-Morning. Ayumi's POV-

It's been four days since I officially accepted Zorbaz for the purpose of acquiring Magic resources and wealth for my family. However, the Elders of the Ignitius family found my lack of merits unacceptable and I was appointed squad leader of ten armored foxmen and ten fox beasts, then briefed on military matters before being deployed near the territorial borders at south. In the morning of the 10 th day of the second winter quarter, orders arrived to march into wolf territory and almost a day later, we took a rest near the valley of the Wolf Tribe Mana Vein.

*Crack! Crackle!* Dry wood burns in a bonfire casting dim shadows of the three squad leaders, our platoon commander Zarion, and I on the troops behind us.

"Hahhh... I shouldn't be here..." I sighed and muttered to myself sitting on a rock while staring at the fire.

...Everyone here is over a hundred years older than me and our similar appearances do not make this any less unsettling... I thought, looking at the fox men wearing loose pants and shirts. But it seems like the Ignitius family assigned Zarion for my protection while he waits for me to fail and go back to them with my tail between my legs. Hmph! Not happening... I surmised.

"Oh? Is the lady Ayumi scared? Look at her puffed Tail! Gahaha!" Zarion jeered nudging with his right elbow the fourth squad leader, Yero.

""Hahah!"" The other fox men laughed while the beasts observe our interactions.

Grrr... Why don't I burn your tail? Hmph! This Zarion is no better than his brother Zorbaz...another rotten trash that I have to tolerate for the sake of Marie. I cursed inwards gripping my fists strongly and brought my tail to the front.

*Whisshhh!* I laid my puffed tail to my lap and started stroking to smooth it.

"Hmph! One would be a fool to not be at least nervous in my position. I'm the lowest rank, leading an invading force of Higher rankers, and I have no War experience..." I announced glancing at the beasts behind me.

"GRR! Consider this an honor then!" A large red fox beast snarled at me from behind Zarion.

"Growl to your mother for Milk, you late-sucker!" I insulted.

""Pfft--Hahah!"" The other foxes

"YOU!" The fox beast said enraged with his hackles raised.

"Gahaha! She got you good, Brashu." The platoon leader poked fun.

"Gruff!" The beast snorted and looked away.

"Hooh... She's a gutsy one." The third squad leader, Hazel, praised.

"Yeah, she actually wanted to earn some merits before giving my little brother a child," Zarion said with a smirk.

Aggghh! He knows about the ruse that Sister made to delay things... B-but it takes time to accept that disgusting Zorbaz without wanting to burn him alive! I affirmed my hatred gritting my teeth.

"Hah! that's hilarious... The women should just do their part at home!" Yero licked his lips mocking.

Drop dead, you fleabag! I cursed inwards and glared along the other females.

"Even if they are better fighters like your wife?" A red-haired fox woman ridiculed.

"Guh!" The foxman uttered lowering his ears.

"Oh, my..." I sounded covering the smile on my face with a hand. "In any case, it would've been ideal for me to gain experience at the border since the fights have been steady...until now, but this was too soon-too-sudden..." I revealed my intentions.

"Well, you'll have to thank the wolves then. We were the ones close to the border when their dispute happened and had to follow orders..." Zarion said contemptuously.

Uuff... Such bad timing...for me anyway. It seems he wants to push some achievements onto me... I conjectured.

"Internal dispute, eh?" The second squad leader, Xioyu muttered.

"Hm-hmm... Their Elders rebelled against the matriarch...and won." The platoon leader revealed.

Whaaa... How did that happen?! And why? I pondered with limited information.

"Hah! After all this time fighting us to the death for the land and they just...handed over the Tribe to us." Yero interpreted.

"I don't know... This whole situation feels strange. It's been too easy marching all the way here without wolves intercepting us." I voiced my concerns looking into the distance.

"Hah! You mean, why we haven't killed any wolf yet!" Yero interjected.

"Missy, their Tribe is in disarray with the Elders and Matriarch disabled... They'll have to regroup and organize first, but by then, our reinforcements will have arrived." Xioyu explained.

"Let's go find some packs and torment their young!" Yero suggested.

This monger... There's hate between our tribes but that's too much! It's no wonder Marie gets mistreated... I affirmed annoyed.

"Gohon! We must focus on the mission. This opportunity is too precious." Hazel coughed covering his mouth with a fist and opposed.

"Hazel is right. We'll have time to torment them after conquering the Tribe." Xioyu assured.

"Fine!" The bored foxman crossed his arms approving.

