In the middle of the dirt road, the map was pinned to the ground by an arrow while Ebony and Lucian remained on their horse, staring toward the forest.
From between the trees, bandits began to surround them. They wore tanned hides that covered their bodies, while their faces were hidden behind deer skulls.
At first, no one made a wrong move. Everything was still. The bandits waited to see the pair's reaction, and the pair waited to see the bandits' reaction.
"(Damn it… Skin Hunters… They must have sensed the presence of our horse…)" Lucian thought as he scanned each of his aggressors.
With a bit of time, he managed to count seven bandits. They were Skin Hunters. In their time, they had been a tribe of shamans, reduced to nomads willing to steal to survive.
"Wel—" Ebony tried to speak, but she was immediately silenced when Lucian covered her mouth, leaning close to whisper softly in her ear.
"Don't say anything… I don't know what you know about them, but these types aren't friendly at all like they were in your time… They never speak and only seek to steal spirits… Like the one we have right now… So don't provoke them and let's leave quietly."
"But the map will stay behind, idiot," the blonde replied in a low voice.
"Who cares, we'll buy another one in the next village, there's no other choice or we might end up losing if this turns into a fight," the elf reaffirmed, worried in his eyes.
Hearing the warning, Ebony carefully observed the individuals while considering her options.
"(I see, so they changed to survive… That's a shame, they were good merchants in their time, but if things are this screwed up, we'd better leave slowly…)"
Ebony ordered the horse to move gently. It seemed calm, sensing no immediate danger, so it began to walk at a slow pace.
Lucian didn't stop watching the movements of those men. Their clothes were simple and rustic. Each hide they wore emanated magic, as if they were magical weapons themselves.
However, suddenly, a pair of hunters stepped in front of the dirt road to block the horse's advance.
None of them said anything. They just stood there, a silent warning of what seemed like an inevitable battle.
"I guess there's no other option (I wanted to avoid killing them… In the end, there aren't many of them left on the continent…)" Lucian thought as he grabbed the piece of wood hanging from his belt as if it were a sword.
But at that moment, a woman dressed in bear hides leapt from the trees, landing atop the head of the horse the pair was riding. Her hair was white like bear fur, and her skin was pale.
Despite the heavy bear hides, the woman moved delicately and seemed weightless, because the horse didn't complain or move its neck at all, something that left Ebony amazed as she couldn't stop staring at the woman's beautiful figure before her.
"Good morning…" Ebony said, unsure how else to react. "We don't want trouble, we just want to continue on our way."
The woman, wearing a bear skull over her face and red paint marking her clothing, tilted her head slightly, as if curious about the blonde's boldness in greeting instead of attacking.
"You might think we're easy prey, but as dumb as my… husband… looks, he's more than capable of destroying this forest if he wanted to, soooo… Let's not do this, I don't think you want casualties among your people, right?" Ebony asked, trying to maintain a calm smile.
The woman, who seemed to be the leader judging by how the other Hunters waited for her order to move, remained still. She, like the others, was barefoot.
She didn't move a single muscle, continuing to carefully observe the blonde, especially the large shield strapped to her back that appeared quite heavy.
"Well, if you want, we can pay a toll, I'm sure a little bit of—" Ebony tried to pull out some silver coins they still had, but the movement was abrupt, and the woman in bear hides didn't hesitate to drive a kick straight into the blonde's face.
Ebony was sent flying toward the trees, while Lucian, without wasting time, grabbed the wooden rod at his waist, which began to change.
{{Summoning Magic: Guardian's Sword}}
Suddenly, the piece of wood the elf held transformed into a single-edged metal sword with a curved blade.
Without hesitation, the elf attempted to slash at the woman standing on his horse, but she gracefully dodged the strike with a leap, landing back among the trees she had come from.
"Bitch!" Ebony shouted as she rose from the ground. She was surrounded by five Hunters, all wearing deer skulls as masks.
The blonde grabbed the shield on her back and prepared to fight, but just as she was about to charge at the hunters, a dart shot from the trees behind her and embedded itself in her neck.
"What the hell… Shit." The instant she was struck, Ebony dropped to her knees, her mind clouding, and when they saw she was still conscious, three more darts pierced her neck, finally knocking her out.
Meanwhile, Lucian dismounted, and with a whistle, the horse turned into magical vapor that flowed into the small parchment he kept inside his pocket.
Seeing this, the hunters raised their bows, ready to attack the elf, but then the bandit leader rushed toward Lucian. He responded with his sword, attempting to cut down his attacker while stepping back to keep her from getting too close.
But the girl dressed in bear hides moved with delicate precision, like a dance, dodging every attack until she got so close to the elf that she pressed the bear skull mask against his forehead.
"(What the hell is with this woman, how can she move like that!)" the elf thought, freezing for a second as he saw, behind the bear skull, a pair of glowing red eyes.
In that instant, the girl took advantage of his hesitation and shifted her body, driving her closed fist into Lucian's stomach, where a magic circle formed.
{{Spiritual Magic}}
{{Bear Hide: Thunder Claw}}
In an instant, lightning burst from the impact of her fist against Lucian's body, sending him flying down the dirt road for several yards before he crashed and rolled across the ground.
The elf struggled to breathe as he tried to stand, the blow having knocked the air out of him and severely injured him. However, when he lifted his gaze, the woman in bear hides and the hunters had vanished.
"What?... But…" Lucian searched for his enemies, but there was no trace of them, nor of his companion.