“How can we help?” I asked sincerely.

“Remove Justice from our land. How, I do not know. They have been very clever in their tactics.”

“What have they done, exactly?” I asked.

“They have flown above my sphere of influence to drop that insidious poison into my forest. All of my people have been rendered unconscious. Their lives hang in the balance. The Paladins of Justice are going to drop more poison if I do not show myself to them. But I know that, once I do, they will kill me and all of my people.”

“They have an army here?” Danivra asked.

“They do. Further to the east. I am powerful to remove three or four of the ten Paladins above. Though, four of them are above Level 80 and could go into their Nephilim form and trample my people and forest to death.”

“Shit. I see your problem,” I lamented. “We can't beat no army, either. Would you leave this place?”

“Our essences are tied to the forest here.”

“A bit like the Fensalfar, then?” I asked.

“A little.”

“Well, they managed to relocate in my town and start a new home in the forests there, so perhaps you could too? If we can get you free of these Paladins?”

“Lord Clive is correct. We could remove these ten Paladins above. But we are not equipped to fight an army.”

“The Dwarves?” Olata asked, likely looking in the direction of where I knew Egard and his men waited.

“No help there. They have allowed my people to be all but wiped out. Our relationship with them is tense at the moment too. I’m afraid the only help you have is us here.” Danivra gestured. “You would have to run if we got you free, and the only place I can guarantee a measure of safety is our home, Far Reach. Far to the South.”

The invisible Olata fell silent, and I wasn’t sure if she’d left, just gone.

As we waited, the Paladins shouted again, “Queen Olata! This is your last chance. Show yourself now or your clan dies.”

Her disembodied voice finally spoke again, “I have no choice but to accept.”

“Quickly. Show yourself,” Danivra said. “They’ll ask you to drop the shield, I imagine. Do as they say. I doubt they’ll be stupid enough to come within range of your power, but they will send in ground troops or even fire off a few Neuma projectiles. If they do come inside, snap your shield up. Otherwise, give us a couple of minutes.”

Olata suddenly appeared in front of us. She looked just like a six-foot-tall, armored Tinker Bell, complete with sparkling golden hair, sapphire eyes, and rapidly beating, near translucent wings that left a glittering shimmer in the air.

Olata: Level 159, Warrior Queen of Faedan, (Fae III).

“I will do as you ask, Danivra. Please do not let me down.”

“We won’t,” I answered seriously, before Olata flitted off into the trees and the clearing beyond.

“Finally! There you are,” a seemingly amplified voice boomed from above. “Now remove the shield.”

“You will kill my people,” she protested.

“No further harm will befall your people if you do as asked. Only you are deserving of death for standing in the way of Justice.”

“I have done nothing but protect my home. Who fights for my justice?”

“There is none for the likes of you who dismiss the glory of the gods themselves. Now drop the shield and prepare to be judged. Do not let your selfishness cost your people their lives.”

“I will do as you ask to save my people,” she answered.

As she spoke, we moved around the forest to get a view of attack on the Paladins.

I could see they were in two rows now, with the front five being Nephilim and the rear ones Elman, their levels ranging from 46 to 68.

“Hit the ones in the back row. They’re all Elman, and we can do the most damage most quickly to them,” I said.

As Olata dropped the shield, all ten of the Paladins opened fire on her, bombarding her with blasts of Neuma. It lasted about half a second as they received a collective arse full of our different Neuma blasts and Fensalfar-imbued arrows at the same time. All five Elman fell screaming from the sky under the barrage, where Grigor and Grastad led the Wultr and Nystiobek out to finish them off with brutal efficiency.

Of the five that remained in the air, Olata was among them in an instant, fighting with wild abandon. A glowing sword longer than she was tall flashed in the air with frightening speed. She’d already killed one and was engaging with a second, while the other three shellshocked enemies, were growing into their full Nephilim form.

At the same time, Danivra was expanding rapidly into her full Dokala spider form, and the remaining Dokalfar and Fensalfar hammered the now giant Nephilim with everything they had. One of them went down in a sudden burst of white webbing and a stabbing purple spider leg which dug deep into his side between the plates of armor.

Shortly after, a second Paladin was encased in white webbing. The Paladin everyone had been firing at was now being beheaded by Olata. She was fucking wicked.

Once they were all down, Olata threw up her shield again and shot over faster than the eye could keep up with to finish off the two paralyzed, injured Paladins.

