61 Hellenic Woods

A great and mighty amalgamation of shrubbery, flowering herbs, and uneven trees stood shoulder to shoulder a sprawling gauntlet of nature presented itself before Shaka and the scout team. The change to this woodland was an entry marker to the savage lands of the Hellenic Forest. The trees blocked out most of the sunlight during the day, the atmosphere of the forest always had a tinge of death in the darkness within. Unseen eyes had been following the fourteen sets of footprints that had entered its domain. One of the scout team put his finger in his mouth sucking the blood from it, he had reached out to a tree and got cut, the bark of the was sharp even if it looked smooth.

Shaka could hear a lion mouse scurry away from the scout team, a foul odor had invaded his nostrils it was subtle at first however it had been steadily growing in strength as they moved into the forest proper. A warm air past the scout team, they pulled out their weapons experience had taught them that the warmth in this forest is death. A carcass suddenly fell from a tree, the source of the smell and a warning it was no coincident that it fell before them.

Travis said to Shaka "The body is a warning from a Rachni, they inhabit this forest alongside the Barberians."

Shakas's mind drooled at the thought of being able to fight the fearful Rachni an ambusher beastmen with high intelligence. He then turned to Travis asking him "Are they feral?" As his dagger was unsheathed by his left-hand instinctively, his mana dancing inside the blade ready to step into action at the first beat.

"Yes sir, as far I know they all are even the barbarians," Travis said his voice had barely been able to leave his mouth a practiced method to deliver clear messages at a low tone. A deathly atmosphere had crept in, a cacophony of beastly voices, a banging sound with every word "FOOD, MINE" their chelicera knocking together as they spoke.

Travis yelled, "To me!"

The rest of the scout formed a circle around him and Shaka covering every direction as two Rachni shimmered into view from the cover of darkness. Shaka held up his blade as a lightning shot out from Trifecta, It blinded the Rachni, four of them in total. The fifth had already died. Three men pounced at the Rachni, Shakas' bolt served as a natural catalyst for them to all start attacking.

They had been trained to attacks in unison. the teamwork on display was good as they had managed to take out all those four Rachni before the body of the fifth fell to ground from Shaka's lightning strike. Shaka had launched the lighting strike in hopes of striking two of the Rachni scouts he sensed above them.

The three men, each with a legion designed and forged steel weapon moved in line formation. Each of them driven with a single purpose in mind. The first was a woman by the name Julee, her scimitar cut at the joints of the closest Rachni preventing it from moving. Immediately after that, she moved onto the next one to the left of the first, she used her grey shield to block its attack her actions appeared to be one movement. Vusi followed behind her, he used his Warhammer, which was shoulder length to smash the face of the Rachni crippled Rachni killing it.

Roger a lanky sliver fox [race and age], moved to the one that Julee had blocked with her shield, Roger slid under the Rachni thrust his twisted sword into the abdomen of the Rachni at the same he froze its innards it was one of the few speels he had managed to master in his lifetime.

The unexcepted lighting from Shaka had messed up the ambush of the Rachni, the soldiers took advantage of the chaos. Vusi had used his forward momentum from his Warhammer swing to leap up and over the dying Rachni and attack the one at the rear.

*Swoosh*

*Swoosh*

*Swoosh*

Three arrows all loosed at once hit the undamaged Rachni in four of its eight eyes, after which a boiling noise started be heard from each of the wounds caused by the arrows. Vusis Warhammer landed with a thundering impact his momentum allowing him to produce extra force.

Julee then moved to help Vusi by delivering the blow on his Rachni

*Doof* A Rachni body landed in front of shaka, it had fallen out of the canopy above

*Swoosh*

*Swoosh*

*Swoosh*

About Ten meters away the last of Rachni was shot out of the canopy by Travis and his longbow, the fall killed it as it landed soft underside first.

The two soldiers who had not launched attacks were in charge of the bodies they quickly processed each one while, Travis, Julee, Roger, Vusi, and Shaka kept guard the fresh kill had awakened other creatures in the forest as the roar of a short-eared Panzer was heard approaching. Roger moves to a tree that the Panzer will not see him from. Julee smeared some of the Rachni blood on herself and stands as bait. The Panzer moved on all fours with its sharp claws, when it sees Julee it attacks in a heartbeat. The beast passes by Roger who launches his sneak attack nearly cutting off its one leg causing the monster to miss its next step and crash into the ground. Julee thrusts repeated and violently while screaming at Panzer, the voice pitching and yawing as she did. Eventually, Vusi had to stop her 'It's dead, we killed it, okay, it's dead' His voice soothed her like a bridge over troubled water.

The claws, fur, teeth, meat, and bones were all removed by Amihan and Linga. The value of the Panzer is not to be underestimated if the Panzer a little bit older it would have developed the distinctive armor common to the Panzer monster however, it would have also been much harder to kill a fully grown Panzer.

