At the southern part of the village, Lancelot and his troop had just arrived at the borders.
Lancelot's eyes narrowed as he tightened the buckles of his armour, turning his head to look at a certain member of his group dressed in a dark brown cloak.
"Is this the place?"
The cloaked member bowed his head. "Yes, my Lord Lancelot. This is where the monsters were sighted."
Lancelot turned back to look at the border.
However, something felt off and it deterred him from riding forward any further.
After a few seconds of examining his surroundings, his eyes glint with realisation.
'A magic shield,' he thought as he alighted his horse.
Lancelot began to walk toward the border, causing his subordinates to wonder what triggered this decision to move on foot.
After a few metres of walking, the knight stopped and stretched out his hand.
"Just as I thought," he muttered, feeling the firm structure of the invisible barrier.
Lancelot looked up and around him, trying to gauge the limits of this barrier and he couldn't help but smile.
"Seems like we would have some work to do here."
As soon as he was done analysing the barrier, he gave a sidelong glance to his crew and without saying a single word, they understood what he wanted them to do.
The cloaked man took out a long scroll and laid it out on the ground, chanting incomprehensible words as multiple runic markings started to appear on the parchment from out of nowhere.
The rest of the troop who were also knights all alighted from their mounts.
Hands were glued to the hilt of their swords as they prepared themselves for any strange reactions whatsoever.
A few of them released their feet from the grip of the muddy ground as the rain continued to reduce.
They were ready for whatever business brought them to this place.
Lancelot, on the other hand, shut his eyes and took in deep breaths to calm his body and mind.
The knight proceeded to place his second palm on the invisible barrier as if trying to push it away.
At this moment, Lancelot was open and that was where his subordinate came in.
They were there to protect and back him up if need be, and that was the signal he had given them earlier.
In a moment, a bright blue marking spread forth from Lancelot's arm, albeit hidden by his attire, until they got to the back of his hand where they were visible.
It was a defined network of bluish energy spreading from his hand into the invisible barrier.
Lancelot had sensed the mana from the barrier and that was how he knew one was there, but he never expected something of this calibre to be positioned in a place like this.
He continued to inject his mana into the barrier while the cloaked member of his group continued to chant.
With every second that passed, Lancelot grew stronger and stronger, and his magic grew exponentially more powerful as he continued to infiltrate the inner structures of the barrier with his external, unregistered mana.
Within a few seconds, the mana shield became visible for the rest of the crew to see, surprising them as they now understood what their commander had been up to.
A large, unique shield — made up of innumerable pentagon plates joined to their edges — appeared out of nowhere.
Lancelot's lips curled into a satisfactory smile as he was a step closer to dismantling this blockade to their advancement.
Seeing that they were making marked progress, the man in the cloak started to chant even louder, evoking a strange occurrence as the runic letterings started to climb onto his body.
By doing this, he turned himself into a conduit to channel the energy of the scroll.
This continued for a few minutes until a small crack formed on the shield.
Then another crack… and another after that.
After a few more cracks, a loud bang erupted into the atmosphere, causing the ground to quake and triggering fear in the hearts of the knights.
"Prepare yourselves!" Lancelot commanded at the top of his lungs, spittle flying out of his mouth as he channelled all he could muster into the barrier.
More explosive sounds and earthquakes followed but it did not deter him since he had planned for such, even though he had really not expected to meet a barrier of such level.
The cloaked man continued to buff Lancelot up until the multiple, longer cracks appeared on the shield, spreading out like a large web and joining with each other.
These knights were now just a few moments away from stepping into the said village.
*********
Back in the village, the villagers had taken the time to coordinate themselves, all thanks to the elders and more experienced members who planned for the worst.
Rey rushed to his father's side as soon as he saw him coming out of the village chief's hut.
"Father, what's the mat—"
Eragon grabbed Rey's hands and looked at him, worry and anxiety etched on his face.
"Prepare for battle, Rey. We fear for the worst."
Shortly after, the older men of the village and some warriors of the village appeared, armed to the teeth with the crudest of weapons.
From axes to spears to hammers and wooden tools. They had everything and used anything, down to utensils.
This village wasn't sophisticated but they understood one thing — they had to do whatever it took to survive.
The more experienced villagers knew what to expect but the younger ones like Rey were left in the dark, fear gripping their hearts.
Rey, unsatisfied with the silence, hurriedly approached his father.
"Battle with who, Father?" he asked, catching up to him.
"We will talk about that later, son. Just—"
Rey made his way to his front, stopping him. "I need to know, Father!"
Eragon halted, his eyes widening with surprise.
"It's been almost 18 years and you haven't said a thing to me yet. Now, you expect me… you expect us to fight an enemy we don't even know?!"
Rey was enraged and tired of being left in the dark, and his father could see these emotions in his eyes.
Eragon, at that moment, knew that there was nothing he could say to appease Rey.
Nothing, except the truth.