"Hah..." Staggered breaths. Excitement. Relief. Shock. Perhaps a little hilarity.

As Zell and MacKensie stood, back safely on the tree bridge, in an awkward but extremely tight embrace, the Englishman wondered if maybe the Grim Reaper had taken a liking to him. Perhaps tempting fate all of those times, walking into dark alleys and seedy nightclubs with large amounts of cash to buy narcotics, psychedelics and stimulants from dangerous people, had finally pushed the Archangel of Death to teach Zell a lesson. Perhaps he'd die in this world, then be transported to another to spend a peculiar day or two before dying horribly again. And again.

In addition to the thundering drum of his own heartbeat under his heaving chest, he could feel the heartbeat of MacKensie thudding against him. He looked down at her golden crown, feelings of gratitude flooding his high octane concoction of current emotions, but he was lost for actual words. The entire moment seemed to last an eternity before she suddenly released him and reprimanded his clumsiness. There was no reply at first, the shock not yet wearing off until they started to move. Once his mouth started working again, his heart told him to thank her. His head however:

"That doesn't count," he told her, glancing between her and literally watching his step. "I grabbed the branch. I could've gotten back up, you know," he explained further, to no reaction. "That doesn't count as you saving my life again."

When they made it across Adam's tree bridge, Zell whistled and made an ironic show of wiping his brow with relief. James accosted him with curses and questions, and the swordsman held his hands up. "Relax bro, I'm good." He chuckled, not expecting his friend to be so intense about it, and quite flattered to see how much he cared.

"Just... just be careful dude" .

"Alright," he promised with a slightly gruffer voice, attempting to laugh off the seriousness of the situation, giving James a manly pat on the arm. "Message recieved."

He gave a nod to Adam and Joji as he stood next to them to watch and wait for the rest of the party to cross the bridge, hoping none of them would be as lacksidasical as he'd been while crossing. When MacKensie came back with a report about one of the passages in the maze, Zell felt his sword-arm tingle. He had a feeling they wouldn't be getting out of this maze without a fight. That roar in the distance, and now this? No. Something was in The Mazy Hillocks with them. And if it hadn't noticed them yet, it would only be a matter of time.

"Hey dude, just wanted to say thank you, without you we would have likely lost Zell..."

"I grabbed the branch," he said annoyed over his shoulder, like he was already sick of explaining it.

"...and that would have sucked, even if he is a moron sometimes"

"I'm standing right here bro!" he threw his hands up as he turned around to the pair, his performative outrage mostly for comedic value. When he turned back to face the bridge, he smiled. It occured to the asshole, once again, that he should thank MacKensie for helping him (not saving him. Helping. Assisting.) but James and the Frenchwoman had moved on to another conversation, so he left it for another time.

With her fellow ranger taking the high ground, or trees in this case, Fenna stayed on the ground and scouted ahead. The falcon stayed close to her, which proved to be a good thing as during one of her scouts a wolf crept up and if it hadn't been for the falcon who bravely dove down, she wouldn't have been able to end it with her spear.

Overall the journey to the Mazy Hillocks went well and around noon they reached it. Fenna ate some of her rations as she gazed over the natural beauty of the area ahead, but it looked daunting and uninviting at the same time. It was a great sight for sure, but to cross it? If she had a choice she'd rather not, but Adam had made it clear that this was the road they had to take when others asked about it.

Her eyes moved over the vast area of that consisted mostly of rocks and ravines. She was fairly sure she saw something that looked like a cave somewhere in the east, but the path leading there seemed difficult, and Adam had confidence he could use his magic to help them across the obstacles in the west. Who knew what lurked inside the caverns here? She turned her attention west. From this place it indeed seemed the most sensible path.

Hiking through the Hillocks was no easy feat, and Fenna stayed a lot closer to the group this time, but still checked the path ahead occasionally. This terrain wasn't suitable for tracking, but she did find territory markings and even some animal fecal matter. This area was inhabited by animals, and they were undoubtedly better equipped at moving around than they were. She relayed the information, but luckily they didn't come across anything that wanted to kill them.

Instead they reached a dead end.

Thankfully Adam had a plan and she watched in awe as he grew trees from the ground to form a bridge. "Good job," she complimented him. She crossed the bridge with Adam, taking a nervous first step on the wood just after Adam did, and carefully making her way across. Her muscles were tense and she clutched her spear. She wasn't afraid of heights, not really, but this was one of the scariest things she had done ever since she had woken up in that stone coffin. The falcon flew across, turned back, dove under Fenna the newly created bridge and flew to the other side again, landing on a rock. She was preening her feather when Fenna joined her.
"Show-off," she muttered to the falcon, but smiled as she did.

As Adam had to keep an eye on the bridge, Fenna turned her back to the contraption to inspect the immediate surroundings. She looked for any signs of wolves or other predators and climbed up a rock to get a better overview of the nearby area. When she heard a commotion behind her she quickly turned around. Zell lost his balance! Fenna was about to run back on the bridge, but Mackenzie helped him back on his feet. A sigh of relief followed, that looked like a close call. After that, she didn't want to scout ahead until everyone was safely on this.

She flashed a smile when Mackenzie offered to scout and nodded, wishing the girl good luck. She noticed her falcon was still on the rock and when she glanced into the sky she realized why. Vultures. That was to be expected, a dangerous area like this would be home to scavengers. Luckily vultures were opportunist and they wouldn't pose a threat unless they were really hungry. She went back to her falcon and offered her arm, an invitation the bird of prey accepted.

When everyone had made it across and Mackenzie joined them again, she listened to her report. Recently deceased things? Not a good sign.
Mackenzie had taken the right path. Fenna glanced at the vultures in the sky, they circled a different area. "I bet we'll find something dead in that direction as well," she said, gesturing to the birds.

A place called 'The Mazy Hillocks' certainly seemed to be living up to its name, that much she could tell for certain. Hills, ravines, earth, rock, trees, steep slopes, and for all she knew a blasted Minotaur running around the place after some king pissed off a local deity! What else, were they going to be running across an army of undead waiting for them along the way? Witch Queen sending them some kind of fancy welcome to a new world before they even figured out how they got there in the first place perhaps?! Ugh. She liked walking along the beach, and the forest hadn't been bad, but hiking in the mountains or a place like this wasn't her 'cup of tea' to put it metaphorically.

