“So I figured that I would have the advantage in the trees, but not only was Mun-gi able to move around upside down like he was walking, he also could bounce around like a hyperactive monkey.”

Once we got going I started telling the Blue Daggers about the fight between Mun-gi and I. They had already heard it from Mun-gi, but apparently they liked hearing my perspective as well. Gryphus and the elves were interested as well. I found myself raising my voice so the caravan didn’t slowly clump up in an awkward ball around me. Luckily, their hearing was good enough that I didn’t need to shout.

“He was bouncing off branches so fast that it was almost as bad as his vortex move. The worst bit was the way he could change direction. He’d actually stab one of his blades into a tree for leverage. It was wild to watch.”

We were taking a bit of a roundabout path to Macedor. It wasn’t a big deal, Mun-gi just advised us to avoid the area where I’d executed all the horses and soldiers. They hadn’t been disposed of properly, so now they had started to rot…

I continued my story, although I spun the last bit so that the Blue Daggers wouldn’t think that Mun-gi had dropped us into the army on purpose. The mercenaries looked at me funny when I mentioned losing my arm and leg, and Mun-gi actually started sulking a bit when I explained about my regenerative abilities. He still hadn’t gotten over his jealousy.

I turned the subject away from my abilities before anyone could notice Mun-gi being sullen. I cocked my head at the assumed leader of the Blue Daggers.

“So, I know you are a mercenary team, but not much more than that. You guys are what, guerrilla fighters?”

I based my conjecture on their outfits. They weren’t particularly heavily armed. At least they didn’t look that way until you observed them closely. They were lightly armored, and the largest weapons they seemed to have were long, double-edged daggers. A few had bucklers strapped to their packs as well. Leather armor, overcoats, and daggers didn’t really scream frontline fighters to me.

Once I looked closer I saw more weapons here and there. Throwing knives were strapped across their bodies and disassembled crossbows could be seen bulging out of special pockets in their packs. There were also lumps hidden about their person, probably alchemical concoctions of some kind based on their shapes.

I’d bet a whole pound of Lawrence’s best smoked potbelly trout that they had more weapons I hadn’t spotted.

As I eyed them I noticed that one of the five was a woman. I wasn’t sure until I had looked her over for quite a while. It was lucky I had my compound eyes, otherwise, it would have been super obvious I was staring. Luckily they didn’t notice and the leader replied in a cautious tone.

“Something like that, we actually specialize more in disrupting supply lines and destroying fortifications.”

“Ah, saboteurs.”

A couple of them winced at that. It threw me for a loop. My confusion must have shown on my face since Mun-gi leaned over to speak. I’m not sure how he read my insectile features though.

“Saboteurs aren’t well regarded. Some people hate them just as much as poisoners. Well, there’s a certain amount of overlap between those two jobs, so that’s a bit understandable.”

Despite his words, Mun-gi didn’t look at all bothered. It was obvious he didn’t think any less of them. The Blue Daggers were having trouble reading my body language and face though, so they were still wary of my reaction. I gave them a friendly smile and tried not to have hurt feelings when one of them flinched.

“Don’t worry, I’ve used similar strategies, so it would be pretty hypocritical of me to be all judgy about that sort of thing.”

They stared at me, uncomprehending. I gestured vaguely off in what should be the path the Macedor army had taken. I light dawned in Mun-gi’s eyes.

“The horses, right? We never did figure out how you did that.”

“I shrunk down and dug my way underneath the perimeter. From there I just had to be quiet and make clean cuts.”

It didn’t take long for the Blue daggers and me to hit it off, at least on the subject of sabotage and psychological warfare...

“No no, you’ve got to let them stew in it. If they know more is coming and they can’t do anything about it then their morale will take an even worse hit.”

The leader of the blue daggers shook his head.

“That sounds nice, but only if you are guaranteed to be successful. If they succeed in stopping you because you risked your original goal for the sake of psychological warfare then you’ll have failed on both accounts. The whole point of sabotage is that the effects deal psychological damage on their own, there’s no need for any extra.”

