“It’s too dangerous! Please, reconsider, Master!” Tama protested.

I didn’t listen.

That didn’t mean I didn’t agree with her though.

She was right.

It wasn’t a good idea.

Not only did the plan rely on a couple of unverified assumptions about the already unpredictable natives, their motives, and the limits their seemingly elite warriors had, but it was also hazardous to say the very least, requiring me to put myself in line of danger.

It was foolish.

I was aware of this.

However, there was far too much land to cover between us and the castle, and there was a good chance that the small group of the local, nearly superpowered fighters, slip through and join forces with their comrades in the castle, which would make our future attempts to kill the so-called ‘caster’ to free our ‘sealed’ incredibly more difficult.

The ‘elites’ or ‘ninjas’, or whoever those people were, had already proven to be quite hard to kill.

While not unbeatable, each one of them alone was more than the match of possibly dozens of my monsters, and our only effective tactics so far relied on isolating them and subsequently overwhelming them with sheer numbers so large that even their nearly supernatural fighting prowess wasn’t able to carry them through.

One going unnoticed, would already pose a significant threat, not to mention five of them working in tandem, as some form of kill team. They were a deadly enemy to have.

The prospect of them joining with someone who was able to inflict a semi-permanent loss on us, along with the benefit of the fortification guarded by the more mundane of their soldiers to guard their flanks, was a real nightmare.

I couldn’t let this happen.

Thus, intercepting them before they reached the castle was the only option.

I couldn’t be certain if their grand plan involved attacking us head-on, fighting their way to the castle, or merely hoping to take us out one by one.

Leaving them alone wasn’t an option, charging head-on might be an equally bad choice.

There was no guarantee they wouldn’t try to avoid the concentration of our forces we desperately needed to merely have the ability to stall them or try to draw defenders away from me, or any other more innovative approaches I didn’t think about.

However, we moved far too slowly to catch up on them if they slipped through.

Even if ‘Eviscerators’ were good runners, our general mobility was abysmal, and even if they caught up on our magically enhanced foes, the chance of my shadowy canines winning without the support of their cousins was quite low. A hundred ‘Corruptors’ had proven to be an insufficient force.

With none of my monsters focused on mobility, I needed another way to get enemies where we wanted them.

In other words, I needed bait.

Thinking of all the sacrifices my companions would have to make, all the suffering and pain they would have to experience even if every one of them reformed after their apparent death, and knowing how tormenting the ‘sealing’ was for them I was determined not to let my girls go through all the agony alone.

I couldn’t just hide behind them all the time.

Ironically enough, being in the middle of the largest grouping of my monsters was also the safest place to be if the enemies decided to split their party.

So, I stood there, on that cobblestone road snaking through the woods, sword in hand, hoping that the enemies wouldn’t pass the opportunity to approach me, if only to take me out for good.

My companions didn’t like the poor excuse for the scheme, but still, helped to carry it out.

Tama complained, as did the ‘Alphas’, and even less vocal Miwah refused to leave my side, but I paid them no heed.

My mind was focused on that short moment in the past, the brief memory, where one of those extraordinary swordsmen seemingly wanted to challenge me to the duel, only to fall to the concentrated power of my monsters. I counted on this to happen again.

I hoped the very same thing would happen again despite the fact I barely had any understanding of the local warrior culture or the code of honour, and their motivations for the constant aggression were incomprehensible to me just as well.

Clutching the sword I got, I couldn’t help myself more than to laugh at the absurdity of the entire idea - I didn’t know a single thing about a sword fight, and I knew very well that I didn’t have any real chance of winning against an inexperienced and untrained opponent, let alone against the nearly super-human warriors capable of cutting their way through my ferocious monster retinue with ease.

The only saving grace of my crazy plan was the fact it didn’t technically require me to swing the blade at anyone. It just expected me to look like I would to lure the enemy in, in the promise of some ultimate test of their already considerable fighting skills.

Although there was no guarantee they wouldn't see through my poorly acted performance, and merely sneer at my weakness, I didn’t need them to believe me to be some warrior of legend they would want to test their mettle against.

Looking weak should work just the same. I merely needed to look like a juicy, vulnerable priority target, and draw enemies to me. Not only would it allow me to concentrate our firepower, but also enabled us to rely on the respawn mechanic where my monsters could rejoin the very battle they would be slain in. Maybe I would even discover the true weakness of those incredibly gifted opponents by just being there, in the thick of the moment.

It could change the tide of battle just as it could spell my doom.

I however couldn’t allow the ‘caster’ to have any more competent defenders.

“We are not leaving you alone, Master!” Miwah said, hugging me from behind in the furry embrace.

“You don’t have to, Miwah.” I whispered, “Just try to keep up with the plan.”

