Our party of our navigated our way through the thick jungle. The tropical jungle was humid. While the trees were tall and dense enough to block out most of the sun above, it was the steamy sensation that was truly getting into the party's head.

"How much further?" Rob asked.

"Not much longer. It has only been thirty minutes. Perhaps another fifteen." Neityr replied.

I was right at the very front of the group just keeping my focus. Aside from the people in the fortress, one should be cautioned about other dangers that may await us.

Rob who was behind approached my position.

"Hey. What's it like being a god?" Rob asked rather casually.

My power was low so my godhood pride was also equally low but I still have my problems with not being respected properly to my position.

"You should return to the back and keep an eye out for us," I replied patiently.

"Rob! Do what the holiness say!" Neityr scolded.

Rob just smiled and said something again.

"I don't think we've introduced ourselves formally. M'name's Robiard. People like to call me Rob. You may be thinking 'why the hell did they choose this guy to go with me' but I can assure you I'm the best archer in the entire tribe."

"I understand. Please just return to your position." I looked at him and frowned.

"Geez. You're not fun." He finally gave up.

"Everyone stop!" Alisia, our mage, suddenly said.

I turned around at her.

"What is it?"

"I heard something."

"It was probably no—" Rob was about to speak before I silenced him by bringing my index finger into my lips.

I willed magic into my ears to hear better. I started to hear the various sounds of the forest from the small insects to the wind rustling the leaf. It was then I noticed something strange. A whisper. A murmur. I could not yet tell where it's coming from.

I motioned the group to form a circle around me as we formed a battle position that left no openings to our formation.

"You there. Come out!" I spoke as if I already discovered the person so they would be convinced that they have been found out.

And then I heard it. The shouting of someone speaking an unknown language. After a few seconds, they finally revealed themselves. Five of them. Their figure was not what we expected. It's not a human nor an elf. It was humanoid, yet possessing entirely different features than what we are used to. I recognized what they are, looking practically the same way they did five thousand years ago.

Gnolls. A species of a humanoid race standing on their two feet like us but with the body of a beast and the head of a canine-like creature. The face resembled a feral dog with gray fur and sharp teeth. The gnoll party consisted of five swordsmen.

One of the gnolls shouted something at us in an unknown language. 

"We can't understand you, you ugly asses!" Rob shouted back at them.

Another Gnoll raised his sword and shouted something else as well.

"Shit. We can't communicate. We don't know if they want to attack us." I muttered.

And then it happened. The five gnolls raised their weapon and readied themselves to attack. 

"They have a disadvantage in range. Alisia, cast spells that keep them busy. Rob, hit the parts of their body that help them move to disable them while I and Neityr will deal the finishing blow." I also pulled Icarus from my scabbard. It was going to be the first time I truly test out my pure combat skills against a hostile enemy without any help from my power.

I was the one to pull the first move. I charged forward but I ran to the side. Two gnolls eyed me and also charged forward to my position. The other three gnolls have not moved yet as they eyed the rest of the party. This split both parties into two. 

"I will deal with these two gnolls. You three deal with the other three first. After I am done, I shall strike them from behind." I shouted to my group.

 "Got it!" Rob was the one who replied back. 

I focused my attention on the two gnolls in front of me. They both showed their teeth at me as if to intimidate me. One of the gnolls then started to shout something I did not understand. 

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I then rushed forward and engaged with the gnoll on the left. I stabbed my sword forward with force but the gnoll was more skillful than I thought as he parried it to the side before replying with a diagonal slash aiming for my neck. I saw this coming so I ducked down to the ground. From a crouched position I kicked the leg of the gnoll as he floated on the earth for a second before tumbling down to the ground. 

As the left gnoll was down, I turned my head towards the second gnoll who was already mid-charge with its sword above its head. It tried to slash vertically. That's not good. There was not enough time to recover and lift my sword to block. The gnoll was faster than I thought. I had to use some amount of my power. 

I channeled mana into my fingertips to create a small bolt of lightning that I shot towards the gnoll's hand. 

"Raaah!" The gnoll's hands lost the grip of his sword as he was jolted by the electricity. It did not do enough to damage him but it was enough to create an opening. I charged forward and slashed my sword diagonally on its stomach. A severe gashing wound was created before the gnoll fell. 

The other gnoll also managed to recover and stood up again to face me. But it was for naught as I used the same technique to disable his hand that was holding the sword with an electric bolt. As the gnoll roared in pain, I closed the distance between him and aimed for the neck. It tried to block my sword using its arms but my Icarus was too sharp as it cut both his harms and then his neck as well in one go. After the deadly blow, the gnoll's body was headless and blood spurted out from the severed neck before it tumbled down to the ground. 

