You know, it’s funny how most people assume the alien monsters to be powerful and freakishly novel in their abilities, but then imagine the ones from Earth to be simple. Let me make this clear, the animals from Earth underwent the same tribulations we went through and likewise grew in strength, so be cautious of them.

Lavanya Sanghvi - the Monster Bane - Adventurer’s Guide to Surviving the Idroan Wilderness

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Marching in straggled rows, the party advanced. Rolf’s lungs begged for a breather as he kept pace with all the others, too afraid now to ask for a break. They had left the riverbank and entered the woods some hours before, and although the Tactician knew he should still keep an eye out in case of an ambush, by this point, he was too exhausted to focus properly. Then again, perhaps his vigilance wasn’t required given the wary warriors around him, their keen gazes constantly scouring their surroundings.

At their lead strode Dom with the other Riverside constables directly behind him, including Lina, the Blazeblade. Wearing a severe expression as was her habit, she had dusky skin and wiry limbs. From what Rolf had seen of her, she was also a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield as she fought with a menacing combination of might and magic.

Behind the warriors followed Renard and his archers. The Arcane Fletcher was a bald, stout man with a flowing, snowy beard, much the same colour as Natalie’s hair. His face was peppered with liver spots and wrinkles, and his age and build showed as he struggled with the party’s pace. He was in conversation with Yuri, who had very much the same signs of age in his greying hair and weather-beaten face, but differed in his powerful physique and measured gait.

On the left wing paced the Order’s troops, led by Ish, who appeared to slide through the undergrowth as stealthily as a fox, his thick cloak fluttering behind him. Although he was short and knife-thin, his very presence demanded the respect reserved for royalty. Krisa cheerily skipped behind him, giggling and chatting with the other captain of the Order troops, Ebert Stonearm. He was an eight-foot ogre with grey, leather-like skin and a rounded paunch, wielding a log of steel like a crude club.

On the right wing marched the men and women from New Derby, their matching dark armour giving them the image of a proper, trained battalion. While they all had an aura of strength, three figures stuck out particular: Harlan with his runic warhammer, a blonde spellcaster named April, and an artfully scarred rogue named Ivan. April’s gaze was cast so high and disdainful that Rolf thought it a wonder she hadn’t tripped over the woodland debris already, whereas Ivan trod as lightly as a weasel. As a master of poison and a skilled sharpshooter, he was one of the people Rolf feared the most here.

Suddenly, Ish’s voice swept over the warriors. “Watch out. Enemies from our front.” His warning wasn’t a second too late as a bolt of condensed arcane streaked towards Dom. It was just as well that the Black Knight reacted immediately as he batted the bolt away, his mace’s head sizzling for a brief moment afterwards.

Cocking his head towards the source in panic, Rolf then spotted the enemies one after another and saw that they weren’t figments of his imagination this time. They hid in the bushes and behind the trees and hung from the branches: badgers, deers, squirrels, and on. Their eyes flashed with hatred and in the next, bolts of fire and ice and one even of electricity shot towards the invaders.

However, the humans acted just as swiftly. Arrows were drawn and fired, the twang of cord posing as a backdrop to the cries of war, and mages set up mana barriers. The Order’s nymphs, satyrs, and ryfin were particularly eye-catching here, and the woodland creatures came barraged by blow darts and magic. Although some were struck down, the majority fled as quickly as they came, scurrying back into the undergrowth even as the warriors chased.

Hiding behind his shield, Rolf shakily lowered it and peeked out. He sighed in relief that it was over so quickly, but he wasn’t as much an amateur to believe that this would be the last of it. Even with the tension knotting his veins and quickening his breath, his mind raced to make sense of what had just happened. Those animals had planned to hit-and-run them from the start, as evidenced by their co-ordinated retreat, and it was likely they would employ such a tactic again.

Thinking about this, Rolf then stumbled upon two troublesome realisations. First of all, while their enemies were just animals, they had somehow become smart enough to commit to sophisticated strategies. This was particularly frightening when he thought of what this meant for today’s raid. Secondly, everything that had attacked them here had been animals from Earth, at least by the look of them. In truth, this was less a worrying thought and more a curiosity. He knew animals from the other planets were just as commonplace in the wilds as the Earth-born ones based on the carcasses hauled into Riverside and the tales he heard, so it was certainly interesting to see Earthling creatures co-operating amongst themselves but not with others.

Knowing this was his time to act, Rolf caught Josh by his shoulder and spoke softly and quickly, “We shouldn’t give chase. They’ll keep harrying us and likely lead us into a trap.”

