Trouble in the woods

The march continued the next morning.

This time they reached a village of creatures that were near the portal. The main population of these was a kind of humanoid-type creatures. They were of the type that varied physically, depending on their fighting style. When they chose what type they would be, they could not go back.

Whenever she saw these types of creatures, Noelle wondered why there were so many species in armor. Even those who didn't need armor could equip themselves with something.

Clearly, the people who designed the game where these species were born had a taste for such things.

She looked back at the "achievements" she had made. He still felt some discomfort about those details. It differed from the AR it used her to in Vyndra, which was basically part of the communication system.

She wasn't sure how people's privacy was handled here. I had the idea that this was the key to how achievements were awarded. The more she thought about everything, the more things were strange to her.

Aside from that, she focused on the children; they were gathering information about the area. There were a series of announcements floating around the center of town with some news and information posted by the travelers. The day passed, and the children were inside the village talking to the creatures and people passing by; it seemed that Sarah wanted to get as much information as possible and stayed inside the village this day.

That night, the children heard locals talking about an incident near the village on the "bulletin boards" in the town center. A herd of "savages" was attacking humans and creatures on one road leading to the portals.

A team from the village was supposed to have taken care of them, but the attacks happened again a few days ago. When they spoke to the squad that fought these creatures, they were told that he had only survived the confrontation, but they did not hunt him down because they thought they had scared him enough not to bother the travelers again.

At this point, the population was not high enough to have as many squads patrolling the area, and the attacker had moved out of the area they were guarding. It was also a fact that they could consider it that most of the inhabitants were still in their childhood, and we're still growing to ensure their survival.

- So... will we take care of that savage? -Aiden asked Sarah as they prepared to leave town the next morning.

- Yes," she replied sharply as she seemed to think of something.

"But we don't know exactly where he's hunting now. We'd have to split up," Adolf said as he stretched.

- We're not going to look for him. We're going to go to the portal where he was lurking, deviate a little from our original route. Still, we need not take ourselves so seriously either ... I know the portals' location a few miles away. We'll move within that net while we fight. But we will not stalk the inhabitants of this world. We will only defend ourselves.

- Understood," responded the team members.

When they reached the portal of the attacks, nothing happened. The following days their journey continued with some isolated clashes. They did not find an opponent who was a challenge to them, as their creatures had been doing; they moved and fought separately.

The third week passed in this way. Beyond that encounter with those finned creatures, it was quite peaceful, and it was something Noelle expected. Above all, she wanted these children to have some time for themselves.

With everything that had happened the previous year, they deserved a break. It worked the same way for her; Batze grew stronger by defeating the creatures that threatened them.

As she thought these quiet days were almost over, she noticed a movement in the treetops in the distance. At that moment, she was jumping over the trees.

At that moment, they were heading for the next portal. Batze went down to the ground and stopped to see what he could find as he connected his roots to the earth.

Noelle saw in the distance Bronk running through a clearing toward the children. He was coming from the direction of the disturbance, at which point Batze climbed up.

- It's definitely a fight, but they're destroying everything in their path, so I can't tell what they are," he said as he looked in that direction.

- Okay, let's see what they do.

Sarah got the report from Bronk.

While exploring her assigned area, she discovered a couple of groups of creatures that seemed to be in the middle of an argument. She couldn't get close enough to hear what they were talking about because she didn't want them to be detected, but she saw the moment when they started fighting.

He noticed that some creatures seemed to have a fairly strong mutation in the fray, and they stood out quite a bit. In the opposing team, a creature was mighty, and he contained them. The combat was intensifying, and when he saw that the fight was expanding more and more, he returned.

- Let's pick up the pace. If there are so many of them, we can't get involved," Sarah decided.

Since she didn't know the reason for the conflict, she thought it would be best to avoid it. They were still a few hours away from the next gate, so he forced the march. They moved in the same way they had been doing since they arrived. The creatures moved at a distance where they could immediately notify any discovery.

For some reason, the option to communicate through a chat-like in Vyndra was not available at this time, and as I said, "at this time," it was possible that they needed some achievement or article to unlock it.

Until now, they grew up in a world where they were always connected and could look up the information they wanted at any time. There are age limitations, so they have to go through a filter, but you could say it always connected them.

Having to fit in only with the knowledge they already had, and looking for word-of-mouth information, was an adventure for Sarah, and I knew it was the same for Aiden and Adolf.

It was something different for Tom, as he came from a planet where there was no network. So he was not oblivious to the situation they were in.

Despite thinking about these things, Sarah never stopped paying attention to what was going on around her. You could hear the sounds of fierce fighting moving through the forest; sometimes, you could see creatures escaping the area, looking for places to take shelter.

Thanks to Lessar, Drako, and Bronk, who could move through the air, they managed to get far enough away from the fighting. Yet it was desperate for them not to stand still in one place, so and the devastation that accompanied them, Sarah inferred that they were creatures powerful enough to make her hesitate about what to do next.

When they started running, Tom suggested that they ride Drako, but Sarah refused. They could move faster, but only they would climb, and it would be difficult for the other creatures. Besides, he didn't expect the fight to move for so long and on so much ground.

The moment she reconsidered riding Drako and how to proceed based on that, from the sky, Lessar shouted. The next thing he saw was his creature being ejected into the distance, Drako roared in the background, and the rest of the creatures immediately approached.

Something had affected his companion in the sky. His mind went blank for a few moments after seeing Lessar crash into the distance. All four were in the same situation; only his creatures reacted to what was happening.

Drako confronted the beast that was slowing down the momentum as he arrived at the site, simply using his psychic ability to throw the visitor in another direction. He acted so quickly that Sarah could not distinguish what kind of creature it was.

- Aiden and Adolf prepare their needles; Tom reacts with gusts of wind," Sarah orders after seeing Lessar get up to approach them, "Yuan and Bira climb on Drako's back. Bronk and the others spread out on our flanks.

They formed a triangle, with Drako taking the lead towards the portal. When Lessar approached, he ordered him and Bronk to fly over to see what was going on around them.

A roar was heard in the distance as they walked away. They continued to march for another hour, and their resistance was already at its limit. They were still an hour away from the portal, I could see their friends constantly regulating their breathing, and their creatures were in the same situation.

Not knowing why they were involved in this situation bothered him greatly. Lessar and Bronk watched the movements of their "pursuers," not knowing if they knew fully that they were on the path. But destruction followed them closely when they crossed a clearing, looked back, and saw smoke in the direction from which they came.

He also saw the figures of Noelle and Batze approaching.