“Yeah, but sabotage is all about preparation. You can make sure that people find out what’s happening as it’s happening without giving them time to stop it. It’s tricky but worth it. Stuff like having bombs go off in sequence as a lot more impact than a simultaneous detonation.”

“Eh, I guess we just have to agree to disagree.”

I suppose that is fine. It’s not like their philosophy is wrong. That’s the beauty of psychological warfare using sabotage.

“Yeah, that’s fair.”

Mun-gi leaned in to join the conversation.

“So Manto, you’ve been hinting about your plan for a while. Are you going to show us this trump card you’ve been so smug about?”

“Maybe, I kinda want it to be a surprise.”

Gryphus smirked for a bit at that, but he did cut in to disagree.

“Actually you should probably do a quick demonstration. Making sure everyone knows your plan will make coordinating things easier. Plus having Mun-gi’s opinion will help refine the strategy.”

I tipped my head back and let out an exaggerated sigh.

“Fine… Spoil the fun why don’t you? But we are going to have to wait till I’m not playing horse. If I use it now I’ll snap this harness.”

They agreed, and we changed the subject. I couldn’t help but get a little smirk when I saw the Blue Dagger’s curious faces. I could hardly wait for us to set up camp.

We marched along. Some of us were humming or singing. I kind of understand why sea shanties and similar songs existed back then; walking for hours and hours gets boring fast. If you are just walking it’s easier to talk, but running about on a ship would make it impossible.

The evening came quite fast, and we stopped for the night. I got to see an amazing sunset. The trees in the forest at home got in the way most of the time, so this was a first. I could have flown over the trees, but it wasn’t the same as seeing the entire sky lit with pastel colors.

Everyone actually paused or slowed down starting the fire or feeding and watering the horses to watch. There were plenty of fluffy clouds that shone with reddish pinks and purples. The blue sky turned into different shades of oranges, pinks, and reds. It did fade eventually, but it was glorious while it lasted.

While the food was being cooked and the horses cared for our group moved to the side so I could do my demonstration ...which honestly was just showing off.

It was getting dimmer by the minute, so I needed to hurry while the clouds still caught the light coming from below the horizon.

I rolled my shoulders and flexed my claws. Posing for my audience, I spoke like an entertainer.

“And now~ It’s time for the show!”

I ignored the rolling eyes as I did my best impression of a bodybuilder's pose.

“Most people here are already aware, but for the sake of the Blue Daggers I’ll explain my basic abilities.”

I shifted my colors to vividly glittering greens and reds, like a rainbow scarab beetle. Then I began swapping colors and patterns. After a bit I made stripes flow down my body, showing off silver, gold, orange, red, purple, blue, and so on. The flowing colors was a trick I had learned while trying to achieve active camouflage. I was a ways off from completing it, but doing something flashy like this was easy. I relaxed and took a more normal stance. Rather than stay the shade of maroons and pinks I was at, I shifted to a shiny black.

“As you can see, I can freely control the colors of my exoskeleton along with its reflectivity and translucency. This would be plenty for camouflaging myself, but I can also change its shape and texture. Like so!”

A series of spikes and needle-like spines shot out of every part of my body. I let them take it in for a moment before retracting all of them at once. I made ripples and waves flow across my body as I continued speaking.

“Obviously this is even better for camouflage.”

My skin turned to a bark-like texture and color while I posed myself awkwardly to look like a dead sapling. A few twigs growing out at random points helped sell it. After a moment I made ‘leaves’ sprout on the branches, although it took way too long to get the texture right. I made a single flower pop out of my head before I turned back.

“Of course, once the element of surprise is gone I use it for psychological warfare. I’ve spent countless hours looking in a mirror to perfect certain forms for that. And before you say anything, it’s not because I’m a narcissist. Practicing these is hard.”

I shifted into my xenomorph form and tried not to let the gasps and retching hurt my feelings. I mean, that’s what I was going for, and I’m proud of it, but still…

I ended up turning back to normal. Otherwise, people wouldn’t really pay attention.

