of the spears snapped, but the villagers had fought on with knives, stones, and even their bare fists – though their efforts largely succeeded due to the men and women next to them jumping to their aid.

Still, that meant that many of the weapons were gone, and the remaining ones were unreliable at best.

“Stop celebrating and get moving! Take the wounded off the wagon and have anyone who’s ready to evolve or advance get inside! We don’t have all day!” I yelled.

“But the wounded can’t walk, they’ll fall behind and die!” Inbusha protested.

I waved a hand and transferred my HP into all of the wounded, who Delondra had treated earlier. I winced and paled, having lost roughly half my health, but the wounded were back to full health – though missing limbs were still gone.

The men, women, and children who were in the wagon were vitalized, and everyone looked to them in surprise. Before they could erupt into cheers again, I gave out my next commands.

“Anyone who still can’t walk can stay on the wagon; the rest of you, bring me the fangs and claws of the monsters, as well as anything that I can attach them to! Now move!” I barked, and everyone hurried to do as I said.

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I stepped onto the wagon, where those who earned new evolutions and classes quietly looked into their options and triggered them. For all the problems Kengir’s society seems to have, the importance they placed on getting stronger meant that everyone knew how the system worked.

Heavens help me if I’d tried that in Tamery.

The caravan began moving again, as many of the villagers began grabbing whatever they could off the monsters, hurriedly bringing me their spears – broken or intact – as well as the sharp parts of the monsters’ bodies. One person even began haphazardly ripping off limbs and removing the flesh on them, giving me long bones to work with.

It must’ve been a strange sight, watching as a mob of people walked towards a forest, each with a monster in hand as they ripped and tore at it.

As the parts began arriving, I got to work.

I used air mana to cut and shape the makeshift spear shafts, as I began to embed fangs and claws into them. I then wielded fire mana to scorch them in place, keeping them firm on the wooden and bone shafts.

Having taken inspiration from Anbu, who saw what I was doing and hurriedly began emulating me as best he could, I ended up creating roughly three dozen of these barbaric looking spears and club-maces before we ran out of materials.

As we began to approach the forest, the eight who were sleeping on the wagon began to wake up, when I handed them a weapon of their choice each. After that, I distributed the rest of the weapons among the villagers.

The caravan stopped at the first trees, as I began giving out new commands.

“Okay, here’s what we’re going to do!” I said, and everyone paid attention to me.

“The elderly and young children go on the wagon. Those of you who are wounded or can’t fight should surround the wagon. Surrounding them is everyone who is armed and can fight; remember, your job is to keep the monsters off of the caravan until Anbu or I can come to your aid! That means no heroics or rushing out of the group to kill something!” I barked, and the villagers listened intently.

“Anyone who is wounded or is capable of evolving or advancing, hand your weapon to someone else who can fight and get on the wagon! When you can get back into the fight, step off the wagon and make way for someone else! If the wagon’s full, stay out until there’s space for you! If you’re wounded and can still walk, step off the wagon! And above all else, STAY WITH THE WAGON NO MATTER WHAT!” I yelled, and the villagers nodded as they steeled themselves.

They began moving, arranging themselves as I’d ordered. The eight from earlier spread around evenly around the wagon, ready to help out wherever monsters might be pressuring the caravan.

Anbu approached me with a nervous expression.

“Are you sure we can keep this going until we get through the forest? Coordinating an untrained mob is not an easy task.”

I am uniquely suited for that job, don’t worry about it.

Anbu’s eyes widened, surprised at my voice appearing in his head.

Grinning, I carried on.

I’ll fly overhead and coordinate everyone, talking to people individually as needed. Thankfully, this forest is made up of some really damn tall trees and short bushes. I’ll also be attacking anything from above as needed; Since my hands are going to be full juggling a number of responsibilities, I need you to step up whenever the caravan needs help with a tough monster.

The young man nodded, and we watched as the caravan readied itself to go through that den of monsters.

“Start moving! We don’t have all day!” I said, and the caravan began its march through the forest towards the city.

***

For the first few minutes, nothing too dangerous came at the caravan. In fact, a woman standing guard unlocked a new evolution and handed her spear in to evolve on the wagon.

The bigger problem was the terrain.

The bushes were everywhere and needed to be cut down, the trees were hard to move around with such a large group of people, and the terrain was uneven, tripping up people and nearly causing a stampede on more than one occasion.

I sighed.

I really have to do this the hard way, don’t I?

I began using [Mana Blade] to cut down shrubbery in the caravan’s way and used my class skills to uproot the trees with their own weight before launching them into the distance.

While effective, this method was nothing but brute force, and was beginning to take a toll on my mana reserves.

The villagers stared at me in awe once again, the racial traits of polymorphic enhancer telling me that the casual feats I was pulling off was leaving a powerful impression on them.

‘This isn’t easy to pull off, you complete morons!’

I raged internally as I kept my mouth shut, knowing that my displays of power were raising morale and confidence in my ability to protect the caravan.

Suddenly, a loud, primal howl echoed deep in the forest, grabbing everyone’s attention.

Immediately, I felt a weak feeling of fear and helplessness, though I quashed it rather easily. Anbu did too, judging by his calm gaze at its source.

Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for the villagers, who were beginning to quiver in fear.

“Hold strong! Anbu and I are with you!” I yelled in an attempt to rally the villagers.

What are we dealing with this time, damn it?!