"What about that group at the Vein?" I reminded.

"They'll just run away too. Gahaha!" Zarion ridiculed.

"Haha--haahh... Actually, I hope they don't run away, or this would be too boring." Yero laughed and sighed before commenting.

"Gohon! They'll probably make a stand while their Elders recover." The experienced Hazel interjected.

"Agreed." The platoon leader acknowledged turning serious. "The reports said the wolves by the Vein were drained and badly hurt, so we should hurry and avoid fighting on the way." He revealed.

"Still... It might be because I'm a little scared or I can feel it better than everyone stronger than me, but I genuinely have a bad feeling about this invasion... I admitted feeling a sense of dread.

"Put out those fires, little Miss. Most of those wolves are below rank 8 like our squads, and this me is mid-Rank 10 while the other three squad leaders along with my partner are Rank 9. Our battle strength is superior..." Zarion assured and pulled a necklace from his clothes. "See this? Each fang piece is from wolves above the 8th Rank and the largest in the middle is from one of their previous matriarchs." He showed off his trophies.

"Hear that? They don't stand a chance with lord Zarion!" Muraki from my squad declared.

""HORAHH!"" The foxmen and beasts around rejoiced.

"Oh, I feel sooo safe~" I muttered sarcastically while looking up.

"Don't worry Miss." A High-Ranked green fox beast behind me assured. "I'll protect you with my life!" She pledged proudly.

"Thanks Ramika. I'm really here just for show..." I said depressingly.

"That's not true! You are quite talented and good with the sword." The Wind user encouraged.

"Yeah... Father's sword... He taught me before I could even lift it..." I glanced at my gear with nostalgia.

"Your only disadvantage is being just Upper-rank 5. Which is why your mother insisted on me to accompany you." The vixen recounted.

"Yeah... I don't have a partner beast yet." I said feeling grateful for mother's partner.

"Heh... Everyone seems rested already. Alright then. Grab your gear, get on your partner and move out!" Zarion ordered.

*Tash! Tash! Kruk! Clank! Tliiik!* I walk back to my squad and put on the light armors over my simple garments, and strapped a long sword to my back, then climb on Ramika's back. *Grish! Grrraash! Kling!* I sit on the leather saddle and slid my feet inside the stirrup before we started moving south. *Thu-rum! Thu-rum! Whooshh~* I ride on the fox beast with the second squad on my right and the platoon leader in front riding a red fox beast.

A short while later, we reached the foot of a hill surrounding the valley where the entrance to the mana vein is and stopped in formation. Standing on the elevated rocky terrain with isolated grass patches were a hundred wolves of different affinities lined up with metal tubes between them and wounded earth user in front.

Huh...? Is that...one of their Elders? Did they all recover...? Ugh... My bad feeling keeps increasing~ I recognized as palpitations in my chest reflect my increasing nervousness.

"We're here... And so is the welcoming party..." Zarion announced stopping in front of us.

"Sir, what may be those contraptions? There's an impenetrable wall of Magic energy stopping our probes..." Xioyu asked our platoon leader.

"I'm not...sure. Although the wolves never built things to fight... So, remain vigilant just in case." He replied.

And why is one of those metal tubes bigger than the rest? I questioned the constructions ranging from arm-thickness to wide enough for me to crawl inside.

"A feeble attempt to resist. I'm looking forward to their final struggle. Kukuku..." Hazel commented before laughing.

"AHA! That's why we didn't find any packs on the way. They are retreating south while these keep us busy!" Yero surmised.

"It's possible they are gathered in the valley, and we can't probe them... Whatever the case, we just need to hold on or lure them away from here until reinforcements arrive. But first, we have to charge in..." Zarion muttered.

As expected of seasoned warriors to be so calm... Or is it arrogance? In any case, I can't afford to be that careless in this fight. One mistake and...I'm dead. I affirmed and tapped the beast I'm riding.

"Ramika, don't take your eyes off those things. They must do something..." I ordered.

"Understood." The vixen acknowledged.

"Alright, listen up!" Zarion called to attention without taking his eyes off the enemy. And unsheathed his sword. "Our enemy is weakened, and seem low in numbers, BUT they have no intention on giving up. Likewise, WE are not giving up this rare opportunity either. Not after waiting many years and countless sacrifices. This is our time for honor! To brand our names in the history of our Tribe!" He empowered raising his blade up high.

""HOOOUHH!!"" Our troops responded motivated in unison and unsheathed their weapons as well.

