ã€ŠI am a Bugã€‹


 Prologue

    Reincarnation: The rebirth of the soul in another human or nonhuman body. There is no way to tell if it could happen or does, you can''t remember after all. But can you imagine keeping your memory after reincarnating? it''s easy to picture isn''t it? You die but get another life, another chance to be born luckier, stronger, smarter or better looking. It sounds great... right until you you start looking at the odds; what are the chances of being born poor in a third world country, or with some genetic disorder? Reincarnation is a gamble, no two ways about it.

    Even worse: what about animals? fish? insects? birds? even houseflies outnumber humanity by an absurd degree... being able to gain a second life but forced to live as a mere insect, as vermin, that is a curse, not a blessing.

    Now I know what you''re thinking: what about divine intervention? Yeah that sounds great as well. I bet you''re imagining a kind, beautiful goddess snagging your soul from the great beyond like some kind of cosmic crane game. Selecting your soul, guiding it lovingly to a fantastic new world and gifting it a body of amazing unrivalled potential. Or perhaps a mighty god bearded and wise, selecting you for some heroic task like he was choosing you from a lineup for a team in a game of dodgeball. You poor naive fool. Why don''t you go ahead and study some mythology for a bit and tell me how likely that is.

    If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    They don''t care about you as anything more than a source of entertainment, and let me tell you, the gods of mythology have a juvenile and cruel sense of humor. Still not as bad as pissing one off though. Even being treated like a chess piece is better than being strapped to a rock so a honking great bird can fly down and eat your liver every day for the rest of eternity.

    Then why do stories of reincarnation always tell of people who gain great abilities in other worlds? Tales of people reborn with mighty bodies of strong heroes or powerful dragons? It''s simple: stories are told by people who want you to listen, they tell tales of heroes and monsters because those are interesting. No one wants to hear the life story of a bug... That is to say, like my second life.

    ¡­.

    ...what?

    ...wait, you wanna hear it?

    seriously?

    you are pretty weird.

    Well, I hope you like the tale I am about to tell, because I would hate for my life story to bore you or anything.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Authors Note: Hey look! I''m writing!

    Hopefully this doesn''t stink too bad, I am mostly posting this to motivate myself to keep it up. Please tell me if my writing has any glaring flaws or even any squinting flaws.

 Chapter One: The odds must be crazy part 1

    Chapter 1

    Waking up in an unexpected location usually weirds me out; it takes me a while to remember how I got there and the uncertainty is really unnerving. This has always been true for me whether in a hotel room or at a friend''s house, of course it goes away as my brain gets into gear and I remember what I did yesterday. Right now though? I am seriously losing my marbles. This is partially because yesterday I died and partially because right now I seem to BE a marble.

    AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! and I need to calm down. Time to take a few deep breaths. ...wait ...I have no lungs.

    AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA wait does that mean I don''t have asthma anymore? neat! alright whatever, panic time over. let''s think this through.

    Okay, so why am I like this? what happened yesterday that got me here today?

    Oh right, the truck hit me. I remember that horrible crunching feeling and how it seemed like the pain was growing distant¡­

    ...I died didn''t I?

    That sucks.

    And now I appear to be one of many glowing glass balls on a table in a very nice room. Everything in the room looks very tasteful, expensive and well made; you could tell that the person wasn''t just abominably rich but that they also had undeniably great taste. Seriously, if you placed the table I''m on in a sealed room and filled itwith termites they would starve rather than mar this thing with a single nibble. Not only that, but it was organized in an aesthetically pleasing way as well. This place was FANCY. I had heard of the concept of feng shui and understood the idea but this room really hammered it home.

    I never really cared about my room in the past, neither what was in it or how it was placed, but this was eye-opening. I was certain that only the best were allowed to take part in the making of this room, from the interior decorators all the way down to the lumberjacks and carpenters. That just makes it weirder that I¡¯m here though.

    I really don''t know how I went from roadkill on a street downtown to a christmas ornament in a room that makes the phrase "fit for a king" come across as an insult.

    Since these other spheres looked about the same they must be people in the same boat as I am.

    "Hello? Helloo~ ...HEY! CAN YOU HEAR ME?"

    Yup, they can''t hear me, not much of a surprise since I don''t have a mouth. Wow, this sucks, who did this?

    Ah well, no use getting upset thinking about it. I mean, someone''s got to come along eventually and they can explain things. This place is obviously well taken care of, and somebody brought me here; it''s not like I just got here by magic right? This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    ...right?

    I''m sure there is a perfectly scientific explanation for why i''m a glowy ball in a room with more style than you can shake a stick at. ...huh? yay! I hear a person!

    Let''s See, Ah Yes, It Got Some.

    "... Okay I give up, what are you?"

    Hnn? What Do You Mean?

    "Well it''s obvious isn''t it? You sure ain''t human"

    Whatever was standing before me looked completely fine, if that word could be used to describe the most beautiful woman I had ever set my eyes on... But somehow it was completely off in a way that sent chills up my no-longer-existent spine. It was entirely unnerving.

    Imagine every object or concept that has ever been given a description involving "beauty" sure there are the obvious ones: attractive women, majestic sunsets, glittering gems, delicate flowers... The list goes on and on, and it ...She was every one of these, every move She made had a entrancing elegance to it.

    Now add in the other beauties, you know, the ones that aren''t "pretty" or nice to think of in that way: The supple power of a tiger, the monumental splendor of a mountain, the brilliant color of a poison dart frog, the grandeur of a thunderstorm in the height of its fury and the glowing radiance of a forest fire. She was those too. Maybe that was why my instincts were screaming at me: you couldn''t fit all of that in a single perspective. But no matter how impossible, looking at her forced it into my brain somehow. I was enthralled, in both senses of the word. How can you even be that cute and awe-inspiring, beautiful and terrifying all at once anyway?

    I Will Take That As A Compliment.

    "Th-thanks"

    To Answer Your Question: I Am The Catalyst Of Change, The Forces Of Chaos, And The Manifestation Of Chance.

    Wow, I don''t know how but when She said Her name the noise that went in my ears and the words that reached my brain were drastically different.

    "...Nice to meet you... Lady Luck?"

    As soon as I said it She smiled. I felt a weird feeling of thrill and regret... It was a lot like that sensation of laughing and crying at the same time.

    Oh You Are Special, Not Many Can Recognize My Nature As Easily As You Seem To; Fewer Still Manage To Stay As Sane As You Are. Yes, You May Call Me That, But I Would Like To Hear Your Reasons Why You Chose That Name?

    "Well, it seemed to fit..."

    Ha! Good Intuition, My Actions Are Frequently Called Such By Mortals, But You Really Do Have A Resilient Mind As Well As Strong Instincts... It Seems I Got Quite The Haul This Time Round.

    Seeing Her reaching for me I couldn''t help but want to escape, but that was impossible in my current body. Her slender delicate hand approached like the strike of a venomous serpent but picked me up with the tenderness of a reuniting lover. Then, with a dismissive wave of the other hand She spilled the other marbles to the floor without touching them.

    The marbles were whisked off the table from the motion that was as sudden as an early frost that kills and delicate as a kiss. My former tablemates hit the floor and shattered with musical soundsand glittering sparkles. It would have been been beautiful if it wasn''t making me feel nauseated in the pit of my hypothetical stomach. Wisps of light rose from evaporating glass and disappeared; the lights didn''t appear to evaporate or dissipate, rather they seemed to drift elsewhere.

    "Uh, what did they do to deserve that?"

    They Didn''t Pass Muster, So To Speak. So I Sent Them Back Into The Cycle Of Reincarnation.

    "But you didn''t even talk to them..."

    I Did.

    "When?"

    The Same Time I Was Talking To You.

    "Oh... So they were the unlucky ones I guess?" please please please PLEASE let me be the lucky one.

    Not Necessarily.

    Shit!

 Chapter Two: The odds must be crazy part 2

    One of the two scariest things about asking a question is getting the answer, the other scariest thing is not getting the answer.

    "umm, what do you want of me?"

    Entertainment.

    Okay nevermind, both at once is the absolute scariest.

    Now Let''s Get Started...

    She turned and stepped into another room, and by that I mean she took on step and we were in another room, as if there was no need for the concept of distance.

    ¡°Earlier you said that the others didn¡¯t meet your requirements... what are your requirements?¡± Be more polite you idiot! you are a fragile glass ball in the hands of a reality warping anthropomorphic manifestation of chaos! ¡°...if I may ask?¡±

    You May.

    whew!

    For Starters You Must Have Died By Being Hit By A Truck.

    ¡°what.¡±

    Standard Operating Procedure.

    ¡°riiiight, and the rest?¡±

    Well The Second Would Be Having Unfulfilled Potential. You Passed With Flying Colors There.

    oooh! that sounds promising!

    After All, You Really Didn¡¯t Do Anything With Your Life.

    ¡°...¡±

    Third Would Be Never Having Truly Loved Anyone Or Having Had Someone Truly Love You, That Way You Aren¡¯t Tied To Your Previous World.

    Please stop. I¡¯m going to cry.

    And Fourth Would Be A Sense Of Mischief¡­

    yeah?

    That Is To Say: A Chaos Attracting, Fly In The Ointment Sort Of Personality That Takes Pleasure In Messing With Other People.

    ...Wow okay this all seems unnecessarily hurtful. I¡¯m not sure I want to hear the rest.

    And The Last Requirement Would Be That I Can Get Amusement From You, The More The Better.

    Aaand we''ve come full circle. Awesome. I really don¡¯t like the way she smiles when saying that. Where are we now anyways? It seemed while we were talking I had ignored our new surroundings. This room wasn¡¯t that different than the one we just left, but there were two massive differences. The first was the size: the room I left had been the size of your average dining room, but this one could hold your average sports stadium. This place is BIG. the second, well¡­

    ¡°What is that thing?¡±

    Like It? I Call It The Chaos Engine.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ something alright.¡±

    This massive monstrosity that took up three quarters of the room seemed to be a clock, a rube goldberg machine and a casino all in one. It was one great interconnected device made out of roulette wheels, slot machines, pachinko games, you name it there was at least one stuffed in there. There was even a¡­ Is that a chicken poop bingo cage? wow. No matter what it was this thing was quite complicated. Even so, it was hard to focus on anything while she was here. I have heard the phrase: sexy as hell, and boy was She qualified in any interpretation you can think of.

    ¡°What does it do?¡±

    Whatever I Want.

    It¡¯s really hard to get annoyed with someone this beautiful or someone this terrifying but boy is She making an effort at getting a rise from me.

    I Will Be Using This To Decide All The Important Stuff About Your Impending Reincarnation. It Will Help Me Decide The Where And What, So To Speak.

    ¡°So I could end up¡­¡±

    Anywhere.

    ¡°and be¡­¡±

    Anything.

    ¡°and this thing will decide that?¡±

    Technically I Decide, But I Always Enjoy Doing It With A Bit Of Style To Liven Things Up.

    ¡°So what happens if I¡¯m unlucky?¡±

    You Won¡¯t Be, That¡¯s My Brother¡¯s Territory, Here There Is Only Luck, Good Or Bad. To Be Unlucky Is To Be Without Luck, And That Is Just Boring. But, If It¡¯s Bad Luck You Meant Then Don¡¯t Worry.

    ¡°Really?¡±

    Of Course, After All Even If You Have Terrible Luck, It Should Still Be Entertaining, And If It Isn¡¯t I Can Easily Get Someone Else For Another Try, You Aren¡¯t The First You Know.

    Yup should¡¯ve guessed it would be like that, arg I am getting a headache and I don¡¯t even have a head anymore. She approached a small table in front of the Chaos Engine and reached for a the large red button in the middle of the table.

    Are You Ready To Begin?

    ¡°no.¡±

    She giggled in response, that giggle scared me. A lot.

    ¡°Just, could I get a drink first? I REALLY don¡¯t want to go through this sober.¡±

    Certainly, How Does Whiskey Sound?

    ¡°That sounds great thanks¡±

    *ploonk* I felt myself dropped in a glass of amber liquid. I floated in the small glass like an ice cube for a second while She smiled at me.

    ¡°...um¡±

    Yes?

    ¡°nevermind.¡±

    Do You Need Anything Else Before We Start? Like A Sandwich Or A Cigar?

    ¡°...no, I¡¯m good.¡±

    Her smile got a bit wider and she reached past me to tap the button. The Machine made all the noises of a busy casino, minus the people but plus one chicken, and a near invisible slit in front of the button whirred as it spat out a long note on the same paper used for receipts. I tried to float to the edge of my glass to get a better look but just kept bobbing helplessly. Aslender hand slid over me like a passing cloud and plucked the note from its slit.

    ¡°What¡¯s it say?¡±

    She looked away from the note and down at me and raised an eyebrow.

    I Already Told You, It Says What I Will Turn You Into And Where I Will Be Sending You.

    ¡°...¡±

    I would be more annoyed at Her if I wasn¡¯t so scared of Her. Her grin pierced through her air of innocent incomprehension and she looked back to the note with a quiet air of amusement. After a quick read Her eyes lit up and She folded the note into an origami swallow and tossed it to the side, I couldn¡¯t help but notice that it accelerated as it flew until disappeared with a small pop.

    Oooh! This Will Be A Fun One!

    ¡°Can You tell me what Are You turning me into and where am I going?¡±

    She gave me a small smile of approval, but it grew even wider as She gained the look of someone who knows you are going to hate the punchline.

    The World Is Called Gard, and You Are Going To Be Reborn As What The Locals Call ¡°Falx Phantasma¡± Or ¡°Tree monk.¡±

    That doesn¡¯t help me at all¡­ ¡°Could you describe it more clearly please?¡± She¡¯s just gonna toss me out to flounder, I just know it.

    Even Better, I¡¯ll Let You See It For Yourself.

    Yup, knew it. She plucked me from the whiskey with a finger and thumb and held me up to eye level.

    Any Last Words?

    I will never forget that smile. ...and I didn¡¯t, sometimes I saw it in my dreams.

    ...And I would wake up screaming.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    As the soul left the shallow parody of a universe it had been existing within all structure collapsed behind it. The room dissolved into mere ideas and concepts without ceremony, on the other hand the ¡°woman¡± expanded into a formless omnipresence instantaneously.

    An equally omnipresent existence met and joined with it, if joining could apply to the situation. The two existences didn¡¯t speak, perhaps because simply existing simultaneously was in fact a level of communication far beyond our simple verbal method. But if they did their conversation would sound like this:

    Is this all necessary?

    No More Than The Last Few Billion Times You Have Asked The Question.

    Then why?

    Because It¡¯s Fun.

    Please stop, everything will need to be rebalanced ...again.

    That Is What You Have Never Understood Little Brother...

 Chapter Three: Biting off more than I can chew

    I woke up in darkness with the vague sense of being smothered, I clawed and pushed out of the stifling covering and was greeted by bright light and the sounds of a forest. The air was refreshing and the sun was warm. It was hard to be optimistic with the kind of sendoff I had received but everything else was quite cheery. Normally I would welcome this sort of thing, but right now it felt like a morning personbeing obnoxiously chipper before I got my coffee.

    Alright, let¡¯s see what I look like. I look down at my body and see a pair of massive praying mantis claws, a quick wiggle confirms they are mine. By turning my head around, and I mean all the way around, I confirm the rest of me is similarly designed. After looking at my surroundings I also confirmed I was insect sized as well. It seems ¡°tree monk¡± is a smart**s name for praying mantis. I am a bug.

    Okay, this stinks.You have heard of waking up on the wrong side of the bed, right? That inexplicable feeling of knowing that the day is going to be terrible? I was born knowing things were going to suck, and thanks to this, I knew that it was completely warranted.

    I began to walk around on the funky styrofoam lump I had pulled myself out of. On the bright side moving seemed pretty instinctive, on the downside, I am a bug. The lump I was standing on was the size of a football, at least I think so, my sense of scale is a bit off from having been turned into a bug. It was attached to a branch well off the ground and the surroundings seemed fairly safe for now. On the other ...claw, I am a bug, so pretty much anything can eat me, and I hear plenty of birds and buzzing insects that were potential predators. Birdsong is less enchanting when it is coming from something that wants to devour you. Now I understand how Hopper from Bugs Life felt.

    flexing my arms experimentally I tried to remember everything I could about praying mantises..

    Okay first, it¡¯s mantids, mantises just sounds stupid. let¡¯s see, I know they fly, they use camouflage, eat anything they can catch, Oh yeah and aren¡¯t they cannibals?

    *swish* yikes!

    It¡¯s really awesome that my new body can detect air currents, otherwise I would have gotten it shredded by my sibling. I ducked forward and turned to face it while backing away, my familicidal sibling tottered unsteadily after me arms waving aggressively. Oh you want a piece of this? bring it on! I was not in the mood for this and jumped forward, snagging it in my arms, lifting and squeezing. It writhed fiercely but I began chomping away and in a moment it stopped struggling. Ha! that¡¯s what you get. I was still chewing for a while before I realized I had nearly finished eating him. evidently my instincts are stronger than I thought, or I am just that hungry. Either way this fellow is surprisingly tasty, and as I eat I feel stronger with each bite.

    Out of the corner of my eye I see another baby mantis push up and approach the nearest source of food, which just so happens to be me. Ah well, eat or be eaten I guess. I am willing to fight, after all if I don¡¯t I¡¯ll just get chased, plus I¡¯m still hungry. a quick grab and some well placed bites and I was on to my second serving. As I ate baby mantis number two I paid more attention to the feeling of nourishment. Yup, eating these definitely makes me stronger, I don¡¯t seem to be getting full either, and I just ate twice my bodyweight. I was so busy puzzling through this that it took me a while to notice that more and more baby mantids were hatching¡­

    ¡°Seriously you lot, wait your turn!¡±

    *Munch* *crunch*

    ¡°No! back off!¡±

    *whff* *crack*

    ¡°WHY ARE YOU ALL CHASING ME!?¡±

    One long fight later and I am standing alone among the twitching remains of my homicidal siblings. at first it had been hard going, I was forced to kite them and use them as meat shields, but as I took bites to deliver the coup de grace I got stronger, faster and bigger. Soon I was twice the size I used to be and could kill them with just my claws, it got a lot easier after that. Bythe end all that remained was a ton of bodies piled atop the weird egg sack thing, and somehow I am still hungry. Ah well, waste not want not.

    *munch munch munch*

    I¡¯m not sure how this power up thing is working, I must have eaten about a hundred of thebodies and I only grew three times my original size. What''s more there is still about half of them left.Grabbing a decapitated mantis in one claw and munching absentmindedly I began to take a closer look at my body. How did I manage to fight with this body anyway?

    My claws were spiked monstrosities only metaphorically similar to human arms. Plus I was working with an extra set of legs but I still somehow managed to move and fight effectively. Whether it was instincts or nerve ganglia or some other reason I could only guess. Still, I wasn¡¯t complaining. I tried stretching this way and that, my body seemed harder but more flexible than it was before.

    Ah wait, didn¡¯t Dave keep praying mantids? It wouldn¡¯t surprise me, he would keep anything in his house if it had too many legs and was creepy enough. He was a great guy even if his hobby was a bit odd, the rest of us avoided his house just because of the sheer number of creepy crawlies he raised. The unbelievableamount he kept actually made his house smell, although he managed to avoid getting the stink on his clothes.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

    Frankly I was regretting avoiding his house, I could only make do with what I remembered of the facts that he would spout when you got him drunk. I don¡¯t know how many girlfriends he lost because of that hobby but at least the trivia might help me now.

    I was almost done with my meal, maybe a little more than a dozen were left. Picking up one of the mostly whole bodies to use as a comparison I realized I was a little more than four times bigger. Looking closer I realized that not only was I not any fatter than before, but other than size I was no different from my former siblings. I was kinda bummed, it seemed that mantis nymphs only had wing buds, so I wasn¡¯t going to be flying for a while.

    Despite retaining my nymph body, I was now big enough to snip my food into bite size chunks fairly easily. Wait a second, My arms are spiked; they don¡¯t have edges to cut with, so how am I doing this?

    Raising my left arm I can definitely see that it now has a saw toothed blade instead of spikes. This surprised me because this was the first physical sign of change I had other than size. I held up the chunk of mantis I had in my other hand to compare its arm to mine and noticed something odd. Wait a second, my right arm is still spiky, why are my arms different? Dropping my meal I held the two claws up, as I watched my left claw seemed to shift, the sharp edges shifting back into the interlocking spines they originally had.

    It took a bit of experimentation but soon I figured out how to shapeshift my arms, they retained the same basic structure, so hands seemed impossible for now, but I could give them blade edges, spikes, barbed spines, even straighten out the end into a pointed spear. I could even change the color, or form stripes or dots at will.

    Okay, this is actually pretty cool, I wonder if I can do this with the rest of my body? Spinning my head around I pictured spikes emerging from my back and, sure enough, like magic I had little spines popping out of my body. Completely transforming my shape isn¡¯t possible, but with this my offense and defense are pretty good, not to mention using this for mimicking my surroundings. I guess this settles it, I am not an actual praying mantis¡­

    ¡­Tree monk is still a stupid name.

    For the first time since I was reborn I was in a good mood. I had finished my meal and discovered my body¡¯s capabilities to some extent. As it turns out, even though I am a bug I¡¯m a pretty awesome one.

    I think it''s time to explore, so I¡¯d better give myself some camouflage. flattening my body to hide my shadow, roughening my skin and giving myself the color of bark, I climbed off the egg sack and held myself close to the branch it was attached to. Yeah this looks about right. Being able to turn my head one hundred eighty degrees meant I could check my impromptu disguise quite effectively.

    I had three major goals: stay alive, find people and get stronger. my first and last goal were made a bit complicated due to Lady Luck¡¯s influence, I was pretty sure that the reason all the hatching mantis nymphs attacked me instead of fighting each otherwas due to her interference. On the other hand I had gained some nice benefits so I couldn¡¯t really complain ...much. Either way I could expect little surprises like this fairly frequently, so I could only make the most of my circumstances.

    I do remember Her mentioning people, so I had high hopes of finding them, but low hopes of interacting with them on a meaningful level. I am a bug after all.

    As I scuttled along the branch I tried to find a decent vantage point to view my surroundings. I will say this; bug legs are the best for climbing, even crawling upside down is easy as pie. I soon reached one broken branch that stuck out farther than its neighbors and clung to the end. For the first time a got a decent look at the world I was reborn into.

    It was breathtaking. The trees were all massive skyscrapers and from my tiny perspective, each one was an entire world. Each one was buzzing with life, literally. Thousands of insects crawled or flew about, each going about it¡¯s business. there were hundreds of birds as well, all bigger than me, flitting from branch to branch while singing, each one trying to drown out the rest.

    The strangest thing that stuck out to me was the bees. There must have been millions, if not billions. Most of the trees I could see had either flowers or fruit, and each was attended by a massive swarm of bees. If that wasn¡¯t enough they seemed to be much larger than normal bees, at least I think they were, it was hard to tell with my new size. Of course they could be tiny and it wouldn¡¯t matter with the numbers they had. The world literally thrummed with the sound of them buzzing about.

    ...yup, this is hell. It¡¯s quite pretty though

    Oh well, time to find something to eat. I really wanted to see how big this power up ability I had would let me get. Although being kaiju size would get a bit awkward I should at least get big enough that I wouldn¡¯t have to worry about being bird food.

    One thing I did know, I was NOT going to try to hunt the bees. Hunting something that is bigger than me and has a poisonous sting is one thing, but I wasn¡¯t about to fight a million at once.

    I made my way back towards the trunk of the tree, keeping an eye out for a suitable victim or a good spot to ambush. I toyed with the idea of staking out a flower or some fruit, but the flowers seemed to be monopolized by the bees and there wasn¡¯t any fruit on this particular tree that I could see. As I got closer to the center a large beetle came into view. Yes, you¡¯ll be perfect.

    I admit it was a lot bigger than me, it looked a bit like a rhinoceros beetle but from my perspective it was the size of an elephant. It¡¯s not the size of the bug in the fight, it¡¯s the size of the fight in the bug. You will be a feast.

    Conveniently, the big fella had his back to me, he was also dull and slow looking, this was going to be easy as pie and also as delicious. I wasn¡¯t in the mood to play fair so I approached quietly from behind. One good stab through the head oughta do it.

    As I got close enough I matched the beetle¡¯s slow, trundling walk. When I was ready I made a leap, landing in the middle of his back. When I landed the beetle reacted and began bucking but I was already prepared, treating his head like the target for a carnival strongman game.

    I swung my arms down as hard as I could with my sharpened claws like twin pickaxes.

    You¡¯re mine!

    *Ktink*

    ¡°huh?¡±

    My claws bounced off.

    My claws bounced off!

    The numb stinging in my claws was the only result of my full power swing to the back of his head. I didn¡¯t even leave a mark.

    While I was standing on top of his back looking like an idiot the beetle wasn¡¯t idling around, he jerked suddenly, bucking me off. Spinning around he aimed his curved horn in my direction and crouched low.

    ¡°Uh, hey this isn¡¯t what it looks like¡­¡±

    He wasn¡¯t in the mood to listen. He was also surprisingly fast.

    *SPAK*

    First thing I felt was the horn slamming into my torso like an almighty hammer, then with a jerk upwards he fired me off into the distance like a cannonball.

    *pak*

    *pak*

    *pak*

    I flew so fast that I shot through the leaves in the way. I¡¯m pretty sure I left my silhouette as holes in some of the leaves, cartoon style. The rhinoceros beetle knocked me clear out of the tree we were in, and I fell to the forest floor.

    Working wings would be great right about now.

 Chapter Four: I stress eat, but I also relax eat as well.

    ¡°ow.¡±

    Hubris, thy name is mantis.

    Right now I was lying on my back in a pile of dead leaves feeling very, very stupid. Just because I could beat up newborns of my own species doesn¡¯t mean I can take on beetles the size of monster trucks, even if they were only that large relatively speaking. Even ifI have crazy magic morphing powers I¡¯m not necessarily stronger than other things. I got cocky, simple as that.

    My thorax was cracked, It had an ugly crater of shattered exoskeleton right in the center. I really didn¡¯t want to take a hit like that again. I flipped onto my feet and stretched experimentally. Yup, that smarts. I was lucky I had a hard shell and light body, otherwise I would have pancaked on the forest floor.

    There was no way I was going to walk around with a boss monster style weak point, I needed to get this covered up fast. I tried using my shifting powers to seal the cracks, pushing the edges together and sealing them.

    *crick crick*

    The crack was quick to respond, pulling together into a raised scar on my armor, with a little mental welding I fixed it as best I could. It hurt quite a bit, but I preferred the pain to living with a hole in my chest. After mentally relaxing, I saw the fix was holding up fine, leaving me with a wicked looking scar.

    Eh, I suppose that¡¯ll have to do. I glared up at the tree. I definitely would remember this, I wasn¡¯t going to underestimate my enemy again. I am a bug, but I was going to be the king of beasts. By hook or by crook, I would dominate this forest and everything in it.

    As I made my resolution a towering elk walked by. the sweeping rack of antlers were a dark golden amber covered in points and it¡¯s thick fur was a rich chocolate brown. deep eyes surveyed the land as it stepped over me. I didn¡¯t even come halfway up its hoof.

    ...King of insects, yup that¡¯s what I meant.

    As the hooves of the elk swept overhead and came down it disturbed the fallen leaves, what caught my attention is that one part of the leaf litter moved before the hoof came down. Not moving to match the breeze, the leaf looked quite peculiar. I moved slowly to approach it and when I drew near I recognized it.

    It¡¯s a cockroach¡­ On the one claw I was even hungrier after fixing up my gaping chest wound¡­ On the other, eating a cockroach isn¡¯t exactly an appetizing proposition.

    Oh well, beggars can¡¯t be choosers. I had to eat something after all. When I got close enough I used the same move I had tried on the beetle.

    *splitch*

    ¡°Okay that worked much better.¡±

    It worked perfectly in fact, the roach was skewered with ease and my claws actually shoved through to the other side. I began eating right away. I wonder why I¡¯m not more squeamish about this whole business? Right away I noticed that the ache I had in my thorax disappeared, I hadn¡¯t noticed it was there till it was gone. The scar was still there but it looked less nasty and puckered, it was more of a discoloration now. The mark looked a bit like a face. Not much though.

    I decided to keep hunting these roaches. They were a lot easier to kill and more importantly, now that I knew what to look for, there were quite a few to be found. Of course hunting in the leaf litter meant I would need a costume change. It looks like this year¡¯s fashion is dead leaves. I could hide the scar as well which was good, I had been worried about that.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    Now that I was literally dressed to kill it was time to start hunting. I was going to eat everything I could.

    and I did.

    Roaches? Eaten.

    Grubs? Eaten.

    Millipedes? Eaten.

    Earthworms? Eaten.

    Ground beetles? Eaten.

    Spiders? Eaten.

    Cicadas? Eaten.

    Crickets? Eaten.

    Woodlice? Eaten.

    Centipedes? Eaten.

    Harvestmen? Eaten.

    Weevils? Eaten.

    Scorpions? Eaten.

    By the time the sun set I had eaten innumerable amounts of creatures. I devoured everything I could catch, Scouring the forest floor for anything that moved. I don¡¯t have a clue where all the mass went, I didn¡¯t grow nearly enough to account for the endless swarm I had consumed. That isn¡¯t to say I hadn¡¯t grown, in fact I had even grown big enough to eat the occasional rodent that I saw scurrying by.

    With the massive numbers I had eaten I was much larger than before and more experienced in hunting. I was playing it safe, trying not to get spotted by anything bigger than me, but even so I had improved my skills and could find and catch food much quicker and more subtly.

    The strangest thing was I would occasionally eat an insect that was obviously not the same as the others of it¡¯s species, possessing some strange trait that made it unique. there was one cricket covered in spikes. They didn¡¯t do much to stop me killing him although it made eating the prickly fellow a bit awkward. I nearly lost a leg to an armored ground beetle with extra large bolt cutter jaws. Piercing and removing its shell took quite a long time but it was extra satisfying.

    There were also plenty of species that I couldn¡¯t identify. I wasn¡¯t sure whether it was because they didn¡¯t exist on earth or I simply didn¡¯t know about them.

    Pausing in my slaughter I took in the view of the forest, it looked quite different at night. the moonlight gave the woods an ethereal air. The creatures of the day went to sleep and the night awoke. the omnipresent sound of buzzing bees and birdsong was replaced with crickets, frogs and owls. bats fluttered overhead and moths replaced the bees in tending the flowers.

    Well, I can still see and I¡¯m not full yet so¡­ let¡¯s keep going. I was going to have to look for bigger food though. The bugs I had been eating recently were no longer much of a meal. Let¡¯s try bat for a change.

    I changed my camouflage once again, returning to the tree bark look, and made my way up a tree with a decent number of flowers. The way I see it, the flowers will attract moths and the moths will attract bats. I suppose the bats are attracting me. I better be careful that I don¡¯t attract anything.

    I ran up the tree and selected a branch halfway to the top. clinging to the end I stuck out in the middle of the air and waited for a bat to pass by. My arms were shifted for grabbing, I covered them in barbed spines. with my new size I had adecent reach, I was fairly confident in my lone branch impression as well.

    The space between the trees was relatively narrow, Still it let the moonlight through and left plenty of room for flyers. However in certain spots there were natural choke points where anything big enough flying would have to pass through. I had picked one of these for my ambushes. This particular checkpoint would have a pretty hefty toll.

    The result? An endless buffet. I would wait for one to fly by, snag it, bring it back into the shelter of the leaves, eat and repeat. This was much faster than eating little bugs. Of course if I had tried this a couple hours ago I would have become the meal rather than the other way round.

    A dinner in the moonlight is quite nice once in awhile.

    I do have to say, real meat is so much better than insects. Even uncooked it tastes pretty amazing, not to say I would turn down cooked meat. My body seems to have a different sense of taste, it¡¯s probably the reason I could stomach all the things I¡¯ve eaten up till now. I even find myself enjoying the texture of raw flesh and the crunch of bone or exoskeleton.

    I wonder if I¡¯m carnivorous now? I never did think much of veggies so it¡¯s no real big loss.

    Good food is justice.

    I got into a rhythm again and ate all night. I was really being a glutton here, but it¡¯s for the sake of strengthening myself so don¡¯t judge me. No matter how much I eat I¡¯m not getting fat. But it¡¯s not like I was that chubby as a human...

    I mean, I was a bit thickset but not that bad¡­

    ...well anyway, I wonder what I should eat next? I¡¯ve gotten a bit bigger than the bats I¡¯ve been eating.

    Bigger not fatter.

    Stop looking at me like that.

 Chapter Five: Clothes make the man

    It has been a week, a whole week of hunting anything remotely my size, a week of eating almost constantly. I didn¡¯t even sleep, and for some reason I¡¯m not tired at all. I just hunted anything I thought I could catch easily.

    It seems eating anything I want isn¡¯t quite as effective at letting me grow, I need something about a third my size or more for maximum growth and anything less than a sixth doesn¡¯t give any noticeable benefits. This didn¡¯t bother me too much as the forest was filled with creatures of all sizes, if I was to big to eat mice and frogs I could eat voles and sparrows, if they became too small I could eat doves and rabbits, if they became too small I could eat wild turkey and so on.

    Right now, I was the size of a medium large dog. and I had run into a problem. I had stopped growing. More than that I had a feeling I hadn¡¯t had since I was reborn; I was full. This was a little disappointing but also reassuring. I did want to grow bigger, but on the other hand growing without stopping might get out of hand pretty quick. I would prefer to be human sized, rather than eventually turning into Kamacuras. Of course that only applies if I need to eat to survive as well as to grow, I don¡¯t have a clue how this whole business works so I¡¯m not sure what I really want.

    No matter the reason for my lack of growth, I¡¯m not going to worry too much. I¡¯m taking this opportunity to explore, I¡¯m fast enough to escape from anything still big enough to eat me and I won¡¯t be getting bigger any time soon. If I can find a sign of people that would be great. To find people I am going to need to locate a road or a river to follow.

    The forest was fairly thick, the kind of density you get from trees that never saw a lumberjack in their incredibly longlives. The trees were absurdly large, and they were spaced quite tight together. Most of the ground was covered in bushes and briars. The only real standing room for anything human sized was the game trails; meandering paths seemingly too narrow for the animals that used them. I could have taken one of these but I decided to take the high road.

    The great thing about these oversized trees is that the branches were thick and intertwined, even a full grown man could use them as a road if he wanted. Since I was much lighter and smaller I could travel at a decent run, and I was a very fast runner. I picked on direction and started scurrying off.

    I was running

    and running

    and running

    and running.

    This forest is massive. I heard the term ¡°sea of trees¡± but never considered it too much. as far as I could tell I was at least as fast as any of the birds I saw, which probably put me at the speed of a decent car driving at city speeds. I was also pretty sure I was running straight. Even so, I did not see anything but trees and bees, along with the occasional animals.

    It was afternoon before I paused for a breather, I had no clue whether I made any progress at all. At least it seemed I had some serious stamina, running for hours without tiring is pretty awesome. Running for hours for no good reason is not. Frankly I was wondering whether Lady Luck dropped me off in the middle of nowhere just to watch me flounder.

    There was no sign of any people whatsoever, just trees and animals. like that little spotted deer grazing down there.

    *ssshhPLCH*

    The deer that was just shot with an arrow. Sorry for doubting you Lady Luck.

    I immediately go still, I haven¡¯t forgotten the fact that I am a horrible bug monster and I doubt that whoever was out hunting is going to wait to experience my charming personality. I watched a man emerge from a hunter¡¯s blind nearby and considered my options.

    The man was short and lean, dressed in the subdued colors you could expect from a hunter, he had a simple trousers and tunic. His shoes were practical, heavy boots and his pack was simple but well kitted out. His only concession to fashion was a hat. Well, not fashion exactly...

    The hat was a surprisingly elaborate affair that reminded me of the hats decked out with hooks that fishermen seemed to love; it was dotted with simple objects like a miniature flint and tinder, a small knife, some fishhooks and a roll of string. I had never seen a hat with pockets before. On the other hand also seemed a lot like the hats worn by old ladies at churches in the old days; an overly elaborate affair of feathers and flowers. It even had some wax cherries on it.

    I wonder if he lost a bet or something.

    Ridiculous hat aside, he seemed to know what he was doing. The deer had died instantly, I suspect he had nailed it in the heart. He unstrung his bow, put it away and was down the tree quite quickly. He didn¡¯t wait around and immediately pulled out a long knife and began dressing the animal. This guy was obviously competent.

    If I wanted to enter a town without getting attacked then I would need to figure something out fast.

    I could use my camouflage abilities, but as awesome as they were they had limits. Disguises were out of the question, I was the wrong size and shape after all. I didn¡¯t even have a buddy to try the old trenchcoat and fedora trick. Well, I also don¡¯t have a trenchcoat or a fedora. I also couldn¡¯t just pretend to be a normal ¡°tree monk¡± at this size. I had seen a couple adults over the last few days; the biggest were just a bit larger than a human hand. I on the other hand came up to an adult man¡¯s waist. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    It was a pity I had been growing so much, I was a lot safer than I had been but also was pretty abnormal. My shapeshifting abilities had also gotten stronger but seemed to be limited to my original body type; I could add spikes, bumps or edges but not extra joints, I could put small bends in my limbs but not add or remove any. I was stuck with my original appendages.

    My powers are minor shape changing, freely changing my bodies¡¯ color, gaining strength, size, speed and toughness from eating prey close to my size and somehow not becoming massively fat and heavy from eating many times my bodyweight. The last one seemed to defy physics the most, I ought to be a couple times bigger and heavier than I am now.

    ¡­?

    Wait a second...

    I wonder if I could control it?

    First I checked to make sure my hunter friend was busy with his kill, then I slid behind a tree so he wouldn¡¯t see. Raising a claw I focused on it willing it to shrink. Over the past few days I had gotten quite good at shifting my body into various shapes; I had freely turned green and leafy, rough and bark-like, stringy and branch-like or brown and drab. I had grown spikes, barbed spines, sharp blades, toothy saws and blunt hammer lumps. This would be a new one.

    I willed my upraised claw to shrink, compress into a smaller version of itself. At first nothing happened, then slowly it began to shrink down. I was overjoyed, I quickly began shifting my whole body down. It took quite a while before I finished. I was now the size of a normal adult tree monk. I may still be a nymph, I still don¡¯t have wings like the adults, but there is nothing I can do about that.

    Now for the moment of truth. If I was still as heavy as I was full size then this whole thing was pointless. There was no way people would find a sixty pound insect normal, whether the size matched or not. I climbed out on a branch and worked my way down to the thinner portion.

    It worked! I was light as a normal bug. Now I could tag along with the hunter to where he lived, from there I would find civilization, and then I could find books to tell me what I wanted to know about me and this world. Socializing would have to wait until I found out how to deal with¡­ all of this.

    Just in time too. The hunter had finished dressing the deer, he had tied the carcass to a frame of trimmed branches tied together with twine. Slipping the leftover twine into his hat he stood up and put his pack on, hooked to the pack was the frame holding the deer. The hunter was surprisingly strong, the deer hadn¡¯t been too big, and was even lighter after it had been cleaned, but the hunter didn¡¯t seem to be too burdened by the weight of the deer and the backpack.

