Honestly, I may have been too harsh on Eithne about her calling the trouble on us. But no matter if it was coincidental, planned, or called upon us, our peaceful journey (as I hoped) ended in any way except without incidents.

As we left [Enhartar], Lutrin driving the wagon, Eithne and me on the sides as lookouts, we passed by some more Baron soldiers. The six chainmail-armored, equipped with swords, spears, and swords warriors of the [Old Anear] barony sat on the grass near the road, their horses left to graze freely.

On Eithne's lead, I merely nodded as we passed, but a few minutes later, when I used [Life Radar], I found six on six dots about half a kilometer behind.

"Were they our reinforcements?" I was pretty sure that it was so but asking never hurts.

"Yes, but we shouldn't interact with them. No one knows who's looking." She explained, but after some seconds, she added with a short chuckle, "Well, we can know, thanks to an unexpected mage help."

"Don't expect much, though. I am untrained, so I can hardly use the spell each moment." Recalling that my mana was officially at 20 and not wanting to show my actual limit, I quickly counted the instances I used magic in front of them. With the number clear, I continued, "16 times at most, and honestly, I would feel better by having at least a couple of mana points remaining for whatever happens."

"Then, pardon me for the liberty, but can you use it once a Primordial Step? We are about twelve from Chubu, and knowing if there's any big group around will be enough." Eithne asked after considering for a bit.

"Yeah, no problem. Still, I am unsure if that will help much. After all, even now, I discerned ten people more, none of whom we see." Here, I wasn't lying. While the wagon had a couple of oil lamps, courtesy of Fina or the other inhabitants of [Green Pastures], we wouldn't see much after the sun disappeared entirely. Even now, under its last rays, I could not see the soldiers, for example.

"I doubt any attacker would be using the tract. More likely, they will be in wait somewhere." Lutrin joined the conversation with surprisingly good input.

"Mmm, I will concentrate on the sides then. In any case, let's act as if we don't have my spells." To avoid a discussion of what I myself already thought, I decided to leave it at that.

***

We reached the turn to the tract and some more walking later, the one towards the [Lakeroad Inn] without any trouble. Night had set, and as I guessed before, we hardly saw anything farther than fifty meters from the wagon. Thankfully, the odd people we encountered, walking or driving carts, were visible from afar, thanks to them carrying their own lamps or torches.

{Basically, I should concentrate on the people I note with [Radar] but see no fires in their direction.} Settling on such a plan probably was for the best, and doubting that anyone would offer me anything better, I decided to do so.

"What the fuck?!" Shouting that, I froze on the spot. It was my 2nd time using [Life Radar] since the [Lakeroad Inn], so about nine-ten kilometers from the return trip start, and a similar distance remaining to reach Chubu.

"What happened, Rador?" Eithne asked in alarm as Lutrin pulled the reins, stopping the cart.

"The spell caught on no one." Not bothering to explain more, considering that enough, I once again used the spell, "[Life Radar]." Yet, the result was the same, except for a few random small dots, animals, or the like, nothing else.

"What?!" Lutrin shouted out

As for Eithne, she half-asked with badly-concealed hope, "They decided to stop, maybe?"

"I don't know, but last time they were there, following at the same distance. But now, there's no one in my range, about a third of a primordial step." In truth, the situation was even worse, my [Life Radar] having a range of 1600 (it leveled up, again!) meters from the caster. Thus, as I used it in the non-directed version, a circle around myself, there was no one for at least 800 meters to each side, which was about half a step (I confirmed them to be akin to an Earth's mile).

"What the..? Should we wait? Move back? Continue?" Lutrin asked in quick succession, but neither Eithne nor I replied. She was probably thinking about what to do. As for me, I choose to use the spell yet again, now directing it behind us.

"[Life Radar]." While I tried to keep the alarm down, I still felt my words slightly panicked as I revealed my findings, "I moved the spell behind us. There is no one."

"Damn!" Lutrin exclaimed the spear he had thrown behind himself jumping into his arms.

"Wait, that's better than nothing. If there's no one, then there are no enemies either, right?" I am unsure who she was convincing, but Eithne's words were reasonable. The suggestion she followed up with sounded good as well, "Let's make haste to Chubu. As soon as we reach the sight of the outer gates, we shall be safe. I am sure Maester Gudea sent someone to receive us."

Regretfully, it seemed we weren't fated to do so.