Josh turned to him with a furrowed brow. “What else can we do, though? We want to take the quarry, and they’re in the way.”

Rolf knocked his fists together and pulled them apart to reveal an ethereal map. Tactician’s first ability heightened his judgement of other people, but the second, which he had only recently unlocked, gave him this map to play around with. While it was detailed with troops and terrain, it was magnified on his location to an almost useless degree. He zoomed out with a quick gesture, and the ability’s drain on his mana increased massively.

It took a long moment for him to consider all the information provided. “Here,” he pointed, “We draw back and bait them here. I reckon they’ll be eager to harass us again, so we can catch them out when they come.” Even as he spoke, his mind formulated other plans to fall back on in case things went wrong.

“Sounds like a waste of time,” Dom called out, striding up to them. Rolf immediately yelped and jumped back, before regaining some level of composure. “As they just proved, they can nip at us but they can’t stop us, so we weather through the mosquito bites and go on.”

The Tactician gaped at Black Knight, his words stuck in his throat in fear. He looked down at the map again and blinked once, twice. The red dots representing the enemies were rushing towards them en masse. Were his eyes playing tricks on him? Tilting the map around, he showed it to Dom and the Black Knight’s surprised expression crumbled away the blockade in Rolf’s throat. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. They’re coming to us now in force, so it’s best we take advantageous terrain to receive them.”

“What do you mean?” Josh asked, but Rolf’s mana ran dry and the map disintegrated before he could show it.

Frowning, Dom rubbed his chin for a while before grunting. “Fine, we’ll do as you say.” He raised his voice into a carrying bellow. “We move westward now. Archers and mages take the high ground: we’re going to fight them on our own terms.”

****

The humans stood tensely, thumbing their weapons. They waited for the command to charge as they could see the lines of woodland creatures watching them from a distance. Perhaps they were waiting for something, or maybe they were simply cowed by the heavily armed men and women ahead of them, but either way, the tension was curdling the air with every second of inactivity.

Dom exchanged glances with the other captains and was about to give the command to leave their positions when suddenly he heard a soft footfall from afar. He craned his neck to look about but failed to find its source. Deciding it didn’t matter, he was once again about to give the command when finally the woodland creatures charged as one, throwing caution to the wind and bolting forward.

The deers, foxes, and lynxes acted like cavalry, speeding in from the sides, while the less mobile animals followed as infantry and others fired from the back. Dom found himself grinning in spite of the bloodbath that was about to ensue, or perhaps precisely because of it. He signalled towards the mages, archers, and lastly the New Derby firing squad. The gunners hadn’t acted until now because of their limited ammo, but this was the perfect opportunity to let loose.

Arrows and magic missiles flew forth but bullets dominated the scene as the foremost animals were shredded down. They seemed to reconsider their charge at once as they scampered back, but Dom found it strange that they returned to their original positions instead of retreating completely. His niggling feeling that something was wrong here only got worse as the distant footfall, which for a time had been overshadowed by the shrieking and howling, built into a thunderous beat loud enough to challenge the clamorous gunfire.

Finally, its originator appeared, a brown speck at the edge of his vision, rapidly growing into something far more menacing. The animals split apart to give it ample berth, and the giant bear, seven-feet tall and as heavy as ten men, tore through the no man’s land. Projectiles shot out to intercept it but hardly slowed its stride as it shrugged them off, heading for Dom, snarling.

Noting its speed, the Black Knight knew he had no chance of escape, so instead he resolved himself. Waiting for it to draw near enough, he leapt to the side just as it was a heartbeat away. His leap should have cleared its wild charge…

Instead, its great, dirt-matted paw followed his movement as if predicting it and smashed right into his stomach, striking with such tremendous force that it hurled him aside like a broken toy. He was broken, alright, moaning senselessly as his mind drifted into the inky darkness. But there was no one there to listen as all attention zeroed in on the bear as it wheeled about in a clumsy turn.

Now Ish stood in its warpath, and the ryfin knew at once that the beast hadn’t chosen him by chance.

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At the end of the day, there is still much we do not know about the System. For one, while we acknowledge that classes are one of its most defining features, the truth is we do not know how far this extends. We know that the other civilised races can access them, but what of unintelligent organisms or those creatures that are already greatly powerful without the System’s aid?

Our research suggests that some have a limited pool to choose from, whereas others simply don’t get classes. But where does the System draw the line, and more importantly, why does it make these distinctions? As we have already acknowledged, the classes provide direction on top of power, so is this the System’s way of stating that certain organisms do not require direction? Or is it something else entirely?

Giada Marino - Scholar - Intricacies of the System