"For the glory of our Divine!" Zarion said with determination and started speeding up.

""HOOAAHH!!"" The troops yelled and started following.

Here we go... I can do this. I CAN do this! I steeled myself gripping the harness strongly.

*THURURURUMM!* We sprinted uphill while swaying above our fox beasts and feeling the dusty wind on our faces.

Why... Why aren't they moving? Is it a good thing their numbers don't increase? Just... what's about to happen here...? I fearfully wondered about the wolves response as we got closer to them.

*PSHAKK!!!... SwiisssSSSS! THONK!!! PRAKSH!...* The sounds of release comes from the distance and something passed by our side before impacting the ground at high speed.

""JYAAH! GYAUU! HIENN! YIP! Argh! Oof! Ouah!?"" Beasts and fox people cry out and disappearing from our formation before Mana waves confirm their deaths.

Glancing behind, I could see dozens of allies rolling on the ground inside the dust cloud we were leaving and some struggled to get up while others stopped moving...

Wh--!? Projectiles??! That fast...!? They don't compare to arrows!... I identified making a dumbfounded expression when the noise appeared again.

The scene had quickly turned into carnage when the unseen projectiles reached those unlucky enough to get caught in the trajectory and were unable to react dying instantly or others got severely wounded. The purpose of the metal tubes appeared to be a way for wind wolves to efficiently use their low magic reserves and harness air power to launch high-speed projectiles which would thwart our numbers as they are difficult to avoid. And it didn't seem to be over yet...

"FRONT AIR SHIELD!" I turned to the front and shouted within the background noise.

*BWOOSSHHH! PISHUN! DWOON! THONK!...* The wind users that heard me erected round wind walls and managed to deflect another projectile round fired at us which stopped more casualties.

Why... Why are the wolves fighting like this? This is wrong...we shouldn't engage without knowing more... I questioned the strange methods worriedly.

*PSHAKK!!! WooOOOHH* Another round fired and a big metal ball with spikes caught my attention as it visibly arcs in the air towards our future location.

*BWOOSHHH! PISHUN! DWOON! THONK! THOCK!...* Fire and wind shields were erected this time and most projectiles were deflected but there were still more injured while the metallic sphere bigger than a crouching person was ignored.

"DODGE IT!" The platoon leader ordered continuing to advance.

Wait... Why would they throw something so slow that can be dodged? I have a worse feeling about that... I asserted keeping my eyes on the strange ball about to fall in the middle of our formation.

"FULL AIR SHIELD!" I yelled atop of my lungs hoping to alert others of the imminent danger.

*Thum--whop! SWOOONG!* Ramika jumped and created a thick air bubble around us. *KANG--BOOOOOMMM!* The spiky ball touched down in the middle of our formation and exploded sending a powerful shockwave that toppled a large portion of our forces, flattened our shield, and blew some of us away.

""KYAA--!! JYAAN--"" Ramika and I screamed in the air distancing from our squad by hundreds of steps.

*THOMP! THOMP! SWOOooosh! SRRRSHHhh!* Ramika landed on her left side with me latching on the back and bounced before sliding on the ground while the air shield vanishes.

""HUFF! HUFF! Huff! Huff!"" We panted getting up and regaining our bearings before searching for our squad.

When the dust and smoke settled, the destruction caused by the explosive metal ball was worse than any of us could've imagined. Our momentum was completely stopped, and it was time to retreat, yet our leaders didn't show any signs, and the rejoicing wolves didn't descend the hill to fight us either.

""WUuu... Arrghh! Hieenn! Kyan! Kyan! Ahhhh! Kuu~"" Our fox beasts and people wailed agonizingly with shrapnel and rocks lodged in them, lying on the ground without body parts, or staggering from shock while those less affected take cover in ditches or use their fallen comrades as a shield.

"W-w-what is this hellish mess!? Wh-where did they get such powerful explosive?" I uttered astounded with a cold feeling on my back.

*PSHAKK! PSHAKK!...* The rapid projectiles continued mercilessly barraging the slaughter field and reducing our numbers when another sound foreshadowed yet another tragedy. *KRUUK-BrrrRROOOMMM!* The ground cracked opened in three locations and swallowed the injured and those too slow to react as the screams of horror and whimpers became muffled sounds at the bottom of giant holes.

