The village’s situation was bad. That was the first thought that entered Mash’s mind when he saw it. The fields that surrounded the village were ravaged, no usable farmland in vision. The village was surrounded by wooden walls that were patterned by a series of scratches. Mash was glad that he could fight monsters but wondered whether the group would be able to handle it. Afterall, there were just so many scratches. He looked to the others to see their reactions and found them looking equally apprehensive. Mash wanted to improve their attitudes but couldn’t find the right words. So, they rode into the village in silence.

They got out of the carriage with Edmund, and the driver immediately abandoned them. Edmund informed them that the driver would return in the morning. Mash didn’t really care and moved to address his group, while Edmund handled speaking with the mayor. He wanted to inform them of his ideas. Edmund spoke to them on the trip but had refused to give anything more than general advice.

The guild seemed to function strangely, the new members were not protected or instructed in any meaningful way. They were left to their own devices, and this exam was designed to see if their abilities were good enough. If they failed or died, it was their own fault, and the guild took no responsibility for them. It was a system to avoid trouble if a noble died while on a job, but to make it fair, gave all adventurers the same treatment.

As soon as they passed the gates, Mash was relieved to see that the village was easily defensible. It only had two entrances and with Mash’s abilities he should be able to set up some basic traps at each entrance. The more important aspect was that the village was small, as it was no bigger than a single district of the city. Most of the buildings were homes, and he only noticed a handful of other buildings. The biggest of which was the mayor’s house, and would be where the villagers would hide during the attack.

There was only one real problem. They would have to split up. After coming inside, Mash was confident that he could hold an entrance on his own. He remembered his fight with the goblins and was significantly stronger now. These were just rats, and he doubted that they would be stronger than a goblin. Even in a horde, he should be able to clear them out. He worried more for the rest of his party. He knew that they were strong though and would fight together.

“We are going to have to split up. I will take the main entrance with Red. While Jill and Luke cover the other.

He had spoken like he was the leader, his voice carrying no hint of uncertainty. It was the most obvious arrangement. Red used blood as a weapon, and Mash knew that he primarily used slashing attacks. There would be a lot more blood available where he was, since Jill and Luke crushed instead of cut. Also, he learned that Jill made better use of Luke’s buffs in the beginning of a fight. Mash’s Persist skill made him the strongest at the end of a fight, and he imagined that would hold true for a while. The group agreed with the plan, nodding along to Mash’s directions. Jill expanded upon the plans.

“If their numbers start to dwindle, Red or Luke should check the other side since they are the most capable supports. Remember, we are strong enough alone, so this should be a cake walk together. They are just rats and can’t possibly be that bad.”

Jill’s words contained the encouragement that Mash had forgotten, and seemed to reassure Luke and Red. This was why they had made Jill the leader. At first, Mash felt bad about it, it felt like they pushed all the responsibility onto her, not that she minded. She seemed to enjoy the position and was eager to fulfill the role. She was also the most human of the group, though Mash didn’t like admitting it. He accepted that his class probably altered his humanity and would continue to do so. It did feel weird to consider himself as no longer being human.

They only spent a few more moments ironing out the plans and set up some simple signals. It mostly involved sending either Red or Luke to act as messengers. They didn’t like it but knew that Mash or Jill would be stronger by themselves. After which, Jill informed Edmund and the mayor. Edmund only nodded while the mayor looked disturbed, but after talking with Edmund decided not to protest. Edmund would probably take care of it if they failed. With all the details finalized, it was time to prepare.

Mash went to the back gate first since he would be defending the main entrance. Once there, he grew spiked walls against the entrance. They acted to funnel the rats so that they could cover the ground with just two people. It took more energy than he expected and needed to meditate before doing the main entrance. Once done, he was rewarded with thick pillars of wood that were adorned with sharp thorns. They looked like the stems of roses.

The main entrance was larger, but he had managed with his persist skill. Red healed him so that he could start meditating and regain his energy. He wondered if he would gain levels for the ones that died to his traps. He felt a little giddy at the notion of gaining levels freely, even though this was just a preamble to his dungeon dive.

It only took about an hour for the sun to fall, it was almost time for the fight. They had separated a little while ago and were getting excited as they waited for the rats to arrive. He didn’t even notice as Red approached.

“You remember the plan, right?”

She sounded anxious, and Mash tried to ease her as much as he could. So, he tried his best to faithfully recall their plan.

“I push forward and cut up as many as I can, and when I hear you call out, I back up so that we can reinforce each other’s flanks.”

This plan suited them, and he spoke with confidence. It did seem to ease her worries and Mash was glad to see her regain some poise. He would fight the longest, but she would deal the most damage.

