We moved through the forest in a loose line, with Quinn a shadow ahead of us, barely disturbing the undergrowth somehow. The canopy filtered the morning light into long green slats, and the air smelled of sap, damp earth, and something faintly metallic that I had learned to associate with nearby monsters.

  Behind me, conversation bloomed.

  Rhea and Melissa had fallen into step together almost immediately, voices low but animated. Mary and Alya drifted closer, the four of them forming a quiet orbit of murmurs and shared looks.

  “At least here,” Rhea was saying, “no one tells me I’m imagining things anymore. Back home it was always, ‘You’re strange,’ or ‘Maybe stop reading so much nonsense and focus more on the real world…”

  Melissa snorted softly. “I got mostly ‘You’re smart, but don’t be sassy about it.’ As if correcting some bullshit my classmates sprouted was wrong. I know it can be annoying, but it’s better than remaining ignorant.”

  Mary smiled wryly. “I worked in the hospital. Many patients would refuse to listen until a male nurse repeated exactly what I’d just said. Word for word. And it happened to female doctors too… especially with old people. The worst thing? Most were women; the men were generally more polite.”

  “Ouch, that’s like… friendly fire.” Said Rhea with a chuckle.

  Alya scoffed. “I grew up hearing a lot on how a woman should behave… my mother was always telling me to smile more. Don’t be so grumpy all the time; find a good husband. When am I going to get some nephews? Like my only purpose in life should be to reproduce like a broodmare!”

  That earned a quiet ripple of laughter.

  Marco, who had been walking a little too close, leant in. “You know, sometimes you should just follow the advice of your friends or family; they know what’s good for you.”

  The laughter died.

  Rhea tilted her head, scrunching a little. “That’s… not really the point.”

  Marco shrugged. “I’m just saying, at least someone cared about you.”

  Alya’s hand tightened on the axe hilt. Mary laid a calming palm on her arm before it could escalate.

  “The point was,” Mary said evenly, “that here, there are more serious problems than being a woman and having to follow old societal norms. It’s kind of liberating, that’s all.”

  Marco opened his mouth, then closed it, clearly not understanding why the conversation had soured. “If you said so…”

  I kept walking, eyes forward and ears open. We were in dangerous territory, with monsters all around, probably… but somehow Marco managed to get into a direr situation than even the gorgs could put him in. Honestly, I couldn’t get a real read on the man. Was he just dense, or was he purposefully trying to get on anyone’s nerves? Time will tell.

  At the same time, I was half lost in myself, focusing inward. Arcane Sense hummed faintly behind my eyes, a pressure like a second heartbeat. Mana flowed through me, sluggish at first, then quicker as I coaxed it along, imagining channels widening, currents smoothing.

  Too fast and it slipped. Too slow, and it pooled.

  I tried letting a sliver of mana leak out through my fingertips. It flickered, then vanished. I tried again, this time tying it to my intent.

  Better.

  Still difficult while moving, while listening, while watching the forest for threats. Multitasking magic was a skill unto itself.

  Then something brushed the edge of my perception.

  Multiple presences.

  I opened my mouth, but Quinn beat me to it.

  “Gorgs,” he said softly, appearing out of the trees like a ghost. “That way. At least three. Probably more.”

  I nodded. “Everyone, positions. Behind the trees. We’re going to ambush them.”

  They moved quickly, quietly.

  “They’ve got a mage,” I added.

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  Quinn glanced at me. “How do you know?”

  “I can sense it,” I said. There's no point hiding that now.

  I looked at Marco and Melissa. “We talked about the achievements. Have you decided who gets first pick?”

  Marco grinned. “Rock, paper, scissors. I won.”

  “Good,” I said. “Marco, the mage is yours. Take the shield; it’s enchanted to block magic. It will be useful.” I told him as I passed the shield to him. “Kill it as soon as it enters range if you can. Remember that for getting the achievement, you need to face it alone, so we won’t interfere.”

  I turned to Melissa. “Debilitate the others. Anything you can manage without killing.”

  She nodded, swallowing hard but steadily.

  “I’ll handle the mage spells if they are about to hit someone, and I’ll weaken the others,” I continued. “Alya, Marcus, you take the front. Rhea, empower them. Quinn, bring them to us.”

  Rhea was already moving, kneeling to sketch a simple circle into the dirt with practised motions. The ritual flared softly, and the buff settled over Alya and Marcus like a second skin.

  “Go,” I whispered.

  Quinn vanished into the forest while we took cover behind the trees, waiting for the right moment to strike.

  Moments later, cracking branches and guttural roars could be heard. Heavy footsteps shook the ground, getting closer and closer.

