Chương 463: Chapter 464: The Front Lines

I felt more than a little eager as other warriors from the town leapt off the side of the village-bearing beasts and started to scatter around the snowy clearing we found ourselves in. Almost immediately afterwards, a few men and women dove into the trees. The scouts were already getting to work.

"Sit with us in the center for now. When you're a little older and stronger, you won't get to wait in the center like this - you'll be expected to move to one of the edges of the clearing with your brothers and sisters in arms, and prepare for any surprise attacks. Right now you aren't expected to do that. You might be expected to fight for your advancement, but we aren't going to put you in the most dangerous parts of the battlefield.

You'll sit in the safer areas and fight the easier battles, with us watching over you until you can hold your own," said one of the male trainers. He flashed a good-natured grin at us. I thought about his words for a moment, then shrugged. I wouldn't object to having a safer place on the battlefield - I was probably going to do a fair bit more healing than ice magic this time, although I would still get a bit of combat in where I could.

True to the trainer's words, most of the adult warriors from the village immediately formed groups and moved to the edges of the clearing. Fortunately, no monsters came to attack us for the next three minutes. After that, some of the scouts started to return. They made their way to the outer edges of the clearing, before they stopped in front of the commanders of each region and started to talk. The warriors of the towns quickly reorganized themselves into four distinct battle formations.

Two of them were much thicker than the other two. Then, a few figures from one of the four battle formations broke away from the rest of the group, and dashed towards us. It only took them a moment to reach us.

"The ten hero candidates should move to the northwest battle line. We've determined that there are two monster nests likely to hit us in the next ten minutes. The one from the northwest is weaker," said one of the women who reached us first.

"The commander of the area has a special position designated for the ten of you - you're to sit in the center of the group if you have magical abilities and take part in the early spell volleys. If you're a melee combatant, you're to sit in the third line - it is protected enough that you are unlikely to die, but will still give you a taste of real combat.

Anyone who uses ranged attacks that aren't magical should move to the corner of the formation, where you'll get a chance to hit a few enemies with projectiles before they hit the main formation."

"Do we know what we're facing?" asked one of our trainers.

"Not a species we've encountered before. They look kind of like deer, but something about their antlers is nasty. We think they're venomous and have some sort of ability to pierce through tough materials, so don't let them get you with their antlers. We have no idea if they have any other abilities, but the few of us with danger-sensing feats believe that they shouldn't have any super dangerous tricks in store. They should be some kind of charging monster."

"Got it." The sixteen of us moved to join the northwestern battle formation. As we walked, I was surprised to feel how deeply my feet sunk into the snow beneath our feet. The soil was further below our feet than I had thought it was. As I walked through the snow, I felt the realization that this place was outside of the town's control sink into my bones. We had truly stepped out of the village and into a wider world.

I noticed that the female trainer who had watched Sallia and I train was paying special attention to me. In particular, she was eyeing my feet as they sank into the snow.

"The first thing you need to keep an eye on is your feet," she said, once she realized she had my attention.

"The snow might look flat on its surface, but it can be treacherous. There are some spaces where snow can create a little pitfall for you. For example, around trees with thicker foliage and greenery, there are often 'tree wells' where the tree's leaves block snow from falling onto the ground. If you fall into one, even if your [Strength] is really high it can be hard to get out, just because there's no way to get leverage. In the middle of a fight, that can get you killed.

Heck, even if you aren't fighting, it can still be deadly if you don't have a friend to pull you out." I listened to the woman's words appreciatively. This wasn't information that had ever been relevant in a previous world, but it was certainly going to be relevant here. I appreciated her advice. I also realized that wit the aid of my exceptional [Perception] stat, I had an unusually easy time noticing tree wells and pitfalls in the snow - all I was lacking was the information to understand what I was looking at.

The advantages of my abnormally high Market-given stats once again showed themselves.

"There are a few other types of danger that the snow can hide. For example, sometimes the snow can form a type of crust on top that might feel strong enough to support your weight, only to drop you with a heavier step. There are also oddities when it comes to magic that can create some huge problems, such as patches of snow that are much colder than they should be. These might flash-freeze you if you step on them wrong, so you need to be wary of areas with high essence buildup…"

the trainer started to expand on the environmental hazards that existed in our surroundings, while I listened. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the other hero trainees also tune in to the woman's lecture. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Soon, I had a rough idea what kinds of dangers the snow could hide, right as we reached the northwestern side of the clearing. A few moments later, I glanced at the trainers.

"Should I use my soul sight to check for enemies?" I asked.

"Just to make sure nothing slips past the scouts?"

"Go for it," said the woman who had taught us about the dangers that could hide in the snow. I did so, and immediately confirmed that there were about forty monsters heading towards us. Their life force didn't seem too strong, but they certainly weren't weak either. If they were in the Market's System I would have put them at around grade 16 [Fortitude]. I glanced at the warriors of our tribe as well, and relaxed.

The monsters were a bit more resilient than the average warrior of our tribe, but this battle was probably going to be rather manageable.

"About forty monsters heading towards us," I said.

"They should be a bit more durable than the average warrior of our tribe, but I don't think they'll be a huge threat. I think they're charging at us. They'll hit us in about two minutes." I glanced at the people on the northwestern lines. There were about four hundred of us present. Way more than enough to manage forty monsters that were about equal to our stronger troops. There probably wouldn't be very much risk, either - we had a huge numbers advantage and we looked a lot more organized.

I saw the commander of this area, as well as a few of the warriors on the front lines nod in acknowledgement at my words. They didn't change anything - all I had really done was confirm what the scouts had already found out. Still, I appreciated the fact that they acknowledged my scouting. It meant that in the future, if I found something actually new and important, they were likely to listen. Two minutes later, a herd of green, deer-like creatures charged out of the forest.

Their antlers glowed with essence, and I had a faint prickling feeling in my heart when I looked at them. I had a feeling that even getting a minor bruise or cut from those antlers could be deadly. The warriors of the village didn't falter as the deer-like monsters charged towards our defensive line. Several of them set their spears against the snow, and I saw the spears and weapons they were holding set themselves unnaturally well against the supposedly soft brace. Some kind of feat was clearly at work.

Three of the deer monsters dropped as arrows sank into their heads, torsos, and every exposed inch of flesh. Several other deer took a few arrows but kept going. The monsters reached the line of spears, before leaping right over them. For a moment, my heart leapt into my chest as I assumed the monsters had countered our tactic. I got ready to start healing injured people. I wouldn't let a single person die in front of me if I could help it. My help was far less necessary than expected.

The moment the deer monsters leapt into the air, a volley of fireballs, icicles, and other magic projectiles tore into their ranks like a pack of hungry chainsaws. I saw another seven get literally torn apart by the storm of spells, and several more took lethal-looking wounds. The twenty-three surviving monsters slammed into the front rank of warriors, but most of our soldiers abandoned their spears and rolled away before they could hit.

The second rank of warriors shuffled backwards, since their spears were too long to use here. That gave the third line of warriors a chance to join the fray, including Sallia and a few other hero trainees. Sallia nearly instantly managed to carve away one of the antlers from a deer monster near the front. Another bison tried to charge past her and hit a nearby warrior, while other warriors from the village worked to surround the monsters and control their movement.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one deer manage to break out of its encirclement, and nearly rip apart a man's eye with an antler. I hit it with an extinguish, killing it on the spot. It was already half-dead from cuts and other injuries, so I didn't need to spend too much essence on it. Then, for good measure, I hit the injured guy with a dose of renewal. It wouldn't be enough to grow back the eye he had just lost, but I could always heal that later when the battle ended.

His life force quivered as some kind of magical toxin worked its way into his body, but a moment later it stabilized as he fought it off. I glanced back towards the battlefield, and noticed Sallia had now successfully killed one of the deer on her own, and was dueling another. Anise had also managed to get in a kill with a wave of fireballs, while Felix was working with a few other warriors to keep a final deer down and finish it off.

I gave them a small assist in the form of an extinguish, and I was satisfied to see the deer miss a dodge a moment later. A spear sank into its eyeball, killing it. I scanned the rest of the battlefield, and relaxed. There had been a brief moment of surprise and chaos when the deer leapt over the front line, but the warriors of the village had already adjusted. There were a few injuries, but I hit the worst injuries with a few more renewals by using the snow as a replacement for water.

Soon, there were only two deer left, so I hit them both with an extinguish to finish them off. It nearly emptied my alteration essence pool, but I wanted to get a few levels out of this fight as well, and nobody on this battlefield was at risk of dying anymore. A few moments later, other warriors started to relax. I saw a few people start staring into space with glassy expressions, and realized they must be looking at their System notifications.

I had a few of my own to look over, which I had ignored in the heat of the fight. I was happy with how this battle had gone. Not bad for a first fight.