Red could start a fight by cutting her own hands and using her own blood, but it lowered her overall strength. She was a lot stronger if she could just take the blood from monsters. She had explained that fresh blood held a higher mana concentration, and that monster blood was even denser. With more mana in the blood, she could use less of her own mana, and fight for longer.

After talking for a bit, he started forming his weapon. Since it was of his own creation, he dubbed them swordstaffs since they were a blend of the two weapons. He was quite proud of the name, and he heard Red gasp when she saw it. He explained the weapon to them but hadn’t found the time to show them. He smiled reflexively when he saw her astonished expression. He started showing it off in a grandiose display, proud of his first real creation. They were both jittery with excitement, and it was Red who noticed the first rat. It seemed like half-elves had better night vision than humans.

Mash stepped forward, but was not feeling as confident as he was a moment ago. The rats were a lot bigger than he expected. Honestly, he thought that they were dogs at first, and only when the first had gotten closer did he realize that it was a rat. Even crawling along the ground, they were almost three feet tall, and their front teeth seemed to be sharpened like blades. He stood his ground, and even took some steps forward to create some more space between him and Red.

He started spinning his weapon, before the first rat even attacked. As it jumped at him, he managed to counter bringing one of the blades just above its nose. It was faster than the goblin, but not by much. With his drastically improved stats, it had felt even slower than the goblins. As his blade contacted its skull, he was bombarded by the smell. It was the worst smell he had encountered. It was some vile combination of shit and sulfur, that practically crawled through his body. He barely managed not to throw up.

His blade though didn’t stop at its skull, and he managed to sheer through its head. It wasn’t as smooth as he expected and realized that he would probably have to switch weapons eventually. Though he didn’t spend much time on that thought. Even before the first rat fell, he needed to continue his swing. He cut through another rat separating its head from its body, and in the same motion used the other end of his staff to pierce another. He continued flowing and blocked another rat while slicing through the legs of a fifth. He caught another as it made to bite Mash’s legs, managing to lodge his blade into the creature, almost bisecting it. He was relieved when he heard Red’s call.

Leaping backwards to avoid the lunge of a new rat, he left the blade in the ground, pushing off it to lodge it deeper into the dirt, so that it could act as another spike. Landing next to Red, he managed to watch as she stepped forward. The blood formed into an enormous longsword that she used to indiscriminately kill the approaching rats. Mash quickly reformed his weapon, moving a little further to the side so that she could swing her impossibly large sword. It was almost as tall as her and was serrated. She also seemed to be forming armor as she killed the rats. Then her armor started to form blades that spun, slicing the rats that tried to bite her. He felt like a fool.

He had formed wooden armor for himself but had only made it to protect himself. It wasn’t as elaborate as plate since he didn’t want to restrict his freedom. Instead, it looked like a million small pieces of wood that locked together forming a type of chainmail. It looked like scales, and with the multicolored nature of his wood looked otherworldly, and the others had jokingly named it dragon mail. Mash liked the name but wouldn’t dare use it publicly. As he stepped forward to stand parallel and meet the rats anew, he altered the wood so that the “scales” of his armor would flare out. It formed an armor of interlocking blades, that would work just as well to cut the rats.

As he engaged the next rat, he started using his skills more creatively. When he swung at the next rat, he made sure to send smaller splinters of wood flying out into the distance to do whatever damage they could. The horde before him seemed endless, and so long as he didn’t send any splinters to his right, would not have to worry about hitting Red. He felt two rats enter the edges of his sphere and grew his staff out as he spun it in a large circle. He kept making it grow as he swung, giving himself a slight breather as he cut through five rats.

In that pause he threw his weapon away, while starting to swing again. He formed the new weapon mid swing and grew it out to its full length to hit a jumping rat, while kicking another back into the horde. He felt the temporary rush of gaining a level but ignored it. He would worry about it later. His focus already felt like it was spread thin as he had to watch the rats and Red. Mana Sphere did most of the work though, and he mostly used his eyes to watch his thorns and make sure Red was ok. She seemed to be doing better than him as she had forged a shield from the blood.

Seeing her fight had given Mash plenty more ideas, and before him was a literal horde of test subjects. He started growing spines along his joints, and he just let them grow until they hit a rat and broke off on their own, then immediately started forming the next. He had started breaking off and launching half of his weapon, since growing back one blade was faster than remaking the whole thing. He couldn’t count how many rats he was killing anymore. They just died around him.

He didn’t know how long they had been fighting but realized that he had to move. He gained a few levels already, and desperately wanted to check, but didn’t have the time. There were simply too many bodies at his feet, and he was going to start tripping if he stayed in the same place. Red was slowing down now, as she was running out of stamina and mana. He would need to start covering for her, to let her regain her mana. He needed a way to get all the rats to fight him and needed to come up with it quickly. He thought of something, but it was stupid and almost dismissed it, but stopped himself when he noticed Red’s blood shield dissolve.