“Down!” Jake barked.

A crack of wind whipped over head, snapping the peaceful world and causing a thunderous clap to echo along the road. The driver of the front cart was yanked down onto his side as Jake thrust his hand out. The arrow, its glistening tip and whistling shaft, smashed into a torrent of powerful responding wind. The airborne threat was obliterated, shattered and broken to pieces. The very tip was crushed and discarded from the fierce impact. The pieces scattered back into the treeline.

The horses neighed, frightened by the sudden activity, and the lead horse lifted onto its hind legs out of fright. “Whoa!” The driver called, tugging on the reins in an attempt to calm the stead. Yet, it was useless. After the arrow emerged the men behind the trap.

Four men stepped out into the road, blocking their path of escape. Three more appeared at their back, blocking their retreat. In the bushes and around the trees, over a dozen men stood up to show their numbers and brandished their threatening weapons. Some carried bows and arrows but the majority wielded a mix of close-quarters weapons. Knives, swords, axes, hammers. None carried spears and from what Jake could see, there were no mages. A casual band of brigands from his evaluation.

“And I was just getting bored…” Jake muttered as he stood up atop the front cart. His eyes narrowed as he flooded them with mana. He scanned for any lurking mages he might’ve missed or additional threats hidden within the treeline, and then expanded his Sensory Magic, verifying that what he saw was trustworthy. No hidden fighters, no mages, no traps. This was just a band of rowdy fools trying to make a quick steal.

Out of the group to the left, one man stepped forward and drew a long, two handed sword off his hip. A heavy weapon that any ordinary man might struggle with. However, this individual was massive. Six feet tall. Muscles thick as trees. Arms toned and ripe with power, and plenty of scars across them to show his experience wielding the blade. He held the sword with a single hand, his muscles taut and flexing as he jabbed it up toward Jake. A looming threat that he was wholly committed to using the weapon should the caravan resist. A threat that only made Jake scowl.

Seeing Jake’s expression, the man smirked and licked his lips. “Out a bit late and a bit far, ain’t we? Where’re yer guards, hah?”

“This your whole band?” Jake asked, placing a hand on the elven sword dangling from his hip.

Seeing the motion, the man gripped his own blade tighter. “Ah! No touchy! Play it smart ‘ere and we’ll spare yer lives, yea?”

Ignoring the threat, Jake gripped his sword and glared down at the man. “Answer the question. Is this everyone you have?” Mana flowed through his fingers and his feet.

The brigand’s eyes narrowed and his jaw tensed up. Something changed in his eyes.

There was something off about the bold individual in front of him. The cloaked man standing on the cart wasn’t normal, but the brigand leader couldn’t identify what it was. However, the hairs rising on his neck were warning him. Jake wasn’t an ordinary mercenary for hire. “Enough tah deal with the likes of you and these bumpkins! Hah!” Ignoring that warning, the man grinned and glared at the driver. Beneath those eyes, the driver flinched and pulled on the horse reins, once again fighting to keep the animal calm as it sputtered.

“Good.” Jake’s eyes glistened, his mana flow firing within him. His fingers squeezed down on his sword, the hilt burning within his palm as his own body came to life. Except, he didn’t move right away. Rather, the ground moved first.

The very rock beneath the brigand leader beside the cart trembled for a brief moment before it cracked apart. The dirt scattered and the loose rock became dust. A tapered, solid stone beneath the surface speared upwards, skewering the man from beneath. The rising rock split him from hip to chest as the vicious spire erected where he stood. He barely had time to let out a partial shout in pain from the explosive motion, and he died faster than he even knew what happened.

The air froze as all eyes turned towards the skewered corpse. Eyes open wide out of a mix of fright, surprise, and terror from the brutal action. Some of the Brigands took an instinctive step back from the sight of their leader’s guts spilling out on the road.

Trying to keep the advantage, Jake drew his sword and kicked the driver to snap him from his paralysis first. The man just looked up at him, dazed.

“Run, and do not stop.” Jake leapt forward, planted his boot on the back of the raging horse, then jumped over the animal’s head towards the four men in the road. Wind cracked at the heels of his boots, launching Jake into the group.

Seeing the sudden threat lunging for them, the men scrambled to prepare themselves as they took their stances. They were a mess, likely inexperienced in actual sword fighting. Jake’s blade clashed with the first brigand and he used the impact to slow his momentum. The brigand failed to hold his ground and toppled over, tackled flat onto his back. Jake shoved him to the floor and then stood up over him, planting his boot firmly in the man’s chest. Wind blasted outwards from his sides, knocking the remaining three men off the road, effectively clearing the way for the carts.