The squad leaders along with Zarion and a few soldiers became isolated uphill where earth foxes managed to create defensive walls to ward off the barrage. They appear to be removing something entangling Brashu who also seems injured and looking cautiously uphill where metallic twinkles in the terrain indicate some kind of trap. The high rankers had quickly ended in an unfavorable situation with their Magic blocked for direct attacks, and normal fireballs harmlessly fly over the wolves who were not done surprising us yet.

*KRUUK-BRRAAMM!* The ground downhill caved in and Darkness wolves rushed out behind our retreating forces.

The Darkness wolves opened their mouth and our troops started writhing from an apparent invisible attack that took more lives or crippled our soldiers. However, the survivors started fighting back with fireballs and explosions that slowly pushed them back, but the wolves suddenly turned tail and ran west taunting our fighters to follow.

What!? A-are they...trying to divide us more? This is...hit-and-run tactics! I concluded watching the surprise attack. Oh, no! I-I don't have time to freeze... This isn't an invasion anymore...it's survival! I realized and turned uphill. The metallic tubes...are only pointing straight down! I noticed a flaw in the mechanism and called out.

"FIRST SQUAD...ON ME!" I yelled and lifted my hand gathering magic while on top of Ramika.

*Fwoosh!* I ignited a large fireball to signal my squad under the line of fire in the west.

It was disappointing that out of the 12 survivors who saw my signal, only 10 decided to follow me on the East, and rushed out of the battlefield, but even more so that our numbers were reduced by one-third in mere moments. Nevertheless, soon after, others realized the same and evacuated along the wounded to the hillsides where the healers began treatment and the fighters reorganized.

*ThururURURUM!* The cooperative members of squad started arriving.

"Orders, ma'am!" The upper Rank 7 fire user, Durey asked.

"Do you know what to do?" The wind beast, Minua asked.

"Burn them all, of course!" Her firefox partner declared.

"Yes... Ready your weapons. We'll charge uphill once everyone is here." I ordered reaching for my greatsword.

"B-but ma'am, we just tried that and didn't work!" He strongly opposed while others whispered in support.

"We're fine here, no?" I shrugged.

"Oh... Those things can't aim at us here?" The fox person wielding a polearm asserted looking at the hilltop.

"It seems that way. But we already fell in all their traps." I declared

""Ugh...AGH!"" Everyone sounded ashamed as if they had swallowed a bug.

"But there's hope! The long-range attacks are decreasing. Which means...they are running out of magic and will soon engage in melee. The other leaders must know this as well, and are waiting..." I explained looking over the battlefield.

""Ohh! Understood!"" They acknowledged holding their spears, shields, and swords ready to fight.

Hah... It's better to encourage them rather than saying Zarion is afraid to come out... I know everything happened too fast to react, but you can't forsake our troops caught in traps! I complained to myself and scanned the landscape again.

Two groups of wolves on the hill started descending towards us in the East and squad 4 along survivors of squad 3 in the West while the rest continued pressuring our leaders in the middle with long-range attacks.

"Here they come!" I alerted waiting for the last two members to join us.

I gripped the hilt of my sword and channeled magic on the blade before separating it from Ramika's fur while feeling her magic envelope my body.

*Fwoop! Frushhhh!* I ignited a red flame before fueling a high-mana consumption substance which turned it into a blue raging fire while protecting the blade from melting. *Ga-chik! Fwoosh! Bwoosh! Whooiiishhh!* The others ready their weapons and summon magic arts waiting for my signal. *ThururURURUM!* The golden wolves run downhill preparing attack of their own.

"KILL!" I give the order pointing my flaming sword to the front before lowering it to the side.

""KILL!! HOAHH!!"" Everyone voiced a war cry and rushed uphill as a group.

**Bwoosh!!! Brwooon! Swiiishhh--Bam! Ploff! Bwosh! Bang! Pang!** We fired multiple fireballs with sticky flammable liquid and rocks.

""HYAK! GYAN Hyek!!"" The earth wolves cry out burning with light injuries and the wind users moved to the front to continued their assault.

*Whiish--BOOM! Ziuk--BOOM! Swoosh--BOOM!* The high-ranked wind wolves fired from their open mouths void balls bigger than a person's head which quickly reached our group as if piercing our magic energies.

""YIAU! JYENN!! GYAUU! YIP! Ahhh! Ugh--of! Huah!? Bwosh!"" In the front row, we defended with the shields or swords, but still suffered damage from the exchange.

Ugh! They don't look low on mana either! I asserted with no time to wonder why.

The pack of wolves spread out with earth users covering their fur in stone between wind users at the front line.

"FIRE FIELD!" I ordered and took a deep breath.