"That was troublesome." I am incredibly weak right now. If only I did not need to maintain the cloud settlement, then it would have only taken perhaps one second. 

I returned my eyesight to my group. It seems the battle was going quite well with them as well. I must say, their level of cooperation is incredible for people that never fought anyone outside of their tribe. These kinds of battle experience will have tremendous effects on them. 

They already have slain one gnoll. The dead gnoll had an arrow stuck on its shoulder and a punctured neck. The other two gnolls were both trying to target Neityr in the front as they could not reach Rob and Alisia who was standing far back. It seems I need not interfere. I shall stay here and observe. 

I saw Alisia's mana surging up from her entire body. She was chanting something in elvish with her eyes closed. After a few seconds, her eyes shot open. A stream of water was created out of nothing. The water then turned into small and sharp needles that were floating in mid-air. Finally, Alisia aimed her hand towards one of the gnolls.

"Take this!" Alisia shouted. 

The stream of water needles was shot towards the targeted gnoll. 

"Gaah!" The gnoll turned into a water porcupine within seconds. He could not even move any more of his muscle before falling down. 

The other gnoll turned towards its friend who suffered from the water needles. Its eyes seem to show some form of despair, yet not sadness, seeing all of its companions fallen. The split second of distraction was enough. Three of Rob's arrows were shot consecutively. They all hit their targets perfectly. Two arrows were lodged in the right and left shoulder of the gnoll respectively. The final arrow hit the skeleton. 

With three arrows lodged in its body, the gnoll fell on its knees. However, it was not yet gone. It was still alive.

Neityr approached the fallen gnoll until she was right in front of it. The gnoll looked up at her in defiance and flashed its fangs as if it was ready to be killed. But Neityr hesitated. She stood there unmoving. 

Not wanting to wait any longer, I approached the group and Neityr. 

"What are you doing? Kill it." I ordered. 

"But it's already fallen...We can just leave now." Neityr replied. Her face showed that she was having second thoughts about this. 

I looked at the eyes of the other elves. They had the same look in their eyes. Even Rob who seemed to always be bold and brash seem to feel regret from killing the gnolls. 

I sighed. "I understand that it's your first time killing a humanoid, or even any creature with intelligence. Your tribe probably have not done this for a very long time." 

I figured that there was some form of catch. I was ecstatic in finding out the elves were extremely skilled in group combat. However, they might be, in reality, softer than I thought. This may prove to be problematic. 

"However, if you choose to follow me into the outside world, you will definitely have blood in your hands. Rest assured, we won't kill any innocent people. However, will the world show the same mercy that you have?" I continued.

I approached the fallen gnoll who was struggling to stay alive. I grabbed its hair from the back and raised his head so its eyes could gaze at Neityr and the group. 

"Do you think if you were in this gnoll's position and the gnoll was the one in your place that it would show mercy? Or will it kill you in one swift strike or worse, take you to its lair to torture you.? Which is it?" I asked.

I knew this might be too much on them. But what more can I do to ease a group of people that have not killed in five thousand years into being more used to killing other creatures? The world will show no mercy to them. Having sympathy and morals are one thing, being killed for having too much of it is another. I knew that I was speaking from a biased standpoint as a former god, but I needed to make them get used to this. 

"Well?" I waited for my answer. 

Neityr and the other stayed silent. Their face was contorted in unusual ways and shifted every few seconds in pure discomfort.

"I..." Neityr was about to say something. 

Before she could answer, I took Icarus and swiftly cut off the gnoll's head as if cutting butter. As I was grabbing its hair, I was currently holding the severed head after the strike. 

"You see? The gnoll won't wait for you to speak up. So will other hostile creatures that we might encounter." I threw the head to the side. "You three. Go on ahead and scout for any other gnolls. I will catch up." 

The three could not move for a while after seeing my action. 

"What are you waiting for? GO!" I bellowed. The three were jolted awake and left the area in a hurry. I was now alone. 

"These gnolls...why are they speaking a language I did not understand..." I muttered. 

I was a god. I could understand all the languages in all the lands. Could this be the case of language evolving and disappearing for the past five thousand years? Then why could I understand the elves of the White Leaf tribe? Could they still be using the same exact elvish they were also using five thousand years ago? I need to ask the linguist of the tribe later. 

Nevertheless, this will prove to be problematic if the people we meet at the fortress does not speak a language I could understand. It might even be worse if it were the gnolls that live in the fortress. Although I remember that gnolls could only create simple tents five thousand years ago and not an entire structure. But things could have change. 

Well, I was wasting time pondering about this. I should catch up to them. With this in mind, I walked off from the dead gnolls and returned to the group.