This was true.

It wasn’t my aim to stand here alone.

Mai’s kin was turning the forest around us into a death trap in an attempt to control the attackers' movements. Should they try to evade the concentrated barrage from the ‘Purifiers’ they would have hostile vegetation to contend with, along with the ‘Eviscerators’ lurking in the treeline.

The moment the ‘Corruptors’ were given free rein over the conversion of the local environment, the impact they had on every tree and shrub turned them a twisted parody of the original greenery they replaced, filled with sharp thorns, tangled wines, and sickly colours. It was more apparent now than ever. Mai was motivated not to let the humans pass, letting her kin go overboard, in the hope to make this more effective than their last attempt.

My botanokinetic reptiles weren’t the only ones affected by this frenzy.

Many swarmed around, a fiery vulpine ready to set everything ablaze, with the dozens of my invisible girls sneaking around, along with all the ‘Defilers’ I could muster to keep them - and me - alive.

Kuma was back, along with her ursine sisters, to handle the fighting in the open while the more stealthy kin could handle the flanks.

Among all of these, I was the squishiest.

As long as the enemies decided that fighting us was preferable to rejoining with their fellows in the castle, it would work somewhat, I tried to assure myself. The whole thought of a fake duel would be completely redundant.

It ultimately didn’t matter if they thought I was a strong, worthy opponent to cross blades with, or a weakling to be crushed to end this whole affair, as long as they were consistently aggressive, or slightly suicidal, and came to us when we expected them to, there was a chance for this to work as intended.

If they didn’t, it would be a colossal problem, but I kept telling myself I would sort this out when the time came. It was about preventing the even worse scenario.

I looked around at my companions, however before Tama could raise another objection against the plan she disagreed with, Miwah interrupted her with a slight growl, announcing the very thing we were waiting for.

“They are coming, Master.”

My white werewolf let me go and took the position on my side.

“Only five of them, no one else?”

“Yes, master. Only five.” Miwah confirmed.

I stepped forward, heading up to the road.

“Start withdrawing, Mai, just as planned.” I reminded them, continuing to walk uphill to meet the elite human fighters.

The curving road prevented the elevation from being far too steep but broke the line of sight through the treeline at points.

Each step was heavier than the last. Despite my insistence to carry on with this strange, if not slightly insane plan, I wasn’t as reckless, or as brave, as it would demand me to be, and soon started to doubt it.

Still, the idea of saving my faithful companions from the several cycles of repeated suffering, or saving eternal torment of the ‘sealing’ kept me going. It would be better to take a risk now than make more sacrifices later, I kept telling myself.

The silence of the forest was interrupted only by the occasional sounds my monsters made, a few growls here, a couple of giggles there, and even a few repetitive lines chirped in as we continued as the single large host.

The ‘Eviscerators’ dispersed. I wasn’t able to catch the usual mirages of shifting air their invisibility left behind as they moved from the open to the shadows of the wretched trees. It seemed it worked better in tandem.

I kept walking.

The tension was unbearable.

For a short moment, I thought that enemies didn’t fall for this, simply decided to take a route through the still untouched part of the woods, retreated into the hills, or perhaps shifted their tactics to fight us like the ‘ninjas’ I initially took them for.

None was proven to be true when a few ‘Corruptors’ ran downhill towards us, beckoning their pursuers to chase after them, I realized I didn’t try to use their abilities to shape a wooden, poisonous weapon for everyone instead of desperately searching for the human-made spears and swords, but it was too late for us to change the arms distribution plans.

“My Master, they’re heading towards us,” Mai warned me only a moment before the five warriors came into view behind the next curve of the stone road.

They didn’t look like ‘ninjas’.

All of them were on horseback.

Unlike the uniform, black-robed swordsmen we encountered in the forest, those five varied greatly in appearance each equipped with a personalised outfit which ranged everywhere from flowing robes to the typical suits of the scaled armour, or some compromise between the protection and mobility in the form of the breastplate. Not even one of them had a helmet, though one wore the typical East Asian-styled straw hat common even among the local peasants.

Despite the notable diversity in their outfits, varying in functionality and colour, they all wore this polished, golden disk, a crest of sorts, on their chests, fixed to their armour, or attached by leather strips, but prominent enough to be noticed even from a distance. The meaning of it was completely lost to me, but I was certain it was a strange piece of fashion I didn’t notice among the other humans I encountered so far.

The ‘not-ninjas’ stopped and paused.

They appeared calm from the distance, albeit a vary by the changed environment, betraying some degree of caution, their behaviour didn’t show fear. Perhaps we surprised them, but we certainly didn’t scare them - and if we did, they didn’t show it.

