It was dark now. Not a problem for someone with night vision like me, but I still needed to change up my strategy.

The dive bombing screaming scythe strategy worked almost flawlessly. There was an odd looking fellow who had seen me by my third try, but he still hadn’t been close enough to think about catching up with me.

There would be people watching the sky now. Probably the powerhouses and a few skilled archers with trained vision. To make things worse, the soldiers weren’t in those nice, close formations that were so slicable. They were spread out and in tents or scattered in sleeping bags.

That was fine, I wasn’t going to be getting away with that forever, and the tight formations would be a bit too dangerous if I was changing up my strategy. The grunts weren’t a threat, but I saw some guy with large, dark shark-like eyes had caught sight of me earlier. I bet if I got bogged down he would be on me before I could cut free of the crowd.

Other than him no one really gave me that feeling of danger. They could be hiding, or that shark-like feeling I was getting from that mercenary looking fellow might have drowned them out.

If flying was no good, and sneaking on the ground was too risky, then coming up from below would be the best idea.

I was really good at digging, like freakishly good at it. Part of that comes from my exoskeleton and pure strength; it made me tough enough to handle the friction and powerful enough to drag myself through the earth pressing around me. Add in the ability to shapeshift and I would have the streamlined body and the shovel-like limbs to move like a fish through water.

...Well, maybe not water, but I was still pretty fast.

I could dig underneath the ground, move past the guards, and come up in the middle. I could easily kill the sleeping soldiers as long as I was quiet and sneaky enough. The problem was, I doubt most of the soldiers were sleeping that well. It was a side effect of the effectiveness of my attacks earlier.

Even if half of them were asleep I was still going to be noticed quickly. I’m pretty quiet but my camouflage isn’t nearly strong enough to be certain of killing enough to make it worth it. I mean, it’ll be great psychological warfare, but nothing else.

I could try assassinating the higher ranking officers, but they are usually stronger and better protected. I’m guessing the real powerhouses will be close by as well. There is one target that will be perfect for crippling the army and won’t be as wary or carefully defended either.

I dropped down from the sky, making sure to stay out of sight. Staying small and darkly colored was incredibly useful for keeping myself from being noticed. I couldn’t shrink down as far as before, but a rabbit sized insect this far off wouldn’t be noticed in the dark.

Once I was hidden in the grass I changed my shape. After a lot of trial and error I had discovered the best shape was similar to a mole cricket, although mine was bigger and pointier.

Burrowing like this is a piece of cake. The only things I have to worry about is navigation and making sure to stay deep. It’s hard to come up in the right spot, and if I dig too shallowly it’s pretty easy to see the bulging line of my progress.

I dig extra deep. The possibility of someone feeling the vibrations of my progress is too dangerous to ignore. Unfortunately this prairie has a fairly high water table, so that means I’m going to be underwater while underground. It’s hard going, but this isn’t a race.

Estimating progress is difficult, but I should be near the right spot. Drilling upward. I slowly ease my way through the surface, poking my head out of the sod.

I wasn’t anywhere near where I ought to be. I was among the tents, but my target was way off. Luckily I didn’t come up under a sleeping soldier.

It took three more times before I found my target: the horses.

Back on earth mobility was a major part of warfare. Even more importantly, in medieval times an army’s cavalry was their most expensive and most damaging force. A huge part of strategy back then involved utilizing or dealing with the threat mounted troops posed.

The terrain in the forest wasn’t the best for a cavalry charge, but the elves didn’t have pikemen either. It was best that I just took the horses out of the equation entirely. I also didn’t have to worry about the horses being too alert: they are trained not to panic around blood and can’t comprehend ‘supernatural’ horrors. I hadn’t attacked any horses, so they would be the only ones sleeping soundly right now.

Sure enough, the knights or whatever had handed their mounts off to a bunch of servants, gathering them into an easy to manage group. Just when I’d been getting hungry too.

I needed to kill each horse silently. The best method I can think of is severing their necks in a single stroke. Shaping my claws into razors has become a habit lately. I suppose something like a needle might work too, but I can’t afford to experiment right now.

There was no point in starting with any particular horse. I just walked up to the nearest one, position myself just right, grow to the right size, and take a swing.

*shink*

It’s a quick way of killing, the lack of blood flow to the brain and the severed spine knocks them out before they can wake up.

*shink*

*shink*

*shink*

The sound of cutting is louder than I expected. These horses have tougher bodies than they ought to. Or maybe that’s backwards; normal horses wouldn’t be useful in a 'fantasy' army. Doesn’t matter though, they are just mass produced mythic beasts, nothing compared to the ones the elves raise.

*shink*

*shink*

*shink*

*shink*

This is going to take a while…

I can’t even eat while slicing. If I just let the head tumble to the ground the sound might wake up the other horses. Wasting time just lowers my chances of getting all the horses. Plus an evil idea has been brewing inside my triangular head.

