This grim tableau unfolded with brutal efficiency, the cloaked figures cutting through the Delmin's ranks with ease until only women and children remained. The female Delmin appeared fairly powerful in their own right. More than one of them held a cudgel or axe in their hands, but none wore armor. The children cowered behind their mothers.

  I watched, hidden in the shadows of a collapsed building, weighing my options. Their attackers weren’t Delmin, but there was something familiar about the way they moved. I just couldn’t place it at the moment.

  Then, an instant later, an arrow thudded into the stone next to me. Damn, I hadn’t seen the third member of their party! I felt my Hide skill break as the arrow embedded itself into the stone with a force that seemed impossible for a wooden arrow. An instant later, a burst of flame exploded out of the arrow, consuming it and blasting me up against the side of the ruins. I was never more happy than right now, that I had fire resistance, thanks to my new breastplate. The fact that Mage Shield was now always active at a minimal state, also played a part in my survival.

  My ears were ringing, and I shook my head, trying to regain my sense of balance when I stood.

  As the smoke from the incendiary arrow cleared, the realization hit me like a physical blow: the cloaked figures were elven Forerunners, their slender silhouettes now unmistakable. Their presence here threw me for a loop. Had they gotten the same mission I had? Was that even possible? Then another thought hit me with system confirmation.

  You are the target of a revenge mission created by Ceorgi survivors.

  My mind raced, adrenaline surging as the pieces fell into place, their fluid movements and lethal precision marking them as formidable adversaries. I wasn’t sure what tier they were at because Identify hadn’t triggered yet, but two-to-one odds weren’t too bad, I could handle that. But if their rare tier leader was here, my chances of winning dropped significantly.

  The momentary shock of the ambush snapped me into action. My hand instinctively reached for my weapon, the weight of it grounding me as I prepared to confront the elven Forerunners. They’d seen me and their archer had even pierced through my hide skill, not that it was very high level. I looked around for options. Fight or flight meant I had to keep both open.

  I lost track of the archer as she hid behind some debris, but the other two were both headed straight for me. The elven Forerunner wielding the scimitars advanced first, his blades cutting through the air with lethal intent. Before he reached me, another notification popped up.

  Andriel Treefoot (uncommon) Race: Elf

  Level: 62

  Threat level: Mild

  Right before he reached me, my polearm appeared in my hands. I parried his first few strikes. The metal of his blades was unable to cut the crystal tip of mine. But I didn’t rush as I tried to take his measure. He was fast and graceful, but after a few blows, I was fairly certain he wasn’t as fast as I was even without my buffs. That didn’t make his attacks any less deadly, and it was clear his blades were enchanted, but I held my own.

  At least I was until, behind him, the mage began to chant, the air around his staff crackling with building energy. I knew I couldn't afford to be caught in the open when his spell was unleashed. Dodging another swipe from the swordsman, I rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding a bolt of ice that shot past, turning the ground where I had stood moments before into a patch of frost. At the same time, I conjured a shield and sent it flying at the mage as a battering ram. Dang, did I ever like this new class.

  For all that I pushed him off guard, I wasn’t able to turn my full attention to the swordsman as a volley of arrows launched into the air. A quickly conjured shield kept it from encasing me, but the net that appeared between the arrows was still too close for comfort.

  Then I felt a flick of pain as a blade caught my arm. If I had Urg out or even if I was buffed, I might have tried my luck but I didn’t have those advantages and so I decided discretion was the better part of valor for the moment.

  Using the ruins as cover, I feinted an attack towards the swordsman, drawing him slightly off balance in his desire to reach me. My enemies excessive aggression could be one of my greatest weapons. As he engaged, I glanced back to see the Delmin mothers ushering their children away. Their movements were hurried but silent. They were already at the edge of my perception with their forms blurring into the desert. If I could buy them a few more seconds that would have to be enough.

