“Give me a crossbow,” the old man demanded and, without waiting for my answer, snatched the weapon out of my hands.

Someone shot at the crown of one of the trees;Cleto instantly leaned the butt against his shoulder and put the bolt in its place.

“What’s that, Kuner?” The old man called out demandingly.

“Sarkans!” he responded.

“What the hell are they doing here?” Cleto hissed.

Ok, I’m just a worker. My job’s to get to the monastery and not to participate in fights! I thought, jumping to the ground and crawling under the wagon, which wasn’t difficult for my slighter build.

It might have been a cowardly move, but I didn’t really care for anyone’s opinion. As a last resort, I’d be able to stand up for myself, and the opinion of others was the least of my worries.

Shots rang out again, except that time they seemed to be coming from the other side.

“I got it,” Someone exclaimed happily.

To my surprise, it was over quickly. The attack of the invisible opponents was repelled smoothly and easily.

I didn’t hear anything besides that first scream and the twang of the crossbows strings. There were no more sounds. Who were they shooting at so insistently?

Suddenly, the answer to that question appeared to me in the literal sense of the word. It was a rather large, dog-sized creature that looked like a cross between a flying squirrel and a bat without wings. As far as I could see,a skin flap stretched between its front and hind legs, which allowed them to levitate in a jump between tree branches. Their long upper canines with suspicious-looking cavities on their tips could pierce deeply into the unprotected flesh of the victim and inject poison.

Soon everything went quiet, andKunerstarted a head count. I got out from under the wagon and, as if nothing had happened, sat back on the bench next to Cleto.

“Angoral, where’s Nerkayil?”

“He’s…” the guy sighed sadly, “dead. We cut up the monster and started back. Suddenly these creatures attacked us, there were a dozen of them at once and ... you know... It was impossible to save him without a wizard.”

“So we’ve got the meat,” Kuner said callously. “We’re too relaxed. We thought there would be no surprises on the outskirts of the forest. My father didn’t say for nothing that the forest of Harith-Hodor was one of the most dangerous places in the world. We need to be on high-alert every step of the way.”

“Commander, it’s my fault,” Angoral said softly.

“It doesn’t matter now. We can’tbringNerkayil back... Take your positions, we’re moving on,” Kuner barked. “Angoral, put the large pieces of the animal in the last wagon. You can take small parts for yourself, put them in personal bags. Collect the used bolts. Just don’t go deep into the forest.”

Our little caravan moved on. Until the evening, we traveled quietly, except for a skirmish with a huge beast similar to a bear. Being shot with three bolts, the predator sensibly estimated the outcome of his attack on the evil people, and hastily hid in the forest, breaking thin and dilapidated trees as it ran.

When the road became difficult to distinguish, Kuner ordered a halt. The wagons were pushed together, and we got food for our few horsesfrom one of the bags.

“Angoral, put up posts, choose the location yourself,” the commander ordered. We leave at dawn.

Some began to prepare a camp boiler, others warrior went to gather dry branches and brushwood for fires to scare away uninvited guests during the night. I immediately fell asleep.

I had a poor night’s sleep, riddled with bad dreams, w. As it turned out, one of them was prophetic. If only I had known…

Nothing foreshadowed trouble the next day. Kuner and Cleto were very surprised by the silent, as if dead forest, remembering various gods with unkind words. The rest of the squad looked around cautiously, expecting an attack at any moment. It was close to noon, and soon Kuner commanded a short halt, giving the opportunity to his warriors to rest and relieve tension.

It all happened in a flash. In an instant, a dozen and a half sarkans swooped down on the workers who had gotten out of the wagons, unmistakably identifying the weakest victims. How the guards hadn’t noticed them sooner was a mystery.

The crossbowmen reacted too late. We lost six people. Two more warriors were wounded by four beldier who appeared out of nowhere. They managed to kill just one of them; the other three left without a single scratch.

“Damn it!” Kuner cursed, inspecting the wounded people and helping them drink the regeneration potion.

“What are we going to do now?” Cleto asked. Standing next to him, he was holding up a crossbow aimed at the forest.

“The monastery’s almost a day’s journey away, there’s no point in moving on,” The man said through clenched teeth. “I suggest we return.”

“I agree with you,” coming out of the wagon and jumping on the road, the monk expressed his opinion. He decided to come out for the first time for the entire time of the trip. The monk preferred to spend nights and days in that doubtful traveling shelter.

