A support going rescue

Jay had of course noticed the five individuals arriving in his vicinity.

His senses and intuition were way sharper than most, and except the one who shot the arrow, none really was anything like stealthy.

The group stepping out of the undergrowth was the one he had been looking for. Jay had heard them fighting a little towards the west but spotted a batch of Gnolls that was about to run there.

Out of concern he intercepted them and practiced the precision of his spells a bit with some of the monsters.

While the soldiers looked tired and their armors were bloodstained, the woman leading them seemed in top shape. She stepped forward and walked over to Jay without hesitation.

"You... A mere Adventurer being that presumptuous? You should be thankful we saved your worthless life!" she blurted out as she arrived before Jay.

Her slender arms stemmed onto her equally slim hips, the auburn haired beauty looked him dead in the eyes.

And those eyes seemed to practically glow in a turquoise shade. But those weren't the most remarkable feature of the sporty looking woman in front of him.

It was her Ears.

Those slender long ears, at least eight inch long and pointing diagonally upwards, showing she was an elf.

Not backing down in the slightest, Jay raised a brow, watching the reaction of the arrogant woman with amusement. She seemed to him like she was truly believing in her own words and that she saved him moments ago.

The rest of the small unit was not that single minded and looked around as they stood beside their Leader.

"...Uhm, Lieutenant... I think you should have a look at this..." One of the men next to the elf hinted.

He was pointing to the mangled Gnolls.

Another man, a sturdy looking, tanned man of at least 40 years, walked over to the Gnoll their Lieutenant killed. He grabbed and lifted it slightly, showing the perforated limbs that looked more like a sieve than body parts.

"I think he's right Lieutenant. This monster at least posed no threat...Ma'am." was all he could state when the small elf turned to him with a cold and piercing glare.

Turning back to Jay after shutting up her group, still holding the same expression, she started to question him.

"Who are you and what are you doing out here?"

"I'm Jay, a lowly Adventurer as you guessed. I take it you are the unit tracking the Gnolls to their hideout I was asked to support?" J.

"Who would ask you to support us?"

"Commander Haggard. Here..." J.

Reaching her the order he received from Haggard to pass to the woman in front of him, Jay kept his facial expression from twisting.

Her attitude still irritated Jay, but given she was trusted by Haggard, he still hadn't written her off as no good.

Taking the Letter he handed her and reading through it, she looked up to Jay clearly irritated.

After rereading it, she put the order away and cleared her throat.

"In that case, I am Lieutenant Kathariel. I don't know why Haggard thinks I'd need help from someone like you but you are free to follow us... as long as you don't get in our way!" K.

"Oh, too friendly... I was requested to help, and from what I saw and heard, you need every hand you get." J.

"Me? Needing help from a Adventurer?" K.

"Huh? Where's the 'lowly'-part?" J.

"I'd probably die before I..." K.

The sound of a dull blade crashing through a leather armor disrupted her sentence.

As if her last words had called for it, a large group of Gnolls had attacked the soldier furthest away.

It had been the last of the three men in their small unit of soldiers Jay never saw before.

Though that soldier seemed to have been the oldest one in this unit, he still had been a soldier of the kingdoms army.

With a spear piercing the battered leather armor, another Gnoll ended his life.

Jay had noticed something approaching but had thought the soldiers noticed as well.

That would have at least explained, why they spread out around Jay and their Lieutenant in the middle of enemy territory.

Now, one of those soldiers was dead. And it wouldn't stay at that.

Dashing towards the tall and tanned man, four Gnolls attacked him simultaneously.

He defended himself well, but as the tracking unit consisted of scout class fighters, he was hard pressed.

As the one with a spear that already killed the first soldier joined them, it was another scout down.

Though his life was ended by a spear through his heart, the soldier took two of the Gnolls with him, wounding a third severely.

Kathariel rushed over to the man but came to late. With her shortsword she made short work of the remaining three Gnolls.

At the same time, Jay went towards the last soldier. It was the one who perceived Jay's situation first as they met and even hinted his Lieutenant to it.

