Honestly, I was terrified of how Nilara would react when she found out I got the better part of the deal. I even prepared to activate the magic circles I hid inside Taloress at a moment's notice if all hell broke loose, but fortunately, the Matriarch seemed to be more amused than angry with how things went.

“It has been such a long time since I dealt with humans that I forgot how devious your kind can be,” Nilara chuckled as she refilled her cup with tea.

“You were pretty devious yourself,” I replied defensively. “Trying to trick me into joining a mutual-defense agreement to get me to take care of your enemy? You're just as devious as a human.”

“Naturally, for I am old. But you'd be surprised how talented you humans are when it comes to fooling others. I've seen human children trick juvenile Dayadra more than ten times their age. Your people have a knack for it, for better or worse.”

I didn't really know how to respond to that, so I changed the topic. “So how are things going to go from here? Are you going to help me right away with my enemies?”

“Ah-ah. Not so fast, young Ascendant,” Nilara said with a wag of her finger. “We shall first tell each other details of their current situation before we decide who gets to help whom first. Whoever has the more urgent situation shall be taken priority.”

“Sounds reasonable to me,” I acquiesced. “I've already told you the gist of my situation. The entire continent learned of my existence as a rogue Ascendant and they sent people to kill me. According to one of my sources, reinforcements from Fjellheim, Zurath, and the Free States have already arrived in the kingdom and are only waiting for the Empire and the Hegemony before they start their manhunt for me.”

Nilara hummed in thought. “I see. It seems your situation is more urgent than mine. Tell me, is there news of an Ascendant from a neighboring country arriving here? Particularly one with the power to control plants.”

“I don't think so?” I answered uncertainly. “My source didn't tell me anything about that. Why do you ask?”

Nilara put down her cup and stared deep into my eyes. “An Ascendant with the power to control plants is a grave danger to my kind. Our close relation to trees means that we are also vulnerable to that power. Several decades ago, every Dayadra in my Sanctuary felt a powerful pulse from the northeast. It was a call from an Ascendant for obeisance and servitude. It was only through my sheer power that I prevented my daughters from being brainwashed into slaves.”

My eyes widened in realization. “You want help against that enemy.”

Nilara nodded. “Yes. Every year, the call grows stronger and more insistent. I fear that with enough time, my entire Sanctuary will eventually succumb to the call and become bound to servitude to a power-hungry demigod.”

“Why didn't you take care of it way back then?” I asked. “I can feel a small portion of your power through my mana sense and know you are extremely powerful. You could have killed this Ascendant you're talking about easily when they were still weaker.”

“I'm afraid you have a few misconceptions about my kind, Mr. Marion. We Dayadra depend on our Hometree for our survival,” Nilara said as she stroked a nearby vine, eliciting the massive tree we were standing on to groan happily. “Near our Hometrees, we are formidable fighters. But take us too far from our Hometrees and we will die. Not even I, with my power, am an exception.”

“I'm surprised you told of me such a glaring weakness,” I said with raised eyebrows.

“We are allies now, Mr. Marion. An alliance would never work without trust between the two parties,” Nilara said pointedly as she eyed the mask concealing my face.

“Right…” I muttered as I awkwardly touched Mr. Marion's mask. “Well, I'll be glad to take care of your enemy for you if you help me with my enemies.”

“That goes without saying,” Nilara said as she relaxed a bit. “Now, let's talk about your enemies. Do you have information about them?”

“The reinforcement from the Free States is supposedly a large army of mercenaries thousands of men strong,” I began. “Zurath sent two Holy Paladins while Fjellheim sent experimental weapons, although I have no idea of what nature.”

“The army of men should be easy enough for you to handle,” Nilara said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Fjellheim, now that is a difficult adversary. The dwarves love using war golems to wage battle for them, and those damnable metal contraptions often use fire-based attacks, which is the bane of my kind. You'll have to handle them yourself as well.”