“Similar mass attacks of local beasts are rare at this time of year, but I’m afraid we won’t be able to reach the monastery if it goes on like this.”

Cleto nodded in agreement, knowing well that money was important, but life was more precious.

“Put the wounded men inside this wagon, they need time to recover. Throw out less valuable items out of the wagons, Cleto’ll show you which one. We’re going back!” Kunerdidn’t waste time and made a decision instantly.

Having turned around the wagons, the caravan hurried back to the village as quickly as the road would allow us to move. Kuner was leading again and I was sitting next to him;Cleto and the monk were sitting in the second wagon. Some warriors ran side by side, some were inside the wagons.

My plan to reach the monastery this way was thwarted. I couldn’t go there alone; I would have to leave the village and move to the city, waiting for a new opportunity to get to Ardalanother way.

We drove about a mile, then three distantly mole-like creatures appeared right on the road in front of the first wagon. Their skin was covered with black scales, and on their back,there were three small protrusions. There was some rustling, and the ground rose to reveal several more creatures from different sides. The horses reared up, the wagon stopped, and the horses neighed wildly. The cries of people who'd noticed the danger sounded behind us.

I took a closer look at the back of a mob and immediately remembered the words of one of the warriors about kratars, but I didn’t have time to react.

There were several popping sounds, as if someone had pulled corks from at least ten bottles of champagne. I closed my eyes tightly in fright. When I did not feel any pain in the next few seconds, I opened my eyes in surprise. I was alive.

Then I saw that Kuner was falling slowly right in front of me, with his hands on the sides of the bench. He had saved me from seemingly inevitable death. Oh, it was a foolish, frankly stupid act! I was an immortal. Death meant practically nothing to me.

I put the commander carefully on his back and, in the hope of a better outcome, took out the best life-giving potion of those that I had. But it was too late. He was dead.

The claps came again, and without thinking twice, I jumped up the wagon, having taken Kuner's sword with me. I was able to see the result of an unexpected attack from above.

The horses were dead,Cleto and the monk pressed their backs to the side of the wagon, closing themselves with a shield. Not far from them, three warriors were holding a shield, covering a couple of their comrades while they were shooting at the monsters. One warrior from the detachment climbed up a wagon and shot one bolt after another precisely at one of the kratars. It seemed that our weapons didn't harm them much. Bolts bounced off its natural armor like off a stonewall. The other members of the squad were killed. Their bodies lay in the place where death found them.

“Get down from there!” Cleto shouted when he saw me. “You’ll get killed!”

I waved him off, and with a long jump, I found myself next to one of the kratars who was trying hard to pierce the old man’s shield.

I struck a strong direct blow across its back but the blade only scratched the black scales of the creature. The mob shook its head in shock and instantly dug into the ground. I did not hurt it, but apparently, I was able to scare it, I noticed with satisfaction.

“Kraven, be careful! He’ll be back soon!” Cleto’s warning was a second late.

A hole suddenly formed right under my feet, and I fell through a small pitup to my chest, but I didn’t lose my sword. That was the last straw. I realized that if I didn’t use my skills right away, I’d soon go to the point of rebirth. I activated the ‘shift’ and instantly found myself next to Cleto.

“But how?” The old man asked in surprise. Well, I didn’t have time to answer him or rather come up with an explanationfor him.

At that moment, a loud, fierce roar rang out and a bear-like monster came out of the forest right in front of us. Huge, strong and for some reason very angry! With one swing of its paw, it broke a tree that was in its way, as if it was a sapling. The kratarhad all disappeared from sight, small relief that it was.

“It’s a mol-dur!” The monk cried out and jumped into hiding rather quickly for his body size.

I followed him without further thought, pulling the old man with me.

The body of the monster crashed into the wagon, breaking it into pieces. Splinters, wheels, bags, and planks flew in all directions.

“It’s useless to shoot it! Run!” One of the warriors cried, lowering his crossbow that was useless against such an enemy, and rushed along the road.The other warriors hesitated for a moment, and then followed him.

The mol-dorwas distracted from us and rushed in pursuit of the fleeing prey.

“They are running in vain, itwill catch up with them,” the monk commented. “Let’s run into the forest, it’s too dangerous to remain on the road.”

I didn’t object; he knew what to do better than me. Cletodidn’t ask too many questions either. Although, where we died was of no consequence. I didn’t doubt that we were going to die.

