Res gave Akeem thumbs up. “Good Job. If you had run off like a scared rabbit, they would have attacked. Let’s beat a tactical retreat.”

Akeem pulled out a compass, and they began to half walk, half run towards where the compass pointed. A concentrated silence had settled over them. The next hours would change their life. No one here wanted to be aether-crippled forever. The most disturbing thing were the black monsters in the trees who would try to get a jump on them. All the time, the mass of stalkers functioning as the border followed them steadily.

They took turns watching the treetops for stalkers and gained some distance to the wall of monsters. Maybe it was because they were occupied with trying not to die, or maybe it was their fatigue. No matter the reason, they didn’t see the countless shadows behind the surrounding trees. The only warning they got was a glittering dagger in the moonlight before Xenia was pulled behind a tree. A colossal northerner holding a dagger to Xenia’s neck stepped out of cover. The northerner’s voice was harsh and unchanging.

“Throw your compasses at me or she dies.”

Res snarled and hardened his skin. As soon as his full attention was on the man, he felt the poke of a dagger. He whirled around to face another slimmer northerner about his age. The young man had ragged blonde hair and two long daggers, which he looked at in confusion.

Res chuckled. “Did you expect to pierce my skin?”

He broke off and whirled around to the others. All of them were engaged in their own fights. Serafina was circling a fat northerner while Adrian was fighting the fiercest warrior Res had ever seen. The blood lust around the warrior was permeable and his eyes were steel. Adrian had to jump around while using his sand ability to the fullest to escape the colossal stone axe.

“Bro, we should get the hell out of here. That fucking axe only gets that yellow glow if the bearer killed over ten thousand enemies. I don’t know what the heck that guy is doing here, but he is grave news.”

This time two daggers poked him and Res promised himself to make this quick. With an aether push, he tried to give the young man a kick in the groin, but he only got in a glancing blow. Which still meant that the boy folded up like cardboard. A panicked cry from Adrian made him whirl around. Adrian pressed against a tree by the enormous stone axe with only his sand snake between him and the blade. The blade was eating away at the cobra and Res mournfully looked at his right thumb.

With a mirthful smile, he whispered: “Bye, Bye Thumb.”

He shot forward and impacted the rock-hard Viking like a battering ram. The northerner’s torso cut down several trees before it came to a stop about a hundred meters away. Despite all that, the Viking was already getting up and Res knew that he couldn’t fight that one yet.

A look at his compass revealed that he had none of his aether allowance left, and Res grinned wickedly at Adrian. “Ready for Plan B?”

Adrian yelped as Res grabbed him and, with the help of aether, threw him over his shoulder. Disgruntled with being manhandled, he asked: ”What Plan B?”

“My ghost says you could call it kamikaze.”

Their surrounding turned dark as hundreds of stalkers swarmed towards the fight. Only a few moments later, the black wall of stalkers came into sight only one hundred meters away. Res had to push over a stalker while Adrian cried out when one monster tried to get a jump on them. When he was destabilized by someone trying to get a jump on them, Jason would jump in.

Behind them, the stalkers were shrieking as Res used ludicrous amounts of aether to evade them. Swooping in like an eagle catching a mouse, Res grabbed Serafina out of the air. He had to duck when she whirled around and nearly cut his head off with her claws. When she saw that it was him, she grimaced, but luckily didn’t mind with excuses. They still had to get one last passenger. Akeem had won his battle, even if bruised and bloodied. When he saw Res with all his passengers, he began to wildly wave at something behind them.

When Res didn’t change his course, he shouted. “Xenia!”

Res kept on flying towards him and Akeem noticed Res’s grim expression. Muscles formed on his legs and he sprinted in the opposite direction. He watched in horror as Akeem had to dodge countless stalkers and northerners. Serafina’s opponent threw a dart at Akeem, which made him slow down, but he didn’t stop. Finally, he reached the ambush point, but the wall of stalkers had reached it too.

Before the stalkers could rip him to shreds, he pulled a figure out of a thicket and threw it at Res. Res watched in morbid fascination as a screaming Xenia impacted his flying form. Jason had to spend his entire aether pool to keep them upright. Serafina grabbed Xenia and shouted. “GO!”

It didn’t exactly please him that he had that woman on his back, but he supposed that this was right. With a push of aether, he sped into the direction of the center. A red glow exploded outward from the ambush site and cast the jungle in an eery light.

In awe, Jason whispered. “Someone has dissolved their cultivation basis. The sheer skill required takes decades, but most important of all, you can’t practice. That must have been the huge Viking. I can’t imagine someone else with such a large cultivation basis.”

Res still marveled at that northerner. If someone had told him that man was the reincarnation of an ancient battle god, he would have believed him. On their way, the trees were actually the more dangerous opponent. Pushing himself through the jungle was a nightmare. Trees would appear in his pushing range and set him spinning.

Suddenly, Serafina shouted: “Dodge!” Trusting her fully, he pushed himself to the right. An enormous ice shard shot through the spot they had been in. At his fearful look, Serafina laughed and said: “Other competitors. A+ Rank.”

The forest opened up and the ground population of stalkers increased exponentially. With a questioning look, Res pointed up ahead. “Isn’t that a …”

*WOOSH*

A streak of yellow light missed him by only a centimeter. Immediately, he pulled left, which turned out to be a good idea. A lightning strike as thick as some trees impacted the spot where they had been in. Various other spells sprang up behind them. Adrian’s grasp on him loosened and Serafina had to pull him back up. Lotus flowers made of blades, Ice tornados, and blinding spells rained down all around them. It wasn’t helping that Xenia was screaming like she was being grilled alive. With a curse, Res changed direction and shot straight towards the source of the spells.

The casters hadn’t expected the maneuver, and they broke through the canape of the last tree. Beyond the forest lay a peaceful meadow. The full moon provided ample light to reveal the circular plot of grass. Around the clearing, hundreds of elite palace guards had taken up position to block off entry. Res determined that the best plan would still be to go to the middle of the clearing. Judging by how thin the elite guards were already stretched, they couldn’t detach units to the center. Serafina finally clamped her hand over Xenia’s mouth and, with a last push of aether, they touched down. That the elite palace guards hadn’t triggered an alarm seemed odd. Yet, being too cautious would be inconvenient.

With a whirr, aether from all around them was channeled. When he cast about for the source, he found a small floating black crystal above them. Before he could cry out in alarm, black metal bars shot out of the ground and formed a tight cage around them. When Res pushed on the bars, his aether got sucked up like a sponge and it felt like the cage had strengthened. Jason screamed out a warning and Res relayed it. With a loud thud, a gorgeous sword impacted the spot where he had stood.