*FWOOOSSSSHHHH!!!* All the fire users in my squad contributed to cover our entire group in yellow flames just as we were about to clash with the wolves.

*KiiiIIIIINNN!!!* A few wind wolves moved to the front and opened their mouths emitting a high pitch sound. *Krrr! Whiishh~ Swiisss~ SWISH! SWISH!* The rest of the wolves in between fired wind blades and stone spikes at us.

"Arrrrgh!" I grit my teeth enduring the maddening sound before Ramika did something about it.

*WHOOSHH!! BAM! BANG! THUACK! Prak! Kling! SHUAK! Ka-pawk! Kssshhh! Swiiinng! Krash! CKLANK! Sriiishh! FWUASH! BOOM! BOOMM!* Our forces clashed within the flames and a brawl with fangs and claws started.

""YIP! GRAHHH--ACK! WHAP! GYAUU! WRUAGH! GRRR! GRAWRGH! WRUAH! KHA--AAH! GRR--WRAA-ARGHH! HYEK! JYANN! WUUUGH!"" The beasts bite and tear their hides apart with claws and fangs within the sea of flames. "HAAA! Hi--YAA! ARGH! Take thiiiissss! HuwAAA! G-gaahh! HAA!" The fox people brandish their weapons unaffected by the fire all around us.

Ramika slipped through a gap in their front line after an explosion, and push the wolf on the right while I grip my great sword with two hands and swung at the wolf on the left approaching with his jaws wide open.

*Frushhhh! Swishh--Shiiiinnng!* The blade coated in blue flames tore through the wolf's jaw muscles and cheek all the way to the back of his neck leaving a large burning gash.

"HYEK! GRWAR! WHAP! GRAWRGH! HYAK!" The injured wolf cried out and continued past us while other two intercepted Ramika pinning her down.

I grip the harness with my free hand and take my feet from the stirrups, then stepped on Ramika's back while producing breathable air in my insides. The battle continued all around us, but the noise faded into the background as I focused on our individual fight and trying not to get burned inside the flames produced by high rankers.

"Hup!" I jumped from the green fox beast over to the wolf in front while thrusting my flaming sword with both hands.

*SHIAK! Fuiiiissshhhh!* The blade stabbed into the wolf's skull and the hot fire burnt through the hide, but he resisted.

"HYUUUN!" The beast yowled trashing around with his head until I was flung away within the fire.

"AHH--!" I uttered holding onto my sword airborne inside the giant fireball.

*THUD!* I landed on another beast and gripped the fur only to realize it was a wolf. *Swuosh! Srash!* I swung my framing sword without a second thought and kicked the wounded wolf to jump back when friendly fire caught me in mid-air.

*BOOM! BOOOMM!* The explosive magic in the ground blasted me high up in the air and outside the fire field.

"GHAHH!" I sounded in pain while spinning slowly until the battlefield on the right came into view.

*KA--BOOOMMM!* The top of the hill blew up raising a mushroom cloud of smoke and fire.

Zarion... finally got... into a-ction... Heh... W-war can be... beautiful...too... I admired feeling weightless high up in the air as my vision blurs.

I sense my body falling head-first back into the fire where a large beast maw comes out to swallow me as my consciousness fades into darkness.

-Nefiru's POV-

It's been an agitated day preparing for an invasion while hiding the process from the firefox Divine's probe. Now, the war rages outside as a dozen wolves forming a circle lying down near the mana vein to recover Mana while participating in my lessons for the matriarch which include demonstrations with Light magic in the darkness.

"...Basically, my Element is these negatively charged Lightning particles that occupy energy shells in a probabilistic state around a positive nucleus." I introduce electrons using growls.

"So... The ballers we vaguely sense aren't solid after all!?" The matriarch asserted.

"Nope. Most of the size comes from 'Electron orbitals.'" I replied in Stilus. "They are responsible for bonds between ballers, a sort of repulsion that you can consider actual touch, and electricity when they flow which produces a magnetic field or vice versa." I elaborated for everyone.

"And bonds form compounds..." The wind user, Wamu, commented.

"Yes. The same element shares them equally to form chunks of metal for example, but different ones alter the charge of the ballers in the group and properties change..." I explained covalent and ionic bonds.

"Ohh! that explains a lot." The fire user, Fenzu, exclaimed.

"Wait... How many combinations exist?" The earth user, Elsion, asked.

"Millions... They can get 'this' complex." I said showing an example of long molecules.

