CH385 Turned Tidings

***

Surprisingly, even though Mordor was adamant about wielding a sword in hand, he respected the limits of his combat skill and didn't foolishly charge the beasts head-on like the previous two true close combat professionals.

Instead, he moved like a proper Shaman—flinging hexes in rapid succession.

[Slow] — [Weaken] — [Confusion] — [Dilapidate]!

Though each hex was low-grade, barely Grade 1, Mordor cast them like a living spell-rifle, unleashing curse after curse into the incoming horde.

Weakened beasts stumbled, falling under the stampede of those behind them. Confused beasts veered sideways, crashing into their neighbours. Slowed beasts created bottlenecks that broke the rhythm of the tide.

His barrage reduced the pressure not only on the beasts themselves but also on Udara and Havel, who were actively herding the chaos back and away from the direction of the other expedition members.

But it didn't take long for trouble to find him.

A few magically-attuned beasts sniffed him out—eyes turning toward the orc Shaman as they sprinted toward him with murderous intent.

The moment Mordor realised he had been marked, he ceased firing hexes and bolted.

For someone of his size, he moved shockingly fast—almost unnaturally so for a Shaman. Alex suspected this was thanks to the rigorous sword training the rest of his Agrut Orc clan had put him through.

Although Alex was accompanying the trio, he still hadn't made a move. Instead, he remained ahead, eyes half-distant as he used Senu's bird's eye perspective to adjust their routes.

His role here wasn't front-line combatant.

He was the puppeteer—quietly pulling on the strings of the battlefield.

His plan was simple but delicate.

First, prevent the natives' encirclement and stop the beast tide from crashing into his main group.

Mogal, Kavakan and Fen had accomplished the first.

Udara, Havel and Mordor had just completed the second.

Now came the harder part: handling both hostile forces simultaneously without becoming an immediate target of this plane's pantheon.

With the pieces on the board falling into place, the best course of action became obvious.

Following Alex's instructions relayed through comms, his team gradually shepherded both groups toward a small clearing in the forest—where Alex already waited.

Silver, Kavakan and Mogal retreated the moment they confirmed the compressed human force was headed toward the clearing.

Udara, Havel and Mordor, however, could not disengage from the beasts as smoothly. They would need a little… assistance.

The instant the three brought the tens of frenzied beasts to the mouth of the clearing—

[Black Shr—]!

'What—?!'

Alex began casting his wide-area darkness spell… but the spell circle shattered before it could stabilise and activate.

For an instant he considered anti-magic interference—but dismissed it immediately. This didn't feel like suppression of his spell.

It felt more like… a rejection of it.

But he had no time to ponder the cause.

The beasts had already reached Udara, Havel and Mordor—who had slowed down just enough to properly funnel them into the clearing per his command.

Alex was out of time.

He had to act now.

Every millisecond mattered.

Alex didn't think—he moved.

[Dominion]! [Domination]! [Subjugation]!

He instantly invoked the powers he could rely on without question—his True Name concepts.

Killing Intent! [Death Perception]! [Beast Intimidation]!

His eyes flashed with layered auras of authority, instinct, and predation. Pouring an excessive, inefficient amount of mana into them, Alex unleashed his True Name aura to cover over the beast tide like an oppressive tidal wave.

Dozens of red eyes widened.

Claws froze mid-lunge.

Snarls choked halfway through their throats.

It lasted only a heartbeat—but it was enough.

Udara, Havel and Mordor instantly disengaged, slipping out of vision just before the beasts shook off the shock.

When the beasts recovered, they found themselves face-to-face with an entirely different threat:

The native human squad—already in battle stance, weapons raised, killing intent flaring.

Both sides froze for a fraction of a second.

Both thought—

"Trap."

A few on both sides sensed something was off… but neither side could stop the inevitable.

The clash erupted.

The beasts held numerical advantage, but the humans moved with trained discipline. Under the command of a Squad Commander, shields locked while blades stabbed in synchronised rhythm. The human squad's frontline braced under the pressure while the rear provided controlled strikes.

They held the clearing better than Alex expected.

Which was precisely why he acted.

"Do it!" Alex commanded.

From the treeline, Silver—already positioned from earlier orders—let loose three arrows in a single smooth motion.