The man beneath Jake’s boot went to struggle, only for Jake to passively slice through his throat. The head rolled free of the neck, and the weak existence was snuffed out. Jake turned towards the cart after dispatching the threat and glared at the driver who was still staring like a fucking idiot at him.

With a powerful shout, Jake turned and yelled his order again. “I said run!”

Snapping to life, the Driver flinched. “Yes sir!” His hands worked almost out of instinct as he snapped the reins to the horse. The cart tugged away, the wheels clattering loudly as the horse stampeded forward. The rear cart followed behind, the driver ducking as the brigands began to collect themselves.

The Drivers weren’t the only ones who had snapped out of their daze. The Brigands, realizing their catch was about to escape, roared back to the fight. Bows snapped as arrows were launched out of the forest toward the carts, aimed primarily at the horses and the drivers. To shield them, Jake erected massive walls of wind, creating a safe corridor for the carts to flee through. The men with weapons jumped at the walls, attempting to bull rush through them, only to smack face first into the torrents of air. Those that tested the wind were knocked backwards onto their butts and spines. The arrows launched into them were snapped, reflected, or scattered back into the treelines.

The carts rushed past Jake, the drivers snapping desperately at the leather reins as they followed the directions of their sole guard. As they passed, they looked down at Jake, who waved them on. “Count to one hundred then stop. I’ll catch up.” Jake spat as the carts raced through. The drivers didn’t answer, focused on their task of getting out of the killzone. If they heard him, then they would listen and stop. If not, Jake hoped they would have the common sense to stop on their own at some point.

That was a future problem, however. For now, Jake simply had to deal with the Brigands. They’d chosen to attack his charge and they would have to face the consequences of that choice. Not that he was keen on killing a bunch of people but they didn’t seem intent on letting him off for free. As the wind walls fell and the carts escaped, the Brigands rushed him. Their target was gone and their leader was dead. In Jake’s mind, they no longer had any reason to attack but had chosen to do so anyway. Them not running made things easy, as now Jake wouldn’t have to hunt them down.

The arrows arrived first, the airborne projectiles soaring out of the treeline in staggered, untimed barrages as the archers fired them off as fast as they could. They were trying to keep him in place. Smart.

Careful not to use fire magic and potentially burn down the forest, Jake knocked the arrows out of the air with wind magic, then fired a barrage of Wind Cones in answer. There were six archers in total and two were killed by the initial counter-attack. One lost his head, another was struck in the shoulder and the impact tore off his arm. He fell to the ground, screaming.

The Brigands with weapons spilled from the treelines at the same time the arrows were fired, and they rushed without any form of organization. It was a free-for-all rush to kill the man who’d ruined their plan. The three men Jake had blown off the road were also back on their feet and were attempting to jump him from the sides. Essentially surrounding Jake, cutting him off from any chance of running.

Perfect.

Jake twirled his elven blade and clutched it firmly in his left hand. He stepped back, avoiding the first swing in his direction. A club smashed into the ground in front of his feet, crushing the ground where he had once stood. The Brigand who swung sucked his teeth and clutched the thick, wooden weapon. Yet, the weapon never rose from the ground again. With a whip of his hand, Jake sliced through the Brigand’s arms, severing the forearms from the elbows.

Twisting right, Jake collected a sword with his own. The weapon bounced off his blade and Jake blew the man out of his face with a burst of wind. Stepping right, another sword cut the air where he stood. Jake pivoted, twisted on his heels, and cut through the attacker’s face, cutting his eyes and blinding him. Planting his feet, Jake surged forward past the two immobilized fighters and smashed his sword against the hilt of a swung hammer.

He braced his feet to collect the power of the blow and then dumped mana into the ground. The Brigand grit his teeth and flexed his arms, trying to overpower Jake and break the stalemate. Distracted, he never saw the needles of rock split him from underneath. The man wasn’t killed, as the needles only cut into his legs but it was enough to take him out of the fight. Jake kicked him square in the chest, breaking him from the rock and knocking the broken man into a pair of his allies. Jake then killed all three of them with a brief barrage of Wind Cones, peppering their bodies with the quick spells which tore holes into their chests and stomachs.

The momentum shifted as the men watched their friends start to die. Jake pressed.

