Chapter 61: First Blood

Eren tried to catch up to Emily when he jumped on the first rooftop.

She was already three houses ahead of him, jumping between the wooden roofs like she’d done it a thousand times before. Because she probably had…

Her katana was out and her body moved with zero wasted motion as much as Eren could tell. He sometimes made critique thinking about how much technique and real time experience was put into her moves and how much he couldn’t see.

But even an amateur like him could tell she had no hesitation with her body or sword in hand.

His Emily was a pregnant Level 50 hunter running toward danger while everyone else ran away from it.

He didn’t try to match her path. His stats were higher but his rooftop experience was zero. Instead he jumped down from the first roof to the ground again and sprinted through the main road at full speed. The ground blurred beneath his feet but he could manage his speed better than one week ago.

They reached the north barricade at the same time.

What Eren saw made him confused.

The wooden wall they’d spent a week building was still standing. Dark pinewood logs planted deep into packed dirt, tied with thick rope and reinforced at every joint. It looked like it could hold at least for now.

But what was coming out of the forest didn’t care about how solid it looked.

How the hell, they came together?

A wave of creatures was pouring from the northern side like the forest itself was vomiting everything it had.

Eren counted at least thirty creatures in the first few seconds. Then he stopped counting because more kept coming.

Thornback bears, at least six of them were running. Behind them came smaller things like feral cats, some kind of oversized lizards and a swarm of flying dark birds that moved like a single organism. They looked a bit weird.

Between all of them, running with military precision in two neat columns, were kobolds. A dozen at least. Armed with crossbows, scimitars and that crude iron-studded armor Eren recognized from his first fight with them.

Two mounted riders led the kobold formation. Bigger than the scouts he’d killed last week. Their mount dinosaurs were different too. A lot bulkier with extra plating around the neck and chests.

“They’re running from something,” Emily said from the top of the barricade. Her voice was ice cold and analytical. “The beasts aren’t organized. They’re panicked. The kobolds are using them as cover.”

She was probably right. Eren didn’t know how to read or deal with this situation

The bears weren’t charging in formation. They were fleeing south and the village happened to be in their path. The kobolds were smarter. They’d positioned themselves behind the stampede, using the chaos as a shield.

“The dragon?” Eren asked.

“Probably pushed everything south from that damn mountain again. But kobolds don’t run and I don’t think they live on that side. It was a lucky exploit.” Emily drew her bow with her left hand while keeping the katana ready in her waist scabbard. She could switch between them in half a second. “This is a coordinated push using a natural stampede. These kobolds are dangerous.”

Mel, Nimbo and Rabbu-i caught up behind them, breathing hard from their sprint. Nimbo already had his shield up. Mel’s hands were on her daggers, now more than one. Rabbu-i looked pale but her eyes were scanning the treeline with focus.

“Where’s Thadric?” Eren asked.

“Ranch. He’s securing the animals.” Nimbo answered through heavy breaths.

Other villagers were arriving now. An old elf named Gereth who Eren had seen chopping wood with Oldir and Toris appeared with a hunting spear that looked older than Eren’s parents.

Two younger looking elves Eren didn’t know by name carried makeshift weapons – one had a woodcutting axe and the other had what looked like a sharpened farming tool.

That was it. That was the defense force for now.

Emily didn’t waste a second. “Mel, Nimbo. Stay behind the barricade. Don’t climb over for any reason. Rabbu-i, anything you can do with the vines near the edges, do it now. Eren-”

She looked at him. Something complicated passed through her eyes.

“Stay on top of the barricade. Use the bow. Your new skill should help.”

“Emily, I can-”

“BOW! On the wall. Now. ”

“But why? You said I need to protect you right?” He didn’t shout this time.

“You need to save your stamina silly. Trust me.” She smiled one last time and turned to the enemies.

Emily jumped over the barricade and landed on the other side alone. And she hit the stampede-like monsters with her blade. Her movements were still filled with style even if she didn’t give a damn about it.

Her first Wind Slash was her only attack skill for years and it was on the level of Evolution League 2 now. That skill got two big upgrades on it’s base features over the years.

Her wind slash carved a line across the ground twenty meters in front of the barricade. Three of the smaller creatures, some kind of feral forest cats ran straight into it and tumbled sideways. One of them survived but it was stunned and bleeding.

The bears didn’t stop with some tremors on the ground.

Eren noticed something. The tremors from the ground wasn’t coming from this monster group. It was happening real time in the northern side, by the damn dragon probably.

He wondered what was happening in the mountains.

Focus..

But the bears were coming and they were too big and panicked to care about a single hunter standing in their path.

