Apexus was on his own at the moment. Salt water spilled around his knees, cold enough to make his steps slow down, as he went deeper into one of the many caves that littered the shore, where the mountain range bordered the ocean.

A rowing boat was something valuable, especially in their environment, so they couldn’t just leave it lying on the shore and expect it to still be there when they returned. Either a storm (rare as they were around these parts) or a group of bandits (much more frequent) could abscond with it. The group, with their ready access to air travel, had other ways to get off in an emergency. Better to have the boat though.

The caves that riddled the side of the shore like a sponge were apparently used frequently for this. Either they were only filled with water during high tide or only accessible during low tide. In the case of the former, the rowing boat would sit somewhere dry most of the time and be near impossible to remove, courtesy of its weight and the damage the scrapping would do to the hull. In the case of the latter, several of the caves had pockets, either natural or manmade, high enough for the ship to remain safely in during high tide. Apexus was currently going for the latter, pushing the boat ahead of him to reach one of those pockets.

Since this was a commonly used strategy of people visiting the Dragon Isles, the bandits had caught onto it a while ago. What deterred them was the sheer number of caves to check. When using the caves only accessible during low tide, there were only so many hours in a day to check them and it was risky probing too deep. Getting caught in the motions of the ocean was always dangerous. In a cave, gradually filling with water, trying to move against the stream, that was a death sentence even for people who had successfully kicked off their adventuring career.

Bandits had therefore opted for an entirely different approach: either assault people while they came ashore, before they left, or to not bother whatsoever. That was, if there were any in the area. Currently, there were not.

Apexus stopped when he reached a place that matched the description he had been given. A remarkably smooth ‘bubble’, more than twenty metres into the cave, hidden behind a left curve. Two metal hooks were imbued into the walls on opposite sides. Apexus tied ropes to both of them and secured the rowing boat between them. As advised, he left enough slack that the boat could still wiggle, fall, and rise with the motions of the water.

After all of that was done, he turned, walked back out the cave and scaled the craggy shore. It was closer to a cliff than a beach, yet didn’t completely match either. The gradual slope was soft enough that one could manoeuvre it without ever climbing any walls. Apexus made it to where his three companions were waiting and took his pants from Aclysia. He put them on while asking, “You have memorized the location?”

“I have ingrained in my memory the angle and several noteworthy landmarks in their position relative to the cave we chose,” Aclysia responded.

“And I found no one watching us,” Reysha reported.

“And I built this,” Korith chimed in, gesturing at a pyramid of pebbles she had created while waiting.

“Good job, squishy,” Reysha giggled. “Really pulling your weight there.”

The kobold grumbled something between retort and admission of guilt. Because she was so short, and not exactly hydrodynamically designed, she would not have been of any help in hiding the boat. “Can we get going so I can show that I’m useful?” she requested, her armour rattling softly when she switched from one leg to another.

The chest plate had more of a bend to it than usual, otherwise it was a fairly standard, size appropriate set of armour. Scratches, dents and spots that no amount of care could completely remove showed that it had seen its fair share of use already. Her torso was covered the most, followed by her shoulders and waist. Arms were only minorly reinforced, studded leather strapped onto her scaled forearms. The pants she wore, also reinforced leather, stopped above the knee, where the red scales took over.

All of them were in their respective battle gear.

Reysha wore an almost form-fitting leather armour. The pieces didn’t match, the top was of a dark grey, while the pants were of a typical brown. The difference was born from one item being from a dungeon and the other bought from a craftsman. Same was true of her weapons. The throwing knives and two daggers were all simple iron, slotted into her belt, while the icy white, three-sided stiletto and crimson, bearded axe were both much more menacing in appearance.

Aclysia had a more uniform look, by comparison. A deep blue robe covered her, black embroidery all over it that resembled the waves of the sea. In her hand was a long metal staff, forged from grey steel and tipped by a conglomeration of six black and six white crystals locking together into a diamond shape. As they started to move, she used the staff to support herself, its weight more than the physically weak angel was used to.

Apexus’ armour stuck to the roots of a monk and was the least adorned of them all. He had no protection nor weapons on him at all, relying entirely on his body to fight. His clothing was light, just a simple robe that sat loosely so he could let it slip off his torso. It would then dangle from the same waistband that secured the simple pants. Decency was the cause of the clothes, not practicality.

It was the first time since Ctania that the trio travelled the surface in their full battle regalia. Back then, they had nothing else to their name and had been hunted steadily. Now it was a simple precaution.

Korith shouldered her weapon, a warhammer of solid steel, attached to a long, oaken grip. The head was as large as two clenched fists put side by side, the shaft the length of the kobold’s entire arm. In size, it was a regular warhammer. Only that it had two flat sides was different from the norm.

“We should get you something bigger,” Reysha said.

“But this works fine!” Korith shot back immediately. “Don’t buy me anything, that’s a waste of money.”

“We should acquire a hammer that has a spiked side for you,” Aclysia disagreed. “Relying entirely on blunt trauma will not serve you well against larger, scaled opponents.”

“Ya know, like dragons,” Reysha remarked drily.

“We should have bought a new warpick,” remarked the humanoid slime at the head of the group. They had ‘lost’ their last one because Reysha had thrown it at the boss at the end of the Long Way and with the Deathhound on their heels, they had not had the opportunity to retrieve it. With all of the things that had happened since, buying a new one of those had not been a priority.