I wanted to complain that fire was my weakness as well, but I kept my mouth shut. I knew Nilara wanted to build trust in our relationship, but that wasn't something I was willing to reveal in our first meeting.

“Does that mean you'll take care of the Holy Paladins?” I asked.

“If you manage to bait them into coming into my territory, then yes, taking care of them should be fairly easy,” Nilara said with a confident grin. “I can also ask some of my Sentinels for volunteers to fight against the human mercenaries. It should serve as valuable experience for them.”

“That would be a tremendous help, Nilara. I thank you from the bottom of my heart,” I said, and it was the very first genuine thing I said during our meeting.

Nilara seemed to have realized the same thing and chuckled. “No need to be so formal, Mr. Marion. Friends help each other. Besides, you'll also return the favor by taking care of my enemy, yes?”

“Of course,” I replied. “But that's not the entirety of my problem yet. My source told me that the Empire and the Hegemony would probably send Ascendants to kill me.”

“Now that is a bit problematic,” Nilara said. “We have to plan a bit more in how we should face them, but before we could do that, we need information about their strength.”

“I'll see what I can find.”

The conversation turned to lighter topics after that. I would have liked to say that the Matriarch and I hit it off like old buddies, but I was reserved in my interactions with her. Still, we did get to know each other a bit more.

For instance, I asked her how she found out I was an Ascendant when I first came to the Sanctuary. It turned out that her mana sense was far more developed than mine. Where mine could only detect the presence of undisguised mana and make a vague approximation of the amount in a certain object, Nilara could make out the accurate amount of mana in a person's body even if said person tried to reduce the output of their aura. According to her, my mana pool when I first came here was abnormally high for a mundane mage.

“Because of a human's short life span, they are usually not able to expand their mana pools to a large degree. The human mage with the largest mana pool I've known managed to reach only a hundred thousand mana, and that was at his oldest age,” Nilara explained.

Calling it ‘only’ a hundred thousand mana was a testament to Nilara's magical might. I wonder how much mana she has?

“How much mana do I have, then?” I asked curiously. The last time I was able to have my mana pool analyzed was back in Erfeld. The result had been around thirty thousand mana.

“I can sense around eighty thousand mana within you,” Nilara said.

“Seriously?!” I exclaimed. I chuckled like an idiot upon hearing the answer. That was the best news I've heard since leaving Erfeld.

“I knew you weren't normal when I sensed your mana pool,” Nilara added. “Eighty thousand mana at such a young age is not normal. I predicted that you were an Ascendant, and when you reacted greatly to me calling you the ‘Masked Ascendant’ the first time you came here, I knew I was right.”

Reminder to self: don't reveal important information by reacting like an idiot.

“Speaking of age, how old are you, anyway?” I ventured boldly.

“It's rude to ask a maiden her age, Mr. Marion,” Nilara said playfully before turning serious. “I won't give you an exact number, partly because it makes me sound even older, mostly because I have forgotten. But to give you a glimpse of my age, I was already alive when the Hero Aelina fell in battle against the Eldritch and ascended to godhood as the Holy Mother.”

My eyes widened in awe. That was more than a thousand years ago! “Holy shit, you're so—”

Nilara raised an eyebrow.

“—experienced…” I finished.

Nilara nodded at me with a satisfied smile. “I like you already.”

Before I could ask her more questions to sate my curiosity, Nilara suddenly looked to the east and smiled. “I'm afraid we'll have to put a pause to our chat, Mr. Marion. The Spring Waves have finally arrived on our shores.”

“Spring Waves?” I repeated and looked to the ocean to the east. In the distance, a vast expanse of water churned and turmoiled as if a large creature swam beneath the surface. It rapidly approached the shore, which was only about a kilometer away from the edge of the basin.

I expected a colossal monster to emerge from the ocean based on the size of the churning waters. Instead, dozens of big, ugly fish monsters of various kinds emerged on the shore. They shrieked and snapped their sharp teeth in the air before charging towards the Sanctuary. Behind them followed another wave of fish monsters numbering in the hundreds, and another in the thousands, and another with even greater numbers than the last.

