A soft wind set the trees to swaying, their branches rubbing against each other with a soft rustle. The long shadows they cast melded into one singular mass as twilight’s last glow began to fade.

Sharath remained motionless, hiding behind a thick tree trunk and peeking around its side as she waited. Despite the onset of night, the forest remained eerily quiet. Aside from the wind, the only other sounds that reached her were those of insects and a few nocturnal birds that warbled and hooted softly above her—which ones, she wasn’t sure. Merethe would probably know.

Her eyes briefly flicked toward the dark pool where her sister hid. Despite being unable to see the [Ranger], Sharath knew she was there.

She willed herself to stillness, focusing on the task at hand. She didn’t have to wait long. The birds fell silent as a distant sound of clanking reached her ears, followed by footsteps. A group of eight men stepped into the clearing before her, the light of their torches glinting off of their breastplates and carving out a small island of visibility among the darkness.

With a final nod to the shadows, she stumbled into the clearing. Her mussed up hair hung about her shoulders, bits of leaves, twigs, and even a bit of dirt stuck within. One of the ragged old cloaks that her sister hoarded compulsively hung about her figure in similar disarray. A look of frightened panic completed the picture of a harried woman fleeing from danger.

Sharath emerged on the opposite side of the clearing from the patrol, just as they’d planned. Before she could even make a sound, however, one of the patrol members spotted her. At a word, the entire eight-man team snapped to attention.

“Who goes there?”

Torches were held aloft as the men peered forward, beginning to make out her form in the dimness. Sharath turned toward them, her eyes wide. “Oh, thank the gods! Help me, please!”

The patrol exchanged glances. But rather than approach, they began to bunch together and close their ranks, quickly retrieving tall red and gold shields from their backs. One of them, probably the leader, called out in a clipped voice. “State your name and intentions.”

The tone felt vaguely reminiscent of her childhood trainer. For a moment, Sharath almost felt compelled to respond. But [Single-Minded] quickly stamped that urge down. “I-I need help! My sister… please, come quickly!”

Sharath suspected that staying to talk would only lead to more questions and suspicion. Because of that, she made a quick decision to turn on her heel and disappear into the forest, hoping to draw them away from their patrol route a little further. It would be a good test of their discipline and how they responded to unforeseen situations.

Unfortunately, the answer was rather well. They continued to tighten their formation, eyes darting about to find threats as the men began to form a defensive wall and coordinate a shuffle out of the clearing. Worse, she saw the leader begin to reach for a horn at his hip.

“Fuck,” Sharath swore. It seemed that they were a bit more cautious than she’d given them credit for. It was good information, to be sure. But it also meant that they’d lost some of their advantage. There would be no surprising them now. Worse, the men were still close enough to other patrols to call for reinforcements, and if they did… well, there were only so many risks they were willing to take.

Sharath whispered quietly to herself, trusting her sister to pick up the words. “Alright. Plan B. We test them and get out. Make sure the leader doesn’t call for backup.”

She spun and disappeared into the shadows, flitting between them with incredible speed. She closed the distance between her and the patrol in seconds, drawing her daggers on the way in. An arrow whistled by her ear and slammed into the leader’s shield as he ducked down, damaging it but failing to pierce through. Sharath lunged to try and take advantage of the confusion, her blade aiming for the gap, but the strike met only hardened shields and the cold eyes of experienced men.

She glanced down at the damage. Her quick assault had failed to do more than leave a deep gouge in the surface of the shield. But even as she searched for more openings, she could feel a slight pressure on her mind, pulling her towards the shield wall as if that were the best target for her attacks.

She shook off the familiar feeling of a taunt skill and threw herself backward as swords erupted from the formation like the quills of a porcupine. The lengths of steel slid out from between the shields seamlessly, narrowly missing her gut. Even as she somersaulted backward on one hand, a horn sounded behind the men’s line, its deep bellow echoing through the forest.

Sharath swore again. The call meant their time was even shorter than they’d hoped.

As she landed on her feet and dashed forward again, two more arrows slammed into the shield wall and stuck fast. One man grunted at the impact as the arrow shaft sunk in. Based on on his expression, it must have struck his arm. Not that it hindered their movements.

An answering horn call from elsewhere in the forest, a little ways off from their current position. Sharath leaped forward and up, aiming to get above the men’s defensive line, but the men raised their shields with surprising quickness. Instead of landing behind them as planned, her feet caught the lip of a shield. Her [Acrobatics] and [Parkour] skills activated, saving her from an awkward tumble as she pushed off the shield to leap back again.

She shot up into the air, flipping and landing once again in front of the wall. Twice now they had managed to thwart her attacks. They hadn’t come close to hitting her, of course, but still. How were they managing this? It wasn’t like the strange soldiers were astonishingly fast or agile—more so than expected, sure, but still. She should’ve been running circles around them.

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Another arrow whizzed out of the darkness and slammed into the shin guard of one of the men before they could lower their shields. The impact elicited a shout of pain as one of the men stumbled and fell. Sharath’s eyes glinted as she dove forward to take advantage of the opening her sister had afforded them. Someone behind the wall grabbed the falling man by his armor and yanked him out of the formation, allowing the gap to slide closed right as she tried to wedge herself into it.

Unwilling to let them recover their formation, Sharath kicked forward as the shields locked together, putting her not inconsiderable strength behind the blow. The impact bowed the wall slightly, but to her surprise, it didn’t break.