And the others had seemingly agreed with her little revelation seemingly without much...er...thoughts of their own really. At least from what she'd heard and seen so far. Not even a hint of doubt for a sudden claim that the enemy knew they had-...ah. No, after the battle it'd make sense if the enemy figured something had happened since that village hadn't been turned into a mass grave. But even then, and admitting to herself that it wasn't as far-fetched as maybe she felt it was at first, did these people not have an ounce of critical thinking to at least ponder if that might sound real? To ask her for evidence or anything to indicate why she'd just said that out of the blue?!

Maybe there would be a way to get around this place more expeditiously and lose any potential pursuing party, at least without-

"Is there a way we can get around this thing?”

"I'm afraid not, not without backtracking and losing a ton of time on our trip."

Fair enough of an assessment, she wasn't the one holding the map after all. But perhaps she could say something and see if they could at least look more at the map to try to find some sort of-

"ROOOOOAAARRRRR!!!"

...Nope. Nope nope nope. NOPE!!!

A dark roar from the rear meant something wasn't happy, or something was maybe looking for a mate, claiming territory, or maybe trying to scare off intruders or such things along those lines. It also meant the thought of trying to sit around looking for a more carefully-routed optimized path would not be something good either. Nope. Not at all. They would need to keep moving, rationally speaking, so with that in mind the mage would try to keep close to the others within reason due to being in the back of the group. Especially when they'd walked into a DEAD EN-...ahem. A dead end.

Right. So all of this meant going right into things, somehow getting past this gorge of a dead end, and through the rest of the-...Mazy Hillocks. Yeah that name was going to come back to bite them hard in the arse somehow, wasn't it?

The red-eyed man examined his surroundings, finding a small patch of dirt near the group that seemed to transition to the rocky surface of the gorge, and began casting upon it. Four trees, each the width of a person, began growing out of the ground next to each other. They grew horizontally towards the other side of the pit, eventually creating an impromptu bridge that would allow the group to get across safely. Two were right beside each other to provide a walking surface while the other two were angled to provide a sort of railing for whoever was using it. It wasn't elegant, but it would hold up to the strain of the group crossing, two people each. Adam had taken extra time to be sure the root systems of the plants were strong enough to carry that sort of weight. He also made sure that thick and sturdy branches were sticking out at appropriate intervals so that people could hold onto them for extra support.

Adam was young, but the kid was being rather useful to the party's current situation. She had to admit that honestly. His instruction for crossing would also be useful of course, didn't want to act out of panic and just blitz across like some idiot and mess things up. She wasn't that dumb, she felt, and after he spoke to the wider group she gave a small nod and waited for her turn to cross.

Not that Zell almost falling to a potential injury or worse didn't give Lillianna herself a small spook for a moment either. A small squeak came out of her lips before she tightly closed them shut at the scene. Hopefully no one noticed? Maybe. If she was lucky. At least she wasn't as loud in her surprise as James had just been at the same time, however, though MacKensie running off to scout ahead and returning with far-less-than-favorable news didn't help the nervous mage's current state. Not that she was obviously panicking, right? Haha. Who would do that? Totally not someone who was being unnerved a bit by everything that had been going on on this part of the trip!

Ugh. No, she had to breathe. Focus. Think. Too many little things trying to get and stay under her skin. Not that there weren't big things either, but she had to control what she could control at least. Breathe. In and out. Lillianna would focus herself and work to calm her nerves, though visibly standing to the side and breathing with focus and her eyes briefly closed was certainly something of an indicator of what she was doing at least. In and out. Focus on the next task ahead, and maybe finally make herself useful-

"Hey dude, just wanted to say thank you, without you we would have likely lost Zell..."

"I grabbed the branch," he said annoyed over his shoulder, like he was already sick of explaining it.

"...and that would have sucked, even if he is a moron sometimes"

"I'm standing right here bro!"

For a moment the mage was caught off guard as Zell's exclamations brought her attention back to James and MacKensie, but at the same time...

"Pffb-...pff...pfft!"

The talk between MacKensie and him about Zell, after the poor guy was saved, and while he was standing right there did help to kill the tension in her opinion. On second thought, it made her chuckle for a few seconds more despite it all, attempting to stifle a laugh from her mouth and attempting to avoid standing out somehow at the same time. Not normal for her, but it did help her let out some of the anxiety as she'd been trying to calm herself. It wasn't personal, but the timing was perfectly comedic when her head was in the right headspace to just be slipped up by something as little as that.

Once she regained control over herself, however, the mage would seem to return to a somewhat calmer 'normal' (she figured) and would follow along with the group to the next juncture. With MacKensie having scouted the right path, then, with Fenna now also pointing out the vultures circling over what looked like somewhere down the left path in Lillianna's eyes. Yes, scavengers did make sense in an area where terrain made it harder to survive, or where predators were lurking about. That many vultures going around though? That wasn't a good sign in her mind either.

"Perhaps we should take the central path, given what we know so far, but keep a rearguard in case-"

Her words trailed off into a dead silence as her eyes picked up on 'something'...distinct.

Well, at first it was just one 'something' at least, but as she began to look about more she began to notice more and more of those 'somethings'. Floating. Walking. Sitting on terrain. Flying about in the air. Whatever they wanted to do really. And all of these 'somethings' were moving wistfully or angrily or hopelessly or otherwise about the place, moods as variant as the weather and many of said moods obviously negative looking in nature or sounding like such through wailing and moaning and so forth. Their forms all were distinctly somewhere between translucent and transparent, see-through by nature but not as clear as glass or water, and yet no one else seemed to take note of it but her.

Men mostly. Some women. Children. Animals. Some looked all intact or there, normal enough to not be too wild-looking. The majority otherwise, however, had obvious signs of injuries or missing limbs or semi-attached heads and exposed bowels and-...ugh. No, no, breathe. Focus. Yes. Ok.

There was only one movie line she'd known in life that described this most succinctly, though she wasn't sure using it here would convey much in detail. So another approach would be needed then!

After swallowing a gulp of air the mage would looked calmly down at Adam and the others and pipe up for the first proper time since they'd entered this place. Maybe she'd even get a chance to say more if she was quick enough, before she looked even more crazy. Not that landing in a world full of magic and such, finding a magical connection in a cube made to make undead leaders for undead armies, and making a shelter when it wasn't rainy or such outside, wasn't already abnormal enough on its own. No, then this.

At the same time, however, the idea popped into her head that this could be useful perhaps. Potentially.

"...-ok, so does anyone else other than myself see the large amount of spirits of the dead, as in ghosts, all over the place here?"

Her eyes then went up to look at the ghosts once more, only for a face to pop up in front of her suddenly and make her visibly jump backward.