    I ran down the tree and climbed out onto a branch directly above him. when he straightened up I dropped directly onto his hat and sat in the middle. I was between a pair of long feathers and poked out the front like a hood ornament. He didn¡¯t seem to notice so I settled down to enjoy the ride.

    Alright! off we go!

    He wasn¡¯t too fast, at least compared to me, but the fact that he could manage a jogging run is pretty impressive. Even more impressive was the fact that he was relaxed enough to whistle as he ran. I wonder whether people here have special powers too? Or is this guy just that much of a badass?

    I checked the position of the sun as it peeked through the trees, there was about four hours till sunset. I don¡¯t know whether he would reach wherever he was headed to before then but if he didn¡¯t then he would have to make camp. I hope his house is close.

    ...

    ...Are we there yet?

    It¡¯s almost sunset and he hasn¡¯t stopped yet. It had taken me awhile to realise the reason he was whistling; he was alerting animals nearby of his presence. Thanks to this, we encountered no bears or wolves who were naturally cautious in regards to the unknown sound. I wasn¡¯t sure whether it would guarantee we wouldn¡¯t get attacked. But he seemed quite alert, so I wasn¡¯t too worried.

    As for me, I was passing the time playing with my color scheme. I had discovered I could control my level of shininess as well as the colors. I came up with a design I am now calling my ¡°game face¡± for fighting and intimidation. Glistening black and grey, I covered myself in evil looking spikes and ridges. I also added red highlights and altered the face shaped scar on my chest into a devilish grinning silhouette for extra style points. A little tweaking here and there and I looked positively ominous. I was a tiny evil overlord. This maybe a bit to edgelord for normal everyday wear but I kinda like it.

    Mentally undoing it, I decided to go for fancy this time. I figured out how to give myself metallic colors and turned myself gold and silver. I even gave my head and the face scar little crowns, and my eyes were changed to a jewellike blue. It took a little tweaking as well but I managed to make myself look like walking jewelry; I appeared to be an insect fashioned out of precious metals. with sapphires for eyes.

    Other people can wear bling but I am bling!

    As I finished my fancy look I happened to glance up, the hunter had shifted his pace suddenly, I came alert but he had seemed to relax. I don¡¯t see anything, why did he slow down? Suddenly, he pushed through some bushes and exited the woods. If I hadn¡¯t been riding someone who knew this clearing was here I never would have found it.

    We had reached the edge of the woods and a couple hundred yards off was a wooden wall with particularly tall trees towering out from behind.

    What was really special about the trees were the houses built into the branches.

    Okay... this is just cool.

    The hunter walked up to the gate and the guards let him in with without a fuss. I kept dead still, I figured his hat was ridiculous enough that they wouldn¡¯t bat an eye at me sitting on it. As we passed through the gates I got a good look at the town we just entered; it was beautiful.

    The trees were oak-like, except they were the size of the redwood trees in Sequoia National Park, there were small buildings that looked like houses built on and even into the trees with rope bridges strung from one to the next. At the base of the trees were larger buildings, they looked like shops and inns, with one that looked like a school or a library. In the distance I saw an immense stone bridge spanning an incredibly wide river that divided the city in half. the streets were paved but there were plenty of lawns and gardens giving the city a fantasy-like, picturesque feel.

    ¡°Hey Anthus!¡± (???)

    The hunter, who I presume is Anthus, turned his head. looking towards a beautiful woman waving at him. She had a schoolteacher¡¯s outfit on and filled it out quite nicely. Her long blonde hair was tied in a simple ponytail that exposed her pointed ears.

    ¡­

    She¡¯s an elf!

    ¡°Oh hey Mellina¡± (Anthus)

    Elves are real here!

    ¡°When did you get back?¡± (Mellina)

    ¡°Just now, I was going to drop off this here at Lawrence''s, he said he wanted one as fast as possible.¡± (Anthus)

    Anthus twisted to show the deer carcass and I had to remember not to move.

    ¡°He¡¯s gonna need it, a ton of visitors arrived recently, and Martha has been pretty busy, she wants your help. she told me to send you over as soon as I saw you ¡°minus the stupid hat.¡± you should hurry, you know how she gets.¡± (Mellina)

    ¡°My hat isn¡¯t stupid.¡± (Anthus)

    Actually dude, it kinda is.

    ¡°You keep adding stuff too it all the time, it looks more ridiculous everyday. Where did you even find that golden tree monk ornament anyway?¡± (Mellina)

    Oh s**t I forgot to turn back!

 Chapter Six: School is a different place when there arent any students

    I am an idiot. I had changed my color scheme around while the hunter was travelling in the forest. I had been bored and there hadn¡¯t been anyone watching. Of course, as soon as we arrived at the town I had completely forgotten that I had turned myself into living bling. Now I was super suspicious looking.

    ¡°It¡¯s quite pretty¡± (Mellina)

    The two of them were looming over the hat Anthus was holding, staring at me. I was a bit intimidated even though I knew I could probably change size and escape. Though I was surprised to find out, Anthus was an elf as well, the hat had just hidden his ears.

    ¡°I have no idea where I got it from, honest.¡± (Anthus)

    I wasn¡¯t sure what to do, if I ran I would let them know I was alive, that would make staying under the radar a lot harder. If I stayed still they might assume I was an object, then if I slipped away they would just assume someone stole me and I could move about in peace. Of course my scheming was ruined when Anthus reached for me I flinched backwards.

    ¡°it¡¯s alive!¡± (Mellina)

    ...oops

    ¡°Is it a mythic beast? I¡¯ve never heard of one looking like a tree monk.¡± (Anthus)

    ¡°No, it¡¯s a mutant beast, I¡¯ve never seen one this beautiful.¡±

    Okay, I don¡¯t have a clue what they are talking about.

    ¡°Can I borrow it for my class? It would be perfect to help teach the students about magic beasts, I have one of Brokkr¡¯s kodo beetles but this would be helpful as well.¡± (Mellina)

    She IS a teacher, yay! knowledge! If I can go with her then listen in on the classes and read the books I will probably learn the answers to all my questions. If kid me knew I was this excited about school he would probably think I was crazy.

    ¡°Eh, you can have it, it¡¯s no use for me. I don''t think it''s dangerous, otherwise I wouldn''t have made it here alive.¡± (Anthus)

    Perfect. Anthus handed the hat over and reached behind to untie a small wire cage trap from his backpack. He lowered it over the hat and tried to scrape me into it. I cooperated, after all, I understood the concept of latches and levers; I would be able to leave any time I wanted.

    ¡°It¡¯s pretty docile isn¡¯t it?¡± (Mellina)

    ¡°Yeah, listen I gotta go, Lawrence gets fussy if I take too long with the ingredients. Even if he plans on aging the meat anyway.¡± (Anthus)

    Mellina took the cage and put it under her arm, giving me a nice view of the ...surrounding scenery. She waved at Anthus and walked off towards one of the larger buildings on this side of the river. The building was solid brickwork; it was connected to a tree, with a spiraling staircase climb the tree like a creeper. The front had the words Honeywood Academy above the door.

    The sun was just starting to set, so when she entered the inside of the building was quite dark. That didn¡¯t matter to me of course, my night vision is spectacular. Still, hers didn¡¯t seem to be up to snuff. She pulled out a loop of strange looking string and used her hands to pull it into an oddly patterned shape between the fingers of one hand. Holding up the strange little creation she muttered some words and a ball of light rose from within the inner shape formed by the string and floated a few inches over her hand.

    Magic! real magic!

    As she took me down the halls I tried to focus on the surroundings and identify the rooms, but the magic was too distracting. It didn¡¯t seem to produce much heat, or the caster was somehow immune. In the end I didn¡¯t see any libraries or anything else important. Mellina brought me into a classroom and set me down on what I assumed was her desk. as she left the room the light cast strange shadows across the room.

    I waited for the light to disappear and listened to make sure she was gone. And when the cat¡¯s away¡­ I reached up and flicked open the hatch to my cage. The mantis will play.

    To my special eyes the light from a third quarter moon coming in the window was more than enough to see by. I hopped onto the desk and started searching for the boon of knowledge.

    Luckily for me there was a couple books already on the desk so my only lifting would be the cover and the pages. The first book seemed to be the one for tomorrow¡¯s lesson; it was titled Magical Beasts by Marco Polaris and had a picture of a lion, a peacock and a crocodile on the cover. When I looked closer I saw that each picture had some oddities; the lion had bat wings and a scorpion¡¯s tail, the peacock was bright red and sort of swan-like and the crocodile was elongated and a bit snake-like.

    I read carefully through the book; the main subject of the book was on the naturally occurring types of magical beast. It defined magical beasts as animals that use or develop magical abilities or properties. Pretty self explanatory...The book the further divided them into separate categories based on how they gained magic, this would be very useful for getting me stronger. Of course the first thing I looked for was anything on ¡°mutant beasts¡± to help me figure out what made me so special.

    What I found could be summarized as this; mutant beasts were normal animals that developed magic beyond natural levels. This in turn affected their body, changing it one way or another. Mutant beasts didn¡¯t have magical abilities, just abnormal bodies that often had unnatural amounts of strength or vitality. Looks like the schoolteacher assumed wrongly. I have a lot of power and seem to be pretty durable but I also have weird shape shifting powers.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    I kept reading. Mythic beasts were entire species of magic beasts, like the vermillion bird, flood dragon or manticore on the cover. These were the only creatures who had children with similar abilities. These didn¡¯t fit either since tree monks were pretty mundane; during my feeding frenzy I had eaten a couple adults and they couldn¡¯t even fight back.

    Spirit beasts were like the opposite of Mutant beasts, developing abnormal powers but retaining limited bodies. This would be more plausible but even considering my growth as a subset of my shapeshifting I was still a lot stronger and more durable than a normal insect.

    Guardian beasts were animals that became magical through a combination of age and power, they lived and were unrivalled in the area they lived for so long that it changed them somehow. This didn¡¯t apply either, I was too young and too weak, I had seen big badger things and tall elk and a lot of other animals that could easily wreck my s**t if they wanted.

    Eventually I came to a paragraph on king beasts. According to the book, so called king beasts were unique, powerful and incredibly mysterious. It was a nice long paragraph, and it used a lot of words to say that this Marco fellow had no clue about them beyond that.

    Well, it might be a bit egotistical of me to assume so but it looks like we have a winner. It also tells me nothing of use. What worries me most is that this seems pretty generous of Lady Luck, I¡¯m waiting for the bill, or at least the punchline.

    One of the other books on the desk was titled Cultivating Monsters by Archmagus Aristaeus and had a stylized picture of a three headed dog on the cover. Sweet they have Cerberus over here!. A quick look showed two major sections; strengthening magic beasts and creating artificial magic beasts.

    Just what the doctor ordered!

    According to the book, pursuing some sort of magical ability was relatively common. This becomes a problem when dealing with magical thieves and brigands. Not many people had the time or resources to develop magic abilities that counter those who specialize in combat or subterfuge. That¡¯s where training magic beasts comes in.

    For people with money, hiring trained guards is not a problem. However, obtaining or creating a magical guard dog allows people to deal more effectively with the sort of problems that criminals cause. Even more useful is the ability to give pack animals greater strength and stamina or make livestock that produce products with special properties. As it turns out around here steel wool isn¡¯t a metaphor. It is used as a cheap substitute for chainmail. The only difficulty lay in shearing the sheep.

    The book didn¡¯t give details on the process, instead it summarized types and gave a brief history of development and use. I¡¯ll admit I skipped over the bits about magic animal husbandry¡­ it¡¯s boring okay?

    The bits about using them for battle is interesting, I know we used elephants for wars back on earth but here they can be raised into living tanks. Now I want to watch Lord of the Rings. Oliphaunts are awesome. This was definitely important to know, I had gotten the impression that wizards and other magic users were pretty common, but now I had to worry about someone using a chimera as a guard animal(s).

    Another important fact I learned was the existence of beastmasters. As you might expect training a large magical animal is difficult. Obedience school isn¡¯t an option with magical tigers. To train ferocious beasts requires magical communication, and for that you need beastmasters who specialize in that sort of thing. According to the book they also were able to form contracts with beasts to create some sort of mutual relationship. I wasn¡¯t sure about this myself. the idea of someone gaining any sort of control over makes me nervous¡­

    Lady Luck doesn¡¯t count ...mostly because there is nothing I can do about it.

    *scritch scritch*

    Huh? Sounds like the teacher has left the ¡°kodo beetle¡± in here too. From what I read it ought to be a very weak mythic beast. Looking around I immediately spotted a simple birdcage with a branch placed upright in the middle. Also, inside scratching at the bars, was my nemesis.

    You¡­

    This beetle was bigger than the one that gave me the scar. Of course I was bigger now than I was then. Even if I didn¡¯t revert to full size I knew enough about fighting from about one hundred and sixty eight hours of killing and eating anything near my weight class. I also had the boosts to my physique that I had gained from mylittle storm of gluttony. Plus I had been thinking about my rematch, oh yes I had.

    Ah, but this isn¡¯t a wild one, this bug belongs to somebody and that teacher is borrowing it for something. The beetle was scratching at the bars forlornly, as I got closer I saw it was looking at the pot of honey set next to the cage. Examining the inside of the cage I saw that a section of the branch had been painted with something, presumably honey. It seemed that my new study buddy wasn¡¯t satisfied with the little stuff.

    Well, he isn¡¯t a threat to me, so it would probably be tasteless and petty to insist on killing him. I looked at him scrabbling at the bars. He really wants that honey though...

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Mellina POV:

    I got up in the morning in a fairly good mood; this lesson was going to be a good one. Most years I borrowed one of Brokkr¡¯s kodo beetles that he raised for making armor. This time I had a mutant beast as well. Having a mutant beast and a mythic beast as an example was perfect as an illustration of the differences between the types of magic beasts.

    Mutant beasts are rare as well. Anthus has always had a reputation for being able to get anything that exists in the forest but even he would have trouble finding one. And yet somehow an insect mutant beast decided to ride on that ridiculous hat of his all the way into town.

    As I walked down the stairs into the academyI wondered if it might be good to give the little golden bug to Mero Greenbul¡¯s sister. The Greenbul family had been the beekeepers of Honeywood city for time out of mind, they also were the most famous beastmasters on the continent. Singlehandedly routing a major countries¡¯ invading army will do that for one¡¯s reputation.

    I knew that a small, manageable magic beast would be great for little Astera¡¯s training. Plus it was shiny and pretty, which would attract a little girl and encourage her to try harder to befriend it.

    AsI entered the classroomI checked on my latest charge; the sunrise coming in the window made it glow within its cage. It was hard to imagine that this beautiful piece of jewelry was alive, but the way it cocked its head as I approached was evidence enough.

    Feeding it was easy enough; the cicadas were in season and in the morning it was too cold for them to move properly. I dropped one I had found on the tree into the cage where it struggled sluggishly.

    The mutant glanced at the cicada before it kept looking at me. Casually it speared the bug with a claw and began to eat while watching me. Don¡¯t tree monks have spikes on their arms? I wonder if this one lost them when it mutated¡­

    Since it was missing wings I had assumed it had been immature, but if that was also lost in the mutation then it was already adult. An animal that mutated while immature still had potential to grow more, unlike one mutated as an adult.

    The power of mutant beasts is completely unpredictable; the amount of power absorbed, the environment, the strength of the creature itself and the compatibility of the different factors all affect the end result. It was rare but sometimes a beast on the level of a natural disaster was born suddenly and wreaked chaos. The only positive note was that they lacked magic abilities and were unable to reproduce. Luckily for Honeywood forest this one looked beautiful but relatively harmless.

    Spirit beasts were even more unpredictable than mutant beasts, they often had truly strange powers. Even so, they were relatively easy to kill, at least compared to the unstoppable juggernaut that a mutant beast can be.

    By comparison, guardian beasts and mythic beasts were much more predictable. Guardian beasts gained power slowly and didn¡¯t turn up without warning or move much. As for mythic beasts, a flood dragon was a flood dragon, no one expected it to be weak. Even though these little kodo beetles were legendarily durable you didn¡¯t have to worry about one killing anybody, much less wiping out a city. The best they could do was give you a nasty bruise if you let them snap their horns at you.

    Speaking of, I had better feed it too.

    ¡­

    How did it get stuck on it¡¯s back and glued there with honey?

 Chapter Seven: Being liked is nice, but being wanted can be unpleasant

    The kids were filing in now, and the teacher was waiting behind me in the chair. I was pretty interested in the kids and they seemed interested in me as well. They obediently sat behind their desks but I could hear them talking to one another while glancing between me and Mellina.

    The majority of the seemed to be elves, aged somewhere between seven to maybe eleven years old. I lost the ability to gauge a kid¡¯s age accurately when I hit my twenties so I wasn¡¯t sure. Plus I didn¡¯t know if elves aged differently as well.

    there were twenty two of them, with only three lacking the pointed ears I had seen on most of the people I had met since arriving. None of them had anything like books or study materials and they dressed in simple clothes. As old fashioned as the setting was they chattered and generally behaved like normal kids. It made me feel better, as long as kids act like kids then the world can¡¯t be that different from my old one.

    I¡¯ll freely admit that I got maybe half the names that I heard when Mellina did the roll call, and none of them were familiar sounding. As far as I could tell, the names were derived from some sort of latin sounding language even though they spoke in english.

    At least I think they are speaking in english¡­

    I might just be getting whatever they are saying auto translated in my head. This makes more sense than a different world somehow developing the same language as my old one. Unless multiverse theory applies of course. Although I am not sure which bothers me more, the idea that Lady Luck tampered with my brain and/or soul like that or that she was apparently nice enough to give me such a convenient ability.

    Once roll call was over with the kodo beetle and I got our introductions. The lesson mostly consisted of things I had already read. Although having the kids ask questions helped deepen my understanding I didn¡¯t learn anything new and started to zone out until one kid raised his hand.

    ¡°Yes, Gent, what is it?¡± (Mellina)

    ¡°So, mutant beasts are like warriors?¡± (Gent)

    Hmm? Warriors?

    ¡°Not quite, Warriors have to train their abilities, while mutant beasts acquire them naturally. Some people have different constitutions that are similar to the effects of mutation, and the process of training as a warrior increases strength and toughness like that of mutation but otherwise it isn¡¯t the same.¡± (Mellina)

    ¡°Oh, so does that make mages like mythic beasts or spirit beasts?¡± (Mero)

    ¡°Spirit beasts, but again, while they are similar, they are not the same.¡± (Mellina)

    They kept talking for a while, asking various questions. After the questions dried up the teacher placed her hand on the cage I was occupying.

    ¡°For today¡¯s lesson we got quite lucky, yesterday Anthus brought in this little fellow. Also Brokkr lent the class a kodo beetle so make sure to thank them both alright?¡± (Mellina)

    The kids are nodding while at the edge of their seats, it was obvious that they had all been waiting for this part of the lesson. I¡¯ll have to be careful not to let it swell my ego. Miss Mellina stepped to the side and there was a quick stampede to the front of the desk.

    ¡°Wow¡± ¡°Cool!¡± ¡°It really is gold!¡± ¡°it¡¯s pretty¡±

    The kids were crowding exclusively around my cage, ignoring the the beetle in favor of looking at me. Haha take that stupid beetle! It was a weird feeling being complimented so thoroughly yet treated like a bug and a pet but I may as well learn to live with it for now. At the very least it¡¯s better than the way Lady Luck treats me like a toy.

    The teacher didn¡¯t let the kids open the cage even though some of them were quite good at puppy dog eyes. I suppose that means she still doesn¡¯t trust me or she is naturally more cautious when it comes to her student¡¯s safety. Normally I would think she was being silly, but we just spent a good hour establishing how dangerous unknown critters are. I certainly wasn¡¯t going to let my guard down around any animal I wasn¡¯t sure about; learning about a catoblepas and its poison breath and discovering a pig headed cow and finding out it has poison breath are two different things after all.

    After the students got enough of the gawking Mellina sent them back to their seats, the rest of the day turned out to be basic math and spelling. Thanks to earlier, the kids have gotten the curiosity out of their system so they could pay attention to the lesson.

    Of course I was even less interested in this lesson then the students were. So I think I¡¯m just gonna ignore them, unfortunately I am a literal captive audience. Guess I¡¯ll just sit here twiddling my ...claws.

    When the lesson was over Mellina called the kid named Mero over and had him wait till after everyone else headed home. He did so with the reluctance that any kid has when singled out by a teacher. Mellina seemed to ignore his reluctance and scribbled out a quick note. I didn¡¯t have a chance to read it before she sealed it and placed it atop my cage.

    ¡°Mero, I need you to bring this little fellow and this letter to your father. Also, tell your mother I said ¡®hi¡¯ for me okay?¡± (Mellina)

    The kid agreed and scuttled off, carrying my cage and the letter in his arms. It was afternoon so I got to go sightseeing as I was carried through Honeywood city. The city seemed to have two types of buildings: ground and tree.

    Most of the city was covered in beautiful gardens and massive trees. Almost every tree above a certain size had a brick building at its base. The real amazing buildings were the ones suspended in the branches. From what I could tell the stores and civic buildings were on the ground while people¡¯s homes were stuck in the trees like elaborate treehouses. Must be some cultural thing.

    The tree houses were made of light wood and weren¡¯t too big. The least populated trees had only a few but the more heavily developed ones reminded me of those sociable weaver nests in africa. It¡¯s neat alright, but I have to wonder about the plumbing¡­

    One thing that I had noticed was that the bees that had been omnipresent in the forest seemed to have made their homes here as well. They certainly helped the people¡¯s gardens but I couldn¡¯t help but wonder how wise it was to have nests of thumb sized honeybees outside their bedroom windows.

    I really can¡¯t help but think that this city was built for looks rather than practicality. I could be misunderstanding something; they might have some sort of solution for the problems of plumbing and avoiding getting stung to death by bees.

    We passed the only building I had seen that wasn¡¯t attached to some part of a tree. It seemed to be an inn. Tables in front of the building held a small crowd of people relaxing in the sun. This was the largest group of non elves I had seen since before I kissed a truck¡¯s front bumper. It was mostly humans, but there were a couple that were unmistakably dwarves and a couple that were firmly placed in the ¡®other¡¯ category.

    As Mero passed the inn I noticed that most of the people were merchant types. It made sense to me; you probably don¡¯t get much sightseeing in a medieval society. It¡¯s weird how a merchant is somehow recognizable even by me, they somehow have that sort of bearing I guess.

    The remainder seemed to be locals or craftsmen with three exceptions. At one of the tables near the edges was a group of two men and one woman dressed in merchant clothes, but somehow my instincts told me they weren¡¯t merchants. They were also staring waaaay more than I was comfortable with.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

    Most of the other people in front of the inn were watching either Mero or me, but they were mostly looking at the kid with a gold bug in a cage trap. Those three weren¡¯t looking with curiosity or appraising me from the perspective of a merchant or a craftsman, they were staring like predators. I wonder if they were bandits, that would explain why their clothes didn¡¯t seem to fit.

    Well, there¡¯s not much I can do right now, and I shouldn¡¯t make assumptions without proof anyways. I am a bug, not a policeman after all.

    No matter how nefarious those three actually were Mero passed the inn without incident. He crossed that lengthy bridge to the other side of town and headed for a particularly large and heavily developed tree.

    The buildings at the base of this tree were mostly stables and other buildings for holding and raising animals. The large asymmetrical buildings gave the feeling of having a tree growing from within the center. This was a bit different from the other trees in town which gave the feeling of having a building built at the base of the tree.

    I could smell or taste the scent of different animals with my antennae. One of the things that weirded me out about my body was the fact that it all came so naturally. Detecting things with antennae is crazy, it¡¯s tasting, smelling, hearing, touching and even feeling air currents, all in one great amalgam of sensation. Somehow I managed it with ease, like I had been at it my whole life.

    Well, I guess if we¡¯re going to get technical about it¡­

    Mantis super senses aside, Mero was headed towards a veritable zoo of critters. I have a bad feeling about this¡­

    The kid carried me through a bunch of winding hallways and up a couple flights of stairs. He was greeted by a couple elves in hard wearing worker¡¯s clothes and one dressed up in a stereotypical butler¡¯s uniform. We soon arrived at a door which he knocked at after stuffing my cage under one arm.

    ¡°Come in.¡± (???)

    As Mero opened the door I saw in a rather interesting room. Whoever built it seemed to have wanted to make an office, but wanted it as open as possible. The room¡¯s back wall was almost nonexistent; elaborate wooden grilles were the only thing separating the office from a large balcony. A couple of them were open and the wind would have long blown away the paper strewn across the desk if they weren¡¯t pinned down by large chunks of bones being used as impromptu paperweights. A bit macabre isn¡¯t it?

    Despite the grim mess atop the desk the rest of the room was quite bright and stylish. The man behind the desk sat in a large swivel chair. He was relatively short and thin, but it was the wiry sinewy thinness that I had seen on Anthus. Elves in general seemed to be thinner. I wonder if it¡¯s all the time spent going up and down stairs or are elves just naturally slender like that?

    ¡°Hey dad, teacher told me to give these to you.¡± (Mero)

    Mero¡¯s father gaze dropped from Mero¡¯s face and settled on me. His eyes widened for second and he slid the paper he had been reading under a chunk of some animal¡¯s femur and leaned forward. The letter was ignored at first as he took the cage from his son and slowly turned it. His stares were making me a bit uncomfortable, he had a look of childlike wonder that would be nicer if it wasn¡¯t about me. Yeah, the gold may not have been the best idea in the world.

    Eventually he stopped staring at me like a fat man at a steaming hot pizza and opened the letter. Mero didn¡¯t seem to mind, he just headed for the open door to the balcony and whistled. I was a little curious about what he was doing but I think the letter might be more important. His father read through the note, mouthing the words as he read.

    C¡¯mon man, read it out loud, I¡¯m curious too.

    Despite my mental urging the man kept muttering inaudibly, the cage was at the wrong angle to read the note as well. In the end I still had to await my verdict. Considering the smell of the building as well as the note I had a bad premonition as to my fate.

    Mero¡¯s father had finished the note and was fiddling with it while staring at me speculatively. After looking between me and the letter a couple times he seemed to come to a decision. He leaned forward and unlatched the door to the cage. He carefully tipped the cage and shook it hesitantly. He is trying to get me out but I¡¯m not sure I want to leave my nice safe cage for this boneyard of a desk. The letter was folded and he tried to use it to gently scrape me out. I better crawl out before he starts getting insistent.

    When I left the cage I made my way for one of the bigger bone chunks. It looked like a piece of some four legged animal¡¯s shoulder bone, or maybe a section of it¡¯s pelvis, it was hard to tell with the pieces themselves in pieces. One thing I did notice was that the bone was fresh; it was almost juicy. Okay, that is creepy.

    My paranoia was interrupted by him reaching for me. He knew what he was doing from a certain perspective; he kept his hand low and moved slowly to prevent me from being startled. That was the right choice for dealing with an animal. However, I wasn¡¯t an animal dependant on my instincts, I was intelligent. At the very least I was intelligent enough to not want a man who keeps dead animal parts on his desk touching me.

    Wow this guy is really patient.

    I was busy playing a game of avoid the scary man¡¯s hands when I heard the sound of something cutting through the air outside.

    *Ssssshh*

    *Wvvff*

    *Wvff*

    *Viff*

    A colorful vulture swept over and landed on the balcony. The bird had a brown wings, tail and back with a pale orange head, chest and legs. There wereblack markings on its white face that stretched around its eyes and flowed down into a wispy beard of feathers below its beak. It was a beautiful bird. It was also huge.

    That thing is nearly as tall as the kid is! Mero wasn¡¯t exactly short for a kid in his early teens, but it was looking pretty likely that he was going to take after his father in the height department. As the bird walked its way into the office I could tell that it probably came up to the kid¡¯s chin. That was far larger than any bird on earth.

    ¡°Hey Phene, how you doing girl?¡± (Mero)

    The vulture crooned in response and stretched her neck to rub her beak against his cheek. Mero began to pet her enthusiastically, smoothing her crest and running his fingers through her feathers.

    After a few seconds of them cuddling and his father trying to scoop me up Mero ran over to the desk. He grabbed one of the fresh bone paperweights and tossed it to Phene who snapped it out of the air and swallowed it whole. Oh, I guess that¡¯s what the bones are for, Now I feel bad for assuming this dude was some kind of bone obsessed psychopath.

    ¡°So, what¡¯s with the tree monk? Teacher didn¡¯t tell me why she had me bring it to you. She told us in class it was a mutant beast.¡± (Mero)

    The kid was grabbing his father¡¯s paperweights on after the other and feeding them to Phene, who was very pleased at the attention. Mero¡¯s dad on the other hand, still hadn¡¯t looked away from me. He was still cautiously trying to grab me, although he was using one hand to shift the loose papers under bones his son hadn¡¯t yet fed to the vulture.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure that it is a mutant beast, it might be a spirit beast. She thinks it might be a good magic beast for Astera, Mellina know she is getting to be the right age for contracting and thought we might want more options.¡± (Mero¡¯s dad)

    Yup, they are beastmasters, not sure how I feel about this. I could make a run for it, but I feel like escaping would be harder than it seems, this guy seems pretty slow right now, but I can tell he¡¯s ready for me to pull anything. There¡¯s no way these lazy grabs are fastest he¡¯s got and if I go back to full size there is now way I will be able to stay in town.

    One thing I learned in class is that people are wary of magic beasts. I have gotten a pass so far thanks to my small size and the fact that I have been acting docile. It sounded like when a magic beast appears people like to make sure it isn¡¯t going to be dangerous to people. I can understand; maneaters are a problem on earth even though they can¡¯t shoot lightning or smash tanks. So for now my best bet is to look nonthreatening. I don¡¯t need a bounty on my head because I can¡¯t wait until grabby here leaves the room to make my escape.

    ¡°Are you sure you want to use a tree monk? They don¡¯t live long and it doesn¡¯t seem that strong. ...Is it a boy or girl?¡± (Mero)

    !!!

    That is a very good question. I never thought to check. How would I even know? I mean, it doesn¡¯t really matter so much considering I am a bug. The book said that mutant and spirit beasts don¡¯t pass down their powers but either way I¡¯m not sure I want a romantic relationship with another bug¡­ I¡¯m not a fan of bestiality going either way. I would also prefer not to die right away again, at least there aren¡¯t any trucks around here.

    ¡°It¡¯s a male, you can tell by the number of sections in its abdomen. Also you need to remember that it¡¯s a magic beast so it is going to live a lot longer than a normal tree monk. As for powers¡­ it¡¯s best if your sister doesn¡¯t get anything too dangerous quite yet.¡± (Mero¡¯s dad)

    That¡¯s reassuring.

    ¡°Why not? You got Phene when you were a kid and mom got Periphas for her first beast.¡± (Mero)

    ¡°Your mother was an exception, she contracted Periphas by accident. Not to mention he got her in a lot of trouble till your grandpa took her in and taught her the ropes. As for me, my first magic beast was Papi, and he has always been pretty easygoing even for a jackalope. Even you contracted with Tartary first didn¡¯t you?¡± (Mero¡¯s dad)

    The kid nodded and stared at me as if considering me more than a useless shiny, He also stopped tossing Phene bone chunks. The papers on the desk had now been consolidated into three messy piles. Phene seemed disappointed that she didn¡¯t get anymore snacks, she walked towards the desk and began staring at me as I continued to dodge the father¡¯s grasp.

    Phene had amazing and terrifying eyes. The sclera was a deep bloody red instead of the usual white. If that wasn¡¯t bad enough the iris was an almost glowing silver color. The result was mesmerizing; I could almost feel myself being sucked into the black hole in the silver disk floating on a red sea.

    Nope nope nope, I am not going to be bird food after working so hard to avoid it. I quickly jumped over the man¡¯s reaching hand, climbed back in the cage and latched the door behind me.

    The cage wasn¡¯t going to stop the bird if it was determined, but I knew that. The point was preventing it from casually snapping me up like a fun sized candy bar. Hopefully it would buy me enough time for the man to save me.

    The man looked at the vulture then back at me. He seemed to come to a decision; standing up and sending Mero and Phene away. As they went their respective ways he carried me downstairs.

    The whole ¡®making a contract¡¯ thing sounds like a big deal, hopefully it won¡¯t happen right away. I really would prefer avoiding any sort of slavery. I wanted to try communicating with people somehow but I¡¯m not sure how safe that would be anymore.

 Chapter Eight: We must learn who is gold, and who is gold-plated

    Gryphus pov:

    Mero came home from school and brought something truly interesting. He had a letter and some kind of tree monk based magic beast in a small cage trap. I have always loved mutant and spirit beasts, they are fascinating.

    Most people regard mythic beasts pretty much on a case by case basis; the fact that they can reproduce makes some quite good livestock. On the other hand there were some that were incredibly dangerous and have to be exterminated whenever they were found.

    Guardian beasts are usually quite famous when they turn up. They developed a reputation, good or bad, and tend to be part of the landscape for a long time by any metric. There were plenty that formed relationships with the locals; protecting or demanding sacrifice. The former were respected and nearly worshipped while the latter tend to attract wannabe heroes and knights looking for accolades. Of course there were freaks like Sobek the river king that did whatever they felt like. But compared to mutant and spirit beasts even that old monster Sobek was at least predictable.

    Compared to mythic and guardian beasts most people have a much lower opinion of spirit and mutant beasts. I understand why people feel that way but you really can¡¯t judge each unique individual creature because of a few famous catastrophes. These beasts may be dangerous because they are unpredictable, but that is also what makes them so amazing.

    This tree monk was a perfect example; it looked as if it was formed from gold and silver, with sapphires for eyes. My first assumption was that it was a mutant beast, but it could be a spirit beast; they tended to have less outward changes than mutant beasts but some were quite flashy. Its appearance reminded me of the stories of the spirit beast ¡®the golden crow¡¯ although if this little fellow had powers like that my desk would be on fire right now.

    I slowly turned the cage, trying to look at it from different angles. I would almost think that this fellow was a creation of the sons of Ivaldi, but even they couldn¡¯t make an automata this small, plus I could feel it¡¯s mind appraising me.

    From what Mellina had written it was pretty cooperative. I can¡¯t help but be suspicious though, it is a tree monk after all. Tree monks are famous for being pretty ravenous, as well as eagerly picking fights with larger animals. The fact that Mellina assumed that its only feature was its color was suspicious as well. It¡¯s never a good idea to judge a mutant beast or a spirit beast by their cover.

    I coaxed it out of the cage and onto my desk. I knew I would be able to touch it thanks to the letter; if it was too dangerous then Anthus wouldn¡¯t have made it back home. Still, it would best to be careful.

    It truly was docile for a tree monk. I was carefully trying to touch it without scaring it more than it already was but it never tried to attack me. I was beginning to wonder whether it really was just a weak mutant beast.

    The little bug was pretty patient with me, but it was determined not to let me touch it. I decided not to push it and grab it by force. Mero must have called for Phene because I had to move my papers a couple times. I felt Phene¡¯s mind express satisfaction and amusement which was a good indicator that she was playing catch with Mero again. I admit that I do the same, Phene is cute when she begs for food. Eventually the workers just started leaving her lunch in my office.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    It took a while before people stopped complaining about the stains on the paperwork though...

    We talked about the little bug a bit while I tried to decide whether to have Astera contract with this little bug. Generally you wanted a small, harmless magic beast for your first contract. Magic beasts were easier to contract with which made it easier to learn the process. The reason for the beast being harmless was self evident.

    As for being small, that was my personal requirement ever since Mero contracted with Tartary. Beastmasters get very attached to their first contractees. Mero had spent a couple months completely inseparable from Tartary, which meant he couldn¡¯t leave the field we had planted the fluffy fellow in. In fact, my son would still pitch a tent next to Tartary occasionally when he was particularly upset.

    When Mero stopped feeding Phene she walked over to look at what had our attention. I made sure to mentally ask her not to eat the little bug. She agreed, but insisted on getting a closer look. As she leaned forward I felt a spike of fear from the bug. I was about to ask her to back off a bit. I know that other people find her intimidating for some reason, but then the tree monk did something very interesting.

    The tree monk suddenly jumped over my hand and ran into the cage trap. As soon as he entered it he turned around and closed the door, then secured the latch. That¡­ was very intelligent.

    It wasn¡¯t like magic beasts were dumb, in fact some of them are very smart¡­ but that only applies to certain species and individuals. Guardian beasts were naturally intelligent, some kinds of mythic beasts were pretty smart as well, but most mutant beasts and spirit beasts weren¡¯t any brainier than their original species.

    I had finally discovered what this little tree monk gained when it mutated: it was a straightforward boost to all its capabilities with an emphasis on its intelligence and a change in its color scheme. That certainly explained how it survived in the wild; a dumber insect would have been spotted and eaten immediately.

    Mutant beasts or spirit beasts gaining intelligence was rare, and usually a big deal. Of all the magic beast catastrophes throughout history the ones caused by intelligent magic beasts tend to last the longest. The alliance of Stheno, Euryale and Medusa is an example; They ate countless humans and eventually ruled a nation they used as their personal larder.

    Similarly some intelligent magic beasts had saved and protected people. Bai Ze and The Sphinx were two famous magic beasts that actually learned to speak and became advisers for kings. They helped the formation and growth of the empires of Zhongguo and Kemet.

    There was no way this little gold bug could be that special, freaks like those were once in several lifetime events. However, that didn¡¯t mean he wouldn¡¯t be incredibly useful for little Astera. At the very least he would be more helpful to her than one of Papi¡¯s descendants.

    After telling Mero to keep the bug a secret I quickly brought the golden bug downstairs, it would be best to have Astera contract with him as a surprise tomorrow morning. I stopped by a storehouse and grabbed a special cage and one other item. Just in case I made sure my body blocked the tree monk from seeing what I was up to.

    Then I took the gold bug into one of the buildings for holding the mice we raise. They were food for bigger beasts though. The mice we raised were a normal species, but if raised properly they became artificial mutant beast that were perfect food for the carnivorous magic beasts.

    Between the mice, skvader and the jackalopes we fed three quarters of the meat-eaters raised here. Astera didn¡¯t like the mice so it would make a good hiding spot.

    The cage I had brought was and elaborate birdcage, one specially designed for holding magic beasts. It was expensive but worth the price considering it could hold some of the pint sized powerhouses that existed throughout the world. Its durability might be a bit unnecessary, but it was the perfect size for this tree monk.

    The little gold bug probably could only eat one of these fat mice, but I decided to place two inside just in case. He moved from one cage to the other fairly easily. Then, when I latched the cage, I also placed a small padlock on the door.

    Wow, he seems upset, I didn¡¯t think tree monks could make faces like that.

 Chapter Nine: Some lines must never be crossed, and some will inevitably be crossed.

