It took Kai several days to convince himself that he was ok with his hand to play in the so-called recruitments. He hadn't been back to the main village, but from the reports he had heard, everyone they sent back was adapting well and had much better conditions than they used to.

  A part of him knew it was likely all a lie, but he pushed that part down. After all, there was nothing a level 33 archer could do about it. He sighed and pushed the thoughts away. He would know soon enough, even if he would rather stay in the dark as they returned to the clan to begin the next phase.

  The leader of their march, Yoten, signaled for everyone to stop. They were approaching a large wall that had recently been constructed, but it looked like some massive creature had bulldozed it.

  “What’s going on?” a man shouted.

  A high-pitched screeching noise like nails on a chalkboard answered him.

  Kai’s blood went cold. He had never heard it himself, but from the descriptions, only one creature made that terrible noise.

  “Shriekers! Defensive formation quickly!” Yoten shouted.

  Kai ran to the center of a defensive box, with spear-wielding shield bearers forming its walls. At least 40 of the horrific creatures broke from the trees surrounding them.

  “Archers, be ready to fire over the wall!” Yoten shouted.

  “He’s not here,” a deep mechanical voice growled. The imposing figure of a skeletal humanoid clad in full plate mail walked through the line of shriekers. “Humans, tell me where the one called Ren Elborn is, and I will let you leave here unharmed.”

  As it spoke, the creature radiated an aura of primal bloodlust, bringing Kai and most of the other soldiers to their knees.

  “What do you want with Ren?” Yoten asked in a shaky voice.

  “That is none of your concern. Now tell me where he is.”

  Yoten drew his sword. “Fir–agh”

  “Wrong answer.”

  Kai turned to see a 6-foot-long blade of light protruding from the front of Yoten’s chest and the skeletal being standing behind him. With a flick of the creature's wrist, the blade went up, bisecting his head. A wet thud sounded as the corpse fell to the ground and the blade disappeared.

  “Now, would any of you like to tell me where Ren Elborn is?”

  “I-I’m not sure, but he should be returning here soon. The elder called for everyone to return,” a man stammered.

  The creature turned its head and body mechanically and approached the man. It grasped him by the neck and lifted him into the air, staring him down with its soulless, glowing yellow eyes. “Are you certain?”

  “Y-Yes,” the man stammered through choked cries.

  The creature tilted its head and stared at him momentarily before letting him fall to the ground.

  “Good. You should all head east to find your elder. The sight of your former home may be more than your godless minds could handle.” The creature disappeared, and the shriekers slowly crept back into the woods.

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  The group sat silently for a long time before someone finally piped up. “We should go see Draven,” he said with an audible shake.

  No one responded to him, but the group began to head east slowly. They walked for almost two hours before finally coming across a small encampment containing the survivors from their clan.

  “What happened?” Kai muttered.

  “A setback.” Draven pushed his way out of a tent in front of the camp. “That old fool didn’t properly check the area, and a horde found us far sooner than they should have.”

  “We lead all those people back to the clan just to be slaughtered,” a man shouted, clutching his head.

  Kai winced.

  “We couldn’t have predicted this would happen. We were trying to help them,” Draven said in a voice that left nothing up to discussion. “Now, where is Yoten?”

  Kai winced again as a few men brought forward what was left of the man.

  Draven stared with unfeeling eyes. “I see. I will pick a new leader and send you all to hunt and grow stronger tomorrow. We still have a lot of work to do.”

  Kai gave the corpse a look of pity. He knew far too well what it felt like to be cast out by your family.

  “Now go get some rest,” Draven said.

  Kai obliged, finding an empty tent and lying down. He stared at the ceiling for a long time before everything went black.

  The following day, he went out with a small group of warriors, and they hunted the shriekers in the surrounding area. He had fought battle after hard-fought battle at first, but his leveling speed took an impressive turn, and in just under a week, he was already past the fourth threshold.

  This continued for another week before Draven addressed the clan. “We have been given a unique opportunity to gain support from an unlikely ally.”

  “All this ally has asked is for us to hand over two deserters.” He held up a small disk, and an image of the granddaughter of the former elder, and someone else, whom Kai did not recognise, appeared. “Now, all of you in fighting condition will head out with me at dawn tomorrow, and we will get our goal back on track once more.”

  They walked for almost five days before finally arriving at the camp late at night. As soon as they approached, alarms started blaring within the encampment, and a large force rallied to meet them. Draven and a few others exchanged words, but Kai ignored them, making his way to the side of the encampment and finding a good tree to shoot out of.

  It didn’t take much longer before fighting between the two sides broke out. Kai supported his clanmates in firing at enemy combatants. Eventually, he locked on to one of their targets. He knew that they needed them alive and was about to switch to another target, but the man started an incantation. Kai fired an arrow, forcing him to stop.

  Kai watched in shock as the man's right arm split in two, and lightning sparked through his body. He lost sight of him for a moment, but soon found him on the opposite side of his comrades. His comrades rallied and tried to attack the man, but he flashed again, and in less than a second, several of them fell to the ground. He watched in shock as several black bolts of mana flew from the man, causing multiple of his comrades to have large holes vanish from their bodies.

  Kai scrambled as the man tried to cast another spell, but he shot another arrow, forcing him to stop again. Several black bolts flew in his direction, causing him to jump from tree to tree to dodge them. One struck a branch just as he was about to land..

  “Oh shit!” he cursed crashing to the ground.

  By the time Kai was able to climb into a new tree and get a good look at the battlefield, it was too late. An orb with multiple violet tendrils flowing from it decimated the army of men in front of it, and all Kai could do was watch in shock until a man dressed in red robes shattered the spell.

  Kai breathed a sigh of relief and retrained his bow on the spellcaster. “That's not happening again,” he muttered.

  The man dashed to the side, pulling a crossbow from his back as his companions entered melee range. He began charging a power shot.

  “Oh no, you don’t,” Kai muttered, releasing an arrow of his own and forcing the man to fire his attack early.

  Kai nocked another arrow and waited until the man began attempting to cast again. It did not take long, and Kai released the arrow, sending it flying toward the spellcaster.

  Something slammed into his chest with a thud. He looked down as pain shot up his body. An arrow was embedded in his armer with only the fletching poking out.

  “That’s… not good…” he muttered as blood poured from his mouth and he fell from the tree, the world permanently fading to black.

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