The younger spirit that popped up in front of her then looked a bit startled himself, though would float over to her slowly but gently and put his hands out as if to show he wasn't a threat. It was enough to get Lillianna to slow her heartbeat down and look at him more closely as well.

His body seemed clad in a basic gambeson type of armor that covered his arms and had a tall neck on it, with a shirt of chainmail covering this as well as his torso and upper arms. Thick woolen pants covered his legs, and likewise came over the top of what she assumed was a pair of boots. A medieval-styled metal helm, rounded on top with a brim around the outside of it to give the eyes and neck shade, covered his head. Finally, a pair of leather gloves and pair of metal bracers on the spirit's hands and forearms. All he was missing was a weapon in hand, really, but no sheath was by his side either.

"I dun' mean no harm, but...you...you can see us, miss?"

"Y-Yes. Ahem. Yes, apparently I can."

"It's been so long. One who can see the spirits, I've heard the stories about you's. By the Quinity, even my little sister could see em' too. Got trained by the local church healer she did, though we was lucky we had one back in village as small as ours."

"Umm...

The spirit seemed to look briefly surprised again, before pulling off his helmet and holding it over his chest. His head of messy and roughly-cut short sandy brown hair would likewise become visible as he did so.

"Ah! Sincerest pologies', miss, ah' didn't mean ta' go so long as I did. Just...been horrible in these parts since ah' died. Alone. No one else ere' to talk ta' that wants to. But none of is' ere' is really important anymore really..."

The mage paused for a moment, mouth half-opening before closing again. Something seemed to flash over her eyes, as if something 'clicked' in her head, and her expression would briefly soften for a moment. After a few seconds would pass, then, Lillianna spoke up again to the spirit still floating in front of her (and at a more proper distance now for conversing at least).

"...No. No need to apologize at all in this case.

If I may ask, though, do you know anything about the paths ahead?"

"Er, that might not be what yous all needs right now, miss.

Really, your lot here needs ta' get ready fast. I just wandered back from tha' south and there's pack of the direwolves that're following you. Comin' to attack they is, seens em' myself. Just a small pack, but em's deadly ones tryin' ta' get yous all from the rear here."

Wait, wolves following them into this place? Or had they come from here? No, never mind that now. The mage looked back over at the party and spoke up

"Ok, so one of the dead spirits here just let me know there is a small pack of direwolves coming from the south. I don't care if I sound crazy, and I don't know if these wolves followed us here or are from here already, but we need to get ready for an attack from our rear.

Now."

Adam began reinforcing his makeshift bridge with vines while he watched MacKensie and Zell cross it. It might have been overkill, but overkill was better than an actual person being killed because he wasn't careful. The swordsman, however, apparently did not share the Druid's sentiment in this regard, as Zell looked over the edge of the death pit and proceeded to almost fall into it. A combination of a little anger and concern arose in the red-eyed man as he started to prepare a spell, but MacKensie was quicker and she was able to save the armored man. Certainly impressive on her part; the woman had displayed her ability to use this new weaponry ability (magic? superpower? whatever it was) earlier and it seemed like she had quickly mastered it.

James' reaction was a much more vulgar approximation of what had been in the Druid's head earlier. His heart was in the right place, which made Adam trust him more with strategic decisions. Heck, the man's decision earlier to charge forward had proven to be correct. Maybe he could-

Just then, MacKensie interrupted his thoughts with news of half-eaten corpses and overgrown flies in the rightmost passage. Definitely not going there, the man thought. He was grateful somebody was taking all of this seriously, as Zell certainly wasn't. His life gets saved and he jokes about it? Yeah, James wasn't going to be the only one to give him a few words of advice today. That would have to wait though, as Lillianna saying the left path wasn't a good one and then proceeding to talk to herself seemed to be more of an immediate concern. What was that all about?

"Ok, so one of the dead spirits here just let me know there is a small pack of direwolves coming from the south. I don't care if I sound crazy, and I don't know if these wolves followed us here or are from here already, but we need to get ready for an attack from our rear. 

Now."

"Right, the 'Spirit Magic' you mentioned. I was wondering what that was about." Adam's tone in his response indicated that he didn't find the idea of being told by a ghost that they were in danger of being attacked crazy at all. "Well, I should-"

MacKensie accidentally spoke at the same time, suggesting he destroy the bridge.

"Do exactly that, yes" the man continued with a chuckle. Great minds thought alike, he supposed.

"I've got work to do. Be smart, everyone. This last, he said while looking directly at Zell. That was all the attention he could spare the swordsman for now; blocking the path that monsters could use to attack the team seemed like the higher priority. True to that purpose, Adam went to the bridge and began the process of dismantling it. First, he would attempt to remove any supplemental vines that were there, the smaller plants being easier to manipulate. Then, if that succeeded, the man would try to pull the trees out of the ground, one at a time. This would take somewhat more focus and concentration, as the Druid had purposely given them strong root systems so they could carry the weight of humans while being horizontal. If this worked, the nature manipulator would join his group again, ready to help as needed, whether it be with navigating the Hillocks or fighting the creatures within it.

The thanks from James intertwined with Zell's objections was so funny that MacKensie almost forgot she was inside nature's labyrinth of doom. Her shoulders hunched up as she covered a school-girl giggle with her fingers. The two men were just too funny - seeming so starkly contrasted in many senses, but so alike at the same time. Such a pair were destined to be the best of friends or the worst of enemies. MacKensie was glad that the former was seeming to be the case.

"Yes," she agreed with a smile as she recovered. And then James went on to allay of her fears and concerns from the start of the day. All of the extreme possibilities she had wondered, about her behaviour, about his mindstate... all put to rest by one string of words.

"...I am really bad at the whole 'being a morning person thing' Just wow. So simple and yet so effective at completely curing all the angst she'd built up. In this moment, all she could think as she looked at that face wearing a tired grimace, was that he had no idea how much better he'd just made her feel. He really was a healer, in every sense of the word. Could you tell me what you wanted to say?"

She cupped his shoulder, a slow blink and a shake of the head. "It is not that important, but I am so very grateful for these words," she said to him, smiling. "We can speak again soon."

Fenna's observations of the north-westerly direction brought MacKensie back into a state of seriousness once more. It seemed they were beset on both sides by potential danger. Lillianna concluded the group assessment with a suggestion to take the northmost central path, but her voice trailed off. MacKensie's eyes narrowed at the wizard who was looking around at... something. The Ranger looked behind her and around but couldn't tell what Lillianna was so fixated on. She looked back at the other woman. Whatever was going on had her spooked.