Barreling forward, Jake caught one man off guard and knocked his woodcutting ax out of the way. Twisting his wrist, Jake sliced upwards and cut through the middle of the man’s forearm. The Brigand fell to his knees, his eyes and mouth wide as he stared at the cleanly cut limb. Jake pulled his elbow back as the man fell to his knees then shoved his blade through his eye socket, skewering the soft organ and piercing the brain and skull beyond. His blade stabbed out of the back of the Brigand’s head, brain matter and blood clinging to the mithril edge. The lifeless corpse collapsed to the ground, kicked free by the firm push of Jake’s boot.

“R-Run!” One of the Brigands shouted, only for his head to be blown to chunks as Jake targeted him with a Wind Cone. His body fell in a heavy heap, the thud of lifeless meat echoing into the forest.

The remaining men indeed began to scatter, but Jake moved quickly. There were only a handful left to catch. He filled the air with Wind Cones first to hit those further into the forest, killing two more Archers and knocking a third off his feet. Three men on the road were disemboweled by the spells and two others were injured. One man blocked a spell thrown his way only for Jake to cut his stomach open. As his innards spilled forward, his hands caught them.

“Wha-!” His fingers gushed with blood, the tender meat of his intestines squishing between them. When he looked up, his eyes met the hollow gaze of his killer.

Jake cut his head off before he could mutter another noise.

The massacre continued as the Brigands screamed and ran. Those that were injured and put to the ground were left alone and Jake prioritized immobilizing those running. He chased them into the trees, wind at his heels as he accelerated after the cowards. Using the Wind spells, Jake blew off their legs to knock them down or aimed to tear open their chests if they were getting too far. Doing so accelerated the process. Two men turned to face him when Jake caught them, but their uneasy stances were easy to break through.

Jake blew the leg off one man then cut through the sword of the second with a heavy swing. Defenseless, the man couldn’t protect himself from the cut across his throat. Both of them fell to the ground. One gurgled, unable to make a noise as Jake left him to die. The other was stabbed in the chest, his screaming silenced as his heart was pierced.

Of the near twenty in total that attacked Jake’s caravan, he lost track of only two. They had fled near the beginning of the fight and Jake didn’t want to chase too deep into the forest. While killing them all would have been ideal, he doubted two men would cause a problem in the future. Especially after bearing witness to this kind of one-sided fight. Jake also had to return to the caravan. It was defenseless without him and there was no telling what else was lurking in the forest, waiting to pounce on them.

Knowing that, Jake made quick work of the moaning and screaming Brigands scattered around the forest. They’d truly run off in almost every direction so it was annoying having to find them all, but their yelling made it easy. Jake also used his Sensory Magic, tracking them down using their Mana Signatures. A few tried to hide, muffing their pained screams with their hands or silencing themselves by biting down on fabric, but there was no concealing their mana. It took some time but Jake eventually finished them all off.

The task complete, Jake returned to the road and cleaned up his mess. He tossed the bodies on the road off into the trees and then fixed the damage to the road he’d caused. There wasn’t anything he could do to fix the damage to the forest but he’d been careful not to blow down any trees or create any massive craters in the floor. Nature would heal herself anyway, so he didn’t waste any additional time with the unnecessary. If it was one thing that bothered him, it was that would've liked to pick through their corpses. Time wasn’t on his side, though, so he would have to leave the dead where they lay.

“Good enough,” Jake muttered, wiping off his blade with a small towel to clean the blood and grease off it. He sheathed the weapon, then hurried off after his caravan. Using magic once more, Jake lunged forward, racing over the road to catch the carts.

What irritated him was the amount of ground he had to cover. The carts must’ve moved further than he’d thought, or the drivers had continued to run. He didn’t find them in the distance he expected to and accelerated out of fear that they might’ve run off. As that fear slowly started to feel like a reality, Jake grit his teeth and curled his hands into fists. Shoving his foot into the ground, Jake leapt up into the air and burst skyward. He dumped mana into his eyes to enhance his sight and scanned the road. There wasn’t a trace of the carts or the horses.

As he began to fall, Jake sucked his teeth. “Dammit.” He hit the dirt and burst forward again. Two bounds forward later, something in the treeline caught his eye. His eyes snapped over, wide as his brain quickly processed the details.

Two horses. Two carts. Both were off the road, tucked into the trees and obscured from easy view.