***

I am unsure which one of my special senses was the one that made me suddenly move, all of them blaring at the same time, the physical [Danger Sense], magical [Mana Sense], and even the newly added [Spirit Sense]. But, the point was that I felt I had to move from the spot I was standing, and so I did. And right in time! Otherwise, I wouldn't even be recording this.

*BOOM*

With no previous warning, the ground some five meters from where I just stood exploded, shards of stone and small rocks flying everywhere. Now, I can be sure it didn't detonate. The cause was an enormous boulder that flew from outside my vision range that fell on the road, shattering itself and part of the tract's stones at impact.

"Where?! Who?! Rador!" I heard Eithne's shouts, but between the stone shards and the adrenaline, I didn't even care about what she was saying, "[Life Radar], [Shaped Mana]." The former to see if I somehow missed the attackers, or they just appeared now, the latter for defense.

"SHIT!" *Mooowooo!* *Trrrrrr*

Somewhere in the middle of shards hitting against my protection and the wooden cart, I heard a commotion, on my right, from the cart itself.

Scared by the explosion-like sound, the debris, and maybe even wounded by some of the latter, the pair of oxen crazily bellowed and started off, ignoring Lutrin's attempts to stop them (not saw, but I suppose he did try). But somewhere during the debris rain, one of the wooden wheels broke or cracked, as when the cart moved, it nearly immediately fell on one of the corners.

*Crash* *Crash* *Crash*

I heard and then saw how the cargo fell from the departing cart, barrels, and crates crashing, some cracking, against the tract's stones.

"[Light]" While illuminating oneself, giving a target was probably dumb I had no other choice.

"Rador, turn it off!" Eithne agreed to the dumb part, but as the bluish magic lamp made the destruction apparent and painted us as targets, it also made us aware that there was no one but us around.

Now, as I [Record], it is easy to point out my failings and mistakes. At the same time, I find it hard to relate what happened as it went, with my current input recorded along with memories. Yet, to my future self, I can only say one thing, I tried to keep it as it went, and I hope I learned something from this situation.

I didn't act on Eithne's shout, keeping the spell up for over half a minute before turning to face her, "I don't think it changes anything."

"...no one, I see no one!" Eithne had not lost it until now. But from her words, I felt she was close, very close. Truthfully, I was near breaking as well.

Our escort disappeared, and a damn boulder, now visible in the spell's glow, had crashed nearly on top of our heads. The cart shot off somewhere, out of our visual range, and except for a trail of wood, produce, dried meat, and what else, we couldn't be sure where it went. Worse, we had no idea of what the fuck happened or if someone was attacking us.

Hearing nothing from Eithne as a minute passed, I decided to take the reins, not that I considered myself capable - still, there was only us two, so who if not I? "Let's go check on Lutrin."

Eithne mechanically nodded, her right hand landing on the pommel of her sword. After I mirrored her action, we followed the trail of littered items from the townlet's revenue. We didn't move quickly, each keeping a nervous look around, but a few steps in, hearing a crazed shout, we increased our pace, nearly breaking into a run.

The oxen were equally, if not more panicked than us, and they had deviated from the tract, entering the surrounding grasslands about a hundred steps from where the first boulder attack occurred. As for why I counted the boulders, it was because as soon as we saw the wreck, what remained of the cart, I noticed another similar boulder, this one less cracked or splintered, probably because it interred halfway into the pretty soft soil around the tract.

"Lutrin!" Calling him off would be no more dangerous than walking around with the [Light] spell, so not seeing him near the turned-over, half-destroyed cart, I chose to do so.

"I am here, help!" While a few groans came first, Lutrin managed to voice out his plea, and after a few moments, Eithne and I found him beneath the farthest, grounded side of the card, probably falling off as it turned over.

[Status Screen] gave the worst of all readings as I looked at him, and I could only curse inwardly for not having a healing potion or two around.

Wounds and Injuries Body, Bloodloss, Medium. Head, Concussion. Left Arm, Broken. Left Hand, Shattered Wrist. Right Leg, Shattered Bones, Bleeding. Column, Lesser Fracture. Ribcage, 5th Left Rib, 3rd Right Rib, 2nd Right Rib, Broken.

With some combined effort applied to the cart, lighter by a lot now that it was empty, we managed to force it to fall on its remaining two wheels, freeing Lutrin, who Eithne pulled out as I pushed the cart's corner up, whatever it was worth.

"Damn the fucking gods of luck..!" As we helped him to sit, Lutrin cursed and groaned, feeling the broken leg, ribs, and everything else.