What if the army wakes up to every horse dead from decapitation? No other sign of damage, just a clean cut like the ones during the day? That would really give the soldiers a mass case of incontinence.

It’s true the last flyby I did, the one where I was forced to just slice up their backs, didn’t stick to the theme…

Oh well, I can't expect everything to be perfect. Waking up to a bunch of dead animals is freaky enough. I kinda want to eat my fill, but it will be better not to. I’m hungry, but leaving doubt about the attacker is probably the best way to go for now.

Signs of the horses being eaten would make it pretty obvious that the mysterious attacker is a magic beast. Just abnormally clean cuts will keep the soldiers guessing, and unknowns are scary.

That one dude probably has an inkling to what I am, but that doesn’t matter as much as it ought to. Even if he plans on telling everyone he’ll be fighting an uphill battle with all the rumors flying around.

As productive as killing more soldiers might be, this time it will be better to just leave. Killing several hundred horses took up most of the night, and I need to grab a meal and a short rest. Tomorrow’s a big day, so I need to be at my best.

My body shrank down and warped into the digging form. I sliced an angled slit in the sod and dived through it, down into the depths of the earth.

For now I would grab a bite to eat, maybe meet up with the elves. They had probably reached the edge of the forest by now, they can move crazy fast when they need to. It’s been, what? three days?

Dipping back below the water table, I drilled off towards the forest. The army had sensible camped well outside of bow range. Archers could kill unprepared people far more easily than warriors or mages. It’s true archers are good at harassing people from range, but people fear their abilities as assassins the most.

You needed a strong arms and a special set of bow and arrows, but the ability to kill before the other man knew it was a fight was very useful. Mages could put up shields of course, but how quickly could they bring them up and how long could they keep them up?

It didn’t take long till the roots acted as a tough barrier to prevent forward progress. Unless the roots reached out a crazy distance from the edge of the forest I should be far enough from the army to pop up. Sure enough, when my head broke through the sod I wasn’t close enough to the edge of the army to worry about being spotted. Still, these roots extend pretty far from the tree. I hadn’t done much digging in the past, but old trees like these are almost bigger below ground than they are above it aren’t they?

Now it was time to find a meal or a party of elves. Both would be hiding, so it didn’t matter whichever I searched for first.

The trees at the edge of the forest are just as thick as in the middle. It was unnatural till you remember that these are cultivated by the mother bees. Actually, the fact that the forest isn’t spreading is odd... Maybe this is the limit of the Empress’s range? It might be something stupidly political as well; I could picture a bunch of politicians making a fuss about territories or something like that.

It didn’t really matter right now I guess. The important bit is that there is plenty of wildlife here, so finding a decent meal wouldn’t be hard. I stalked against the wind, hunting for anything large enough to make a proper meal.

It didn’t take long before I came upon an elk. The ones around here are called honeywood elk, although they aren’t that special. They are quite tasty though, so it doesn’t matter how special they are.

This one was a lone male. He was probably too young to get his own harem so he was banished to the outskirts of the forest till he got big enough to unseat one of the veterans. That would be a while since some of the older elks were insanely powerful. Honeywood elks aren’t really magic beasts, but the biggest ones may as well be.

I snuck up under the cover of darkness till I was above the small male and dropped on it. Landing on it startled the beast, but it barely had time to start bucking before I jammed a spike into its skull. It went limp and slumped to the ground beneath me. Pulling my claw out from between its antlers, I started eating.

It’s just not the same raw…

I didn’t eat everything cooked, but some of the animals around here were truly amazing cooked properly. Elk in particular is like that. The cuts of meat are amazing when aged and cooked rare. The way the juices poured from every bite, and the intense, lean flavor of the meat...

Man, it’s such a waste like this…

It’s still tasty, so I shouldn’t complain. There’s plenty for a pre-battle meal as well. My appetite isn’t as crazy as it was when I was younger, but I could still probably finish this whole elk if I wanted. Even the bones would be edible, since my jaws are so sharp and strong. Bone marrow is supposed to be healthy too.

It wasn’t good to force myself to overeat. Stuffing myself to bursting just so I could say I ate a whole elk would be silly. I probably wouldn’t be able to come back and get the rest of this either, so there wouldn’t be any leftovers.

I would just have to live with it. What did grandma used to say? ‘It’s better for good food to go to waste then for good bellies to bust.’

Once my meal was finished I needed to get ready for morning. I still wanted to meet up with the elves, but now that I think of it we didn’t really make any sort of meeting plan. I guess everyone assumed the the mother bees would help us coordinate. Since the bees are sleeping now and the elves are staying stealthy I shouldn’t really hunt them down.

...I can probably meet up with them in the morning, it isn’t like the army will reach the trees before the sun comes up.

And no, I’m not saying that because I want to take a nap. Anyway, I earned a little rest. I climbed up into the trees, shapeshifted so that I looked like a tree branch, and took a nap.

That night, I dreamed of murder.