The giant tiger is dead, but the monstrous dragonfly continues with its hit-and-run tactics. Gustavo puts a wind barrier in its way, but the insect somehow evades by dive-scything a soldier in half before flying in the opposite direction.

Over the last year, the regularity of the attacks forced the kingdom to abandon the countryside and upgrade its towns’ defense, but measures against flying and scaling aren’t enough, nothing is ever enough.

“They’ve already burned all our fields, but it’s still not enough.” wails a militia-man “They won’t quit until we’re all dead!”

One of the necessary upgrades had been to circle fields with walls and put nets and spikes to prevent attacks from above. It had worked well for a time, but not today; birds of prey under the monster control dropped flaming twigs by the hundred on the crops, some of them even throw their burning body at the crops. Extinguishing the fire isn’t even an option, rocs and the dragonfly stand guard, ready to kill anyone who falters or leaves the relative safety of the walls.

The giant insect dodges another of the hero spell. The explosion kills three rocs and put out part of the fire, but no one rejoices, this is a scenario played many times before, and sure enough, the fire ignites again.

The hero is disheartened; the city and its people are doomed, even if they survive the battle, starvation awaits. For a while, he entertains the idea of changing the other city nets with nonflammable material, but it’s pointless, the enemy has no qualms sacrificing the creatures under its control to achieve its goal.’

On the wall, a soldier asks Fidel for order; they can’t hit their target, “Commander, what can we do?”

Fidel doesn’t know, the enemy is too fast and quickly adapts to his plans. Worse, the men exhausted and what little heart they had, went in smoke alongside their crops.

“Let me confer with the hero.”

Fidel runs to his leader and friend, with each battle, the awkward mage improved, growing not only in strength but also in leadership.

“Sir, we can’t hit the bloody thing, it too fast and keeps out of reach unless it sees an easy target.”

“I know, I’ve been trying to kill it for hours!” rages the hero. He isn’t the only one who’s grown, the enemy also learned from its failures. “It read my spells beforehand and dodge them with unimaginable speed and agility.”

“Even our shrapnel barrages are easily avoided.”

Gustavo is growing weary but there are things only him can do, “I don’t have to deal with the tiger anymore, so let’s coordinate our attacks. Recall the resting mages, we’re trapping the bastard.”

There are nine mages in the city, none of them belong to the army, but like it or not, he conscripted them into the city defense. Their power is meager compared to the hero, but if he takes care half, they should be capable of holding the rest of the wind barrier. On paper, the plan sounds, but the enemy is absurdly fast and ever moving.

It takes many tries and many deaths, but one soldier lures the monster against the wall, and the summoned tempest smashes it on the stone. The immense creature is strangely light and unable to fight against the fury of the wind. At this angle, few ballistae can target the monster, but it doesn’t matter; as long as it stays in the same place for a while, the fight is all but finished.

Rocs ignores their survival instinct to come to the insect rescue, but it’s wasted effort, conjured lightning falls over and over on the area, and not even a charred carcass remains.

<><><>

Lars and Vindicta finish the last Unliving. Once rare, those things now come in droves to attack the nearby settlements.

“I used to only know them by name, and now, not one day pass without one of those showing its ugly face.” comments Lars

The rabbit-kin heart is heavy, she hates her previous captors, but the onslaught of abominations coming from Beastman and Giant territory doesn’t bode well for her people.

“There is no end to them… I fear for my kin, they don’t have any place to run.”

“I wish I could do more but our villages are small, even if we distribute them, there isn’t enough food for them.”

“You’ve done a lot, accepting three hundred former enemies is a kindness I won’t ever be able to repay.”

The elf-hero wishes he could help his friend more, but his influence is limited. In fact, he was surprised the elders listened to his request at all.

Lars doesn’t know about it, but his offer delighted the elders. The woman is almost on equal footing with him, and her tracking skills are unparalleled; securing a capable fighter like her is worth lodging and feeding a few hundred harmless and hard-working rabbit-kin.

Their mission accomplished, the pair head back to Dvergrtorg; the great forest has always been fraught with danger, but the current Alfskog isn’t something they could survive without each other’s help.

<><><>

Emperor Thordis of Randstalt-Tamil hear the council opinions or has he would put it; their bullshit. Noble used his recent mistakes and the disappearance of his son to sap his authority, hence the council but in retrospect, civil war might have been a better decision.

“Gentlemen, invading elf territory isn’t practical. The forest is a death trap and two settlements we know of have their accesses in enemy territory!”

“You’re the one who doesn’t get it. We’re out of choice! Our crops are failing and if we don’t learn how to domesticate the forest soon, the empire will be no more!”

Thordis’ heart aches, this once bright and decent man, wants to send legions of people to their doom for illusive gains.

“The entrance to the enchanted road lies in enemy territory, in case you didn’t hear!”

“I reached an accord with the Tamil kingdom for a joint attack on Mannhtorg. We will learn why the monsters don’t attack the elves and their techniques to exploit the forest.”

The answers are ‘We don’t know, we’ve never seen such monsters.’, and ‘We only take what we need!’, but the greedy people around the table refuses to acknowledge the truth. Crop failures, unknown monsters besieging humanity, waves of the unliving; many in the empire believe it’s the end of the world and the kingdom of Tamil’s case is even more desperate.

“Let’s hope the legends are wrong.” says Thordis. He refers to the warning at the center of all fairy tales; stay away from the Fae.

“You have really fallen, emperor, why can’t you see their knowledge is our only hope for survival!”

<><><>

Fragor and Fulmen land in their master’s domain, they’ve just finished a tour of Alfskog, Faeheim, and the land around.

“It’s dying.”

“I’m sure she thinks it’s her fault.”

“She’ll soon attempt to end the cycle by offering her life. I don’t believe it’ll solve the problem, do you?”

“I do not; she’s free because the world is broken beyond repair, not the opposite.”

“I concur, she suspects her freedom to be some form a recompense for her suffering, but this world doesn’t care about individuals.”

“Our voices won’t reach her though.”

“Whether or not our master resents it, sacrifice is at the core of her nature. We must find others to convince her before it’s too late, for I believe this life is her last.”