The soldier himself had noticed another batch of Gnolls coming from the north and prepared. But like the other two that died, Jay knew he wouldn't stand a chance in direct combat against multiple opponents.

Aiming his stone shards at vital spots, two of the monster died instantly. With a shrapnel to their forehead and heart, Jay steered free of friendly fire.

The one whose attack had been blocked by the soldier received a mana boosted punch to the ribs as Jay arrived.

Blown to the side and crashing to the ground, sliding on for about ten yards, the Gnoll's life ended when a arrow pierced its heart. Kathariel who had gotten rid of her opponents joined the fray.

At the same time she had shot the Gnoll rolling on the ground, Jay had electrocuted the last two of the group he was fighting.

Ending their live with a stone shard each while walking over to Kathariel, he froze as he heard a scream.

It came from the second woman other than Kathariel in their unit.

She had positioned herself in the north-western direction on the clearing they stood on. As the Gnolls coming from the north had directly rushed over to the soldier standing north-east to Jay, he had intercepted them.

Just as he was shooting his lightning spell on his last opponents, two more Gnolls snuck out of the undergrowth and rushed towards the female soldier.

The woman herself was dumbfounded watching the battle of her Lieutenant and the newly joined Adventurer.

To her that was no battle, it was a one sided slaughter.

Not concentrating on her surroundings anymore, the two Gnolls had easily caught and pulled her away into the undergrowth to the west.

The only thing left for her to do was scream for help before the Monsters shut her up.

Had Kathariel not butted in and went to that female soldier, the situation would have been different, but now the woman was gone.

All three remaining fighters looked at each other.

They knew that, if they had cooperated better and been on the lookout the whole time, none of this would have been necessary.

Running over to where the woman vanished, the three were shocked to see the sheer number of footprints beneath the undergrowth.

Most of them were older and it would of course be possible to track the Gnolls, but there being that many trails told them a lot about the gnolls numbers.

"Do you know how many Adventurer partys took the quest?" J.

"I guess three or four, at least until I left this morning.... why?" K.

"We need to inform the garrison and get them to move. As soon as possible!

If there are this many Gnolls, we can't risk any more lives." J.

"Though I hate to say it, you are right. Go and report to the Commander. We will go and save our comrade." K.

"You?...Alone?" J.

"I'm not alone..." K.

"Sorry to say this, but he's dead weight... Send him back to report. Even if you don't want my help, I am way stronger than him.

And I promised Haggard..." J.

After a brief silence, the last remaining Soldier butted in. "Lieutenant, though it's harsh to hear, he's right..." he stated with a downcast voice.

It was clear to Jay he had hurt the mans feelings, but it was necessary.

Not waiting for the elf's reply, Jay went on his knee and searched for the right trail to follow. His tracking skill worked full throttle, but after he first found the right paw prints, he lost them again soon.

As the soldier rushed back towards the direction of the river and off to report, Kathariel walked over to Jay.

"Mind telling me what you are doing there?" K.

"What does it look like? I'm trying to track the damn Gnolls." J.

"A mage tracking footprints? Funny ...let that be done by someone who knows about it." K.

"And that would be?" J.

"Me... anyway, show me your ID first." K.

"Why?" J.

"Tsk... to include you to my party. Why else? This way we'll at least know about each others health in the coming fights..." K.

Showing her his ID after taking it out of his inventory through a pants pocket, Jay received a similar prompt like last time he joined a party.

Immediately clicking on [accept], Jay suddenly got the feeling to know about the elf's and soldiers conditions.

***

Kathariel invites you into a Party

[accept] [decline]

***

***

Party joined: Tracking Unit

Experience points will be shared

***

The feeling of the female soldiers health staying good irritated him slightly, but as he thought about it, he had an idea as to why it was this way.

Urging Kathariel to start her tracking or it would end worse than death for her missing soldier, another question formed in Jay's mind.

Following the slender elf as she found the right trail without much effort, he kept himself from analyzing her and asked the question that bothered him.

"Say, is it possible to not know about the other members of a party?" J.