It was the biggest monster attack I have ever seen.

“Let's see how my dear daughters perform against the first Spring Wave of the year, shall we?” Nilara said with a smile.

Below us, I saw the Dayadra of the Sanctuary moving en masse toward the eastern side of the Sanctuary where the attack would be coming from. There were hundreds of them, their beautiful green hair shimmering in the sun like a green ocean.

Upon reaching Ferti the Big Bush, the Sentinels shifted into their battle forms and climbed to the top of the living wall where they waited for the monsters' arrival.

To my surprise, even the Stewards joined in on the defense, although they didn't climb with the Sentinels. Instead, they positioned themselves behind Ferti and placed their hands on the ground. The soil suddenly shone green as the Stewards poured their mana into it and channeled the energy into Ferti.

With the deafening rustle of hundreds of thousands of leaves, Ferti started growing taller as it absorbed more and more of the Stewards' mana. By the time the monster wave arrived, Ferti had turned into a colossal wall of leaves and thorns more than forty meters tall.

Despite the huge obstacle before them, the fish monsters were unfazed. The first ones started climbing the wall with wild abandon, only for most of them to be pulled inside the bush by snaking vines. Whatever their fates were, I would never find out.

But Ferti couldn't take care of all of them. The number of fish monsters climbing the wall at once soon numbered in the hundreds. A moment later, they eventually reached the top of the wall, only to be greeted with furious Sentinels at the top.

The Sentinels ripped into the fish monsters with brutal efficiency, their huge bodies created specifically for that purpose. The fish monsters only lasted a couple of seconds on top of the wall before they were torn apart by the Sentinels.

As the battle lasted longer, the Sentinels began glowing green. Their attacks became more powerful and their size grew larger. Instead of growing weaker from fatigue, the Sentinels seemed to become stronger the longer the battle went on.

“What's with the glowing Sentinels?” I asked the Matriarch.

“My Sentinels can absorb the blood of their enemies for nutrients. The more they absorb from their enemies, the more powerful they become in battle,” Nilara said with a proud smile.

Holy shit, that is terrifying, I thought with a shudder. No wonder the Matriarch was willing to send her Sentinels to help against the mercenary armies from the Free States. The armies' numbers would only serve as nutrients for the natural killing machines.

The monster wave finally reached its end as the last fish monster had its head ripped off by the largest Sentinel on the wall. The Sentinel shouted a bloodthirsty cry of victory.

“Seems like Elder Ennoren is having a great time,” Nilara said with amusement.

“I didn't know she was a battle maniac,” I muttered.

Just as I thought that the attack was finally over, the waters on the shore churned again. A moment later, the water's surface exploded as a giant scaled arm emerged and landed on the beach, sending huge clumps of sand flying everywhere. Another arm followed a moment later.

“An aberrant on the very first wave?” Nilara said with a raised eyebrow. “It seems the Spring Waves this year will be quite a spectacle.”

The creature that owned the two massive arms slowly pulled itself out of the water, revealing a ten-meter-tall humanoid monster. Its body was covered in dark green scales and its limbs sported spiked fins. Its head was that of an ugly fish with sharp teeth and black, bulbous eyes. Upon spotting the Sanctuary, the huge monster screeched before charging.

“Uh, can your Sentinels handle that big one?” I asked the Matriarch. From the size alone, I estimated the monster to be at least an A-rank.

“I'm confident that my daughters can handle that Elder Sahuagin, although not without casualties, I'm afraid.”

“I can help!” Taloress suddenly interjected. It was the first time she spoke up since our meeting, and of course, it was only because she wanted to fight.

“Do not worry yourself, dear,” Nilara chuckled, causing Taloress to slump in disappointment. “I've been lounging around long enough for the entire winter. It's time I stretch my roots.”

Nilara raised her arm and pointed at the charging Elder Sahuagin in the distance. I felt the earth rumble beneath.

