They’d briefly discussed what to do in case of assault from enemy forces, but that was viscerally different from having to confront it.

“Hello there! Have you come to visit The Woods or Union City?” Theo projected, using Endless Song to reach across the distance and make it clear that they’ve been noticed. Step one: try to resolve things without conflict if possible.

He knew the chance of that actually happening were very slim, but he wanted to try anyway. Plus, in case they were actually tourists or traders (albeit with very suspicious taste in fashion), it couldn’t hurt to check. It wasn’t like either of them were going to sneak up and stab them with a knife when they weren’t looking.

That was the job of The Woods. They were just the distraction.

The group froze at Theo’s voice, but only for a moment, before rushing at their location. They were all moving far faster than a normal person would be able to (but not as fast as he was afraid of). Theo braced himself for a group of body strengthened warriors.

There was a glint of steel from underneath one cloak, and Theo activated Self Awareness. It had been a while since he used it aside from Tome of Memories, and he was glad he could still use it by itself. Sure, a second tier internal magic was very useful, but perfect memory wouldn’t help in this situation.

The world slowed down.

With the amount of mana he’d passed through the circuits, the effect on his reaction and thinking speed was more than noticeable. It was also a sensation he hadn’t felt in a long time, but thankfully the other effects of Self Awareness were helping him adjust.

Which was important, as he moved to the side to avoid an arrow aimed for his head.

It went through the tree behind him, and there was a distinct series of thunks as it went through four trees before stopping.

“I’m going to take that as a no!” Theo shouted, properly bracing himself. It was jarring to feel how slow the words came out.

He engaged his muscles to a level he hadn’t done outside of Combat or Survival classes in weeks, and burst forward, legs pumping both with blood and mana as Striding Wind left a trail behind, meeting them in the middle.

Well, less the middle and more very close to where they had been when Theo had spotted them. They weren’t prepared, cloaks still half-on and preventing them from properly wielding most of their weapons even as Theo got within an arm’s length (making sure to keep the archer on the other side of the group).

He gave them a polite smile as they stared incredulously.

And then he slammed into the outermost person, who Theo now had the time to study. He had a well-kept beard that almost entirely covered an old scar across his throat. Theo wondered what that was about, even as he felt the wind leave their lungs as he shoulder-charged into their group.

There was a moment of resistance, and then the bearded man crumpled chest-first, feet leaving the earth.

Theo still wasn’t very good with punching, but he was sturdy and fast enough with all the internal magic to do a rather good impression of a great-hammer slamming into someone.

And the best thing about Striding Wind was that even after his tree-felling impression, it was easy to pivot and dig his elbow into what he assumed was a chest-plate hard enough to dent it while ducking under a dagger thrust at his head, leaning into the elbow and giving it a final, spiteful push.

From his slightly hunched over position, Theo twisted on one leg, reached down to rest on the ground with one arm and used the leverage to sweep the legs of the dagger-wielder on his way out of the group.

He disengaged, throwing a clump of dirt in their general direction before changing his own direction a few times as arrows flew with an accuracy that he could admire (even as they almost hit him).

Theo shook pins and needles out of his arm as he dislodged the remaining dirt stuck to his fingers. Even with Iron Bones, elbowing that chest plate wasn’t the most pleasant experience.

He rocketed back, like a comet in orbit, coming to hit them in the back, shepherding them towards The Woods. He assessed the situation, looking back to see Francis standing back and almost guarding The Woods. Theo thought he looked grave rather than stoic, but hopefully to those who weren’t experiencing an accelerated perception of time it could be intimidating.

Between the bearded man he gave a rushed chiropractic session, the one with the remodelled armour, and the dagger-wielding individual he charmed off their feet, Theo counted three members of the group that were somewhat inconvenienced or incapacitated. There were five left.

While there was recognition in the eyes of the archer, nonetheless all of his targets started running in the direction of The Woods, knowing that he was cutting off their escape route. They spread out, making sure to not be such an easy target for him in future. At this point, all of them had torn off their cloaks except the archer.

Theo looked upon gleaming, oiled armour. Which contrasted sharply with the people wearing them.

They were the kind of grizzled warriors the either ended their day drinking at The Pub, or the kind of formerly grizzled warriors that spent their whole day drinking at The Pub. They looked hungry, in a way that Theo was very used to seeing in the Outskirts. They were almost covered in scars and pockmarks, and they seemed to share a slash across the throat.

Point is, they looked rough. These were not the kinds of people to be wearing armour that looked like it had never seen a day in combat (aside from that one dented chestplate).

Theo started chasing after them, but between the five of them, they stayed spread out enough that he had to keep his distance to stop any of them from escaping (or surrounding him).

Which was fine by him. While the archer kept firing arrows in his general vicinity, he was slowly pushing them towards Francis even as they kept their distance and tried to keep him back, weapons now in hand.

After a drawn-out minute of them doing their best to keep Theo at bay, the group of odd warriors approached and tried to surround Francis, with him close (enough) on their heels.

Francis swung his staff at them, as they leapt back to avoid the hit…only to trip and fall as vines pulled them to the earth. Their legs were encased in green, and their weapons were wrenched from their grip.

Francis set his staff down, and waited as Theo grabbed the bodies of the three he’d previously hit, dragging them by the foot one-by-one, so fast that their heads didn’t even hit the ground.

As he got close, he swung their body around and let go, watching it fly (and the hope in the eyes of the five entangled warriors slowly die) as tendrils grabbed them out of the air and restrained them alongside their compatriots, only worse for wear from motion sickness and a dislocated ankle.

Theo repeated this twice more, until all eight warriors were in one place, dazed or disheartened. The more cogent ones shared a look, before raising their hands in the universal sign of surrender.

He shared a relieved look with Francis, which quickly morphed into horror as sharpened spikes burst from the ground, and impaled them all through their skulls.