After the destruction of Wyrm's Crossing, the refugees on the south bank did not have many options left. They could either follow the river east or head south.
If they went east, this small town was almost impossible to avoid.
It lay roughly 200 kilometers from Baldur's Gate, with the River Chionthar to the north, the Wood of Sharp Teeth a dozen kilometers to the south, and the ruins of Fort Morninglord to the east.
Of course, the town was far from safe. If the creatures from the Underdark broke through, there was almost nothing here that could be defended.
But at least for now, the town remained peaceful. Its population had swollen several times over, and refugee camps were everywhere. Tents and wooden huts had sprung up like mushrooms after rain.
Along the riverbank, at the edge of the forest, and throughout the farms... people struggling to make a living could be seen everywhere, most of them human.
Everyone was doing their best to survive.
A few minutes later, Anser's eyes narrowed slightly as a familiar-looking figure entered his field of vision.
The silver-white armor gleamed brilliantly beneath the sun.
'Who could that be?'
Judging by the scene, the man was settling some sort of dispute. With efficient strikes from the pommel of his sword, he knocked several young men to the ground, then removed his helmet and loudly reprimanded them.
The moment Anser caught sight of his profile, a familiar figure immediately surfaced from his memory.
'Zahir!'
He was both surprised and delighted.
In his understanding, Rand and Zahir, the two Paladins, had always been the rearguard. Once entangled by the creatures from the Underdark, escaping would have been extremely difficult.
Their chances of survival should have been far lower than those of the moon elf Sorcerer Gwyneth.
"Did you find something?" Mason noticed the change in Anser's expression and immediately asked.
"I spotted an old acquaintance."
Mason seemed to think of something.
"A friend from Baldur's Gate?"
"Yeah. I escaped from Baldur's Gate myself," Anser replied without trying to hide it.
"Then... that's worth celebrating."
Mason lowered his gaze, countless speculations rising in his mind.
Anser's eyes followed Zahir's movements and soon spotted Rand hurrying over from around a street corner.
A weight lifted from his heart, and the corners of his mouth unconsciously rose.
The feeling of being reunited after a long separation and finding old friends safe and sound was like a ray of sunlight shining into his heart. It was impossible not to feel happy.
He wanted to summon Nornoth and formally introduce him to Rand:
This is the companion your Cooperative Holy Symbol sent to me!
But now was not the right time.
Just then, Jiandar ended his telepathic connection with his familiar, and his eyes gradually refocused.
"There are too many bones in the Land of Death. It's hard to identify anything clearly, but we definitely didn't find any sizable group of dark elves. Could it be... that we were deceived?"
"It's still early."
Mason remained as calm as ever, his expression barely changing.
Though ugly in appearance, he possessed a steady presence that naturally inspired confidence.
'Forest side!'
The pseudodragon suddenly sent a telepathic message, its tone urgent.
Anser spun around at once, lowered his telescope, and scanned the southern edge of the Wood of Sharp Teeth with his naked eyes.
He saw large numbers of people running out of the forest, their numbers growing by the second.
He immediately raised the telescope again and got a clearer look.
Shadowy figures were pouring out of the forest one after another, sprinting toward the town as if fleeing for their lives.
Behind the fleeing human lumberjacks and hunters were two separate groups.
One group was drow.
The other group was also drow.
Among them, one drow with skin as white as a pearl stood out particularly clearly.
"They're here! From the direction of the Wood of Sharp Teeth!" Anser quickly warned Mason and Jiandar.
Jiandar turned to look. His body stiffened, and anger appeared on his face.
"Drow cannot be trusted. Their nature is just that vile."
"They agreed to meet us on the north bank, yet they ran into the forest instead. Judging by the situation, they intended to shift the disaster onto someone else. Just to save themselves, they're trying to drag tens of thousands of humans down with them."
Mason said nothing. He simply raised a hand and lightly touched Jiandar's shoulder. A graceful flash of spiritual light flickered across both of them in succession.
