Talren was not the kind of man who joked when lives were on the line, and he was never someone who asked for help unless the situation was already slipping out of his control. That was why the moment the distress signal reached him, Aiden did not waste even a second.
Aiden ran straight for the ship.
His boots hit the metal floor hard as he moved through the corridor, shoulders tense as he pulled equipment from storage with fast and practiced motions. He grabbed every spear he had crafted, stacking them against his back and locking them into the mech suit harness until there were ten in total.
His pistol limiter was switched off with a sharp flick, the setting pushed to maximum output despite the increased drain. The shield followed last, its weight settling against his arm with a familiar pull that steadied his breathing.
"J.E.M., connect to the settlement cameras." Aiden said as he moved.
[CONNECTION FAILED]
Aiden froze for half a step.
"What?!"
[REQUEST DENIED. CAMERA UNIT DOES NOT SUPPORT LIVE FEED]
He let out a short click of his tongue and shook his head as the realization hit him all at once. The cameras near the settlement had only been meant to gather passive data for language and behavior analysis. He had never updated them for live transmission.
"Shit. This is bad." Aiden cursed under his breath as he broke into a full sprint.
There was no other option now.
Ten miles away from the fight; such a distance was quite brutal for the current situation. The worst part was that no matter how much he pushed the mech suit into overheating or forced it to maximum output, it would not close the gap fast enough.
Even with the suit driving his legs forward, the travel time would not drop below forty minutes. His breathing grew heavy and controlled inside the helmet as the mech's servo motors whined.
As he was nearing the destination--
aKHHhHRrRkKK!!
A shrill, tearing shriek cut through the forest, sharp enough to make his skin crawl even through layers of armor. It was followed by screams, human voices overlapping in panic and pain.
Aiden pushed even harder. He was almost there.
By the time the settlement came into view, the sound had turned into chaos.
The monsters were everywhere.
They poured between the trees in numbers he had never seen before, thick bodies crashing through brush and tents alike. Boars, but nothing like the ones he had hunted before. Each one stood nearly two meters tall at the shoulder, their massive frames covered in overlapping plates that looked like dark steel fused into flesh. Red eyes burned with a wild, unthinking fury as they charged.
The natives were being overrun by tens of such creatures.
Spears struck again and again, but the blows skidded off the iron hard hide with sparks and dull clangs that rang through the settlement. Warriors were hurled aside by sheer mass, shields folding or shattering as bodies were crushed beneath trampling hooves. Blood soaked into the dirt, and screams rose only to cut off as the monsters surged forward.
Aiden did not slow. As the chaos filled his vision, his breathing steadied and his thoughts narrowed, fear and hesitation dropping away as his body and mind settled into the cold focus of battle.
"J.E.M..." he said through clenched teeth, raising his arm as the first boar broke from the group and turned toward him. "Help me with my aim."
[AIM ASSIST ACTIVATED]
A faint reticle flickered into existence inside his visor, adjusting in real time as the mech suit compensated for recoil, movement, and distance. Power surged through the servos in his arm as the system aligned his throw.
Aiden released the spear without hesitation.
The weapon left his hand with a sharp crack, the force behind it driven by both his body and the reinforced suit. It crossed the distance in an instant and punched straight through the boar's eye. Bone, brain, and armored skull shattered as the spear burst out the back of its head, the monster collapsing mid charge in a spray of blood and broken plate.
For a heartbeat, the battlefield froze.
The natives turned, eyes wide, disbelief clear on their faces.
"ITS AIDEN! AIDEN IS HERE!"
The shout spread like fire.
Aiden did not stop. A fresh spear slid into his grip as he stepped forward, shield locking into place while J.E.M. redirected power and refined the targeting feed. He moved with controlled force, each throw was measured, and every release timed to the suit's output. Spears punched through eyes and joints, massive bodies crashing down hard enough to shake the ground, and with each fallen boar he advanced, carving a path through the horde instead of standing still.
******
It had been almost afternoon when Talren returned from the hunt.
