“Chase after her but maintain your distance.”

The formation leader furrowed his brow and gave the Padishah a deep look before spurring his horse forward. “Follow closely behind me,” he shouted. His eyes narrowed on the little girl’s shrinking figure. It’d be fine to keep up with her pace while letting her stay ahead. The city should’ve been aware of the incoming invasion, and even if the little girl suddenly charged without warning, the majority of the men on the walls would be ready for her.

Alice didn’t seem to notice or care that she wasn’t being followed by anyone. A small city like this, she could take out the leader by herself. However, the cat on her shoulders didn’t seem to realize that. Burc was screaming his head off, shouting, “Stop! Stop! Alice, you crazy woman, stop the horse! You’re going too fast for me to jump off!”

A chuckle escaped from Alice’s lips, and she turned her head to glance at Burc. He was on the verge of clawing at her face, but he had to use all his strength to maintain his grip on her body. “It’ll be fine. I’m a guardian.”

Burc swallowed and tried to calm his hackles which were fully raised. He couldn’t. Instead, he glanced behind himself, judging how fast the horses from behind were charging. If he jumped off now, he’d injure a leg at the very least, but he should still be able to scramble away and avoid being trampled flat by the sipahis. With a way to survive in front of him, Burc didn’t hesitate and leapt off of Alice’s shoulders. However, he didn’t get very far before the base of his tail was nearly ripped out of its socket. “Meow!”

“I said, ‘Calm down.’” Alice dragged Burc back by his tail and placed him into her lap. He scratched her, but his claws couldn’t dig through her leather armor. It might’ve just been made out of leather, but it came from the hide of a manticore. Even regular steel blades would be helpless against it. “Hold onto me, and you won’t get hurt at all.”

“Meow!”

Alice furrowed her brow. “Does yanking on your tail prevent you from talking normally? Wait, no, you were never talking normally. Maybe if I yank on your tail, it’s an on-and-off switch for my ability to understand cats?”

“I’m meowing at you for emphasize!” Burc said with his ears flattened back against his head. “I greatly dislike this situation. I advise you to stop being in it! Meow!”

“It’s too late for that,” Alice said and raised her arm. The shield on her wrist expanded, and there was a metallic clinking sound. Something whizzed off to the side. “We’re already in their shooting range.”

“Then turn around!”

Alice grinned. “Now why would I do that?” she asked. “The wall is right here.” She spurred her horse forward even more, but it was slowing down. After all, telling a horse to run straight into a wall that was impossible to jump over wouldn’t work. Alice didn’t mind it and leaned heavily to the side. Burc yowled and clutched onto Alice’s hair as he and Alice tumbled to the ground while stilling rolling forward. Using her shield and her back, Alice rolled forward and bounced up onto her feet, maintaining her momentum while protecting Burc from hitting the ground. The wall was just a few meters away, and the shouts of confusion from the defenders were louder than the din of the charging horses behind her.

“Alice! I don’t like this!” Burc wailed.

Alice didn’t respond as a rune appeared on her forehead as she ran forward. A yellow aura seeped out of her body, coating her and Burc in a golden light. Transparent aura claws appeared around her arms and legs as a transparent tail sprang out of her behind. By the time her aura fully materialized, the city wall was towering over her. With a roar, she swung her arm with her shield forward. It rapidly expanded until it was twice the size of her body, and with a sound akin to thunder, it struck the city wall. Dust exploded outwards, and a gaping hole appeared in the wall. The stones weren’t able to withstand the impact, turning to dust upon contact with Alice’s shield. There was a light rumbling sound as the upper portion of the wall groaned before collapsing, leaving a small barricade of stones that were about as high as Alice’s waist.

An unlucky solder had fallen with the portion of the wall, but he didn’t stay there for long. Alice grabbed him by his leg and jerked her arm up and out, flinging the man onto a building’s roof. She leapt over the threshold of the breach and paused. Despite being the one to lead the charge, she had no idea where the administrator of the city was. She turned around to ask the formation leader, but they were still quite a distance away. Her nose wrinkled upon seeing that, and she decided to vent her frustrations against the soldiers who were still brave enough to try to shoot her. Most of them were fleeing, but there were still a few that were loading their muskets. They were similar to the ones that the dwarves made back on the eastern continent, but the ones here were bigger and longer, perhaps because they were made for human use.

Alice assumed they were similar and pounced forward, ascending onto the city walls with a single leap. Usually, the musket’s long loading time could be compensated by distancing oneself from the target. Unfortunately, the soldiers met Alice. She swiped her aura claw at them, cutting through their muskets like a hot knife through butter. The soldiers screamed and scattered like startled rabbits, some of them directly jumping off the wall. Alice looked around, and her brow furrowed. Everyone had fled.

“Alice….”

Alice lowered her head, glancing down at Burc who was still clinging onto her hair for dear life. “Yes?”

“I’m going to….” Burc stopped talking, and a slimy liquid flew out of his mouth, onto Alice’s chest. “Ahem.” He crawled up onto Alice’s shoulders and positioned himself in his comfy spot. “Good work, Alice.”

Alice stared at the cat vomit on her armor and glared at the cat that acted as if nothing had happened.