They’re just standing in a loose formation, some of them are eyeing me up while the rest are skittishly looking around.

Maybe they expect an ambush?

There’s only twenty of them and only four of them have enchanted weapons, I should be able to kill them.

But that’s risky, rather than charging out to rout these trackers, the better option is probably just to feign as though this is an ambush.

That way I buy more time for my creator to escape without any real risks.

If I attack them and die then they’ll be free to hunt down my creator unhindered.

But then what happens if reinforcements arrive? I’ll likely die but my main goal is just to buy time, plus just these twenty trackers alone are capable of killing my creator.

Sending another group after the cohort is unlikely because wouldn’t they all travel together if that were the case? Also, twenty trackers are already quite a lot of resources to dedicate to catching just a small team of people.

I could be wrong but I think that just standing my ground and defending the cave entrance is the smartest decision I can make.

Reaching out with a few of my tendrils, I grab a few small rocks to hurl at the trackers when they start to advance.

Then, mimicking a statue, I stand perfectly still and simply stare at the trackers, daring them to approach.

They just do the exact same thing though and tensely watch me, only two of the trackers break formation and begin to grimly search their surroundings.

They’re rushing around erratically and begin to quickly search their surroundings in an unusual manner, stopping abruptly every now and then.

Maybe it was just in case I actually had allies who were trying to shoot them with some arrows?

The caution they’re displaying is incredible, I mean they look a bit dumb thanks to it but I can’t deny that if there was actually an ambush these Rovers would likely emerge unscathed.

These Rovers are professionals, they’re not just common conscripted bandits or a war party from a conquered tribe.

No, these Rovers are something entirely different. As if proving my point, I watch as one of the scouts leaps over a rock, twisting around to lash out with her sword just in case there is actually someone cowering behind it, surprisingly she trips up and falls over, yet somehow she turns her fall into a roll and recovers instantaneously.

Her reaction speed is neigh inhuman, it’s not quite at the level of Vaelor and his guards but she’s certainly no ordinary human.

Her comrade also displays the same level of skill, diving over rocks and frantically moving left and right to avoid non existent arrows.

And while they’re acting like they’re being assailed by spectres, the other eighteen are aggressively watching me.

Every now and then one of them will hurriedly turn and look in every direction just to make sure no one’s sneaking up on them but for the most part they all just stare at me in silence.

Just what sort of drugs are these people on? This isn’t normal human behaviour.

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The weapons and armour they have are also quite unordinary, I was too busy to focus on those aspects of the trackers before since I was worried about them charging me or trying something sneaky.

But the longer this stand off goes on for, the more I’m able to scrutinise them.

The swords they have are incredibly bright and when the light catches the metal just right I can even see a sap like transparent substance coating them.

So clearly the blades are poisoned, I can also just barely make out some symbols on the weapons as well, so they’re not just some mass produced but well taken care of swords.

The armour they wear is strange as well, it’s almost Imperial in nature, with leather being sewn onto course fabric just like the Empire’s uniform.

Most Rovers forgo armour and the ones that do use it only really wear leather armour or fur armour, not this weird hybrid between leather and fabric.

I think this is my first time seeing a Rover wear this type of armour, its also got a bit of fur on it, near the shoulders, so maybe this is a combination of fur, leather and fabric?

I think that they are also trying to expose as little skin as possible since it looks like they’re all wearing gloves. The armour they wear is all linked as well, like parts of a greater whole rather than just a series of armour pieces worn together.

They’re actually almost like knights, just instead of various pieces of connected metal armour, they wear connected hybrid armour.

What really gets to me though is their faces, I can’t actually properly tell humans apart, I mean a face is a face.

But these trackers are just stagnant, with other humans there’s movement on their faces when they blink or open their mouths.

These humans don’t seem to do any of that, I have yet to see them blink or talk, the two scouts are just running around wildly while the eighteen humans are as still if not more so than me.

Perhaps they’re wearing masks? That would explain it.

Then again perhaps the drugs that they are probably on are affecting their facial movements?

Before I can move on from observing them and start to ponder how best to fight them, the scouts come to a complete stop, their rapid investigation having been completed.

Rising their hands up in unison, the tracker task force begins to slowly move up but in the most bizarre way imaginable.

The rear ranks sprint forward, with massive leaps they stride past the front rankers and then once they’re a dozen feet ahead they halt their charge and then the former front rankers charge forwards as well.

It’s like they’re one organism rather than a group of individuals.

Reciprocating their activeness, I chuck one of my stones at them, I’m not really trying to hit anyone I just want to see how they’ll react.

The answer is that they don’t, they just ignore my projectile and even as it slams into the ground a few feet away from one of the trackers, not even a single one of them looks at it.

My actions make them take on a more conservative approach though, as now the back rank only moves up half a dozen feet instead of a full dozen.

It doesn’t really slow their advance but I would wager that hurling the remaining rocks will.

Before I can even begin to throw the rest of my collection, I fall down, hitting the ground with an empty thud.

I look down just to see my limbs disintegrating, when had this started?

Was the reason why they began their advance because I was being unsummoned or did this happen just now?

Still they’ve spent a decent part of an hour trying to scout out their surroundings and advance forwards so my death hasn’t been completely meaningless.

Even after watching me collapse the trackers still do that weird frog like advance of theirs, the two scouts just remain where they are, staring me at the treeline.

Then I fall a second time, tumbling over thanks to losing most of my left flank.

I’ve got literal seconds left on this plane, then my temporary shackles will be broken and I’ll be free.

I should have charged them, there was no sense of hunger which made me think I still had more time left.

Lessons to be learned for next time I suppose.