In the following minutes, as we stand in the forest behind a mana shield, things do not go all in our favor.

After the gorilla failed to get through it in one blow, it simply struck again and again, until we decide to drop the shield and allow it inside. It is not like we can effectively target it while it is outside without other people distracting it. And though the cost of mana is manageable, Qi is a highly limited resource.

I watch as the dark brown furred beast lumbers forward through the opening in the shield, though I know that is just its preferred speed. Proof of that was all over its movements for anyone watching its punches.

“Close, close, close.” Yells Greg.

I hesitate a moment not having thought about cutting the other beasts off, but even they launch themselves for the hole, I meld my will with my Qi to close the as fast as possible. Aspen already has his own will spread over the entire network and mana rushing in the formations around, so we join my effort as Merlin turns and starts on his magma attack. The hole we opened seems glacially slow in its closing and one of the four beasts behind gets entirely through.

As the shield closes just as the second beast jumps inside.

I cinch the shield around the chest of the Leopard, but its momentum is too great to halt it. Right as I think we will have to deal with three beasts simultaneously, its hip catches with a jerk as the shield form fits around its midsection and squeezes. The Leopard tries to extend its legs again and push in with its front paws, but its momentum simply is gone and I get ready to deal with it while ignoring the other two beasts inside.

I just need to trust the others to protect me.

I dip into my Qi reserves even deeper and it all rushes to the shield around the beast. Qi may be annoying in some ways given it cannot be stored in runes, but its speed of movement is nothing compared to the sluggish Mana. Usually, I don’t even need to push, just allow it to rush out and guide the shape like I’m pointing a Tasmanian devil at my enemy. This time, I take a direct hand pushing it forward and squeezing the ring.

With mana disruption claws its two front limbs scrape off the shield. Most of the surface mana going out is dispersed, but melded with that mana is my Qi providing support and like a butter knife trying to cut carbon-reinforced jello, only the surface of the is harmed.

I stare in disbelief at our luck even as my mind comes to try and hold on to this buckling fish. I grow the shield to fully surround the beast.

“Magma.” I can out and heading my advice, Merlin prematurely shoots the trio of magma balls one after the other, all hitting the exact same spot under the Leopard’s throat.

I can nearly feel the pain receptors spasming with my perception field and I can certainly see it contorting, but I swallow my bile even as the other two beasts, pound blow after blow on the shield trying to free the Leopard.

I try to split my mind in two, though this time to do something much easier than using two perception fields. Simply extend my left hand out, adding to the shield control, I aim a stream of fire straight at the charred mess at the base of its throat. Generally the closest thing to a weak spot these beasts have.

The bison after a large step back drives its tiny horns in the shield and finally overwhelms passing its head inside. It nearly manages to get its whole body inside which destabilizes the runic Matrix and drops the shield entirely, but it is too late, for the stream of fire has done its job. It bores a hole through the tough leather covering the leopard and reaches its heart.

There is no playing dead before the perception field and I trust more in my judgment that its life has been driven fully out than the pronouncement of the best doctor there is calling the time of death.

I look to the side and while the tall gorilla is a handful and probably one of a handful that could rival the former Black Panther, it faces a bad match for its skills against the dancing form of Alex.

But not all is rosy, for even if his skills are well suited to deal with a beast like the Gorilla, he is just slightly out of his reach from the overall power of the beast. Even with an amazing weapon and increased stats, the gorilla’s power is not to be trifled with. Though in the end even with the beast’s combat sense and overwhelming blows, Alex can dance around slowly withing it down as the seconds tick to his skill cooldown. At least while they are active, the wide light arcs will always leave injuries that are more than skin deep with the Mithril enhanced spear and with the edge in speed that Alex has, he can leave a lot of cuts.

With one beast down, I concentrate on closing the shield just behind the bison keeping the last beast outside, a wolfkin. With less raw power and no way to get inside, it tries to keep my attention on it by swiping at the shield. Which usually would be a masterful maneuver, and it shows intelligence in not poking its head in the small openings I leave after seeing the Leopard's pitiful demise, trapped and with no chance to even fight.

But the wolfkin’s impression is mistaken in assuming it alone could overwhelm the shield if I blinked, for I have a partner. Seconds afterward I basically deliver the entire effort into Aspen’s hands after opening a larger portal and connecting a couple of extra mana paths should he need them to guarantee that the beast would not be able to enter. That frees all my attention to the fight inside.

I push my Qi inside two concentrated fireballs in wait for any misstep by either the bison, the first wolfkin or the main opponent: the gorilla.

Less than twenty seconds into the fight and we already eliminated one beast while another can’t affect the battle inside, we are suddenly in a much better position.

Greg takes the lead, acting as a tank against bison and with his maneuverability and tough armor, can mostly hold his own, while a group of some 8 people tries to surround it. A pair of agile fighters move to distract the Gorila and create an opening for Alex and while they manage it slightly, it is only a slight edge they give him. All the remaining fighters battle the Wolkin inside, trying to eliminate it as quickly as possible so they can help either Alex or Greg.

Pushing harder than would be wise most of the time, they trust their improved armor even against the beast's higher level and though a few are knocked to the ground, none of them even break any bones.

A mad scramble infuses the wolfkin, which manages to break a pair of spears, but each of the overreaching moves that normally allow a couple of scratches turns it into a porcupine with five spears sticking out of its back.

The Wolfkin hesitates as the sudden ferocity of over a third of our group simultaneously attacking it including the hulking form of Greg and I that is when see my opportunity.