"...You're pulling my tail... Stuff like that would consume insane amounts of Mana and effort!" Fenzu whined.

"Well, Firdos managed to learn Nitroglycerin which we used in the bomb." I pointed out.

"Gwuah! That lucky beast... I can't make something like that!" Fenzu said enviously.

"It seems we've been learning random easy things until now..." Wamu reviewed slanting his eyes.

"One step at a time guys. And remember...try not to blow up." I advise with a smirk.

"Forget them! Can you show me how a baller really looks like?" The matriarch demanded attention.

"Yes, yes... Let's see... If the electrons reach the cave walls while being this size, then the core would be...this tiny white dot." I presented the structure of the Atom in a huge hologram.

"SMALL! I can barely feel the ballers as small as you see dust particles in the air and you're telling me the core is even tinier!?" She blurted.

"Yep. It does get bigger depending on the element with more Protons and Neutrons which ironically, has most of the weight of the baller." I answered.

"...That makes no sense. Also, even the core is made of smaller things?" She questions the complexity.

"Yep. Quarks bound by Gluons and a bunch of other things..." I answered.

"It's simply ridiculous..." The she-wolf muttered as the others nodded.

"Well, now you know what to absorb," I announced.

"And how am I suppose to do that?" Dimshadow glared asking.

"You absorb Photons and electrons, so sub-atomic particles should also be possible." I encouraged.

"Grururuu..." She grumbled shaking her head and perked her ears looking East.

"What's happening outside?" I asked up close.

"...The battle was going well until your contraptions were destroyed." She reported.

"Well, they served their purpose," I affirmed.

"Yes, it was a good idea using low rankers from the south to power those devices. But now it's up to Earth 9 to decide the outcome." The matriarch reviewed.

"Hmm... We should help her..." I muttered.

"You won't make it in time... And low ranks will just die." She opposed.

"Aww... You care!" I stopped and looked behind saying.

"Hunff! Hardly. It's not like I won't enjoy eating your roasted corpse, but your nonsense has yet to prove worth all the trouble you caused." The she-wolf declared.

"Okay... Can't you help her then?" I insisted.

"...Not from here. There's a mid-Rank 10 and other Rank 9s. A tough fight considering her condition." She described.

"I'll use my reserves to get us outside." Wamu offered, getting up and reached my side.

"Thanks. I needed to go out anyway." I acknowledged walking to the metalized tunnel.

-Morning. Erina's POV-

The Sun rising over the mountains on the left illuminate the hilltop where I stood overseeing the battlefield that proceeded as planned. The foxes never expected any sort of ploy from weakened beasts that looked like easy prey, but how could our old enemies see everything coming when we were not the same dumb beasts of the past? We had embraced change and greedily absorbed all the knowledge presented to us like cubs exploring the world for the first time.

Hmm... Our units are performing this well with little training... Impressive. I reviewed observing the battlefield down below. And Nefiru hasn't stopped talking since yesterday. Everyone is enthusiastic about testing what they've learned. I affirmed hearing our growls louder than the enemy.

*FWOOoooosh! FWOOoooosh!* Red fireballs ranging up to three meters wide vanish before reaching me or get blown away by our line of defense. *PSHAKK! PSHAKK!...* The Air cannons continued to fire at the group of foxes hiding behind an earth mound.

Unfortunately, the long-range weapons and traps didn't do as much harm to the high-ranked leaders as we had hoped and now, the Magic wall blocking them from attacking us directly weakened greatly after our forces set out to engage in close combat.

"...!?" I noticed a mass of Magic gathering nearby and alerted the beasts behind me. "DODGE!!" I barked and leaped forward.

*Whoosh! THUMP! Ta-krash!! Ta-krash!!* The beasts dodged while low rankers operating the devices ran south. *KRA--BOOOOMMM! Thunk! Thuonk! Clank!* The ground below the metal tubes exploded sending them flying with shockwaves that shook the ground and made me tremble. *Tok! Thonk! Tok! Plak! Thud! Baashhh!* The debris blew skywards fall back down while smoke and dust settle obscuring my vision.

"ELDER!" Firdos called out from behind.

"I'm fine!" I assured probing the surroundings and looked back.

My ears are ringing and my ass is breezy though. I miss having the tail which the founder bit off... Grr... That stupid bitch! I grumbled noticing a crater eight meters wide.

"Go help on the East with the Magic you have left..." I ordered to assist the unit having trouble fighting the foxes inside the blazes.

""Understood!"" The high rankers acknowledged and sprinted away.