Sudden screams shot forth into Viran’s brain. At the front of the pack the giant rats had already begun attacking the Knights in massive droves, and soon after more rats drove through on both sides all at once. It was pandemonium in the forest, and Viran was stuck firmly in the middle.

“What the fuck!”

“There’s too many!”

The screams of peril and death surrounded Viran and clouded his senses over. The smell of death was prevalent, the smell of blood was in the air.

With firm strikes and slashes the young boy fights alongside his bodyguards to defend their very lives. In only a few strikes his once sharpened blue sword had already dulled and dyed crimson in the blood of the rats. His very hands were covered in the blood.

Left side, right side, towards any direction the numerous rats flooded to attack the ill prepared rats. To put it frankly, the situation didn’t look good for the group.

“Luminous Burst!” The cry of a spell from a Knight behind Viran shot forth a silver luminous blast from their hands, leaving behind a line of corpses in its wake. That, however, was not close to enough for the rats as they crowded once more into the space decrepit of their brethren.

“My Lord we need to leave!”

The sudden cry from a Knight took his attention away from the battle and within the one space of a second his life was taken away, a small death such as that could lead to a premature death for no matter who.

The cries from his surroundings urged Viran to fight on with more tenacity. Despite his two spells not being suited for combat the young boy still held his own within the crazed battlefield. Still despite the dozens of rat corpses that laid around Viran wounds were beginning to cover his body, he was beginning to despise his past self for refusing the armor.

“Little shit!” Viran cried as he kicked a rat over onto its back only for a new rat to take its place and jump directly for his gullet.

Before the mandible could reach him a silver sword cuts directly through the rats head and splurts blood across Viran’s eyes, a disgusting stench permeated from the young boy as the blood dried atop his face. The blood spread over his eyeball making the simple act of having his eyes fully open an excruciating feeling. Looking back at the silver sword that saved his life Viran finds its owner to be the man that angered him before the whole ordeal started. Somehow that act made the once infuriating man look better in the eyes of Viran.

“Look at the situation and observe, boy. You will die if you stay here, but these rats are relatively slow compared to everyone here. Don’t let yourself be bogged down by the swarm of rats.”

The interjected voice of the Spirit caused Viran’s eyes to flash in a flurry of mana.

“Sense Severance. Space Perspective.”

Seeing the number of rats in greater detail shocked Viran. Far away Viran could see more rats charging towards their location and with every step they took more rats would join up with their brethren as they ran towards the smell of blood and metal. The biggest rat horde still threw dust and dirt into the air as they shambled their way towards the Knights, yet luckily they moved at too slow of a pace to get here before Viran and the others could escape. On all sides the Knights were surrounded by the rats that had flooded any space they could in an attempt to have their go at the morsels that laid themselves for the taking in the great forest they inhabited. Viran saw the many bodies and equipment of the Knights who had fallen quickly become eaten in a flurry by the disgusting rats, the fallen brethren of the rats themselves were only treated as food.

Seeing the black and white lines constantly move around caused tremors in Viran’s head, yet he held on. The boy attempted to memorise everything he could see around him whether it be the spells used by the Knights or which Knights took more care of their own lives or the lives of their comrades. Everything was to be known by Viran, especially the spot in the encirclement with the least amount of rats and foliage.

It had to be remembered for Viran that a hasty escape was paramount for escaping this situation lest the group slow down only to be encircled once more.

“Alright!” Viran yelled out as he finally figured out his game plan, only for his eyes to widen once he realized his feet no longer touched the ground.

Looking up he can see the Knight in front of him pulling him up by his shirt before Viran is quickly tossed onto the ground far away from him.

‘That bastard is using me as bait!’ Viran grinded his teeth as he prepared for the fall.

Dust shoots up as Viran tumbles to the ground once more and he soon skids away from him. The boy jumps up immediately preparing to fight for his life, only to realize he is in the middle of a completely organized formation of Knights effectively fighting off the swarm of rats.

“Alright get ready to go!” The leading Knights yells out as he hands Viran his sword.

“Luminous Burst!”

“Fiery Armageddon!”

“Light of the Empire burst forth!”

The three consecutive spells shoot forth an arc of silver energy, a blast whirl fire of flames, and a beam of light all of which cleaves through an entire wave of rats. Viran notices quickly that the area they cleared out was the one area he had spotted before, they had organized all of this and knew where to strike immediately. Such a feat took Viran too long in comparison…

“Let’s go!” The Knight with the silver sword pushed Viran forward as he himself joined the rear guard as the rest escaped.