Without even turning my hand and doing a dramatic pose, I just open my palm and let my mind take over, shooting the fireballs like cannons. Even my enhanced eyes only notice a strick of light. The claws covered in the warped mana that disrupts our own mana attacks skills don’t even blunt my Qi powered attacks. Fire reaches bone and I almost cringe at the pitiful cry as the beast puts its injured paw on the ground.

But what can I do?

How I could ever avoid this harm without growing so powerful that I could simply ignore the blows from a horde of you. How can I call myself good if I turn into a pacifist given you are bringing violence to our doorstep? Or when you deny what we need to survive in this new world?

I have no real answer, but the search while essential, is no reason for inaction, for allowing Humanity to die would be even more tragic.

The split second of distraction turns into a moment for me to gather my wits and take a deep breath centering my mind for the next attack. I see Merlin landing a crippling magical blow on the other beast.

A constellation of lights hit the Wolfkin and like they have strings attached, wrap around it.

A howl of pain is all it manages as his muscles bulge outward breaking the weak stunning spell, but that split second immobilized is all the fighters need and the fight is over for this beast.

In tacit agreement, both groups head full bore to Alex’s defense and suddenly there are not 2 people distracting it but 2 dozen weaving in and out all around it.

I call out to Merlin:

“Open shield and trap,” with a turn of my eyes hiding from the beast behind us he understands my meaning.

Before he even nods, I weaken the shield by withdrawing Qi turning the bulwark into a windscreen before the beast’s claws. It cost me a good 25 thousand points of mana just to keep this single beast out for some 15 or 20 seconds, along with maybe a thousand Qi in the back of my mind but each pint was worth expending.

The second Woflkin seeing its last friend about to keel over rushes in madly trying to skirt both me and Merlin right behind me to rush to its aid. I however push out my four main shield projectors and drive them with both Qi and Mana nearly instantly springing shields at half power, before the formation has time to really coalesce.

The beast's options are dwindling and without support behind me I wouldn’t be risking this much, but I close all the shields except a narrow slice behind me. It tries to repeat its feat and break the shield, but it finds no flaws in my Qi and that is exactly what I intend. Caught between trying to circumvent or pass through me, it turns to me midstride giving me time to fully power the shields and mold them as I wanted.

Its desperation, while understandable, is its downfall. I could never accomplish this on my own. But after its misstep with Aspen’s and my defensive capabilities and with Merlin's support in dealing damage to it we have a chance.

I hold my newest staff in hand and I feel my Qi pool. Just under 1500 Qi, with a steady stream recharging me. The luxuries of my own resource.

I spend Qi like it is water in the ocean not because I don’t care for it, for it is dear to my heart and each droplet is as precious as pure water in the desert, but saving my Qi forever is not the right answer.

With my entire will body and mind in sync, I drive my metal pole with all my power on its head.

The Wolfkin dodges, explosions of speed and power rivaled only by what Alex and a few other agility and dexterity based warriors can achieve, though lacking a little of the grace and accompanying skills people that actually trained day in and day out could achieve.

Each of my steps takes me some 50 Qi, way more than my recharge rate, but the beast doesn’t leave any room for me to take it easy.

It drives at me like I killed its entire litter, all its friends and even the nice gramma that lives in the cave by the river, which, for all I know is not that inaccurate.

But I can only see what is before me and the rage the system is inducing on it, is similar to Wolf’s desire to simply eliminate us with a dark fervor. The wolve’s situation is not the same, but the similarities are striking.

When we were not planning on taking territory from the beasts, I could almost call a kinship to a few to the beasts, now, the black panther was gone and nothing I could do would ever bring it back.

Each of my steps is only just barely enough to hold it back. My personal Qi shields, stop any glancing attacks from becoming dangerous injuries, even when they do pass through the hybrid armor I put on. I exert my pole mastery to the limits, but it is all I can do to hold on, though I improved enough to stand atop the sparing mat instead of being forced to scramble away every step of the way while barely surviving.

No shield trickery to make its movements more circuitous, not making use of terrain or completely unfolding of roots to make it more suitable for me. Just to beings meeting on equivalent terms. It still surpassed me in both raw speed and power, but what I lacked in agility and strength, I had in droves when it came to all the other stats. Each of my moves was at their base more dexterous, with plenty of leftover power for the next blow from my stamina and my body my body didn’t fall apart nearly as easily as most other fighters in the range of 20 to 30 vitality.

That was all before we even talked about my perception and the way time seemed to alter when my life is on the line.

I may not rush the HLZ alone like Alex or even have the option to save the lives of the HLZ beasts, but if I could do this after just a couple of confrontations and a little training with wolves and other MLZ beasts, what could my skills do after properly training them?

Mad with rage, the beast charges repeatedly until it makes a mistake and through the small holes in the mana shield, Merlin shoots out a large magma ball.

Greg and Alex rush to my aid, well in time as my Qi starts to scrape the bottom, and I simply open all the shields but the one stopping it from ruing in and out at high speed.

With their skills on cooldown, they drive in at a full sprint. Greg’s hulking mass, the dancing form of Alex and three blows are more than enough to effectively finish it off. Especially as the last one nearly severs its back foot.

The rush of adrenaline starts going down after our lives are no longer at stake for the moment.

I open a portal to the inner world so the others can take care of everything.

“Come one, I wanna see this mine,” calls out the most experienced miner. Even with the numbness from all the death and gore a faint smile comes to my face.

“Yeah, I want to see what we fought for.”