Recognizing what he was looking at, Jake caught himself as he flew past his target and his feet slammed into the ground again, braking hard and skidding as he slowed himself down. He let out a heavy sigh and let himself relax as one of the drivers poked his head out of the treeline. The man spotted Jake walking towards him and waved.

“Mr. Furrow! Was that you?!” The man shouted.

Jake huffed as he walked over, motioning for the man to be quieter. “Calm down. Yes. Where’s the other driver?”

“Oh, Randal? Takin’ a piss.” The driver jerked his thumb over his shoulder towards the back of a man standing just in the trees, his back to the road. “What happened to the brigands?”

“Dealt with.” Jake stepped past the driver and started walking towards the carts. “Do we need to take a break, or can we keep going?”

The driver blinked, processing what Jake said, then snapped out of it. “Uh, a little break would help. Gotta feed the horses and let ‘em get a drink. Will an hour be fine?” The driver rushed to catch up just as the other was turning around.

“An hour is fine. I’d like to move through the night if possible.” Jake stopped in the middle of the small opening the carts were tucked into as both drivers walked in front of him. The lead driver, Randal, sighed.

“Thought you might want to,” Randal grumbled. “We can probably make it halfway through but the horses will need rest. Especially after that run. We need to sleep too, you know.”

Jake nodded. “I’m aware. I’d like to try and reach the destination by the afternoon if we can.”

Randal sighed and planted his hands on his hips. “This is a two day trip, friend. That’s about as fast as we can go, especially with a full load. Horses are living beings, you know.”

For the first time in a while, Jake found himself faced with the burden of dealing with other people. People and animals both who were ordinary. They needed food, water, sleep, and time to do all of that. They couldn’t just walk for several days on end, munching on small snacks and replenish their strength with magic. They needed to stop and rest and that meant Jake wasn’t going to make it back in time. He stared over at the horses, at the carts, then looked at the two drivers in front of him. That realization came in and it came in smooth.

Jake, unphased and understanding the change in timeline, accepted his reality. Without making a fuss, Jake adjusted the plan in his head on the fly to better fit their needs. “Your friend said an hour? Can we be rolling again then?”

“Of course,” Randal said with a smile. “Just a little piss break and then we’ll be on the road. You alright, though? Them brigands give you trouble?”

“No.” Jake answered flatly. “After the break, how far are you comfortable going?”

Randal and the other driver went to the second cart where their supplies were organized. The second driver climbed into the back to get what they would need to feed the horses. “We can go into the night, that’s no problem. Just not too long. We’ll need to stop at some point and I know Brandy here is a princess who loves her sleep.” Randal patted the side of the horse who drew the second cart. The mare let out a sputter.

“Brandy’ll do fine, boss. She’ll walk till we tell ‘er.” The second driver said, as if trying to reassure Jake that there would be no issues.

“We’ll go so long as you two are comfortable then make camp.” Jake approached the men as they took out two empty pails. One was about to grab a waterskin but, instead, Jake filled the pails with water using magic. The men watched in awe as the water filled up.

“Now tha’s convenient,” the second driver said with a chuckle. “What other kinda tricks ya got?”

Jake smirked. “Enough to make this ride comfortable. Anything else you need?”

“Naw, that’ll do. Thanks.” The driver hopped out of the cart and the duo set to the horses. Jake moved aside and found a comfortable rock to sit on, watching and waiting as the men performed their work.

The men worked quickly, setting the horses up for their moment of rest before they too sat down with Jake for a bite of food. The duo retrieved a packed lunch full of sandwiches, fruits, and sliced vegetables to share among them. Randal distributed the food and Jake provided clean water for them to drink, rather than dig into their waterskin. So as to not give themselves away to any potential threats, the meal was completed in silence. After, the men took turns relieving themselves and also allowed the horses some private time in the woodline.

The hour passed on schedule without incident. When time was up, Jake whirled his finger and they set to getting ready again. By then, the sun had begun to tilt behind the horizon and night was creeping in. The drivers put on thicker clothes to keep out the night chill and had a brief discussion over whether to put blankets over the horses. Jake remained unchanged in his outfit and as the men dressed themselves, he set to putting their leftovers back into the second cart. He then helped the lead cart back to the road, guiding the horse back to the smooth and open surface of the cleared path. The drivers led the second cart out behind the first and the pair staged just outside of the forest.

Jake took a second to make sure they weren’t being followed, then looked to the drivers. “Ready?” Jake asked, checking in with both of the drivers.