Shaka was presented with all the loot from the kills, as the highest-ranking officer, it was his duty to split the loot. Shaka thought about it and divided up all the loot equally. To the amazement of Travis who said ' Without you here we might have fallen for their you deserve more of the loot,' all the scouts were nodding in agreement. Shakas' lightning strike had not broken the ambush from above. it also revealed the two hidden Rachni and blinded them.

"I cannot take more if we are going to work together, you all need incentives" Shakas' thinking was to the Barberrains, any of the other creatures are mostly common monsters anyway. This small gesture from Shaka endeared the soldiers to him. Julee was being attended to by Vusi, Shaka asked Travis while intentionally not prying "Will she be a problem?"

Travis said " Not at all it is just a little fresh for her, she knows to handle herself" Travis then commanded the troops to forward. He wanted to bring something of value back to procession most of the lower scout troop had not brought in any useful information. The forest returned to its natural state. A few hours later they came upon a brutal killing, a young fire ape was half-eaten, the poor things mother bleeding out on the floor. A solitary spear hinting to the nasty barbarians of Hellenic Forest.

Travis while assessing the grounds upon seeing the spear says, "Find the blood trail, they left like this it is likely one of them is injured and badly." The men all moved out maybe two meters separating them from each other. Julee "Over here! I found the trail." Without a moment's hesitation, they all followed the trail to a small village. It hangs up in the sky. Unlike Elven cities which are grown from trees. The Hellenic barbarians built around a cluster of Karri knight Trees. The shorter trees hiding away the sky city from unsuspecting ground.

Shaka was about to climb up when Travis said: "Please sir, this is a scouting mission only, if you wish to change our order you will have to take command." The wise Travis used this as a pressure to prevent them from having to engage directly a force that is not only powerful but also has the advantage of being in a city. This particular cluster was about two square kilometers wide.

Shaka replied, " I am no fool, I what will happen if we all go up there but me alone should be enough to get an idea of what we can expect this time around."

"If I may be so bold Sir, I can do it without risking anyone's life we just need to find a safe to hide my body" Travis nodded in agreement. Shaka seemed to agree with the suggestion.

"Alright I saw a good place early, a far distance back it should also put us outside of their guarding area," Vusi added to what had now become the chosen course of action. When they arrived, Julee began chanting a spell and conjured a Raven common in these woods. She had controlled it fully she had yet to master the ability so can could only control it when she is still. After a short while

She stood and said, "We have to leave now, they somehow detected my bird, but I got it."

They all stood up and ran as fast pace towards the procession at their current pace they would arrive in under two hours. The information she had gathered was that the shamans of the barbarians are in the village. The Kings had long figured out that when a village has shamans in it there is usually some sort of tribal ritual going on. The rituals meant that the number of active battle-ready barbarians would be lowered as the barbarians would also attend to their spiritual need above all else even at the cost of their own lives.

Travis informed Shaka "Sir the intel we have with us could save lives if we report to watch command, I'm sure also the commander will hand out a small reward," Shaka was of the view that matched Travis. The troop moved quickly thorough the forest. About an hour in a Barberian caught up with fortunately she was alone.

A tall Aryan female, dressed in full leather fur armor dropped out right in front of them. she was holding a saber, obviously looted from an enemy as the blade had markings of a doorway on its hilt, it was the symbol of the largest legion filled with mostly commoners. The doors a metaphor for the Legion that accepts all the people of Crusader city, Hlanganani Legion.

Shaka commanded "Go back to base and wait for me," None of them argued not because they did not want to fight but because Shaka sounded more dangerous than the barbarian in that moment. Travis took only look back before vanishing into the forest with the troops. Shaka took out his sword and said: "I hope you don't eat me after this." Since they are feral they eat all, even the sentient races.

Shaka pulled out the squire sword he held it in a way that the blade was pointed downwards, his jab had failed to get a reaction to the barbarian. She was careful took a step forward little by little, just outside her combat range she switches hands launched a fast attack from the opposite direction. Shaka was not fooled by this tactic, she followed up her blocked sword attack with a shield bash, a heavy grunt could be heard as she moved it forward. Shaka took a step a back to dodge the attack, which still managed to hit him. Not allowing for Shaka to analyze what just happened she swung her sword.

LEFT

RIGHT

LEFT

Her attacks always welcomed her next a slight S motion to attacks meant that the could attack without stopping. Shaka evaded the incoming attacks. The forest did not allow for his dance to work, he switches to a coiled attacks. She hits him again this time a small cut appears on his arm. Shaka is smiling at the pain of the cut. He still had a fear he might be trapped in the great orb, it had messed with his sense to differentiate between reality and dreams.

Shaka in his delighted state unleashed attack after attack, each strike like a viper uncoiling its body. he would side her attack and strike always avoiding her shiel. He did so for the next few minutes until she could barely hold her weapons. She had proven a tough opponent due to her persistence if anyone else took that many blows from Shaka they would have died a while back.

She collapsed at Shaka delivered the final blow through her heart, a vision of what Rain did to Dawn flashed before him. He only took the core that formed and left the body behind Travis was only about fifty meters, Shaka smiled as he meet Travis and traveled with him back to join the others