Still as a mountain, yet sharp as a sword, a river of bluish fog cut its way through the sea of greyish fog, hovering silently above the water flowing underneath, protecting it from dangers known only to itself. In return, the river stripped it of all the foreign elements, carrying them with itself, depositing them on its banks along the way, while picking up its lost brethren from the roots and beasts that dared to cross its path.

  In essence, the cycle of the river and its bluish fog was no different from the cycle of the greyish fog and the trees. Still, there were some differences. The river, for one, kept moving, while the trees stood still, watching, observing everything. Including the group of strange beasts rushing through the greyish fog, with no regard as to how they were hurting the forest in the process.

  These beasts… They were different. Not only in their behaviour, and their disregard towards the wellbeing of the forest, but also in their shapes and size. And their strength. The trees had seldom observed beasts with such strength gathering together. Neither had they seen beasts move in such a unified manner. More importantly, these were not the only group of such beasts. There were many such beasts who had come to the forest recently. Like the beasts the first group of beasts was rushing towards.

  “Slow down,” Narkhan said, raising his hand to signal the people following behind him. Wanderers, who, just like him, were clad in green robes, with patterns of ivy entwining around a shield. The emblem of the Greenshield clan, descendants of the Wanderers chosen by Ivold, the Goddess of Ivy.

  “Did you spot them?” Marian asked, slowing down her pace to match that of her Captain, as did the rest of the Greenshield Wanderers.

  “Not yet, but we are nearing our camp.”

  “Then should we not rush in even more quickly?” Bras added. “What if they discover—

  “They will not. We made sure of it.”

  “Still, I am feeling a little uneasy.”

  “…It must because of the new environment,” Narkhan said, glancing at his fellow clan members, and his teammates. “Ignore it, and focus on how we are going to deal with the other party.”

  “…Are you sure it is a group of Wanderers?” Vamos said. “What if it was just a group of passing beasts?”

  “Nassi said that she felt at least eight clear fluctuations of Spirit Power at the Peak Stage, and the other two were not weak either. Oren Beasts would not gather in such a group. Unless there is an Adult Stage beast leading them. But there should be no Adult Stage Oren Beast in the Final World. If none of them escaped the city’s purge, that is.”

  “…Are we going to persuade them to join us? You know, since we have not dealt with those Star Seekers yet…”

  “Stop dreaming,” Narkhan said, shaking his head. “Did you not see the information of our Trial? We thought that the Final Trial would pit all of us together, but it has divided us into reasonable groups, and given us our own Trials. Stopping the Star Seekers is just a part of our objectives. Do you know what this means?”

  “…That the Star Seekers probably have to run around the Final World to complete their Trial?”

  “…It means that there can be more than one winner in this Trial. That we do not have to compete with thousands of Wanderers to complete our Trial. That, so long as we do not slip up, we can also gain the qualifications of Blood Commanders.”

  “But the Elders—

  “The Elders only asked us to ensure that the Star Seekers do not pass the Trial. And we will do our best to achieve that goal. As will thousands of other Wanderers. But with the temptation of entering the inner city, do you think the other teams, especially those in our surrounding area, will treat us their allies? No, we were destined to become enemies the moment we were sent to the same part of the Final World.”

  “…Let us not be too hasty in coming to conclusions,” Konas said. “When we meet them, let us first try to talk to them, and see if we can resolve this peacefully.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “…The premise of your suggestion is that the other party will be willing to talk to us,” Narkhan said, slowing down their pace to almost a walk, as they neared the rive flowing next to their camp. “We are almost at our camp, but I have yet to see their figure.”

  “…Maybe they have left already.”

  “No,” Nassi said, shaking her head. “My Array would have warned me if they left its detection range.”

  “…Maybe they were just startled by us rushing over. As long as they do not attack—

  Stopping mid way of his words, Konas glanced at the river. Or the ripple that spread on its surface, going against its flow, taking only a few moments to turn into a turbulence that rocked the river itself. But that was just the beginning. Soon after, a shark, about three metres long, and a third as wide, formed completely of water, broke through the river’s surface, and rushed straight towards them, swimming in the air.

  “Ivold’s thorns,” Bras cursed, unstrapping the shield on his back, and rushing forwards to meet with the shark. As the team’s guardian, it was his responsibility to defend the team against the attacks of their enemies, unexpected or not. But especially so in the case of unexpected or sneak attacks, when his team was not yet ready to face their enemies. In such cases, even if the attack seemed impossible to defend, he still had to step forward and buy enough time for his team to counterattack.

  Besides, though the shark looked big, it did not seem impossible to defend against. Especially since he was not particularly helpless against enemies larger than him. Urging his Aspects to flow along his body into the shield in his hands, and wrap around it, he performed one of the foundational Martial Styles of his clan, condensing a large virtual shield in front of himself. Larger than even the shark.

  Standing four to five metres tall, and at least three inches thick, the shield was so big that even the official records of his clan called it the First Wall of Green. A perfect move to deal with enemies charging towards the caster, like the shark charging towards his team. An unmovable wall against just a normal shark—

  Bras dug his foot into the ground to hold himself in place, as an overwhelming force hit the wall, almost throwing him off his feet. And though he managed to keep himself standing, he was still pushed back by a metre or so, leaving two straight grooves in the ground. The shield, on the other hand, was cracked in several places, with its light flickering to express how unsteady it had become. Still, at least he managed to hold the shark back.

  “Do you have anything else to say, Konas?” Narkhan said, not even bothering to look towards his naive teammate. Rather, he focussed on the grooves left on the ground by Bras’ feet, and the shower that that the shark had disintegrated into after crashing into the shield.

  “…I—

  “Gear up, everyone,” Narkhan said, summoning a short sword and a shield into his hands, as he glanced at the forest around them. “We have been ambushed.”

  “What formation should we choose?” Bras said, dispersing the crippled virtual shield, as he regained his balance.

  “…Let us go with Formation Black Shield.”

  “…Black Shield? But we already know where the enemies are coming from.”

  “Do we?” Narkhan said, as the rest of the Greenshields quickly assumed their positions, taking out the gear matching their formation. “Have you seen them?”

  “But the shark—

  “Was a prearranged attack, that we triggered by getting too close. For all we know, our enemies could be anywhere. In the river, in the forest, on the trees, and maybe even under the ground. Never underestimate our enemies. And so, until we see them with our eyes, we will assume the Black Shield Formation. Of course, we cannot just sit with our hands tied either. Our enemies are not going to show themselves on their own. At least not until they think they have the advantage… Nassi, Konas—

  “Do not worry. Since they have chosen to be our enemies, I will not show any mercy. No matter where they are hiding, I will dig them all out, and show them the consequences of their actions.”

  “Good. Then next, everyone should be careful of—

  Before Narkhan could finish his words, two more creatures of water broke out of the river, and rushed straight towards the Greenshields.

  “I think I might need some help here…”

  “Vamos!”

  “On it!”

  Two shields, green and dark green, overlapped with each other, allowing the Greenshields to block the two strange shark like fishes without being pushed back. Yet, before they could rejoice, two more fishes jumped out of the water. And then, two more. And two more. And… At some point, Narkhan just stopped counting. He just knew that there were nearly twenty weird sharks swimming in the air, rushing towards his team to tear them into pieces.

  “…I think I may need more than just Vamos this time.”

  “Marian! Konas! We will leave our back to you. Everyone else, stand your ground! No matter what comes at us, we will face it together, and come our victorious!”

  “…For the Greenshield!”

  “For the Greenshield!”

  “For Ivold!”