Izick coughed from the dust filling his lungs. Moonlight streamed into the house from the collapsed ceiling while most of the four walls still remained intact. The green shields above his head flickered as they held up part of the fallen ceiling.

  Adell pulled Izick away as the green shields deactivated and fell with the rest of the ceiling, unleashing another wave of dust.

  "Thanks, I almost got pulverized. Your Shield cubes saved me back there."

  "No problem. I can't get any decent information from you if you're dead."

  Hobbs ran past Izick and Adell, stepping over debris and fallen roofing until he reached the busted-open door.

  He ripped off the splintered door from its hinges and peeked his head inside.

  “Is everyone unharmed?” Hobbs said before going into a fit of coughing.

  The only reply Hobbs received was groans of pain from the dazed and battered Scouts under heavy debris.

  Izick and Adell followed Hobbs and helped him pull out the trapped Scouts.

  "Whoever is hurt, tell me. I have a Healer cube," Adell said, raising the pink cube for everyone to see. A Scout waved Adell over while a man near his feet rolled around in pain on the floor. He was one of the Combat Scouts who arrived with Adell and Bersi.

  "Ugh, Hobbs, I'm useless to you right now. Part of the roofing fell and busted my leg. I'm so sorry," the injured Scout said, grabbing his shattered leg. Adell placed the Pink cube on the man's leg, but shook her head.

  "This injury is too severe for my current gear. Apologies, but you'll need a real Healer for this, Dauns. I can't do anything for you. "

  Adell moved on to the next injured Scout. Hobbs came over and placed a hand on the Scout's shoulder.

  "Rest easy, Dauns, we can still finish this mission. You won't hold us back," Hobbs said, trying his best to reassure the young Combat Scout as the sound of Artillery Skills firing rang out once more.

  Bersi looked out the shattered window and watched as Ogres rushed past, growling with torches and spears in hand. A flaming meteorite smashed into the street, crushing the charging Ogres and sending a wave of flames that engulfed nearby buildings.

  “These artillery attacks are further away from us this time. Though now would be the best time to leave since the Ogres are busy watching the skies for another attack. Looks like those Elves are still kickin’ if they can use destructive Artillery Skills like this.”

  Hobbs began to strap on his gear before standing to his feet.

  “This is the window of opportunity that we need. Those who are uninjured will come with me. We will now mobilize and go deeper into Damaran to make contact with the Elves. The specific Scouts I need are Adell, Izick, Bersi, and Kern. Yon, I need you to look after the injured while I'm gone. Move everyone to another location if you have to. Keep me posted through your Long Book.”

  Were they using him already? He was genuinely surprised that Hobbs was using him so soon. Bersi stepped in front of Izick.

  “Hobbs, we don’t need so many Scouts. You, me, and Adell would be more efficient since Kern is still inexperienced, and the newbie just got here.”

  “We’re in hostile territory, so I want every Combat Scout we have for this push into hostile territory. Dauns broke his leg, and Yon has to take over command here while I'm gone to look after the injured. This is also an elven city, so we’ll likely need Kern’s specific skillset. We don’t have time for quarrelling. Let’s go. We're heading towards the origin of these artillery strikes.” Hobbs said as he, Izick, Adell, and the nervous Kern lined up on the wall near Bersi.

  Bersi grunted in dissatisfaction as she cracked open the wooden front door and took a quick look around. She closed it as a group of Ogres turned the corner and ran by.

  She took one more glance outside before swinging it open and motioning for the others to follow.

  They took to the streets of Damaran as the white stone buildings and houses towered over them. They dived into an alley as Ogres sped down the streets in a panic as flaming red meteorites slammed into them and exploded into rubble and flames, instantly incinerating them. Kern shivered at the sight as he gripped the straps to the pack holding the Pinrockers on his back.

  “Shouldn’t we get higher and move from rooftop to rooftop? The buildings are close together, and we might be able to avoid the Ogres. We could even spot the artillery fire better as well.”