“As ever.” The second gave a thumbs up before climbing into his cart. He gave his horse a few passing taps on her backside before he settled in for the ride.

Randal took a few extra moments, fussing with his clothes before he too was ready to leave. The small caravan set off shortly after and Jake climbed into the first cart, taking his position again. This time, however, he didn’t escape to the Library. With night having fallen, he didn’t have the luxury of it. It was the hour of the monsters now.

That reality didn’t take long to make itself known, either. The sun vanished behind the horizon. The moon and stars emerged from behind the veil of light. The night came to life as Kobolds howled in the belly of the forest. Distance noises of fighting tickled Jake’s ears and the soft scent of discharge wafted into his nose. This far from the village, far away from its Sphere of Influence, and well beyond the reach of any other village, the frontier was truly wild.

“Maybe we should’ve stopped,” Randal teased. He let out a worried chuckle as his eyes flicked from right to left.

“No. It’s good that we didn’t,” Jake answered. He narrowed his eyes and sat up from his comfortable, lounging posture. He looked over his shoulder towards the second cart and noticed that the other driver was just as nervous as Randal. “We might have to push further than we thought.”

Randal sighed. “Just not all night. The horses won’t make it if we try.”

“Understood.” Jake stood up and pulled his spell blade from his hip, leaving the Elven sword to dangle. He gripped the weapon firmly in his right hand, then passed it smoothly to his left. After a wiggle, he poured mana into the weapon. “Whatever you do, don’t stop.”

“That bad?” Randal muttered, looking over his shoulder at the Adventurer.

Jake nodded. His eyes glistened, shimmering blue as he scanned the treeline. “Bad enough.”

Goblins.

“You got us out of the last one. I trust you to get us out of this too.” Randal let out a nervous laugh, trying to ease the tension he felt. However, the grip on the reins betrayed his courage.

“Trust isn’t necessary,” Jake huffed. “Trust means there’s a chance I might fail.”

Randal furrowed his brow as he looked over at Jake again.

“But there’s no chance of that.” Jake’s eyes narrowed and he conjured a dozen Wind Cones around the cart. His mana flow blossomed to life, a tail of mana unfurling from his waist as he began to burn through his magic.

The Goblins hiding in the treeline, flanking both sides of the road, released terrifying shrieks and cries of battle as they began rushing the road. The short, barely four foot tall green creatures raced to attack the caravan. Shrills of greed pierced the night air as the creatures spilled forth to the glory beyond the trees. Only for Jake to stop their advance cold.

The answer to their screams was the silent cracking of air, the small booms of rushing wind followed by the powerful impacts against dirt, tree, and meat. The Goblin wave was countered by the overwhelming rush of Wind Cones, spiraling torrents of wind that drilled through their weak bodies and blew their bodies apart. Jake’s eyes flicked from left to right, his Sensory Magic expanded to cover both sides of the road and fifty meters into the road in either direction. His Night Vision flared, illuminating the forest and the road as clear as during the day.

The caravan trotted on, moving at a slight jog as Jake calmly controlled the level of danger around them. “Steady, smooth. Control the horses.” Jake assured his drivers as he stood atop the crates stacked in the first cart. He balanced there, commanding the field of battle with undeterred confidence. The spell blade in his hand remained dry as the forest floor was stained with Goblin blood.

The initial wave was crippled before a single Goblin touched the road. The feeble creatures had numbers but their organization was similar to that of the Brigands. They rushed all at once, scrambled over one another, and ran straight into the wall of magic of Jake’s barrage. Unlike the Brigands, however, the Goblins never retreated. They pushed forward even as their kin fell, each hoping that luck might be on their side. Hoping that Jake’s magic might miss them. Hoping they might get a taste of that juicy horsemeat!

All for Jake to remain stoic and steadfast in his defense. An impenetrable bulwark of a man who met their hostility with overwhelming violence. Not a shred of mercy and not an ounce of hesitation as he slaughtered them.

The drivers bore witness for the first time just who their Escort truly was. They watched with a mix of awe and fear as the Goblins were split open, torn apart, dismembered and disemboweled, and killed without so much as a blink from their Adventurer companion. Like a conductor to a murderous symphony, Jake produced a chorus of violence all around them, bathing their eyes and ears in the sounds of a deathly song.