Danivra, back in her Dokalfar, appeared in front of her almost as fast and shouted, “Stop! These are mine to kill, Queen Olata.”

To my surprise, Olata did indeed stop. “Indeed they are.”

She immediately backed off without another word and began to buzz around her prone people, bringing them back to consciousness with remarkable speed.

I was still reeling from all of the crazy action when Danivra appeared by my side.

“As promised, Lord Clive,” she said, gesturing at the two unconscious Paladins dazed and powerless on the ground.

They had reverted back to normal size now most likely due to them being unconsciousness. A brief look at their levels showed them to be Levels 94 and 96.

“Ah, right,” I replied reluctantly. “I forgot about that.”

“Don’t hesitate, Clive.” Sania said. “Don’t even think about it. Empower your cleaver and do what needs to be done to save all of those people we need to save. Everyone here. Everyone in Far Reach. Remember, Natom is coming for your head.”

“Agreed, Clive. Do not let your compassion cripple you,” Grigor said. “This is war, and if you do not kill them, then I will happily take that experience to protect those I care about.”

“As would I,” Sania said. “Without remorse.”

“Fuck, guys, I’m doing it, just… just don’t expect me not to have any remorse. I won't bleat on about it, but still...fuck,” I said as I trudged over to the paralyzed figures.

Their chests still rose and fell, their eyes open but staring lifelessly at the sky above. I pulled the four-foot-long Cleaver of Clive out from my void pocket of holding and attempted to imbue the blade with Neuma to make the end as quick as possible.

Of course, it didn’t bloody work, did it? Because of Olata’s buffering field.

“I can’t Neuma the blade up,” I snapped full of pent-up anger.

Danivra came over and carefully inspected the blade for a moment, then back to me. “It has enough damage, and you have enough strength to make it work, though the process will be much slower.

“Ah fuck,” I replied, looking down on the first body—a brown-haired, hazel-eyed man about the same age as me, named Johclar. I realized I was humanizing him. So, with nothing else for it, I tried to visualize him as a fat pig ready for butchering. Raising the cleaver trying not to shake with guilt, I brought it down with all the force I could muster. It scored maybe the equivalent of a paper cut in his neck.

“Again, Clive,” Sania shouted.

“You fucking kidding me? I’ll be here till my 80th birthday at this rate.”

Olata flew down beside me and touched my shoulder. “You are exempt from the barrier, Lord Clive. Try again.”

I looked over to where all of the fairies had lain still and was happily surprised to see they were all up and flitting about the place.

“Hurry, Lord Clive. We do not have much time until more of Justice's forces arrive.”

I nodded, grateful for the help. My cleaver sprung to life, glowing gold, and I hacked down without over thinking it this time, hitting the neck perfectly. Yet to my surprise, even with Neuma enhancement, I only made it halfway through his neck. I struck down again, and the head rolled free. Before I could doubt myself or let the horror wash over me, I hit the next Paladin, one and then two heavy blows in quick succession as the second head rolled away. This time I couldn’t even tell you what they looked like.

I stood there vibrating with adrenaline for a brief moment, staring at what I’d done, before the adrenaline cut off and my hands and knees began to shake uncontrollably. I took a deep breath and forced Neuma all around my body, not least my mind, and the tremors stooped. I felt remarkably good afterwards, then I realized something.

“Where’s the notifications?” I said quietly to the bodies.

“They aren’t quite dead. Head removal ought to do it, it just takes a while for the rest of the body to realize with so much latent Neuma and Constitution,” Danivra said. “If it wasn’t for the lack of magic from Olata’s buffer, they could still be healed. Chopping their heads off prevents them from healing themselves.”

I felt sick yet relieved when the Notifications came in a few moments later.

Congratulations. You were part of a team that defeated a Level 94 Paladin of Justice. Based on your contribution, you have been awarded 860 Experience Points from the 1940 Experience Points available.

+10 bonus Experience Points for every level your opponent was above your own. +520

Congratulations. You were part of a team that defeated a Level 96 Paladin of Justice. Based on your contribution, you have been awarded 900 Experience Points from the 1960 Experience Points available.

+10 bonus Experience Points for every level your opponent was above your own. +540

Hero for the ages! Epic Achievement! You struck the killing blow against a foe at least 25 levels above your own.

Epic Bonus: 1000 Experience Points. x2.

Total points: 4820

Level up:

Congratulations. You have reached Level 43:

Congratulations. You have reached Level 44:

You have 20 statistic points to assign.