  I missed taking his head off by an inch, but it was enough to push him back and allowed me to cast Stealth Flight. I stayed on the ground for the moment and saw a momentary glimpse of surprise, as my spell didn’t do anything to him.

  The truth though was that I was getting stretched too thin. It was taking all of my concentration to fight him and keep up enough shields so that I wasn’t frozen in ice or blasted apart by a concussive arrow. When I felt like I was about to reach my breaking point, I activated Spirit Walk.

  Then I streaked off, flying straight through any obstacles. Spells and arrows passed through me without any effect, but I didn’t bother to stop and taunt them. I needed to create as much distance as possible if I wanted this to work. Fortunately, my new top speed was pretty amazing and I could hold Spirit Walk for almost a minute now.

  That time was enough to put me a good fifteen miles into the desert. I made a mental note of the direction the Delmin had fled in, but then I used the last two seconds of my time to dive under the sand. Then I turned on every stealth ability I had while also focusing on using the camouflage function of my flight spell.

  I felt them all sync together under the sand and then on a whim I focused on Hunter’s Instinct and my mind was flooded with some of the basics about how I could survive in the desert. My Durability was high enough that I didn’t have to worry about normal exposure issues, so for now it was just a question of if I could hide long enough. So I waited, trying to stay perfectly still.

  Chapter 49- Into the Desert

  Optional Secondary Mission: Slay Elven Forerunners 0/3 Reward: 10% of their accumulated world points.

  Beneath the desert's surface, the coolness of the sand enveloped me. It made for a stark contrast with how hot even the setting sun had been. There I lay, hidden from the eyes of those who hunted me. It was all good practice and Hunter’s Instinct pushed me to act in ways I’m not sure I would have ever been able to before.

  I remembered reading, the hardest part about being a sniper wasn’t making the shots. It was enduring the conditions necessary to get into and then staying in position, to get the shot in the first place. Heck, the biography of Marine Sniper, Major John Casey told a story of hiding in the walls of some two-bit dictator’s palace for two whole weeks only to find that he wasn’t even in that part of the country.

  With the urging of my instincts, I lay motionless, my every sense attuned to the world above. Hours passed, marked only by the gradual shift in the temperature around me. As the heat of the day gave way to the chill of the night, I knew it was time to move again. The desert might have seemed barren and still to my old self, but with my enhanced Perception, I could feel it coming to life. Predators came out and the dance of life and death began anew. Most of them were nothing I had to worry about, just this world’s equivalents of scorpions, lizards, snakes, and birds.

  Once I rose up from the sand, I recast not only my flight spell but also Mass Physical Boost and Magical Acceleration. Boon-Bane wasn’t really an option if I was using stealth since it affected enemies once they were inside the area of effect. I made sure that my Stealth Ability was activated. At the same time, I focused on being as stealthy as I could and lifted off into the sky. I pulled the shadows around me with the innate power in my boots and then flew in the general direction that the Delmin had gone. All the while, I paid attention to my Mini-Map ability, hoping to catch an early warning of either enemies or the Delmin.

  Sure enough, at one point, I saw a single red dot. An enemy, although I couldn’t say if it was a Ceorgi survivor or one of the elves. Even if it was an elf, I didn’t want to engage with one of them without knowing where the others were. My bigger mission was to connect with the Delmin and see what they needed.

  As I flew, my mind was a whirlwind of thoughts and strategies. The encounter with the elven Forerunners reminded me that I was still a novice at this. There were dangers I had no idea about. That didn’t change the end result. It wasn’t even that I had some steely resolve. I was simply a man doing what had to be done.

  The desert, vast and seemingly endless, offered few landmarks, but my Hunter's Instinct guided me. The more I could relax and just follow it, the more certain I felt I’d eventually find the Delmin. I had to cast the spell a couple of times. I knew I was spending too many hours searching rather than resolving my objective. With a mere eighteen hours to complete this mission, I honestly felt I might fail for the first time.