Yet, they listened and they listened well. The carts continued forward. Steady. Smooth. Horses under control and without panic. They focused on their sole task and left the fighting to Jake, if one could even call it a fight. Only when the sounds of nearby howls finally emerged from the forest did the men both look at Jake out of true concern. Jake hadn’t missed the alerts from the other monsters and his attention shifted away from the Goblins for just a moment as he identified the direction the howls came from.

It was time to dance. “Up the pace. I have to dismount. Keep going and I’ll keep you covered. Don’t outrun me.”

“Understood!” Randal answered, a little less than calm. “Ya hear ‘em, Bailey?!” The lead driver looked back and checked with his partner.

“Ya I ‘erd ‘em! Go, ya slow fucka’!” The second driver snapped the reins on his horse and upped his pace as directed.

Randal did the same and the wheels to the wooden carts rattled as the horses picked up from a trot to a quick jog. Jake finished off the last of the small Goblins trying to run at them then he hopped off the side of the cart. He landed softly and in stride, running beside the cart with an open and extended stride. The howls of the forest drew closer as the carts picked up their pace.

“Here they come!” Jake announced, warning the drivers shortly before the Goblin Riders emerged from the trees.

Goblin Riders. Goblins who sat atop feral wolves and rode them as steeds. They rushed from the treeline and raced towards the carts from the right side. The Wolves howled and barked, drooled and snapped their jaws as they practically tasted the air filled with horse and human. Feral both in appearance and attitude, the Wolves carried their Goblin riders along, practically dragging the small creatures, as they raced to close in on their prey.

Jake dropped back from the carts and gripped his weapon. The spell blade flicked to life, the mana inside of it igniting as the edge glowed hot. Hot as though it were fresh from the belly of a forge, sizzled orange and white. The heat burned the air itself as the fire of war raged within it. Jake squeezed the hilt and jumped at the first mobile threat. The Wolf barked and lunged, its jaws snapping and closing around air as Jake skipped out of the way. A simple movement.

With a twist, Jake spun and performed an uppercut. His hot blade easily glided through the soft meat of the Wolf’s neck and passed through its boney spine. The headless beast toppled forward, flipping over and ejecting the Goblin on its back into the dirt. The hungry pack, Jake, and the carts raced off, leaving the abandoned Goblin behind as it scrambled to its feet.

Six left.

Two of the Goblins, armed with make-shift slings, swirled the leather weapons over their heads and snapped them in Jake’s direction. Rocks the size of pebbles cracked forward. One of them smashed into Jake’s back, the other hit him in the face and drew blood as his cheek cracked. The attacks both made him stagger but he caught them in stride, returning their attacks with appropriate answers.

Jake stomped on the ground and dumped mana into it. Then, a wall of stone shot upwards in front of one of the Wolves. The beast smashed into it head first, launching the Goblin on its back forward. The Goblin shrieked as it flew headfirst--directly into Jake’s sword. The Adventurer cut off the Goblin’s trajectory and sliced horizontally, splitting the Goblin in half from head to center. The two halves split off in two different directions, both landing with grotesque squelches on the ground.

The other Goblin began to wind up another pebble, attempting to take another snap at Jake, only for Jake to answer first. He snatched a rock off the ground and jumped forward, lunging and spinning to build momentum. With a crack, he snapped his arm back and launched the pebble at the Goblin’s face. A secondary crack of wind propelled the rock even faster, accelerating it enough that the stone crushed the Goblin’s face upon impact. The creature’s skull contorted then caved inward, blood and brain matter leaking from the cracks in the bone from the harsh pressure. The Goblin slumped over and tumbled, lifeless, off the Wolf’s back.

The Wolf continued forward, however. Without a rider to contain it though the beast raged forth. It made a lunge at Jake and attacked wildly. Snapping and biting angrily to try and get a taste. Its claws swiped forward and the beast snarled angrily as Jake slipped out from each attack. When it tried one last attack and tried to tackle Jake, Jake dropped to a knee and slid underneath the beast. With a swipe, Jake cut the animal’s stomach open. The Wolf landed, whimpering, and tumbled to a stop off to the side.

Four left.

Jake hurried to his feet and rushed off after the group. Having stopped, he accelerated and used wind at his feet to catch up. One of the Goblin Riders closed in enough on the second cart that the Goblin was beginning to try and jump onto it. Steering the Wolf, the Goblin grinned and cackled as he began to move about in his saddle. Two others were close behind, waiting for the first to jump over.