    I can¡¯t believe he locked the cage. It hadn¡¯t occurred to me until after he put the lock on the new cage that I had shown I understood how latches work. He was decent enough to leave me food, at least that¡¯s what I think these two roly poly mice are for. If they are supposed to be my roommates he is going to be pretty horrified tomorrow.

    It was pretty apparent he had decided I would make a good pet for his daughter. Of course, I would have to disagree. It looks like it¡¯s time for an eat-n-run.

    I quickly grabbed one of the squeaking meatballs, skewered it and hauled it to the top of the cage. I hung upside down from the perch and started chowing down. It was amazingly delicious.

    As I savored my dinner I thought about how naturally hanging upside down felt. It was funny, but stuff like this caught my attention more than the whole having five eyes deal. Humans are built to stand on the ground, head up feet down. As a praying mantis I didn¡¯t have to worry about vertigo, so I could commit vertical kidnappings pretty easily.

    I finished eating the first mouse pretty quickly and hoisted the other into the air and sent him after his friend. I really enjoyed them both, they were surprisingly filling considering my true size.

    I figured it would be best to wait till night time to make my escape. It was entirely possible to disguise myself and run away during daylight, but it would be better to be cautious. Of course that meant I had to stick around for a few hours, but I would rather be bored than sorry.

    As it turns out, I don¡¯t sleep, I just zone out. That makes sense, I did spend an entire week without sleeping with no ill effects. Unfortunately there were no windows in here, so I could only guess when it would be dark enough to leave.

    Now, it¡¯s not like I didn¡¯t appreciate the hospitality¡­ I flexed my claws and bulked them up till I looked like the praying mantis version of popeye. But I got places to be, and interesting creatures to eat.

    Normally a metal cage would hold a praying mantis pretty easily, being proportionally strong is only good if your ¡®proportions¡¯ are big enough to matter. Exoskeleton can¡¯t match up against whatever this purple/bronze metal is. However, I was a lot stronger than any old praying mantis. My exoskeleton was so tough that when a badger managed to grab me by the leg it didn¡¯t even tickle. And I was able to punch a hole in its skull with ease.

    I could handle the bars of this cage easily. I grabbed the bars of the cage and shifted my claws into heavy shears. Then I squeezed.

    ¡­

    Okay, this is tougher than I thought it would be¡­

    ¡­

    Cut you stupid thing!

    ¡°Graaah!¡±

    Okay, this isn¡¯t working¡­ time for plan B

    One thing I noticed about my power is that the boost to my physical capabilities matches the growth in size. People say that giant bugs would be dangerous because an ant the size of a man could carry four and a half tons. I wasn¡¯t sure that the scaling issues applied perfectly to me as I grew, But I was also receiving some sort of magical boost as well.

    It took me a while to appreciate how monstrous that boost was making me. Once I shrank down I became weaker but I was still much stronger than I had been when I was this size almost a week ago though.

    Plan B: a.k.a. plan Bigger. I swelled up large enough to fill the cage. My claws were now too big to fit between the bars. To compensate I formed a crowbar shaped spike on the ¡®knuckle¡¯ of each claw. I was more flexible than I had been when I had been born, but it was a bit cramped in here all the same. I was still able to get in a position to apply the leverage I needed to free myself.

    *Kreeen~*

    There we go.

    I managed to force the bars wide enough apart to fit my smaller form. I shrank down to my ¡®normal¡¯ size and stretched, it had been quite cramped in here. I crawled out and finally shifted my color from the flashy bling appearance to a dull brown.

    I made my way to the door, I had to climb the frame and hang on while turning the latch to open the door. Lathes, not knobs? Tsk tsk, it¡¯s like they are asking to be eaten by velociraptors. Luckily it wasn¡¯t locked.

    Now I just had to figure out how to leave this building. This would be difficult. I had been in buildings like this before; the original building was buried in repeated expansions as the needs of the owners grew. This kind of growth was organic and disorganized. The end result was a maze of hallways and rooms.

    To make things worse I couldn¡¯t exactly go into any room I wished, if I accidently entered a kennel or roost I might have to worry about them making noise. I may be small, but that doesn¡¯t stop any small yippy dogs from going bonkers.

    After a couple minutes wandering the halls and daydreaming quietly I had an epiphany. I realized I could have tried picking the lock on that cage instead of bending the bars¡­ At least that wouldn¡¯t have attracted attention. Ugh, I¡¯m going to be kicking myself about this for a while.

    After that moment of self recrimination I came up with a pretty good idea. If I were to go upstairs and find a room with a window I could just walk down the side of the wall. That would be faster than trying to find a room without animals or people. The chances of the upper floors holding animals was a lot lower, I had seen fewer of those worker types up there when I was brought in and cleaning manure would be that much more of a pain if you had to carry it all down stairs.

    Once I made it upstairs I noticed right away that my theory was sound; the scent of animals was no longer nearly so immediate. Besides the smell of birds the upper floors only held the odor of people.

    Opening doors was still tricky as a bug. It didn¡¯t help that the doors I managed to pry open so far weren¡¯t the ones I needed. I had a few false alarms as well, I don¡¯t know how late it is, but there were still people up working.

    Eventually one of the doors I opened was a winner. I made my way to the window and forced it open. The night sky was beautiful. The thin crescent moon shone dimly between the leaves. The town¡¯s river glittered under the moon¡¯s light.

    The extensions to the building protruded oddly, forming an odd alcove around this window. From most angles people probably could not see in this little alleyway. This was great for me, nobody saw me open or close the window. This also seemed great for whoever had hung a rope from one of the homes up in the tree. Is that supposed to be there?

    As I began crawling down the wall the rope began to shake, it seemed someone was climbing down the rope. I looked up and saw a thin silhouette abseiling down the rope, a large wrapped package in one arm.

    flattening myself and shifting to match the wall was completely instinct by this point. As the mystery person dropped slowly past I got a better look, it seemed that it was the woman from that suspicious trio. The lady was no longer dressed in a merchant''s outfit, instead she had donned tight fitting dark clothes designed to hide her without any loose folds to rub against each other and make noise. Her face was covered, so the only reason why I was able to recognise her was the fact that I was so close to her as she passed me.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

    I looked at the ¡®package¡¯ and felt my heart sink. This woman wasn¡¯t a thief or a bandit; she was a kidnapper. There was a small person wrapped in a blanket slung onto her shoulder. The child sized lump wasn¡¯t moving, but the shape could be made out within the blanket.

    Lady Luck you absolute witch....

    Thank You, Now Let¡¯s See What You Will Do.

    The sound of the kidnapper sliding down the rope seemed to underline the silence rather than break it. I scuttled down the wall as quietly as I could. I am a bug, but there are some things I will never tolerate. This would be tricky though.

    Keeping up with the woman was difficult. As quick as my body was, long legs have a distinct advantage. Even worse, The kidnapper was incredibly cautious, always aware of her surroundings. She may not have noticed me while I was flattened against the wall, but if she saw me following her things would get bad fast. There is no way she would be dumb enough to ignore a strange beast following her after she kidnapped someone from a beastmaster¡¯s home.

    Working wings would be great about now.

    I made better progress crossing the bridge. Being able to climb underneath let me run at full speed. Growing to the size of a cat and using the gardens and houses as cover let me barely keep up with her as she began running quite quickly. We reached the gate quite quickly, and the woman¡¯s co-conspirators were waiting for her there. The lights in the gatehouse were out and the gate was open, a bad sign.

    As they left the city and began making their way through flower field they began talking, I could hear them despite being a good distance off. Luckily they had slightly let their guards down, else they would see me disturbing the grass and the flowers as I pursued them.

    ¡°Are you sure the kid is from the Greenbul clan?¡± (male kidnapper #1)

    ¡°I made sure of it, why do you think we waited an extra day to catch her? She¡¯s definitely part of the clan, there¡¯s no doubt about it.¡± (female kidnapper)

    I grew till I stopped at my default size, I needed the speed. These people were too fast. I guess they were those warriors or whatever, at the very least the woman should be one if she can run at what must be about twenty to twenty five miles per hour without jostling her unwilling passenger.

    ¡°Are you sure she¡¯s worth that much? Ain¡¯t she a bit young for us to get a good price on her?¡± (male kidnapper #2)

    Okay, you''re a dead man.

    ¡°Haven¡¯t you been listening? She¡¯s a Greenbul, they are the only ones that have been able to control the bees of this damn forest. Nations have been trying to conquer this forest for a millennia and they always failed. Every time someone sends an army in here they get annihilated by swarms of mother bees and guerrilla tactics.¡± (female kidnapper)

    The woman sighed before continuing,

    ¡°People have never given up because this forest is so valuable, but as long as the Greenbul clan control the bees an army will never be able to reach any of the cities inside it. Other beastmasters have tried to control the mother bees and were stung to death. So, if we bring her to Macedor, we can sell her and live like kings.¡± (female kidnapper)

    ¡°And how are we going to avoid being stung to death when morning comes and the bees wake up?¡± (male kidnapper #1¡±)

    ¡°We have repellant in the boats, as long as we leave a false trail we can meet up with Phillip and the rest and head downstream. You can¡¯t smuggle anything without the repellant around here, and these none of these elves uses the river.¡± (male kidnapper #2)

    Okay, that was convenient, unfortunately it looks like I can¡¯t just follow them and murder them in their sleep.

    My original plan to solve things quietly, by killing them when they let their guards were down and returning the kid while she slept, was a wash. Fine then, from what the book said, unknown magic beasts are considered monsters¡­ Let¡¯s try being a bit monstrous.

    I boosted my size a bit more, growing larger than I ever had before. As a praying mantis that was a normal man¡¯s height I was truly terrifying. I boosted the intimidation factor by putting on my ¡®game face¡¯ of horrible spikes and shiny black armor. As soon as I finished transforming I started running at my top speed.

    When I wanted to I could run at maybe thirty miles per hour for as long as I wanted. That was in my default size and I hadn¡¯t been going all out. Now I was a bit more than twice as tall, with the extra leg length that comes with it. I also was running at a sprint rather unlike my previous jog.

    They reached the trees when I decided to get their attention. My vocal cords weren¡¯t that developed, but I could make hissing noises.

    ¡°HHHHHHHHSSSSSSSSSSSSSSH!¡±

    ¡°What the?!¡±

    ¡°Gyaaa!¡±

    ¡°Aahg! What is that thing!¡±

    They all jumped and turned around, one of the guys made a bit of a girly scream. I can¡¯t blame them, A massive spiky black monstrosity was bearing down on them while making a noise like an overheating boiler leaking. I wasn¡¯t too far from them when I started running. By the time they turned around I was in their faces already.

    *Shunk*

    ¡°Arg!¡±

    Massive scythe shaped claws sunk into the rearmost man and lifted him up. Leaning forward, I took a meaty bite of the lower side of his neck. The first bite was just a mouthful of cloth, leather and chainmail. The next bites were meat. He kept trying to jab me with a short thin dagger but my exoskeleton held up fine.

    By the time the man was missing a good chunk of his neck and collarbone his friends had their short little swords out and were ready for me. At least, they thought they were.

    I tossed aside the gurgling man and opened my claws wide. Hissing again, I noticed that they weren¡¯t as scared as they should be. They both looked shocked and nauseous, but they were still determined. The girl didn¡¯t even drop the kid.

    I waved my claws around, snipping the grass at my feet. Just as I was about to attack the man lunged forward. He had a short sword in one hand and a parrying dagger in the other. Unfortunately for him, neither weapons are very good at dealing with a praying mantis¡¯ claws. They were designed for fighting humans, not monsters.

    I opened my claws to greet him. Thanks to their length all I needed to do was let him enter my reach and give him a nice pointy hug. As he slid within my grasp he raised his weapons to meet my arms. He was surprisingly strong, I should have completely overwhelmed him. Still, my claws shape meant he only blocked the front of my claws; the ends curved around and sunk into his back as I squeezed my claws shut on him like twin nutcrackers. I could feel the bones cracking.

    ¡°Garg! Tawnie! Now!¡± (noisy meat)

    I looked up from my struggling prey to see a throwing knife shoot into my eye. It hurt. Aw, son of a %$@*!

    Reflexively letting go of the man, my claws tore up the armor on his back. He ignored it and shoved the parrying dagger in my shoulder joint where there was no exoskeleton. You dirty ^$%#!

    I slapped him away with my other arm and backed off. He flew over the girl¡¯s head and into the trees. She followed him into the forest, I heard them both running. They both must have decided to run rather than finish me off. That was fine with me, I didn¡¯t want to fight with these pieces of metal stuck in me anyway.

    Pulling out the dagger and throwing knife hurt like a %$#%^ but I didn¡¯t bleed as much as I thought. Unfortunately using my shapeshifting abilities could only seal the wound, it didn¡¯t heal either of them completely. My shoulder wasn¡¯t too bad, I could move it almost as well as before, but my eye was shot.

    It seems we need to take a different approach. I only killed the one guy cause I caught them off guard, and that won¡¯t work twice. Two against one is too much for me right now. I wasn¡¯t giving up, but I can¡¯t win in a straight up fight. I had forgotten: I am a praying mantis, and they are ambush predators. I need to stop treating this as a fight and start treating this as a hunt. Alright, what would velociraptors do.

    As I was thinking I looked down at the man who had been left behind. He had expired sometime earlier, from bleeding out or drowning in his blood... I¡¯m not sure. Doesn¡¯t matter, he¡¯s food.

    *crunch crunch*

    I seem to have some food based regeneration power. After eating the kidnapper I could feel my shoulder loosening up and I could see dimly out of my wounded eye. I was feeling better. Time for a rematch.

    Before I start though, I need to shake up my strategy. First, I shrink back down to waist height. One thing I learned in the fight was that when growing past this size I lose proportional strength. It is concealed by the gain in power from size and weight, but I¡¯m also a bigger target. Bigger is usually better, but I think i¡¯m going to go with efficiency this time round.

    My second decision was to get rid of the spiky xenomorph look. It is scary as anything, but those two weren¡¯t affected enough by it. I need to remember that this is a fantasy world, I¡¯m not the only monster here. People weren¡¯t necessarily going to roll over and die just because I looked like I belonged in a horror movie.

    If my scary appearance doesn¡¯t help then I should probably try camouflage. I shift my body into a branch-like color and texture. I took extra care to make myself look like a gnarled branch. I made sure that my claws were sufficiently pointy of course. I was ready. I am going to enjoy this way too much.

    Hunting down the kidnappers as they ran was easy, They seem to have given up stealth and opted for speed instead. They were trying to run much faster, but the trees and brush made for slow going. The fact that they could still barrel through the underbrush at the speed they were going was evidence enough that they weren¡¯t as weak as normal humans.

    A forest at night is dark and filled with shadows. In some ways it is even worse than if it were pitch black; the shadows deceive the eyes that the dark has already impaired. A stray root or a shallow hole that could trip or sprain could easily be missed during the day, but at night they were effectively invisible.

    Despite this these two were making good time and somehow not tripping and landing on their faces. I made sure to keep a fair distance. They were extra wary right now, having left behind a bug monster eating your buddy will do that to you. Even if it was nearly pitch black in the forest at night, I didn¡¯t want to underestimate these two again.

    I circled far ahead of them and picked a tree next to a game trail. They weren¡¯t exclusively using the game trails, but when on was in line with their path towards the river they seemed to choose it to save effort. I climbed up till I was slightly higher than a normal man¡¯s height. Pulling my legs and abdomen closely together, I managed to make myself look like a forked branch.

    The woman was still carrying the kid and the man was pulling up the rear. I decided to take the man out first; he was injured and I didn¡¯t want to worry about him while rescuing the kid. Dealing with them both at once is too difficult. You know what they say: when dealing with big problems, split them into smaller problems. Then eat the smaller problems. That second bit was my addition, but I think it works right now.

    As they headed my way I could see their eyes shifting back and forth. The man was watching the rear half while the woman kept her eyes towards the front. They reached the path and began following it to avoid having to push through the shrubbery.

    They past underneath me, and I struck.

 Chapter Ten: Bugging the kidnappers part 1

    Tawnie pov:

    We were so close to the river! So close! Selling this Greenbul kid to the kingdom of Macedor would get all of us enough money to retire in luxury for the rest of our lives. An entire year of preparing: collecting intelligence, buying illegal and very expensive drugs, and assembling high level warriors. It was going so smoothly as well, nobody expected a thing, all we needed to do was lay a false trail and reach the river.

    The biggest weakness in the defenses of the elves of Honeywood was their reliance on the mother bees. Mother bees aren¡¯t active at night. Normally that wouldn¡¯t matter, it took weeks to travel through the forest to reach any of the cities. However, if you didn¡¯t look like an invader than the mother bees would not attack you, just alert the elves of your presence. Since we had posed as merchants to smuggle in the drugs and unassembled boats we could easily be prepared for our escape.

    Who would have thought that we would be attacked as soon as we left the city walls. The information broker had warned us of all of the magic beasts, warriors and mages this city had at its beck and call. This thing was not on the list.

    It was some kind of monstrous tree monk, impossibly large and incomparably ferocious looking. That hiss it made set my skin crawling. Its hard shell was an evil black and covered in cruel spikes as well as brutally sharp ridges. It was also way too fast and strong.

    The three of us were selected as the infiltration team because we were skilled warriors specializing in speed and stealth. I was no fresh fish among bandits, I had gained a decent reputation and a high bounty. My comrades were no different. It didn¡¯t seem to matter.

    That thing managed to sneak up on us and get close enough to grab Derek before we were prepared. Then it somehow bit through hardened moss boar leather and steel chainmail like beef jerky. This is why I hate fighting magic beasts.

    When Langley offered himself as a sacrifice to let me get a poisoned throwing knife in its eye I was afraid it would just ignore it. Luckily it let go and he managed to stab it with his drugged dagger. We didn¡¯t wait to see if the poison would finish it off, since one of Greenbul¡¯s pets had found us, it was only a matter of time before the others tracked us down.

    We now were headed for the river directly instead of leaving a false trail, we no longer could afford the luxury of trying to fool the elvish trackers that would inevitably be sent after us.

    We were almost at the river when I heard Langley scream behind me. The branch I had run under had come to life and skewered him, as I looked closer I saw it was another tree monk monster. It took a bite out of his skull and looked at me. I had thought it was another one of those freaks, but when it looked at me it suddenly grew larger and turned black. It was the same one from before.

    I ran. There was nothing I could do, poison didn¡¯t work, I could barely fight that thing with Langley and now that thing had taken a bite out of his head like it was an apple. I could only hope it would be occupied with his body long enough for me to meet the others.

    I broke through the trees and reached the riverside a bit upriver of our encampment. They caught sight of me immediately, I waved for them to finish preparing to cast off.

    ¡°What happened? Where¡¯s Langley and Derek?¡± (Cromwell)

    ¡°They¡¯re dead. The broker messed up. We were attacked by some kind of bug monster. It ate them.¡±

    ¡°What?!?¡± (Cromwell)

    ¡°We need to cast off now! I want us headed down the river before the rest of them get here!¡±

    Cromwell looked from me to the kid and back, then seemed to come to a decision. Next moment he was shouting and we began casting off. We had about a dozen strong warriors and four skilled mages for defending the boats.

    We had been prepared to leave this night so the boats were already assembled and ready. We had to abandon the carriages but that had already been the plan.

    We kept to the center of the river, that way we would only have to deal with archers and the Greenbul¡¯s flying magic beasts.

    I sat in the boat next to the sleeping kid. I tried not to picture the monster eating Langley and Derek again. I need a drink.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    Yup, I can¡¯t fight that¡­ I had carried the second kidnapper¡¯s corpse while following the final kidnapper. I had eaten the legs and part of the torso while chasing her as well. I didn¡¯t really notice with the first one because I was focused on my injuries but this guy is amazingly tasty. I wonder if food with lots of magic or whatever is better than food without any. It would explain how tasty the meatball mice were.

    By the time I caught up with the girl she had met up with her conspirators and they were in boats going down the river. This river is stupidly wide so getting at them is tricky. They had seventeen people in three boats, not including the kid. Each boat had one person rowing, from the way their strokes forced the boats forward they had the super strength I had seen from the three before.

    As I was surveying them one of them saw me, he shouted and most of them looked towards me. I was back in my edgelord form and holding what was left of their buddy so it¡¯s no surprise that some of them went pale. A couple were swearing and retching but one man reached down and grabbed a massive recurved bow and nocked an arrow.

    *Tsshzzzz*

    Nnnnope!

    When he shot at me I barely managed to dodge it, that arrow was fast. I climbed back into the trees and began finishing my meal, this would be trickier than I thought.

    At first I had decided to save the kid on a whim, I had figured it wouldn¡¯t be too difficult. Now I couldn¡¯t see myself living through an attack on them. Looking at their preparations, they seemed ready for the elves and their magic beasts. The river and the bows meant that they couldn¡¯t be attacked by land and attacking by air was risky. Elves have bows too but I can only think that these kidnappers are ready for that too.

    I had a choice right now, give up my humanity or my life. Honestly I had been embracing my bug side pretty easily, but leaving this kid to their fate would mean abandoning my morals as a person. If I could find a way to get on the boats I might be able to kill some of them, But I was almost guaranteed to die.

    I was wondering what to do, then it occurred to me, This entire scenario was the kind of thing that Lady Luck would find ¡®funny.¡¯ This kind of hero¡¯s choice was just the sort of thing She seemed the type to set up for giggles. The poor kid was dragged into this for Her entertainment.

    Fine then, it doesn¡¯t matter why, I just have to stay me. I don¡¯t know why she made me a bug, but I will stay true to myself. That means these punks are gonna die for pulling this stunt.

    I ran downstream till I found a tree of the right height and distance from the riverside. My shapeshifting meant I could turn my claws into decent saws and I had the power to make quick work of the job of sawing through the thick trunk.

    I rushed as quick as I could, I was racing the boats which were speeding along quite fast. I am a bug, not a lumberjack, so I wasn¡¯t quite sure how to cut a tree down so it fell a certain way. I just made a diagonal cut and hoped for the best.

    Timing the cut was difficult, but I managed to be ready to finish the cut as the boats moved into position. If all went well, I would topple the tree so it fell onto the first boat and blocked the others from getting past. This was a narrow section of the river and a tall tree, so it should work.

    As the first boat came into position I finished the cut and set the tree toppling.

    *Crrk*

    *Krrrrrrrrr*

    ¡°What¡¯s that!¡±

    ¡°The tree!¡±

    The tree didn¡¯t fall the way I wanted it to. It slid of the stump and twisted as it fell, taking longer and falling at an angle. It still hit one of the boats, but it was the one in back rather than the one in front.

    *Smekash*

    The tree hit the boat and the water with a loud noise punctuated by yells and screams. I ran up the tree as it was falling weaving in between the branches and into the boat. I wasn¡¯t going to let the people get their bearings.

    I had shrunk down to my natural, waist high size. It was perfect for squeezing between branches. The people in the boat were mostly pinned by thick tree limbs, the few who weren¡¯t still had to cope with being trapped in a cage of leafy branches. They go first.

    I can only imagine what my attack looked like to the other people in the first two boats. A falling tree, a shadow shooting into the mass of branches pushing the boat into the water, then the screams intensify and the shaking leaves show the struggle.

    The fight was easy, The men were blinded and injured, and the close quarters prevented them from swinging their weapons properly. Some of them could only scream as I finished them off. When they were all dead I crawled up the branches and pulled myself into view of the retreating boats. Time for a little more psychological warfare.

    I grew back into my spiky xenomorph look and glared at the pale faces of the kidnappers.

    ¡°HHHHHHHHHHHHSSSSSHHHHAAAAAHHHH!¡±

    After hissing at them as loudly as I could I shrank and crawled back into the foliage in time to avoid another arrow.

    I decided to eat some more, the others would get ahead, but I wanted the boost to my strength as insurance. I was under no illusions as to the effectiveness of using the same strategy again, much less twice more.

    I ate as quickly as I could. Stuffing the meat into my jaw parts as fast as possible without choking. Six adult humans disappeared into my stomach, leaving behind little but scraps of cloth and blood in the water. I could participate in some really horrifying eating contests.

    After my meal I ran down the riverbank, trying to catch up with the boats. They had gotten farther ahead than I thought they were going to. I guess fear makes you better at rowing.

    It took over an hour to finally catch up, and when I finally did it was well past midnight. This time they were ready for me.

    Both of the boats had people watching the shores. They also had smoke pouring out of the boats. What are they up to?

    The smoke on the water spread quite wide. I was a little nervous about entering it, but I decided I had no choice. I entered the smoke that had drifted onto the land, making sure to keep out of sight.

    Gak! That¡¯s foul!

    I ran away from the wisps of smoke as quickly as I could. Evidently they had industrial strength pesticide or something. That would make things tricky. I had no clue how to bypass it.

    In the end I decided to try and wait it out. The forest was massive enough that there really wasn¡¯t any danger of escaping the forest for a few days.

    For the time being, I decided to continue my psychological attacks. The river was too wide for me to successfully block off the river with another falling tree but that didn¡¯t mean it wouldn¡¯t slow them down. Plus there were more subtle ways of messing with the kidnappers. Let¡¯s see, I can¡¯t make too many noises but can I make the Friday the Thirteenth one?

    ¡°Chih Chih Chih Hhha Hhha Hhha¡±

    Perfect.

    I didn¡¯t dare try to drop a tree directly on the boats again, the risk of hitting the kid was too high. I could go far ahead and make navigation hazards and scary noises too my heart¡¯s content though. And I did.

 Chapter Eleven: Bugging the kidnappers part 2

    Cromwell pov:

    ¡°Chih Chih Chih Hhha Hhha Hhha¡±

    We were in trouble. The plan had been risky in the first place, but we had all known that. None of us had expected it to go wrong like this though.

    When Tawnie rushed up with the target I had almost chewed her out for leaving a trail¡­ Fooling elvish trackers with trained lunatic wolves isn¡¯t something that can be done easily after all. Even now, when the moon was barely a sliver and the wolves are weakest, they still retain their keen senses.

    ¡°Chih Chih Chih Hhha Hhha Hhha¡±

    My words died in my throat when I saw the look on her face. she was also alone. Tawnie is highly competent, I had worked with her before and found her intelligent and professional. Not really a surprise, female bandits who last long enough tend to be viciously good at it or else they get weeded out. That¡¯s why it was so surprising seeing her almost hysterical.

    Finding out that Derek and Langley got killed was a shock. I knew the Greenbul¡¯s pets were dangerous, but the two hadn¡¯t been pushovers. They were almost at the level of a nation¡¯s knights even if they lacked the equipment. Specializing in speed and stealth, Tawnie and the two men were perfect for the mission.

    ¡°Chih Chih Chih Hhha Hhha Hhha¡±

    I had been trying to get Tawnie to explain in detail what had happened without demoralizing the others but it was hard going. That¡¯s when the monster emerged from the trees and stared at us.

    It was huge and horrifying; all black and alien, with spikes and jagged edges all over its multi legged body. Strange glossy eyes stared at us with a hungry sort of light. In its oversized claws were the mangled remains of Langley.

    The thing that held him had obviously been eating him. Chunks were missing all over and the legs were almost totally gone.

    I heard the others shouting and dry heaving. I want to as well, but I needed to get revenge for Derek and Langley first. I pulled out my bow, it was enchanted and I had owned it for years. pulling back, I drew the bow as far as I could and lined up a shot.

    ¡°Chih Chih Chih Hhha Hhha Hhha¡±

    When I got my shot ready the creature hadn¡¯t moved. I had it dead to rights, but somehow it dodged while the arrow was in flight. It just casually leaned to the side and my arrow slid right past it.

    After that it had disappeared into the trees and we didn¡¯t see it for a bit.

    Then without warning, a massive tree toppled towards the rearmost boat. I heard the yells turn into screams as the men were hit by the tree. With the exception of the mages all of us could take a beating, but being struck by a falling tree is too much for even men as tough as us.

    ¡°Chih Chih Chih Hhha Hhha Hhha¡±

    It was dark, only those like me with trained vision could make anything out. Still, we only barely managed to make out a flash of something speeding up the tree trunk towards my downed comrades.

    The only thing we could do was shout a warning. The screams were horrible. I had been a bandit for well over a decade and killed many people but I had never anyone scream like that.

    This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

    The branches shook as they struggled and shrieked. When the movement subsided there was a horrible, stifling silence for one long moment. Then that living nightmare emerged from the mess of branches.

    After a second staring, the strange black monstrosity opened its terrible jaws and hissed. The noise was horrifying, the hair on the backs of our necks rose and and our skin crawled as the far too loud noise shook the water.

    ¡°Chih Chih Chih Hhha Hhha Hhha¡±

    Several of our bowmen including me tried to shoot it again, but it seemed to melt back into the fallen tree. We could only helplessly watch as we continued to retreat.

    After a heated debate, we decided to use some of the repellant meant for the mother bees. There was no choice, if we wanted to survive until morning we needed to prevent that thing from getting too close. The drugs were made by a skilled alchemist, and should spread far enough to keep the bug monster from dropping more trees on us.

    I could only thank my lucky stars that the monster had turned out to be insect based and therefore vulnerable to the repellant.

    Ha! You Are Welcome.

    Rationing the repellant to make sure it lasted till we escaped the forest was going to be difficult. There was no guarantee using the kid as a hostage would work as well on the mother bees as it would the elves.

    We tried to make better time by having the rowers swapped out frequently, with no one sleeping yet. I said it was to go fast enough to ensure that the repellant lasted till we escaped the forest but everyone knew that we just wanted to escape that creature.

    We had almost thought we were safe when Alex spoke out:

    ¡°Do you hear that?¡± (Alex)

    That¡¯s when we all noticed it.

    ¡°Chih Chih Chih Hhha Hhha Hhha¡±

    A creepy muttering was resounding out of the forest. Too quiet to be sure of but too loud to ignore, it seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once.

    ¡°Chih Chih Chih Hhha Hhha Hhha¡±

    Fast forward to now, and now we have been listening to it for over two hours. Nobody could figure out where it was coming from, and it wore at our minds. Every rustling branch and shaking bush felt like it held a monster.

    ¡°Chih Chih Chih Hhha Hhha Hhha¡±

    The only person who wasn¡¯t driven insane with paranoia was the brat, who was in a drugged sleep. The rest of us were constantly peering into the black. Everyone was silently praying that the repellant held the monster at bay, that the morning light would somehow drive the creature away into some dark hole. Surely such a nightmare would abhor the sun.

    ¡°Chih Chih Chih Hhha Hhha Hhha¡±

    Those of us who could row did frequently, with the strength of a warrior we could keep up a gentle pace for hours. But right now, nobody wanted to go any speed other than as fast as possible. Rowing was actually a way of coping, anything was better than staring into the darkness and listening to the noise. So everyone but the mages got frequent turns at the oars.

    ¡°Chih Chih Chih Hhha Hhha Hhha¡±

    Tawnie was curled up at the back of the boat and staring at her feet. I thought I could hear her constantly muttering herself. She flinched each time that noise echoed out.

    The mage we had in the middle boat was sitting and twitching. I had to tell him to stop trying to pace, the boat was far too small for something like that.

    ¡°Chih Chih Chih Hhha Hhha Hhha¡±

    ¡°GYAAARG!¡±

    Everyone jumped and turned towards the mage who had screamed and jumped up. He pulled out a wand and drew a symbol in the air. As soon as the symbol was complete he began firing lightning bolts into the forest.

    *Zzkack*

    ¡°Shut up!¡± (mage)

    *ZZzzksh*

    ¡°Shut up!¡± (mage)

    *ZkzzZ*

    ¡°Shut up shut up shut up shut up!¡± (mage)

    We wrestled the wand out of his hand and pulled him down into the boat. He nearly capsized the boat as he kept screaming at the woods while we struggled to restrain him. Finally we were forced to drug him like Tawnie had the kid.

    As he fell unconscious there was a single moment of true silence before we heard it:

    ¡°Hha Hha Hha Hha! Hha! Hha! Hha! Hha!¡±

    The wheezing laugh kept going echoing about for far too long, growing louder and quieter in turns. I turned and yelled at everyone.

    ¡°The repellant is working, ignore it. It¡¯s almost dawn, we can kill it once there is light.¡± (Cromwell)

    *Krcxk*

    *Kreeeee*

    *Smekashhh*

    All of us looked forward to see yet another tree toppling over, splashing into the water ahead of us. It nearly struck the boat in front.

    ¡°Chih Chih Chih Hhha Hhha Hhha¡±

    ¡°We are all going to die.¡± (Tawnie)

 Chapter Twelve: Sometimes you just have to throw caution to the wind

    Okay, how much of that repellant do they have? I didn¡¯t consider it at first, but they may have enough to use until they leave the whole forest.

    I wasn¡¯t going to tire any time soon, and I could literally eat on the run. So I wasn¡¯t going to be left behind, especially now that I started knocking over trees. At first it was hard to get far enough ahead of the repellant they were using to have time to cut down the tree. But once the wind changed I could do it over and over.

    Despite their best efforts I had slowed them to a crawl, they were forced to stop and row around the fallen trees or destroy them with swords and magic. The few times the were too slow left them caught in the branches till they could hack their way out. They had tried to stay on the far side of the river, but I just used a tree I knocked over as a bridge and started cutting the trees on the opposite side.

    It was morning now, and they were visibly tired. Not physically, These people were probably the warriors I had heard about; they had enough strength to actually fight me after all. However, my attacks on their state of mind were brutally effective. I had already driven one of their mages temporarily insane just by making noise and a couple of the others looked so deeply traumatized that I doubted they would be able to fight. I am an amazing horror movie monster.

    The drug they had given the kid had worn off and she was awake. She seemed shocked and confused about what was going on but wasn¡¯t scared. I guess the fact that it was light out and the fact that her kidnappers were almost wetting themselves made my noises and the situation less scary.

    I was beginning to wonder if I needed to take the fight directly to them. I didn¡¯t know how much more forest was left, I guessed that it was a lot, but I wasn¡¯t sure. This war of attrition and psychological warfare wasn¡¯t going to keep working either. They might do something to the kid if I drove them crazy enough.

    As the weather warmed up the bees were starting to become more active as well. I didn¡¯t pay them any attention at first but they started to gather quickly. They soon formed a colossal swarm that clouded the sky. They were held back by the same smoke cloud that kept me back but obviously were intent on attacking the humans if they were given the opportunity. I needed to get the kid away from the swarm as well as the kidnappers now.

    That¡¯s when I heard the eagle.

    I turned to look upriver and saw two utterly massive birds flying at breakneck speed. One of them was Phene the vulture, actually carrying Mero¡¯s dad in her claws. That must mean that the other pair was Periphas and Mero¡¯s mom.

    Compared to Phene¡¯s well over twelve foot wingspan Periphas was even larger. Periphas seemed to be an eagle, though I wasn¡¯t sure about the type, his wingspan must have been well over fifteen feet. I could only estimate using the people they were carrying as a guide.

    They were a fair distance off right now and the kidnapper¡¯s hadn¡¯t spotted them yet, but I couldn¡¯t expect that to last. I needed to help them somehow.

    I decided to finish the tree I was sawing through and run farther ahead.

    *Crrk*

    *Krrrrrrrrr*

    ¡°Pull back!¡±

    *Smekasshhhh*

    I let them deal with that and ran even further ahead. I needed to stay out of sight to set this up.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    The river was winding more heavily as time went by, turning swamplike as we travelled further down it.

    I ran until I reached a curve, making sure to project my friday the thirteenth noise out behind me. Luckily on the other side of the bend there was a tree suitable for my plan.

    The tree was a nice big one. Ragged, leafless branches stuck out over the water. I selected a thick, lichen covered limb that stuck out far over the river and climbed to the end.

    I camouflage myself as the end of the bough with my head as the stump and my arms as branches. Then I boosted my legs until they are incredibly thick and large for my size. I hid them by disguising them as cracks in the tree limb with sections of wood exposed.

    I was barely finished with the changes when the first boat passed around the bend.

    They were on the far side of the river, not a surprise since they had to steer around my roadblock. That was fine, I hadn¡¯t expected them to be within reach anyway.

    The kid was in the second boat, and there was one less mage in that boat. Although the mage in the second boat was still sleeping off his panic attack so I could count him out too.

    Mero¡¯s parents were close now, the kidnapper¡¯s still hadn¡¯t spotted them. With the bees acting as a living smokescreen they were able to ride their birds quite close. I could only see them since the bees weren¡¯t bothering to hide them from my angle.

    The two of them were actually hanging upside down from each raptor¡¯s claws. The man was holding a bow and had an arrow notched and ready. The lady was holding a wand and carefully drawing a symbol onto the empty air.

    I waited, the boats were almost in position. I could only work my strategy around their¡¯s. If they didn¡¯t start the attack before the boat moved past him I would have to initiate things.

    I didn¡¯t have to wait long, the bees parted for a moment before an arrow shot down and skewered one of the mages in the first boat. It seemed that the elves approach to negotiations was pretty brutal.

    The kidnappers freaked out. Their mental states were stressed to their absolute limits. That single arrow nearly drove some of them to jump into the river. Never underestimate a jumpscare with proper buildup.

    They actually seemed relieved that they were only being attacked by elvish beastmaster trapeze artists. ...Never thought that particular word arrangement would come out of my mouth.

    They rallied slowly but they managed to prepare themselves. The remaining mage shakily drew a magic symbol and put up a shield. The only reason he was able to complete it was due to the others shielding him despite receiving injuries from badly blocked arrows.

    Any attempt to return fire was deflected by Mero¡¯s mother. Phene and Periphas were perfectly coordinated. They flew as if one, looping over the boats with the bees periodically obscuring them from view.

    It was time for me to move, I could see the leader in the second boat moving to grab the kid. The elves had been trying to get rid of the last archer but now it was unlikely. The kidnapper would want to use the kid as a hostage before the elves realized the second boat had no conscious mage to shield them.

    That¡¯s when I moved.

    I jumped off the branch, firing myself towards the second boat. I pushed off so hard it looked like the branch exploded and the wind from my passage blasted a momentary hole in the repellant smoke.

    ¡°AAAAAAAH! NOOO!¡±

    One of the kidnappers turned towards the sound and saw me. They screamed in horror. The leader barely turned to see me before I hit the bow of the boat with a bang.

    I swept an absolutely razor sharp claw across one of the kidnappers necks as I climbed over him towards the leader. The leader was barely ready for me as I lunged towards his face.

    *Shunk*

    *Shchkk*

    Gaah!

    I manage to stick him with the point of my claw, it wasn¡¯t lethal, but he certainly wasn¡¯t going to be shrugging it off. Unfortunately he got me too. He took off my claw about where the bicep would be on a human. I was beginning to choke on the smoke as well. Okay, new strategy.

    I shifted past the staggering leader and the screaming men and hooked my remaining blunted claw into the ropes holding the kid. I boosted my size and held the kid close. Pushing past the now attacking kidnappers, I climbed to the edge of the boat and braced myself for another jump.

    The kidnappers'' swords were cutting into my exoskeleton. These guys were stronger than the two that I ate first but a lot weaker than their leader.

    I jumped off the boat, heading for the closest shore. We barely made it to the river''s edge. I immediately carried the kid far enough into the woods that I didn¡¯t have to worry about any arrows.