Before I could ask Nilara what she was doing, a massive root burst out of the ground at an angle in front of the Elder Sahuagin, its tip sharpened to a point. The massive monster saw the threat too late and ran straight into the root, skewering itself with its own momentum.

The Matriarch's attack didn't stop there.

As the Elder Sahuagin thrashed and tried to free itself, tendrils of green light began running up and down the root. The monster's struggles increased in intensity. I belatedly realized why as I witnessed the Elder Sahuagin's body slowly thinning. The luster in its scales slowly dulled and its skin wrinkled and dried. It was losing muscle mass rapidly, causing its struggles to weaken until eventually, the monster ceased moving. The Matriarch had absorbed nutrients from the monster until it died.

“Did you just eat lunch right in front of me?” I asked Nilara with a dumbfounded look. Thankfully, my stupid expression was hidden behind a mask.

“A woman has to eat to survive,” Nilara giggled as she withdrew the root, letting the skin and bones that were left of the Elder Sahuagin fall to the ground.

“I'll try not to disturb you when you're hungry, then,” I said.

“That is wise,” Nilara said before standing up. “As much as I would love to continue our chat, I have plenty of other duties to take care of Mr. Marion. What say you that we continue our discussions tomorrow? I can prepare a place for you to stay.”

“That's fine with me,” I replied as I stood up as well.

“I'll prepare separate accommodations for your other two Servants as well,” Nilara said with a knowing smile.

“Well, I should've known that nothing can escape your sight inside your Sanctuary,” I said sheepishly. I was glad she wasn't angry that I sent Squeaky to skulk around her home.

Right as I stood up, I felt my mana pool suddenly drop at an alarming rate. I wasn't casting any spells at the moment, which could only mean that my puppets back home were the reason for the sudden mana expenditure. It seems the Spring Waves have arrived at my doorstep as well.

I already informed my puppets about the possibility of the Spring Waves arriving during my absence and prepared them accordingly, so I had little cause to worry. As long as I had enough mana, my puppets were nigh unkillable.

All of a sudden, my mana pool took an abnormally precipitous drop before a sharp pain inside me caused me to involuntarily lose control of Mr. Marion. It was not a physical pain, but rather something that struck my very being.

I instinctively knew that a part of me had died.

●●●

“Wash your hands before you handle the fibers, you disgusting cretins!” Manny shouted at the group of goblins assigned with the task of bringing the dried fibers to the cave entrance. Some of them had recently done their business in the waste pits and returned to their task without washing their hands, resulting in some of the fibers getting dirtied with fecal matter.

“That's it. None of you are getting your pay for the day! Get out of my sight!” Manny roared, scaring the little goblins away. “Great, that's an entire batch ruined because of unskilled workers. Master is not going to be happy with this.”

“You're thinking about it too much,” a voice interjected from above. Manny looked up and saw Tedd lounging on a tree branch. “Master wouldn't care too much about an insignificant setback like that.”

“Ah, elder brother. I'm afraid it is not so insignificant. That was an entire batch of fibers the goblins ruined, which took more than a week to prepare!” Manny exclaimed. “This will heavily affect the factory's production output. It is unacceptable!”

Tedd snorted at his younger brother's indignance but didn't bother contradicting him. The Master created Manny with the sole purpose of managing the factory in His absence. It was only natural that Manny felt intense passion for his task.

“How goes the clothing production?” Tedd asked instead.

“Ah, things are all good on that side of things, fortunately,” Manny replied. “The tailors I taught have been doing phenomenal jobs. The quality of the clothes they produce is still far from the works of art that the Master creates, of course, but they are good enough for the plebians who will be buying from Master's company. The tailors are efficient as well. Already, ten crates of goods are ready for shipping and distribution. The ignorant masses shall soon learn of Master's greatness.”

“You do know we don't have any stores open yet, right?”