"...-ok, so does anyone else other than myself see the large amount of spirits of the dead, as in ghosts, all over the place here?"

Okay, spooked was most definitely the accurate terminology. MacKensie bristled at Lillianna's words, pausing for a moment to double-check mentally that she had indeed just heard that question right, then shook her head. When the wizard jumped backwards, MacKensie was instantly on her toes, crossbow arm cocked and ready to aim. It was doubtful that crossbow bolts could do anything to a spirit of the dead, but instincts were instincts and she was ready to fire anyway.

She never lowered her weapon once as Lillianna proceeded to have a full-blown conversation with an invisible person. The whole situation was bizarre, even for this world.

"Ok, so one of the dead spirits here just let me know there is a small pack of direwolves coming from the south. I don't care if I sound crazy, and I don't know if these wolves followed us here or are from here already, but we need to get ready for an attack from our rear.

Now."

MacKensie did not think Lillianna crazy. Just like when she'd told them that The Witch Queen knew where they'd camped last night - her trust in the special powers of the group, aswell as the character of the members of said group, had been proven already to be well-placed. She accepted these truths, and now she accepted this one too. They were about to be attacked.

"Well I should-"

"Destroy the bridge," MacKensie finished Adam's sentence, nodding in agreement with him. He chuckled and she smiled at him. "Let's do this."

The same three words she'd said to him yesterday, before the fight to defend Hommas. It was time to fight again. But this time they were alone. No garrison of soldiers to fight alongside. Here, in this claustrophobic environment, they would fight for their own lives.

Assuming that everyone would get into formation, MacKensie took up a position next to Lillianna and James, on the opposite side to Fenna. They were close enough to Adam that he could run back to them, but far enough away from the edge of the gorge that the front-line fighters had room to maneouveur. She was ready. All that was left was to recite the thing she always said right before any performance.

Calm. Focus. Don't forget to breathe.

The ghost that spoke to Lillianna did not mean her ill, nor was he lying. Closing in on the party was a pack of 8 direvolves. An Alpha Female and Alpha Male leading 6 Lesser wolves. Although to call these wolves 'Lesser' betrayed the sheer size and strength of them. Each were eight feet long and 150lbs at least, claws of black steel and a bite force akin a hydraulic jaw. The Alphas were not only larger, but carried an array of mutations both deadly and aesthetic. While all the wolves were gray, the Alpha Male carried tiger stripes of blood-red fur, and each time it barked into the air, a hypersonic blast of compressed air shot from it's mouth like a missile. The Alpha Female didn't have a regular tail, but something more closely related to rattlesnake...



Clive got into the formation, walking in front of the wizards. He flexed his shoulders, ready for a fight, though when he looked down, he realised his shoe lace was untied on his right shoe. "Darn it," he said, taking off his gloves, then passing them to Joji. "Hey partner, would you hold these for me, for just a moment."

And without realising it, he handed to Joji Yamazaki his enchanted magical gloves. The very things that protected him from damage against the skeletons. And there'd be no time to get them back.



The direwolves came up the very same passage that the party had come from, and they saw Adam first and started charging. Adam barely managed to dismantle the bridge before the pack was upon him. The final tree began to come loose as the Alpha Female nimbly crossed and leapt the rest of the way, landing to the side of Adam.

2 wolves who tried to follow their leader, fell into the gorge with the last tree, unable to react in time, howling as they disappeared into the cave system below the surface. Dead or injured, but completely out of the fight and likely to become food for the predators who lurked in the darkness.

Other wolves intelligently recognized that the bridge was falling and jumped, climbed and clambered up the cliff walls to their left and right, to then get stronger run-ups and higher take-off points, diving across the gorge at narrower points that were unaccessible to the party.

The Alpha Male did no such thing as he needed no such bridge. His strong leap made it halfway across the gorge, and in mid air he displayed just one of his powers. Under his paws, a strange disc of light flashed for a second - a platform he used to jump again! The moment the Alpha Wolf air-jumped, the disc of light was gone, but his momentum was carried him the rest of the way across the gorge. Just before the patriarch landed, he barked loudly at the group, sending a powerful non-lethal punch of sonic-compressed air at them, aiming at no one in particular.

Then both Alpha Male and Female, stood on either side of Adam, growled at him before they pounced with bites and claws.

Adam would be able to dodge one of them, but if someone in the party did not help in some way, the Druid would face the consequence of the 2nd Leader wolf before he was able to retreat back into formation.............



The rest of the pack, of which there were now 4 Lesser wolves across the gorge and closing in back on the position of their Leaders. Once they reached them and the pack became whole again, the wolves turned at the party and charged them down........

When Lilliana asked if anyone could see the dead spirits around them, Fenna stared at her. Dead spirits? As in ghost? She shuddered. However, the feeling of uneasiness quickly dropped when she said there were direwolves coming in from the south.
The plan to destroy the bridge was a good one, but it didn't seem to stop the wolves at all.

One of the two big ones - the one with the rattlesnake tale - jumped as the bridge fell apart, landing next to Adam. The other one... made platforms to stand on? The falcon flew up when the first direwolf landed and Fenna clutched her spear. It was only a metre long, which meant she'd have to get closer to the wolf than she'd liked, but she wouldn't let it stop her. As the second wolf landed next to Adam, she readied the spear and just before charging towards the wolf she noticed her spear got longer, doubling in size. She repositioned herself and thrust the tip forward to attack the Alpha Female.

The falcon dove down to attack the first of the smaller wolves that closed in on the group with her talons.

@Teyao @Zapdos @Xenon

Joji Yamazaki

Joji was glad that he was able to cross the bridge over the gorge. Taking a few deep breaths after what felt like certain death. “I’m sure glad to have crossed that gorge, but did anyone hear that roar?” Joji looked around wondering where the source could have come from. “Eh thanks, but don’t you need em?” He asked Clive but the cowboy seemed more concerned with his shoes. “Maybe this isn’t the time to do that.” He said but quickly got into a fighting position. Put on the gloves on his hands in case he needed them.

Looking over at the wolves that were approaching them, Joji took out his sword wanting to focus on the lesser wolves. But he also kept an eye on the others in the group, protecting them was a top priority. He watched carefully as the wolves were coming toward them. “Come on you mother fuckers.” Joji ran over toward one of the lesser wolves, Trying to cut one of them in half with his sword, Of course, these wolves were smarter than the ones back on earth, His target moving out of the way of the swipe of his sword.