Rushing in, Jake reached the group again just as the first Goblin made the jump. Its claws dug into the wood and the Wolf at the side fell back into formation. The Goblin clambered up, snarling and licking its lips as it climbed onto the crates. Two more Goblins lunged onto the cart quickly after, similarly struggling to get into the back of it. The last lined up and was about to jump when Jake sliced out the back legs of the Wolf it was riding. The pair toppled over, face planting. In the tumble, one of the other wolves was collected and fell over as well.

Jake snatched the back of the cart and yanked himself up into it. Using magic, his heels flipped up and Jake soared over the Goblins, landing between them and the Driver. The cart shook from the heavy impact and Bailey fought with the horse for a few seconds to keep them from flipping. For a moment, both Jake and the Goblins paused as they stared at each other, waiting for the cart to stop its foolery. Just in case.

Catching it and showing off his expertise as a driver, Bailey got the cart until control. “Good!” He shouted back at them.

Taking that as their cue, the Goblins scrambled forward. Jake blew one off immediately with Wind Magic. The second jumped him, its makeshift ax swinging wildly. Jake collected the ax with his sword, shoved the Goblin backward into a crate, then swung his blade at the other Goblin to keep it back. The swing would have hit if they were on a smooth, unmoving surface. However, Jake wobbled a little prior to the swing and was forced to correct himself. The Goblin avoided the uneasy swing by leaning backwards, then jumped after the blade passed it.

Jake smirked and his right hand shot over his left arm. He snatched the Goblin by the face and dangled the creature out in front of him. Its claws dug into his arm, scratching at the vambraces he wore and tore at the clothing over the top of his protection. His left hand twisted, brandishing his blade’s edge, and he cut back across his body. The hot weapon seared through the Goblin’s squishy belly, cutting its lower body free. Its guts spilled out as its legs fell away from its torso. Jake tossed the top half over the side of the cart, then kicked the other half out of the way.

The third and last Goblin collected itself and made another dashing attempt to swing at Jake. However, Jake parried the ax then blew it off the cart with Wind Magic. A massive hole opened in the Goblin’s stomach as it was knocked skyward.

With the Goblins dealt with, Jake turned his attention to the Wolves. They raced alongside the cart and were quickly making ground, adjusting their own pace to match that of the horse’s before they would jump it. Without their riders, Jake found no need to use anything other than magic to dispose of them. He struck each of them with wind cones, blowing off a limb each to disable them and knock them out of the fight, effectively ending the engagement without stepping off the cart again.

Before he called the end of the fight, Jake swiftly scanned the treeline and pushed his Sensory Magic out again. No mana signatures came back to him aside from the natural ones and he couldn’t see anything with his night vision either.

Satisfied, Jake turned to the driver. “Clear,” he announced.

“Whew! What a show!” Bailey grinned and laughed. “I knew ya’ were good but hoo-wee that was awesome!”

Jake drained the mana from his spell blade and then wiped it clean after the sword was cooled off. He sheathed it, then gave Bailey a pat on the back. “Good driving.”

“Of course! I am one of tha best!” He hollered and whooped, whistling to get Randal’s attention.

The lead driver looked back finally to see Jake signaling for him to slow down. He obliged and the two carts slowed to their casual walk. The horses huffed with discontent and sputtered, catching their breath after having worked so hard for so long again. Jake transitioned back to the front cart and took his position just behind Randal once more.

“You alright?” Randal asked, looking back at the Adventurer.

“No change. That’s not the last of them so stay alert.” Jake sat down for a moment and dug into his rucksack. From inside, Jake yanked out his shield and fixed it onto his forearm. Using the straps, he cinched it in place. Randal looked at him funny. “What?”

“You putting that on makes me uneasy,” Randal rumbled, pointing out that Jake hadn’t worn it at any other point.

Jake shrugged. “Tonight is a good night to test its use. If it’s shit, I ditch it.”

Randal practically choked at the statement. “Wait, you haven’t used a shield before?!”

“No. Why? Should I have?”

“Yes!” Randal shouted.

Following his exclamation, the howls of multiple Goblin Riders reached their ears again. The commotion of the first battle had reached the ears of the Frontier. If the monsters hadn’t known they were here before, they knew now. Goblin shrieks spilled into the air from every direction and even the howls of Kobolds rang out from the West. Jake gripped onto the handle of the shield and stood up tall in the back of the cart.

“Welp. There goes my sleep,” Randal groaned.

Indeed, it was going to be a long night.