In a cold listless atmosphere, Simon’s eyes suddenly turned sharp.

Sera, slightly surprised, watched Simon as he started to reach for the sword strapped to his back.

"Wait! I just heard something!”

Sharon’s warning rang out a moment after Simon’s sudden action, and everyone tensed up.

Simon slightly open the tent's entrance but the strong wind plus snow disrupted his view.

They were within the sparse forest, but he decided that it wasn’t a problem because they were in a small clearing, with space to move around and see their surroundings. The only problem was the wind that deter him from using archery.

As soon as he used his left hand to pull the string strapping the cloth wrapping his sword, it fell off, revealing the blade.

He pulled out the sword in front of him with his right hand and put his left hand on the handle, right above his other hand, and switched his thought process for battle.

He didn’t have time to enjoy the energy flowing through his body before he spotted a few shadows standing behind the trees. The silhouettes looked like men, but bigger than average men. 

"What is it?”

Sera asked Sharon, but her hand wasn’t even on the grip of her dagger or arrow.

Sharon, although she pricked up her ears, hadn’t even grasped the direction of where the things were coming from.

She kept looking around, pricking her ears and squinting, but she hadn’t noticed that Simon already found the enemy and was tracking them.

Simon, wondering if this party was going to be okay, was trying to decide if he should point out the enemy’s location, but wasn’t sure if he should take Sharon’s job. Before he could decide, the enemy made the first move.

A few moderately large stones flew at them, threading the space between the trees. They didn’t have much speed to them, and some of them flew off into a completely different direction. But still a good amount of them were headed toward the tent. The tent was torn apart.

"Ugh!?”

Most of them missed their target and fell around them, but one of them grazed Dick’s shoulder, spraying a bit of blood.

Sera and Sharon shifted their gazes to Dick at the sound of his pained voice.

“What are they doing!?”

Simon cursed. The two should know how much of an advantage they could give an enemy if they looked away during battle.

Not even facing the way the attack came from, but instead facing a cry from a comrade, was equivalent to begging the enemy to make the next move.

Simon's eyes turned to the monsters that started to run out from between the trees.

He saw from afar hideous pig faces and large fat body of men. 

Simon jumped and swung his sword at an orc but sword didn’t cut through its thick fat. Instead, its arm that was holding a crude club made of wood, with its weight and sheer force, it smashed through his defence, hitting his shoulder. 

Before it could land another hit, he draw a short sword and stab its face. 

A dull sound erupted, and an orc lost its life, spraying around things that couldn’t be made out if it was bone or flesh.

"Ah, orcs."

Sera finally realized who the attackers were and picked up her staff while Sharon pulled out her knife to protect Dick, who had his hand on his wound.

"Everyone, come near me!" 

Simon shouted wildly and kept swinging his sword. He reflected the second wave of rocks with the flat of the blade, then tracked the direction where they were coming from. He was able to find the stone throwing orcs, but was irritated at where they were standing. There were trees blocking the way so it was difficult for him to rush at them, and there wasn’t enough space between the trees for him to freely swing his sword.

He pulled his short sword from the dead orc's head, and threw it at one of the stone throwing orc. 

The feeble sword flew across the clearing and hit one of them, but only succeeded in giving a shallow cut.

Simon was struggling to deflect the stones using longsword as it heavy and not flexible.

"Alright, let’s go!” Dick shouted and rushed past him.

Simon followed him, not amused by the fact that the orcs must have heard him from a mile away. Soon enough, stones started raining down on them. Dick who was in front, tried to parry them but failed.

"Stop!" Simon shouted as he noticed the ground ahead was going downward. Simon suddenly stopped in his tracks, while Dick suddenly fell down and rolled right into the awaiting orcs.

Another barrage of stones rained down. 

Although Dick deflected some of them, the rest got through and hit his right shoulder and left thigh, as well as in his right flank. Sharon an Sera tried to help Dick but Simon blocked them with his sword and big hand.

He looked back at the path that they came from, but what he saw left him speechless.

“We got flanked!?”

The path they came from was filled with orcs with a few larger ones behind it.

There was nowhere to run, being pincered in by the two groups and their surrounding was blurred by snow.

As Loren decided that the only way out was to cut through them, he heard Sera finishes chanting her spell.

“Scatter the sands, bring upon slumber! <<Sleep>>”

Several orcs who were approaching Dick from front fell to the ground.

"What a rushed decision." Simon complained. The "Sleep" magic spell from Sera, although effective, also affected limited area. She casted the spell when there were only three orcs in one place. She should wait until more orcs that were running to reach the three orcs, so that more orcs were affected.

Several orcs coming from behind the three sleeping orcs.

"Aaaaah!" Dick barked to summon whatever strength left and crouch-ran through the falling snow towards his three comrades.

"You... Hurt.." Sera was the only one who could say anything to the Dick who had fallen to his knee in front of them. 

They stared nervously at each other as the orcs were approaching from the two sides.