I spent two more days of research with Riggard. He did not slow down at all but I kept mostly observing him. I simply was not in the mood to throw my all into this project. It was not mine. After the second day, he stopped me before I left.

“Thanks for your help. But more importantly, thanks for letting me do this. It’s my life’s work. If you just came and solved all my problems I would feel incompetent. Get some good rest tomorrow. We’re a bit stuck but maybe a break will do us good.”

His wife nodded sagely.

“You’re getting some good rest tomorrow as well, darling! I’ll make sure of that!”

I nodded a goodbye at them and took off.

The next morning, Vivi and I made our way to the barracks. A guard received and guided us to a training field in the back. Several of his colleagues were lined up near the edge, inspecting their equipment. Everyone had some sort of melee weapon on them. Mostly it was axes or hammers with a spike on one end. A few held swords instead. That was how far my expectations were met. What I had not predicted was how many of them used ranged weapons and how few carried shields. There were at least three compound bows for every shield and another two crossbows. The shields were incredibly large rectangular sheets of metal. I saw not a single one shorter than me and they were at least as wide as the dwarf carrying it.

In total there were two dozen dwarves on the sides of the training field. Soon, three more stepped out of the hallway we had taken to arrive here. One of them was the captain and on his sides was the vice-captain, whose name I had forgotten, as well as another dwarf looking important. I greeted Captain with a hoot, Vivi following up with a meow. That drew the guards attention to us and they started to get sorted on the field.

Captain gave a sharp nod and called out to everyone.

“Good morning, men. And woman”, a nod to the single female guard elicited a scuff, “We’re joined today by Guardian Vivi and Fio. They have come to join a strategy discussion and sparring session in preparation to take down the Monstrosity.”

That caused murmuring to go through the crowd. Captain silenced the dwarves with a held up hand.

“Now, I know what you think. How can we take down The Monstrosity? Well, these two are the reason we are thinking about an attempt. If we can provide Guardian Vivi with the major node, she will be amicable to an agreement turning our beautiful Borsdown into Bors-city.”

A chuckle went through the group. Vivi huffed.

“That means, if they don’t give us enough of an edge, we won’t take the chance. So, make sure to put them to the test. For now, get warmed up, everyone. I’m gonna take the vice-captains and these two to talk strategy.”

“HO!”, the dwarves shouted in unison, slamming their gloved hands onto their chests.

Captain bid us to follow and we settled around a table in a corner of the training field. A map of the lake and the surrounding forest was spread out and a few figures of dwarves, an ocelot and an owl stood next to it. There were enough for every single dwarf training here. Captain began the discussion.

“So, first of all. We should share our general abilities and try to come up with a basic plan. I know how I would do it with what my guards have. They simply aren’t strong enough. Though the Monstrosity being level 101 makes it too costly for us to attempt. Especially without a Guardian to replace it. That means, if you two can give us enough support to make the fight reasonable, we’ll have no reason to hold back.”

He looked to his vices, getting confirming nods from both of them.

I tilted my head.

“I’m curious. Are you the political leader of this town? Something like a mayor?”, I asked.

The dwarf half nodded.

“Something like that. This town isn’t ruled by a single clan like most dwarven cities are. Instead, there is a council of sorts which consists of myself, the head of the library, the head of the quarry and the local authority of the brewers. As the highest levelled member, I hold the most authority. We still discussed the possibility of tackling the Monstrosity together and decided, after considering the pros and cons, it would be worth it.”

“I see. It doesn’t matter that much. Then, let me start with myself.”

I began listing my combat abilities. Primarily, [Eldritch Shift] and [Winged Death], which would be my most useful Skills in this battle. Vivi followed up, explaining how she could use water and poison to fight. She also mentioned her affinity for traps but had no idea how to apply it to the Monstrosity. In exchange, Captain talked about the dwarves’ usual strategy when hunting monsters. They would have a shield wall supported by either spearmen or archers and crossbowmen. For this fight, he put low value on the spearmen, since they would not be able to hit the Monstrosity. He also had only a small shield wall since the beast would primarily attack with water which could not get through them easily.

Vivi vehemently objected and demonstrated how she would guide a projectile of pressurized water to fly in an arch and hit the ranged combatants over the shields. That only reinforced Captain’s strategy. The men would need to dodge. They could not aim properly with a shield-bearer right in their face to protect from such creative attacks. Then, I had a great idea which I only shared with Vivi for now. If the scrubber I was building with Riggard could block magical water attacks, we could equip the dwarves with a set. It would take some time and I had to make thaumium or find a way to make an effective brass version, but it was worth a try. Vivi agreed to join me the day after to test how effective it was. She also repeated the idea to Captain who was intrigued but agreed to let us test it further before fixating on it.

We concluded a basic strategy of baiting the Monstrosity out so our ranged attackers could shoot it would be the best idea. We had to figure out how to bait it, though. That part would most likely be on me and Vivi since we were the fastest. It would be dangerous but that was par for the course. I wanted to help my friend get to her evolution and I hoped to gain some things myself. Primarily, this was a great opportunity to get some more levels. Though, the [Assassin] levels were unlikely to rise much with my role as bait. It would be very aware of me going for the kill.