A full grown deer was slung over his shoulder, its lifeless weight pressing against his back, yet his stride remained steady. Thick muscle rolled beneath his worn leather armor as he walked. One arm held the deer in place with an iron grip, while the other hand carried four rabbits, their ears clenched firmly between his fingers.
Even after leaving the Ravanis Kingdom behind, the presence of a former squad captain still clung to him, visible in the way his held up himself. That was why a lot of people follow and treat him as the leader.
As he passed the largest tent, now used as the settlement warehouse, he spotted Marrek and Havel working near the entrance. Marrek, the butcher, was handing over carefully dried hides, while Havel logged each piece with practiced focus.
Talren greeted them with a nod.
"Are the goods ready? Aiden should be visiting today."
Marrek smiled and nodded.
"Everything is prepared. Don't worry."
"Good.." Talren said as he shifted the deer.
"Add these as well. Can you finish them today so they can be included in the trade?"
Marrek laughed lightly as he took the animals.
"Sure. But could we get another dagger from Aiden? Giving one to my disciple would really help. Working alone is getting tough at my age."
Talren chuckled and clapped a firm hand on Marrek's shoulder.
"What are you talking about! You're still young. See, you even have more muscles than me" Talren said with a short laugh as he rolled his shoulder and flexed his arm in front of Marrek.
"As for the dagger, I will see what I can do. I saw a herd of deer earlier as well, and Ilyas should be tracking them now. If they settle nearby, you will have more work than you want, so having an extra dagger wouldn't hurt."
Marrek groaned. "Ahh nice. More work. Just thinking about it already tires me out already."
Havel stepped forward and handed Talren a list.
"This is what we have now. We should be able to trade for a lot of tools, right? Could we also request axes? We need wood."
Talren nodded as he scanned the list.
"Winter is coming. We need to stock up a lot of wood. I will ask Aiden." Talren said, his expression turning serious as his gaze drifted toward the forest.
He felt a quiet sense of gratitude as he thought of Aiden. Knowing that without his help the coming months would be far harder than they already were. With the cold already creeping in and winter only a few months away, there was little doubt that his support could be the difference between surviving the season or losing people to it.
That was when the horn sounded.
bWooOoRRNN!!
A sharp, panicked blast echoed through the settlement.
Everyone inside the warehouse tent froze.
Talren dropped the list and turned, already shouting orders as he ran.
"Marrek, gather the civilians at the center tent. Protect them with Karsen. Havel, gather all who can fight!"
""Understood!"" they shouted together.
The moment Talren burst outside, the smell of blood hit him.
Boars flooded the settlement, their large bodies smashing through tents and people alike. Their hides were covered in hard iron like plates that stopped most weapons from getting through. There were at least thirty of them, maybe more. These were ironhide boars, the kind that even the Ravanis Kingdom had trouble killing because normal attacks could not pierce their skin.
Talren spotted Elder Rethan running nearby, staff clenched tightly in his hands despite his age.
"Elder!" Talren shouted as he raised his spear. "Why are ironhide boars here? They live in the mountains!"
Rethan grimaced. "The cold season! They must have migrated early!"
Talren's chest tightened as he looked around. This forest was known as the Forest of Death for a reason. Many kinds of monsters lived here, some seen often and others only spoken of in kids bedtime stories.
There were even rumors of dragons deep within the forest, creatures so dangerous that few dared to believe they truly existed, yet no one could deny the signs they left behind. It was a place most people avoided, a land that hunters and travelers refused to enter unless they had no other choice.
Many had tried to pass through or settle near it before, and most of them never returned alive. The deeper one went, the worse it became, with danger waiting in every direction.
They had only come here out of desperation. As Talren looked at the wounded and the dead scattered around the settlement, he was reminded why they had fled in the first place. They had been driven from their homeland with no choice left to them, and this forest had been the only place where they could live without being hunted or chained.
Dying to monsters had once seemed better than being humiliated and enslaved under the Ravanis Kingdom, but with blood soaking into the ground around him, Talren could no longer tell himself that this was better.
