It fell backwards and I released my grip so my arms didn’t get caught under him. I covered my knuckles in as much aura as I could manage before I slammed my fist into his face. It took about four punches before I felt the squishy feeling of its brain.

I got up panting a bit and looked around for Dodger.

The other orcs were already dead, but she wasn’t in the clearing. I looked around for her aura and spotted it a bit of a distance up hill.

“Mezu! Come down!”

I called looking up for him in the trees. I saw him and he leapt down at me. I caught him and got him onto my back before I went to get my sword.

“You need to unlock all your pathways soon. You would’ve been able to protect your neck better if you had.”

He pulled something out of my back, and I winced.

“What was that?”

“The knife you forgot about, now get going.”

“Oh, right… thanks.”

I started running in the direction I had first seen her aura.

I looked around a bit and saw her still in the distance but more towards my left.

The hill got steeper as I went but it suddenly flattened out. Then there was a loud boom and the earth beneath my feet shuddered.

“Alright, the main population is done. The two of you better get here soon or we’ll take the rest of the knights out on our own.”

Sailhin said over the artifact.

I heard Dodger shout both through the artifact and nearby.

“You better not start the captains without me!”

I went over to where I heard the shout, and she pulled her axe out of a tree. The top half of an orc that had been cut by her was able to fall to the ground.

“Good Quartz you’re here, let’s go! They’re going to get to the captains soon.”

She took off not even giving me the chance to respond, not that I needed to.

I followed her and the trees started to thin. Soon we came across a large wall made from the trunks of trees. The doors were blasted open. We ran through them and found the remnants of a destroyed village. The ground was burnt and covered in bodies, and some of the buildings were just barely standing and were still burning.

I followed Dodger down the path in the middle towards the next wall we saw. At the top of the wall, I saw a large magic circle being drawn in the sky behind it.

“Good! They haven’t moved onto the captains yet!”

She picked up the pace again and now we sprinted towards the wall. Brick was waiting in front of the big doors.

“Brick!”

He smiled and she ran over to him, checking him over.

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“I really hope the captains are fun, those knights were super easy.”

Brick nodded and once again there was a loud boom and a shudder in the ground.

“Alright, you guys can come through.”

Sailhin’s voice was a bit crackled this time.

Brick and Dodger pulled the doors open and bit of smoke billowed out with it. The scene here was similar to the one behind us. This time though, Paeris, Dot, Lefty and Sailhin were levitating on a platform slowly lowering itself to the ground.

“Alright, Lefty will bait the captains so we can fight them here.”

They reached the ground and Lefty started running for the next wall. It was a lot shorter than the other ones and it wasn’t too far away.

“How much do you guys have left?” Sailhin asked Dot and Paeris.

“Well, I’ve got enough for another big spell and a couple little ones but since we kind of used the mana in the air also it’s limited to earth, dark and light. I’ve only got earth.”

I looked in the area and saw what she meant. It took concentration now to see the un activated mana, but it was no longer a muddled haze. It was just a vaguely grey tinted haze with a slight sparkle to it.

“I can cover support now. If I help Dot with another big one, I won’t be able to do much unless the fight really takes a while.”

“Alright.”

I didn’t get it though, what had they used to destroy this place? Why was there so much mana missing if everything just seemed to be burnt down?

“They sucked out all the moisture in the area to make things easier for them. And then cleared the air of smoke. An interesting way to do things. Quite impressive people you’re accompanied by."

I mean I could tell it was something cool just by the amount of the area that was flattened. The buildings weren’t visible structures, just collections of ashen materials in spaced out spots within the area.

Aside from the smoke that had come out when we opened the doors, and the small amounts that were coming from the still burning parts, there was none in the area. Along with that there wasn’t the scent of burning flesh.

He didn’t need to compliment them though, he did it so rarely for me.

“Lefty should be back soon. So be ready.”

“Oh guys! The coolest thing! Quartz is half goliath!”

They all looked at Dodger and then at me. My face tightened with an uncomfortable smile.

“What?”

“Yeah, he’s got markings when using his aura. But they’re only on his neck and part of his face for now. I mean, I’m sure if we looked at his arms he’d have some too, but he’s got long sleeves.”

“Well, that’s good then, right? You can help him open the rest of his pathways, like the old lady did for you?”

Alcoroth was translating what Brick was signing.

“The old lady only helped a little and I wouldn’t be able to do the same thing for him. For whatever reason his capacity is more than mine. But there is another way.”

She turned towards me and grinned in a slightly strange way.

“I don’t like that look on your face,” Paeris said, “what on earth are you thinking?”

“If I tell you that, then it won’t work.”

“Oi!!!”

We turned to see Lefty running away from three knights.

“Get over here already!”

Dodger and Brick took off quickly. I felt Mezu’s weight disappear, and I started running too. I glanced back quickly and saw him jumping up and down with a grin on his face next to Paeris.

Sailhin was close behind me and when we met up with Lefty, he just kept running past us.

Dodger clashed with a captain first then Brick. I got the third since Sailhin was behind me.

These looked a lot different than the knights. Their size was about the same, but they didn’t wear any armor. They had war paint in different patterns, and mine held a glaive with a blade that was a third of the whole weapon’s length.

It swung at me, the glaive making up the distance between us and I caught its blade with mine but was thrown a bit of a distance. I smashed into some of the debris and coughed after breathing in the ashes.

I thought that it wouldn’t’ve come after me quickly since Sailhin was also there, but I saw it was in the air a short distance away from me. Its hands above and behind its head with the glaive.

I scrambled up and dodged just in time for the captain to land and destroy the rubble even further. I needed to use much more aura than I initially had. I managed to forget to grab my sword from the pile I’d landed in and was left with my bare hands.

It pulled the glaive out of the rubble and turned to face me. Its teeth glistened and it said something that sounded similar to what I’d heard earlier.

That wasn’t a good sign.

I had to close the distance since I was now fighting without my sword.

The orc helped with that by dashing towards me. I dashed forwards too.

I leaped up and over his first slash before lunging forwards with my first aiming for its stomach, closing the distance completely.

I may have landed my punch, but the captain wasn’t fazed. He grabbed the back of my shirt and threw me away yet again.