    Every bit of me hurt, I was covered in wounds and the wounds had the smoke seep into them. I had lost an arm and and a leg, the rest of me was pretty much shredded.

    I shrank back to my normal, waist high size and used my remaining arm to cut the kid free. A little elf girl popped free of the blanket she had been wrapped in when I cut the rope.

    I saw the kid reaching for me as I fell over. I was falling unconscious as the kid touched me. The last thing I saw was the tiny hand placed between my eyes and a descending cloud of bees.

 Chapter Thirteen: Taking a bite out of crime

    Gryphus pov:

    They took our daughter. They would pay.

    It was still dark. Phene and Periphas could barely see during the night, but Raphina and I couldn¡¯t wait. They understood the urgency. They loved little Astera as well.

    We flew high above the trees. Partly to avoid striking a branch in the dark, and partly to get a better view of any sources of light. As long as they lit a torch or made a campfire we would spot them. I doubt they¡¯d be so foolish though.

    We headed in the direction closest to the forest¡¯s edge. Even that would take almost three days minimum of fast travel without sleeping. Depending on how heavily equipped they were it could take longer. Armies would take over a week easily, and that would run longer once we cut off their supply lines and began harassing their troops.

    Once morning came the Empress would send some of her subjects to tell us her location. There was no place in the honey wood forest that you could hide from the mother bees, and the hives were all connected to one another with the Empress and her hive as the leader of the hivemind.

    We weren¡¯t that far out when all of us saw a flickering in the distance. It was the repeated firing of a lightning spell. We quickly turned and chased towards that direction.

    It was the river, they were fleeing along the river.

    That wasn¡¯t good. If they encountered Sobek he would most likely kill all of them, Astera included. There was a reason no one used the river. Everyone obeyed as well, even if no one other than a few families remembered the reason. The nobility of other countries probably knew though, because nobody really complained about us outlawing any trade via the river.

    When we reached the river we saw something strange. Trees had been felled so they lay across the river. I don¡¯t know why they would do something like that.

    The length of the river was strewn with these. Dozens of trees, each about the same distance apart from one another, were cut down so they fell into the river. The current had dragged most of them out of the center, but the trail was still clear.

    We followed as quickly as we could, taking advantage of the fact that we could take a straight path rather than the snakelike passage the river took.

    It was morning soon enough, and the mother bees were warming up. Once they were warm enough to fly a small group flew to me and Raphina. They gathered at our throats and began communicating by buzzing and vibrating against our skin.

    The bees told us about the kidnappers, their numbers and their professions. The kidnappers had deployed a poisonous gas that prevented the bees from approaching. That was the only reason they weren¡¯t dead from a thousand stings already.

    The bees also informed us that not all the kidnappers were alive, some had been killed. They weren¡¯t the ones knocking over the trees. The bees weren¡¯t the best communicators, but they seemed to be saying that there was some kind of magic beast attacking and harassing the kidnappers.

    I asked the bees to leave the beast alone for now. We had to be careful, but the creature was a decent distraction.

    Phene and Periphas were fast. Periphas is a thunder eagle and Phene is a bone swallowing vulture that had eaten plenty of magic beast bones. Both are quite powerful as far as magic beasts go. We would catch up to the boats quickly.

    The strategy was simple: take out the ranged attackers and slow down the boats till backup could get here. It wasn¡¯t the best plan, but there weren¡¯t many other options.

    Normally this sort of kidnapping would never work. Unfortunately these idiots were using the river to escape the river quickly. If the risk of angering Sobek wasn¡¯t so great it would be a good plan. They should have asked why Macedor hadn¡¯t tried the same strategy before though.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    Raphina and I caught sight of the swarm. Periphas cried out when he managed to catch a glimpse of Astera, but hushed himself quickly.

    The mother bees were perfectly coordinated. With them swarming about the kidnappers had no chance of hearing or seeing us. When I gave the signal, a section of the swarm parted and I fired an arrow into the first mage I could identify.

    They started firing back, although their response was odd. They didn¡¯t seem to be thinking or moving right. I could tell they were powerful, but they seemed strained and frantic. By all rights they should be ready for us, but they were jumpy and slow to focus on us.

    One the boats they had at least one mage, an archer and a couple warriors. The warriors were shielding the mage with their shields and even their bodies while he put up a clumsy shield. Meanwhile the archer was trying to return fire, but they bounced off my wife¡¯s magic shield.

    We needed to kill as many of them as we could as fast as we could. The kidnappers would hesitate to use Astera as a hostage while they were so far from the edge of the forest. If they could keep us from buying time they might be able to get far enough away before reinforcements came.

    If they stopped to take her hostage they would lose speed. So instead they decided to try to kill us quickly and escape, they would only use our daughter as a hostage if they knew there was no way to escape.

    We had reached the wetlands bordering the forest. I hadn¡¯t managed to kill any more of them so now we were trying to deplete each other¡¯s magic shields. The first to lose their protection would be the loser.

    That¡¯s when I saw the archer glance towards Astera.

    I felt my heart sink into my stomach. If they took her hostage they could kill her or take her away. Now that they had gotten this far the chances of reinforcements coming was slim. The wetlands were hard to traverse on foot. Even our wolf riders wouldn¡¯t be able to gain ground on the boats.

    Then a tree branch poking out over the water exploded.

    It was good that I had trained my vision to its limit or I wouldn¡¯t have recognized the creature shooting like an arrow over the water. It was an utterly massive tree monk. My thoughts went to the golden one before I shook my head. It couldn¡¯t be.

    When a kidnapper turned towards the soaring insect monster he did something weird. He shrieked. Like a scared girl. The rest didn¡¯t have time to react before the monster was in the boat and cutting the screaming man¡¯s throat.

    The archer dropped his bow and pulled out a sword. The giant tree monk managed to stab him in the gut but lost part of one of its scythes in exchange.

    I don¡¯t understand why it¡¯s doing this, it can¡¯t be for food or territory. The thing is ignoring the danger and throwing its life away to attack powerful enemies. It shifted past the leader who was bent over and lunged past the other kidnappers.

    My heart beat like a drum as it reached for Astera with its remaining claw. I shot an arrow at it but the mage¡¯s shield was still up. It grabbed her and leapt from the boat, swords hacking at it as it fled from the screaming men.

    The insect left the range of the smog, the bees would have a chance to save Astera now. Periphas swept out behind me, Now that Astera was away we could go all out. The two were bombarding the boats with lightning blasts, smashing against the mages shield.

    I was going to help her when I heard a deep, bone rattling sound. The water of the river seemed to boil at the sound of the river king¡¯s roar. Sobek was here.

    Water poured off a massive shape, forming great crashing waves. Sobek rose from the muddy depths of the river. His massive scaly hide was craggy like jagged rocks, and his body so long I wasn¡¯t even able to gauge his size properly. His mouth opened and teeth as tall as a man shone in ivory splendor.

    He was Sobek, the greatest crocodile.

    Everyone froze. We couldn¡¯t do anything else. Sobek had this ...aura about him that made everyone incapable of resisting.

    Sobek was older than most nations, and stronger than many smaller ones. There was no debate about this. We could all feel it. We were bugs before him.

    His eyes focused in annoyance on the boats floating in his river. The kidnappers turned pale and shivered, their wounds dripping blood onto the deck of their boats.

    Sobek¡¯s titanic tail waved once, and he shot towards the front boat. He opened his mouth and bit into it.

    That massive set of jaws were almost large enough to swallow the boat whole. Only a few chunks of wood stuck out the edges of his mouth. He chomped once and swallowed. The boat was gone.

    The people on the other boat didn¡¯t react. They couldn¡¯t react. Every cell in their bodies had already surrendered. For people on our level, Sobek didn¡¯t even have to make an effort.

    The other boat was bitten into and swallowed down like a dry biscuit. The people in it barely let out hoarse screams before they disappeared from the world. They were gone as well.

    Then Sobek¡¯s giant slit pupils focused on us.

    Phene and Periphas almost fell out of the air. They barely managed to keep flying in the under the gaze of those giant, mesmerizingly green eyes. We felt like we were far, far too close. I had heard that crocodiles could leap out of the water to snatch prey.

    ...And yet, I don''t think Sobek would need to. It was almost like he could will us out of the sky if he chose.

    Then, without a word, Sobek sank beneath the waves.

    I released a breath I hadn¡¯t noticed I was holding. If Sobek had wanted, he could have reached us all the way up here. The only reason we were alive was because he hadn¡¯t bothered. The cold sweat dripping from me felt almost freezing thanks to the breeze from Phene¡¯s wings.

    ¡°Astera!¡±

    Periphas and Raphina dived to the river¡¯s shore. My heart started beating again as I remembered my daughter.

    Phene and I swooped after her. Were we too late?

    The mother bees had formed a barrier around our daughter. They hadn¡¯t fled from Sobek, probably because of the Empress¡¯s control.

    When the barrier parted we were greeted by a strange sight. Our daughter was tearing strips out of her blanket and using them to bind the giant tree monk¡¯s wounds. She looked up and gave us an innocent smile.

    ¡°Mommy! Daddy! I made a contract.¡±

    Oh Dame Fortune, how you like to play with us all¡­

    Silly Mortal, You Have No Idea.

 Chapter Fourteen: The end of every story is the beginning of a new one

    When I woke up I felt weird. Everything felt fuzzy. My vision came into focus and I saw why. I looked like a praying mantis mummy.

    Someone had bandaged me up. I was wrapped quite haphazardly with cotton bandages. Barely any of me was free of the white cloth. This was good news. Or at least better news than being left for dead in the forest and waking up as a glass ball on a table in Lady Luck''s living room.

    Yay, not dead. Now, where am I?

    The room I was in looked quite familiar. It had the wood paneling of that beastmaster compound. I doubt that there is a ton of variation to the building in this forest, but with only the school and the compound to compare it to, I would bet it was the compound.

    I flicked my unbandaged antenna in the air. Yep, this place had that animal smell.

    So, I was back here again. Well, I bet the boss doesn¡¯t want me near his little girl anymore. Giant man eating bug monsters make terrible pets.

    I was pretty much crippled though, and that sucked. I was missing most of an arm, a leg, and the rest of my body had chunks missing here and there. I couldn¡¯t even stand, I was stuck lying here on this cushion that was acting as my bed.

    The fact that I was still alive was a testament to an insect¡¯s life force. I had survived being turned to hamburger and poisoned. Even with treatment this was really impressive.

    I was satisfied though.

    I saved a little girl. Living and killing all those @$#hats who tried to take her away from her family was just a bonus.

    I don¡¯t know if any survived but I doubt it. Those elves did not seem like the type to take prisoners. I don¡¯t really have a clue how the justice system here works. That¡¯s bad considering I ate some people.

    I don¡¯t think ¡®they deserved it¡¯ is a reasonable defense in any court of law. Saving a little girl might be though. Well, there¡¯s nothing I can do about it.

    I tried to use my shape shifting to close my wounds. It worked okay, but there were a lot of holes and gashes to close. Sealing up all the missing portions stretched my exoskeleton kinda thin. I could use my extra biomass. It wasn¡¯t like I was full size, so it was possible to increase the amount of exoskeleton I had, but that wasn¡¯t really a proper solution.

    I felt really stiff. The wounds were still there, they just were covered up or pinched shut. Adding the way my exoskeleton was awkwardly stretched and I was going to have trouble moving anywhere. Not like I was going to try. Even if I could break out easily, I doubted I could escape the two bird riding elves.

    The door clicked and was unlocked from the other side. I shifted a bit as I looked towards the opening door.

    Speak of the devil¡­ It was Mero¡¯s dad. He did not look happy either. His eyes narrowed as he saw I was awake.

    I waved. It was really awkward.

    ¡°You were the gold tree monk that Anthus found aren¡¯t you?¡±

    I gave a nod. He still looked skeptical, so I turned my exoskeleton blue, then red, then back to the default greenish brown I had been favoring lately. His only response was to raise an eyebrow and stare at me for a long time.

    Wow, this so super awkward¡­

    He snorted through his nose as he spoke to me.

    ¡°Well, aren¡¯t you going to say anything?¡±

    What, you think I can speak? I¡¯m a giant bug!

    ¡°Hhhkhktkktkhth¡­¡±

    ¡°Wait, you can¡¯t speak? That¡¯s weird, A magic beast of your intelligence should have some way of communicating¡­¡±

    He looked puzzled for a second before realizing he was supposed to be glaring at me. When he focused on me again I could feel his mind appraising me.

    ¡°...I don¡¯t know what to do with you.¡±

    ???

    ¡°You ate those people. I saw the remains, you ran them down and devoured them. You are a monster, not just a magic beast.¡±

    Oh yeah¡­ In retrospect that was kind of insane. I had been focused on saving the girl, but eating someone while they are still alive is all kinds of messed up. In fact, why am I not more upset?

    I had been so determined to stay human, then started eating people the first chance I had. I didn¡¯t regret things though¡­

    I suppose in the end it was because I would have been betraying myself if I had left the kid to her fate. I would rather become a monster than stop being me. Or was it avoiding becoming a bigger monster? Man, philosophy is hard.

    ¡°Normally I would kill you, man eaters are just too dangerous. The problem is that you weren¡¯t indiscriminate. You didn¡¯t eat Anthus, Mellina, Mero, or me.¡±

    He paused, his expression turning odd for a second.

    ¡°You saved my daughter.¡±

    We stood there, staring at each other for a long time, before he spoke again. His voice cracked as he spoke.

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    This felt awkward, but it was nice. Knowing that I had saved the little girl had been good, but this helped it sink in. Again, I felt that nearly dying was worth it. The one sided conversation stalled again.

    ¡°I can¡¯t let you leave, freeing a man eating monster would be gross negligence, and I can¡¯t just imprison you. My daughter formed a contract with you, and killing you or separating you from my daughter would cripple any chance she had of progressing as a beastmaster¡­¡±

    Wait, she contracted me? When did that happen?

    Man, does the contract not need the victim to be conscious for the process? That¡¯s a little unfair.

    ¡°That said, I would rather have you gone forever than put her in danger, so I need you to come with me. Someone needs to speak to you.¡±

    ...I have no clue what¡¯s happening anymore.

    Am I safe? Is he going to kill me, imprison me, or make me his daughter¡¯s slave? I feel like he¡¯s either trying to mess with me or is completely indecisive. Either way he seems to want me to follow him.

    I forced myself to stand. With one of my legs gone I was forced to hobble along on only three. It¡¯s funny, back when I only had two legs I was fine, but now I¡¯m so used to four that this feels wrong. I guess it makes sense, my center of gravity is different.

    I kept a claw against the wall for stability as I limped after him. He seemed to resist the urge to help me. He probably didn¡¯t want to get too attached.

    I was still waist high. Normally it didn¡¯t matter, but he was leading me up stairs. The steps were a lot bigger. At first I heaved myself up each step with a claw, but it was slow and painful. Three legs wasn¡¯t going to cut it.

    Using my shapeshifting I grew a blunt spike out of the stump of my missing leg. It made a pretty good peg leg. With that I managed to barely get up the first flight of stairs.

    Yes! I did it!

    That¡¯s when I saw the long, spiralling flight of stairs¡­

    A bee flew past, buzzing down from a ridiculous height. I wasn¡¯t going to be having an easy time.

    It wasn¡¯t like it was impossible, I still had my inhuman stamina, but each step was tall and awkward, and there were at least a hundred, probably more.

    Mero¡¯s dad seemed to sense my reluctance, and came to a decision. He reached for me, it looked like he was going to carry me up the stairs.

    I shooed him away with my good claw. I still had my pride.

    Growing from his waist height to as tall as he was was surprisingly painful, like the patch jobs all over my body were stretching out. It ached, but I didn¡¯t want help anymore. I was going to get up these stairs under my own power.

    This set of stairs had more bees than rest of the building. The school hadn¡¯t had any bees inside either. It was kind of weird, since there were bees everywhere in this forest. The only time you didn¡¯t see any was at night.

    To distract myself from the pain I focused on my memories of the forest. It was truly beautiful. There were so many flowering trees. That was probably the reason there were so many bees. I couldn¡¯t remember ever seeing a place with so much life when I was a human.

    These trees were amazing too. A good chunk of this town was nestled in the branches of these trees. This place was amazing. Even if I would have rather been human, I¡¯m glad I was dropped here.

    These stairs went on forever. There weren¡¯t even any landings. Where are we even going? Is there something at the top of this thing?

    Eventually we reached the top. I could tell Astera¡¯s dad was walking slowly so I could keep up. He was pretty patient and thoughtful. I think the only reason he¡¯s so cold to me was because of the whole daughter-contracted-to-a-man-eating-bug issue.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

    ¡°Alright, we¡¯re here.¡±

    At the top of the stairs there was an odd looking door. A faint buzzing came from the other side. We traveled far enough upwards that we must be in the thickest part of the tree¡¯s crown.

    The door slid open smoothly. It turned out to be a sliding door, not one with hinges. The sound of buzzing grew incredibly loud. We emerged into a bees nest that filled the tree.

    It was enormous. Honeycombs the size of storage containers hung from from thick branches. There were dozens of them, all covered with bees and almost dripping with honey. Light shown between the leaves and glistened off the giant sheets of beeswax.

    It¡¯s a golden cathedral. No, it¡¯s golden palace.

    The song of thousands of millions of thumb sized honey bees flying about was almost deafening. Astera¡¯s dad walked into the room and kneeled.

    ¡°Your majesty.¡±

    Wait, the elves are ruled by bees? That¡¯s weird¡­

    When the elf spoke the countless bees grew still. All the bees in the air flew to a branch, leaf or piece of honeycomb and landed before resting quietly. The omnipresent noise of buzzing disappeared, with dead silence replacing it.

    A single goliath honeybee, thick and long as a man¡¯s thigh, crawled out of a thicker clump of honeycombs. She walked casually towards us.

    As she approached, the bees closest to her ran up and pressed against her. At first it wasn¡¯t much, but eventually they formed a moving pile of bees. More and more piled up and soon the lump of bees was the size of a minivan.

    Soon the queen wasn¡¯t visible anymore. All that was left was a small hill of living insects. It was quite scary. When they stopped in front of us the bees started shifting about, changing the shape of the pile.

    The pile rose and took the shape of a titanic woman sitting on a throne. It was still made of bees, but the shape was unmistakable. Then a buzzing came from within the pile and the light hitting the countless wings of the bees refracted. Slowly an illusion covered the bees woman, making her look like a real lady and not a writhing nightmare.

    In front of us sat a giant elf lady dressed as a queen. She stared down at us in a regal, but somehow kindly way.

    ¡°Hello Arizel, is this the little fellow you spoke of?¡±

    ¡°Yes your majesty.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, you may leave for now. We will call you back after we have spoken with the little hero.¡±

    Arizel nodded and silently walked back through the door, sliding it closed behind him.

    ¡°Now, what is your name?¡±

    My name is ____¡­? Wait, why can¡¯t I think of my name? Did Lady luck erase it?

    Of Course I Did, It Makes Things More Interesting~

    Man, I wish I could ask Her. Actually on second thought, I¡¯m fine not knowing if I don¡¯t have to deal with Her anymore. She was scary.

    The queen raised an illusory eyebrow as she waited for a response. The problem was I could only make hissing and clicking noises. She was a bug, ...well, a lot of bugs, so could she understand that?

    I don¡¯t have a name and I can¡¯t actually talk, how am I supposed to communicate? Charades?

    ¡°No name? I suppose you are rather young¡­ Oh well, if you pass our test I suppose little Astera can name you.¡±

    Why do giant not-actually-women keep putting me in life or death tests!?

    Wait, was she assuming I didn¡¯t have a name because I didn¡¯t speak or did she actually hear my thoughts?

    ¡°We heard your thoughts. We are the empress of the mother bees, a thousand hives are merely extensions of our will. Communicating mentally is as easy as breathing to us. You are an insect within our hive, even if we can¡¯t control you easily we can still read your surface thoughts.¡±

    Well that¡¯s terrifying.

    ¡°Good, we need you to know where you stand.¡±

    The giant empress shifted, her eyes glinting at me.

    ¡°You are quite a surprise. With the bees as our eyes there is little that happens in this forest that we do not know of. The stealthiest assassins and spies have died under the stingers of our subjects. Yet you appeared from nowhere only a few days ago and managed to cause quite a bit of chaos.¡±

    The faint sound of buzzing came from her body as she leaned down towards me. The giant face hovering over me was beautiful as a painting, but knowing what was under the skin sort of ruined it.

    ¡°A newborn, yet holding more power than even we had guessed. A vicious bloodthirstiness, yet used for surprisingly heroic reasons. Of all the mutant beasts that have appeared in our forest, you are by far the most unique.¡±

    Umm¡­ Thank you?

    ¡°You are welcome.¡±

    So what happens now?

    ¡°Well normally we would have let you alone. We nurtured this forest for centuries, and the mother bees before us raised it a millenia ago. We prefer to let the creatures that are born within it live as they please, ...So long as they don¡¯t disrupt the balance.¡±

    She leaned back in her chair and rested her smooth cheek on her knuckles.

    ¡°You are something that has great potential to destroy balance. We might have killed you already had you not used your power to save our subject. The Greenbul clan, and by extension the elves that live within our realm, are precious to us. You showed moral fiber we wouldn¡¯t have expected from a young tree monk.

    So, you will be given a choice: Serve us as our agent or die.¡±

    Her voice grew cold as she made her ultimatum. I was going to immediately submit. She gave off a regal aura that made me want to obey her. Besides, I didn¡¯t want to die.

    Just as I was about to kneel something deep inside me made me freeze.

    The feeling of surrendering, of giving up any hope of commanding my own fate¡­

    I wasn¡¯t going to give up again.

    I couldn¡¯t match this empress of bees, but compared to Her this overgrown pile of insects was nothing.

    I was not going to kneel before anyone else.

    No.

    ¡°No?¡±

    I will not be your servant or slave. You can kill me,

    I grew blades out of every section of my body. The bandages that were already stretched by my growth shredded to bits as I stood tall.

    ...but I won¡¯t go down without a fight.

    The giant smiled then opened her mouth.

    ¡°Freeze.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t move.

    She reached down and picked me up. Her body felt like normal flesh and not a pile of bees, but I didn¡¯t care about that. No matter how I screamed in my mind, I couldn¡¯t even twitch. My body had betrayed me.

    ¡°You underestimate us. We are older than many nations and our status as royalty is more fundamental, more deserved, than any mortal ruler. If we desired we could make you a slave within your own body. We are the Empress. You cannot fight us, and you cannot resist dying by our hand.¡±

    ...Then do it. A puppet or a corpse, either way you won¡¯t have my mind or my soul.

    Her fingers wrapped around us threateningly and I knew that my spines would not threaten her.

    Then she placed on the ground and smiled warmly once more.

    ¡°We are glad you passed our test.¡±

    Wait, what?

    ¡°We needed to test your resolve. We already have watched you, but we wanted to know the limits of your will. If you are to be Astera¡¯s first contract then you must be capable of loyalty. We can sense lies and you have not lied to us. You will be the perfect guardian for the littlest of the Greenbul clan.¡±

    Wait, so you tested my loyalty and I passed by not being loyal?

    The enormous empress raised an eyebrow and stifled a chuckle.

    ¡°You might look at it that way, but we see it as staying loyal to your principles. You were willing to risk your life to save an unrelated child, and willing to die rather than be enslaved. Those who are willing to betray their principles to save their skin will betray everything else in the end. We would not allow something like that near our subjects.¡±

    Then why do you expect me to obey the little girl?

    ¡°Obey? A contract is not some mere master slave relationship, it is a bond. We are contracted to the Greenbul clan yet they cannot command us. The beasts they contract are not slaves either, it is a mutual relationship and a bond of minds. That is why we know you shall protect her.¡±

    The Empress leaned forward with an amused smile.

    ¡°After all, she put her faith in you enough to contract you, and you are not the being to betray something like that.¡±

    That threw me for a loop. I knew, in the back of my mind, that I was going to keep taking care of the kid. If she hadn¡¯t contracted me I would have run off right after I healed, but now, she was depending on me. I wasn¡¯t enslaved or manipulated, and that made all the difference.

    I suppose you are right¡­

    ¡°Of course we are. We have not lived as long as we have to be so inept as to be unable to read others. You would not have killed if those humans had they not kidnapped little Astera. We can read your intentions and that is why we tested you. If you had shown any desire to attack the elves you would already be dead you know? We would not have bothered testing someone dangerous to our subjects.¡±

    I suppose mind reading comes with a lot of other clever little tricks. This kind of invasive surveillance is insanely powerful.

    ¡°Now, you have a job to do. Don¡¯t worry about the girl¡¯s father, I will explain things. He is a competent leader but a doting father.¡±

    She tapped her chin theatrically and looked at me.

    ¡°Of course, you cannot complete your task in that state¡­ We think we shall grant you a gift to aid your recovery.¡±

    An enormous finger hovered over me and a droplet of strange looking honey formed at the tip. It fell and I formed a spoon at the end of my claw to catch it.

    It was a deep gold with a purple iridescence. There was a sense of power, authority, and life force about it. That tiny teaspoon felt like it weighed a ton. I hungered for it, a deep, instinctual hunger that tried to take over my mind.

    ¡°That is a portion of our royal honey. Compared to that of normal mother bees¡¯ royal honey ours is much more potent. Be grateful, since nations have gone to war over such treasures as this.¡±

    Thank you.

    I brought the droplet up and drank it. It was warm, so warm it almost burned as travelled down my throat. It felt like drinking sunlight and fire.

    My body creaked and cracked. Every wound I had creased shut with exoskeleton practically burst as they healed instantly. My exoskeleton itself shattered as I outgrew it.

    I moulted, my skin practically flying off from my violent growth spurt.

    A magnificent pair of wings burst out of my abdomen. I was an adult now.

    Man, that stuff is powerful!

    ¡°Indeed. You are the first who has been given a taste in decades, so we ask that you not speak of it to others. Arizel should realize how you were healed, but he has discretion.¡±

    After that the Empress called in Arizel and explained things. The guy was pretty loyal and once she told him I was safe around his daughter he warmed up to me pretty quickly. As far as he was concerned, I was now part of the family.

    He led me down the stairs, which were much easier now that I was healed, and brought me to his daughter.

    I hadn¡¯t gotten a good look at Astera when I was rescuing her. That was mostly because she was wrapped up. When she was free I had been basically dying, so I never commited her appearance to memory.

    She was an elf of course, with pointy ears and a slim build. As far as I could tell she was between five and seven years old. She also reminded me of my little cousins. They were cute when they behaved.

    ¡°Daddy! Daddy! Is he okay? I wanna play with him!¡±

    Yup, just like my little cousins.

    As soon as she found out I was better she dragged me off to some playroom to do what felt like three different things at once. Raphina and Arizel peeked in on us, and smiled as they saw us playing catch, dress up, and having a tea party at the same time.

    It should have been obnoxious, but kids are so innocent and simple that you can¡¯t help but enjoy it. They are so sincere about enjoying things that it becomes contagious. I wouldn¡¯t mind ¡®dealing¡¯ with babysitting Astera because of this.

    Of course, after a while I was completely mentally drained. Keeping up with a kid is hard.

    She was a good kid though.

    Her parents had left and a maid had replaced them. The elf was surprisingly nonchalant about watching a little kid play with a giant insect monster but I suppose that in this building it wasn¡¯t that weird.

    When Astera¡¯s parents returned, they brought Mero. The kid was obviously jealous of his little sister. Surprisingly he was trying to be mature about it. That actually impressed me, he must be having a hard time holding it in but he still acted as the big brother.

    ¡°What¡¯s his name anyway?¡±

    ¡°His name is Manto!¡±

    It is? When did she decide that? Oh well, I kind of like it.

    ...Well, I don¡¯t hate it anyway.

    The two kids took me on a tour throughout the compound. Astera was very careful to tell me which things I couldn¡¯t eat. She used a tone of voice like she was imitating her mom¡¯s lectures. It was adorable.

    I don¡¯t think the servants found it cute when she told me not to eat them though. They were too busy focusing on the fact that apparently I needed to be told not to eat them.

    The kids ended up riding on my back. With my four legs and insect abdomen I was actually quite suited for it. At the very least I wasn¡¯t going to throw out my back out like with my little cousins.

    It was a long day, and somehow Astera went full speed the whole time. Even after dinner she didn¡¯t seem to lose energy. Eventually she had to go to bed though, and that¡¯s when I got my first break.

    I picked out a balcony and rested there. The cooling wind felt amazing, and the setting sun painted the clouds. Behind me Astera¡¯s mother sat down in a chair. I didn¡¯t turn to look at her. I still could see her with my ridiculous field of view, but I focused on enjoying the peace and quiet.

    ¡°Thanks for looking out for her.¡±

    I nodded without turning. She didn¡¯t seem to have any reservations about me being around her kid. Was it because the Empress had already confirmed I wasn¡¯t going to murder anyone who didn¡¯t deserve it?

    Either way she didn¡¯t seem to feel the need to say anything else. We both enjoyed the sunset. Eventually Arizel came along and joined us. The three of us sat in silence till the moonlight and the stars shone over us.

    When I had first been born here I had wanted power. It was a pretty logical desire. I wanted to be the very best, the pirate king, the strongest in the world, etc. etc. etc. Right now I wasn¡¯t even close to getting there and I was having second thoughts.

    There was no point to getting stronger. Sure it would be useful, but strength for strength¡¯s sake was empty. It wasn¡¯t like I would ever reach a level where my life would be peaceful. Even if I was the strongest on this world, Gard or whatever, I would still have to deal with Her machinations.

    So power couldn¡¯t be my goal, but it could be a tool. I could use my power for something good.

    That¡¯s when I decided, then and there, to make a difference.

    This world was just like earth. Giant ladies made out of bees aside, there were greedy people who would kidnap kids for a quick buck, loving parents who wouldn¡¯t hesitate to risk their lives, and cute little kids that looked at the world in black and white.

    If I was going to be a deadly bug monster with awesome powers, I would use it to make a difference. I would protect the good things and straight up eat the bad things.

    The song of distant frogs echoed from the distant river. On that beautiful night I found a purpose.

    I leaned back on my back legs and sighed.

    I was honestly looking forward to it.

    ~End of ¡®book¡¯ one~

 Chapter Fifteen: The measure of success is happiness and peace of mind

    Deep in the strange contradictions of space there was a room. It was more like a metaphor than an actual place. A normal mortal could claim that meant it wasn¡¯t real, but that would be far from accurate. Like its owner, this place could be considered more ¡®fundamental¡¯ than those roomes made by humans.

    Within the room ¡®sat¡¯ the anthropomorphic personification of chaos. Chaos existed anywhere that anything existed, and some places where nothing existed, but the focal point of its hypothetical consciousness was here.

    This impossible existence thought of itself as female. Many sentients consciously or unconsciously referred to the facets of chaos as a female. Lady Luck and Dame Fortune were two examples, and every world had similar names. Chaos in its thinking form found enjoyment in this and decided to take these as its names.

    Compared to order who preferred to form as little personality as possible, lady Luck enjoyed imitating the trappings of mortals. While order lived within orderly, stagnant nothingness, Lady Luck preferred to emulate the constructions of mortals. She saw a great deal of herself in a chair or a table.

    A seed isn¡¯t very likely to become a tree, it needs a great variety of conditions to grow and a variety of threats can destroy it. Even if it is planted successfully a bit of misfortune like a lack of rain, a hungry animal, or bad weather can destroy it before it reaches its potential.

    Once it becomes a tree and a mortal selects it they can make it into a myriad of things. It might be unfit for use in creating anything other than disposable products like firewood. All the character gained from years of life and make it unique will influence the way mortals make use of it.

    The bits of wood that are made into furniture could be made into a variety of designs. That ¡®finished¡¯ product will then be used, hopefully for years, but potentially for decades, and in rare cases even longer. It will acquire the dents and stains of use till it is no longer suitable to function as a table.

    To Lady Luck, this long journey was filled with chaos. Coincidences, choices, misfortune, and luck all were an integral part in the story of a ¡®mere¡¯ piece of furniture. She didn¡¯t particularly value the complete journey so much as the requirements to complete it though. She liked all sorts of things like that.

    Lady Luck knew that unfulfilled potential was as powerful as potential that had been fully developed and utilized. Many a war was started because a man died before he could stop it. To her, creation and destruction weren¡¯t separate things.

    Chaos was unlike other personifications like order, or the lesser ones like death, life, love and war. She did as she wished, giving no thoughts to her duties and letting her personality grow far beyond her original nature. However, in a strange, ironic way this was fulfilling her duties and staying true to her original nature.

    She was constantly playing with mortals, actively and passively. She ruined and saved lives, often with the same action. She wasn¡¯t good or evil, she just was.

    Plenty of evil, and a great deal of good was brought into being because of her influence though.

    Just a few years ago she decided to implant a human soul into an insect, give it a large amount of power, and place it in the position to witness a kidnapping that would have caused a conflict that would have eventually escalated into a war across the continent.

    Despite the chaos that didn¡¯t come to pass lady Luck wasn¡¯t upset. As far as she was considered the chaos that did occur was just as sweet.

    Besides, more was coming. After all, there was always more chaos.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Life was good.

    It had been a couple years since the crazy events of my youth. A lot had happened since then.

    The aftermath of the kidnapping had been surprisingly important. I suppose I should have known though. Apparently I lucked out as well, since Arizel was on top of things.

    In addition to spreading information about the kidnappers and their methods, Arizel also manipulated the information a bit. He mentioned my role in saving Astera, but he left out the bit about me eating people.

    Man eaters are a taboo, and if word spread that I was one I could count on some powerhouse straight up murdering me. The whole political shenanigans of protecting me would have caused a lot of trouble.

    Apparently Sobek gets a pass since he only attacks people who enter the river. The fact that nobody can kill him seems to be a factor too. The blue whale sized crocodile ate quite a few would be heroes before the nearby nations decided killing him wasn¡¯t worth the manpower.

    It¡¯s a little unfair.

    As for me, I had a pretty peaceful life after that. I¡¯ve been eating a good chunk of wildlife and babysitting Astera. Other than that things are pretty quiet.

    Well, there was the shenanigans with Brokkr¡­If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    The local ¡®blacksmith,¡¯ a dwarf named Brokkr, is a fairly eccentric fellow. Like most of his race he is a craftsman. He is unique though, since he prefers working with organic materials.

    Kodo beetle shells, magic beast bones and hide, and tough or magical wood are his favored materials. He can make some pretty crazy stuff too.

    As soon as I met him, he started staring at me like I was a golden egg laying goose. A rough, hairy dwarf staring at me with sparkling eyes like that was enough to give me goosebumps.

    After enough pestering I started using my shapeshifting to make the exoskeleton on parts of my body incredibly thick and dense. I had to tear it off of course, and it hurt like a @#$!&, but watching him dance around practically singing was kinda funny.

    It¡¯s a good thing it grows back though, since he always seems to need more. I must have ripped off enough of my exoskeleton to outfit a small army over the years.

    Phene seemed happy about it though, since Brokkr didn¡¯t use as many magic beast bones she got more ¡®gourmet¡¯ meals.

    Brokkr wasn¡¯t the only one that liked having me around. The best chef of the village, Lawrence, often sent me out to get special ingredients. That was great since his pecanwood smoked, mother bee honey glazed, moss boar ham was worthing dying and being turned into a bug monster for.

    Seriously, I cried the first time I tried it.

    ...I don¡¯t even have tear ducts.

    The people were friendly and welcoming. I think having Astera riding around on me and pulling my antenna showed how patient and non confrontational I was.

    Luckily the Empress had given me a few tips on speaking. It turned out to be kind of tricky, I had mistakenly assumed that getting to a certain strength would let me talk. It was more of an acquired-wisdom-over-the-centuries thing. I had gotten the hang of it eventually though, and could talk with eveyone easily now. I was friendly with everyone in town.

    Not everybody was a fan of me though, and that made for some really fun moments.

    As it turns out, the honeywood forest was very valuable to surrounding countries because of its exports. It was almost entirely thanks to the Empress.

    Mother bees are mythic beasts with a special ability. They naturally nurture plants. This forest was full of so many titanic trees because of a millennia of careful tending by the bees. The plants in this forest were head and shoulders above those in other places.

    This meant the forest supplied a great number of magic herbs suitable for alchemy, as well as high quality lumber. The elves of the various towns and villages gathered the plants in a sustainable method and sold them to neighboring countries.

    The honey from mother bees is a valuable ingredient for increasing the quality of healing potions as well, so it was in high demand too.

    Most of the neighboring countries enjoyed a friendly trading relationship with the elves of the honeywood forest. They respected the rules and were polite to its inhabitants. The problem was that politicians and businessmen are greedy and like to push boundaries.

    That is why it''s important to keep a position of power in negotiations with people like this. The mother bees were instrumental in that. Everyone knew that any lawbreakers would be unceremoniously stung to death. It wasn¡¯t very personal though. I get that punishments need to be objective sure, but threats need a personalized touch.

    That¡¯s where I came in.

    Whenever delegates or businessmen who were considered troublesome came, I would work with my friends to put on a little play. I might play as bad cop, but most of the time I played the part of barely trained murderous animal.

    Before the troublemakers arrived I would go hunt one of the bigger, tougher predators of the forest. Usually I chose a honey bear, which was famously big and mean. It was tasty as well, but that was more of a bonus.

    Then as the troublemakers rolled into town I would walk by dragging a dead bear the size of an minivan behind me. They would see me tear of a limb or something, listen to the grisly noises of me chewing meat and crunching bone, and would usually wet themselves when I turned to look at them.

    It was great listening to the conversations that followed. Even the ones that were mostly screaming. Stuff like:

    ¡°Oh don¡¯t worry, that¡¯s just Manto.¡±

    "Wh-who?"

    "Manto, he''s one of the Greenbul''s magic beasts."

    ¡°S-so he¡¯s trained not to attack people?¡±

    ¡°Well... He¡¯s trained not to eat people¡­¡±

    Or

    ¡°No no no¡­ make him go away!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s alright, he¡¯s just memorizing your smell, he does that with new people.¡±

    My personal favorite was hanging from the underside of a branch while eating a recognizable chunk of bear. I would let a drop of blood fall on the merchant as they walk under me. They would look up to see a nightmare in exoskeleton chewing into the skull of a bear.

    ...People didn¡¯t let me do that too often since it was a bit too effective at scaring them.

    Either way, merchants aren¡¯t so eager to gouge prices or cheat the elves when they have the sound of a large predator¡¯s femur being crunched to shards still echoing in their ears. Arrogant diplomats also get a lot less confident in their elite guards after watching them shriek like little girls.

    They didn¡¯t need me to do that often though, which was a shame but a good thing I suppose. Most of the time that kind of play was overkill. Just showing up for a moment and leaving was enough, the rumors did the rest.

    The elves also had me carry Astera around and let the humans catch a glimpse of her riding me like a horse. That wasn¡¯t to show me off so much as to show off the Greenbul clan¡¯s skills. Occasionally the humans would get the wrong impression though, so I got to do the scary act again.

