No one wants to die.

The Young Ones were by no means an exception to that.

They each had dreams and hopes--one of which was to meet the Oracle one day, and perhaps sacrifice themselves for Nature or their Sisters.

Dying had to be done after their purpose had been achieved.

Not like this.

As all the Elves pounded on the barrier, now desperately desiring to return to the haven they previously rejected, they could feel the tremors growing louder, and the growls of the Monsters drawing nearer.

It was a frightening scene, one where the Elves could see death approaching while being unable to do anything about it.

The truth was that the Young Ones had never had recourse to fight a Monster before. Such tasks were left up to the Elders.

And, even the Elders would rather avoid fighting Monsters than confronting them directly.

For example, the Elder in charge of them--Gratiana La Shanagari--would often navigate the forest with her Ranger Class senses, so they could spot Monsters a long distance away.

Avoiding these things was easy with Gratiana around.

Even in situations where avoidance was impossible, she would use her [Territory] Skill to shroud them, while also applying [Camouflage] to cover everything within it. Using that, they were always able to avoid the savage beasts.

But now... things were different.

There was no Gratiana to help them out, and the Young Ones were pretty low on Mana to properly fight so many Monsters.

"T-they look like A-Tier Monsters..."

"They ARE A-Tier Monsters!"

"We are gonna die here, aren't we?"

"Uwahhhhhh!"

The Elves knew their fates were sealed. Not even their Elder could kill so many Monsters, especially not if they spotted her first.

If their Elder couldn't do it, what chance did they have?

They were meant to be dependent and subservient. None of them knew any better.

"Seems like you are in a bit of a bind." A voice suddenly emerged from the other end of the barrier, and a man appeared there.

He had slick dark hair, with an eyepatch covering his left eye. A gentle, but somewhat cold smile graced his lips as he stared at the desperate Elves with a certain kind of grace.

The young man was dressed in what appeared to be a black sweatshirt and joggers--an outfit too casual for such an intense scenario. Not only did he remain calm despite the heavy pressure, but both hands were in his pockets as he spoke to the Young Ones.

"Do you require assistance?"

His question seemed foolish. Anyone would give the obvious "Yes" or give whatever answer that would lead them to safety.

But the Elves did not--or rather, could not--answer immediately.

The rules were explicit, and by garnering the aid of this human, they would not be following the words of their Elder.

Besides, this was the human who attacked them and rendered their Elder unconscious. For all they knew, he still had the nefarious intention of breeding them to create more Half Elf abominations.

Wouldn't they rather die than fall into his grasp?

"Arghhhh!"

One of the Elves at the back screamed as her arm was cleanly chomped off by one of the Monsters. Another had her leg completely severed, and the other was wounded by a claw strike. These were non-lethal injuries, but the next strike would be fatal for sure.

Those closest to the barrier were yet to be affected, but it was only a matter of time.

"Uarghhhh!"

"Gahhhhhh!"

"Aaaarhhhh!"

More screams echoed in the air until the Elves couldn't take it anymore. Or rather, one Elf couldn't.

"P-please help us!"

Deli rushed to the barrier and pounded desperately on it.

She was bleeding from her back thanks to the being barely grazed by one of the Monsters, and merely based on how much she was screaming, it was easy to tell the kind of desperation she was experiencing.

Tears streamed down her eyes as she begged.

The human saw this and smiled, nodding slightly as he finally spoke up. "Very well. I shall be of assistance to you."

Before the Elves could say another wordperhaps in gratitude or skepticismthey found themselves already inside the barrier that they desperately struggled to breach.

Not only that, but the injured ones began to recover at a frighteningly rapid rate. Their lost limbs were restored, and all the blood and injuries were seemingly reverted to a point beyond when the damage was received.

Everything was perfectly intactall within a moment.

"H-huh?"

"H-how?"

"W-what just?"

The Elves knew they needed not ask those questions the moment they stared at the exterior of the barrier and found their benefactor standing outside its reach.

None of them felt any fear for himneither was there compassion.

He was a vile beast who would have committed atrocities against them. Perhaps this was Nature's way of getting back at him.

"There's no way he'll survive that!"

"He can't handle so many A-Tier Monsters at once."

"Why isn't he using the Half Breed vermin? She's the one who would do the heavy lifting fot him."

"He'll die at this rate"

"If he dies, what happens to us?"

As clusters of words echoed among the Elves, they kept their eyes peeled at the human.

Somehow, deep down, despite not being supposed to, they all wanted to see the man emerge victorious.

Maybe it was to secure their survival, or perhaps it was due to the fact that he rescued them from certain doom. None of them were very sure.

But, the disgust they felt towards all humans suddenly didn't apply to him anymore.

Did they trust him? No

Did they like him? Not at all.

But did they still desire the best for him? Absolutely!

And so, with widened and innocent eyes, they all looked at Rey Skylar as he faced scores of Monsters on their behalf.

***************

'Well, this is quite the conundrum.' Rey smiled to himself as he looked at the A-Tier Monsters before him.

The current scenario looked like something he would have planned right off the bat, but that wasn't the case at all. In fact, his real plan was being suspended because of this completely random and unexpected scenario.

'Where to begin?'

*

*

*

Thanks for reading!

The chapters may seem shorter now, but this is actually my normal length. Just saying