“Fuck.” The large man could see the wolf retaliating, jumping onto him and biting into his shoulder. He tried to punch the wolf in the face to try and get it off of him. “Get the fuck off of me.” Joji finally got the wolf off of him by stabbing in the side with his sword. Blood pouring down his shoulder and arm.

Was this really happening? Fuck am I thinking, of course it is, Zell thought.

While Lillianna spoke to the ghost, the Englishman leaned his weight onto his back foot and casually folded his arms in wait. His non-reaction to the extraordinary situation playing out in front of him was signal enough that he'd had enough of being surprised by this world. Witch Queens, walking skeletons, smoking-hot circus archers, tree-bridges... why not add spirit mediums, huh?

He looked about at the environment absentmindedly before Joji drew his attention. “I’m sure glad to have crossed that gorge, but did anyone hear that roar?”

"Yeah," Zell replied, looking at his fellow swordsman. "Sounds likely the clearing full of corpses that MacKensie found belonged to the owner of that roar. Whatever it is, it's big. And probably isn't the most civilized host." When Lillianna was done and made them aware of the impending danger, Zell simply nodded a few times. "Wonderful."

Zell got into formation with everyone else except Adam who he watched go forward and start breaking the bridge. Clive decided that this was the best time to make sure his boots were tightened up. The direwolves were on them pretty quick and Zell drew his sword, twirling it in a single circle before dropping into a one-handed stance. The Druid bravely stuck around, exposed, to finish destroying the bridge, which resulted in taking out two wolves.

"Nice, Adam, now get your ass back here!" he said loudly as the direwolves began swarming. Realising Adam was in danger and without a weapon, Zell rushed forward to help, but... "Watch out!" ...had to leap to one side to avoid the blast that came from the Alpha Male, his hair fluttering with the wind that blasted past him towards the group. Then a shadow materliazed around his feet and he was forced to dive back to the front line to avoid the aerial attack from a Lesser Wolf. "Shit."

With a commando roll back to his feet, he turned about to meet the onrush of direwolves, hoping that Adam was okay. One of the wolves leapt at him, blocking his view of the Druid ahead, and Zell was forced to put all of his attention on the ridiculously strong predator trying to bite his face off. He'd managed to use his sword like a dog chew-toy, the wolf clamping it's jaws down on the horizontally held blade while Zell held hilt and the dull side of the tip to push against the awesome canine power. His feet slid back, bringing up dirt around his boots as he was pushed backward with the force.

"Urrgh." Zell struggled to not buckle under the pressure, his triceps bulging with work. The Lesser wolf's front paws were thrashing about, fortunately unable to reach him. "James, that blinding spell would be pretty good right now!"

If the Cleric obliged, then Zell would seize the opportunity and make quick work of the direwolf.

Thank shit she didn't seem upset over his explanation, who knew that saying you are sorry could have positive consequences from time to time. Not that he was planning on making it a habit, mama raised... someone who should give them more often if he was being honest with himself but he just felt too awkward giving them, out of place and insincere -even when he WAS- so really, they should feel happy that he was even willing to give one from time to time.

Giving Mac a nod in return to postpone the conversation he focused again on the path ahead, now which one to choose?

"...-ok, so does anyone else other than myself see the large amount of spirits of the dead, as in ghosts, all over the place here?"

Lillianna's words gave him pause, ghosts? sure they had fought against orcs and skeletons but ghosts? Not that he didn't believe it, even were they still on Earth(?) he would still have believed her to some degree, what he didn't expect was for her to be some sort of medium. Looking in her direction he started to feel a slight burn in his eyes for a second making him start frothing them with the back of his hand.

"Ugh, shit, did my allergies jumpstart or someth... what the hell?"

Now in front of him, he could see the mage again but this time she was not alone, she appeared to be conversating with some sort of silhouette, a man by the looks of it, looking around he could see what she was referring to earlier, there were silhouettes all around them, both human and not with some of them missing chums of what should be part of their bodies, the only thing they all shared in common was the empty but shining eyes they all seemed to share.


Okay, this was getting freakier by the moment, hopefully they were just laying spirits that weren't planning on anything bad toward the living.

"Ok, so one of the dead spirits here just let me know there is a small pack of direwolves coming from the south. I don't care if I sound crazy, and I don't know if these wolves followed us here or are from here already, but we need to get ready for an attack from our rear.

Now."

Puta madre!

It really said something about their adaptability that rather than question Lillianna they all seemed to prepare for the battle ahead with Adam collapsing the bridge and Clive and Joji taking the front from where the wolves were supposed to appear. They weren't prepared enough for the speed of the wolves however, with the bigger ones surrounding Adam in a flash and another bitting and wounding Joji before he managed to kill it, Fenna didn't lose time and went to help Adam against the wolf with the strange tail. Zell tried to follow in her footsteps but had a run-in with one of the lesser wolves.

"James, that blinding spell would be pretty good right now!"

The Fighter words ran true against his mind and he didn't hesitate, reaching that space at the back of his mind felt easier each time he did it, and with barely an effort of will he made the familiar gun gesture with his hand and shot the spell towards the overgrown canine.

"Here! Kill it and help Adam!" The wolf couldn't help but flinch the moment the spell collided with its face and he wondered what sort of effect it had when everything reacted like that once hit, the wolf opened its jaws and released Zell's blade, allowing the Swordman to...

For a moment he felt like he stepped away from whatever reality they were on and moved into a movie, that was the only explanation for what Zell managed to do.

First, as soon as the wolf released his sword Zell retreated a few steps and then entered into a stance for a second before lunging at the animal, he could feel his pulse accelerate as the wolf appeared to sense the attack somehow and respond with a claw to the coming Englishman, only for its paw to met air and then fall to the ground as Zell transformed his lunging attack into a roll backward that severed said paw before getting to his feet. Enraged and in pain, the wolf jumped intending to use its other claw to tear his head off but Zell, undeterred, used his superior footwork to evade the blow by mere inches while taking the opportunity to chop off its other paw. At the end of its arc Zell didn't waste time and before the wolf could attack again jumped on its back and drove his blade directly into its skull making it twitch one, twice before slumping onto the ground completely immobile.

For a moment he and Zell shared a look of incredulity for what he had just done before the howling of another wolf drove them back to reality. "Help Adam, we can hold them off!" Noddiding the swordsman set towards the Druid position. As soon as he saw him set off he started casting the same ability that he had used only once before, this time with more confidence in his words, more faith.