There was no time for regret now.
A boar charged straight at him. Talren lowered his spear and braced, the tusks scraping along the shaft as they collided. The force of the impact jolted his arms and shoulders, sending a dull ache through his joints as he fought to stay upright. His feet slid back in the dirt, heels digging in as he twisted his body and tried to line up a strike toward the eye.
The spear tip pushed in, but only slightly.
The boar shook its head violently, its thick neck muscles flexing as it forced the weapon aside. One tusk tore across Talren's armor and clipped his ribs, ripping fabric and leaving a sharp line of pain that made his breath hitch. He clenched his teeth, shifted his grip, and stepped in closer despite the risk.
Using his weight and both hands, he drove the spear forward again, this time angling it more carefully. The point finally broke through the eye and sank deep into the skull. The ironhide boar staggered, then collapsed, its heavy body slumping against him before sliding to the ground.
Before Talren could even celebrate the kill.
A shout rang out nearby.
"More are coming!!"
Talren turned, and his heart sank as he saw more movement at the treeline. Dark shapes pushed through the brush, their heavy forms breaking branches as they came closer. His grip tightened on his spear as the truth settled in. If more of them reached the settlement, there would be no way to hold the line.
If this goes on, they would not be able to survive this.
Without thinking, his hand went to the small device that Aiden had given him. He pressed it once, then again, his thumb tapping faster as fear crept into his chest. He pressed it again and again.
Nothing happened.
"This...?" Talren muttered through clenched teeth as screams echoed around him.
There was no time left to wait. Talren shoved the device back against his belt, lifted his spear, and stepped forward into the fight, forcing his tired body to move even as doubt gnawed at him.
A voice began to chant.
Rethan stood trembling, hands shaking as he forced mana into one final spell.
"Fire gather, shape and burn, answer my call and strike my foe!"
A fireball formed and launched.
The explosion shook the ground, flames ripping across a boar's side and staggering it but not killing it completely. Talren seized the opening, sprinting forward despite his aching body and driving his spear through the creature's eye to finish it all at once.
"Protect Elder Rethan!" Talren shouted as he saw the boars shift their focus. The air around Rethan felt heavy as mana gathered while he chanted, and the ironhide boars reacted to it, their red eyes turning toward him. It was a bad sign. If the beasts reached the mage, there would be no chance of holding on, because without Rethan, their chances of surviving this fight would vanish.
They fought until exhaustion set in.
Warriors stumbled as they moved, arms heavy and slow, grips loosening on blood slick weapons. Breathing turned rough and uneven, each inhale scraping at burning lungs.
The line that had once held began to bend as strength ran out. Elder Rethan dropped to one knee, his staff digging into the ground to keep him upright, the last of his mana spent. His hands trembled as the glow around him faded.
"We need to retreat...." Elder Rethan shouted, his strained and powerless.
Talren wiped blood from his eyes, but it only smeared across his vision. Sweat and dirt clung to his face as he looked around at the broken ground and the people struggling to stand.
This place had started to feel like home. They had raised tents, gathered food, and slowly allowed themselves to believe they could live here without always being ready to flee. The thought of losing it made his chest tighten, but reality left no room for comfort. If they stayed here, none of them would leave this place alive.
His mouth opened, unwillingness could be seen in Talren's eyes. As he was about to shout for retreat---
sWIIIIIshhh!!
A sudden whistling sound cut through the chaos.
Before Talren could turn, a spear ripped through the air and slammed into a boar only a few steps away. The strike landed true, the head snapping back as bone and metal burst apart in a sharp spray. The massive body lost all momentum and crashed to the ground, the impact sending a dull tremor through the dirt beneath their feet.
The battlefield froze for a heartbeat.
Talren turned toward the source.
A tall figure in metallic armor advanced from the edge of the settlement, shield raised as if the weight of the charging monsters meant nothing. Faint light glowed behind the visor, cutting through the smoke and dust. Another spear was already in his hand, and was ready to be released again.
Recognition hit Talren like a surge of air in his chest.
Aiden was finally here.