So far, we had a basic idea. Now, we wanted to do some basic exercises to promote synergy between the dwarves and us animals.

The captain called everyone together and had them line up around the field. Then he put on his helmet and called me forward.

“I know an honest fight is not your strength but I still want to see how well you can handle yourself.”

I kind of wanted to see for myself.

“Give me a minute”, I asked. It would not do to go into battle without shifting. I would have the time for the real fight as well.

I picked my metal and shadow form. It was stable and sturdy. This was the first time I had shifted back since ‘ingesting’ the metals from the smith. A quick overview let me see fine lines of gold had replaced my feather shafts and brass had taken over parts of my barbs, replacing the shadows there. I realized this would let me easily turn my feathers into sharp blades whenever I wanted to. My talons were still steel with the rest of my body normal iron and darkness. Satisfied with my form, I looked at Captain and gave him a nod.

He answered and readied his sword. His shield covered more than half of his body on the right side.

“Don’t hold contact with my body for too long. In this form, I absorb metal very easily.”

“Right. Let’s go.”

It did not look like he would make the first move. It was definitely on me to start this spar. I leisurely walked forward. The dwarf raised an eyebrow. He had probably expected me to take to the air. When I was maybe two steps outside of his blade’s reach, I made my move. Shadows exploded outwards, covering everything in a nearly three-metre radius around me. I still saw through them, my vision only slightly darkened. I saw my opponent take a measured step back, his ears twitching back and forth underneath his helmet. This time, I took to the air, flying around his shield side with [Sneak] active to hide any sound I might make. When my talon drew a drop of blood from the gap between his helmet and gambeson, he flinched back and quickly ran out of the shadows.

Breathing heavily he spoke up.

“Alright. That’s kind of unfair. How are you so silent? Does that shadow block sound as well?”

As the darkness coalesced, I drew myself up, proud of my victory.

“It dampens sounds. I also have two Skills reducing any noise I make, more effective when flying.”

“Good. That’s good. But it’s also pretty useless in a team. Those shadows will block any support we could give you. Let’s try without you making it impossible to figure out what’s going on.”

That was fair. I nodded.

We stood across from each other once again. This time, the captain just ran straight at me, shield in front. He might try to ram me or go for a sword strike. I spread shadows once again, though this time only thin tendrils along the ground. Three of them tried to hold one of the dwarves legs but he simply broke through them with his strength, not even missing a step. Two more moved to try and find a place to poke through his armour but he shifted his body and scattered the darkness before it could find purchase. Then, he was on me. His sword swung out from behind his shield. I jumped over the horizontal swing and put a foot on his shield. A flap of my wings brought me to his backside but before I could profit, the shield was blocking me once more from touching him. I retreated and he charged.

We repeated this game a few times, me attempting to trip the dwarf in new ways and him swinging his sword in different angles, trying to get the better of me. Then, he nodded.

“So far, so good. Now let’s see how you handle this.”

My heart would have started to race if this form had one. Instead, I simply narrowed my eyes, trying to read his next move. Yes, I could just fly up to make his attack useless but that was not the purpose of this spar. I was supposed to learn how to deal with attacks I had not predicted early enough to make my escape. When my opponent arrived at my position once again, I almost expected some fancy magical Skill making his sword move strangely or too fast for my Perception. Instead, he simply kept running, shield forward. The metal picked me up with a noisy clang and a few sparks. Rather than just take it, I snaked a tendril of shadows to his neck and shifted. When the weight driven by his charge disappeared, the dwarf missed a step and nearly fell over. As he slid to a stop, I stood behind him, another drop of blood on my talon.

A grin spread on the dwarf’s face.

“Good. You’re good. I have no idea how to deal with that Skill. I’ll need to practice more against it. Though, you can strike a little harder, you know? You barely scratched me.”

I sunk in on myself. I had wanted to use just enough Strength to cut into his skin. On our first exchange, where he barely had any chance, I realized I needed almost all of my power just to scratch him. This time, I used my full Strength without [Solid Grip] and still only drew a small drop of blood. Without [Surprise Attack] activating I was unable to seriously injure the dwarf. At least with my physical attacks. Void or destruction feathers from [Winged Death] would surely harm him. Those were not really usable in a spar, however. They were far too lethal.

The captain saw my reaction.

“Is that all your Strength? How much more damage can you do? If every one of your Skills activates.”

“I didn’t use my Skill to increase grip strength but I need a hold for that. [Surprise Attack] also didn’t activate. And my magical attacks can be very devastating, if expensive in energy.”

The dwarf stood upright.

“I see. That’s fine then. You’re very annoying to lock down. I supposed we’ll have you do a first strike for your [Surprise Attack] and then have you act as a distraction, primarily.”

He turned to Vivi.

“Now, let’s see what you can do.”