“Seeing as you gift-wrapped those two for me, Danivra, what should I put the points in?”

“Judging by your current statistics, your Charisma in particular is dire. Then Perception, Agility, and Dexterity will need work.”

“Charisma! Even though we’re walking into so much danger?”

“Even more so because of that. Charisma is so often overlooked by any other than traders and those with more nefarious purposes.”

“Isn’t that because it’s useless? I’ve done all right so far with shitty Charisma.”

“He has,” Sania agreed.

“I see,” Danivra said. “In that case, choose whichever you please. I hadn’t realized you’d made friends and allies with everyone you met and inspired them to help you for your betterment rather than their own. I was of the impression that most of the people in our corner of the world were actively hunting you. Apart Darkness who is using you as a pawn in whatever overarching plan he has. The people of Far Reach respect you because you’ve offered them safety. The only reason you’ve been able to offer them safety is because of the strength you’ve gained in the bonds you formed with Grigor and Sania and more recently me, not because of your silken tongue. Yet you are about to attempt to get Stada the Gran and Cushec the Dragon to come to your aid. I may be wrong but…”

Judging from the feelings I was getting through the bond, she really didn’t think she was wrong.

“The queen may have a point,” Grigor said. “I can think of a few occasions where our lives may have been made easier were you to have a little more tact, my lord. You are very difficult to get along with at times.”

Sania sighed. “I suppose you do need to be more than just a wrecking machine.”

I nodded. “Okay then. I’ll do it. Though it’s pretty weird to be in the middle of a war zone and I’m boosting Charisma.” I was about to allocate the points and paused. “All of it? Should I not bring Constitution up to 120?”

Danivra shook her head. “If Cushec or Stada the Gran or Natom hit you, 120 in Constitution is not going to help Clive. Trust me on that if nothing else. However, if you can convince them not to hit you…”

“I agree with the queen for talking with Stada.” Grastad ambled over. “Now we must go. Justice’s army are coming.”

I assigned the points quickly.

Level 44

Physical statistics:

Strength: 55

The capacity to exert and resist force.

Dexterity: 23

Skill and ease in hand-based activity.

Agility: 23

How effectively the body can move into a range of different positions.

Speed: 53

Rate at which the body can move.

Stamina: 53

Period over which the body can effectively sustain prolonged activity.

Constitution: 113

The ability to withstand physical punishment.

Mental Statistics:

Intelligence: 43 (-5 Racial Trait)

Knowledge and its application. Warning. You have reached the limit for Intelligence.

Charisma: 38 (-5 Racial Trait)

Charm, coerce, inspire.

Perception: 23

Awareness of surroundings

Spiritual Statistics:

Ethereal Awareness: 0

Attunement with the Gods and spirits of Gulithea. (Necessary for Ethereally supplied magical ability.)

Internal Connection: 50

Attunement with oneself. (Necessary for cultivation of one’s own inner power)

Singularity: 5

Innate understanding of universal essence (Neuma). Will increase with personal level. (Cannot be leveled by other means.)

World sense: 5.9%

Knowledge of Gulithea.

Experience Points to next level: 1530/2200

Then I turned to Olata. “Will you be okay fleeing south? Do you need us to come with you, at least until you're well away from Justice’s army?”

Olata shook her head. “We can move more swiftly than the army and your group, and we will need little rest or sustenance for the journey.”

Part of me wanted the excuse not to re-enter the tunnels, but I couldn’t disagree either. While Olata would have been great to have with us, the hundreds of Fae wouldn’t have been quite as much use in a battle from what I could tell.

“Sure. That makes sense, Queen Olata. When you get to Far Reach, tell Joel I said to accommodate your people as best as he possibly can. There’ll be Fensalfar there too. See Zeine, he’ll probably be of most help.”

“Thank you, Lord Clive. I will do as you suggest.”

“Another thing. There are others south of here, twenty humans and a number of Wultr all heading south to Far Reach. If you can catch up with them, your journey will be even safer and so will there’s. Oh and if you see any Dokalfar on your travels, will you let them know their queen lives and for them to go to Far Reach too? In fact, tell anyone who looks like they need help to go south to our town. Providing they’re not total arseholes of course.”

“It would be an honor, Lord Clive. Now we must flee.”

I waved her off and then was half-dragged away by Sania to the tunnel. We had to run to make it safely. But we managed it without giving ourselves away to Justice.