Just a Nudge

Rushing forward with his shield down low, James was getting ready for anything that might happen when the fight starts. As a shield bearer his job was to react to any variables that happen in a fight to keep his team safe. Watching not just his enemies, but his team as well as he had to position himself just right after the initial hit to keep everything going smoothly.

Once he rushed up to the nearest panther in the group, he swung his shield hard into its shoulder. As soon as it made contact James felt something was wrong, like a normal man hitting a fly with the back of his hand. Expecting these creatures to be stronger and more durable he put most of his strength behind the first hit he could get off using wind to increase his speed. Putting that force into a hit would wound most creatures he fought against the last few missions he was assigned, but this was different.

With but a wave of his hand it felt like the panther he hit was almost air, as it exploded into a mist of blood and gore. Throwing his power and and the weight of his shield around with such force caused his left hand to go wide causing him to fall and roll with wide eyes.

Following close behind him, Owen who had his eyes on his own target did not see James fall down leading to a quick trip and fall into the grass in the middle of the pack of panthers, minus one. Once his fall stopped, he jumped back up just in time to meet the left claw of a giant cat. With a quick back step to dodge the attack, he pulled out the sword at his side in a swift motion cutting into the creatures neck, leaving a red blur before it was back in its sheath.

Once James got back up from the ground he hunkered down and started clashing his sword against his shield gaining the attention of the five panthers left.

Once the remaining enemies were looking in his direction, among a tree to the side of the group, a chain came spiraling through the air grabbing the smallest panther in the group. Before the beast could react to the strange item coiling around its body, it was whisked away into the forest. Once behind a tall tree, a feral cry was issued shortly before it was silenced and Gremlin came out behind it still swinging her chain with Ignis in tow still in his massive wolf form.

The remaining four beasts seeing each of its pack mates taken down in horrific ways, kept backing away from their should be prey, looks of panic on their feline faces waiting for their backup. Thinking about escaping into the direction of their alpha, they started moving slowly to the side. Before they could make a full dash, another loud bang could be heard, followed by a large object hitting the ground between the humans and beasts.

"Let them run, this is just pathetic." came a grumpy voice from the side of the fight, followed by Wrack making his way to the body of the alpha he just threw away. While the group was confused at the order, the beasts took their blessing and ran away into the forest with it and their lives. "I thought this was supposed to be hard. Where is the challenge." he grumbled.

Catching back up to the group waiting for him, Alibaster looked at James and Owen before asking "Is that how you two usually fight? is there some martial meaning behind it?" with a huge smile on his face.

Feeling embarrassed about what happened, James raised his arm pointing at him before yelling "How was i supposed to know they would be THAT weak. You would think a world that requires all of us here would mean some real bad dudes here. All i did was give that thing a bit of a tap and poof." He exaggerated by throwing his hands everywhere.

"You would think so huh." Added Wrack from the side, putting a hand on his chin to think.

"With a world so full of mana that most measuring equipment started breaking down, creatures here should be as strong or stronger than normal S-rank worlds. So why are these things almost like something from a B-rank world?" Owen asked.

"We can't find an answer for anything we have no information on, so lets keep heading forward and see whats going on." Ignis chimed in, looking in their leader's direction for confirmation.

With a quick "Yeah" from Wrack the rest of the team started moving on again in the same direction they was heading.

With a light run the six took off in the direction of their destination. Even at a pace that wont consume their stamina too badly, they ran so fast that a normal man would only see a blur. Never slowing down and each step making them travel 4-5 feet at a time making quick work of the travel distance.

Thinking that monsters in this world would not be too big of a problem, the team traveled fast and kept their senses extended to make sure no surprises came up. Unforeseen to them, behind them in the forest they never noticed a small creature tailing them with just as much speed as they had.