I will omit the few minutes we spent trying to fix Lutrin's state, so he at least wasn't feeling so much pain, just because I have no desire to revive all that. We didn't get much result except for bandaging his bleeding leg, but what else could we do?

"One of us stays here, and the other goes to Chubu, finds Maester Gudea, brings help." Eithne called me to the side and quickly explained her plan.

"Who goes?" And what could I say, really?

"You, Rador. Your spells will be more useful here, but safely reaching Chubu is far more important." Eithne doubted only for a moment before deciding.

My first thought was to send her, then I considered the dangers and decided to go, but in the end, it didn't matter much. Before I even spoke, my senses reacted again, the three altogether, and a moment later, yet another boulder landed on the cart's remains!

*CRASH*

"Run, ignore everything, make it to Chubu!" Shouting to Eithne, I half-pushed her. And not knowing why, used [Mark] on her as I did.

I didn't wait for her to run, starting off first, taking somewhat to the left, back on the tract, but chose not the east, to Chubu, but the west direction, as if returning to the [Lakeroad Inn] and the Baron's lands. I feel bad for not thinking about Lutrin first but only considering running away. Yet, my life - that's the only thing I truly own.

Ten, twenty, thirty meters. I ran without looking back, not caring about Eithne or what happened to Lutrin. With no way to see or sense the attacker or attackers, except for the boulder that suddenly landed, nearly killing us, I wasn't planning to stay and wait around.

Yet, at some point, probably on the hundred meters or so mark, I found myself shouting curses and challenging, "Whoever fuck attacked us, look at me. I am running away and will come for you, no matter where and how you fucking hide!!"

Was it a manner to at least partially calm myself, or was it to help Eithne escape by attracting the attention..? Who can say? Even I am unsure, after all.

This time it was clearly my [Danger Sense], which made me jump and fall to the ground after I finished shouting.

*BOOM* *Tremble* *Tremble*

A boulder the size of one of our disappeared oxen landed just a meter from me, and on the ground, I felt it tremble as during an earthquake.

My [Light] spell was still active as I stood up, covered in dust and my face bloodied by the fall or the few stone flakes I felt scraping me, "Just show yourself, you damn, fucking coward!"

I had always been far from the moralistic, upright people preaching stuff like [Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.] and the like.

I would even say that was hardly above the grey zone of conduct, and probably I would also choose to destroy my enemies in a way they wouldn't even manage to catch a glimpse of me. Yet, attacking random people, as neither Eithne, Lutrin, or I could earn enemies of such caliber for just transporting a damn cart of foodstuffs, I would at least give some face, maybe.

My shouts, glaring around, and even a [Life Radar] netted no result. But, while I am unsure why I decided to persist, I didn't continue running. The [Radar] had informed me of a dot moving away in the opposite direction, so maybe I just wanted to continue hogging attention for her to escape.

"So, what, only a couple of boulders?

Look at you, not able to even kill some three people who had no way to defend themselves.

No matter if Gudea, the Baron, the Viscount, or whoever else forgives you, I swear that if I survive, and judging from your fucking incompetency, I will, there will be no escape for your thrice-raped ass!" Leaving a torrent of curses and challenges, I restarted my run.

*Rumble* *Rumble*

A sprint I was forced to break as I felt how the ground beneath my feet started to sway.

{Fuck, it seems I attracted all of the attention.} Skeptical of how good such a result was, I still felt more anger than fear. I wasn't confident of my fighting skills, and my other abilities were hardly superb, even the [Divine Fury] stuff being out of my control, but somehow, I was nearly happy to face whoever attacked us.

To my shame, my bravado was very short-lived. It lasted right until I saw just what the fuck was approaching me. A GOLEM!

A tremendous figure twice my height and width entered the range of my illumination spell. It approached from the south, the direction of the lake, slowly, each of its heavy steps making the ground tremble.

The golem's body was a mix of earth and rock, with some grass clumps present on different parts of it. I didn't remain there to examine it closely, but I didn't notice anything that would indicate a weakness like a story [Truth] or [Life] words, which one could delete to defeat the creature.

"If that's your real look, then I am sorry." Leaving such words, I started running again. It was hard to do so when I felt the stone plates of the road jumping up and down, but between staying and leaving, I would do everything for the latter.

A couple of boulders, which I avoided at the last moment, flew by me. Looking back, to see if I could find at least something from such an attack, I saw how the golem threw the third one and discovered that the projectiles weren't anything else but pieces of it.