Emily didn’t try to stop them either. She sidestepped the first bear with a motion so smooth it looked like she didn’t even attack. But she drove her katana into the side of the second bear as it passed by. The blade punched through the gap between bear’s shoulder quills and sank deep. The bear stumbled, rolled and didn’t get up.

If she had enough power in her body like Eren, that move could decapitate the bear from its belly to its head in one fluid motion.

She did the same move to the first bear that almost reacted the defense line while her bare skin was covered in blood.

Third bear came at her with its head low and spiky quills on his head aimed at her chest. She activated Wind Barrier for a fraction of a second. The invisible wall of compressed air slammed into the beast’s face and redirected its charge to safe distance.

It crashed into the fourth bear on it’s side instead. Two bears tangled on the ground and she used her katana to make two holes on their heads.

Emily was already past them and moving toward the kobold line after a few seconds.

“SHOOT THE STRAGGLERS!” she screamed back at the barricade.

Eren nocked an arrow while his hands were shaking. Not from fear or anything ethical. He couldn’t tell why this was happening.

Maybe it was from the adrenaline flooding in his body or some fear of losing elf friends. But the bow and this situation felt different than it had five minutes ago in their garden.

He drew, aimed at a feral cat that had made it past Emily and was sprinting toward the barricade.

Released the arrow.

The arrow flew straighter than any shot he’d ever taken. It punched into the creature’s side and the cat flipped sideways from the impact. Not a kill shot but enough to stop its charge.

[Basic Archery levelled up: Level 2 > Level 3]

A skill level. From one real combat shot and it already changed his stance, his holding of the weapon and his breathing.

So this is how you use a bow…

Eren smiled at the thoughts how he had spent fuc*ing days practicing in the backyard with zero progress. One shot in an actual fight and the Evon rewarded him more than a whole week of target practice.

Are you kidding me right now?

He didn’t have time to think about it. Another creature almost reached the barricade wall and almost all the elves were running toward to underground shelters. All the help they could get were already here.

Eren focused on to his new target. A massive lizard running like a lion with a mouth full of jagged teeth…it was disgusting. And tried to climb the log barricade.

Nimbo covered his face and tried to shield slam it to the back side and even Mel drove her dagger into its neck.

“Edge Enhance!” Mel shouted.

The silver aura coated her blade and the lizard’s scales parted like wet paper. Green blood sprayed across the logs.

Eren aimed for the lizard’s eyes but missed the mark, his arrow leaving only a small scratch on its scaly skin. Still, before Eren could even feel more upset, the creature’s eyes turned pink and it waited motionless.

It was a lucky love-shot trigger.

Mel pierced her dagger into it’s eyes and killed it.

[You gained the 70% energy of Level 21 Cave Lizan – Defensive Variant]

What the hell is a lizan?

..

At the exact same seconds on the other side of the wall.

Rabbu-i had managed to grow three vines about two meters long from the base of the barricade. They weren’t strong enough to trap a bear but they tangled the legs of smaller creatures that got close. Even if she couldn’t use all of them at the same time, she was sweating hard and her mana was draining fast

Gereth the old elf stepped forward and jabbed his ancient spear into a cat that was climbing the wall. The thrust was clean. The spear went through the thing’s throat.

“I still remember a thing or two!” Gereth shouted with a wild grin that looked thirty years younger than his face.

The young elf with the woodcutting axe wasn’t as lucky. A thornback bear had found a section of the barricade where two logs had a loose gap between them. Just today Eren saw this section and imagined how it looked like a child made it.

Thornback bear charged through this loose place with its full weight and the logs cracked intermediately. The young elf tried to swing his axe but the bear was already inside the gap on the wall.

One swipe of its paw caught the elf across his chest. Quills from the bear’s upper forearm punctured his collarbone. The elf dropped in blood without a sound.

“HEALER! SOMEONE GET-” Nimbo screamed then he remembered. No healer was coming because their village didn’t have one. The last and the best healer class elf died from old age. It was when he was still a little kid and he remembered all the panic in the village.

Eren jumped down from the barricade. He reached the bear in two strides and drove his fist into the side of its skull with everything he had. The impact sounded like a tree splitting. The bear’s head snapped sideways and it collapsed next to the elf it had just killed.

[You gained 100% energy of Spiked Verdant Black Bear (Level 22)]

He looked at the fallen elf. The kid was bleeding badly. Poison from the quills was already discoloring the skin around the wounds, turning it a sick yellowish green.

Two other villagers from Oldir’s friend group dragged the body back away from the defense line. Kid’s innocent eyes were open but unfocused.

Eren didn’t know his name. He’d seen him carrying lumber two days ago. Maybe twenty seven or eight. Older than Eren by years but still a young teenager in elven standards.

He pushed down the sadness.

There was no time.

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