Plodding through the bushes and tree branches, we went deeper and deeper into the forest. On the way, we killed a couple of mobs who did not expect tasty victims to wander along into their midst. We came to a clearing and stumbled upon none other than wolves! It was a small pack of eight beasts. I was actually very happy to see a normal animal. It was at least something familiar.

Every mob we’d met so far was some kind of hybrid beast. I wondered if the players were aware of the huge diversity of mobs of the Harith-Hodor forest. Probably some people knew. After all, there were a lot of rarities wherever I turned. As for the wolves, they hadto be immobilized and killed.

The surprise from the sudden meeting passedpretty quickly. The closest wolf to us, grinning predatorily, jumped at me. I made a somersault ahead, to meet it, and sharply thrust the sword upwards. It sliced the belly of the animal and ripped open its stomach, because its body was moving by inertia, cutting itself.

I noticed movement on the left, pulled my sword out of the mob’s corpse and turned to the new target. I made a quick strike to the wolf’s chest and, turning around, struck the head of another animal, who jumped me from behind.

A crossbow bolt flew past me; the old man finished off the wounded mob. I turned and killed a stunned beast with a series of slices, turning it into a dead piece of meat.

Four were left.

The monk finished off the wolf who considered him an easy preywith his bare hands. He simply tore his mouth open, breaking its lower jaw. The monk was strong!

The four remaining wolves, with their tails between their legs, fled from the clearing.

“Well done, boy,” the Ardalerpraised me, and I nodded, accepting the flattering feedback.

“There,” Cleto shouted, pointing to a part of the forest from which we'dwalked into the clearing, “Sarkans!” He immediately fired a crossbow into the crown of one of the trees.

I looked up, looking for the nimble little animals, and there they were, I noticed several sarkans, who jumped like lightning from branch to branch. A couple of the predators ahead of the rest of their wild brethren decided to attack a target that was immobile and closest to the edge of the clearing, i.e. me. They attacked from two sidesat once. The fluffy gliders rushed in my direction with great speed. I cut one of them in half and kicked the second one to hell. If it were bigger, I would definitely have got a sprained or at worst a broken leg.

I heard the monk grunting behind me; he was also engaged in battle with someone. I had no time to look, the other flying creature was barreling towards me.

I spun around in a deadly dance, striking down the attacking mobs with steel blades. Soon a whole heap of corpses formed around me.

All of a sudden,the commotion had stopped. Having dismissed the system messages, I looked around. The forest glade had become a cemetery of forest animals. Cleto was laying a few feet away from me. He showed no signs of life. The monk was slowly crawling across the ground a little further.

The old man was dead, I saw it in his glassy eyes, which fixed his last look into the sky hidden under the tree crowns. The damn sarkans got him. The old man didn’t have a sword. But, even dying, he gripped his crossbow tightly. The stiffened palm firmly squeezed the bolts that didn’t hit the target.

“Kraven,” the monk said in a low hoarse voice, “Help me.”

I carefully lifted the Ardaler and leaned him against a tree. Then I took out a special potion that enhanced regeneration and improved his health.

“Thank you,” the monk whispered after I helped him drink the potion and stand up. “We have to go.”

“Where?” I hissed. “All the animals seemed to have gone crazy and set themselves to only one goal — to destroy us!”

“But you’ve coped with them. It was amazing.”

“What if we meet a beldier, kratars or, even worse, a mol-dor?” I retorted. “Or a monster I have never met before?!”

“We can walk to the monastery in a day. We can take a chance if you have a few potions of stamina,” the monk suggested. “You’re not a simple country boy you want to seem, right?”

I listened intently, waiting for the Ardalerto pull some trick at any second. But he just stood there silently and looked at me expectantly.

“Yes,” I replied shortly.

“Yes, there are potions, or yes, you aren't a country boy?” The monk narrowed his eyes.

“Both,” I said quickly.

“Well, who would have thought,” the Ardaler smiled amiably. “And if we get to the monastery, and I think we will, then you can stay,” he continued, “as an apprentice. What do you think of that? We need people like you! Believe me! I'm one of the elders and a member of the first board of the Ardal monastery.”

I was looking for any sign of deception in the monk’s appearance. I had learned my lesson about naivety after meeting with master Zorkhan.

“Take your time”, the monk said, looking behind my back.

“Now get ready,” with these words, he took the crossbow out of the dead Cleto's hands and a quiver of bolts from his belt, “There’s someone there.”

A rustle of branches rang out behind me at the edge of the clearing, and several shadows flickered among the trees.