"Let's go. Stop them."
He shot into the air and headed straight toward the forest.
This was one of the unique traits of psionicists. They wove magic through the power of the mind, making them quite different from ordinary arcane spellcasters.
Mason did not cast Fly on Anser. Whether it was an intentional test or because he was certain Anser could fly on his own was anyone's guess.
Anser did not care in the slightest.
Rather than rushing after them immediately, he calmly tightened his grip on his shield, slung his longsword across his back, and focused on casting.
"તત્વજાદુ"
Metamagic: Extended Spell + Summon Elemental—Air Elemental!
The wind howled.
Whirling currents gathered together, and a massive gray-black cloud more than four meters across emerged amidst the gale. It resembled some abstract monster, its shape constantly shifting and changing.
'Follow me.'
Anser cast Fly on himself, then spread his dragon wings.
His figure blurred and shot forward, moving even faster than the Air Elemental.
A sharp rush of wind suddenly reached Mason's ears from behind.
As he turned his head slightly, he saw a six-winged figure streaking past him at incredible speed. The turbulent airflow it generated was as sharp as wind-blades, forcing him to narrow his eyes.
'So fast. Six wings... what kind of draconic bloodline is that?'
He was astonished.
With a whoosh, the Air Elemental—uglier than even he was—drifted past at high speed.
Compared to Anser, it was much more graceful, generating very little noise as it flew.
Mason smiled faintly.
Outwardly unconcerned, he suddenly accelerated and left Jiandar behind.
The speed granted by Fly varied from person to person, generally correlating with one's spellcasting attribute. Supplementing it with telekinetic force could also increase flying speed.
Jiandar glanced at the Air Elemental but showed no urgency.
He was a liaison officer, not a frontline combatant.
The distance from the edge of the Wood of Sharp Teeth to the town was only a little over ten kilometers.
Cutting diagonally across the route, Anser needed only a few minutes to reach the space between the two groups and block the drow's path.
Ahead, Valera was sprinting forward with a drow carried on her back, surrounded by twenty to thirty drow guards.
Behind them were the human adventurers and civilians they had left behind.
Further back came a much larger force of drow—at least one or two hundred of them.
Judging by their equipment, they were all elites.
Even though they knew perfectly well that human territory lay ahead, they continued the pursuit relentlessly, showing every intention of fighting to the bitter end.
As they chased their prey, they deliberately hunted humans along the way, displaying shocking brutality and arrogance.
Anser did not charge forward recklessly.
Instead, he quietly began casting.
Magic Power surged around him, while icy mist coiled around his fingertips.
Soon, a crystal-clear sphere of ice appeared in his hand.
Then a second.
A third.
A fourth!
He dumped all four ice spheres into the Air Elemental's arms and waved a hand.
'Deliver a gift to that group of drow behind them. Stay far enough away that the civilians don't get caught in it.'
The previously calm Air Elemental panicked as it caught the four ice spheres.
Its two abstract arms stretched as far from its body as possible as it trembled nervously, like someone holding an unimaginably terrifying object—desperate to throw it away, yet too afraid to do so.
'Go. They only last one minute!'
The Air Elemental froze for a moment.
Then it wrapped itself around the ice spheres and transformed into a raging gust of wind, charging toward the pursuing drow.
Even faster than before.
The two sides rushed toward each other, the distance shrinking rapidly.
When the drow spotted the dark Air Elemental, they paid it little attention.
After all, they had a Chosen among them.
Why would they fear a mere Air Elemental?
The Air Elemental appeared aggressive and menacing, but just as it approached, it suddenly climbed in altitude.
While flying overhead, it drew back its left arm like a bow and hurled the four ice spheres in four different directions.
"Look out—!"
Before the warning could finish, the four Otiluke's Freezing Spheres landed among the crowd and erupted simultaneously.
Extreme cold descended.
Icy mist billowed outward.
Four ghostly white ice blossoms bloomed across the wilderness, engulfing more than half of the pursuing drow force.