“Every bit of this is engineered to unnerve or intimidate. The organs-and-bones look, the spikes, and ridges, the extended bits, I made it to look as creepy and upsetting as possible. Obviously, it works, given your reactions.”

Mun-gi broke the silence among the audience.

“I’d forgotten how gross that form looked.”

The elves and the Blue Daggers let out awkward chuckles.

“I’ve got a few less gross ones. And I think you all should be thankful I haven’t worked up the nerve to make a bloody pulsing meat form.”

I waited for a few of them to picture it, and from the faces they made, a lot of them did.

“Anyway, I do have one other ability: I can manipulate my size.”

I shrank down as far as I could. I looked up to them and spoke in a squeaky falsetto.

“Tada!”

It didn’t get much of a reaction, so I returned to full size. I kept speaking, making sure to doppler my voice as I grew.

“Well anyway, my ability to control my size has grown stronger as I’ve aged. Mostly my upper limit has improved, not my speed or my control.”

I grew larger, and larger, and larger…

Eventually, I was just over two stories high, maybe three. I changed my form as well, switching to what I’d dubbed my ‘kaiju’ design. I pushed a ridge of blunt spikes out my back that ran all the way down my abdomen. A pair of shoulder fins that reached nearly to my head jutted out as well. I made wide, heavy looking ridges stick out on my arms and legs as well, making them look bulkier. I finished it off with a series of triangles along the sides of my body. All of it looked cool, but its main purpose was to make me look even bigger. The horses shifted nervously, and I practically heard everyone swallowing nervously.

When I was like this I LOOMED. It was great.

They had some pretty hilarious expressions, so I spoke once more, ...in another falsetto.

“Tada!”

A few of them snorted. That set off a chain reaction of laughter. I shrank down while the mood was lightening. I grinned at Mun-gi.

“Well, what do you think?”

He laughed.

“Not great for a fight, but you’ll make one heck of an entrance.”

“Hmm? Why don’t you think it will work in a fight?”

He grinned at my frown. The blue daggers and the elves looked puzzled and curious as well.

“Why didn’t you use that form against me?”

“There’s no way it would have worked; I’m a lot more powerful, but not that much faster. In fact, at the maximum size, I’m actually a little slower. You would have attacked me at odd angles and cut me to pieces.”

Mun-gi responded by snapping his fingers and pointing at me.

“Exactly! That size makes you a target. If you were a different beast it would be fine, but your species is an ambush predator. Magic beasts like you are durable but remember that Macedor has Laomedon. A powerhouse ranked mage is a large magic beast’s worst matchup. You can’t make magic shields so you need to dodge his shots. Otherwise, you’ll get cooked in your own shell like a lobster.”

I winced and stretched a claw around to rub the back of my head.

“Ouch… Kinda harsh, but I guess you are right.”

He grinned again.

“It’s not that bad. With as fast you are in your normal form, you actually have a great matchup against most mages. Since Laomedon doesn’t have a Thunder eagle to carry him like Madam Raphina he won’t be able to fly. You would have the advantage in mobility. It's only when you make yourself a massive target that you’d be in trouble. ”

“Yeah, but I kinda wanted to stomp around the city and smash things.”

A couple of them snickered, including Mun-gi.

“You may still have the opportunity, but only after Axios and Laomedon are dead.”

I cocked my head a bit.

“So the way you’re talking, you’ve called dibs on Axios?”

Mun-gi’s smile turned vaguely sinister.

“Yess… Indeed, I have called ‘dibs’ on him. His arrogance was grating even before the mission, but afterward… I made him a promise, and this is the best opportunity to fulfill it.”

“A promise?”

That slightly scary smile turned into a bloodthirsty rictus. Pure joy and anticipation radiated for a second before he calmed down his expression.

“I promised that if we ever met on the battlefield, I would show him the true essence of a powerhouse.”

Mun-gi seemed calm, but those deep, black eyes glinted with sadistic happiness. It looked like I wasn’t the only one looking forward to stomping all over Macedor.