    Other than that, life was pretty quiet. The forest was beautiful and peaceful. As long as I stayed out of the water I wasn¡¯t in any danger as well.

    It was wonderful, which was why I had been waiting for the other shoe to drop for years now.

    Right now I was killing time hanging from the bottom of a balcony near the top of the Greenbul¡¯s complex. Astera was in class and there wasn¡¯t much to do right now.

    People were going about their business below me. Most didn¡¯t notice me, people rarely look up, but I saw one wave at me. It was Anthus, I¡¯d know that ridiculous hat anywhere. He was a great guy and taught me the basics in tracking.

    I was originally a praying mantis, so I wasn¡¯t good at those special methods of following traces of prey. In the first place, praying mantids hunted by vision and ambush. As a human I hadn¡¯t learned to follow spoor or tracks either, so his lessons were very useful.

    Anthus wasn¡¯t the best fighter, but his stealth and tracking abilities were nothing short of incredible. His awareness was quite good as well, since he was able to spot me hidden in the shadows underneath a balcony six stories of the ground.

    I hung out, watching the town while listening to the buzzing of bees and the rustling of leaves. After a bit a single bee flew up and landed on my shoulder. It was a messenger from the Empress.

    The bee did this ticklish buzzing dance on me before it flew off. I never quite managed to learn the code, but I think I got the basics.

    ¡®Meeting, leaders, hive.¡¯ were the words I managed to make out. I climbed out from under the balcony, Arizel would know more.

    Tracking him down was more time consuming then hard. There weren¡¯t any cell phones so it was mostly a matter of narrowing down where he could be this time of day. I would ask around and search till he ran out of ''hiding'' spots. Eventually I found him wrapping up some bit of work in an out of the way storage area.

    ¡°Hey, you get the Bmail?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I don¡¯t know why you insist on calling it that, but I did.¡±

    ¡°What was it?¡±

    ¡°Oh, there is going to a meeting tonight before sunset. The other chiefs and leaders of Honeywood are attending.¡±

    ¡°Really? What for?¡±

    ¡°To prepare for war.¡±

    There it is, the other shoe.

 Chapter Sixteen: Planning is hard, but avoiding it is worse

    It was time to head to the meeting in the Empress'' hive.

    Compared to the first time I used the stairs, it was so much easier. Even if Iam still injured, my growth over the years meant I was the height of a normal man by default. And, if I still didn¡¯t want to climb the stairs, I could just fly.

    When I walked through the door I could see a table in the middle of the open floor. There were a bunch of chairs arranged carefully around the long table. At the far end, the Empress sat in her gigantic form.

    Most everyone was already there. The chiefs and elders from dozens of the various villages and towns sat about the massive table. Aside from two humans and one dwarf they were only elves. I suppose I¡¯m an exception as well.

    I plopped down in a stool and folded my claws. The others looked at me oddly. I had met most of them, and they all knew about me, but I guess I¡¯m still considered odd. I suppose that anyone who thinks a giant deadly praying mantis is normal is the odd one.

    The last few members of the war council trickled in. The atmosphere was solemn. Even ignoring the impending war, no one wanted to seem disrespectful in front of the Empress. I was at least ten times stronger than I was when I first met her and she still scared me.

    ¡°Very good, now that everyone is here we can begin. Alexander, if you would?¡±

    One of the humans stood up and bowed to the giant ¡®elf¡¯ before speaking to everyone.

    ¡°I managed to catch wind of some troop movements recently that line up with Grice¡¯s large scale smuggling of alchemical ingredients. Our analysts have gone over the information and believe that Macedor is being used for another attack on Honeywood.¡±

    The people weren¡¯t particularly surprised. Apparently, the Gricean empire had been using Macedor to try to acquire the Honeywood forest for years. Tiny nations used by large ones as pawns was common practice here as well.

    ¡°We believe they will be using mass-produced quantities of the insect repellant used during the kidnapping incident. Their goal is, as always, the Greenbul clan and the Empress¡¯ hive.¡±

    I had been really surprised when I first heard that Macedor thought they could take on the Empress. I asked around and it really was a case of ¡®bad intel will get you killed.¡¯ They simply didn¡¯t know about the Empress in the first place. The elves hid information about her by her own request, and everyone assumed the beastmasters of the Honeywood forest were the reason invaders got stung to death.

    The Empress would wipe the floor with them, even with the repellant, but the problem is, she can¡¯t leave the hive. So the enemy army would deal quite a lot of damage in the meantime. They might only enter the hive because they assumed some sort of control center or artifact existed there.

    The insect repellant is a major problem since the forest¡¯s greatest defense is and always will be the Empress¡¯ swarms. It even worked on me. If an army had enough of it they could march straight to Honeywood city and burn it to the ground.

    Alexander droned on a bit, talking about the details of the impending invasion. He was the Empress¡¯ spymaster and was really good at his job. Between the information brokers and his own spy network, he knew exactly what was going on in the surrounding nations.

    Afterward Hafnir the dwarf stood up and reported on the progress he had made on producing an antidote to the repellant in large enough qualities to be useful. Unfortunately, there wasn¡¯t enough to go around. The sheer number of mother bees that would need a dose meant that even the Honeywood forest¡¯s herb production would be strained.

    There was enough made to protect several large swarms from the effects of the repellant. They would be dangerous, but they wouldn¡¯t be enough to take out the army. The general would be sure to have other countermeasures lined up as well. Nothing they had tried had worked before, but they wouldn¡¯t be dealing with the same unstoppable tsunami of bees that they had previously.

    ¡°We need to draw them in and use or guerrilla tactics to whittle down their mages while forcing them to use up the repellant. Once they have been softened the bees can clean up¡­¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    ¡°No, we need to force them to fight the bees immediately. If we use the untreated swarms to make it appear that the repellant isn¡¯t working then we can force them to retreat.¡±

    ¡°If they have any brains at all they would see through that. Our only choice is to rely on our allies to act as support. Without them, we will be overrun.¡±

    ¡°Are you insane? Besides the political position that will put us in, letting the world know our defenses aren¡¯t invincible will just open us up to more attacks!¡±

    ¡°Getting defeated will do the same thing idiot!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t call me an idiot! At least I¡¯m trying to find a solution!¡±

    Man, it didn¡¯t take long for them to start yelling at each other. I know tensions are high, but you would think they would stay calm in front of the Empress. As it was, people were just short of swearing and throwing things. A few of them stood up in their chairs and were turning red as they worked themselves up for their shouting matches.

    Then the Empress cleared her throat. The noise echoed out through the hive like it was being made right next to my ear. I don''t even have ears... From their reaction, everyone else had the same feeling. The room went dead silent except for the buzz of distant bees.

    ¡°We are aware that the current situation is stressful. Even so, we ask all of you to keep level heads.¡±

    With just those words the council resumed strategizing but in a more calm manner. They were considering using guerrilla tactics and abandoning the city. They could harry the enemy to nothing. And if the army was dumb enough to attack the Empress¡¯ hive, well, they deserved what they got.

    I didn¡¯t like it. It was too reactive. Most of the plan relied on us behaving passively. The Empress seemed to notice because she looked at me and asked:

    ¡°Manto, do you have anything to add?¡±

    Everyone quieted down and looked at me. Great, no pressure or anything¡­

    ¡°Uh, yeah. I was thinking that we need to rethink our reaction to invasions like this. The strategy that worked before won¡¯t have the same effect. What we need is some real psychological warfare.¡±

    ¡°How so?¡±

    ¡°Well, until now everyone knew that entering the forest without permission meant basically drowning in bee venom. Now that the repellant exists it isn¡¯t so clear cut. We need them to remember that they are in constant and mortal danger before they even enter the forest. If we can manage that then the guerrilla warfare and bee swarms will have a much bigger effect. We need to crush their morale and slow their progress.¡±

    Everyone looked thoughtful. They knew that morale was a huge part of warfare. An army that thought they were invincible usually was, and an army that thought they had already lost usually had.

    The invention of the insect repellant that could affect mother bees would have raised the enemies morale to the peak. As far as the enemy knew all they had to face was a few elves and tamed magic beasts.

    It was hard to be nervous when you knew you outnumbered your enemy at least ten to one. The idea of a trump card was very uplifting too.

    ¡°First, we subvert their expectations, I can do that by attacking them outside the forest. Then we destroy their sense of invincibility, that will be from a short attack from the swarms. Finally, we harass them with guerrilla attacks, that will keep them on edge and unable to rest.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a nice plan, but how are you going to attack an army by yourself? They¡¯ll kill you in seconds.¡±

    ¡°Actually I think Manto is perfect for a preemptive attack.¡±

    ¡°Huh? what do you mean Hafnir?¡±

    ¡°You know those new armors and weapons Brokkr has been making? The main material in them is exoskeleton from Manto.¡±

    Maybe three-quarters of the elves stared at me oddly. I suppose it was surprising, especially considering that I was still alive. Normally donating one''s shell was usually lethal.

    ¡°Manto possesses the ability to reshape and regrow his exoskeleton. It has already been tougher than magic steel for a while now. If your scale mail is enough to deflect arrows from mid-strength archers then you can imagine what the real deal can stand.¡±

    I made sure to nod thankfully to the dwarf before continuing.

    ¡°Not only that, but I can fly quite fast and dig fairly well. I should be able to ambush them and escape easily. I want to see how well they sleep when I pop out of the ground in the middle of their formation and dice up a few soldiers before disappearing again.¡±

    Everyone seemed to brighten up. Knowing that I could cut down the numbers and lower the morale of the enemy even before they reached the forest was great for the mood. Even so, they all knew that no matter how durable I was, if the big names ganged up on me I was doomed. My ability to flee meant that it wasn¡¯t a big problem though.

    ¡°Okay, I think the preemptive attack will work, but what about the rest of the plan? What do you mean when you say destroy their sense of invincibility?¡±

    This time Alexander answered. He muttered thoughtfully while staring a hole in the table and rubbing his chin.

    ¡°They don¡¯t know about the antidote. Once they know that the bees can still attack they may panic, perhaps even flee.¡±

    My mouthparts warped into an insectile grin. A few of the elves leaned away from me nervously.

    ¡°Indeed. As long as we keep the attacks short we can constantly keep them switching between fighting us and the bees. The mages will run out of mana and the rest won¡¯t be able to fight the bees properly. Eventually, only the powerhouses will be left. Without the fodder, they will be vulnerable. Then we divide and conquer.¡±

    The Empress shifted of her throne and smiled. Her smile was a lot less inhuman than mine.

    ¡°It needs work, but I think this is our best plan.¡±

    She had a twinkle in her eyes as she looked amusedly at me.

    ¡°That isn¡¯t your whole plan, is it? I can tell there¡¯s something else.¡±

    Man, she read me like a book.

    ¡°The nobles, the greedy ones who keep pushing these sorts of attacks, they need to pay too. I think after this battle we need to remind them of the consequences of attacking us.¡±

    I paused theatrically and dropped my voice an octave.

    ¡°The personal consequences.¡±

 Chapter Seventeen: Ever have more fun playing with kids than adults?

    I needed to leave tomorrow. Last night had been full of planning, planning, and more planning. Today everyone was preparing weapons, provisions and other stuff. A lot went into fighting a war, even before and after.

    Logistics is freaking complicated, I¡¯m glad they don¡¯t need me for that.

    ...What? I am a bug, how am I supposed to help?

    Either way, I would be headed out in the morning along with everyone else. I had to get a good distance away from the forest before the enemy got close.

    I was honestly looking forward to it.

    But right now Astera was coming home from school, so I should take care of her before I leave. She wasn¡¯t as clingy anymore but that was no excuse to neglect her.

    When she got home she immediately ran to the the kitchen for a snack. Then she headed to the playroom. There was a lot of stuff there, like a ridiculous amount. Generations of toys were here.

    Piled up were stuffed animals of all types. Some were worn and frayed, repaired repeatedly till none of the original parts of the plushy still existed. There were new ones as well, still relatively clean and fluffy.

    There were books made out of tough materials like vellum and thick parchment on a bookshelf in the corner. They were childrens books, but of a variety of topics. Some were mostly pictures and an alphabet. Others were simple, but full sized, novels of stories.

    Enough colored blocks to build a full sized house were scattered about in one corner of the room. Other toys like model horses and carts were lying in the middle of a half completed model of the city.

    There were other things as well: small chairs, a chalkboard, a costume closet, props, finger puppets, full sized puppets, and more. The elves didn¡¯t throw away anything they could repair, so the collection had grown steadily over the years.

    It wasn¡¯t just the Greenbul¡¯s children that played here. The workers often brought their kids to work so they could have help looking after them. Mero was often seen with one of the maid¡¯s boys and the cook¡¯s daughter. Right now it was just me and Astera here though.

    She was pulling the chairs into rows and placing stuffed toys into them. I shrank down and took my seat between a droopy rabbit and an overly fluffy wolf.

    She ran behind a room divider and began putting on her ¡®teacher¡¯s¡¯ outfit. Aside from the shoes she just slipped everything over her clothes. It looked silly, but most of it was still way too big for her.

    It was funny, since the rest of the costumes were kid size. I can only guess that Mellina gave a set of her own clothes to Astera. Astera¡¯s teacher doted on her as much as she did the rest of her students. I could see Mellina feeling flattered enough to give Astera a full outfit so she could play teacher.

    ...I know I can¡¯t resist the kid¡¯s puppy dog eyes.

    *clop clop clop*

    The weird sound like a cross between heels and flip flops sounded out. Astera walked out from behind the room barrier. She was decked out in an outfit identical to Mellina¡¯s. Since she was so much smaller than her teacher it looked kind of ridiculous. I would never say that to her face though, this was too adorable.

    She wobbled over to the front of the ¡®class¡¯ in the heels much too large for her. The sleeves of her button up shirt covered her hands. Her ¡®skirt¡¯ was as almost as long as a dress as well. All in all it was always cute to watch. Her high voice called out as she put on an ¡®adult¡¯ expression.

    ¡°Alright class: settle down!¡±

    One sleeve was rolled up far enough to let her hold a ruler. She waved it around a bit too enthusiastically, but otherwise kept her serious ¡®adult¡¯ expression on her face. She took ¡®attendance¡¯ and pretended to hear the response of each plushy. Each stuffed toy had a name.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    After taking attendance she marched back and forth in front of the classroom. The lecture she was parroting today was on alchemy. Her memory seemed to be amazing, at least according to people who attended both her ¡®class¡¯ and the original one that Mellina taught.

    ¡°-Mother bee honey can be used as the base ingredient in most types of healing potions. It¡¯s neutral reaction and nourishing qualities boost the metabolism of the person taking it and support the effect of the active ingredients.¡±

    I kinda miss the old days when she stuttered a bit. It was hard to understand but adorable when she tried to use the big words. Her voice still had that prepubescent squeak and she still looked like a tiny, cute animal though.

    ¡°The Ceylon Verum tree is the best source for one of the active ingredients in common healing potions. Its inner bark has properties that are perfect for potion making and has been cultivated for countless millennia. Nearly every country has a grove of them in their alchemical gardens or greenhouses.¡±

    Her little button nose is wrinkled as she tries her hardest to remember the difficult words. I can hear squeaking sounds, but they are behind me. A few maids are peeking through the door, making muffled ¡®squee¡¯ noises at how adorable the kid is being. I have to agree.

    ¡°The Planifolia orchid is the second ingredient in the modern healing potions. Pods harvested from the vine have recently replaced other ingredients in the common recipes. You have to be careful though, since the sap causes bad rashes¡­¡±

    The neat thing about all these ingredients is they could be found in the Honeywood forest. The quality was head and shoulders above other potions of the same type. Honeywood healing potions were known to be nearly as effective as greater healing potions while costing a great deal less. I guess that isn¡¯t a surprise since there are hardly any other places on earth where you can find mother bees. Normal honey just doesn¡¯t compare¡­

    That¡¯s why Macedor and other countries wanted to own the Honeywood forest so bad. As far as they were concerned, this place was a goose that laid diamond studded, platinum eggs.

    Eventually Astera finished her lecture and clop clop clopped behind the room divider and stripped off the outfit she had draped over her clothes. I helped her clean up, although calling it that was a stretch.

    Eventually we all gathered together to have dinner. I was lucky enough to be treated like a family member. I suppose that had to do with the contract. A beastmaster¡¯s contract was a shortcut to becoming close as family.

    It took me awhile to understand how contracts work. It wasn¡¯t really mind control or enslavement. It was empathy and communication. A contract gives both the beastmaster and the beast the ability to interact at a deeper level. It¡¯s like a shortcut to reach the level of communication that family members and close friends have.

    When Astera had contracted me she hadn¡¯t been trying to control me, she had tried to understand me. As soon as I woke up we both understood one another like we had known each other all our lives. That is the biggest reason I hadn¡¯t wanted to escape and been so willing to act as her guardian.

    In some ways it could be considered a type of mind control, but I didn¡¯t believe that anymore. The thing was, if she had been a selfish brat I wouldn¡¯t have been so willing to deal with her. I had come to that realization eventually. It was because I knew she was a good kid that I agreed to stay.

    I do sometimes think that the Empress would have enslaved me if I hadn¡¯t agreed though, she was kind of calculating and coldly pragmatic that way.

    Anyway, that little contract had basically made me as close as family member to the Greenbul¡¯s youngest child. Since the whole family was naturally empathetic they accepted me quite quickly. I guess this was the reason they made such good beastmasters: other people just couldn¡¯t form such deep connections with their contracts. The Greenbul''s Natural empathy was practically a superpower.

    For a bug like me to actually get a family like this was quite lucky. I know who to thank for that, though I feel like the bad luck balances it out somewhat.

    Tssk Tsk, So Ungrateful.

    If I never hear from her again it¡¯ll be too soon.

    The parents did a good job explaining the war to the kids. Good thing too since I was not looking forward to trying to explain that to Astera. ¡®Hey kiddo, I¡¯m going to go fight an army by myself!¡¯ Yeah, like that¡¯ll go well.

    ¡°Okay! Go beat the bad guys up Manto!¡±

    As it turns out I didn¡¯t need to worry.

    The kid thinks of me as some kind of superhero. It¡¯s quite something to live up to, since I am just a bug. Still, I¡¯m faster than a car, bulletproof, strong enough to throw boulders, and can transform. If that isn¡¯t at a superhero level then I don¡¯t know what is.

    After Mero and Astera understood the situation we finished up and handed the kids of to the maids. The Greenbuls were pretty close and usually didn¡¯t rely on the maids to take care of the kids. But occasionally business or important matters meant that the parents were too busy.

    A war definitely counted as too busy.

    The three of us, the parents and I, walked out to a balcony. One the ledge perched Periphas and Phene. Periphas was eating the carcass of a deer, and offering the bones to Phene. Periphas would pin a piece of the carcass, and strip off and eat most of the meat with a few quick movements of his beak. Then he would lift up the meaty bone in his beak and hand it off to Phene.

    It would be sorta romantic if it wasn¡¯t so gory. I mean, there was blood everywhere.

    Raphina was leaning against the balcony, staring off into the distant sky. Arizel leaned his back against the balcony, his elbow barely touching his wife¡¯s. It was interesting, but the two elves seemed to be intimate as well. Compared to the birds of prey who were being very lovey dovey, the elves who weren¡¯t even looking at each other seemed just as loving.

    I nodded to them as I widened my stance and spread my wings. Phene and Periphas paused to nod back and Arizel just gave me a quiet smile. It only took a small push to shoot into the air. I flapped my wings and a deep thrum shook the air as I flew off for the battlefield.

    Flying high over the trees with the sun so low gives a view like no other. The differing heights of the trees zooming underneath and the sheer size of the forest made me feel like I was soaring over a green, leafy sea. The lighting of the sun creating long shadow made things look very surreal as well.

    Once again I found myself musing over this places beauty. I could see this a thousand times and never get tired of it. Nature¡¯s beauty was just that compelling. It made me understand how painters must feel.

    The wind against my exoskeleton was invigorating. For now I simply basked in the sights, sounds, and smells. I wanted to enjoy this as much as possible before I reached my destination.

    I had an army to fight, people to kill. Maybe I would eat their horses? I don¡¯t know, I¡¯ll just work that out when the time comes.

    Even now, as zen and peaceful as I felt ...I was looking forward to it.

 Chapter Eighteen: Shock and Awe is killing two hundred birds with one meteor

    This forest is huge.

    I¡¯m a fast flyer and a fast runner. At my current strength I could outrun most cars on the street easily and I¡¯m even a bit faster in the air. Even so, it takes me over a day to get to the edge of the forest.

    Well, chasing down that skein of geese and eating one of them while flying probably wasn¡¯t great for my rate of progress. But who cares, I was hungry.

    The moon was out, and it¡¯ll be close to full when the war starts. That¡¯s good news for the elves, since aside from the better light for night attacks, the beastmasters of Honeywood forest raise lunatic wolves. Somebody on the enemy¡¯s side was definitely an idiot for letting that slip through the planning.

    Lunatic wolves are mythic beasts with a weird trait. Their power level actually fluctuates with the phases of the moon. During the new moon they are ¡®weak¡¯ ...although that was only relative. As the moon waxes towards full they get stronger and stronger. Eventually on the full moon they are so powerful that I wouldn¡¯t be confident of beating a pack of them. Actually, I should be able to win, but they are so nuts that I can''t say for sure. The full moon males them a bit more aggressive as well, although that might just be because of how freaking unstoppable they became.

    Once the moon starts waning they will weaken till, on the new moon, they are barely more powerful than normal wolves. That isn¡¯t a huge problem, even normal wolves can survive pretty well. Plus the lunatic wolves do most of their hunting when the moon is close to full. If it wasn¡¯t for how slowly they reproduced they would probably be everywhere.

    The fact that Macedor¡¯s army was doing its invading at this time meant that the elves¡¯ spymaster, Alexander, had been very busy. He had seemed quite confident and it would be just like him to use misinformation to trick the enemy.

    As soon as the enemy entered the forest they would have their flanks torn apart by slavering super wolves. The elves couldn¡¯t afford to raise a ton of them, but even a few would make a huge difference.

    The edge of the forest was in sight. I still had a lot of flying to do, but seeing this milestone was pretty reassuring. I wasn¡¯t tired, but flying nonstop was mentally draining.

    The edge of the forest was pretty distinct. It ended quite abruptly, like the edge of a garden. Past the forest was scrub brush and long grass. It was quite picturesque, although I liked the forest better. The plains were nice, but it just didn¡¯t have the same ...vibrancy.

    I guess that isn¡¯t a fair comparison, this place doesn¡¯t have mother bees.

    When I passed the edge of the forest I immediately hit an updraft. I was pushed into the air so suddenly it shocked me. Now below me was the almost endless prairie.

    The breeze made waves in the grass, and I was reminded once again of the ocean. Compared to the rough waves from the crowns of trees these were more like gentle ripples. The air smelled differently as well. The Honeywood forest always smelled like flowers, fruit, and a hint of that tree smell that reminds me of essential oil. The prairie smells clean, maybe? It wasn¡¯t bad either way.

    The air current feels different over the prairie. There were a surprising amount of thermals over the prairie. It was really easy to get altitude if I wanted to. The thermals were like a natural elevator for flying creatures like me. I¡¯m not a meteorologist so I don¡¯t know why I didn¡¯t find that many in the forest.

    The plains looked empty at first glance, but if I looked closely there was a lot of life here. Lot of little birds, small rodents, snakes and lizards were fluttering, scampering, slithering, and skittering around. There were coyotes and hawks about too, hunting down the little critters.

    It was nice to watch. I had gained a real appreciation for nature over the years. Although a huge chunk of that was appreciating how nature tastes¡­

    I flew up much higher. As long as I was at a high enough altitude I would be able to spot the army without them identifying me. Plus the view was incredible.

    I did eventually manage to spot them, they were still a massive distance off. Their path had left a vague line of trampled grass far in the distance. If my vision wasn¡¯t so keen and their numbers weren¡¯t so great I wouldn¡¯t have a chance of spotting them from this far out.

    I sped up a bit, they were making better progress than expected. I wanted to make a couple attacks before they reached the forest and setting up a proper ambush took time.

    It would be a while before they had any chance of spotting me. It wasn¡¯t like I was an army several thousand strong. Still, I had a very distinctive silhouette, so I couldn¡¯t just fly over and attack.

    The best bet would be to circle around. The vast majority wouldn¡¯t be looking up, and the few that were would be more likely to keep their eyes forward. People subconsciously ignore certain directions if they ¡®know¡¯ where the enemy is.

    I would swoop down on them from behind. As long as I kept out of their forward view and up high enough I shouldn¡¯t be spotted. If they had to stare into the sun to see me that was just a bonus.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    Before I got to close I flew as high as I could. The air was cold and thin. It was a shame there wasn¡¯t anything like an altimeter to tell me how high I was, ¡®Cause I bet I was pretty high up.

    I shrank down a bit too, Shrinking down to less than a speck from the perspective of even the best eyes on the ground. Just to make sure, I turned my exoskeleton a mildly reflective sky blue.

    Once I was in position I changed my exoskeleton a bit more. This time I did my best to become as aerodynamic as possible. My face formed a sharp arrowhead, my legs tucked into the new grooves in my exoskeleton, and my arms became air-cutting blades.

    Then I grew to full size, folded my wings, and fell from the sky.

    I was like a metal dart dropped from space. My sharp profile sliced through the air with almost no resistance. Gravity was pulling me down to the earth like it wanted me to punch a hole through the planet. I was so incredibly high at the beginning, and I was falling faster and faster with each passing second. It seemed to take a lifetime as the army beneath me grew larger and larger.

    When I hit terminal velocity the sound of my body cutting through the air began to make a shrieking noise. It might alert the enemies, but there wasn¡¯t anything I could do about it.

    If I wasn¡¯t careful I would slam straight into the ground. I was already going so fast that I didn¡¯t have confidence in my already ridiculous reaction time. My goal was to open my wing and soar just over the head of the crowd. Then I just had to lower my arms and I would become a living scythe. It was a simple plan, but if I opened my wings too early I would be an easy target for the powerhouses. If I opened my wings too late I would be digging my own grave with my face.

    All too soon the moment came and I snapped open my wings. I tilted them slowly, taking a curve rather than trying to make a sharp turn. The strain on my wings was immense. It felt like they were going to come off while the g-forces crushed me. The shrieking of the wind became a banshee¡¯s death wail. Then I hit the edge of their formation.

    It was horrifying.

    All I had to do was hold my arms out and down. I had shapeshifted the hardest and sharpest blades I could on the front of my claws. I would soar over their heads and hold my blades at neck level.

    The impact of flesh on my claws felt more like I was trailing fingers through water. With my compound eyes I could easily see the carnage behind me. Heads and blood were flying in the air. My analogy of a scythe was turning out to be horribly accurate.

    The sprays of blood spilled outward like the wake from a speedboat. People were screaming, but nobody ahead of me reacted in time. The ...resistance slowed me down enough that I was forced to flap my wings again. The shrieking from air resistance quieted down but the screaming from soldiers showered in their neighbor¡¯s blood replaced it.

    I carved a long, bloody line through their ranks and escaped by flying low over the prairie. I don¡¯t know if anyone dangerous spotted me, but they weren¡¯t fast enough to respond if they did. I shrank down once more and flew out of sight.

    That worked amazingly.

    It was brutal, there was no way they¡¯re all going to be as comfortable invading anymore. I have no clue how many I killed in one sweep but it must have been a lot. Well over a hundred died easily. I¡¯m betting the people next to the decapitated buddies aren¡¯t going to be sleeping anytime soon either.

    There¡¯s nothing like shock and awe for using psychological warefare and conventional warfare at the same time.

    There was enough time in the day to do it one more time. I needed to get some altitude and get set up for another shot.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    It was supposed to be easy.

    We had everything; numbers, weapons, horses, and the trump card. They had no chance; they couldn¡¯t field as many soldiers and their bees would be crippled by our repellent. It would be easy. That¡¯s what the general said in his stupid speech anyways.

    Nobody said anything about invisible scythes decaptating hundreds of men in a single sweep.

    I¡¯m just an ordinary soldier. My job is simple; follow orders, collect my paycheck, and go home. The glorious leader pays his men well, so it was a good enough job. A tiny, suicidal part of my mind whispered that that the glorious leader only treated his soldiers well so they wouldn¡¯t join in any revolts, but I¡¯m not dumb enough to think about that too much.

    Still, it wasn¡¯t like anybody disagreed with the general¡¯s assessment. The only reason Macedor hadn¡¯t conquered the forest years ago was because of the bees. Now that we didn¡¯t have to worry about that we were guaranteed to sweep through them.

    That was how it was supposed to go, but we were attacked, if you can call it that, days away from the forest.

    We were walking along, nothing in sight for miles, when Julijan turned to me.

    ¡°Do you hear that?¡±

    I tried to get him to quiet down, we didn¡¯t want to get punished for undisciplined behavior. He turned forward, but he kept trying to whisper at me about some stupid noise. Other people started doing it too.

    Then I heard it.

    It was getting steadily louder, a hellish scream that seemed to come from everywhere at once. It was like a wraith was screaming at us from the netherworld. Even the sergeant looked nervous, he kept snapping orders at us.

    Then that horrible scream suddenly became ten times louder. It was horrible, it felt like a curse. The sergeant turned to yell at us but he was sweating and scared too.

    He barely started yelling when Julijan¡¯s head flew into the air and practically landed in my arms.

    He didn¡¯t see it coming, none of us did. I don¡¯t think he even noticed when he was killed. He still had that worried and confused look on his face. He wasn¡¯t the only one. There was this bloody line at an angle through our formation where some devil had cut the heads of hundreds of our soldiers. I was covered in blood that fountained out of the victims nearest me.

    It had been a panic after that. People were screaming and huddled against the ground. The horses were panicking, and many of them threw their riders. It took us hours before we managed to get organized and start marching properly again.

    It happened two more times after that.

    When the shriek started again most everyone tried to spot its source. After whatever that was took over a hundred more heads I must have heard a dozen different claims as to what it was. People claimed it was a living blade, a demon, a flash of blue wind, or even death itself.

    I felt like I was going to vomit. I was lucky the second attack never hit near me, but I still saw the spray of blood and flying heads farther up the formation. Julijan¡¯s blood had dried on my clothes and skin as well; it wasn¡¯t like I could take a bath¡­

    The sun was going to set soon. We were going to have to camp out. I actually found myself hoping we would march through the night. Maybe this invisible reaper couldn¡¯t follow us into the trees?

    The third shriek made everyone panic. The big names accompanying us were the only ones that didn¡¯t dive for the ground. I pushed as low as I could, huddled against the dirt. It felt like hiding under the covers as a child.

    Everyone could hear the screams as the shriek swept past. I didn¡¯t want to get up. I wish I could burrow into the earth like the gophers around here to escape the shriek. Do they feel the same way when hawks fly over?

    The backs of many more had been slashed open. Cowering and huddling against the ground did nothing. They simply died slower. As we recovered I noticed a few of my fellow soldiers still crouching in the grass or crawling away. Deserters.

    Normally reporting them would be the best option. It came with rewards, helped prevent being labeled as a conspirator, and kept your family safe. This time I couldn¡¯t bring myself to do it. I just couldn¡¯t blame them. Besides, I hadn¡¯t heard from my family since they had been picked up by the special police years ago.

    It had made me sad and angry, but if I had shown any of that I would have been next. So I bottled it all up and ignored it. If these men were so scared or even brave enough to use this opportunity to defect then I would wish them luck.

    The sun was setting soon. Would the shriek attack at night? If it did I might be the next to flee.

    We were almost at the forest though, once we reached the forest we would be safe.

 Chapter Nineteen: Undermining an army is more complicated than just fighting it

    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.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

    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.

 Chapter Twenty: The only thing as bad as dealing with middle management is being middle management

    Being a lieutenant sucks.

    I¡¯d become a lieutenant a few years ago, and since the Macedonia was the way it was I¡¯m going to stay a lieutenant for a few more. You didn¡¯t last long in the army without being a bit paranoid and it made the higher ups as defensive as angry vipers. Unless they absolutely trusted you they were going to make sure you didn¡¯t get any sort of promotion.

    That is why I¡¯m stuck in what has to be the most frustrating rank in the Macedonian army. Being a lieutenant means being stuck between the worst of the middle management and the worst of the troops.

    The higher ups expect you to keep the sergeants, corporals, and privates disciplined. To them that means controlling the soldiers like marionettes. They somehow expect perfect results from me, but nearly fifty resentful, unmotivated, conniving, borderline rebellious soldiers do not herd well. Telling them how they should think and act makes things worse more often than it helps, and manipulating them is just as fruitless.

    Of course the biggest reason for that is because the soldiers you command don¡¯t just hate your guts, they hate the captain¡¯s guts, the major¡¯s guts, the colonel¡¯s guts, and the general¡¯s guts. The problem is they only deal with you. You give them the higher up¡¯s orders. You become the target of hate by proxy, and there¡¯s nothing you can do about it.

    The captains and the majors usually steal credit of any success you manage to attain, and any failure falls squarely on your shoulders. A big enough failure, or just too many in a row, will get you executed or demoted. Of course a demotion can be bad as as any gibbet. Being on a chaotic battlefield surrounded by soldiers who remember every wrong you committed against them... Well, that has only one result.

    Sure, privates and corporals have a greater fatality rate, but things aren¡¯t nearly as messy down there. Sometimes I wonder if other armies have to deal with this mess. I know that the culture of constant whistleblowing and backstabbing that happens in Macedor isn¡¯t something that exists everywhere. I¡¯m not going to say my real opinions though.

    I¡¯ll smile and agree when someone makes a speech about the evils and corruption of the outside world, I¡¯ll even make my own comments about how wonderful and flawless our country is. I know better of course, but I also know what happens to anyone who lets slip that they do know better.

    Even with the broken mess of a job being a lieutenant is, I¡¯ve managed to stay on top of things. I know my job, and how to avoid getting killed doing it. I¡¯ve been in the army for most of my life, and until today I thought I had seen it all.

    This was supposed to be easy. Guerrilla fighting aside, the elves don¡¯t have a proper army. Sure, the bees mean that no one has been able to take advantage of that, but that isn¡¯t a factor anymore. With the repellant we can march right up to their nests and urinate on them without being stung. There¡¯s enough to travel anywhere in the forest too. They don¡¯t stand a chance.

    No one said anything about invisible demons.

    We lost over a fifth of the foot soldiers to some horrible shrieking attacker. Rumors were flying faster than they could be squashed. No one knew what it was. Some were claiming it was a cursed blade that needs no wielder. Others said it was a demon called from another world to destroy us. A few idiots argued that it was just a magic beast sent by the elves, but that¡¯s just stupid. There¡¯s no way a magic beast could do the things it has done.

    This is an army; we were fully equipped, trained, and several thousand strong. And yet, in a day we have been reduced to a mob of twitchy, cowering children in soldier¡¯s clothes. What happened to discipline? ...No, expecting the soldiers to be calm when they could lose their heads to ¡®the Shriek¡¯ is too much.

    You saw this happen occasionally. A soldier would go into battle and come out without any injuries ...but still be broken. Sometimes it was newbies, but sometimes it was a fellow soldier that had been by your side for years. You just had to hope it didn¡¯t happen to you, even if in your heart you knew it already had.

    The problem was that the mood was spreading. If this kept up the whole army was going to rout before we stepped into the forest. The general¡¯s earlier orders to keep marching haven¡¯t helped matters either.

    The captain has been breathing down my neck to keep the men under control, but how was I supposed to do that? Even I wanted to dive in the mud when that unholy sound started. At least I hadn¡¯t wet myself like he had.

    I was forced to throw out threats and ultimatums left and right to shut everyone up. I got a few looks from the soldiers when I did. I couldn¡¯t help but get the premonition that I was going to die next time we faced the elves in the coming battles. ...Probably by getting shot in the back with a Macedonian crossbow.

    This whole invasion was already basically ruined and we hadn¡¯t even started properly. A good lieutenant doesn¡¯t say anything though, so I need to do my best reassuring the higher ups and helping the sergeants corral my platoon. That was the problem with being a lieutenant; no matter what, you got caught in the middle.

    Honestly, no matter how little you trusted the idi- men in charge, this was supposed to be a cakewalk. The point-ears don¡¯t even have a proper army. Sure the bees in that forest are dangerous, but once we have a knife to the right elves¡¯ throats the place will belong to Macedor.

    I know the glorious leader, his father, and his father¡¯s father have wanted to own that treasure trove since forever. The ¡®history¡¯ lessons of the country claim that the forest, and most of the surrounding countries, belong to us by birthright. It doesn¡¯t add up, but I like living, so all hail the eternal kingdom of Macedor or whatever. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    The history doesn¡¯t matter though. The forest is an easy target now.

    Normally I feel a tiny inner sneer when I heard the speech about how easily we would sweep over our enemies and claim our ¡®rightful riches¡¯ from them. Normally, ¡®sweeping over our enemies¡¯ means that a lot of us are going to die, and there¡¯s no guarantees of success either. Of course, if you¡¯re dumb enough to mention something like that and you deserve what they do to you.

    Even so, This should have been just about the easiest invasion ever. The only simpler ones were the unofficial raids on villages near our border. This one would be even better. It would be profitable and good for propaganda. There would be chances for promotions and a better class of loot.

    Of course, all that was ruined by the mass decapitations.

    There¡¯s no way to fight something like this. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that the attacks occurred on the far end of the formation I might be like the captain right now; muttering and smelling of urine. The higher ups are hiding among the calvary. They don¡¯t even care how little dignity they had, they just don¡¯t want to be added to the list of casualties.

    The way it started out so faint was the worst part. It was so faint that you found yourself straining your ears to hear it. I caught myself twitching at every breeze. I wasn¡¯t even the worst off. Plenty of people were ducking every time someone coughs.

    I¡¯ve been a soldier for what feels like all my life. I¡¯m no stranger to death. This is different though. There¡¯s no way to fight back¡­ How do you kill something that doesn¡¯t have a form?

    This couldn¡¯t be called an indisputable victory anymore. Even if whatever carved up our army like a turkey doesn¡¯t attack on the return trip, even if the elves don¡¯t kill a single soldier. When we go home, the troops will spread rumors that will turn any propaganda about mighty victories into so much hot air.

    I was being pressured by my superiors to work miracles right now. Aside from the threat of the Shriek, they knew that when they came home they could lose their heads as well. Failure wasn¡¯t tolerated by the glorious leader.

    Morale aside, it was getting late. The sun had set and we needed to get some rest. Right now the higher ups were engaged in an argument about where to set up camp. The original plan had been to camp outside the forest. The elves wouldn¡¯t dare leave their precious forest to attack us, so we could get a proper rest. The problem was we hadn¡¯t counted on some unholy screeching abomination attacking us while we were in the prairie.

    Eventually they decided to gamble on the foreigner¡¯s claim of being ready for the Shriek this time. None of them trusted him, but he managed to win them over. His arguments were simple and manipulative. The Shriek only attacked us during the day, which he asserted meant that we were safe at night. The bees aren¡¯t active at night and the Shriek was probably the same. Even if that wasn¡¯t true, the troops wouldn¡¯t be moving and he would be in a position to intercept the attack.