“I'm sure it is only a matter of time, elder brother. Until then, we will continue to produce clothes worthy enough to be sold under the name of Master's company,” Manny said confidently before muttering under his breath. “Although I'll have to find a solution to the issue of dwindling storage space and the problem of logistics once the Master opens His glorious stores…”

Tedd left Grisly Hall's General Manager to his mutterings once he was satisfied with Manny's status report. He slowly climbed down the tree he was sitting on and waddled his way to the cave's entrance. Tedd entered and looked up at the dark corner where Spider was lurking.

“Everything all good?” Tedd asked.

“All isss well,” Spider growled.

“That's great, then,” Tedd muttered to himself with satisfaction. He was given the heavy responsibility of making sure everything went fine in the headquarters, and he would do his darned best to make that happen. Although so far, that only amounted to asking for status reports from the others. My job is pretty boring, Tedd thought.

As if his thoughts had tempted fate, Tedd spotted Zerza, the wily goblin shaman, running towards the cave entrance with a panicked expression.

“Master Tedd!” Zeraza shouted as she neared the cave's entrance.

Spider suddenly dropped to the ground with a loud crash and bared his monstrous teeth. “Do not come any clossser, goblin.”

Zerza immediately stopped her approach at the sight of the Monstrosity, her expression one of shock and terror.

“What is it, Zerza?” Tedd asked.

“One of my scouts spotted incoming sea monsters from the beach!” Zerza exclaimed. “The yearly Spring Waves are here!”

Ah, I remember Master mentioning that one, Tedd thought. “How many?”

“Hundreds!” Zerza exclaimed. “They are attacking the forest. With our proximity to the shore, it is only a matter of time before they arrive!”

Tedd twisted his cute face towards Spider. This is bad, he said to his brother.

No, it isss going to be fuuun, Spider hissed in reply as excitement for the incoming bloodshed suffused him.

Tedd shook his head in exasperation and sent a mental message to Manny, who was still muttering to himself in the distance. Manny, a monster attack is coming. Mobilize your brothers and sisters and position them in the goblin camp.

“Right away!” Manny shouted as he turned towards the cave with a look of concentration on his featureless face. Tedd knew he was sending mental messages to the rest of the other puppets all at once, an impressive feat given that the Master was the only other person who could do it.

A few moments later, the Third-Generation puppets began flooding out of the cave and positioned themselves throughout the goblin camp, startling the goblins who had been preparing for the imminent attack.

“Spider, we go to the front lines,” Tedd said as he climbed on the Monstrosity's back. “Manny, you stay here and guard the entrance.”

Manny acknowledged Tedd's orders and gestured for two other puppets to assist him in guarding the entrance. Zerza frowned at the sight, as if in disappointment, before quickly schooling her expression, but Tedd had already seen it.

It seems the Master's paranoia is well-placed, Tedd thought as Spider made way for the front lines. One of the tasks the Master had given him was to keep watch on the goblin camp and look for any signs of treachery. Ever since the events of Halros, the Master had been extremely wary of betrayal.

The goblins had been obedient so far, but Tedd had noticed the goblin shaman closely observing the puppets' day-to-day operations on several occasions. The shaman's manner of observation exceeded mere curiosity and bordered on spying.

Something has to be done, Tedd thought as they made their way through the noticeably bigger goblin camp. The little critters had been multiplying fast, with their population now numbering in the hundreds.

Spider eventually arrived on the edge of the camp, which had turned into a chaotic scene after news of the imminent attack had arrived. Dozens of goblins ran in different directions as they rushed to erect makeshift barriers made of flimsy wood, something Tedd doubted would last even a few seconds.

In another part of the chaotic scene, Kral the hobgoblin was shouting orders in the goblin language as he handed makeshift wooden spears to his brethren. Tedd surmised that there would be casualties before the attack even arrived judging by how the little idiots recklessly played with their spears and smacked each other with the pointed ends. How did they even survive in the forest for this long? Tedd wondered.