  “In normal circumstances, that would be ideal, but the Ogres are already looking up because of the Artillery Mysteria, so they would spot us and spear us to death. We also have less cover from said artillery fire up there as well,” Hobbs said as he pulled out his long-barrelled pistol from his side.

  “We will keep moving through the streets and push deeper into Damaran to see if the elves are the ones using these Artillery Skills. If we are spotted by any Ogre, aim for the mouth and kill on sight.”

  They traveled through the long alleyways until a tall white tower could be seen in the distance. Flashed red would sometimes burst out of the viewing port. This white tower was now the obvious point of interest for the group.

  They pushed onwards on an empty back road away from the main artillery fire and the Ogres when Izick heard rapid, but heavy, footsteps approaching from the rear.

  Izick swiveled his head to the sound and saw an axe-wielding Ogre running towards them at top speed. He pulled back his axe and readied a swing at Kern, who was oblivious to his impending death.

  “Kern! Behind you!” Izick shouted, causing Kern to turn back in horror as an axe came down towards his face.

  Adell flung a green cube at the Ogre to create a shield to block the axe that recoiled backwards as soon as it made contact.

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  Hobbs fired his pistol, sending a round bullet at the Ogre's face, shattering his tusks but not killing him. The Ogre grabbed his mouth as he stumbled backwards off balance.

  Izick pulled out two of his knives as he jumped at the Ogre and then stabbed both sides of the Ogre's head through the ears. The Ogre screamed in pain, but Izick threw a black cube at its mouth to release the black straps and shut it close.

  Izick jumped away from the Ogre, barely dodging the two glowing purple discs that sliced the Ogre’s head clean off. Izick landed on the ground and stared back at Bersi.

  The purple discs circled back to Bersi’s hands, where she snatched them out of the air before slowly walking away. Adell violently grabbed Bersi’s wrist.

  “Are you a child? I know you did that on purpose. You almost hit him with that last attack.” Adell said before Bersi ripped her hand away from Adell.

  “I didn’t hit him, so why are you mad? Stop being so sensitive. We have a job to do,” Bersi said in a huff as another artillery blast went off in the distance. Hobbs took point at the front of the group again while loading another round into his pistol.

  “Stay vigilant and focused. We’re getting closer to the white tower launching these artillery attacks. I believe we will find Damaran's survivors there. Also,” Hobbs said, cocking back his pistol and turning to Bersi.

  “Bersi, try that nonsense again, and there will be consequences that will follow you well after we escape these Alps. We have an agreement in place, so stay in your lane. Understood?”

  Bersi opened her mouth, but closed it after Hobbs continued to stare her down. She nodded while sheathing her knives.

  "... Understood."

  They resumed their running with everyone taking their positions.

  “Your aim needs some work, by the way. You missed your target by a mile,” Izick said as he ran past Bersi, who could only growl with Adell and Hobbs so close.

  Dozens of Ogres threw their spears towards the top of the white spire. Most of the spears missed the small lookout room at the top, but two slipped into the open slit of the lookout room, pausing the artillery attacks.

  Hobbs motioned to the Scouts to quickly run around to the back of the white tower. Two smaller meteorites launched out of the tower lookout on seemingly random courses.

  The Scouts stayed low as they ran towards the white stone building at the base of the tower.

  The charred bodies of multiple Ogres lay spiraled across the stone ground ahead. Hobbs raised his fist for everyone to stop. He pointed to his eyes, slashed across his neck, before pointing to the ground.

  Kern pulled out a red cube and brought up a ward map as he scanned the ground. He slowly repeated Hobbs’ signs to confirm that there were mines underground. He sidestepped the dead Ogres while keeping track of the ward map and the position of hidden mines.

  The rest of the Scouts followed him closely until they reached a narrow wooden door. The Ogres likely tried to enter this door before giving up due to casualties from the mines and artillery strikes.

  Kern pulled out a larger red cube that produced a bigger ward map with more nodes. His hands moved at with practiced speed and efficiency until a red checkmark appeared in front of the door.

  Kern nodded to Hobbs, who returned the gesture and opened the door for everyone to scurry inside.