Two targeted the squad commander.

One targeted the strongest tank warrior anchoring the human formation.

The tank reacted well—twisting his shield up in time to deflect the incoming arrow.

The commander was not as fortunate.

He managed to parry one arrow…

…but the second buried itself deep into his torso.

Both survived the initial impact.

But that wasn't Silver's goal.

That single moment of disruption fractured the human formation.

A gap opened.

And the beasts surged in.

A horned rabbit darted between human legs, its body a blur of claws and muscle, and impaled the commander through the throat with its horn before anyone could stop it.

The tank fared little better.

The stagger caused by Silver's arrow allowed a boar the size of a battering ram—its hide thick as plated stone—to crash into him. The impact snapped bone and sent him flying. A cluster of heavier beasts followed, trampling him into a broken mess beneath their feet.

Nearby warriors immediately retaliated, slaying the horned rabbit…

But too late.

Their de facto leader was already dead.

And with his death, their formation shattered.

Some humans tried to flee, only worsening the chaos. The beasts, now fully blood-drunk, turned on the runners with savage enthusiasm. One by one, screams were cut short as the tide engulfed the escaping warriors.

The clearing devolved into carnage—exactly as Alex intended.

One of the fleeing humans stood out.

A short, thin man—garbed in noticeably superior armour and armed with visually better ranked weapons—was already sprinting ahead of the others.

In truth, he had recognised the collapse of the formation before anyone else and slipped away at the very first hint of danger.

By the time the group truly broke, he had already gained a significant lead.

Thump!

Just as hope flickered in his eyes, something struck the back of his skull.

Darkness swallowed him before he hit the ground.

A hulking figure stepped out of the treeline—Mogal.

He glanced down at the blunt arrow on the ground –that made a dent in the man's headgear, then turned toward the shadows where the female archer had already vanished.

He huffed, slung the unconscious man over his shoulder, and retreated.

Everything else unfolded predictably.

The beasts tore through the remaining humans, then eventually turned on each other. The clearing degenerated into a whirl of snarls, sprays of blood, breaking bone, and feral madness.

And yet the true orchestrators of the chaos were long gone.

--

Alex led his people back toward the main expedition group just in time to see—

[Ice Bolt]!

A monkey-type beast dropped from the treetops as Zora skewered it mid-air, frost crystallising over its corpse.

The knight squad struggled under a swarm of the agile beasts, forced to defend the horses rather than fight properly.

Had this been an open field, the horses would be assets.

But in a dense woodland, surrounded by trunks and branches, they became nothing but annoyed liabilities.

Thankfully, Alex and his teams arrived.

They cut down the monkey beasts, cleared enough space, and pulled the formation back.

During the exchange, Alex attempted to cast another spell—

The spell circle shattered.

Again.

He froze.

This time it was undeniable: something was fundamentally wrong.

Yet Eleanor, Zora, and Mordor cast without issue. Their magic flowed cleanly and uninterrupted.

A terrible suspicion flashed across Alex's mind.

He switched to the simplest spells in his arsenal.

[Magic Bolt]! [Mana Ball]!

Both fired instantly—perfectly.

Alex's expression darkened like a brewing storm.

He had confirmed his suspicions.

And it was very… very bad.

--

The group dispatched the last of the monkey beasts and retreated out of the forest, putting as much distance as they could between themselves and potential hostiles.

Thanks to Senu's shared aerial vision, navigation through the unfamiliar terrain became manageable.

Eventually, they found a secluded valley far from the forest, hidden enough to serve as a temporary camp.

Given the chaos they'd just unleashed, any search party starting from the forest would have little chance of tracking them here.

Alex had thought his spellcasting issue was his only new problem.

He was wrong.

While he stood a distance away from the camp, gazing into the sky –at the stars—deep in thought,

"Alex," Zora called out, approaching with Eleanor at her side. "We have a problem."

He didn't need an explanation.

Turning around to the women, his eyes dropped immediately to the cracked orb in Eleanor's hand.

A cold, suffocating anger gripped him.

'Damn you, Alric Wastelander…!'

Once again, his unseen enemy had landed a blow.

Misfortune truly did come in groups.

And just as Alex hoped things couldn't get worse…

Fate answered with cruel laughter.

**35**

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