    The logic was idiotic. It was full of assumptions and guesswork. I could tell the only reason the mercenary made those claims was for another chance at fighting the Shriek, if it even could be fought. Regardless, the general and his lackeys were scared, panicking, and grasping at straws. They desperately wanted to believe the foreigner¡¯s words, so they didn¡¯t stop to question it.

    I¡¯ll admit being attacked by the Shriek and the elves¡¯ forces at the same time would be an even worse nightmare, but this was just sloppy leadership.

    I¡¯ll admit if the mercenary can kill the Shriek we¡¯ll be much better off, and honestly he¡¯s the only one here who has a chance. The xenophobes that rule the country wouldn¡¯t have been willing to hire him if he wasn¡¯t as good as he was.

    Officially, he wasn¡¯t here. Unofficially, he was being paid quite a bit to help deal with the elves¡¯ strongest. A bit of hypocrisy on our governments part. Despite our claims at heaven sent power, we need the services of mercenaries occasionally. You don¡¯t question it if you want to keep your head.

    The general was taking advantage of the mercenary¡¯s presence, spreading rumors about the foreigner in hopes of raising morale. That and his claims that the Shriek wouldn¡¯t attack at night or follow us into the forest were the only thing keeping the soldiers from routing.

    It mostly worked. People weren¡¯t going to sleep soundly, but they were going to make camp and lay out their bedrolls without rebelling and scattering like sheep. The fact that most of them were hiding under their blankets like scared children was just something we were going to have to live with.

    I had slept in some terrible places. Storms, harsh winters, boiling summers, bloody battlefields, I had managed to rest in them all. Of course, they usually didn¡¯t have the threat of death hanging over my head like today.

    I still managed to sleep, even if it wasn¡¯t a restful sleep. Every once in a while the sounds of someone startled awake by their own nightmares woke me up too, but I couldn¡¯t really get angry about it.

    It wasn¡¯t like I wasn¡¯t having my own nightmares. Every time I managed to slip into a deeper sleep I had a dream of my head flying off and bouncing across the battlefield. I was still alive and I watched my headless body marching off into the distance. Ranks and ranks of headless soldiers marched in formation. Headless knights riding headless horses marched past. The dream was so vivid that I could smell the blood.

    When morning came, the screams of horror woke everyone up. At first I thought it was more people having nightmares. Then the screams spread. People scrabble for their weapons and jumped to their feet. The Shriek had attacked during the night.

    The captains and other lieutenants were screaming orders, the majors and general were nowhere to be found, and I caught a glance of the foreigner leaping over the crowd towards the commotion. When I finally ran to the source of the first screams and saw the blood I felt like my own blood had turned to ice water.

    It was the horses; they had been decapitated. Every single one, from the general¡¯s personal war horse to the least pack animal, had its head removed and was lying in a pool of its own blood.

    A full four hundred war horses dead¡­ This was far worse than the losses we had until now. A well trained war horse was worth at least two or three foot soldiers. And that was just the normal ones. Big Red, the general¡¯s horse, was descended from the famous war horse Secretariat; it was worth at least ten times that of a normal war horse.

    The cavalry of any army is its backbone and greatest destructive force. It isn¡¯t an exaggeration to say that a powerful cavalry can raise the military power of a country better than an extra powerhouse. Of course, the requirements for raising mounted knights is not cheap.

    A skilled knight is harder to train than a simple conscript. They and the best archers are instructed from when they are old enough to hold a weapon. It took well over a decade before they were considered ready. After that, they needed incredibly expensive equipment. Swords and lances aside, a full set of plate armor couldn¡¯t be made by any old blacksmith. A shoddy set of armor was fine for a conscript or a mercenary, but knights only wore the best.

    The full plate of a knight is light and doesn¡¯t hinder the wearer¡¯s movements, but it is nigh impenetrable by normal means. A fully equipped knight is a walking fortress. However, they are many times more effective on horseback.

    Not just any horse can be used. Aside from power, speed, and stamina, they need to be well trained and have a suitable disposition. A rebellious horse or one that got frightened at the sounds and sights of battle was useless.

    A horse with the proper lineage was head and shoulders above other horses, often literally. They were strong and fast, and they didn¡¯t shy from the painful and noisy battlefield. Once they were trained properly they and their rider acted like a single organism, moving together as one.

    All that weight and power added together, charging across the battlefield¡­ What could match it? Without pikemen an army ten times larger would be trampled like wheat on a threshing floor.

    And now the corpses of four hundred horses were lying on the blood soaked ground. I was right, heads were going to roll. Even if the leaders had expected the loss of a few of the horses in the close confines of the forest, this was inexcusable.

    The foreigner had been on the far side of the army and the wind had blown the scent of blood away from him and the rest of the troops. The few who smelled traces of it, like me, hadn¡¯t made the connection and kept sleeping.

    We still didn¡¯t know what did this, but as I listened to the infuriated general shouting orders, I knew that this wasn¡¯t the last we had seen of the Shriek. This action, the silent attack on the horses rather than the men¡­ This was no force of nature.

    And now we had to enter the forest...

 Chapter Twenty One: Guerrilla warfare is all about playing dirty

    I don¡¯t think I ever realized how stealthy some of the elves could be.

    They practically walked right up to me right after I finished my meal. I never saw them coming. These must be the best of the best, so it kind of makes sense, but it¡¯s a lesson in humility. At least I didn¡¯t jump too bad when they startled me.

    ¡°Oops, sorry Manto.¡±

    ¡°Geez man! how do you do that?¡±

    ¡°I taught you right? Silhouette, movement, and exposure.¡±

    ¡°Wait, Anthus?¡±

    It took me a second to recognize the man in front of me. Anthus stood in front of me wearing that annoying grin that people have when they startle you. I hadn¡¯t recognized him without the ridiculous hat he always wore.

    ¡°You too? Is the hat all anyone ever sees?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°Basically.¡±

    ¡°You haven¡¯t noticed how people seem to look at the hat instead of making eye contact when they talk to you?¡±

    Anthus looked at us with an injured look. After a second everyone laughed. Eventually we settled down and they looked to me for an update. I gave them a quick summary on my little stunts.

    They weren¡¯t exactly the greatest audience. Or maybe I¡¯m just not the greatest storyteller...

    Everybody was quite happy to hear the the calvary was reduced to well equipped foot soldiers. The elves weren¡¯t particularly scared of them, but not having to worry about the enemy being too mobile is nice. The elves are relying on guerrilla tactics, so slowing down the enemy as much as we can beforehand is vital.

    The forest is a terrible place for a cavalry charge, but the knights could potentially outmaneuver us during our attacks. With how few attackers we have, being flanked would be absolutely lethal. I¡¯m not convinced those horses could have kept up with most of these guys though. They move through these trees like flying squirrels.

    Next on the agenda was what we had planned. I basically knew what we were doing from the meeting the other day. The bees would swarm for a bit, then the archers would take targets of opportunity. We would switch back and forth, forcing the mages to choose between wide range defenses, defending the commanders, or counterattacking.

    No mages meant that the Macedonian army would have to rely on shields and armor to block our arrows. Maybe a normal bowman might have trouble piercing thicker armor, but these were the archers of Honeywood forest. The arrows were scary fast and punched through steel like nobody''s business. Honestly I¡¯d bet that even rifles don¡¯t have the same penetration and that the projectile speeds aren¡¯t that much different.

    Every single one of them has a composite bow that Brokkr made. He bragged about it for days when he first designed the prototype. The arrows are nasty bodkin designs as well. Mundane armor doesn¡¯t stand a chance.

    There¡¯s no need to worry about them doing their job. My job is far from over yet though. The soldiers aren¡¯t going to just sit there and let us take potshots at them. When they try to chase us there¡¯s a good chance that some of them will separate from the mass. That¡¯ll give me another opportunity to strut my stuff.

    I¡¯ve been preparing a trick for dealing with groups of weaklings, the problem is that it isn¡¯t super lethal. I don¡¯t know how useful it will be if that mercenary looking guy shows up.

    I asked about the mercenary fellow, and it turns out even Alexander didn¡¯t know about his presence. I¡¯m no sketch artist, but I can make a decent attempt using my color changing and shape shifting. I never got a close look, but I¡¯m confident that this is fairly accurate.

    ¡°Hey, does this look familiar?¡±

    I bent a wing with the picture of the mercenary on it. The man¡¯s shark-like eyes and odd facial structure stood out, with a wide bridged nose. The way his face was built emphasized his wide mouth and large eyes. He looked odd, like he wasn¡¯t completely human anymore. I¡¯d heard rumors that people started to look a little odd when they got stronger but this was the first time I¡¯d seen it for myself.

    ¡°That¡­ No, I don¡¯t recognize him.¡±

    ¡°Not a clue, sorry.¡±

    ¡°This guy, you said he¡¯s a mercenary? What weapons does he use?¡±

    One of the other elves narrowed his eyes as he looked at the picture.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t see for sure, but he had two sheaths on his back, looked like recurved swords or kukris.¡±

    The elf grunted.

    ¡°Yeah, I was afraid of that. I¡¯m almost certain that¡¯s Vortex Mun-gi. He¡¯s a mercenary that has become very famous recently. Apparently he¡¯s from a far off country and wandered over here. His ability is the real deal, and he¡¯s famous for being a fight junkie.¡±

    A couple of the elves swore quietly. Anthus gave an pained smile.

    ¡°Man, how much did they have to pay to hire somebody like this?¡±

    ¡°The better question is: why would anyone willingly work for Macedor?¡±This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    ¡°His homeland is supposed to be half a continent away, I doubt he truly understands how messed up the country is."

    ¡°Honestly, they probably just paid him enough cash. He is a mercenary after all.¡±

    Everyone seemed to be focusing on trivial matters, but it was pretty obvious from their faces that they were just avoiding the elephant in the room. It looks like it¡¯s up to me to solve things.

    ¡°I¡¯ll take him on.¡±

    They paused and looked at me. Some of them probably had been hoping for me to volunteer, but only because there wasn¡¯t any better options. They didn¡¯t bother pretending to talk me out of it or ask me if I was sure. This was a war; it was going to get messy.

    We got ready. The scouts watched the army shift over and form up at the entrance to the forest. They were using the main road. They didn¡¯t have much of a choice; if they wanted to make decent progress they needed proper room to walk.

    Even with the wide road they were forced to change their formation into a long column. It let them stay nice and orderly, but made them vulnerable to ambushes. Normally an army would use the more mobile troops to intercept any ambushes, but all their horses had been mysteriously decapitated last night.

    Ain¡¯t I a stinker?

    The soldiers were pulling out some odd looking objects. They looked a lot like flares but when lit they only spilled out smoke. That would be the repellant then. It¡¯s a clever tool, but when the bees and I have taken an antidote it¡¯s just thin smoke.

    The bees will be attacking first. The strategy everyone agreed one was to attack the front of the army. The swarm would sweep over, stinging as they went. The panicking troops at the front would add to the chaos in the rear. There was no way they wouldn¡¯t panic either.

    Bees were one of the most common fears. I would call it a phobia, but that¡¯s only for irrational levels of fear. Fearing bees is very rational. It¡¯s not fearing bees that''s irrational. Well, either that or it makes you a beekeeper.

    The buzzing in the forest was strangely muted. I doubt the Macedorians noticed, but to someone who lived here, it was odd. Those soldiers might find it comforting, but for me and the elves, it was ominous.

    The troops marched under the shadows of the trees. As soon as the last man entered the forest, the air changed. That missing buzzing returned with a vengeance.

    A great swirling cloud of bees began to blot out the heavens. The individual bees flew through the air. Each bee was large, slightly larger than a man¡¯s thumb. Their stingers were horrifying needles that could pierce thin leather or thick cloth easily. They were unnaturally agile, and much faster than people might guess. Just one was a nightmare that could mortally injure a man with a single sting to a vital spot like the throat. Spread throughout the forest there were an incredible number of nests full of these nightmares.

    The repellant meant that the Empress couldn¡¯t bring the full weight of the swarm upon the enemy, but even the tiniest fraction of those countless millions would still devastate the enemy troops.

    The murmuring of the nervous troops was drowned out by that omnipresent humming. They stood firm though, right up until the swarm hit the frontlines. Then the screaming started.

    Some of them flailed about, swinging their shields around. Some dove to the ground. Some actually drew their weapons and tried to slash at the swarm. Many of the mages tried to cast spells.

    Lots of the soldiers were injured by the bees. Some were hurt by their own fellows in the chaos. Many of these guys were veterans. I can hardly imagine the entire army being made of new recruits¡­ It didn¡¯t matter though, they had no experience with this kind of terror.

    The bees didn¡¯t stick around, too many mages were getting spells off. I saw plenty of shield spells and a few fireballs. The fireballs could burn off the wings even at low power and it takes a lot of mass to get through shields. The bees simply weren¡¯t going to be effective anymore.

    Of course, shields that widespread weren¡¯t as tough as they needed to be to stop arrows¡­

    We were still going to wait a bit. The goal was make make the magic casters useless, so there was no need to hurry. We could let them hold up the shield for as long as they pleased, it would just make things easier later on. Plus I needed to build up tension in my trump card.

    One thing that bothered me after the kidnapping incident was my lack of ranged options. I could move fast and hit hard, but back then I was forced to knock over trees and put myself in a very vulnerable position to attack. It had taken me awhile, but I managed to cover that weakness somewhat.

    At first I planned to get a crossbow or something, but then I encountered a funny little weed.

    There are plenty like it, even on earth. Plants that can fire their seeds have an edge at spreading. They weren¡¯t weapons, but the idea was inspiring. With my shapeshifting I believed I could eventually reverse engineer the concept, if not the design.

    I twisted my spines into hollow cones and grew an oddly shaped spring within the center. Using my shapeshifting to build up tension was a little awkward at first, but eventually I got the hang of it. Once I built up enough tension I just needed to make the base of the cone thinner and thinner until it snapped, letting the springs send the cones flying.

    It sounded relatively simple, but in practice it was tricky. Even today I wasn¡¯t able to hit a man sized target with dependable accuracy. At close range it was much more dependable, but I can lunge across those kinds of distances and have an enemy¡¯s head off his body before they can blink. As long as I fired enough spikes at once it was dangerous though, even at the longer ranges where it was actually useful.

    With how tight an army¡¯s formation is, just spraying projectiles randomly is bound to get a few soldiers. A lot of military tactics in the past had taken advantage of this. Collecting a bunch of soldiers and having them fire en mass at the enemy is a time honored tradition. I was far from reaching the level of ¡®blotting out the sun,¡¯ but firing out a couple dozen small spikes was easy.

    It would be best if I waited till after they dropped the shields. My projectiles aren¡¯t much better than the bees when it comes to penetrating magical barriers. I never managed to master whatever those archers did to make their arrows punch through stuff so easily. They don¡¯t give me a straight answer about it either; they just talk about weird, fanciful concepts.

    If I hear another speech about planting one¡¯s will into the arrow or the intent to pierce then I¡¯m going to figure out how to grow hair just so I can tear it out in frustration.

    The mages in the army were slowly lowering their shields. As far as they knew, the only threat out here were the bees. Even if they suspected that the elves were hiding nearby, they still had to lower their shields eventually. Being in a war, especially one with guerrilla warfare, stinks like that.

    Most mages worth their salt can cast a shield incredibly fast. The problem is that no matter how fast they can make the symbols, they still lose out to the speed of an arrow. That¡¯s why they usually get stuck in the middle of a bunch of men in heavy armor.

    It isn¡¯t going to be enough. Sometimes I feel like these elves could thread a needle from across a football field if they had a thin enough arrow. Shooting through the gaps between soldiers is as easy as pie to them. They may get several shots off too, especially since the mages might instinctively bring up the weaker, wide range anti-bee shields. I would only have time to fire a single shot. I can shapeshift fast, but not that fast.

    The telltale glow of the barriers faded reluctantly. The shields disappeared but none of the soldiers relaxed. Plenty of them had been stung, and the rapid swelling turned the stings into lumps the size of tangerines on their skin. Healing salves had limited effect on the swelling, and it wouldn¡¯t take long for those stung on the throat to suffocate.

    There wasn¡¯t time to try to treat them though. The elves let loose and a couple dozen mages died instantly as their skulls were pierced through by the arrows. Some of the arrows even passed completely through, spanging of a nearby helmet.

    It worked better than I could have imagined.

    I was a half second slower, but I shot the spikes into the enemy formation. Frankly, the results were underwhelming compared to the elves¡¯ attack. I doubt I killed more than one or two soldiers. Meanwhile they had fired another volley. The soldiers were ready this time, so fewer mages died, but they still lost more than they could afford to this early on.

    The whole army moved much more responsively. At least this sort of thing they were trained to deal with. Shields were raised as they pulled together with a clatter of armor. The gaps disappeared, save for the spaces for crossbows or spears to poke out. A glowing barrier, much brighter and thicker, formed around each group holding a living mage.

    In seconds they went from a nervous crowd to a unified force. They were still scared and vulnerable, but all that training is so that soldiers respond the way they should even if they were losing control of their bowels.

    A group of soldiers peeled away from the group and charged our position. They were skirmishers. Soldiers trained and equipped for speed. Crossbow bolts shot over their heads, peppering the source of the elves¡¯ arrows.

    The elves had retreated after their second volley. As far as they were considered any exchange was a losing one. They weren¡¯t going to stick around to let the army hit back. I was still in position, but I wasn''t worried. A few crossbow bolts ricocheted off my exoskeleton, but they barely even left a mark.

    I wasn¡¯t that scared of the skirmishers either. If they were dumb enough to stray too far away from the main force without reinforcements then the elves would take them apart. Even without the elves, I could probably take them. Unfortunately, I wasn¡¯t going to get a chance.

    Running over the skirmisher¡¯s shoulders, Mun-gi shot towards me. He practically soared over the army as he approached my position. A pair of long kukris were held out like sweeping wings. His eyes were wide open and staring at me. The large, black irises meant that very little of his sclera was visible. It gave his eyes a shark-like appearance that enhanced the intimidation factor of that eager, bloodthirsty grin he was sporting.

    I bulked up and leapt forward as well, preparing to clash with him. A pair of sickles and a pair of kukris slammed into one another as the fight began.

 Chapter Twenty Two: Powerhouses are called that for a reason

    ¡®Vortex¡¯ Mun-gi is the real deal. He¡¯s fast, strong, and dextrous. None of that was a surprise, but what really caught me off guard is his sense for fighting.

    In the first clash we both swung at each other as if we wanted to chop the other in half. Until now, I had believed that there wasn¡¯t a human on the planet that could handle a frontal clash with me. An insect¡¯s proportional strength can¡¯t be underestimated after all. ...And that wasn''t even counting my extra power as a mutant beast.

    That¡¯s why it shocked me so much when he redirected my scythes like it was nothing. Just as our weapons were about to hit he made this weird motion with his wrists and used his kukris to knock my scythes to the side. Then he used an odd flicking motion and slashed the tips against my chest before leaping away.

    Whatever those kukris are made of, they are crazy sharp. My exoskeleton has been better than normal steel for a while now. According to Brokkr; enchanted steel was the best most people could get ahold of. True magic metals were ¡°rare as hen¡¯s teeth¡± and near impossible to work with. It was pretty convincing when a dwarf said it. It doesn¡¯t matter at the moment though, no matter how rare it is, this Mun-gi fellow obviously has some. I can¡¯t block a direct blow from him. It¡¯s unfortunate but I¡¯m pretty sure only my densest exoskeleton can resist his weapons.

    Even then I doubt that it would hold up for too long.

    The tips of his kukris didn¡¯t get completely through the exoskeleton on my chest, but I was forced to shape the grooves shut. The sight of the edges of the cuts pinching together made Mun-gi¡¯s eyes flash with some subtle emotion. He started circling around me, his feet moving in some odd but agile dance.

    I turned with him, constantly facing him so I was ready for whatever he pulled. The spinning looked odd, and seemed like it would waste stamina, but for a powerhouse that wouldn¡¯t be an issue. The odd way his feet moved mean it was hard to tell whether he was continuing his circling or starting a lunge. He would dip into attacking range, take a swing, and pull back in a single, smooth motion.

    I was definitely faster, but the way he moved made it hard to react to him. His arms were long as well, giving him a reach as good as mine. He used them for more than reach as well. The swings he made took advantage of his build perfectly, building up a terrifying momentum with his arms. His fighting style meshed perfectly with his long, silvery green kukris.

    Kukris are a kind of recurved sword. They are thick blades that bent forward partway down the length and have a wide belly. It gave them a beautiful edge at a perfect angle for chopping. The design is scarily effective at getting through tough material. They are swords that never forgot their ancestors were axes, and I was learning the hard way how nasty they were.

    The way he attacked was so polished and nimble that it was hard to see coming. The start of the swing was difficult to pick out from the normal way his arms moved as he ran circles around me. For now I was keeping up, but only because of my inhuman reaction speeds. The only reason it was enough was because he was still human. As powerful as warriors like him are, even superhumans are still more human than super.

    Every slash and chop he made had this strange feeling to it. His attacks felt predatory yet also had an almost surgical feeling of precision. Each attack that I blocked felt like it was going to go straight through my claws. He was aiming for vulnerable spots as well.

    The kukris started taking out chunks of my claws. They were tiny pieces, mere chips at most, but it showed I was slowly being overwhelmed. Somehow, he was reading me and adjusting to my fighting style. I didn¡¯t even have time to shapeshift them shut. I needed to change up my attacks if I wanted to survive.

    I grew slowly, trying to keep my body¡¯s growth balanced while still keeping him at bay. My body swelled up till I towered over him like some horrible, insectile centaur. It didn¡¯t seem to bother him much. If anything, he got more excited. A twisted, ecstatic smile forced its way onto his face. It didn¡¯t affect his fighting style though, his shark-like eyes kept watching my every move and he kept circling me at high speed. Those glittering kukris kept chipping away at my scythes. All the while we kept spinning around and around.

    I get why he¡¯s called ¡®Vortex¡¯ now. This is like being stuck in a whirlpool or a tornado. One that was full of knives.

    I couldn¡¯t let him keep the offensive anymore. My arms were longer now, so I needed to use that to my advantage. Pushing forward and stabbing at him almost recklessly, I tried to put him on the defensive.

    He¡¯s better than me, no doubt about that. When I first tried to attack he nearly cut off one of my claws at the wrist. The way his kukris move makes it feel like I¡¯m fighting a man with snakes for arms. They whip about like the metal is bending. I can see that he¡¯s just twisting his wrists, elbows, and shoulders oddly, but that doesn¡¯t make it any easier to predict...

    At this size I have a greater reach than Mun-gi. Thanks to that I should be able to hit his vital spots before he can touch mine. It isn¡¯t that simple though. The way he flicks my attacks off course is one thing, but he kept trying to chop at my joints. My joints are tough, but his blades could even take chunks out of the hard shell of my claws. It wasn¡¯t hard to imagine what would happen if he managed to get a clean hit on one of my weak points.

    With me pushing towards him, the spinning movement we had been making became an odd spiral. The odd footwork he used adapted easily to my aggressiveness. I had heard people talk about Muhammad Ali¡¯s ¡®float like a butterfly, sting like a bee¡¯ before, but this gave me a picture of what it must have been like. They way Mun-gi dodged made it feel like the breeze from my attacks was pushing him out of danger. The way he attacked back was so sharp and quick that you wouldn¡¯t think he was swinging around heavy metal swords.

    I¡¯ve never been so glad to have this abnormal body. If I was a little slower he would have slipped into close range and chopped me to pieces. If I was a little weaker he could smash my attacks aside and decapitate me. If the exoskeleton on my claws was just a tiny bit less tough he would simply slice of bits of my arms till I couldn¡¯t fight back. If I wasn¡¯t as powerful as I am I would have been killed seconds into the fight.

    I mean come on¡­ Which of us is the real monster here?

    It¡¯s still me of course, I am a giant bug monster after all. The only reason he¡¯s pressuring me so much is because of his martial arts. His movement demonstrated the deadly beauty of martial arts. Each swing of his sword and sway of his body had the grace of a dance or the flowing artistry of calligraphy, but with an inherent lethality and a far greater speed.

    No matter how he¡¯s doing it, it doesn¡¯t change the fact that he is winning this fight. He doesn¡¯t dare get too close, since my claws are more dangerous when you''re inside my reach, but he¡¯s chopping away at my arms. I can¡¯t divide my focus long enough to repair my exoskeleton.

    This isn''t working either. I could grow bigger, but I still have the problem of rapidly diminishing returns. I¡¯d definitely be stronger, but I wouldn¡¯t be much faster. To make tings worse, i knew it would make me a bigger target. It sucked, but I could already tell that unless I was a lot faster then getting any bigger wasn¡¯t going to help.

    I needed another edge. At the very least a moment to restore my claws would be welcome. Those shiny kukris have left my claws a broken, chipped mess. I had so many advantages, but I couldn¡¯t use them properly.

    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

    It was time to change locations.

    The trees were massive. I crouched down and shot up into the canopy. The thick branches could support the weight fo me carrying a heavy load easily, so it was perfect for something like me to fight in. I hung upside down from a bough, looking down on Mun-gi. He watched the chips on my claws disappear as they regained their pristine appearance. My mouthparts twisted into a smug grin.

    ¡°Alright buddy, time for round two.¡±

    Mun-gi raised an eyebrow. He spun the kukris in his hands and shifted his stance back a bit. He didn¡¯t let down his guard, but he had relaxed from that crouched leopard posture.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know you could talk¡­¡±

    He had an odd but not unpleasant accent. His voice was rather deep as well and his diction was perfect. His body language was that of a predator, but his voice was that of a scholar. It was nice that he was willing to talk; I wasn¡¯t certain I could beat him. Any time I could buy was time that the elves and bees could use to whittle down the army.

    I shifted my stance into a more casual one, tilting my head at him.

    ¡°I can sing too, but don¡¯t ask me to dance. I have two left feet.¡±

    Mun-gi barked out a laugh. His odd eyes made his grin quite scary, but there was honest humor there.

    ¡°Ha! I doubt dancing is truly impossible to you; you were moving quite well in our dance of death earlier. I rarely get a fight this good, and this is the most fun I¡¯ve ever had against a magic beast.¡±

    ¡°Aww, you flatter me. I can¡¯t call this boring either. You¡¯ve been humbling me from the beginning. I¡¯d guessed you were going to be trouble when I first saw you but seriously¡­ you put the ¡®artist¡¯ in martial artist.¡±

    ¡°Now who¡¯s flattering the other? ...Ah, but I have to ask: were you the thing that the soldiers have been calling the Shriek? You don¡¯t look much like the thing that attacked the army, but I didn¡¯t get a very clear look at it either. Still, I can¡¯t help but have the feeling that you¡¯re connected somehow.

    ¡°Man, ¡®the Shriek¡¯ was it? That sounds awesome. But yeah, you¡¯ve got some good intuition there.¡±

    I shifted into the aerodynamic blue dart-like shape I had used to decapitate the troops. I pulled close to the branch and stretched out my longer, sharper, claws. Twisting them a bit let the light catch the shiny, razor edges. They had looked really cool, but compared to the glowing shine of the kukris they didn¡¯t look nearly as deadly. Mun-gi looked impressed though.

    ¡°This what you saw?¡±

    He whistled as he looked me over.

    ¡°Nice trick!¡±

    I grinned again. This guy seemed pretty easy to get along with. If we weren¡¯t trying to murder each other we could probably be friends. I shifted once more, returning to my normal proportions. As a bonus I gave myself a metallic shine and a few curved spikes. I molded the spikes so they would snag Mun-gi¡¯s blades if I could catch them right. I doubted it would work, he was too quick for it to be that easy, but I could hope.

    ¡°So, I know I said round two, but is there any way I could convince you to not fight?¡±

    Mun-gi didn¡¯t exactly frown, but his grin twisted to allow a hint of regret through. I already knew the answer before he spoke.

    ¡°Sorry, but I¡¯ve already accepted the money. A mercenary is only as good as his word. That goes double for unaffiliated powerhouses.¡±

    His grin returned to full brilliance, this time more bloodthirsty. He leaned forward and his posture had that coiled predator look once again.

    ¡°Besides, what kind of idiot would turn down the chance for a fight this good?¡±

    ¡°Fine, I won¡¯t ask again. But if you wanna keep fighting you¡¯re going to have to play in my realm.¡±

    I jerked my head upwards and watched as his smile got even wider. He pulled into a crouch and tensed his muscles. With a single violent jump, he shot up into the trees. Flipping upside down, his feet hooked around the smaller branches and hung from them like a bat.

    ¡°Who am I to turn down a challenge like this?¡±

    There was no way he would be as agile up here as he was on the ground. That said, he was acting confident enough that I wasn¡¯t going to get cocky. I leaned forward and slashed at him with quick, sharp motions, trying to cut him anywhere I could.

    Mun-gi wobbled and swayed from where he hung from the branch. It looked unstable, but it let him dodge every attack. He tried to get the tips of his kukris in my vulnerable joints once in a while, but for the most part he acted defensively. Almost half of my attacks struck empty air and the rest were shunted aside.

    Mun-gi¡¯s new strategy was much different from earlier. He didn¡¯t parry nearly as much. It threw my rhythm off at first, since I was putting a lot of force into my blows. I had been trying to overpower parries that weren¡¯t coming. After a couple close calls I switched to jabbing at him with the tips of my claws, using them as rapiers rather than scythes.

    The combination of stabbing and more controlled slashes did much better. I was able to pressure Mun-gi much more than before. I moved forward cautiously, not wanting to overextend myself. For his part, Mun-gi was able to ¡®step¡¯ backwards or forwards by pulling up slightly and hooking his feet on different parts of the branches. It was awkward, but he made it work.

    I had the advantage now, but he didn¡¯t seem to mind. From the look on his face, it was obvious Mun-gi was having the time of his life. With a sudden swing, he flipped away, bouncing off another branch and using it as a springboard to zip behind me. His kukri scored a thin line on the exoskeleton of my arm. If I¡¯d dodged even a fraction of a second slower I would have lost an arm.

    I twisted around as fast as I could so I could be ready before he got his footing. When we clashed again, I pushed as hard as I could. His awkward position was my only advantage. He swayed out of the way and stepped as quickly as he could, but I was able to match him now.

    I scored first blood. It was a tiny cut. I¡¯d barely managed to slash the tip of a claw across his ribs. It didn¡¯t matter how small it was, it was the first real damage in this fight. Mun-gi didn¡¯t even flinch though. If anything, his focus got even sharper. He blocked a few more of my attacks before flipping back into the branches.

    He used the springiness of the branches to build speed and hooked a foot or an arm around them to whip himself into a sharp turn. It didn¡¯t take him long before he was ricocheting about the canopy like a bouncy ball. Keeping him from getting behind me was getting harder and harder as he built up speed.

    The reflections of light of his kukri glittered as he zipped about around me. He wasn¡¯t able to get much faster than he was. The thin branches couldn¡¯t support his weight at that momentum and limiting himself to the thickest branches didn¡¯t give him enough freedom to move.

    Whenever I had the chance I tried to smack him out of the air. Mun-gi didn¡¯t have wings, so I figured he wouldn¡¯t be able to dodge. I was wrong. He couldn¡¯t fly, but he took to the air like a fish to water.

    Whenever he saw my claw coming towards him he would spin his kukris and move his legs, shifting himself out of the path of my attack. It reminded me of the way pole vaulters could move their center of gravity, or how cats could turn in midair. It was slick and graceful looking. He twisted through the air like a snake.

    I was able to nick him once or twice, but I¡¯d need to hit him a thousand more times before wounds that small made a difference. Even now, I could hear his quiet laugh. The man was nearly giggling from how happy he was.

    The next thing I tried was intercepting him as he touched down. The tiny moment where he bent a branch or used one to swing around was an opening ...if I could take advantage of it. That didn¡¯t work well either. He actually jammed the tip of one of his kukris in the tree trunk and used that to change direction. The maneuver meant he lost a little momentum, but two more ricochets and he was back at top speed.

    ¡°Haha! What next? Come one! If you don¡¯t dig a little deeper I might just take your head!¡±

    The voice sounded weird with how it was moving about, but the sheer, unbridled joy was obvious.

    ¡°This is the arena you chose right!? So show me more! Push me further! Let us ascend even higher!¡±

    I swayed, spun, and twisted. It was all I could do some moments to stop him from lopping my head off. Other times he dodged by a hair¡¯s breadth, or managed to turn a lethal attack into an inconsequential scratch with the tiniest of movements. He hadn¡¯t been exaggerating; he was actually getting better as we fought.

    The nasty, strange way he swung his kukris combined with the way he flew about the trees meant that many times I didn¡¯t have a hope of blocking it. Whenever he made one of those attacks I just threw myself out of the way. Luckily, those abnormally moving attacks seemed to be easier for him to make when he had both feet on the ground, so most of the attacks didn¡¯t have that inscrutable quality.

    That said, his attacks were still really freaking fast.

    The both of us were forced into a stalemate. Each of us was one mistake from dying, but for now we weren¡¯t showing any openings. My nerves were stretched to their limits, and my senses were working overtime. If my field of vision wasn¡¯t so wide and my eyes so keen he would have been able to slip into a blind spot and kill me easily.

    It was a fight that could end in a fraction of a second, at any second, but it was dragging on and on. I was forced to move about to keep him from setting me up, but even that didn¡¯t keep him from getting some hits in.

    They weren¡¯t bad, but the cuts finally made it through my exoskeleton. They were the first proper injuries he¡¯d given me. I couldn¡¯t let my focus waver because of the pain, but I definitely felt the psychological pressure from taking real damage.

    I wasn¡¯t able to watch where I was going, not in detail. We were jockeying for an advantage, so we ended up moving about quite a bit. Fighting Mun-gi was like fighting a chessmaster; you didn¡¯t know how many moves ahead he was planning, but you knew he was.

    We kept it up for a bit, then somehow without me noticing, we were back by the army. I met Mun-gi¡¯s grinning gaze, and he chuckled again.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you getting bored with this? Let¡¯s switch to a new arena again!¡±

    Mun-gi bounced off a thicker branch and slammed into me. The sheer momentum his kukris carried as they slammed into my scythes knocked me off my feet. Chunks of bark came away as he literally tore me off the branch and knocked us both into the air. We fell from the treetops, right into the middle of the Macedonian troops.

    I¡¯ll say this about the guy: he doesn¡¯t think small.

 Chapter Twenty Three: Scary faces

    Mun-gi and I separated in the air as we dropped into the Macedonian army formation. Fighting here was going to be a challenge, but it wasn¡¯t in his favor as much as it might seem. Even if these soldiers were his allies, men this weak would just get in his way.

    There were a few rows of men between me and my opponent, so I took the opportunity to transform once more. A few soldiers stopped yelling and screaming long enough to attack me, but I ignored them. At first, my exoskeleton was a metallic green and I had a few spikes here and there. Then I transformed into my scary face.

    My exoskeleton turned an evil black color. The shininess had a moist, almost slimy quality that I¡¯d spent months perfecting and practicing. I warped the surface to fill it with lines and odd curves that had an alien, bones-and-organs look to it. The spikes were given a curved but slightly crooked shape, and I added a lot more of them. A few horn-like protrusions pushed out of my back, giving me a hunched malevolence. Sawtoothed ridges on my legs and sides completed the organic, living weapon look.

    I wasn¡¯t even halfway finished before the soldiers around me screamed in horror. The smokey insect repellant drifting about barely obscured anyone¡¯s vision, but it did enhance the atmosphere of malevolence my new body gave off. A few of the braver ones did slash at me, but it didn¡¯t do anything. Their mundane steel blades could barely leave a mark on my exoskeleton. The sight of the attacks doing nothing to me made them panic even more. They didn¡¯t even try to target my joints.

    My apparent invincibility and evil appearance scared the troops into wetting themselves and scattering like scared rabbits. I¡¯d worked hard on my scary face, and it worked beautifully. Even Mun-gi hesitated; his jaw dropped as he stared at my absolutely malicious new form.

    I¡¯d modeled ''scary face'' after xenomorphs. My former life brought a lot of advantageous knowledge and this was a product of that. This homage to a classic horror movie proved much more useful than I¡¯d thought. Smart men had spent a great deal of time making a horrifying and unnerving monstrosity, and plagiarizing their efforts let me use psychological warfare¡¯s equivalent to a cruise missile.

    I suddenly had a lot of space to maneuver in. Mun-gi and I stared at each other. After a moment of horror he spoke quietly and carefully. I barely heard it above the screaming.

    ¡°W-what are you?¡±

    I gave him a friendly laugh.

    ¡°Aww c¡¯mon. Don¡¯t tell me a little shapeshifting is enough to scare you, mister Mun-gi? I need to do something to make sure we don¡¯t have anyone interfere with our fight. Or were you planning on relying on outside help?¡±

    A number of expressions flashed across his face. He looked scared, angry, and offended, but eventually he settled on a sort of amused embarrassment. He bent forward and raised the tips of his kukris at mirrored angles. The posture looked almost like a bull prepared to charge, with the blades forming the horns. Despite the restrained power in his stance he let out a chuckling sigh.

    ¡°To think that something so simple would put me off my game. You have my admiration; that is by far the most frightening and unnatural appearance I have ever seen. However, I¡¯m offended you think I brought you here so the small fry would help me. Does their presence make you nervous? We can move back to the trees if you want.¡±

    I looked at one of the soldiers and made an aborted lunging motion. The poor sap¡¯s response was to fall on his rear and make a girly scream as he crawled backwards. After watching him for half a second I turned back to Mun-gi.

    ¡°I think I¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    Mun-gi chuckled slightly and charged.

    I was definitely the scariest looking thing in the forest, but Mun-gi definitely was intimidating himself. Aside from his large dark eyes, his overly wide, manic looking grin had the atmosphere of a predator. He relished the challenge I posed, and the scarier and stronger I got, the more excited he became.

    That charge turned into an incredibly low dive. He was so low to the ground that for a second I thought he was slithering on his stomach like a snake. I stabbed downwards like my claws were twin pickaxes, but he passed between them by twisting to the side at the last moment. He shot between my legs, turning that twist into a spin he used to slash at my undercarriage.

    I managed a clumsy jump, barely in time to avoid taking lethal damage. Whipping my legs and claws while arching my back let me turn the jump into a flip in midair. It was my first time trying it, but I managed to imitate Mun-gi¡¯s crazy acrobatics, even if it was still pretty rough.

    Mun-gi stayed close to the ground. He actually used his kukris as another set of legs, making it look like he was moving like a quadruped at times. It was freaky looking, but it reminded me of a tiger in a subtle sort of way.

    His new stance let him zigzag about the battlefield, changing directions and coming at me from odd directions. He shot out of the heavy smoke flowing along the ground, pouncing at me abruptly. As he descended towards me he slashed downwards, building up speed with a terrifyingly fast forward spin. For a fraction of a second he looked like a shining, metal wheel. Then the kukris slammed into my upraised claws.