"I call to you Lord Undaya, Ruler of the seas and King of the ocean, bestow upon us your blessing, to be as cold and unwavering as you are in the deep below"

As soon as he felt the Blessing settle on his party members he called. "Buff's in, fuck them up!"

As the bridge of trees fell, MacKensie fired a shot at the wolves trying to make it across the gorge, hitting the one just behind the Alpha Female. It fell into the darkness along with one of it's brethren, but the Ranger didn't wait to see it disappear - already shoving her free hand into her pouch to come up with a fistful of bolts. A lightning quick reload followed by a sharp raising of her one-handed crossbow. Stood side on, a deep breath held, one eye closed as she aimed with utmost concentration - her target; the Alpha Male crossing the gorge. She followed the flight-path of the direwolf's leap, accounting for distance, a little wind and... J'ai vous.

The crossbow twanged as the bolt exploded towards the target, perfectly on course to catch the Alpha Male in it's skull, in mid-air, right above the gorge where gravity could finish the job. But no.

"What?" MacKensie exclaimed as the bolt missed.

The Alpha Male direwolf, in some feat of sorcery, jumped again, using a flash of light?

There was no time to mourn the miss as a blast of sound and air came towards the group. She watched Zell avoid it, then dodged to one side with pirouette to let it past her harmlessly. Adam was now in danger, betwixt the Alphas, and direwolves from the periphery of her vision swarmed down from the cliffsides to block her from a clear shot to help her friend. The front line engaged the charging enemy. MacKensie supported as she moved to get a visual on Adam. She dropped a bolt into the firing mechanism, cocked back and let one fly from the hip - all in one smooth motion, her bolt hitting the leg of the Lesser Direwolf charging Clive.

When James shouted for Zell to help Adam, MacKensie could wait no longer for her clear shot. "On it!"

She ran forward, skipping between Clive and Arthur's fights in a zig-zag motion to avoid stray attacks, to catch up to Fenna's advanced position. In the back of her mind, a lone and very quiet thought trailed amongst the urgent ones. I didn't notice her spear was so long! Nonetheless, with a clear view of Adam and the Alphas, she took aim and fired off three shots at the Male, in hopes of at least distracting it, if she could not hurt it.

"Come quick!" she called to the Druid, backing up and continuing to fire off more shots until Adam was close enough that she could reach out and grab his hand. "Let's go," she said, turning to run with him back past the remaining Lesser Direwolves to the safety of the back line.

Adam was tense as he continued his work on demolishing the bridge he had just built; wolves were crossing it and they did not look friendly at all! Still, he focused on the task at hand, wanting to protect his team the best he could. Ultimately, the man was relieved to see two wolves go down into the gorge, but alarmed at the two bigger ones that had decided to surround him. Surround him in a place that had nothing in the way of plant life for an easy defense. This would not be easy and the Druid had no idea what to do.

He was quite grateful to see the group spring into action and help him! Fenna bravely attacking the Alpha Female, James casting his buff, and even Zell's concern about him getting back to the formation were all appreciated. Adam was happiest to see MacKensie charge in though, shooting the Alpha Male and grabbing his hand. For a split second, the man's thoughts drifted away from the battle. Does this mean she likes me-no get your head back to reality Adam, she's just helping a friend, you need to help her and the others too! He did what he told himself, holding her hand as the pair ran back to the safety of the team. And indeed, the Druid did want to help his team the same way they had helped him. Calm down and think, Adam…what should you do? He felt a sort of energy as he did this, but the red-eyed man didn't know what it was or have time to give it much consideration; they were all in danger, after all.

Instead, he decided to help Fenna, since she was still in combat with the Alpha Female and therefore in the most danger. Adam focused his energy on a patch of dirt, similar to the one he used to grow the trees on the other side of the pit, and tried as stealthily as possible to grow three strong vines out of the ground. Then he would attempt to sneak them around as needed and surprise the wolf by wrapping them its two hind legs and rattlesnake-like tail, and if that worked, focusing his energy on restricting the creature's movement as much as possible so Fenna could fight at an advantage. The Druid just hoped that it would help.

In this case, she was glad they believed her right off of the bat. Very glad, as it turned out, as Adam tried to collapse his bridge and the pack of wolves were trying to charge right on over to their side. It would seem two of the wolves would be lost along the way, thank goodness, but the majority and the two Alphas would still get their way to the other side and attack them. Not so good. Really not good actually.

Fenna and her, apparently magically size-changing, spear would go after the Alpha Female. Joji was fighting one of the 'lesser' wolves, if that term was even applicable to them compared to anything the mage had seen back home ever, but was injured in the process. Zell was struggling against one of the 'lesser' wolves as well as it tried to push him back, not that this would be necessarily hard for them to do to any of them given the size of the things. Arthur and Clive seemed to likewise get in the thick of battles of their own against the remaining lesser wolves, and James-

"Buff's in, fuck them up!"

...was being James, based on what she'd heard of the first battle. Tossing a spell in Zell's wolf's face in this case, and casting a boon upon them it seemed, were the courses of action he took. As he did the latter thing, however, an unnatural endurance seemed to take hold over her body, which despite the mild shock of feeling it take effect on her was at least welcome. Not that it much helped a non-physical fighter, but it was surely better than nothing...right? Right. No need to be picky when they didn't exactly have a choice or many options right now for much of anything.

Otherwise, MacKensie seemed to rush in to try to pull Adam back to backlines where she was and the druid tried to cast something as everyone seemed to be in the thick of some kind of combat. Meanwhile the ghost that was still floating near her piped up again.

"Ah! Umm...ah'll be right back, miss! Maybe ah' can do somethin' to help!"

"What are you doing?"

And with that the ghost seemed to disappear down the left path, or rather just move through the scenery and such as if it wasn't even there. In the meantime the mage pointed her free hand at the Alpha Male Direwolf, channeling a flow of crackling lightning out of it like a stream toward the beast to try to do something to it aside from the few arrows MacKensie had fired at it. She would work to avoid hitting her teammates with the attack, but it wasn't the same single-bolt explosive power of her Lightning Bolt spell either. Certainly she was hoping to get something to work, though out of the corner of her eye she noticed one of the Lesser Wolves dart through and gun it toward her!

"OH SHI-"

*WHOOSH*

*SCHING*

*THUNK*

...eh? EH?!?!