Once again, she found herself surprised. She had expected to shatter this level one defense with minimal effort. That these men hadn’t fled or been left mortally wounded in the first exchange was frustrating—borderline embarrassing, given her goal to finish this encounter quickly. Even her holding back and testing them wasn’t enough to explain these results.

For whatever reason, it was clear that these men were not so easily felled. She might need to start using some of her skills soon if she wanted to make any real progress. РÁΝộᛒÊṩ

She ran to the side, forcing the wall to shift with her. It curved slightly as the men at the end pivoted to keep their shields raised between them, blades darting out in sinuous motions to keep her at bay. As she tried to circle around the formation to test their mobility, three more men stepped from behind the line to intercept her, maintaining their stoic silence.

Her sister’s arrows continued to rain down, preventing them from stepping out of line and fully engaging Sharath, but time was not on their side. A level 15 [Ranger] could curve her arrows around trees, meaning that Merethe shouldn’t have any problems sliding shots between the gaps in this formation. However, she also wasn’t shooting to kill. Her projectiles kept hammering the shields one after another, varying in strength and angle as the archer tried to get a better feel for their durability. Occasionally some of them pierced through to the soft flesh below or struck at helmets, but most focused on testing the men’s defenses.

Clashing with the shield wall several more times, Sharath tried to find an opening wherever she could—over, under, or between the damn shields that kept getting in her way. She managed to land a few superficial wounds with her daggers by taking advantage of slight gaps in their formation, but even those tightened up quickly. Worse, one of her riskier maneuvers earned her a deep cut scored across the front of her leather armor. It hadn’t drawn blood, but repairing the matte black leather would cost her dearly—and she had barely gotten anything in return. The fact that it felt like a lucky shot infuriated her.

It would be simple enough to leap over their line and attack from behind. However, Sharath held herself back. As agile as she was, being airborne would limit her movement options and make it harder to dodge. It simply didn’t seem worth the risk right now. After all, even if she was holding back, these men certainly weren’t.

Meanwhile, the patrol moved continuously as they repositioned, filled in gaps, and covered for their wounded. They seemed to adapt to her changes in tactics more quickly than expected. It felt like every time she tried to duck low or exploit a vulnerability, another soldier was there to intercept her.

It wasn’t until they reached the edge of the trees that she realized they had been retreating. Under the cover of the forest, her sister’s arrows were at more of a disadvantage. Several shafts curved slightly around the trees, finding their marks with more difficulty than before. Instead of crippling shots, these hits simply splintered shields and put pressure on the enemy. Still, the pace of the battle was shifting. She noticed that wherever her sister’s arrows landed, the men were increasingly forced to react to the incoming projectiles rather than Sharath, giving her a window to act.

Once in the trees, Sharath peeled back and signaled to her sister. A [Volley] of arrows rained down, dozens of shafts splitting the air as the skill caused them to duplicate. The assault forced the soldiers to duck down and angle their shields skyward to defend against it. Taking advantage of the distraction, Sharath darted around a nearby tree, scrambling up its rough surface. She swung silently onto a branch, looking down on their defense from afar.

As the [Volley]ended, the soldiers straightened slightly, scanning the surrounding area for the [Rogue]. Sharath just smiled. Without line of sight, she could feel their barrage of taunt skills lose their grip on her mind and movements. Now, it was time to see how they’d react to someone getting behind their formation. Assuming they didn’t look up, of course.

Crouching, she moved stealthily along the branch before stepping off, knives flashing in the darkness. She landed silently behind their line, slashing the back of one man’s leg and kicking out another to send them tumbling to the ground. The patrol scattered, spreading out to either side and facing her renewed threat. They didn’t yell or flee but fought with the same strict discipline they’d displayed throughout the battle. Only the occasional short cry of a command could be heard through the sounds of battle. The lack of warcries felt almost eerie to her.

Sharath picked a disoriented-looking man who was still standing and charged, her knives a blur. He interposed his shield between himself and her strikes, forgetting all offense in his effort to defend. She landed several cuts, sending him staggering back. When isolated like this, these level one soldiers were easier to deal with—but the way they moved as a unit and their skills made them harder to defeat than she had expected.

Just as she was debating about how to press her advantage, she heard another horn call, much closer this time. It was coming from the direction of the town. Reinforcements were almost here.

“Shit,” she muttered. “Merethe! Do we have what we need?”

She was ready to end this. Fighting these eight soldiers wasn’t too hard, but facing sixteen without killing anyone would be impossible. Especially without taking some bigger risks than she was comfortable with. Flashing between soldiers, she kept them off balance, preventing them from regrouping.

“Yes! Let’s go—ah!” Merethe yelled back.

Sharath glanced over to see her sister retreating into the clearing, a wall of shields emerging from the forest to hem her in. Eight new soldiers stepped forward from the shadows and began pursuing Merethe. The clearing was becoming a maze of enemies, horns, and movement, and Sharath realized time was running out.

“Well, fuck,” Sharath hissed, dashing toward her sister. She needed to get them out of here, and fast. But three soldiers from the original patrol re-formed a shield wall to block her.

This time, holding back wasn’t an option. Activating [Backstab], she vaulted over the wall, her hand finding purchase on a shield’s top edge. A nebulous force pushed back against her, but she slipped through it with [Shadow Stream]. Sharath landed behind the trio in a blink, turning to plunge her dagger into the neck of the soldier at the center. Blood spurted from his jugular as he fell.

The man gurgled behind her as she darted toward Merethe. She really had hoped to get through this without killing anyone. But she’d be damned if she let them touch her sister.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep