Freedom Jumper-Chapter 164: The Rind of Godhand

No sense of physical touch was able to give Elijah the peace of mind to walk on Godhand's Rind. From what Songa had explained, this vast stretch of a hill was merely the skin of the ground. Moving and manipulating itself multiple times a day whilst revealing a numerous number of sinkholes and chasm's.

"Trust me, you do not want to be on top when it quakes. Now, that event is any moment now, and will likely create vibrations reaching our outpost." Songa said while readying her magitech equipment.

'So then why are we standing right next to it?!' Elijah was thinking chaotically, but chose to act as those did around him.

The Rind of Godhand created a nearly steep hill, and slowly led into the underneath of the mountain range that started the Fjords. This wide and vast cave was on the brink of collapsing, and caused the adventurer caravan to involve a specific plan to lure the beasts in hiding into the light.

Slowly, the both carriages were parked within the dense biome of trees — close to the start of the rind. Every adventurer hopped out of the two carriages, including the resource gatherers with large cloth bags hanging over their shoulders.

"I will start the mission, if I do not come back within five minutes... you know what to do." The tall and brudey man known as Banks Treefell was slowly walking backwards with a large black sword scraping against the ground. His eyes gazed towards Songa as he knew she had control of most of the children.

Banks Treefell was not just a wind mage, but also very adept in magitech equipment. Specifically the sword of flames, and wind walkers he equipped onto his person.

The man practically stepped on the air — traversing the rind without so much as making any contact.

Who knew when the ground itself would be swept to the side? Forcing everyone unlucky enough to be making contact to be flung violently in a random direction.

"Here beasty beasty!!! Here beasty beasty!!"

Moments later, high pitched growls and snarls were heard. A symphony of beasts exclaiming their unease!

"KOBOLDS! GOBLINS! BEARS!" Banks quickly shifted himself back to the party.

The rind created the shape of a hump, blocking anyone from seeing the chaos that had just been created. A few simple words was all it took to rile up the beasts, almost as if they were hardwired to kill anything on sight.

Anything human...

Banks quickly made his way back with a face of unexpected fear. "We have to fall back! There are way more than expected!"

"How many?!" Songa asked without hesitation, swinging her vision across the hump of the rind.

"Too many for us to handle. We have to call for backup. I suggest we send someone on a carriage, preferably someone who won't be able to help us with the battle." Banks said while looking at Elijah.

To be frank, water mages were known as the weakest of all. The only skill they excel at is healing and support. However, everyone within Gion knows there are a few water mages who surpass the standard — who stand just as tall as anyone.

Banks was only protesting his opinion because of the majority, and the fact that Elijah was merely a thirteen year old kid.

"Elijah will be staying with us. It's obvious we should send out resource gatherers." Songa exclaimed in an annoyed tone while stepping closer towards Banks.

Banks' chiseled jawline and predator shaped eyes turned him into a scary figure, which was completely different from the legacy of his family. His haircut was tremendously clean and perfectly held in place.

One could only imagine how much clay that takes.

"Fine. You two, take both of the carriages back, and quickly!" Banks barely stuttered his words as he began looking at the horde of beasts recklessly traversing the soft ground. "Damn... If only we had a communication amulet."

Banks began to lead the group through the forest. Based on the numbers Banks had seen, they would constantly be pushed back, which is why they are going to fall back even further if they are unable to handle the fight.

Being as close to the outpost as possible was their goal, as well as the sharpshooter who began assembling his rifle.

Finn Leaperman, a seasoned adventure knight on the cusp of advancing to a captain.

His small figure and cold black eyes gave Elijah the feeling he had been through a lot, maybe even more than himself.

Or it was simply the price he paid as a sharpshooter — indifferent to the sight of death.

"What kind of rifle is that?" Elijah asked whilst everyone around them was taking their positions.

"You will find out..."

Finn slammed his rifle into the ground, stabilizing it on a metal spike that acted as a stand.

Boom!

The first shot was blown into the distance, through the dozens of trees in its line of fire.

This marked the start of the battle.

Shocking even Elijah, a glowing bullet traversed the gaps in the trees instantly. Only when it had hit the stomach of a white and brown ice bear did it explode into a symphony of flesh and guts.

"You better get into position, waterboy!" Banks yelled at Elijah before charging forward with his sword of fire scraping across the ground. With every step, embers were thrown onto the grass, tinging and even burning further.

Elijah curved his lips into a smile, inwardly laughing in ignorance.

While everyone was slowly moving forward, throwing spells for those that had affinities or even long range powers, Elijah was seen conjuring a mountainous wave of water that spanned 20 feet wide, and just barely feel short of the tree branches.

WHOOSH!

Elijah pushed his hand forward violently, falling into his own spell. However, the effect was a slow but heavy wave of water that had no intention of stopping. With his mana still coursing through every molecule, the water took a path of its destiny — ignoring any tree in its path.

To submerge, drown, and flatten any beast unlucky enough to be in front of it.

"YOU ALMOST KILLED ME YOU LITTLE BASTARD!!"

"Hopefully that's enough to buy us more time..." Elijah muttered to himself while peeking a glance at Finn.

"Impressive! Although you blocked my line of sight..." Finn exclaimed while waiting for the water to settle down.

"I think in the long run, you will be happy to see a bunch of beasts clumped together!" Elijah responded with a thumbs up on his fist.

Just as expected, Elijah's plan was successful. The beasts that were running frantically through the trees with saliva dripping out of their maw's — were now picking themselves up and returning to their goal.

Boom!

Boom!

One after the other, blood, bones, and mutilated flesh sprayed into the air. Finn was practically shooting at a rapid fire rate! Reloading a mana battery after every ten shots!

However, the time had come for the dirty work to begin. Wiping the blood of his sword was Joffrey, standing in front of a pile of dead beasts he had lured together.

What no one saw was a magnificent display of concussive force. By herding the beasts together, he was able to unleash a single concussive blast sending over a dozen beasts into a disorienting state.

Niko, who was nearby, became worried from the terrified scream he had unleashed.

Quickly, he was able to realize this man's power caused him a great deal of pain, something no one would ever become familiar with...

Unfortunately, all of the effort the caravan was putting in, was meaningless.

The rind no longer had any beasts traveling across it. However, because of the density of the forest, the beasts had unknowingly spread out. Taking any path that led to even a simple strike of a sword — echoing in different directions through the forest.

As the fight is continuing, small numbers of beasts are seen running past the defense line they had created. Henry Axemen and Songa were the people caring for the edges, while everyone else sat in the center. Since there were five adventure knights, four of them were spread out with the young adventurers between them.

One of those adventurers close to Henry was a boy named Ronny Dayman, a boy whose power made him completely useless...

Or so everyone thought.