    The sheer, unrelenting force of the blow shook me to the core. My feet actually sank a half inch in the ground, making a quartet of small cracked craters. Those greenish silver kukris bit deeply into my claws. It was painful, but Mun-gi hadn¡¯t quite managed to chop off the ends of my scythes. We paused for a thousandth of a second, then he made a whipping motion with his whole body. He tried to build up force to continue the cut. A rolling motion seemed to move up his body, starting at his toes and shooting towards the kukris in his outstretched hands.

    I barely escaped in time. I shapeshifted the wounds wider for a second to free the kukris wedged inside and pulled away as fast as I could. Not a moment too soon, since the rolling motion reached his arms and he slammed his kukris downwards like a snapping whip. The blades hit the middle of the road and sunk deeply in.

    Despite missing an opportunity, he didn¡¯t stop moving. Mun-gi used the force of his head and arms shooting down to spin his legs up in another flip. He let go and his legs swung overhead toward my face. The heels of his slammed into my eyes. I reeled back, instinctively covering my face with my claws.

    Mun-gi dropped to the ground. He grabbed his weapons and tugged them free. It took a second for him to yank his kukris out of the spot he''d buried them. That turned out to be more of an opportunity for me to recover than for me to attack. I couldn¡¯t heal or shapeshift proper repairs. The best I managed before he rose to attack was making simple welds on my claws and pushing out the dents in my multifaceted eyes.

    He¡¯d done a number on me, no mistake.

    I couldn¡¯t see very well at certain points, and my claws couldn¡¯t handle another hit like that anymore. His freaky movements had let him come close to crippling me. The fight wasn¡¯t over yet though.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    Someone was shouting in the distance. Neither of us listened, but the troops closed in around us. I would try to use my shiny evil looks to scare them more, but I couldn¡¯t take my eyes off Mun-gi right now. He was coming at me again.

    He had abandoned the low stance for now. I was trapped in his circling attack from the start of the fight once more. I was more prepared for it this time.

    The soldiers around us wanted to close in, presumably to help, but they weren¡¯t able to move past the ring that Mun-gi¡¯s dancing steps traced. They settled for standing with weapons ready just outside while Mun-gi circled me like a shark. The insect repellant smoke turned the air hazy, making it feel like we were mired in some ancient, hellish battlefield.

    These soldiers were more of a environmental hazard than actual opponents. I could make use of them as well. At the right moment I tensed my four legs and jumped to the side, smashing into the soldier¡¯s formation.

    They were so light to me that as long as I braced my feet properly I could bowl them aside like they were made of styrofoam. Every movement I made smacked them aside and slammed them into their fellows. I literally trampled through them as I circled through and charged out at Mun-gi. I burst out of the crowd like a tiger shooting out of tall grass.

    A single claw shot out like a lance and stabbed into Mun-gi¡¯s stomach. Before it could sink any deeper a kukri swung around and knocked it away. He sucked in his stomach so the belated parry didn¡¯t make my claw gouge out more of his flesh. It was too late though, I had returned the attack from earlier.

    Mun-gi stepped away and shifted, trying to confirm the extent of the damage. Apparently it wasn¡¯t as bad as I hoped, since he moved to attack me once more.

    Both of us ignored the empty space the troops had left for us. We freely dove into the army¡¯s ranks and attacked each other from within the crowd. Neither of us particularly cared about the wellbeing of the soldiers around us. That was natural for someone in my position but surprising for Mun-gi. Although, if half the rumors about the Macedonian government and their army are true then I could understand him not caring particularly about whether they live or die.

    The way we moved was drastically different. I was so heavy and strong that I could just bulldoze through them. Thanks to my armored body I didn¡¯t have to worry about their weapons either, in fact they ended up injuring or killing themselves when I tackled them. Mun-gi was a lot more graceful though.

    Several times throughout this fight I¡¯ve caught myself wondering whether or not this guy has any bones. The way he moved through this crowd made me wonder that once more. The way he weaved and sidestepped between the milling soldiers with their swords and spears out reminded me of a snake slithering through grass. He was slipping through the shouting troops like a liquid.

    Attacking each other was hard with the soldiers obscuring our vision and getting in the way. Dodging was even harder. Mun-gi seemed to come out of nowhere, his kukri zigzagging out from behind a man¡¯s shoulder and stabbing at my arm. It dug in just enough to do a bit of damage and before I could counter attack. The kukri and arm holding it retracted into the crowd.

    I was still able to hold my own though. Mun-gi was pretty distinctive, and he wasn¡¯t able to completely hide in the crowd. It was hard to block or dodge when I couldn¡¯t see the start of his attack, but he couldn¡¯t swing his blades around willy nilly either. He must have thought I¡¯d be the same, but I think he was underestimating just how strong I actually was.

    When he came up for another attack I took a wide, sweeping slash with one of my claws. There were three soldiers that were trying to escape, and he was trying to use them as a shield. I completely ignored them as I attacked Mun-gi. The three soldiers in their leather and metal armor were partially bisected as my claw swept into them. The force of my hit sent them tumbling through the air like ragdolls.

    Mun-gi barely managed to get his kukris up to guard but he wasn¡¯t able to divert it like he usually did. He was knocked backwards into a soldier. It was odd, but the moment he slammed into the man he suddenly stopped and the man went flying like all the momentum was transferred somehow. I suppose I still haven¡¯t managed to force him to use all of his tricks.

    We exchanged a few more blows, but we still weren¡¯t making much progress one way or the other. When he attacked I would kick a soldier at him or drag one in front of me to mess up his attack. When I would take a swing soldiers would be sent flying, but he would either shift my hits off course, or do that weird momentum transferring thing¡­

    That wasn¡¯t to say we weren¡¯t injuring each other, but none of it was dangerous. My exoskeleton meant that only Mun-gi¡¯s best attacks would do real damage. Mun-gi was skilled enough that my own attack rarely hit anywhere important either. He would twist or shift his body just enough to keep me from cutting a tendon or an artery.

    I can only imagine what our fight must look like to outsiders. A horrible, alien monster smashing through a crowd of soldiers in a smoke filled forest. People, and pieces of people, flying through the air with every swing of the monster¡¯s claws. And through it all, a man swinging around a pair of glittering blades moved like a ghost through the panicking troops as he fought the monster.

    As miniscule as the damage we both were taking was, we couldn¡¯t go on like this forever. I was losing stamina ¡®wading¡¯ through the troops and Mun-gi was forced to move in weird ways that sapped his endurance just as much. We both could run for days without a break, but our energy was used up much quicker pushing ourselves like this. The mental strain of a fight this frantic was no joke either.

    We¡¯d definitely made a mess of the army as well. I hadn¡¯t paid much attention to how many I¡¯d killed, but the way the soldiers were scattering was a good sign. The more they spread out the easier they would be to stop. Eventually Mun-gi and I were going to run out of human shields though.

    With the crowd thinning Mun-gi and I sped up. We charged about the battlefield, still making use of the fleeing Macedonian soldiers when we could. Mun-gi was able to move more freely now, and I was able to keep better track of him. I¡¯m not sure whether that was a good thing or a bad thing, since seeing him and seeing his attacks coming are two different things.

    It didn¡¯t take long before there were no soldiers in easy reach. I was curious about the state of the army but Mun-gi was too fast; I couldn¡¯t take my eyes off him. I¡¯m pretty sure the army split into two groups, but I could only guess from what I saw out of the corner of my eye.

    Mun-gi was doing that strange, four-legged run again. The way his chin nearly scraped the ground as he gouged out divots of earth with his kukri ¡®legs¡¯ was strange to watch. He moved oddly fast like that and could turn on a dime. The predatory way he shifted about the battlefield took away any humor that could be gained from how unorthodox his movement was.

    I jerked a foot out of reach just in time. A flash of metal zipped by where it had been a fraction of a second ago. Mun-gi skimmed by like a flash of lightning. He slammed a kukri into the ground and his body snapped into an almost 180 degree turn in an instant. I was forced to jump to avoid him chopping off my back feet.

    Before I hit the ground he had zigzagged around and shot up to meet me. He went from practically clinging to the ground to a spinning wheel of death flying towards my stomach. I tried to flip around to meet him, but he was just too fast.

    *Snikt*

    One of Mun-gi¡¯s kukris sheared straight through my front left leg. The exoskeleton and flesh gave almost no resistance. I lost everything below the knee in a fraction of a second. Mun-gi spun past me as I dropped back to earth. I landed on my three remaining feet and turned to see him abort his spin and land as gracefully as a cat. We stopped and looked at each other through the dispersing smoke.

    I looked down at the stump of my leg and wiggled it a bit before looking at Mun-gi. It hurt like crazy but I still felt my mouthparts twisting into an odd sort of grin.

    ¡°I know you humans are fine with two legs, but that doesn¡¯t mean the rest of us are...¡±

    He chuckled in response and flicked his wrists to spin his blades around a few times. His reply had a good natured but slightly mocking tone.

    ¡°Come now, would you rather I took your head? At least now you only have one left foot, by your logic that should make you a better dancer.¡±

    ¡°Maybe I¡¯ll take up ballet. At the very least I won¡¯t have to worry about some fight happy dude trying to chop me to pieces.¡±

    That got him laughing. He had a very genuine laugh, the kind that made you want to keep telling jokes. The eager bloodthirst in his large, black eyes was still there though. The hunger for battle remained even after the humor left his eyes. It made the regret in his next words sound vaguely insincere.

    ¡°Unfortunately I¡¯m going to have to finish this fight now. After the mess we just made I¡¯m afraid I¡¯ll need your head to appease my employers. I hadn¡¯t realized fighting a beast like yourself would make quite this much impact on their army.¡±

    ¡°Did I mess up your chances of getting paid? Actually, wait: this was your idea in the first place, I shouldn¡¯t feel guilty.¡±

    He chuckled again, shaking his head.

    ¡°As long as I kill a VIP I¡¯m entitled to my money. Whether or not these fools win their little battle doesn¡¯t have any bearing on my pay. If they skip out on my bill I imagine there are plenty of people who would be happy to fund a bit of revenge. These Macedonians seem the type to make enemies rather easily.¡±

    Mun-gi paused for a moment and looked quite sheepish as he scratched his head with the pommel of one of his kukris.

    ¡°...I may have pushed it a bit though; I hadn¡¯t expected to make quite this much of an impact on the battle like this.¡±

    I took the chance to look around. Dead and unconscious soldier were scattered around the area. It looked like a bomb went off here. The only uninjured soldiers nearby were running like the devil was nipping at their heels. I looked at my terrifyingly alien body and gave Mun-gi a look.

    ¡°I doubt they¡¯ll think it was your idea...¡±

    Mun-gi shrugged at that. He seemed to be getting in the mood to continuing our fight. I forced a spike of exoskeleton out of the stump of my leg and stabbed it into the ground. A tiny hint of jealousy squirmed across his face for a second, but soon he seemed to get excited again. He wanted me as strong as possible, otherwise it wouldn¡¯t be worth fighting me. His grin returned in all its bloodthirsty brilliance.

    The fight was going to end soon, we both knew it. My eyes were dented, my claws were injured, and one of my feet was missing. If I didn¡¯t pull out some trump card then Mun-gi was going to kill me.

 Chapter Twenty Four: Pithy and clever chapter titles are hard to make, I give up.

    I needed a trump card. It had to be something exceptional if I was going to win. We¡¯re talking about some kind of anime transformation. I needed to turn into super mantis blue, draw on the power of the nine-tailed mantis sealed within me, transform into my final, inexplicably small, handsome teenager form, or whatever last second nonsensical power up I had.

    The problem was that I didn¡¯t have any of that.

    I¡¯ve always been a firm believer in front loading power. Gain the advantage early, then force the enemy to waste their power weapons, or keep them from being able to set up their combos. Needing a trump card meant that you were already in the hole. If you had to resort to some special strategy, why didn¡¯t you use it in the first place?

    Of course, it¡¯s easy to say that when you aren¡¯t losing a battle against a guy who fights like a school of piranhas hopped up on energy drinks. Mun-gi was better than me when I was completely healthy, so I was in deep trouble now. He had gone back to circling me and taking the occasional swing at me. With one of my four legs the way it was, I couldn¡¯t keep up with his crazy footwork. Not only that, but the damage to my claws made clashing quite painful. Add in the blurry parts of my eyes and I was definitely at a major disadvantage.

    Mun-gi had the stab in his stomach and a number of tiny scratches here and there, but it didn¡¯t seem to hinder him at all. I can¡¯t imagine how much experience he must have to be able to fight freely while wounded. That kind of perseverance and skill isn¡¯t something you are born with; you need to earn through endless combat.

    I didn¡¯t have the same know how. There had never been the need or opportunity to learn. I was a massive carnivorous bug monster. I hadn¡¯t been in a fair fight in years, much less a losing one. The last time I¡¯d been outmatched was when I fought those kidnappers, and they had the advantage of numbers and location. I couldn¡¯t drop trees on him. He could dodge easily, and I bet he could chop a tree to pieces before it hit the ground.

    My improvised peg leg held up fine, but it wasn¡¯t nearly as agile as a proper foot. The way Mun-gi ran circles around me proved that quite well. He would speed up and slow down at random, and this spike of exoskeleton was clumsy as I turned to match him. I really needed some kind of trump card.

    The idea of running crossed my mind. By now the enemy had probably been set back so thoroughly that the invasion had failed. It was a long way to the nearest town, so taking a more casual pace to our attacks wouldn¡¯t hurt. I couldn¡¯t bring myself to risk the other¡¯s lives though. The more I fought with Mun-gi, the more I realized how unstoppable he really was.

    If I ran away he would go for any other powerhouse or VIP he could find. I couldn¡¯t do that to my friends and family. Plus, in a weird sort of way, I feel like I owe him a proper fight. It may be my ego speaking, but I wasn¡¯t going to escape and abandon him either. I¡¯d just have to go further.

    I¡¯d already pushed my senses and reactions to 100%. It wasn¡¯t enough though. As cliche as it was, I needed 110%. Hearing teachers and bosses say that kind of thing had always annoyed me. It was patronizing and condescending. You can¡¯t give more than 100%, so that was just another way of saying that you aren¡¯t working hard enough. In this case it was true though. I needed to give more than I had.

    I couldn¡¯t give more than I had, but I could make my new 100% greater than my former 100%. How¡¯d he put it earlier? ¡®Let us ascend even higher.¡¯

    I actively tried to absorb Mun-gi¡¯s techniques. It wasn¡¯t like a normal human¡¯s movements could be used with a mantid¡¯s body, but the core concepts were still useful. Shifting and swaying to absorb blows and control the distance wasn¡¯t a new idea to me, but the way Mun-gi did it was so much better and smoother. The way he attacked and parried had an odd flow to it that I could benefit from even with my a shallow imitation.

    My attempt at improving would never have worked if it wasn¡¯t for my insane physical abilities, senses, and reaction time. The bargain bin martial arts I was using were literally invented on the spot. On the other hand, I had been able to stand my ground without it, so it did help me quite a bit.

    I managed to force yet another stalemate. I was still on the losing side, but I wasn¡¯t going to die anytime soon. I spun to match the vortex of blades around me and fended off each attack. Doing that weird flicking motion Mun-gi did to parry attacks was impossible, but I did move much more efficiently.

    One of Mun-gi¡¯s glittering kukris swept towards me. I tried to use the minimum movement to slap it to the side. The second kukri stabbed towards me like a scorpion¡¯s stinger. That one slid away from its course with the claw I managed to raise just barely in time. The previous kukri came back at me and I blocked it as well. I was barely keeping up.

    If it was before I would have taken one hit for every six or seven he threw. Now I was a little safer, although I knew that if I slipped even by a millimeter I¡¯d take another cut or stab. Even those small hits were dangerous. My knock off martial arts had definitely bought me time. I wasn¡¯t going to develop anything that could truly be called a martial art yet, but I could get by with my physique and reaction speed for now.

    Unfortunately, unless I did spontaneously learn a proper martial art, I wasn¡¯t going to be making any counterattacks either. With my injuries slowing me down I just wasn¡¯t able to do more than keep up. It didn¡¯t help that Mun-gi had been observing me and adjusting to my pace as well. He definitely looked a lot more relaxed than I did as well.

    He was even comfortable enough to speak. It wasn¡¯t very good for the ego to have to fend off his attacks while listening to him talk casually.

    ¡°This has been the best fight I¡¯ve had in years, you know!¡±

    He kept circling about as he talked. The dust kicked up by our feet mixed with the thin remains of the insecticide smoke. The dusty smoke twisting around our legs didn¡¯t obscure anything, but it made the scene look quite artistic. I felt like a dancer in a play. Despite how amazing fighting like this was I couldn¡¯t help but resent how pretty things were. This was a real fight, did it have to look so frou-frou?This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    ¡°I have fought all sorts; beasts, men, and men that fought like beasts. But this is the first time for me to fight a beast that fought like a man!¡±

    His words made me pause for a brief second, putting me in a lot of danger. When he said that I nearly died. I barely felt the cut I took in that moment of carelessness though, his words were just too distracting. He was right. I fought like a human, not a praying mantis.

    It was inevitable. Even if I had adjusted to my new body years ago, my mind was still the same human mind I''d always had. I just didn¡¯t think like an insect. That wasn¡¯t a disadvantage at all; bugs aren''t intelligent. Being able to come up with schemes and reason my way through problems had saved my life many times.

    That wasn¡¯t to say that bugs were stupid, they were just unintelligent. That sounds like the same thing but there¡¯s a big difference between the two. Unintelligent insects act solely according to their instincts. They didn¡¯t try to use their brains to reason out what they should do. Insects aren¡¯t stupid because thinking isn¡¯t really a factor in their behavior processes.

    I¡¯d never used my instincts, since it hadn¡¯t really been necessary. I was just too overpowered. Even moving inefficiently was enough to let me run rampant throughout the forest. It was a bit counterintuitive, but if I wanted to wring out any more power I needed to rely on my instincts and reflexes.

    I guess I had a trump card after all.

    A single explosive step nearly freed me from Mun-gi¡¯s deadly vortex. He didn¡¯t follow me too closely as I tried to gain distance with my backward leaps. I was obviously up to something and he wasn¡¯t going to risk falling for a trap. He seemed to know I wasn¡¯t going to run, so there was no need for him to hurry.

    I pulled my claws up to my chest. Following my instincts after so long was hard, but a tiny part would always survive in the primal parts of my brain. Reflexes and instincts built into my flesh started to awaken. It was weird, like settling into a routine. My exoskeleton warped and shrunk as it returned to its normal green. Black, slimy looking horns and spines receded to reveal glossy green exoskeleton. The alien ridges smoothed themselves over as the organ and bone imitations disappeared, leaving behind my true appearance.

    The way my shapeshifting undid itself felt unavoidable. I didn¡¯t want to lose my grip on this feeling because I was to busy trying to look scary. It was like relaxing a muscle I didn''t know was clenched. There wasn¡¯t much of an audience left anyway, so it wouldn¡¯t matter. The only bit I nearly tried to keep was my claws. I always liked cutting edges over the normal, interlocking spikes.

    Mun-gi had this almost obnoxious grin on his face. He knew I was pulling out some sort of trump card and he couldn¡¯t be happier. There was a hint of challenge in his dark eyes that would come off as arrogant on anyone else. He was slowly jogging towards me before he leaned into a rapid dash.

    I felt myself focus on his approaching silhouette. My body relaxed like I was sinking into a hot tub. Every bit of tension disappeared and time seemed to warp. It still felt counterintuitive, but there was a confidence in my actions that seemed to come from something carved within my DNA.

    Mun-gi had his kukris up in that horn-like pose again. He had this momentum as he charged that made him seem bigger than he really was. It was like a bull the size of a truck sprinting forward, ready to impale you on its horns. With the way my claws were loosely folded up, it seemed that if I didn¡¯t make a stance he¡¯d carve me open before I could strike back. I decided to trust my instincts though.

    Time seemed to flow differently. It didn¡¯t slow down, at least not the I pictured something like that would feel. Instead everything felt more distinct, like my senses were more clearly defined. I didn¡¯t have more time to think, but everything was more clear.

    There wasn¡¯t that much distance between Mun-gi and I, and he covered it in a fraction of a second. My senses felt strange, like the colors were oversaturated and the sounds were louder. Mun-gi¡¯s kukris shone like mirrors under the sun, and his footsteps sounded strangely sharp.

    At the last moment Mun-gi somehow accelerated even further. He reached an faster speed than either of us had seen since the start of the fight. The air screamed as his blades cut the wind open. I knew I was going to die. Then he crossed some sort of boundary, and my reflexes triggered, and my body exploded into motion.

    Even with my enhanced senses and the odd state of my mind I didn¡¯t see what happened. One moment I was prepared to attack him and the next I had two massive slashes across my body. I was missing an arm just below the shoulder and the cuts on my torso nearly chopped me in half.

    Back when I was human I had been in a car crash once. It hadn¡¯t been a bad one but it stuck with me. This was like that in a lot of ways. When I¡¯d been in the car crash I remember that I hadn¡¯t actually experienced the crash itself. One second I was driving, the next I was dazed and confused. This situation wasn¡¯t exactly like that, but the feeling of abrupt transition reminded me of it.

    Before anything else, I shapeshifted my wounds closed. My missing arm aside, the two cuts on my torso were starting to hurt more and more. I might even pass out once I came down off this adrenaline high. They might be enough to make me bleed out which would make unconsciousness lethal.

    Forcing those wide wounds closed hurt like mad. My exoskeleton creaked as it pulled together and sealed shut. My joints spasmed a bit before the pain faded enough for me to think properly again. My arm was shot, and I wasn¡¯t going to be fighting anymore, but at least I could stand up.

    When Mun-gi and I had clashed we had hit each other simultaneously. That moment was less than a blur. You could have missed it by blinking. Then it was just agony. It looks like Mun-gi got it just as bad as me though.

    He had slipped past me when he¡¯d attacked earlier. I didn¡¯t even see how he did it, but evidently I had gotten a piece of him as he passed by. He was still standing, but from all the blood it was obvious that he wasn¡¯t going to be doing any more fighting either.

    At least, that¡¯s what I had thought at first.

    ¡°Th-that¡­ -Ghk!¡±

    Mun-gi coughed as we turned to face each other once again. My missing arm was sticking out of his back, the tip of my claw buried in his flesh. It hung awkwardly, weighing him down. I hadn¡¯t grabbed on with my other arm in time, but the parallel  lines of scrapes on his chest and back suggested that he¡¯d slipped out at the last second. His kukris hung loosely in his hands, but the fire in his eyes hadn¡¯t disappeared yet.

    His smile was surprisingly blood free. Years of television had taught me that he should be vomiting blood, but apparently TV lied to me. Color me surprised. It didn¡¯t matter though, that flawless but insane smile was unnerving in its own way. He shifted forwards, winced then stopped.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t think you could move that fast. ...I didn¡¯t think I could move that fast.¡±

    I felt a laugh bubble up. Everything hurt, but somehow we were both still smiling.

    ¡°No pain, no gain I guess.¡±

    He snorted at that, giving me an odd look.

    ¡°Yes, I suppose that¡¯s a good way of putting it.¡±

    We stood there silently, the sound of the forest and far off battle acting to underline the silence rather than end it. Neither of us was willing to move, everything just hurt too much.

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°...¡±

    After a bit Mun-gi let out a pained chuckle.

    ¡°I suppose the fight isn¡¯t over yet, but continuing after that exchange feels anticlimactic. I give up.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ that isn¡¯t really the reason I¡¯d expect you to give for stopping this fight.¡±

    His grin twisted a bit as he looked at me.

    ¡°Even if I love fighting, I¡¯m not suicidal. I¡¯ve failed my mission, so continuing would simply be throwing my life away. This seems a good time to end the fight. I have lost, so I may as well throw in the towel here.¡±

    The way he said that was strangely obnoxious. It didn¡¯t feel much like he was admitting a loss. I¡¯d been fighting so desperately for my life and he was just calling it off. Even so, as much as I wanted to get annoyed or angry, I just felt relief.

    ¡°Good enough for me.¡±

    We both collapsed like marionettes with our strings cut. My vision faded as I lost consciousness. Before I blacked out, I heard his voice one last time.

    ¡°That was fun though, shame it had to end.¡±

 Chapter Twenty Five

    I didn¡¯t want to wake up.

    Everything hurt, I was more exhausted than I¡¯d felt in forever. What had I been doing yesterday¡­

    ¡°Oh... Right.¡±

    I hauled myself out of bed. Apparently they had brought me back to my room after I fell unconscious. It was morning, but which morning I don¡¯t know. I felt like I had slept for days. This was good news though, if they had time to haul me off and bring me home then the war went well. I was pretty heavy and awkward to carry, they couldn¡¯t just have some warrior haul me all the way back to my room when the enemy was knocking at the door.

    My bed was a sort of hammock. Having as many legs as I did made using things designed for bipedal people awkward. With the hammock I could sort of straddle it and let my legs dangle. It looked goofy, but it was comfy enough. Normally I didn¡¯t use it much, since I don¡¯t really need to sleep. Having it was nice though.

    Landing on my feet was a bit awkward, I had forgotten about my bad leg. It would take a while for it to grow back, so until then I needed my improvised peg leg. I made sure to shapeshift a rounded tip on the spike poking out my leg stump. I really didn¡¯t want to scratch up the floor. Upsetting the staff was a bad idea.

    Standing up and stretching hurt, but it was a good pain. I felt much less stiff afterwards, but the nasty sound of popping joints was a little concerning. How did that even work? I had an exoskeleton, not bones. So I shouldn¡¯t be making these noises, should I?

    Ah well, time to find out how the war went.

    It was late morning, and the workers were moving about. I didn¡¯t even have to ask them if the war went well. Their expressions said it all. It wasn¡¯t relief on their faces or anything like that; they looked proud.

    These workers hadn¡¯t participated in the battle, so it wasn¡¯t pride in themselves. They felt proud of their warriors for their achievements. You couldn¡¯t help but feel a bit patriotic when your country fought off a larger army. It was a feeling of triumph that was hard to deny.

    Passer told me where the family was and slapped me back as he passed by. A lot of the guys were like that. It was less awkward than high fives, although fist bumps were still okay. The atmosphere got really boisterous when I or one of the other fighters walked by. Some of them seemed a bit jealous as well, since many of the ¡®weaker¡¯ fighters were kept back as reinforcements. They would have joined the fight on the third day, but that massive army was routed before then.

    The women were less overt, but they were just as happy as the men. There were fewer women interested in becoming warriors among the elves, but those who did weren¡¯t any less dangerous than the men. It wasn¡¯t a matter of talent so much as attitude. They way they were a bit less boisterous when celebrating as well.

    Mrs. Robin was an exception though, she had a loud belly laugh and a wide, nearly toothless grin. She was this tiny old elf lady, but she acted rowdier than anyone else in this town. She punched me in the shoulder and gave me a thumbs up before walking off, the deep laugh lines on her wrinkly face showing like canyons.

    I was sent to one of the living rooms. I could hear Gryphus talking.

    ¡°I¡¯m serious, the beastmaster contract is actually developed from an archmage¡¯s research into translations spells. He failed to make the spell he originally wanted, but his experiments worked very well on beasts.¡±

    ¡°Huh, I never would have guessed. I always figured it tamed the target.¡±

    ¡°There are offshoots that have an aspect like that. I always thought they were too clumsy and heavy handed. They use imprinting and other instincts. At its core though, the beastmaster is about mutual communication. It¡¯s a shortcut to understanding each other¡¯s personality, language, and even body language.¡±

    ¡°Hrmm. That would be convenient if it could be used among the races; learning languages has never been easy.¡±

    ¡°Your pronunciation and grammar is amazing though, I never would have guessed this wasn¡¯t your first language.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, it gets easier after learning your first four or five. I will admit that I¡¯ve always had a talent for tongues though, If I wasn¡¯t so fond of fighting I probably would have become an interpreter.¡±

    Mun-gi¡¯s easy voice echoed from the room as I opened the door. That was a surprise. I hadn¡¯t expected the people here to execute him on the spot, but apparently he wasn¡¯t even locked up.

    The door wasn¡¯t latched, so I just pushed it open and walked in. Gryphus, Raphina and Mun-gi looked over. Mun-gi was perfectly healthy despite the damage I¡¯d dealt him, and sat there like he owned the place. They seemed quite relaxed, like they were new friends just getting to know one another.

    ¡°Hey! We were just talking about you.¡±

    It was weird seeing Mun-gi smiling in a way that wasn¡¯t all bloodthirsty and manic. There was a small plate of fruit from the orchard of foreign plants on the table. Mun-gi was sampling a few with a nostalgic expression. I crouched down into a sitting position and shifted my exoskeleton to make myself comfortable. Chairs just weren¡¯t that great for a guy with four legs.

    ¡°That little kid made a contract with you right? What¡¯s it like from your end? I always thought beastmasters used the contract to domesticate magic beasts.¡±

    They really aren¡¯t making a big deal about having a mercenary who fought against us as a guest aren¡¯t they? Oh well, it isn¡¯t like I¡¯m holding a grudge against him, he¡¯s just too ...likeable for that. I settled in and started explaining.

    ¡°I doubt that I¡¯m the best example; I met Astera when I was ea- eradicating her kidnappers. I had a good impression of the people around here before I was contracted so it wasn¡¯t like we were total strangers. Plus I understood the language as a high level magic beast as well, no need for translation.¡±

    Mun-gi nodded. The older guardian beasts, the ones that had been around for centuries, automatically seemed to know the languages of the locals. Particularly powerful mythic, mutant, and spirit beasts also were able to comprehend languages easily. Nobody has a clue why, they just do. I always suspected that Lady Luck was the reason why I knew what people were saying, but I wasn¡¯t sure.

    ¡°Anyway, I was contracted while I was unconscious. I woke up with it already in place. It doesn¡¯t feel that different, but once I saw Astera I just kinda ...knew her, you know? It was like I had seen her grow up and knew how she was. She¡¯s a good kid, and I could tell.

    If she had been a brat or something like that I wouldn¡¯t have wanted the job. It¡¯s like understanding what someone¡¯s like before deciding to work with them.¡±

    It was awkward, but I slowly explained my perspective. Actually, the beastmaster contract spell wasn¡¯t anywhere near infallible. Sure, for normal animals or dumb magic beasts it was usually more effective, but that was because they were straightforward thinkers. Cooperating with elves or humans for food and comfortable shelter wasn¡¯t a bad deal. They couldn¡¯t get those luxuries any other way, so hanging with someone they understood and going along with their whims was no problem.

    The thing was, most people believed that only certain people could become beastmasters. The assumption was that in addition to talent you needed a special connection to nature. That wasn¡¯t really true, you just had to be the kind of person who the contracted beast would like. Thanks to the contract you couldn¡¯t fake it either.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    I don¡¯t think I described it well, but Mun-gi nodded anyway. Afterwards I took the opportunity to ask the question that had been bothering me since I got here.

    ¡°Okay, I hope this doesn¡¯t sound bad but: why aren¡¯t you locked up?¡±

    Gryphus coughed a bit and gave me a small glare. I shrugged at him as I watched Mun-gi smirk. Raphina gave me a look of parental disapproval.

    ¡°It sounded bad, didn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°Just a little, but I get what you mean.¡±

    Mun-gi was snickering while Gryphus explained.

    ¡°Mister Ma is a well known mercenary. If he was unknown or had killed anyone in the battle things would be different, but with the way it turned out mistreating him would be pointless and damaging to our reputation.¡±

    ¡°Yup, it¡¯s one of the perks of being famous. Legitimate mercenaries are pretty tightly knit. We do risk our lives for money, but that means we tend to stick together and are picky about our jobs.¡±

    It made an odd kind of sense. Armies were hard to develop and support. Being able to hire mercenaries was much cheaper, if a bit less dependable. Not many countries could afford to get on the mercenaries¡¯ collective bad sides.

    We mostly made small talk. Mun-gi was the kind of guy who was easy to get along with. Of course, considering his interests the subject gradually turned towards fighting. He looked towards me and took in my injuries.

    ¡°By the way: you healed fast during the fight, so why are you still injured?¡±

    ¡°Hmm? Oh, I wasn¡¯t healing. I just used my shapeshifting to clamp the wounds shut. It works great to stop bleeding, but the damage underneath is still there.¡±

    I raised my whole arm and showcased a bit of shapeshifting. My exoskeleton thickened and the raised section separated. I turned the exoskeleton in the center red to simulate a cut. Fake stitches criss crossed over that section, making it appear like an invisible man was sewing a fake wound closed. Mun-gi clapped quietly with a silly little grin, like I was doing card tricks.

    ¡°Yup, my actual healing is too slow to be useful in a fight. It¡¯ll take me another week to regrow my leg and claw.¡±

    I wiggled, the missing appendages. Mun-gi paused in the middle of peeling a fruit. His black eyes opened wide and he looked at me sharply.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, what? It sounded like you said they would regrow¡­¡±

    ¡°Yup. as long as it¡¯s something simple, like a foot, it will grow back.¡±

    Mun-gi¡¯s grin disappeared and a shocked and jealous expression covered his face.

    ¡°...That is incredibly unfair.¡±

    I shrugged, my mouthparts twisted into a grin. He snorted a bit and went back to his affable self. I guess I couldn¡¯t blame the career mercenary for being envious of my regenerative abilities. I wasn¡¯t going to mention where I got them though, I had promised the Empress I would keep her and her royal honey secret. Besides, there was no guarantee it would have the same effect on others as it did on me.

    We changed the subject to international politics. Normally I would have been bored out of my mind, but politics from a hired sword¡¯s perspective is surprisingly interesting. Mun-gi had also been all over the world, so his perspective was different from the elves¡¯ and mine.

    Time passed quickly and we talked about all sorts of stuff. Suddenly the door slammed open and Brokkr burst through the door, sweating and panting.

    ¡°Manto!¡±

    He skidded to a halt in front of me. Brokkr¡¯s strange smell, the scent of sweat and alchemical mixtures, hit me like a truck. Gryphus spat up a mouthful of water and went into a coughing fit. Raphina and I had jumped, but Mun-gi just seemed bemused at the dwarf¡¯s sudden entrance. Raphina sighed and gave the dwarf a glare.

    ¡°Brokkr, we have a guest.¡±

    ¡°Huh? Oh sorry, hello, nice to meet you. Now, Manto, the arm you gave me: it¡¯s different from the rest!¡±

    Brokkr vaguely waved at Mun-gi without looking at him and held out a section of my exoskeleton towards me excitedly. For his part, Mun-gi seemed to think the situation was hilarious, while Raphina and Gryphus were appalled.

    Brokkr was one of those craftsmen who forgot everything other than their work when they became focused. In his enthusiasm he would forget meals, sleep, social skills, and hygiene. I could tell from the greasy state of his long, dark beard that he had been working nonstop for at least a few days.

    ¡°Your arm! The properties of the exoskeleton are different from the sections you normally give me! The chitin integrates with other materials much more efficiently than the other exoskeleton you¡¯ve given me! What did you do!?¡±

    He wasn¡¯t mad. Instead he was jumping about from excitement. It took me a bit to understand what he was saying. His rough voice was always hard to understand, especially since I couldn¡¯t read his lips through that thick beard. I looked over at Gryphus, who shrugged helplessly.

    ¡°We gave him the arm you lost earlier, I didn¡¯t think it would be a big deal.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s so much better! The durability is off the charts and it holds and edge much more easily! Once it¡¯s been alchemically treated it will actually have performance similar to deep silver!¡±

    That was impressive. I knew I had been getting tougher, but deep silver was a magical metal. This was amazingly valuable, even if it took expensive alchemy and temporary amputation. It was too bad I wasn¡¯t naturally that durable. I don¡¯t know what Mun-gi¡¯s kukris are made of, but I would have been a lot less scared if I was tough as magical metal. Even one as ¡®weak¡¯ as deep silver was still better than titanium pound for pound.

    "I didn¡¯t do anything different, I just lost the arm during the fight. Unless Mun-gi¡¯s blood is somehow magical¡­¡±

    Mun-gi rolled his eyes at me.

    ¡°...apparently not. Yeah, I don¡¯t know why this would be so much better than what I normally give you.¡±

    Mun-gi kept snickering while watching the show. Eventually we managed to calm down Brokkr rushed off to keep experimenting. The way he had acted told I was going to be dealing with him acting like this for a while. Raphina sighed while Gryphus smiled apologetically at our guest.

    ¡°Sorry about that, he¡¯s not so bad when he isn¡¯t so focused.¡±

    ¡°No no, it¡¯s fine. It was quite entertaining. Although I think that Manto here is in danger of losing more limbs.¡±

    The three of us looked awkwardly at each other as Mun-gi joked. Unfortunately, I probably wouldn¡¯t get a moments peace until Brokkr got a hold of more of the ¡®special¡¯ exoskeleton. We knew from experience that he would visit at any hour of the day. He¡¯d actually woken me up in the middle of the night once. He¡¯d been too focused on his project to care about something ''silly'' like the time of the day.

    ¡°Brokkr¡­ It isn¡¯t like he doesn¡¯t care about how much popping off an arm would hurt, just so he can make another pair of bracers. He just gets so deeply obsessed with his project that it can¡¯t seem to enter his head that chopping off limbs hurts.¡±

    Gryphus nodded. Brokkr''s eccentricities were well known.

    ¡°To be fair: I doubt there is anyone better at shaping beast materials than him.¡±

    ¡°Those mailcoats you two were wearing back then, they were Manto¡¯s exoskeleton? And Brokkr made them?¡±

    ¡°Yup, I¡¯ve been sort of forcing sections of my body to molt. He normally works with leather, bone and horn, but recently he¡¯s been focused on using my shed pieces.¡±

    Everyone nodded and Mun-gi started praising the craftsmanship. He also wanted his own set, we could tell. It wouldn¡¯t be cheap, even if the elves were willing to sell some.

    We continued to talk about armor and weapons till another person entered. This time it was one of the maids, carrying a large platter of foods. I have to say, a pretty, and clean, elf maid is a lot easier on the senses than Brokkr when he¡¯s forgotten to shower for a couple days. The fact that she is bringing food makes her even more welcome.

    The food looked amazing. It made me realize I hadn¡¯t eaten in what felt like forever and a day. I felt like I could eat a horse. I felt like I could eat a herd of horses. I had to be very careful not to just shovel the entire platter down my gullet. Luckily, another maid hauled in a platter specifically for me. It was piled high, since they knew how ravenous I would be. It wasn¡¯t cheap stuff either.

    A massive, slightly seared pile of all sorts of meat sat on a bed of misshapen vegetables. I sniffed quickly and stuck a piece of duck in my mouth. I instantly recognized the taste.

    ¡°This is Lawrence¡¯s cooking scraps isn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°Yup, he thought you¡¯d be hungry after not eating for a couple days. He set aside some for you.¡±

    Mun-gi looked at us oddly.

    ¡°Cooking scraps?¡±

    Raphina laughed lightly and waved a hand at the rapidly disappearing platter in front of me.