An old polearm of sorts, a halberd that seemed to be in somewhat decent even if rusty and rather aged condition, soared up into the air from somewhere down the left path before shooting off in her direction. She hadn't even noticed it with her focus on the battle, but as the Lesser Direwolf charging toward her with throat-tearing intent came along the aged weapon slammed into it and through it with its point spear-style tip and pinned its back half to the ground with a solid impact as it hit the crusty earth below. A moment later the ghost from before seemed to emerge from it, albeit somewhat flickering in appearance and a hand held over his gut as he floated back over to her side.

"Heh. That took it ah'll outta' me there...but...ah...its been ah' long time since ah' tried doin' at'. Beasties took my throat out in life as I and mah' adventurin' party were headed back injured from ah' battle, seems fittin' ah' do this at least.

Erk. Takes a lot outta' me ta' do it on all my own though, miss, not feelin' too good after. So ah' can't do it again all on me own I'm afraid."

Maybe seeing dead people wasn't all bad after all.

To a wise observer, the first wave of attacks from the party on the Alphas would make it painfully clear: The Heroes from the Sky were severely outmatched.



The Alpha Male direwolf's reflexes were instantaneous. It went from pouncing on Adam, paws and jaws mere inches from the Druid's face, to jumping into a 360 spin that evaded MacKensie's flurry of bolts. The giant red-striped beast's attention was now locked onto the Ranger, slipping left and right effortlessly to dodge each shot MacKensie fired, snarling with utter contempt for the woman. She couldn't hit it, but the distraction was enough that Adam could retreat without being harmed.

Yet, as soon as MacKensie stopped firing and turned to run, hand in hand with Adam, the beast struck out immediately with another lunge at the pair. Once again it was inches from the Druid and Ranger, and would have undoubtedly snapped it's jaws onto MacKensie's shoulder, but out of nowhere came the stream of lightning.

Lillianna was the first to land any kind of hit on the Alpha Male, the lightning strikingly it directly. It winced and recoiled slightly, pushed back a step. The vast majority of typical damage from a magical lightning bolt was negated by the inately high magic resistance of the animal. Barely a scratch, but it was stunned for long enough to allow it's prey to escape behind the party front-line.



Fenna's charge was enough to make the Alpha Female direwolf pause her attack on Adam, and turn her canine gaze on the spear-wielding Ranger. The direwolf reared up onto it's hind legs and whacked the tip of the spear away with a claw-strike.

Yes. Claw-strike. This direwolf was no ordinary wolf but a twisted Chimera of sorts. It's body was longer than the other wolves, it's forked tongue that of a great lizard. Before Fenna could recover, the beast advanced on her and grabbed the shaft of the spear with a clawed hand, so that Fenna couldn't get away, then yanked the Ranger toward itself and opened it's jaws.

Adam's vines took it by surprise and managed to coil around it's rear half, but the plant magic was not strong enough to hold the Alpha Female in place. It shook itself easily from the trap, snapping the vines but left itself open for an attack...



The Enchanted Gloves of Lesser Protection glowed momentarily and Joji's bite wound healed completely. His skin sealed up without leaving a scratch, although the blood still covered his arm.



One of the Lesser Direwolves fell to Arthur's powerful anchor attacks, but the last remaining one injured Clive, leaving the ex-farmer writhing on the ground with deep scratches and a bite wound before charging Lillianna and being killed by the flying halberd of the ghost. Clive struggled to his feet, his shovel broken leaving him unarmed and injured.

"ROOOOOAAARRRRR!!!" was the distant promise of wrath once again. Except this time, it was a little louder and little closer.

Perhaps more worryingly... it was no longer coming from the south. The roar was now north-east of their position.

But there was more pressing matters to attend to right now, in the form of two extremely powerful, extremely angry direwolves.

@Saiyan @xenon

Joji Yamazaki

Joji tried to move quickly toward Adam, since he was unarmed. His sword glistened with the blood of the lesser wolf that he had stabbed earlier. Quickly moving over towards Adam, since he was unarmed. Reeling in pain from the pain in his shoulder, having a similar feeling when he was shot once. It was something he didn't expect to feel again. "Mother fucker." He cursed under his breath. The feeling of being bitten was not as bad as being shot, but it did sucked MEGA balls.

But he looked quite surprised as his wounds were being healed. His arms glowed a bright white light. His wounds were healed but there was still blood pouring down his arm and hand. "Damn didn’t know these gloves healed my wounds. I’m glad Clive gave me these things.” Joji looked around wondering where Clive was.

Running towards the male head wolf and using his enhanced speed to try and slice the leader wolf in half. Using the blood on his hand being thrown to try and blind the wolf beforehand. His body moved quicker than the human eye could catch. His attack being blocked by the Alpha's claw, Some sparks came from the impact of the sharp claw hitting his sword. “Damn it.” Cursing under his breath trying not to get hit again. “Fuck off.” He curled his hand into a fist, trying to punch the wolf in the nose.

So the lightning at least made the Alpha Male take pause, which was good. Adam and MacKensie were able to get back to where she was behind the front lines as well, which was also good. Fenna was not doing so good being yanked toward the, now momentarily distracted at least by whatever Adam had done there, Alpha Female. Not good. Well, not all bad either but only for a moment being perhaps? Something. Plus her new 'ghost buddy' had managed to save her skin somehow with his little stunt, though apparently he couldn't do it again either. Also Clive was in bad shape and Arthur hadn't been able to keep that one wolf back before it had charged her. Crap.

Zell at least had a chance to deal with his wolf, and the giant Japanese man who now had Clive's gloves seemed to be charging the momentarily stunned Alpha Male Mutant Direwolf.

Basically other than being totally outmatched by a couple of freaky Mutant Alpha Direwolves, and dealing with any remaining lesser wolves perhaps, they were doing generally ok. Generally ok? Sure, generally ok was something she'd allow herself to think about it all. How they were was at least better than the alternative of dealing with whatever was-

"ROOOOOAAARRRRR!!!"

-...making...that noise in the south...which was also actually the same direction where the Direwolves had come from. But now the noise was louder and much closer to them. Great. Juuuuuuuust great!

Well, it had been making noise from the south at first at least. Not so much now, which was worrying based on how fast it would have had to move to be coming from the northeast now. Or maybe whatever it is was using tunnels? But with the noise moving closer it did not bode well for things either since this thing would be coming into the group's rear. If this thing was anything bad, and was worse than the Alpha Mutant Direwolves, they would be overwhelmed in an instant! She really didn't want to get eaten by a wolf and left in a maze of hills, not that any of them likely wanted to die here either. Ugh.

Hmm. Hmmmmmmmm. Ah! Aha!!!

That might help. Maybe.

Lillianna's hand as she spoke suddenly changed direction, pointing toward the Alpha Female as she unleashed a powerful Lightning Bolt spell proper toward it. Maybe it would help damage it or stun it in this case, or at least force the thing to keep an eye on the attack and then have to soak another attack in the process. Or something. Anything. But she wasn't going to sit idly and do nothing either! She couldn't, even as a trembling shiver of what felt like a mix of excitement and fear ran down her spine as her gaze remained focused on the battled ahead.

@Zool@Calle@Saiyan@Teyao@xenon@Zapdos@Eviledd1984

"Help Adam, we can hold them off!"

Zell nodded at James and turned back to the enemy, a sharp whip of his sword to rid his blade of wolf blood, then started towards the Druid, only to find MacKensie was a few steps ahead of him. He ran over, watching the lightning strike the Alpha Male and stun it, then he covered the retreat of Adam and the Ranger.

"You're not bad at this reverse-damsel-in-distress thing, are ya." His loud comment to MacKensie came with chuckle and a teethy grin as he back-pedalled alongside them, watching both enemies and ready to spring into defensive action should they charge his retreating friends. That's when he saw Fenna engaged with the Alpha Female. He would have left Adam and MacKensie's backs there and then, but Arthur had dispatched his opposing direwolf and was now moving to support Fenna. "I did grab that branch though."

"Mother fucker."

Seeing the Alpha Male was still stunned, Zell let his attention be drawn to Joji who'd joined them. "Shit," Zell remarked as he looked upon the blood-soaked arm of the swordsman. "You okay, big guy?"

The man's arm suddenly started glowing! Was this James' buff? Did it have more properties than the superhuman energy rush? Zell couldn't see what was happening under all that blood, but Joji was quick to let them know.

"Damn didn’t know these gloves healed my wounds. I’m glad Clive gave me these things.”

"Speaking of..." Zell looked around and saw the American getting off the floor. He ran over to him as he looked pretty messed up. His weapon was broken too. "Oh man, I think you might need to sit the rest of this out, my dude."

That deep roar sounded off again. "Shit." Zell could only hope that the ruckus they were causing here didn't draw whatever that was to their location. Chances weren't great though, as it sounded even closer than before. He suddenly did a double-take at the dead wolf on the ground, that for some reason, had a rusty halberd sticking out of it's corpse. Where the hell did that come from? He didn't think much about it and sheathed his sword, "I'll be taking this," then picked up the halberd and turned to charge. He'd been out of the fight for long enough. "Joji, I'm right behin-"

Holy shit.

As Zell charged with the new two-handed weapon, he was wide-eyed. He barely managed two steps and Joji had already crossed the short distance back to the Alpha Male, a light trail dust kicking up with the sheer speed of Japanese man's sprint. Zell could barely follow the man's movements, seeing nothing more than what felt like a few flashing images. One thing he did catch sight of was Joji cleverly whip blood at the Alpha's eyes. "Ha!" He was impressed with Joji's resourcefulness and made a mental note of such a trick. "Joji, incoming!"

Seeking to take advantage of Joji's attempt to blind the Alpha male, Zell - still charging and now closer - used his momentum to spin around, swinging the heavy weapon around his head, before launching the rusty halberd with all his power, sending it spinning overhand towards the Alpha Male.

Such was the momentum in his move - such was the might he'd mustered - Zell almost fell on his face, but with his hands free for balance, he kept his forward motion, drawing his sword off his back once more and lunging into a combination of diagonal strikes.

Fenna almost lost her grip when the large wolf smacked her spear tip away, but she clutched the shaft. She gaped at it when it rose onits hind legs. Her hind legs, Fenna's current position left no doubt as to the gender of the beast.
Before she could recover and get her spear ready for attack again, the wolf grabbed the shaft and yanked her close while opening her jaw. She almost fell down, but managed to stumble along, getting even closer to the wolf.
Oh shit...
The vines distracted the beast for a moment, and Fenna reacted almost instinctively. She grabbed the hilt of her dagger while trying to pull her spear back as it shrank back to a metre long as if it reacted to her wish for it to be shorter again. In a fluid motion, she pushed the dagger forward to stab the wolf, while pulling the spear back.

From the corner of her eye she noticed something light coming in her direction; Liliana's Lightning Bolt spell was on its way, as was Arthur. She pulled the dagger back and lifted her spear, shorter and more manageable for close combat now, to try and stab the wolf again. She was a little too close for comfort, perhaps, but she wasn't battling this creature alone, and being in the position to attack she didn't want to waste the opportunity.

Happy to see the remaining smaller direwolves dispatched as they all regrouped at the front-line, she let herself smile in relief that her plant-wielding comrade was out of immediate danger. The courage he'd shown to remain until the bridge was destroyed was admirable, but he did not belong out in the open. "Good job, Adam." MacKensie let go of the Druid's hand and reloaded her crossbow, sparing a glance at Zell who appeared to be enjoying himself. Reverse-damsel-in-distress. She had to admit the irony.

"Not bad at all. Careful you do not make me have to save you a third time. You owe me two drinks already, no?" she replied, a reminder of his promise from yesterday. He'd said it himself; he owed her a drink for saving his life. Well now she'd saved him twice, so by her logic...

"I did grab that branch though."

Seeing Adam safe and casting again, she looked over to see Fenna in action, then fired her grapplehook at the cliffside next to the older woman. As for Zell, she arched an eyebrow at the swordsman and smirked. He would not be let off the hook. "Two drinks."

With that, she zipped away, flying towards Fenna while aiming her crossbow at the Alpha Female. Even at the speed she was going, Lillianna's lightning bolt crackled right past her, at a speed she could never reach. With Arthur closing in too, there was hope to overwhelm the Alpha Female, so MacKensie fired a shot to follow up the lightning.

The grapplehook released and MacKensie hurtled a few more metres before landing hands first and rolling into a baseball slide, reloading as she came around the back of Arthur and Fenna, then let off a second and then a third shot.

Despite (or perhaps because of) the situation James couldn't help but get more and more annoyed as the fight dragged on, maybe he had an undiscovered burning hatred for wolves that even he had no clue about, it could happen right? But no, he knew the reason for his growing frustration, he just disliked having to fight so soon after trekking for so long, he was sore, tired and if the roaring sound was any indicator they were going to be facing something far meaner soon.

Taking that into account he was doing fairly well by his normal standarts.

So it should be no surprise that his reaction to the fight after casting the Blessing was to make finger guns and shoot a Light Beam towards each Boss enemy.