{Xhez}

By now, over the course of Xhez's time with Rin, the sprite had been involved in a few battles.

From the ruins they first explored together to the humans Xhez took down on her own recently, she'd seen a bit of fighting.

Nothing could compare to this, however.

There was so much happening, no matter where she looked. It was hard for her to keep track of it all. Projectiles, some created with Spirit and some carved out of wood, flew through the air, being traded back and forth by the humans and orcs.

The sheer chaos of it all had Xhez wondering what she could even do as a "mage" here. She had very little experience to work off of, after all. So, Xhez decided to rely on something she'd always been good at. Something that, as a sprite, gave her an advantage.

Her ability to observe and memorize.

So, she stood there, looking for options she could adapt to her own skillset.

The man who she'd spoken to earlier, Cruz, was a short distance to the left in the midst of all the fighting. His hands never ceased moving, as the man wove spellsigns together and launched one strange, powerful ability after another at the orcs' mages. Spheres of black flames, red orbs that sapped the life out of the orcs they touched. It was all stuff Xhez just hadn't seen up until now.

[Wow...]

The power Xhez had felt from him, though dark and uncaring, was certainly also impressive.

Orcs fell dead left and right. Before the humans could get too cocky, however, one of their own was also taken out.

The first of the attacking forces to fall was Jane, the woman who'd been arguing with Alea before the mission began.

The mage had been drawing spellsigns, looking off to the right at some archers she was trying to take out. Suddenly, an orc who'd been busy trading heavy swings of its weapon with Seth simply stopped while one of its brethren distracted the other adventurer, turned toward the mage, and calmly walked toward her.

Jane only noticed the beast when it was standing over her with its club already raised high into the air.

"L-Look out!"

By then, Xhez's warning was pointless.

Just as Xhez had been this whole time, the mage froze, her hands still outstretched in a different orc's direction as she stared back at the one standing over her.

The sprite instinctively moved to assist her, quickly drawing the spellsign for the ice spears she'd used on the humans before.

She couldn't finish it in time, however. The orc's club fell on top of her. The human's head all but exploded, letting out a disgusting cracking sound as the giant lump of wood slammed her body straight into the dirt.

The spell Xhez had been in the process of casting went off and a spear of ice manifested from the earth, reaching up to impale the orc's head. It was far too late, however. The damage had already been done, as indicated by the splattered blood covering the dirt and the way Jane's body remained completely still.

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Even though she couldn't do anything for her anymore, this moment did serve to make Xhez act.

[I am... I am here as one of them, am I not? I need to do my part!]

The motivation that bubbled up within her, caused by shock and horror, resulted in the sprite moving forward, joining the other mages and standing beside them as they fought the monsters holding this fortress.

There had, of course, been some hesitation inside the sprite as she arrived earlier. Some doubts, some worries. Some concerns that perhaps these orcs were just like her and that they were simply protecting themselves from a needlessly hostile force.

For now, however, she had to set that aside. She had a role to play.

She began by watching Alea, who was positioned a short distance off to the right.

Not because she was frozen with surprise like before, but because she needed to be there.

The adventurer had maintained that barrier on Rin the entire time. Her focus was unlike that of Rin or Xhez. To the sprite, it looked like this mage hadn't wavered once since the fighting began. Where did such confidence come from?

[Come on... Do it,] she begged internally, as she kept her gaze fixed on Alea.

Her request was fulfilled when an orc shot an arrow at Alea that forced the mage to drop the spell temporarily so that she could avoid the projectile aimed at her own body.

"Tsk." With a brief glare aimed at the archer, Alea clicked her tongue and casually, as soon as she could, focused back on Rin and cast that spell again.

[Yes!]

Xhez watched the process. Her big, bright, blue eyes took in the spellsign's form, its shape, and the way it weaved and came together.

One unintentional demonstration on Alea's part was all it took.

Xhez took a step back, her eyes flicking from one of the orc's archers and mages to another, hoping she wouldn't be interrupted.

Then, she began drawing the same spellsign she'd just seen.

[Do not make a mistake... Relax and allow your hands to move steadily.]

Having the spell backfire was the only way Xhez could mess this up. And, now that the humans had lost one of their mages, she felt she wasn't allowed to.

"Yes!" Xhez half-whispered and half-yelled as she managed to draw the spellsign fully, materializing a transparent barrier over Dominic, who was taking on three orcs at once up ahead.

Her aid arrived just in time too, as an arrow nearly hit the man's back as soon as the barrier appeared.

She kept her hands extended toward him, keeping the spell up until she saw another adventurer who needed help.

To the left, Seth had somehow gotten on top of the fortress's walls recently and was fighting a short line of orcs, tossing them down and splitting them in half with each swing from his massive sword. However, one orc who was stronger than the rest put up more of a fight.

The orc tackled Seth off the wall, bringing both of them down.

As they crashed into the dirt, Seth let out a choked-up cry of pain and Xhez quickly let the barrier she'd been casting fade.

She ran toward Seth, weaving between orcs and skirmishes until she arrived at his position and crouched beside him.

"Get up!" Xhez told him as the orc Seth had been fighting began doing just that, clearly not as affected by the fall. "You must press on!"

With that being said, Xhez wove together a healing spellsign and wiped away any wounds Seth had gained from that interaction.

Without a word of thanks, Seth got up, grabbed his sword which was a few meters away, and went right back to trying to cleave the heads off of the orcs around him.

Taking shallow breaths, Xhez scanned the area, trying to find any humans who may need her help.

Instead, what she found was Cruz standing far away, looking right at her.

At some point, the man had taken a step back and disengaged, opting to stand by the fortress's entrance. His analytical eyes were stuck onto Xhez. The sprite couldn't read his emotions or gauge why he was looking at her instead of helping with the raid, but she honestly couldn't care less right now.

"Am I more of an adventurer than you are!?" Xhez asked aloud as she turned and cast her new barrier spellsign over one of the other adventurers.

The battle continued its chaos just as intensely despite the diminishing number of orcs.

It seemed like they were going to win, however. Maybe Jane would be the only casualty. Maybe the rest of them could get out alive.

However, then, the door leading into the fortress opened.

Orcs came pouring out which was disheartening, but that wasn't what made Xhez stop and gawk in that direction.

No, it was the giant orc that followed them that took Xhez's attention.

"... What is that?" Xhez asked quietly as one of the biggest creatures she'd ever seen appeared before them.