“I have one of those,” Korith told them.

“You do?” Apexus asked.

“I also have a mace,” the kobold told them. “I’ve been doing this for a bit too, you know?” she boasted, puffing up her chest. “I’m prepared!”

“And yet were unable to find a group before us,” Reysha teased.

Apexus smiled happily at the shortstack, “Their loss is our gain – I think that’s a saying?”

“Affirmative,” Aclysia responded. “Further, I do agree that you are pleasant to have around, Korith.”

“I, well, uh, thanks…?” Korith responded bashfully. In her embarrassment, she crouched down and leapt up a boulder in their path. It was more than impressive to see the fully armoured, iron-boned shortstack sail up three metres and land properly on top of the obstacle. Unhappy as she was with the name, the Frog Leap served the kobold really well. Leaps like that allowed her to get ahead of the group, scan the environment, and then get ahead again, always serving as the vanguard. As she had short legs, that had previously required everyone else to slow down.

If anyone literally jumped face first into an enemy ambush, she was the prime candidate.

Which, after an hour, they inevitably did.

The quartet had been growing quieter for a while. At first, Korith mistook that for her having missed some sort of social cue. While that was essentially true, it wasn’t anything anyone had said. Aclysia, Apexus and Reysha didn’t need to exchange a single word to immediately understand each other. Korith only realized what was going on after a while. It was the uncharacteristically steady repositioning of their animal ears that clued her in.

Once she saw that, she noticed a bunch of small adjustments. Reysha had moved her hands, hooking her thumbs under her belt. It still appeared casual, while allowing her to immediately draw one of the throwing knives. Aclysia no longer utilized her staff as support during her steps, instead ready to point it at anyone who would reveal themselves. Apexus’ body language emphasized his full size, sending a warning signal to any attempting predator.

Even with all of that going on, they continued to banter. Korith had been in many groups during her time as an adventurer, but she had not observed this combination of seasoned coordination and steady nerves before. There were groups like this all over the Omniverse. It was unusual to have it be this pronounced at this low level.

‘Guess I should just keep doing what I’m doing?’ Korith thought to herself. Inadequacy rose within her, only to be forcefully pushed back down. ‘It’s normal to need some time to adjust, Korith! At least you noticed. Yeah… you noticed. You can do thi-‘ “Aaaah!” she cried out when the ground she landed on suddenly gave in.

Korith fell two and a half metres further than she had anticipated. Snapped sticks and yellow leaves tumbled down into the pitfall trap with her. The combination of Bone and Muscle Skills she used for the Frog Leap were still active. She landed on both feet, lost as much momentum as she could by crouching and immediately leapt back out.

Bandits were storming forwards, following the cry of their leader, only to stop dead in their tracks when the one person they had successfully trapped emerged unscathed and landed on the other side of the pit. The tip of the charge hesitated – which was a terrible mistake.

Without hesitation, Apexus hurled his clenched fist at them. It connected with the side of the man’s face, cracking the jawbone on impact and smacking them backwards against a nearby tree. Knocked out immediately, the bandit collapsed on the ground. The remaining fourteen assailants encircled them carefully. The pitfall aside, this was a segment of dense autumn forest like any other. Many of the bandits had covered their clothing or armour with pieces of light brown and yellow that blended with the colour of fallen leaves. Bows creaked as arrows were drawn.

“Aren’t you an agile bunch?” the leader of the bandits asked, stepping forwards. He tapped his shoulder with the haft of a morning star, his face rugged and a smile on it. “Sorry about Drake there, he never knows his manners. Simple choice for you: hand over everything valuable you have and we’ll leave you with enough to make it home.”

“No.”

The bandit leader was perplexed. He was used to threats coming back at him, passive aggressive compliance or meek agreement. A tall, muscular man staring at him after such a straight and simple dismissal – that was new. New and unnerving, as the bandit found. His eyes darted to the three women the humanoid chimera travelled with. None of them moved, only kept watch of his comrades. When the bandit returned his eyes to Apexus, he found that the leader of the quartet was still staring, unwaveringly.

“…Grab Drake,” the bandit leader ordered, keeping eye contact with Apexus. One of his subordinates stepped forwards and retrieved the passed-out comrade. Then the bandit leader slowly took a step backwards. His instincts told him that this was not a battle worth fighting. By sheer numbers, the bandits had an avenue to victory. They weren’t desperate enough to throw themselves at people with such will without the advantage of an ambush.

Step for step, the bandits disappeared back into the underbrush of the forest. Within five minutes, all of them had fully disappeared from sight. “Huh,” Korith lowered her weapon. The other two followed her example. “That was… clean?”

“Packs of wolves don’t fight unless they are desperate,” Apexus stated, walking around the pit. “They intimidate until one gives in. Nature is too dangerous to bleed needlessly.”

“We could’ve asked if they belonged to any dragon though,” Reysha hummed.

“Conversations with such evildoers may be entertaining. Their usefulness is in question,” Aclysia remarked.

Apexus pat Korith on the head. “You were useful there. I couldn’t have jumped out that quickly.”

“I guess breaking morale is better than breaking kneecaps,” Korith agreed.

They kept moving north.