  Eventually, a faint glow on the horizon caught my attention. It was too deliberate, too structured to be a natural occurrence in the desert night. Approaching cautiously, I realized it was a camp, the faint light of fires flickering against the backdrop of tents and temporary shelters. This had to be the Delmin, their camp was a haven in the midst of desolation. It helped that the Mini-Map started showing me a bunch of green dots for life signs. I was pretty sure that there had to be some type of underground shelter, there were too many Delmin in one location, and no obvious buildings to house them.

  Maintaining my altitude and the cloak of shadows around me, I circled the camp, observing from a distance. There were a dozen Delmin gathered around a fire with four others patrolling around a sand covered rise. I couldn’t see the opening from my position, but I assumed it covered whatever underground facility the other life signs were in. I looked down and saw their faces illuminated by the flickering light. Relief, exhaustion, and determination were etched into their features. Even with Hunter’s Instinct, I could only imagine how hard it was living in the desert, especially without magic to make it easier.

  I knew I had to approach carefully, to reveal myself in a way that would not startle or threaten them. Their trust would be hard-won, especially in the wake of recent events. Lowering myself to the outskirts of the camp, I prepared to shed my cloak of shadows, to step into the light and face the Delmin. Quickly, I activated Adorably Harmless and dropped half of my free stat points into Charisma. It might be cheating, but I was learning to get over that.

  As I descended towards the edge of the camp, the shadows that clung to me like a second skin began to dissipate, revealing my form to the Delmin below. Urg was still clinging to my back as a cloak. The effect of Adorably Harmless seemed to ripple through the air, softening my appearance, making me less of a threat and more of an oddity in their eyes. Still, the sudden appearance of a stranger from the night sky was enough to startle them. The only way I knew it really worked was that many of the warriors just sat there, staring at me.

  A couple of Delmin, who had been lounging by the fire, sprang to their feet with agility that belied their previously relaxed state. Their movements were swift, presumably a blend of instinct and training as they reached for their weapons. The campfire's light played off their pale yellow skin, casting long, dancing shadows across the sand.

  Others, caught up in the effect, were much slower before they began moving. But it wasn’t long before they were scrambling for their weapons. I wasn’t worried about them though, because even as their hands closed around the handles of cudgels and the hafts of axes, they still looked on with confusion.

  The two Delmin who had risen first charged at me, their weapons raised. Despite the Adorably Harmless spell, their instinct to protect their camp overrode any hesitation. The first swung a cudgel with surprising force. I’d already channeled mana into Mage Shield. The blow bounced off of my mage shield. Even then, the force pushed me back a step. When he swung again, I sidestepped, leveraging my superior stats to evade the blow, feeling a begrudging respect for the warrior's strength.

  The second Delmin, quicker and more agile, thrust forward with a spear, its tip glinting in the firelight. Again, I relied on my agility, sidestepping the thrust and reaching out to disarm him. I missed with my hand, but Urg, in the form of a cape along my back wrapped around the spear, wrenching it from his grasp. The warrior's eyes widened in shock as his weapon was suddenly torn away, his attack thwarted in an unexpected way.

  “Beware, he is a demon.” The warrior shouted.

  Then he leapt at me, trying to bring me down by sheer mass. That might have worked once upon a time, but I had worked hard with Samvek and his training paid off. I side stepped. My stats shined, but my skills and training were the real stars. I was able to anticipate their movements, and danced around and between them. I struck to weaken or stun, but never to kill.

  Several others jumped into the fight, but I wove a net around myself of force projections. I practiced shaping them into strips which I could use more like whips than shields. By keeping them connected to me, it was easier for me to visualize their movements, and thus I kept half a dozen whips moving while I worked my way between the warriors.