  Quinn sprinted past us, eyes bright, grin sharp, six gorgs on his heels.

  Six.

  I exhaled slowly and raised my hand. Let’s hope our new members were not going to mess things up.

  Now.

  The ambush snapped shut around the running gorgs.

  I split my focus and let the spell bloom outward.

  Multicasting strained against my temples as I threaded Hex after Hex into existence, each one snapping towards a different target. The magic slithered into the gorgs like cold smoke, biting into muscle and coordination. Every one of them slowed mid-charge, movements turning heavy and imprecise.

  All of them except the mage.

  Marco chose that moment to fire.

  A translucent mana arrow streaked through the trees and struck the gorg mage square in the back. It sank in two, maybe three inches, before losing cohesion, bursting into motes of light. The impact made the creature stagger, its roar tearing through the forest in raw pain and fury.

  It wasn’t enough to feel it.

  Not even close.

  The mage slammed a fist against its own chest, blackened blood oozing out of the wound, then raised its arms and began to bellow a guttural incantation. Stones ripped free from the ground, hurling forward into nearby trunks. Marco managed to get to cover behind a tree just in time.

  The front line collided a moment after.

  Alya and Marcus hit the first two gorgs like forces of nature. Marcus’s bone club came down in a brutal overhead swing, the impact echoing with a wet crack as it smashed into the brute’s skull. The gorg reeled, skull fractured, but still standing, blood spraying.

  Besides him, Alya’s axe bit deep into the neck of the sword-wielder. The blade lodged there, caught between muscles and spine. She snarled and kicked the gorg hard in the chest, intending to shove it back.

  Instead, the blow sent her stumbling when the gorg didn’t move.

  She transformed her fall into a roll across the leaf-littered ground, cursing viciously, while the gorg collapsed forward, choking and gurgling, its sword slipping from numb fingers as it died.

  Alya sprang back to her feet in one fluid motion, snatched the fallen blade, tested its weight with a single swing, and grinned.

  “Good enough.”

  She plunged back into the fray without missing a beat.

  To my right, Melissa was in trouble.

  A brute had broken through the initial clash and was bearing down on her, every step shaking the ground. Her attacks barely wounded it, but she adapted on the fly. Instead of trying to overpower it, she worked around it.

  Small barriers snapped into place at odd angles, not to block the blows outright but to deflect them. One shield caught the brute’s foot mid-stride, sending it stumbling. Another flashed into existence in front of its face, shattering under the impact but blinding it long enough for her mana ray to rake across its eyes.

  She kept moving. Step, cast, pivot. Again and again.

  It was clever. Resourceful.

  But fear was written plainly across her face, jaw clenched, breath coming fast, but she didn’t freeze. She held the line through sheer will and ingenuity, and that I could respect.

  Behind the chaos, Rhea and Mary stood together, shields raised, spears levelled but unmoving. They tracked the battlefield, ready to react but not entering the fray. Good. They weren’t meant to be in the thick of it, not for now anyway.

  I turned just in time to see a stone projectile flying wide towards Marcus’s back, hurled by the gorg mage.

  A barrier snapped into place an instant before impact. The stone hit with a thunderous crack and broke into shards. Marcus didn’t even realise how close he’d come to being skewered.

  The mage roared again.

  Marco was in trouble now.

  He stood his ground, firing spell after spell, but the exchange had turned against him. The mage had taken wounds, many of them, but nothing fatal, courtesy of its massive vitality. And now it had locked onto Marco completely.

  Stones tore free from the earth and screamed through the air towards him, some skimming past tree trunks, others smashing into bark hard. Marco wasn’t in a good position, not at all, but he wasn’t panicking either. He kept moving, using the trees as cover, leaning out with the shield covering him just long enough to fire potshots of condensed mana before ducking back again.

  He was still in the fight.

  Barely.

  The rest of the battlefield was already tilting in our favour. Alya and Marcus had turned their side of the clash into a butcher’s yard, each of them having felled two gorgs in quick succession. Marcus’s bone club rose and fell with brutal economy, while Alya fought like she had something personal to settle, her borrowed sword carving wide, vicious arcs.

  Melissa was still occupied, though.

  Her brute staggered and bellowed, blinded and frustrated, swinging wildly at empty air. She was holding it at bay, but only just. Her breathing was ragged, sweat plastering strands of her blondish hair to her forehead. She had burnt through most of her mana keeping that thing confused and off-balance.

  I moved to her side.

  “Good job,” I said quietly. “You lack firepower, but you used the barriers skilfully.”

  She shot me a quick look, half relief, half embarrassment, and nodded. She didn’t argue.

  “I’ll take it from here.”

  20 chapters ahead!