The first hunters clashed with the rats, swinging at them rather wide and with a lot of strength, clearly aiming for a one-shot, one-kill type of scenario. It made it quite obvious to deduce, that they lacked training, but the situation was favorable for them.
The rats overall were very weak, and the state of panic made them even more vulnerable, so many died trying to defend themselves in rather a pathetic manner.
Then I saw Tihana and Celestine reaching their first opponents. My daughter was very precise and sharp. She limited her moves to the absolute necessity to achieve her goal - to kill rats, that is. To my surprise, the brunette was also very effective. She followed our instructions, and instead of slashing with the blade, she used thrusts from behind the shield, which kept her safe and proved to be quite effective.
The three of us kept our discipline in the chase, but others spread widely, chasing the enemies without using their brains, allowing the bloodlust to direct their actions instead of logic.
For the first few minutes, I just observed from behind my two valkyries. But then I caught on a group of three idiots pushing forward so hard, that they didn't even notice when they pushed all the way to a point when they were practically surrounded by rats, and there was more coming our way.
- Help them - Tihana said after she pierced the throat of a nearby creature.
She noticed the same thing.
- Fuking... - I mumbled to myself more, but there was no choice, besides just letting those idiots die.
I accelerated immediately, obviously in the realm of what 'normal human beings' would be able to do, pushing my way through the ranks of escaping enemies.
Few swung at me, but my fancy footwork was more than enough to dodge it all, but I ended up doing slightly more. I would respond with a quick attack, slapping weapons off their hands, or making them stumble and fall. Basically, providing free targets to others.
In such a manner, I reached a group of idiots, who found themselves in quite a dire situation already. They were surrounded by numbers too big for them to take down. They kept swinging widely, to keep the enemies at bay, but it was only a waste of energy, which would lead to their quick demise because they were not taking down any rats, while new ones arrived all the time.
- We were not fucking supposed to stop them here, but thin their numbers as we all their retreat to continue, slowly encircling them - I pointed out, as I arrived at the rescue.
The difference was noticeable immediately because I easily created an escape route for those people, distracting quite a bunch of rats, with my fancy moves. I engaged with a whole group, and they kept dodging, in a way that quickly evolved into total chaos, which I directed slightly away.
- Roon, you fools! - I growled because those idiots didn't seize the opportunity.
My words finally made them react, and they pushed through the thinned numbers of the enemies outside of the encirclement they basically created for themselves. I directed those rats away, then back behind the escaping hunters, to basically block the pursuit which rushed after them with the bodies of the monsters who were busy chasing me.
- Dad! Catch! - suddenly reached my ears.
It was Tihana, who threw at me her weapon, as she retreated slightly behind Celestine's back. I briefly looked their way and noticed the weapon flying at me, so I bought it, and then with one powerful spin, took the heads of quite a bunch of rats. They evaporated in smoke, leaving crystals behind.
This swift action stabilized the situation quite a bit.
- Morons, do your work! - Tihana yelled at the people who just escaped the encirclement. - Chip at the side of the retreating monsters! Stick to the plan! And stop swinging like complete idiots!
To my surprise, they listened. I evacuated a bit, to return the weapon to my daughter. After taking it, she didn't really return to the fighting but instead took the role of leading the attack, shouting out orders, and keeping the chaos at bay.
I was taken aback, by how her leadership changed everything on the battlefield. The whole bunch of hunters became suddenly deadly effective.
Half an hour later, when the whole event concluded, we were sitting on the ground, resting, while eating some food I prepared before. Nothing fancy, just a bunch of sandwiches and water. The other people, with some delay, because through stupid actions, were way more tired, also caught few minutes to fill their stomachs.
Then the time for the worst part came, and we began picking up the crystals. This process took way more time than the whole fight because looking around for stuff dropped on the forest litter wasn't easy, thanks to the amount of ground we had to cover.
A few hours later, we were completely done and began our journey back.
Our group stayed at a distance from others, but many people kept glancing at us because we became quite the hot topic because of what happened. I heard some hunters were trying to guess my rank, because of what I did. Others discussed how the hell a teenage girl was able to lead this many people in such an effective way.
Those discussions were born all the way during the gathering of crystals. The attention we received made Celestine distance herself a bit since she was the only one, who didn't do that much. Tihana was too tired to talk, so we were very silent during the return. Upon reaching the city center, all the crystals were gathered and split accordingly to the roles in the hunt. I gave my share to my daughter.
She and celestine then sold the crystals and we finally returned home to have dinner, which I still had to cook first. I didn't really mind, though, cause that became something I really started to enjoy.