  I had to give it to them; the Delmin weren’t quitters, and they didn’t scare easily. Despite their continued aggression, I was careful not to harm them. My goal was not to engage in a needless battle but to establish a connection, to offer assistance. My movements were calculated, designed to disarm and disable rather than injure. The Delmin warriors, though surprised by my ability to counter their attacks so easily, quickly realized they were outmatched.

  As a group of disarmed Delmin stood before me, panting and assessing their next move, I held up my hands in a gesture of peace. My voice, when I spoke, was calm and measured, designed to convey my intentions without escalating the situation further.

  "I mean you no harm," I said, hoping my words would bridge the gap of mistrust. "I'm here to offer help, just as I did when I brought down the barrier around Proximus.”

  A few of the warriors mumbled, “White devil.”

  A larger warrior said, “Stand down. We will hear what he has to say.”

  Around the campfire, more Delmin had appeared. I could only assume that the fighting had brought them up. The other Delmin watched warily—weapons within their reach. But whether because of curiosity, or because that warrior held some sway, they all simply watched me. The air was tense, charged with the potential for both conflict and understanding. So, if my Charisma was ever going to work for me, now would be a good time.

  The large warrior stepped up. Twin axes hung at his hips, but he made no move to grasp them. One of his oversized hands formed a tight fist, and he slammed it to his chest. “I am Dejek. I lead the remnants of the Delmin. I was not there, but many bore witness to the way you freed those in the city and fought against the Ceorgi. For that, we will hear what you have to say.”

  I returned the salute and then said, “I am Silas, a Forerunner of my world. I came here before—without knowledge, simply trying to complete a mission. Now, I have come back with intention. I seek allies, but it also seems that you have needs. Tell me what it is that you need and I will see what I can do for you.”

  “Before such things can be discussed, we must hear your story,” Dejek said.

  I tried reasoning out what he meant. Then I decided that I was overthinking it. So, I told him of my life, about becoming a Forerunner, some of my missions, and how I fought for my world. As I spoke, my audience grew larger and soon there were over five hundred Delmin watching me, men and women alike.

  When I finished, Dejek said, “We respect those who protect their people, Chosen of the Heavens.”

  As I heard that, I figured I knew where the Delmin came down on the heavens vs system argument. That was fine. I still hadn’t made up my own mind yet.

  “What can I do for you? The heavens have brought me here for a reason.”

  One of the women said, “He fought the short ones earlier, giving us time to escape. I saw this with my own eyes.”

  Dejek nodded. “This is another debt we owe you. How can we ask for more?”

  I shrugged, “Because the heavens have brought me here.” I could see that my aura was starting to work on all of them. Most that I saw only had common classes, although Dejek had a rare class—albeit only at level seventy-five—and a handful of warriors had uncommon classes.

  “Then know that what we need is water, land which we can farm, but even in death the Ceorgi have killed us. Their weapons and the war have destroyed our world. Proximus was the last refuge, but in our anger, we destroyed that. Now, I have ten-thousand mouths to feed and not enough food.”

  I had no idea what to say to that. The system shouldn’t have sent me on a mission which I couldn’t fulfill, but that didn’t leave me feeling reassured. What could I offer them?

  Chapter 50- Reclamation

  I was relieved when they didn’t expect an immediate response to the issue and instead, invited me to a spot around their fire. They even offered to share their limited food with me. Since the mission only had fourteen hours left to it, I wasn’t nearly as worried about my food supply, so I opened my spatial storage and dumped out many of the food supplies that I’d brought.

  Mostly, it was a bunch of jerky, some candy, other smoked meats and dry beans that I could boil. My time in the dungeon with Samvek had taught me a bit about calorie dense food and things that could be quickly prepared. My body might need mana to fully function, but I still got hungry. The Delmin were integrated into the system, so I assumed they were in the same position.

  Some of the food, especially the cans got weird looks, but the children loved playing with my can opener. Their cooks quickly understood the value of the beans once I explained them and they began preparing a big pot of food. I got so swept up into it that I only reserved my protein bars in case I needed a pick-me-up later.