The goblin shaman approached their location a moment later and addressed Tedd. “Master Tedd, how would you like to position the soldiers?”

Calling the goblins ‘soldiers’ is a bit of a stretch, Tedd thought before answering. “Just create a defensive line at the very front and make sure they don't break formation. We will handle the rest.”

Tedd didn't trust the goblins enough to fight alongside them. Partly because of their suspicious shaman but mostly because of their incompetence. The last thing he wanted was for one of the puppets to kill a goblin because it accidentally stabbed them.

Zerza relayed Tedd's instructions to Kral, who in turn barked out the orders to the rest of the tribe in their language. The goblins quickly formed a disorganized line right behind their makeshift barriers with their wooden spears pointing outwards.

Everyone, position yourselves behind the goblins, Tedd ordered the puppets. On my signal, we will engage the monsters outside the barriers while the goblins handle the stragglers.

It was the simplest and most efficient strategy that Tedd could think of. With their natural regeneration, the puppets were practically unkillable without fire. That was why they would be fighting in the front lines while the weaker goblins would only serve as safeguards for any monster that managed to get past them.

As the combined puppet and goblin forces waited for the wave's arrival, Tedd spotted movement in the forest. A moment later, a hideous monster that looked like a fishman emerged from the underbrush. It reared its head and screeched before charging towards them.

I ssshall take firssst blood, Spider hissed before leaping over the goblin's defensive line and running for the lone fishman. The monster didn't even get to utter a cry before Spider gobbled it up into his massive maw. The sound of crunching bone and tearing flesh soon emanated from within the puppet's body.

Before Tedd could chide Spider for being impatient, the treeline suddenly burst as a large horde of fishmen charged at them. Everyone, attack the trespassers! Tedd cried.

The puppets shouted their mental affirmatives as they leaped over the nervous goblins, their arms transforming into sharp spikes. They clashed with the frenzied fishmen, who served as their equals in ferocity.

Spider was also as eager as the Third-Generation puppets to dive into the fray. With a loud screech, the Monstrosity charged deep into enemy lines, his massive bulk acting as a battering ram that crushed the fishmen unlucky enough to block his path. Dozens of tentacles emerged from his back and began picking up nearby fishmen before dropping them into his toothy maw.

While Spider reveled in the bloodshed, Tedd assessed the general battlefield and took notes of the Third-Generation puppets' performance in large-scale conflicts. He noted that the puppets lost to the fishmen, which he estimated to be D-rank monsters, in terms of raw strength, albeit only by a small margin. He noticed this during the initial clash: in a straightforward charge between the two sides, the puppets ended up losing ground from the fishmen.

But that didn't mean they were at a disadvantage. On the contrary, the puppets were able to easily handle the numerous fishmen. With their ability to freely morph any part of their body, the puppets could easily outmaneuver the mindless beasts and deal killing blows despite the slight strength disadvantage. Tedd saw this in action when a fishman tried to bite a puppet's neck, only for the puppet to wrap its head around the monster's and suffocate it.

But the puppets' biggest advantage wasn't their shapeshifting capabilities, but rather their almost-limitless regeneration. No matter how much the fishmen tore and clawed at the puppets, the damages were rendered futile as the puppets' bodies simply mended themselves back to their original state. Coupled with their unrelenting and unconditional will to serve the Master, the puppets were immortal monsters on the battlefield.

A few fishmen were able to get past the puppets from time to time, only to get skewered by dozens of spears from the goblin lines. The fishmen killed by the goblins quickly had their corpses pulled into the camp by the green-skinned monsters, and Tedd knew they would later end up roasting over the goblins' fire.

The monster attack lasted a long time, but the puppets never showed any signs of fatigue. After half an hour, the wave soon slowed down into a slow trickle of fishmen, which were easily taken care of as soon as they arrived. That was fairly easy, Tedd thought.