  They discovered a long hall with low golden arches that hung down from above. Paintings of distinguished Elves in military clothing lined the white walls of the hall that stretched out before them.

  An Elf in heavy silver armor came into view at the end of the hall from the adjacent walkway. His winged helmet shook in surprise before pointing his shield at the masked newcomers.

  “I-intruders!” the Elf said as a fireball formed at the end of his spear. Hobbs jumped forward and raised his empty hands.

  “Wait! We’re here to help you–”

  Adell tossed four green cubes as the Elf launched the fireball at the Scouts. Everyone dove to the floor as the fireball smashed into the green shields that expanded from the cubes.

  The hall roared with the sound of explosions followed by black smoke. Stay embers slipped past part of Adell’s shields and burned Kern’s arms, which were protecting his head. Izick unsheathed his knives and got as low as possible.

  This Elf was going to get the raw end of the deal since he wasn’t kind enough to let himself die from a misunderstanding. Especially when they came all this way to help.

  Bersi seemed to have the same thought as she pulled out her curved knives and assumed a similar position. Izick and Bersi took off running toward the Elf, choosing to act before the Elf could make another move.

  The smoke began to flow away from them like a river until the outline of a long-eared Elf woman stood in front of them. Izick and Bersi stopped after noticing her sudden appearance.

  The elven woman’s long red hair flowed down her silver armor. The smoke gathered into a thick ball that floated above her armored right hand. Izick’s grip on his knives tightened. Sweat rolled down his forehead. His senses told him that fighting this Elf woman would not be in his best interest.

  “Bersi, Izick, stand down. Elves of Damaran, we have not come to harm you.” Hobbs said as he tried raising his hands again. Izick and Bersi both sheathed their weapons before slowly returning to the other Scouts.

  The Elf woman quickly scanned the group of Scouts before turning to the Elf soldier who launched the fireball. He flinched before standing at attention.

  “Labon, what is going on here?”

  “I-I tried to eliminate unauthorized individuals in the rear gate.”

  “You almost doomed us all,” the Elf woman said before turning to Hobbs.

  “I assume you and your group were sent by Hiddel?”

  “Yes, we are an advance party here to confirm the status of the inhabitants of Damaran. I was tasked to find the Elf general named Kaleen and hand her an important document.” Hobbs said as he pulled out a rolled-up parchment with an intricate seal at its center.

  “I am this Kaleen. Would you mind if I took a look at this document?”

  “Of course.”

  Hobbs walked over to Kaleen and handed over the parchment. She broke the seal and quickly skimmed through the contents before sighing and staring up at the low-hanging arches.

  “That foolish idealist. He is going to get himself killed like this…” Kaleen said while rolling the parchment back up.

  “Excuse me?” Hobbs said as the Scouts walked up behind him.

  “I am only thinking to myself,” Kaleen said before stepping towards Kern and lightly grabbing his burned arm.

  “I sincerely apologize for my subordinate's actions, which resulted in injury. This is unacceptable, and he will be punished for endangering those who came to save us from our doom.” Kaleen said, turning her hand green to heal the burn on Kern.

  “T-thank you,” Kern said with a blush as Kaleen released his arm.

  Kaleen did a double-take as she walked past Izick. She stood completely still, staring Izick down, leaving him confused and anxious.

  “Ma’am?” Izick said as the other Scouts began to look at Kaleen with confusion as well. Kaleen turned away and then cleared her throat.

  “Excuse my rudeness. You have much more Pure Mana than a typical human,”

  Pure Mana? This was the second person to bring it up to him. Maybe Didra was on to something before she died. However, he felt like there was more to this. Something he had to ask this Elf woman directly.

  Kaleen turned away from the Scouts and began to walk down the hall.

  “We should be able to survive the night, but we all will be dead by daylight if nothing changes.”

  Hobbs and Adell glanced at each other uneasily as the Elf soldier Labon quickly fell in behind Kaleen.

  “Follow me. I will tell you what we’re up against.”