Taking a closer look, I realise they barely look human. Even their auras are resembling something very inhumane, it’s almost as if they are demons rather than humans.

  Tension levels keep rising as both our parties stare at each other. I’m afraid they haven’t chased us down to have a nice chat, so the only question is which one makes the first move.

  Another arrow is pulled out and the bowstring drawn. If they intend to make a move, it’s going to be right after firing. I take a brief look to my right, where Aleiana is standing. Her hands are shaking.

  Not a single word is said. Instantly after the archer releases their arrow, everyone else gets moving, too. The axe-wielder is charging straight towards me with his huge weapon flying around him, backed by the shield-and-sword user.

  My companion quickly dodges the arrow and returns fire. Apparently they underestimate her, letting her fight just the way she likes. Now’s not the time to observe others, though.

  The axeman gets repelled by a magical barrier I’ve set before they have closed the distance. He’s knocked away a few steps and almost gets thrown down the gorge. Hastily conjuring a blade, I clash with the other one, exchanging a few blows to gauge his strength.

  He’s strong and fast. But not fast enough. Blocking my blows with his shield seems to give him an impression of dominance in this fight. He grows more and more confident and eventually attacks me in a deadly strike from above, leaving himself open.

  A quick sidestep avoids the blow, getting right between his shield and himself. With barely any effort whatsoever, I let his leg run straight into my blade.

  Something resembling growling could be heard from underneath the helmet as his plate armour reflects the blow with ease. He swings at me again, forcing me to parry his attack in defence. His attack doesn’t stop here - rather than retreat back into a safe position, he keeps pressing on my blade, trying to force me on the ground.

  That is when the axe-wielder reappears and swings his giant weapon at me from behind. ‘Sunamar! Behind you!’ I hear the elven ranger shout at me.

  They may have a decent bit of coordination, but compared to me they lack something very fundamental - Power.

  Suddenly, a burst of strength enters my body as I easily push the swordsman away and turn around to face the other opponent. Evading such a massive and slow weapon isn’t very hard.

  Enhancing your physical capabilities with magic is a very common method of combat for many mages. There’s a lot of us out there that exclusively use this type of magic in combat. Thanks to these spells, I can make myself very fast, strong or durable, depending on what is needed. Unfortunately, as melee combat isn’t my specialty, using this magic puts lots of stress on my body and exhausts my mana in massive amounts.

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  Having the opportunity, I cast a binding spell on the latter of the two warriors and leave him there standing motionless with his giant axe in his hands. This gives me plenty of time to deal with the first one.

  The tank appears to be angered by my little trick, growling in anger and charging at me full speed, leaving himself full of openings.

  I close my eyes in concentration for a short moment, holding the right pose as he closes the distance. When he’s in range of my blade, I open them again and slash at the dragon hunter.

  My blow slices the shield in two, piercing straight through and leaving a large crack in his armour. He’s left there in blank amazement, giving me the chance for a fast follow-up - a stab straight towards his chest, piercing it with ease.

  Making the sword disappear I jump back to a safe distance and observe. My opponent seems to be heavily, if not fatally, wounded, as he falls on his knees and coughs up some blood on the ground. The red liquid scorches the land wherever they come into contact.

  As I had thought - They are no ordinary humans. My sense for auras wasn’t wrong, as only demons’ blood runs this hot as to scorch anything it touches. You could argue it appears more like an acid rather than boiling blood.

  The situation appears to be under control now, so I can afford taking a peek at how my comrade’s doing. Aleiana’s been exchanging shots with the hunter, apparently both of them getting hurt a couple times in the process seeing that their arms and legs were all scratched and bleeding on both sides. Seems like victory is ou-!

  A familiar figure appears in front of our eyes. The wolf-like beast we have fought yesterday is here, but not just once - twice. The last enemy of ours - the caster - has been given enough time to summon a pair of these beasts to win them the fight.

  There is no time for making decisions. I instantly charge at him, knowing that a summoner’s weakest spot is his low combat prowess.

  One of the wolves steps in my way, but that doesn’t stop me - a quick jump and a skillful blow right into its head makes it disappear in an instant. Only two steps between me and the enemy mage.

  I tighten the grip on my conjured sword and plunge it straight into the mage’s chest…

  And then the body disappears. As if it was a mere shadow, the figure of the wolf summoner simply fades into nothingness, leaving no traces behind.

  ‘Ah!’

  That was Aleiana. Drawn out of my confusion, I turn around to see her being cornered by the other summoned creature. A few centimetres is all there is between her and the deep gorge, falling into which would mean a certain death.

  Without a second thought, I teleport right next to the beast and cut it in half. Now the only thing left is getting rid of the archer.

  As soon as I think about this, I feel sharp pain in my belly. I hiss in pain and just barely hold the tears. The dragon hunter ranger has successfully hit me with one of his arrows.

  ‘Sun!’ the elven girl shouts in horror. Losing her focus, she runs towards me.

  I barely turn my eyes around in time - The mage has rejoined his archer comrade and has charged a large spell, ready to blow both me and Aleiana in one fell swoop.

  There’s no time to think. I don’t have enough time to charge a strong enough defensive spell to protect both of us and with this wound my innate protection has been weakened, too.

  Only one option remains.

  ‘Huh?’ can be heard as I pull the elf close and, holding her in my arms, throw myself down the gorge.