As if to mock Tedd's musing, the ground trembled as a huge monster emerged from the treeline. It looked like a five-meter-tall anglerfish with four stubby legs to help it walk on land. A fleshy extension hung in front of its monstrous face, emitting an ominous yellow light that strangely made the surroundings darker instead of brighter.

The anglerfish made a shrill screech that carried with it a pulse of magic. The screech washed harmlessly over the puppets, but the goblins were a different story. The screech invoked fear among the goblins, causing them to panic and abandon their positions. Kral and Zerza tried to keep them together through commands and threats, but the fear caused by the magic-imbued screech proved too great.

Unreliable in combat, Tedd thought with a shake of his head as he watched the fleeing goblins. He turned his attention back to the massive anglerfish and relayed his orders to the puppets. Everyone, swarm the monster.

The puppets charged as one, oblivious to the concept of fear as they recklessly attacked the massive monster with no care about self-preservation.

The anglerfish opened its maw and eagerly gobbled up the first few puppets, only for the puppets to cling to its tongue and attack the insides of its mouth with their spike arms.

The anglerfish screeched in fury as its mouth bled green blood. More puppets arrived and climbed its body, stabbing the monster relentlessly only to find out that the monster's hide was too tough for them to pierce.

The anglerfish shook its body in an attempt to get the puppets off, but the unkillable warriors simply tied their arms to the numerous spikes and ridges of its body to anchor themselves. The anglerfish screeched in outrage and a gurgling noise emerged from its body. A moment later, its maw spat a cloud of sizzling green mist.

The puppets inside the monster's mouth, uncaring of the attack because of their nigh-unlimited regeneration, continued their assault on the beast, only to find their bodies melting a moment later. Their regeneration proved useless when the acid ate away at the fabric they were made of on a chemical level.

Retreat! Tedd shouted at the puppets inside the monster's mouth, but it was already too late. Every puppet in the vicinity felt a deep pain inside them as their siblings melted from the acid, and they cried in outrage.

“Avenge our fallen brothers and sisters!” Tedd shouted, his voice trembling with rage.

Spider opened his maw to let out a furious roar and charged along with dozens of other puppets. The anglerfish screeched in defiance and prepared to let out another acid breath.

“You will kill no more of my siblings, monster!” Tedd shouted as he merged his body with Spider and took control of his brother's tentacles. “Spider, climb on top of it!”

Spider flanked the anglerfish as the monster gathered acid in its stomach. Despite his massive size, Spider moved agilely as he dodged the anglerfish's bites, moving around the beast and positioning himself behind it. The anglerfish's stubby legs impeded it from turning around fast enough, allowing Spider to jump on the monster's back.

The anglerfish tried to release another breath attack in rage, but Spider's tentacles, controlled by Tedd, quickly wrapped under the monster's jaw and forcefully snapped it shut.

“You will pay for the lives of my siblings!” Tedd shouted before stabbing the monster's vulnerable eyes with Spider's tentacles.

The anglerfish went into a frenzy as Tedd buried the tentacles deeper into the monster's head. The puppets tried to hold it down, but their light bodies proved ineffective in anchoring the massive beast. Blinded, the anglerfish charged in a random direction, which happened to be toward the goblin camp.

It seems the goblins' cowardice saved their lives, Tedd thought as the frenzied anglerfish stomped around the empty area where the goblins previously held their defensive line.

The anglerfish's rampage didn't last long. Once Spider's tentacles reached the monster's brain, Tedd gripped it and squeezed until it burst. The anglerfish suddenly spasmed before falling to the ground with a loud crash.

With the enemy dead, Tedd separated himself from Spider and assessed his surroundings. The defense had been extremely successful, with not even a single fishman managing to get close to the cave's entrance.

But the success felt hollow as Tedd finished counting the puppets. Five had perished from the anglerfish's acid breath. The only remnants left of their bodies were melted goops of fabric that slowly dripped down the anglerfish's mouth. Plenty more puppets were damaged severely from the acid, with the worst cases having half of their body melted.

“Master is not going to be happy,” Tedd murmured.