Their animals visibly struggled though, as horses universally didn’t take the presence of my monsters well, though the five riders seemingly still managed to keep their mounts under control for the time being.

I, very hesitantly, took a few steps forward and ceremonially unsheathed the sword I was given, almost certain it looked comical to any trained fencer as my frail body didn’t have a single ounce of skill in me to use the blade properly.

Tama, Helmy, Kuma and Narita stepped forward with me, while Miwah disappeared into the shadows. Only Mai stayed behind.

“I am the Master! Let my little girls go, or face the consequences.” I declared aloud, raising my free hand, pointing the finger towards the leading warrior, one kitted with the almost full set of the local lamellar armour.

I was completely aware of the fact that this man, whoever he was, couldn’t possibly be informed about the events which happened here - they came from opposite directions, after all - but I was already getting a little resigned to the whole idea of diplomacy.

“Spit in the face of my Master’s kindness, and I will make sure this world will burn,” Helmy added, repeating the gesture with her weapon. I was still unused to hearing her speak, or be bigger for what it mattered, but she seemed to be taking the whole theatrics in quite well.

The men certainly took the proclamation seriously, whether they understood it or not, looking briefly at each other, or then at me.

One of them must have noticed the moving shadows as ‘Eviscerators’ and tried to warn others, but the man in the best armour, likely their leader, ignored him.

He shouted something in their local tongue. I didn’t understand a single word, but it sounded authoritative and quite official. He took the time to reach for his sword, almost ceremonially, without the rush, while his horse struggled.

After countless failures to establish even rudimentary communication between us and the natives, it would be almost ironic that the only thing I managed to do properly formally requested a duel I wasn’t even remotely capable of winning.

The man spoke a few more words in his language I didn’t get any closer to learning.

He didn’t have the chance to finish his speech.

The ‘Eviscerators’ charged in, taking out the men along with their horses, just as ‘Purifiers’ drowned them in the fire, and ‘Defilers’ concentrated their powers in an attempt to bring down the enemies in a single strike of the overwhelming force.

The armoured man, one who spoke, however, escaped the scorching conflagration by launching himself into the air in quite an impressive, acrobatic flip, defying gravity, and a few other laws of physics.

How he could do it from a sitting position in the saddle on the panicking horse being set on fire I had no idea, but there was no time to think.

The sudden overlay screen disoriented me even faster than the sudden motion did, robbing me of the little remaining concentration I had.

Major Enemy killed. Four more to advance the General Level.

I stepped backwards, tripped and fell back, dropping my weapon.

Blinking the notification away I had the first-line view of my own upcoming demise.

Vulnerable and helpless I could catch a glimpse of the armoured one descending on me with his sword.

All hell broke loose.

Kuma caught the jumping fighter mid-flight by his leg, slamming him into the ground with her impressive strength.

He survived.

Not only didn’t it break his spine, he even rolled over before the brutish ursine monster could crush him under her legs, and drove his blade deep into her neck, blood spraying everywhere even as Kuma’s body started to disintegrate.

He turned on me.

The battlefield swam in the life energies stolen by the rat-like ‘Defilers’ and the forest around us swivelled, only to allow me to perceive my doom from a perspective more detailed than my worthless human senses could.

I could see it, almost in slow motion, as the eyes of the magically enhanced fighter met mine, and a split-second flash stretched into eternity before the man could raise his blade in a strike I wouldn’t be able to stop.

A glimpse of him, deflecting Helmy’s sword, and the fireball, only to decapitate my newly grown vixen in a swift motion, despite her iconic armour and helmet.

I could see the mist, crimson red as always, slowly taking the bodies of the slain to give them a new life.

I could see the other two ‘not-ninjas’ charging out of the blazing inferno moving down the smaller ‘Eviscerators’, ‘Corruptors’ and ‘Defilers’ with waving, fluid cuts only to crash against the charge of ‘Ravagers’.

The bear girls tore one of the unlucky men apart with their bestial fury, while the other succumbed to the fireball barrage after the ‘Defilers’ brought him down to his knees.

A message flickered.

Things happened too fast to read it.

Then another.

Air was fury, and blood, and fire, and the ruby mist erupting as my slain furry companions returned to life again.

Narita tried and failed.

Yet the unbeatable armoured man persisted, even the life-draining magic wasn’t strong enough to fully disable him, bringing my most loyal rodent girl down as well.

The single man, one who had accepted the challenge, seemed unbeatable, a menace.

He avoided the swipe of Miwah’s claws as the pale werewolf materialised behind him, bringing his deadly blade up.

It happened so fast then, almost as if the broken movie reel started to move again at the normal speed.

Then Tama jumped in front of me, releasing a torrent of blinding, blue fire.

My vision turned white as the massive heat wave swept over me.