Chapter 10: The Horde

A rough estimate of the deer showed around ten females and ninety males. Although the herd they just fought was easily destroyed, the situation changed when there were over ten times the amount. Samuel could also see that one particular female had a much larger patch of blue hair and a bigger frame, which he likened her to the alpha of a pack of wolves.

"Civilian. We need to rescue them. Preethi, you're up." Anastasia said quietly.

The short Indian woman nodded before crouching down and sneaking towards the tree. She stayed along a path, keeping the tree between her and the horde of deer. The strange thing was that no footsteps or rustling of grass could be heard. She was dead silent.

As she creeped to the tree, the rest of the group waited with bated breaths. The civilian was sitting in a squat, peeking past the tree at the deer. If he moved, the deer would surely hear the sound.

Preethi started to move a little faster. When she was about halfway to the tree, the civilian turned back and saw her. She quickly raised her finger to her lips, indicating silence. Fortunately, the civilian was already keeping quiet and he didn't change that even if he was slightly startled by a person creeping towards him.

When Preethi reached the civilian, the group saw her lean to the civilian and whisper something. The civilian nodded before Preethi picked him up and slung him over her shoulder in a fireman's carry. With the civilian on her shoulder, she began to make her way back to the group.

"Almost there. Keep it up." Samuel overheard Angela anxiously muttering to herself.

Suddenly, a loud clatter pierced the air. Everyone turned to look at the source of the sound. Rick stood there with a petrified look on his face and his hand at his side. Mr. Bo had furrowed brows, with a slight expression of exasperation looking at Rick. A magazine was lying on the gravel next to Rick's feet.

There were a few seconds where everyone's heads turned back slowly. Preethi froze in place and glanced behind her. Although the sound of the magazine hitting the ground wasn't very loud, they all saw something that terrified them. Nearly all of the deer were now staring directly at them, their beady eyes ominous and unblinking.

The alpha female snorted loudly. The blue tuft of hair on her head glowed bright blue for a split second before several quickly rotating projectiles of wind and grass formed in the air above, aimed directly at the group of Awakened.

"RUN!" Anastasia kicked off the ground, quickly dashing to Preethi and the civilian before picking both of them up. She turned around right as the wind missiles began their bombardment. Carrying two people didn't seem to reduce Anastasia's speed by much, as she somehow bobbed and weaved through several wind missiles.

The rest of the wind missiles propelled towards the main group. Several tens more were being formed by the other female deer and the male deer began their charge.

The group immediately began running away from the horde. Akaash quickly shot an arrow towards one of the female deer before dashing off. A few of the wind missiles dissipated. Mr. Bo stepped in front of Rick, his staff glowing pale-yellow as he spun it and deflected a few wind missiles.

Samuel also started running but it was clear that he would be overtaken by the charging deer soon. He decided to try something. Circulating his mana, he activated his hell armor but only around his feet and ankles. Minimizing the amount of coverage to hide his abilities while still obtaining the enhanced stats in the body part that mattered right now.

Although the black armor showed slightly between his shoes and pants, he wagered that Rick was too busy running to notice.

Immediately, his running speed increased considerably. He pulled ahead, keeping his speed just enough to outrun the deer.

"Everyone head towards the forest!" Anastasia caught up with the group and put Preethi down. She continued to carry the civilian though, since they were certainly unable to outrun the deer.

As the group veered towards the forest, wind missiles kicking up dirt as they slammed into the ground around them. The ranged members of the group occasionally turned their torso, shooting arrows, throwing energy discs, and firing bullets haphazardly. The horde was so large that these projectiles would hit something.

At first, their retreat was chaotic and uncontrolled due to the initial momentary panic, but they gathered their bearings and began to thin out the horde slightly. A few grenades were lobbed into the horde, disrupting the charge.

Unfortunately, the situation began to turn for the worse as Samuel began hearing grunts and shouts of pain.

There were simply too many wind missiles. The grenades, although powerful, didn't manage to kill many deer. Some of them were even sniped out of the air by the wind missiles, creating a fireworks show of shrapnel and fire.

They needed to get rid of the main problem, the female deer controlling the projectiles. Samuel had an idea, but he needed Grandpa Hu and Akaash to cooperate.

"Grandpa Hu, pick up Akaash and run with him so he can focus on firing! Akaash, aim for the females." Samuel shouted towards them.