{If everything the golem threw was a part of it, how big it was at the start?!} Not that I stopped to ask, but with each consequent boulder - dodged while I continued creating distance - and each time I looked back, it was accurate that the golem's size diminished. Or maybe it would be better to say it lost parts of itself, as its left arm was gone, its head, the latter being the 5th rock I dodged, gone as well.

With the zigzags I did to avoid the projectiles, my advance wasn't so quick or direct, but after a couple of minutes of crazed sprinting, I saw no more golem. [Danger Sense] was silent, and the other two didn't shout out alarms either, so I stopped for a moment, regaining my breath, and while aware it wouldn't serve anything against a non-alive enemy, used [Life Radar] again. I also chose to dispel [Light], seeing no reason to continue using it now.

"Darkness will not help you. You saw too much, Vruz' Guard Commander, Rador." Someone's voice entered my ears, or maybe it crept into my mind, as I definitively didn't hear it coming from anywhere but inside my head.

"So, with your toy so slow, it's time for the master to appear? Then, please be my guest." Bravado, more bravado. I couldn't help it, though, too much was going on, and nothing of it was something I expected.

"You think yourself so important for me to deal with you in person? Hahahaha!!" The same male voice, one to which I had no one to connect, laughed in my mind before suddenly coldly adding, "A simple pair of words will be enough."

I had no idea what words he meant or said out of my hearing, but the result made itself clear just a moment later when my [Mana Sense] basically went haywire. If such senses could speak, I am sure there would be a roaring alert saying, Incoming Spell.

My first reaction was to kick the tract's stones, propelling myself in an Olympic-level sprint. But, [Mana Sense] still indicated magic approaching, and my [Danger Sense] started alerting me of incoming risk, but without the usual bits (direction and the like) of information enough to dodge it.

{Fuck, fuck, fuck! What the hell do I do?} Running away wasn't working, and I had no means of defense, had I? And actually, what was coming?!

I am absolutely not proud of the next minute. I acted more akin to a headless chicken than to what I am. Wait, actually, who the fuck am I? A man from a peaceful world? A half-trained fighter? A non-trained mage?

Some running, cursing, and so on. Some ideas like covering myself with [Shaped Mana] shield-like constructs and leaving the tract, hoping that the softer soil would slightly help me absorb the weight of whatever was coming if [Shaped Mana] stopped it. Yet, all that was not important. Not when my senses pointed me to the upcoming threat, and I saw it.

"A FUCKING HILL?!!" Indeed, the thing flying towards me from above was a lump of earth, rock, and what else was not smaller than a decently-sized house. No matter how I ran, I would not leave its effect. And with [Shaped Mana] having no mass, it didn't matter if it resisted. Crushed, I would be, no matter what I did.

An idea did pop into my mind suddenly, but even if I jumped on it as on the proverbial straw, it was pretty late with the hill-like spell barely a few meters overhead.

"[Shaped Mana]." Summoning the spell in a straight, the width of my body construct, I forced it into the soil, hoping to get some hole for me to hide. I didn't think how I would breathe or if it would save me. It was just the best idea I had.

I was even yet to create the hole when the hill landed. But I didn't die, or I wouldn't be recording this. At the last moment, my [Mana Sense] and [Spirit Sense] went crazy, [Danger Sense] disappeared, and I, I disappeared from there, as well.

***

"Guh!" I grunted as I felt my back land on some rocky surface.

{Where am I? What happened?} My head spun from the unexpected events, and the only thing I was sure of was that I wasn't on the same site as before. I wasn't even outside but inside some cave of sorts. Stifled air that smelt of mold and rot, no light, and most importantly, such discharged mana, the latter information courtesy of my [Mana Sense], that I couldn't even use a spell, not that I didn't try to.

I felt like shouting, cursing, and similar. But first, I confirmed my [Status Screen] to check on myself.

Health 95% Stamina 32% Mana 7/47 Wounds and Injuries: Face, Minor Scrapes, Bleeding.

Lower back, Major Bruising.

Body, Hematoma x13. Afflictions: Slowed Mana Regeneration, Spiritual, Active.

No-Mana Zone, No Mana Recuperation & Use, Area-effect.

"Well, I am alive, and everything isn't so tragic. Yet, where am I?" My bad trait of speaking to myself returning, I voiced out.

"Human, you are in my resting place." A grave, rumbling, and somehow frightening voice resounded all around me.

"Who?!" While I had no way to use spells, I had my trusty [Inventory], and a torch, brightly burning as when I stored it, appeared in my hand.

And well, there we go, a meeting I wasn't supposed to, but was fated to have...