    ¡°Lawrence runs an inn here. His father came here a few decades back, looking to take advantage of the wild game and the other foods of the forest. He and his son are just as obsessed with food as Brokkr is with leather and bone.¡±

    ¡°They never smelled like sweat and an alchemical spill though.¡±

    Raphina smacked her husband when he made his little comment. For his part, Gryphus looked a little abashed. I shoveled the last few peas with a claw shapeshifted into a spoon.

    ¡°Lawrence makes some of the best food in the forest, and he¡¯s very particular about the quality. That being said, he hates waste. He makes ¡®cooking scraps¡¯ whenever there¡¯s any leftovers. Don¡¯t let the name fool you though, he still puts a lot of effort in.¡±

    A couple more maids brought platters of cooking scraps in. I practically inhaled them while the others picked away at the fancier food. I did end up sharing though, mostly because Mun-gi was curious and Gryphus saw scraps from one of his favorites. It was mostly meat stripped from the bones and veggies that didn¡¯t make the cut. Lawrence was actually pretty good at salvaging everything else.

    This was a lot though, especially considering Lawrence was good at soups and stews, which would use up plenty of meat scraps.

    ¡°Is there something coming up? Why is there so much?¡±

    ¡°Celebration. Now that you¡¯ve woken up all the injured are better. You are the only one who hasn¡¯t taken your healing potion yet. The party tonight will start tonight.¡±

    Gryphus looked apologetically at Mun-gi. Before he could speak he was cut off by Mun-gi waving his hands unconcernedly.

    ¡°Yeah, yeah. I¡¯m not invited. Don¡¯t worry; you may have trouble justifying letting me join in on the festivities, but it¡¯s even worse for me. If people were to find out I celebrated my employer¡¯s loss then my reputation would take a real dive. I¡¯ll head out before the party starts.¡±

    He didn¡¯t waste time either. After finishing his meal, He packed up and left. It was weird, our only connection was trying to kill each other, but I couldn¡¯t help but like the guy. I was sad to see him go.

    The celebration was going to be great though, he doesn¡¯t know what he¡¯s missing. Elves really know how to throw a party.

 Good news and bad news: (not a chapter)

    No chapter this time, I was caught up on other projects and had a minor but distracting health issue. That said, I do have something to make up for it!

    Confession time: I write a lot of stuff that isn''t I Am A Bug. Part of it is because I get writer''s block and moving on to whatever I feel like let''s me keep going. Another part is because sometimes I just get tired of this story. Most of what I write is just random, unfinished junk, but a few become something I''m proud of.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    I handed one of those over to Agriope, who helped me polish the story till it became what feels like at least twice as good as before. (Make sure to thank them for that)

    I call it ''Eldritch Interactions'' and it will be posted as soon as it''s finished being reviewed.

    Anyway, I''ll be back to normal soon enough, thanks for being understanding. (unless you aren''t then I dunno...)

 Chapter Twenty Six

    Mun-gi joined up with some human merchants as he left. They would have stayed for the party if they could. However, aside from not wanting to be seen as party crashers, they had a schedule to keep. The companies who''d ordered the shipments of healing potions and expensive alchemical ingredients wouldn¡¯t like to be kept waiting.

    It made the merchants convenient witnesses that despite the fact we hadn¡¯t mistreated ¡®Vortex¡¯ Mun-gi, he was far from a friend or ally. The rumors would keep him from being branded a double crosser. It would also help if we hired any mercenaries in the future.

    If we decided to follow my other plan, then we¡¯d want to hire quite a few.

    Elves preparing for the party were running everywhere now. Tables and chairs were being set out in the town square. A bunch of guys were assembling what looked like a large stage as well.

    Shouts of about a dozen different people filled the air. The atmosphere felt odd. It wasn¡¯t like a normal busy day; it reminded me of when we were preparing for war not too long ago. The feeling was much more positive, of course. It was just that the industriousness and coordinated actions were similar.

    I¡¯d taken a healing potion, and the piercing pain when I moved wrong was disappearing as I walked. I still needed my shapeshifting created prosthetics of course.There wasn¡¯t any more pain though, and that was good enough for now. Even powerful healing potions couldn¡¯t regrow limbs, they just didn¡¯t have that capability, but wounds that would take months to heal would be gone in a day. It was expensive, but the elves always kept a stockpile.

    I moved up and started helping out. I¡¯d love to say that I was more useful thanks to my absurd strength, but plenty of the guys here were strong enough to swing around a solid wooden table if they wanted to. My only advantage was my heavier weight and four legs giving me more stable footing. If it came down to swinging cartoonishly oversized swords I might have the edge, but just hauling tables around didn¡¯t have the same requirements.

    Decorations were being put up as well. Stereotypically, it was mostly flowers. I did kind of understand, though. As cliche as it might be for elves to obsess with nature, this was Honeywood forest. The place was overflowing with all sorts of blooming flowers almost year round. The forest was the source of the elves¡¯ health and wealth, so it¡¯s natural they¡¯d want to pay homage to it.

    The kids would be getting out of school soon. The party started after they got home and cleaned up. Of course, to a lot of the adults the party didn¡¯t really start till the kids went to bed. I was looking forward to it, too. I just realized that I hadn¡¯t had any alcohol since I became a bug.

    I either spent my time with Astera and other kids, or I was out hunting. A time to drink never came up. Plus I have always wondered whether my insectile body discouraged others from inviting me to drink. As much as the elves had gotten used to me, I can¡¯t help but doubt they would be comfortable getting too close.

    That may just be my insecurities, though.

    School was almost done, and a lot of the food was being brought out. Not just Lawrence, but every cook in town had used their skills today. The smell of all those foods leaving the oven added a new facet to the town¡¯s vaguely flowery scent. I¡¯d just eaten barely an hour ago, but I was already hungry again.

    More platters like before were being heaved onto tables. Simple hot plates were used for some of the foods to keep them warm. Big pitchers of water, and juice were set out too. In no time at all the rows and rows of tables were covered in enticing food.

    It wasn¡¯t long after everything was set up that the faint sound of a small stampede drew my attention. The kids were here. That meant that the party had officially begun. That is, unless someone was willing to try to wrangle a couple dozen overly excited kids of all ages. It was hard enough to getgrown adults to listen to any speeches before eating as well, let alone children. People with empty stomachs next to good food are easily distracted.

    Astera made a beeline for me and immediately started climbing up one of my good legs. This wasn¡¯t the first time, so I shapeshifted steps for her and let her settle just behind my thorax. She was slightly out of breath, but she still grinned at me

    ¡°Hi!¡±

    ¡°Hey kiddo, long time no see. Have you been good?¡±

    Astera nodded happily. She didn¡¯t even bother stopping to catch her breath; she just tapped my sides with her heels like she was riding a horse and started telling me about the last couple days. She kept droning on and on, so I had trouble paying attention. I actually zoned out for a bit, but I doubt she noticed.

    ¡°-And then we swam in the pond. Gent says it¡¯s gross because the fish poo in it but he was the first person in, so I don¡¯t think he actually cares.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, he probably just wanted to gross people out.¡±

    We were wandering around the party now. Astera liked riding my back, and insisted I move almost constantly. I did stop walking about when a couple of people, Gryphus included, made their speeches. Of course, Astera fidgeted so much that I didn¡¯t catch much of it. They kept it pretty short, though. What I did listen to was basically ¡®we won, let¡¯s be thankful to the forest, bees, and our warriors¡¯ along with telling everyone what actually happened.

    It didn¡¯t feel very necessary to me, but keeping the people informed is important. Either way, it was over quick, and it was time for food.

    I made my way into one of the lines and grabbed a pair of plates and platters. One was passed back to Astera, and I held the other with some odd shapeshifting. Missing arm aside, just doing thistook a crazy amount of skill with my shapeshifting. I need to change on the fly to make up for my lack of hands.

    Mantids like me have these little grippy leg things on our claws, but they aren¡¯t great for actually manipulating objects. Even using a spoon properly is a chore. That¡¯s the main reason why my favorite foods are the kind I can just skewer or grab.

    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    I was about halfway through the line, holding my tray in a shapeshifted clamp and helping Astera load her plate, when I saw Brokkr sitting at a table off near the edge of the crowd. He looked a lot cleaner, so he had probably figured out whatever secret he¡¯d been obsessing over. A few crumbs pattered against my back.

    ¡°Hey! Wait till we sit down!¡±

    Astera was already eating. I didn¡¯t have to turn my head to see her stuffed cheeks and guilty face. She put the half eaten cheesy bread back down on her plate.

    ¡°Be patient, okay?¡±

    ¡°Okayyyy¡­¡±

    It was funny how much the kid liked cheese and other dairy products, but it did make sense. There weren¡¯t too many cows in the forest, so that kind of thing was in limited supply.

    We finished piling plates with food, me with plenty of meat and Astera with anything that had cheese in it, and wandered off to find a table. On a whim I decided to sit at the same table Brokkr chose. Astera didn¡¯t want to get off me though, so I shapeshifted a shelf out of my back to hold her platter.

    I crouched down by Brokkr, who was picking at his food. He didn¡¯t smell nearly as bad, although the scent of alchemical ingredients still clung to him.

    ¡°So, since you are here I guess you figured out the puzzle.¡±

    ¡°Oh, Manto! Yeah, it was actually quite simple. Turns out the way you had been ¡®molting¡¯ the exoskeleton had an effect on it. I ain¡¯t quite sure, but I think that the process of separating it from the flesh had some sort of physiological process that weakened it. Probably your body trying to keep nutrition or something, I ain¡¯t a scholar.¡±

    ¡°Huh, so it¡¯s just the difference between ¡®shed¡¯ and ¡®plucked.¡¯ I guess that makes some sort of sense¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a good way of summing it up. The living exoskeleton seems to be superior in most aspects.¡±

    I nodded. One interesting thing I had encountered living here was the hit or miss knowledge people seemed to have. Alchemists and other people like Brokkr were a good example. If it weren¡¯t for the weirdness of magic they would probably be able to teach classes on chemistry and biology in a high school class on earth, And yet this world was still at a mostly medieval technological level.

    Well, Brokkr might be an outlier. The dude was basically a genius, if only in regards to his craft.

    He was barely picking at the food right now. Even Astera was eating faster than him, although she was stuffing her cheeks like a greedy chipmunk.

    ¡°Hey, are you alright?¡±

    ¡°Hmm? Oh yeah, I just decided to join the party while I waited for my Hathwick to wear off. I¡¯ll be dealing with that in a couple hours, but for now I can¡¯t really work up an appetite.¡±

    ¡°Brokkr¡­¡±

    ¡°Yeah, yeah. I know what you¡¯re thinking, but I really had to figure out that mystery while I could you know?¡±

    I take back my comment about being a genius. Abusing a Hathwick¡¯s potion like that¡­

    I felt a tugging on my antennae. Astera was pulling on it while looking at me. She mumbled through a mouthful of something like this world¡¯s verion of mac and cheese.

    ¡°Hey Manto, who¡¯s Hathwick?¡±

    I frowned internally as I tried to think of the best way to phrase it.

    ¡°Brokkr is talking about Hathwick¡¯s potion. Hathwick was an alchemist who lived a long time ago. He wasn¡¯t that great an alchemist, but one day he decided to make a potion for his friend. You see, his friend had a job that meant he couldn¡¯t eat, go to the bathroom, or sleep for days, and Hathwick knew how hard that was. He invented a potion for his friend that would make that easier. It became really popular and people named it after him.¡±

    I wasn¡¯t going to go into more detail than that. I knew she¡¯s a growing girl, but Astera doesn¡¯t have to hear the unpleasant details. Brokkr glanced at me out of the corner of his eye and decided to keep quiet too.

    Hathwick¡¯s friend had been an assassin who specialized in difficult targets. He would spend days slowly crawling into the perfect position, waiting just as long for the shot, and take just as long crawling away. He wasn¡¯t the greatest bowman, but his stealth and patience made him an unbelievably effective assassin. He was perfectly fine with not eating for over a week andsoiling his pants so he wouldn¡¯t have to move. Not many people can do that.

    The potion Hathwick made temporarily prevents the need for eating, defecating, urinating, and sleeping. It also grants plenty of energy and alertness. After drinking one, you will have no problems working non stop without breaks for a week. It meant Hathwick¡¯s friend had a much more comfortable time at his job. The potion became popular in other jobs as well. Many craftsmen relied on it for completing special projects in one go.

    The problem came from the side effects. There are reasons people don¡¯t use it unless they have to. A week¡¯s worth of missed bathroom breaks hitting someone at once is not a pretty sight. Even if you don¡¯t eat, are careful not to strain yourself, and generally do everything you are supposed to, coming down from a Hathwick¡¯s is still nasty. Compared to this alchemical abomination, even the worst energy drinks are small potatoes.

    I skimmed over the nastier bits, but Astera seemed to clue in to the idea of Hathwick¡¯s being bad for you anyway. Brokkr suffered under the awkwardness of a little kid¡¯s lecture for a few minutes. Eventually I distracted her, and we said goodbye. Brokkr headed off to get ready for the moment Hathwick¡¯s wore off.

    We took advantage of the break to grab seconds and change tables. I barely kept Astera from heaping up her plate again. She was going to hurt herself if she ate that much.

    We went around, talking with pretty much everyone. Eventually Astera got tired of riding and stuffing her face. She heaved herself off so she could run around with the other kids. They would tire each other out soon enough. I knew that the other adults and I certainly couldn¡¯t.

    I made sure to visit and talk with people before going for more food. With my appetite, eating an entire table would be easy as pie. I didn¡¯t want to be the jerk to eat all of someone¡¯s favorite food before they got a chance to enjoy it.

    That said, I wasn¡¯t going to pass up the chance to eat this much good cooking.

    It was funny. People were visiting and talking casually. It felt more like a family get-together than a festival or party. Then the kids went to bed.

    A small parade of barrels were rolled out from behind the stage. They cleared a table, and soon everyone had a mug or glass in their hands. The party really seemed to take off then. The music changed to match the more upbeat atmosphere.

    The mood was contagious, and I found myself holding a mug of booze before I knew it. I took a sip, and it turned out to be mead. At least, that¡¯s what I thought it was. It was pretty good. It tasted like honey smelled, although it was a lot less sweet and was unmistakably alcoholic. It was nice; not good, but nice.

    I ended up sampling a few different kinds. Elves mostly made fruit wines and mead, for obvious reasons. Grain based alcohols had to be imported. I never found one that I really liked, but I was definitely starting to get a buzz.

    ¡°Hey Manto!¡±

    I turned to see one of Lawrence¡¯s apprentices, Allen I think, run up to me. He was one of the humans who lived around here, so he stuck out a bit.

    ¡°Hi Allen, what¡¯cha need?¡±

    He paused to shift awkwardly before diving into his explanation.

    ¡°See, we need a third for our drinking contest. Brokkr is the one on our team usually, but he¡¯s in no shape to help us right now.¡±

    ¡°Why me?¡±

    ¡°Brokkr may be a lightweight for a dwarf, but there¡¯s still no one who can replace him. Besides, you are the reason he¡¯s out of it right now.¡±

    I shapeshifted myself a set of eyebrows and raised one at him.

    ¡°Dude, manipulative much?¡±

    ¡°Right, sorry. I just really want to win this.¡±

    I ended up caving and agreeing to help. It might have been the booze talking, but this sounded fun. It didn¡¯t take long for us to start, either. I just sort of found myself at a table with a stack of empty mugs next to me.

    There were rules to this drinking contest. They had explained it to me, something about the team cooperating and stuff. Evidently there was a fair amount of strategy involved that made it more interesting to watch. I didn¡¯t get it though, so I just drank when they asked me to.

    Apparently who drank what against who dictated how many points you earned. I was subbing in for Brokkr, who was the teammatethat drank during the bad matchups. Drinking more in a single round was important during some matchups, while you wanted the round to end quicker in others.

    The main strategy was to make sure that the lightweight on the enemy team was forced into a round where they had to drink a bunch to avoid losing points. Of course, the other team was doing the same thing. I think dice were involved too, but things got fuzzy really quick.

    I kept drinking when they shoved me forward, and mostly just sat there when they didn¡¯t need me. The last thing I remembered was somebody shoving a shot glass of something that glowed my way, then I blacked out.

 Chapter Twenty Seven

    I didn¡¯t want to wake up.

    Everything hurt: my head, my stomach, my brain¡­ I felt sick, exhausted, gross, and my skull was pounding. What had I been doing yesterday?

    ¡°Oh, right.¡±

    A bad hangover feels like you are dying slowly. This felt like I had already died, was left to rot, and somebody revived me from the dead only to kill me again.

    Something was forced into my mouth. A thick, nasty tasting syrup dribbled in. I really wanted to vomit, but I ended up swallowing anyway. If I was lucky it might be a hangover cure. If I was really lucky it might kill me. Either way, this hangover would be gone.

    After a few moments, I felt like I wasn¡¯t seconds from dying. Someone was yelling at me, but my hangover turned the voice into pounding pain. I feel like I blacked out again a few times, but eventually I woke up.

    I was lying on my back with my legs curled up awkwardly. I looked waaaay too much like a dead bug. Moving hurt, too. My joints were stiff, like I had been clenching them too long.

    ¡°Manto, are you alright?¡±

    ¡°Ow.¡±

    ¡°Manto?¡±

    ¡°Too loud. Guh¡­ give me a second.¡±

    I got to my feet, but it was slow going. My legs were painful and weak, so I wobbled like a newborn calf. The room was spinning, and I felt like I was going to throw up. It wouldn¡¯t be the first time; I could tell I already had vomited a couple times from the nasty feeling around my face.

    Something was hammering on my brain, and the light was way too bright. I really wish I had eyelids right now. After a second of thought, I changed the color of my eyes to a reflective silver, and I was engulfed in soothing darkness. I heard someone make a concerned noise, but they stopped when I sighed in relief.

    ¡°Ahhh~ that¡¯s a bit better.¡±

    ¡°You alright? Drink this.¡±

    Even without the use of my eyes, I was able to hear people¡¯s position. From the voice, it was the doctor. Reaching out and grabbing the object in the her hand revealed itto be another glass bottle. I chugged the unpleasant contents, and the pain and nausea eased a bit more.

    ¡°Did that help?¡±

    I removed the reflective coating on my eyes slowly. The light didn¡¯t pierce quite so badly anymore.

    ¡°Yeah, that helps, thank you.¡±

    The doctor, I can¡¯t remember her name, relaxed. She looked relieved at first, but then got this look in her eye that made me wilt internally. I didn¡¯t see her much since I just don¡¯t get sick. I do remember her looking after Mero a few years back, and the way she lectured everyone in sight stuck in my mind. As I was reminiscing, she took a deep breath and spoke in a slow, quietly angry tone.

    ¡°Manto, was this your first time drinking?¡±

    ¡°Uhh, yeah¡­¡±

    She breathed through her nose quietly, then continued.

    ¡°So you didn¡¯t know how you would react to alcohol, or if you could even drink it properly?¡±

    ¡°...I guess not.¡±

    The doctor leaned closely and spoke in a low, even voice so viciously acidic that it could etch steel.

    ¡°So, despite the fact that you couldn¡¯t know whether your body could process alcohol, you participated in those nitwit¡¯s drinking game, substituting for Brokkr, who is a dwarf. And then, if that wasn¡¯t enough, you drank a beverage that Allen so charmingly referred to as ¡®Molten Mazzatello.¡¯ According to Passer, that beverage was only kept in his bar due to tradition, and wasn¡¯t actually for drinking. Allen snuck the bottle from the bar, since Passer had refused to actually serve the drink, and you actually drank it.¡±

    She leaned back, but before I could get a word in edgewise, she took a deep breath and yelled her next few words.

    ¡°YOU. ARE. AN. IDIOT.¡±

    She was loud. That was the kind of yell that you needed talent and experience to pull off. Only drill sergeants and opera singers could get that kind of volume. It felt like my head was going to split open, and I bet it would hurt even if I was perfectly healthy.

    ¡°ow... Please don¡¯t yell while I have a hangover.¡±

    ¡°You do not have a hangover. People get hangovers as their bodies break down alcohol in their blood. Your body cannot break down alcohol. You poisoned yourself.¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­¡±

    The doctor stood there glaring at me for a bit. One of the reasons I avoided her was because she always seemed to take illnesses personally. It was like she thought people got sick just to spite her. I understand that this whole fiasco is my fault though. I can¡¯t really blame her for being mad. She grabbed my antenna and pulled my head close to her face, glaring into one of my faceted eyes.

    ¡°If you ever do something stupid like this again I¡¯m going to pull out your spleen and feed it to you.¡±This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    ¡°I- I don¡¯t think I have one of those¡­¡±

    I really wish I hadn¡¯t said that. She seemed like she was about to spontaneously develop heat vision just so she could kill me with her glare. I took a deep breath and gave my apology before she started yelling again.

    ¡°Look, I¡¯m sorry. I should have been more careful, and I made some stupid decisions. I let myself get caught up in the atmosphere and didn¡¯t think. I won¡¯t do it again.¡±

    The doctor¡¯s eye softened a bit. She was still mad at me, just not as viciously so. Luckily Gryphus came in at that moment, so she settled for another acid glare before leaving. I was about to greet Gryphus when I saw his face. He wasn¡¯t happy either. He waited for the door to close before he spoke.

    ¡°There¡¯s not much to say that Sarida hasn¡¯t said. What you did was thoughtless to the extreme. Did you even consider how everyone else would feel? Disregarding how many people rely on you, how would Astera react if you died like this?¡±

    That hurt a lot more than when the doctor, Sarida, had yelled. I had made myself part of this huge family, and I had forgotten that in my carelessness. I remember how much it hurt to lose my family, and losing people in that kind of way was so much worse.

    I didn¡¯t say anything at first, but Gryphus seemed to understand. I spent the next few hours going around and apologizing to different people. It was the worst with the ones that were just disappointed in me. Others had been worried about me, and that was awkward in its own way.

    Eventually, I was lead up to the Empress¡¯ throne room. That was an apology I wasn¡¯t looking forward to. I¡¯d only met her a handful of times after that first meeting, but she still made me nervous. It had taken me awhile to notice it, but I was always relieved when I left her presence. She was scary, but in that real subtle way that forces you to constantly sit up and watch your manners.

    I¡¯d gotten a bit used to it, but today was an exception.

    My limb¡¯s regrowth had made quite a bit of progress. It actually made walking awkward, since the new foot was too short and stubby to use effectively. I was forced to grow a tripod of spikes around the ankle that extended past my mini foot to move properly. The stairs were as long as always, which made me think of this.

    When I walked in, there was a table set up at the foot of the Empress with a bunch of the leaders around. I was in luck. The Empress hadn¡¯t called me for a lecture; this was a meeting. I think I know what for, too.

    They had started without me. The table was covered in maps, with what looked like board game pieces covering it. I¡¯d seen something like this before the battle. During the final stages of the planning for war, they had used one of these to fine tune the strategy. That hadn¡¯t been important to me; I was a sledgehammer, not a scalpel.

    If this was going to be a counterattack, I would need to do more than find someone important and kill or stop them. Of course, I would probably still be moving independently; I just wasn¡¯t experienced enough to cooperate efficiently. It didn¡¯t bother me though, because I like rampaging; it¡¯s fun.

    ¡°Ah Manto, we were just fine tuning your plan for the reprisal!¡±

    ¡®Your plan¡¯ he says. It¡¯s giving me too much credit. I was just the first person to go: ¡®Hey, let¡¯s go invade Macedor, see how they like it.¡¯ The only reason it was such a revolutionary idea was because the elves were so used to relying on their formerly invincible protection.

    I settled into an empty spot and looked at the map. It was surprisingly empty. Apparently Macedor was mostly farmland. The cities were arranged rather oddly as well. The country was sort of pear shaped. Most of the larger cities were concentrated in the ¡®neck¡¯ of the pear. I wonder if there¡¯s a reason for that?

    The pieces of carved and painted wood representing troops and other resources were scattered about, with most of them gathered at the towns and cities. The southeast border was especially full of them. Unfortunately, Honeywood forest was southeast of Macedor.

    I didn¡¯t speak at first, trying to get caught up with what everyone was saying. I figured that I would sound like an idiot if I just butted in immediately. I turned out to be right. There were a couple different strategies being thrown around.

    The mission was reprisal, but what we really wanted was to make the idea of attacking Honeywood distasteful to the people making decisions. We needed to figure out how to do a bunch of damage to stuff that was important to the leaders of Macedor. That way, the next time someone plans an attack from their comfy armchair, they will remember what happened last time someone tried that.

    ¡°If we use a powerhouse to make an attack on the north barracks, we can draw Axios and his son away from the noble¡¯s quarters, letting us assassinate most of the nobility.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that would go over well internationally, if we set fire to the barracks here, here, and here, we can be sure of them getting the message without ruffling the feathers of Khemet or giving the Hittites an excuse to interfere.¡±

    ¡°But would that really dissuade the nobility? They don¡¯t exactly value their people over there.¡±

    ¡°Hey Alexander, do you have a list of any Macedonian merchants that supply luxury items to their nobility? That would make a good target.¡±

    ¡°Yes. Here, let me grab the papers.¡±

    I chose to chime in at this moment.

    ¡°Can someone mark out their monuments and things? It would be nice if we could smash those as a bonus. They¡¯ll have a hard time forgetting what we did if we break their pretty statues.¡±

    A couple people snickered at that. There was no love lost between Macedor and Honeywood, so everyone was enjoying the idea of messing with them and knocking them off their high horses.

    When Alexander came back in, the Macedonian merchant companies had their warehouses and headquarters marked out with gold(ish) coins. The monuments to ¡®Macedonian glory¡¯ and their ¡®noble¡¯ rulers were marked with bronze coins. Someone also suggested destroying a couple aqueducts and a convenient bridge as well. Everyone liked that idea, although it wouldn¡¯t be fast. Those were marked with some silver coins.

    I tapped my whole claw on the edge of the table idly as we tried to figure the safest way to destroy as many of those targets as we could.

    ¡°Hey, what are the vips we have to fight? Any powerhouses?¡±

    Alexander slid me a couple portraits, and Gryphus leaned over and started explaining while everyone else kept planning.

    ¡°Macedor only has two powerhouses, but they have three others that are close to that level.¡±

    ¡°Any as dangerous as Mun-gi?¡±

    Gryphus rolled his eyes at me.

    ¡°Manto, there are less than a dozen at mister Mun-gi¡¯s level on the entire continent. There¡¯s no way Macedor has anyone like that.¡±

    ¡°Hey, I was just asking¡­¡±

    ¡°Anyway, the powerhouses are Axios and Laomedon. Axios is a spearman and Laomedon is a mage. Mage powerhouses are rare. Luckily, Laomedon isn¡¯t considered particularly powerful for a powerhouse.¡±

    ¡°And the weaklings?¡±

    ¡°...They aren¡¯t weak, they just aren¡¯t true powerhouses.¡±

    ¡°Gryphus, I just fought ¡®Vortex¡¯ Mun-gi, and I drew a tie with him.¡±

    ¡°Okay fine, but nobody likes a braggart.¡±

    I gave him my best smug grin. He understood, but another elf glanced my way and paled. Are praying mantis smiles really that scary? Gryphus ignored it and kept going.

    ¡°The three psuedo powerhouses are Mitron, Axios¡¯s son and disciple, Kliment, an archer, and Peithon. We don¡¯t know much about Peithon, just that he¡¯s some kind of assassin.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s potentially bad.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but we think he¡¯s the type to use traps. Since he wasn¡¯t sent with the army to attack us there¡¯s a good chance that is true.¡±

    ¡°Why wasn¡¯t anyone other than Mun-gi sent?¡±

    ¡°Overconfidence mostly. Also, the leadership of Macedor is notoriously paranoid.¡±

    ¡°So drawing out the powerhouses isn¡¯t going to be easy.¡±

    ¡°Now that you mention it, yeah.¡±

    We returned to helping with the strategy after going over the powerhouses and the three runner ups. The basic structure of the strategy was already decided. Several teams would begin destroying the targets furthest away from the highest priority ones. That would draw away the small fry while the main team charged the palace.

    The tricky bit was dealing with the powerhouses, but that was more an issue of fighting power. I knew I couldn¡¯t take all five at once, but if I had help then killing a couple weaker ones and occupying the powerhouses wouldn¡¯t be impossible.

    ¡°The problem is: how do we make sure to draw in all the vips?¡±

    I piped up at that.

    ¡°My trump card will probably do the trick, it¡¯s flashy enough.¡±

    The Empress leaned over, interested. She was looming over the table.

    ¡°Do you mean the form you took during the battle? That was certainly unnerving, even to us.¡±

    ¡°No, I mean my max size, but that might be good too.¡±

    A couple elves I didn¡¯t know too well looked towards me. One of them switched between looking at me and the Empress while asking.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but what are you talking about?¡±

    I grinned, making him flinch.

    ¡°Hey, if my smile upsets you, then you really won¡¯t like my scary face. Anyway, I use shapeshifting to look scarier, but I can also change my size. Over the years my maximum height has gotten pretty ridiculous. It doesn¡¯t help against someone as abnormal as Mun-gi, but the two combined should get people screaming pretty loud.¡±

    ¡°Is it really that bad?¡±

    Gryphus shook his head at that question and I grinned even wider.

    ¡°Trust me: it will be a horror show.¡±

 Chapter Twenty Eight

    I¡¯ll say this about the people of Honeywood: they work fast.

    A plan, along with a couple back up plans, was set up in a single day. Gryphus basically told me I had three days before we set out to give Macedor their metaphorical spanking. I know we had a lot of supplies and stuff prepared from the battle, but that was still quite fast.

    I spent the first day playing with Astera. Actually, that¡¯s not quite right. I spent the first day getting lectured at by then playing with Astera. She didn¡¯t completely understand what I had done, but she knew I had done a ¡®bad thing¡¯ and was determined to convince me not to do it again.

    We spent quite a while playing house. She dressed up and dictated how I was supposed to shapeshift. I used to pretend to misunderstand her instructions, which she found funny. I couldn¡¯t overdo it anymore though, she was catching on lately and I didn¡¯t want to seem patronizing.

    The next to days I set aside to train. At first, Astera wanted to play more, she even started to throw a tantrum. She seemed to understand though, so she stopped after a bit. She¡¯s really a good kid.

    Training was a new thing for me. I mean, sure, I practiced my shapeshifting a lot. That was different from physically training though. The fight with Mun-gi had been a wake-up call. I couldn¡¯t just brute force my way through everything anymore. That meant I needed something more involved than just hunting or shapeshifting finger puppets out of the tips of my claws.

    I made my way to the edge of the clearing surrounding the city. The part I chose was furthest from the road, there was no reason to advertise my abilities to any merchants. I also wanted to avoid being disturbed by my neighbors.

    There were two things I wanted to figure out. The first was that crazy fast attack I¡¯d managed during the climax of the fight between Mun-gi and I. The second was if I could refine my makeshift martial arts into something more solid.

    The ground was solid, surprisingly flat, and very fertile. Despite that, there still were a few stones buried here and there. There weren¡¯t any particularly large ones, but they were common enough to make any spadework in this field a real chore. I dug up a couple with my foot as I started thinking.

    The speed attack I had done¡­ It had been surprisingly simple and completely instinctive. I had made some sort of connection with my inner praying mantis, and that was what it had come up with. In retrospect it made sense.

    I had always fought however I felt like. My shapeshifting, my flexibility, and my intelligence gave me that privilege. I could freely change my claws into axes, spears, sabers, or any other melee weapon I could think of. It was a bit counterintuitive, but apparently, that meant I¡¯d neglected to utilize my body to its full potential.

    Kicking a stone into my claw, I flicked it high into the air. Drawing upon my memories of that time, I tried to reproduce that attack.

    The stone fell back to earth, but as soon as it dropped into range, my muscles snapped into motion. My target exploded into gravel with a sharp noise like a gunshot. My claws weren¡¯t sharp enough to cut cleanly through the rock, so it burst into shards instead.

    I shook the bits of dust and pieces of rock out of my claws and kept at it. The strike was so fast that I had trouble observing it. My claws would flash out and clamp down on my target in one smooth, circular motion. It felt easy to put power into.

    I tried to make the attack without a target. It didn¡¯t feel right, but attacking an imaginary enemy worked. My claws made a loud ¡®crack!¡¯ noise. As it turns out, I could actually break the sound barrier. That certainly explained why I couldn¡¯t see my claws move.

    I wanted to keep going, but it wasn¡¯t going to be possible. The muscles all through my arms were starting to seize up and were surprisingly tired. It was weird, I could run around and lift massive boulders all day and only get a little winded. Something as minor as swinging my claws a few times shouldn''t exhaust me so much.

    The next was figuring out some kind of martial art. My arms felt like noodles so I decided to stick to working on my footwork for now.

    I understood the concept of footwork. It was all about moving quickly, changing directions abruptly, and staying stable. When I was human, I tried to watch Olympic fencing. I couldn¡¯t keep up with what was going on, but it always impressed me how fast they could shoot forward and backward when they fought. Of course, with my current senses, something like that would be in slow motion.

    Mun-gi took it up to another level. The guy seemed to defy physics at times. It made sense. When you got stronger and tougher you were capable of doing more tricks as well as squeezing out stronger motions. Mun-gi could do things that would snap a normal person¡¯s ankles.

    With my extra legs, reproducing a human martial art wasn¡¯t feasible. What I could do was figure out my own way. Of course, I didn¡¯t have a clue how one went about inventing a martial art. The best strategy I could come up with was to run around.

    ...and that was basically it.

    I skittered about the field like a madman; jumping and running about in an effort to try and narrow down the best movements my form could use. I spent days doing this. For a bit I would practice my speed strike to get my body accustomed, then I would work on my agility.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    When the time to leave came I had made zero progress towards any sort of special moves. It makes sense I guess, since if it was that easy everyone would do it. At the very least I had figured out the trick to Mun-gi¡¯s mid-air mobility, but that was more of a method of controlling one¡¯s body and center of gravity than anything else.

    This time I was traveling with the group to go to battle. It was going to be a long journey too. We were loaded down with supplies and equipment. I actually ended up drawing one of the carts. It worked well since I was stronger than any horse. I feel like my dignity is suffering, though.

    The road was surprisingly smooth. I loved how the wheel of the cart slid so snugly into the wheel ruts. It might have been a problem if the road was muddy, but even then I would have to be a lot weaker. As it was it just made steering a no brainer. I just zoned out and walked forward, humming along to the song a few elves were singing.

    It was a simple travel song, and I wasn¡¯t going to butcher it. The elves seemed to have pretty nice singing voices. ...At least the ones who were actually singing did. Whatever weirdness gave me the automatic translation ability didn¡¯t make me any good at singing. Doesn¡¯t really bother me though. I like having wings and claws more than having a decent tenor.

    The people up front stopped singing. They didn¡¯t stop moving though. It took a second for those of us behind to reach the spot they stopped singing it. We saw why really quickly. We¡¯d reached the site where the battle had happened.

    There weren¡¯t any bodies left, they had been burnt a long time ago. The ashes were still scattered here and there. It was still quite obvious that the battle had been here though. The ground around the road had been trampled, and shreds of cloth and old blood stains could be seen here and there.

    It was hard to keep singing here. Victory aside, none of us could pretend to be happy here. We marched in silence. I caught sight of the place where Mun-gi and I fought, the craters and scars in the road made it obvious, but it didn¡¯t seem as cool as I thought it would be.

    I guess there¡¯ a difference between remembering something at home and where it happened.

    It took a while after we passed the battlefield before we felt like singing again. It wasn¡¯t very enthusiastic at first, though we lightened up eventually. The edge of the forest was coming up as well.

    Gryphus had started grinning oddly. I wasn¡¯t sure, but he kept looking at me out of the corner of his eye. I knew that look. He was waiting for me to find out or figure out something. We walked in silence for a while, until I finally gave up.

    ¡°Alright: what is it?¡±

    His grin got a little smugger, then he made a cloyingly fake expression of innocence.

    ¡°What~?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t ¡®what¡¯ me, you¡¯ve had that look on your face for a while now. You look like Mero when he¡¯s got some prank in the making.¡±

    We both paused as that little, mischievous grin appeared in our imaginations. Mero had a lot of enthusiasm for causing mayhem. I still remember how much he giggled when I taught him how to short sheet a bed. He only managed to do his parent¡¯s and Astera¡¯s beds though, since the maids knew he was up to something.

    You don¡¯t let a kid who snickers like that out of your sight.

    Gryphus¡¯s smile turned awkward as he tried to smother his grin. He gave up pretty quickly though.

    ¡°I¡¯m just waiting till you see our surprise.¡±

    ¡°...tell me.¡±

    ¡°Nope! You¡¯ll just have to wait and see.¡±

    I didn¡¯t care too much, but that grin was starting to annoy me, so I decided to pull out the big guns.

    ¡°Hey, you know how Mero has been learning basic magic right?¡±

    ¡°...?¡±

    ¡°Oh, I was just thinking he would have learned how to freeze water. I know he can¡¯t freeze much at a time, but I thought he might like to know how much ¡®fun¡¯ he could have with just that little trick.¡±

    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t dare¡­¡±

    I smirked right back at him. After a bit, he mock sighed and shrugged his shoulders in surrender.

    ¡°Alright, fine. We hired someone familiar to act as your partner in the attack. Mister Mun-gi is waiting for us at the edge of the forest.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    Gryphus raised his eyebrows at my reaction.

    ¡°Just ¡®Oh?¡¯ That¡¯s it?¡±

    I gave a shrug, tugging awkwardly on the harness of the cart.

    ¡°I mean, I knew we were going to hire mercenaries, and I had a feeling that Mun-gi would be at the top of the list.¡±

    Gryphus looked quite disappointed at my lack of reaction. A couple people nearby chuckled a bit at how depressed he looked. We teased him for a bit before we hit the edge of the forest.

    Since I was walking and not flying, the change in air currents didn¡¯t hit so strongly. That said, the air still smelled strange to me. The lack of leaf litter, flowers, and fruit in the plain meant the air smelled almost ...empty.

    There were other smells though, mostly grass and dust. I could also detect smoke from a campfire and one other smell that was difficult to place. The source of the smokey smell was easy to locate though; a couple of men were hunched around a campfire a few dozen yards to the left of the road. They were looking our way, and I could see the overly large, black eyes of Mun-gi as he grinned and waved at us.

    We stopped, and most of them started heading our way, while one stopped for a moment to kick dirt onto the fire. They walked over, with the last guy jogging to catch up. Mun-gi¡¯s nodded to me before greeting to Gryphus. Gryphus smiled professionally as he responded.

    ¡°Welcome, mister Mun-gi. These gentlemen would be the ones you spoke of?¡±

    Mun-gi stepped to the side, gesturing at the quintet of mercenaries. They had the awkward postures of people who are wavering between being proud of and absolutely terrified of the pressure that came with being hired on their hero¡¯s recommendation.

    ¡°Indeed, mister Greenbul, may I introduce the mercenary group ¡®Blue Dagger.¡¯¡±

    They gave the half-nod/half-bow of people trying very hard not to seem rude but unwilling to speak. