We had been moving for nearly an hour.

  Slowly but steadily.

  The forest resisted us in small, constant ways. Roots broke the rhythm of our steps, low branches snagged packs and clothes, undergrowth forced us to detour because the cart couldn’t pass. We were nowhere near the pace the vanguard could maintain, but… it wasn’t bad, not as bad as I had feared.

  There was hope here. Not for everyone, but for enough.

  I glanced back over the line as we marched. Everyone was breathing evenly, even the old ones; luckily, no one had collapsed yet. But more than a few people, especially the ones pulling the cart, were sweating hard, faces flushed, but they kept going. When we stopped next, I’d ask Rhea if she could cook up a ritual of some kind, like stamina recovery, maybe movement efficiency, or just speed. Even a small buff spread over the whole group would compound over hours and days if she could keep it up.

  Despite everything, I felt almost… satisfied.

  That illusion cracked twice in the next half hour.

  Two ambushes, small and sloppy, caught the least combat-capable people near the middle of the formation. Both times Melissa reacted before the monsters took down the combatants on rotation. Barriers snapped into place and protected the people who, after finishing panicking, managed to kill the elders.

  No deaths or serious injuries, not under Melissa’s watch.

  Still, it was a reminder. Some people would never belong on the front line, no matter how much the system increased their stats.

  We passed three Eldir corpses not long after, slumped against trees with broken spears lodged deep in their chests. Clean kills. Marcus’s work. I nodded to myself and kept moving.

  Then my senses prickled; more monsters were on us, and they were approaching fast.

  “Three incoming!” I shouted. “Two on the right flank. One on the left!”

  The words were barely out of my mouth when I started casting.

  As soon as the three elders came into view, my hexes slid into them with contemptuous ease, my will making them way more powerful than before. I noticed it already; while other spells worked more or less the same, hexes got a clear empowerment from a higher willpower stat. The approaching monsters stumbled, their movement turning slow and heavy, as if they were moving through water instead of air.

  I continued to watch.

  The fighters could use the training; the crafters on rotation needed it even more, along with more levels. Crafting made them level up, contrary to us, but their levelling speed was terrible.

  The elders reached them seconds later. Fast even while crippled, with all thin limbs and hunger and bone-white masks. One went down under a pair of crossbow bolts, and another took a spear straight through the heart from a crafter, but only after a fighter blocked it. In any case, the whole fight lasted seconds; the cooperation between the group was improving after every encounter.

  Then I looked at the third one, who went to Frederick.

  I turned just in time to see him make every mistake at once.

  His timing was awful. He stabbed too early, the spear sliding past empty air as the eldir twisted aside despite the hex. Its claws flashed towards his face.

  Three inches from hitting him, a barrier snapped into existence, blocking the fatal blow.

  Blue sparks exploded across Frederick’s vision. They did nothing, but it was enough to make him flinch, his eyes squeezing shut.

  At the same time I saw his skin took on a faint grey sheen, rough and strange; he probably activated it on instinct. The eldir struck again, this time from the side, aiming low.

  Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

  In his flailing, he interposed his left arm perfectly to block the strike, and then I watched the claws punch clean through the wooden shield.

  Straight through.

  Finally, Frederick somehow reacted.

  He moved the shield aside, eyes snapping open, and thrust the spear forward in a desperate motion. It sank into the eldir’s chest, on the left side. The creature screeched and took a step back but didn’t fall.

  Not dead. Not even close.

  What followed was painful to watch.

  Frederick froze, hands locked on the spear as if it were an anchor, trying to keep the eldir away as it thrashed and clawed, shrieking; the two of them were locked together in a horrible parody of a struggle. Shouts rose around us. It was too much noise; it could attract another bunch.

  After giving Frederick five more seconds to see if he could finish the monster by himself, I couldn’t take it anymore.

  I hit the eldir with another hex. Strength bled out of its limbs like water from a cracked vessel. It collapsed backwards, nearly dragging Frederick down with it.

  I closed the distance and kicked it.

  Hard.

  The impact sent the creature flying five or six metres, tumbling into a bush where it lay twitching, the spear flying away with it; now the wound was bleeding heavily without the tip to block the haemorrhage.

  “Don’t kill it,” I said sharply to Jack, who was already on the move.

  Then I turned on Frederick.

  I took a breath, slow and deliberate, forcing the spike of irritation back down where it belonged. I grabbed his shield arm and undid the strap, letting it fall to the ground. He looked up at me, wide-eyed, breathing hard.

  I pulled his sleeve up.

  There were tears in the fabric and a couple of wooden splinters embedded in the cloth.

  But his skin was back to its normal colour, sporting just a couple of red scratches, thin and less than half an inch overall. The claws didn’t even draw blood.

  “Do you see it?” I asked.

  “Y-yes,” he stammered, glancing around; everyone was watching now. His son most of all.

  “Do you understand what happened?”

  He dropped his gaze. “I… I panicked.”

  “I don’t care about that.”

  He looked up, startled.

  “Your shield was punctured,” I said, tapping his arm. “But you weren’t. These monsters can’t hurt you while your skill is active.”

  Understanding dawned slowly, like light through the fog.

  “Oh…”

  “Yeah. Oh.” I exhaled. “How long can you keep it up?”

  “P-probably around a minute. I don’t have much mana.”

  A minute.

  He needed a second to kill one.

  I pulled the knife from his belt and pressed it into his hand. “You’re terrible with the spear. So don’t use it. Activate your skin-hardening skill, whatever it is called, then walk up to it, and when it tries to kill you, you ignore it. Don’t even look at its claws.”

  He swallowed.

  “Look at its neck,” I continued calmly. “And stab. Again. And again. Until it stops moving.”

  He stared at me, hands trembling.

  Then he nodded.

  I stepped back. “I’m releasing it.”

  “Wait, I’m not rea—”

  I lifted every hex at once.

  The eldir surged upright in a blur of motion, a shriek tearing from its throat as it locked onto the nearest target.

  Frederick, of course, because I moved behind him already.

  The monster lunged as he activated his skill.

  The claws raked across his chest and arms, scraping uselessly against his hardened skin with a sound like metal on stone. He flinched but didn’t retreat. Didn’t close his eyes.

  Fortunately, he did like I told him and stepped in.

  The knife punched into the eldir’s throat.

  Once.

  Twice.

  Blood sprayed on his hand and arm, dark and hot. The creature thrashed wildly, claws tearing at him in a frenzy, but Frederick stayed close, jaw clenched, left arm raised to block some of the strikes.

  Then he pushed it back, stabbing it again.

  And again.

  The knife sank into the chest, into the ribs, into the base of the neck until the screeching turned wet and broken, then stopped altogether.

  The eldir sagged.

  Frederick shoved it away and stumbled back, breathing hard, the knife slipping from his fingers to the forest floor.

  Unhurt.

  The same couldn’t be said for his shirt; it was in tatters.

  The clearing was silent for a heartbeat, then the group went up in a cheer, his son running to him, saying something I couldn’t hear over the clamour.

  The fight had been visually stunning; the man coming out unscathed while fighting in that way was impressive, but I was already sensing more monsters coming.

  “Six, no, eight inbound from the left side!”

  “SHUT IT!” screamed Tom.

  Say anything about the man, but he had a fantastic army drill serjeant voice. “EVERYONE IN POSITION! LARRY AND SARAH, YOU’RE ON!”

  As the group regained order and I applied my hexes, I put a hand on Frederick for a moment, looking at him straight in the eyes. “You are much stronger than you think, and I will get it out of you.” Then I grinned, looking down at his son, still attached to him like a baby koala. “Your dad will become unbreakable, like a superhero.”

  The child looked at me with teary eyes, then at his father, his expression changing from fear and worry to wonder. “Like Superman?”

  “Like Superman,” Frederick said, resolve finding its way in his voice. “I won’t let anything happen to you, Kyle; you don’t have to be scared of the monsters anymore. I can protect you…” The last part he whispered while he hugged his son was, “I will protect you…”

  The battle was about to commence anew, the new group of monsters nearly upon us. But my thoughts were less about the coming fight and more on this raw gem starting to shine already.

  He would make a fine addition to the vanguard team, a really fine addition. I just have to polish him a bit more, and fortunately, there was no lack of enemies to throw at him to make him shine.

  20 chapters ahead!