"Well, isn't that something an Adventurer should know? That is only possible if the level difference is too big..." K.

"About how big does it have to be?" J.

"At least 50 levels! Now -sssshhh-! K.

Kathariel even turned around showing him the sign to shut up. They seemed to have come close to the Gnolls.

Even Jay could find their track without problem now.

Sneaking through the thick vegetation, the pair peeked out of a scrub and saw the two Gnolls they were tracking nearing a camp.

The soldier they had captured was getting carried over the shoulder by one of them.

Kathariel whispered that their behavior was more than strange to what Jay simply shrugged.

He was sure that one of the totems was behind all that. And with that in mind, he had a hunch as to what they would find in the camp.

Closing in on the camp as the two Gnolls had entered, Jay was proven right.

The camp itself was not that big, consisting of only slightly above ten tents around a campfire.

They were made of skins combined with branches and set up without order or plan in close proximity to the fireplace. On some furs laid out on the ground, lumbered a few Gnolls.

Spotting the soldier just as she got carried into a tent, Jay initiated the attack.

As this had turned into a rescue mission, fire magic was a no go, as well as chain lightning. Going again with earth magic as he had already revealed it, Jay shot at everything that moved.

Kathariel went after him as he rushed through the camp.

Shooting the incoming Gnolls with her bow, it took the two only seconds to arrive at the tent they were going for and rip it open. They left a path of devastation with 12 monsters dead by then and another five severely wounded.

The sight they got after the tent fell down justified that action.

Held by one Gnoll while the other ripped off her armor showing clear intent to use the female soldier as breeding stock, the Gnolls looked at Jay and Kathariel with bloodshot eyes.

A second lader their heads went missing as Jay had stretched out his hands an shot a volley stone shards like a shotgun.

With his evolved earth magic and spell weaving he was able to alter the form, size and number of projectiles.

With their limb body's falling down and releasing her, the skinny woman covered herself and thanked the two who came to her rescue.

Kathariel just nodded while Jay didn't even hear it completely as he was already rushing for his next target.

Back at the fireplace he had seen a slightly larger tent that was guarded by two Gnolls. Those hadn't even rushed in as he and the elf devastated a large part of the camp.

It had to be there.

Walking over to that tent, Jay went to turret-mode and shot each Gnoll that neared him with aimed, lethal magic attacks.

He no longer really minded what happened to the camp and even used fire magic as it was more cost efficient.

If there really were other survivors, they would certainly be crammed together in that one tent he was going towards.

Kathariel seemed to have accepted he was well off on his own as she helped her soldier and had wrapped some furs around her. The two women followed Jay who had by then killed off another fifteen Gnolls.

These lowly level 12 to 14 monsters posed no threat to him and with his, for his level, absurd magic power, Jay could one-shot most of them.

He kept on cursing though as those monsters barely gave him any experience points.

Arriving at the guards after analyzing them, Jay charged both arms with lightning and even infused mana. As the first level 15 guard lunged forward with his two-handed axe, Jay simply sidestepped him and punched forward. Standing to the monsters side, Jay only hit its broad shoulder.

But that didn't matter.

The sheer force alone from his full punch, enhanced by mana would surely have shattered the Gnolls arm and sent it flying.

What happened though shocked even Jay a little bit.

The lightning charge that unloaded shot, sent out by his punch, straight trough the Gnoll, exiting from the opposite shoulder and crashing through the next two tents yards further back.

With smoke rising from both holes in its shoulders, the hyena-like monster fell forward.

Glad he didn't punch into the direction of the big tent, Jay made ready for the last guard. The charge on his left hang was still on, but even after only those mere seconds, he felt it weaken.

It was still good enough for his opponent though.

Ducking in he went with an uppercut, leaving the monster no time to react.

Though the head went missing through the discharge, its body still got lifted some feet into the air until gravity had the limp body crash back down.

[Wield Magic] combined with [Martial Arts] was one scary combination. At least with someone whose magic was as potent as Jay's.

With the camp now cleared of enemies, all that left for them was to fetch the totem and release possible survivors.

At least that was what all of the three thought.