酷视

But by now, it was far too late.

The group that Namidia saw has long since vanished from her vision, either by using some sophisticated spell… or by simply walking behind something and cutting her direct line of sight.

But now, it didn\'t matter. What did, though, were the supplies of her entire unit evaporating to the sky in a pillar of dark smoke!

The fire was big, far bigger than it had any right to be. And yet, thanks to all the dark and heavy smoke it produced, one could barely see its shine from just a few meters away, making it practically invisible to anyone further away.

\'Shit!\' Namidia cursed, torn between rushing to the depot in hopes of stopping the fires and actually giving chase after the sneaky invaders.

"WATER!" Sulean, who had more time to overcome whatever caused him to be so struck by terror, now came in clutch, finally rallying even those who failed to notice the thickening of the air. "FIRE! WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!"

Bit by bit, the nearby part of the camp was waking up, with people coming out of their tents and then taking a moment to properly wake up, some more time to assess the situation before finally starting to move.

\'Slow!\' Namidia cursed under her breath, following Sulean\'s order even though she actually outranked him and rushed to the nearby, freshly dug-out well.

Thankfully, by now there was already someone operating it, pulling out a bucket full of water, and swiftly pouring it into whatever containers the first few people brought with them before throwing the bucket right back to the well and repeating the process.

Soon, Namidia was rushing back with her helmet full of fresh, cold water. Reaching the edge of the fire, she took a swing and sent the water into the fire… Only to almost jump back when it nearly instantly turned into steam, expanding into the space she threw it from.

If not for the girl\'s quick wits, her entire front would be heavily burned.

But Namidia\'s luck and swiftness were exceptional. And all around, the crying and wailing figures of burned men proved just how close of a shave it was.

\'Everyone is too slow!\'

Screaming in her mind, Namidia simply ignored what just happened and rushed back to get another helmet worth of water. Only once she reached the end of the queue at the well and waited some time for her turn, the absurdity of her actions struck her.

\'The water evaporated long before even touching the fire. It\'s too hot…\'

With the feeling of powerlessness spreading through her body, Namidia left the queue and… just walked off.

A small set of fires in the distance indicated that the group of invaders felt perfectly at home in their camp, turning their precious stocks of supplies into campfires whenever they went.

\'Just where did I see stuff like that…\' Namidia asked herself, suddenly finding herself back at her supply depot which, by now, was pretty much gone.

The small, makeshift shed that housed all the precious meat was now nowhere to be seen, reduced, to its content, to a pile of charred dust on the ground. The two tents that housed barrels with grains and oats didn\'t even leave that kind of trace.

And that was just the first row of the makeshift storage her unit built with their own hands to safe-keep the food that was supposed to last them the first half of the campaign.

"We are fucked, aren\'t we?" Staring absentmindedly at the charred remains of her unit\'s supplies, Namidia breathed a heavy, exhausted sigh.

Just the godly retribution falling down on their camp every now and then wasn\'t enough. Those supposedly stupid monsters were now proving to know the craft of the war, using all the advantages the headquarters came up with for the sake of the camp to efficiently burn it down, piece by piece.

"Fuck…" As much as Namidia hated empty swears, right now, she felt justified in throwing some meat around. With nothing better to do and the noise of chaos coming from the far end of the camp by now, she walked all the way to where she saw the group of attackers the one time she actually managed to lay her hands on them.

After scanning the path for a bit, Namidia raised her eyes forward and looked at the area beyond the limit of the camp.

\'All that food…\' Namidia thought, feeling her throat tense up as tears welled up in her tears. Then, she threw a hateful stare to where the fires jumped over one of the burning supply depots to the surrounding tents, instantly exploding in scale and intensity.

In a mere moment, the last semblance of organization left the camp, with everyone panicking and rushing around, only to become obstacles for those who actually had any idea of what to do.

"Bring more water!" someone shouted from where Namidia left her tent.

"No! Remove the tens! Clean everything that can burn, so we can thwart and block the fire!"

"The god\'s wrath is upon us! Fall down on your knees and offer your prayers to ye mighty if you wish to survive!"

"WATER! BRING MORE WATER!"

With the level of chaos that took over the camp, shouting pretty much lost its use. No one could be bothered to listen to what others wanted. And from the looks of thighs, it would be a long while before the officers would introduce some discipline and order back in all of the units.

BOOM!

A distant yet still powerful explosion shook the air, causing Namidia to look up from the obvious marks of someone crawling through the muddy field brought by Cessayah\'s failed stormshield. And as she looked back towards the camp, to where yet another strike of the divine retribution fell down on the camp… she saw Sulean.

In the moment, it felt surreal, to see a familiar face in the midst of all the chaos. Further out, deeper into the camp, the familiar whistles finally brought some order among the people as the headquarters of the camp finally made a move and pushed the officers out to do their damn job.

Right now, though, Namidia couldn\'t care less for the orders from the headquarters. What she cared about, though, was the look of absolute terror on Sulean\'s face as he looked right at…

No, not right at her.

He was looking at something right behind her!

\'Shit! Fuck!\' Realizing what was going on a tad too late, Namidia bent down, and brought her hand to the handle of her saber before turning around and swinging at the perceived outline of the enemy behind…

Only to watch how her blade shatter when met with the hand of a man so beautiful his skin appeared to ooze silvery shine from the gaps where the dried-out mud failed to cover his flesh.

"Good thinking, Varus!" a voice uttering familiar sounds appeared next, only for the silvery hand to reach out and grab the broken sword in Namidia\'s hand, wrestling it out of the girl\'s grasp in a single, leisurely move.

Namidia froze in place, petrified by the sight before her eyes and what she could understand through it.

\'Those are not people…\' she thought, struggling to even gulp her saliva down. \'THOSE ARE THE MONSTERS FROM THE FOREST!\'

And among them… a human.

Or rather, one of the lucky few who managed to overcome their limits and become something greater than just a human. That much Namidia could feel from the young man\'s aura; so overwhelming it actually made her feel light-headed a bit.

And as it turned out, it was this young man who was the owner of the voice.

"I nearly forgot about this part of our task," he casually spoke, clearly not minding the fact that Namidia could both hear and understand him.

The girl gulped her saliva again.

The fact that this young man allowed her to hear something as big as this… didn\'t bode well for her.

"NAM!" Sulean shouted, stupidly announcing his advance as he rushed to help the girl.

"A second volunteer?" the young man\'s face visibly brightened, he even went as far as to clasp his hands in amusement. "Great! Now we will be able to cross-check their words!"

The young man showed absolutely no hint of hesitation or doubt at the sight of Namidia\'s charging partner. Soon enough, one of the young man\'s soldiers simply revealed their aura, releasing it out to the wild… and instantly stopping Sulean in his tracks, forcing him to a complete halt.

Yet, rather than celebrating a successful capture, the young man looked deeper into the camp only to have his amused expression sour a fair bit.

"It seems like we are out of time," he muttered. Then, he shook his head and turned around before waving his hand in the direction of the couple. "Grab them and let\'s ditch," the young man ordered. "This mission will lose its purpose if we allow them to bait us into a fight."