As soon as they heard the plan, they nodded. Although Grandpa Hu would have to expand, exposing himself to more of the wind missiles, Akaash could rapid fire and try killing the female deer to reduce the pressure.

Grandpa Hu's body expanded while he was running, his steps becoming heavier until becoming stomps that left footprints in the dirt. He pointed his arms down and interlocked his fingers, creating a small platform with his hands. Akaash hopped onto the platform and he started to shoot arrows, using Grandpa Hu's back as a cover. The effects were shown immediately, as he got a good shot in and one of the females collapsed with the arrow stuck in between her eyes.

The wind missiles kept coming, but the pressure was lessened slightly. With the supporting fire coming from the others, Akaash managed to kill two more in quick succession.

They were nearing the forest. Out of the hundred strong horde of deer, around thirty had been killed. Once they went into the forest, the trees would provide some cover, and they might be able to fight back. Although there were no leaves, the trees were packed close enough that the male deer wouldn't be able to easily charge at them. The addition of cover would also deter the female deer.

"We'll make our stand in the forest." Right now, Anastasia wasn't able to utilize her strength because she was forced to focus on running and protecting the civilian in her grasp. Grandpa Hu and Angela were also effectively useless, since they couldn't afford to stop moving and get overtaken by the horde.

As soon as they entered the forest, they spread out and took positions on top or behind trees. The dense pack of deer was forced to slow down, as some members of the enemy they were chasing disappeared from sight. Wind missiles continued to barrage them but it was much less dangerous. With Ariana joining Akaash in his counterattack, the deer numbers were whittled down.

Finding chokepoints where there were more trees allowed Angela to weave between them and kill the deer. Grandpa Hu just roared in anger and charged straight back, wreaking havoc amongst the smaller groups of deer.

Rick, as usual, was farther away from the deer deeper in the forest. Rick was gleefully shooting his new rifle at the horde, clearly enjoying the sensation. When he killed a deer, he'd laugh and punch into the air, completely halting his firing. Mr. Bo was also just standing near Rick without helping the rest of the group. It was clear that he was just there to protect Rick, having no intention of providing assistance. He occasionally deflected wind missiles away from the two of them.

Samuel noticed that there was a lot of dead branches on the ground and the trees looked dead as well. He had a bright idea. If he could arrange the branches in a specific way, he could have Angela ignite it and start a controlled wildfire.

Dashing from tree to tree, Samuel picked up branches and set them in strategic bundles. The grass would act as tinder, allowing the fire to spread from branch to branch. Magical fire like Angela's would definitely be able to spread easily.

At some point during the battle, the two sides entered a deadlock. The female deer had begun to adapt after realizing their wind missiles weren't as effective. They started to use the wind missiles more defensively, deflecting arrows and energy discs. The male deer started to group more densely to swarm Grandpa Hu. Slowly, the group of Awakened was forced to retreat deeper into the forest.

All throughout, Samuel continued to set up, taking into account the gradual rearwards movement of his group and also bringing the path towards Angela.

When he reached Angela, he briefly summarized his plan. She nodded after killing a nearby deer and then put her hands next to the makeshift fuse of grass and twigs that Samuel placed nearby. The fire quickly spread, following a path that formed a wall of fire between the deer horde and the group.

The deer halted their approach, clearly apprehensive of the magical fire. The group saw this and felt their spirits rising. Being forced to slowly back away from a horde of enemies was certainly not a good feeling so this was a nice respite.

Samuel was proud of his handiwork, watching as the fire wall spread in a particular direction. When he was setting the kindling, he took Rick's position into account. If the fire spread fully, the wall would force the deer towards Rick's position. It wasn't an obvious trap, as he also branched out the kindling, and he could borrow the antlers to gore the snake.

His smile grew wider. A slight feeling of catharsis bloomed in his heart.

'Whoever said revenge was sweet was right.' The anger from nearly dying still smoldered in his heart, which only now began to extinguish.

Suddenly, a huge blast of wind fanned out through the forest. The strong winds cut at Samuel's body, leaving small marks along his exposed skin. More distressing was the fact that the fire was extinguished, nothing more than ashes in the wind. The kindling was completely scattered.

The alpha female stared at Samuel, her blue glow just barely dimming. As the horde continued their advance, Samuel swore he could see her smile mockingly.