The formation they took was very simple against the rats, yet effective. It was clear to see that the strongest of the Knights took to the rearguard while the ranged and injured Knights stood in the middle, the lightly injured or weak Knights simply charged over the dead bodies striking any injured rats as they went by.

The direction they had chosen to escape from was opposite of the direction back home but was almost completely clear of any dangerous foliage that could slow down their retreat, not to mention a stark comparison in the number of rats as well.

Seeing this Viran took one more look with Sense Severance to determine a coherent approach home, yet his urges fell upon deaf ears as the Knights simply chose to believe in the plan that had been communicated to them beforehand.

“Hahh…” Viran sighed in displeasure despite the obvious success the group has had with escaping the rats.

Throughout the breakout there were indeed many close calls whether it be the rats breaking through the Knights into the middle of the formation or the constant stress and fatigue that plagued the Knights during their retreat. Yet through it all the formation still held strong as Viran aided wherever he could. These monsters weren’t particularly strong but their biting power and numbers served to put a constant strain on the retreat, the Knights were in a precarious situation. It was unknown whether or not they would be able to keep up the status quo, were the Knights to falter even a little now only destruction would be assured. Even now Viran could feel the strain on his body as his mana left his body…

“Hey you doing ok kid?”

A Knight pushed Viran a few steps back from the frontlines. It was clear to everyone there that Viran’s movements had gotten slower and his face languid. They had initially been shocked by the prowess of a kid as young as Viran showed, but that wouldn’t matter if Viran was unable to fight well.

“Stay back here Lord Viran. Get some rest.” A wounded Knight with a limp right arm held the boy firmly back with his other arm.

Viran’s eyes turned towards the arm that gripped him tight and he couldn’t help but wish to resist, yet he couldn’t. It was true enough that Viran felt too spent and his mana had already dwindled to the point he could barely even fight a single giant rat.

“Blessed be the archer!”

A cry sounded out along with the release of a string. Viran’s face shot back as he felt the air distort in front of his face as an arrow flew directly into the eye of a giant rat. Viran looks lazily and sees the owner of the arrow who’s entire body now glowed in the warmth of mana. Next to the archer was the owner of the mana that whirled around the archer, soon his calls soon rang out in the crowd as he blessed the numerous Knights on the front line.

“Fraus blessing against the dread!”

“Wound of the mortals heal!”

“A blade of iron and a man of steel! Fortify!”

As the consecutive spells shoot forth Viran stares in wonderment. The boy’s body may be in disarray and languid but his spirit and mind still raced consecutively as he saw the body of a Knight wielding a spear glow in a light brighter than the archer, a Knight’s mangled hand healed within a second, and the skin of a Knight swell with power and strength as the warm embrace of mana swirled around them.

They were all spells he had never witnessed before.

“Ry what are these spells?” Viran asked the Spirit that had gone quiet long ago.

“It’s a mage that specializes in supporting his comrades. The blessing of the archer increased the accuracy of their arrows. The Fra… The blessing against the dread wipes out negative feelings and invigorates their tired limbs. You have already seen the healing spell before and you yourself already use the last spell for yourself.”

“I have a spell like that?”

“Resilient Hold, that spell. It uses mana to increase the strength of your limbs. Those two spells are the same, exactly their spell is meant to be used on others. Despite the risks associated with using the mana element, both spells are effective and well made for this Empire.”

Viran’s lips pursed a moment as he blurted out his thoughts to the Spirit.

“I don’t understand? What is so wrong with using the mana element? If every spell needs to have a designated element isn’t mana the easiest since you don’t have to convert it to air or fire?”

“The malleability of mana is precisely why it is so dangerous. Mana has a tendency to convert itself into another element completely on its own, were the element to switch to fire what do you think would happen to that Knight over there?” Ry asked.

Viran’s face turned to dread as realization came upon him.

“He’s likely to combust into flames…” Viran muttered.

“Precisely. To put it in simple terms for you, Resilient Hold and the fortify spell are both largely genius spells. It’s just that your spell is worse.”

Viran’s eyes crease slightly as he sighs deeply.

“Whatever.” Viran snapped at the Spirit.

Continuing on Viran moved slowly through the forest as he solely stayed in the middle for the entire duration. Whenever more hordes were spotted at the front of the retreat and there was no way they could move around the horde, the mages would focus all of their attacks on that one herd and thin out as many of the rats as they could.

Despite the obvious success they have had, Viran could not help himself but still feel doubtful of their chances.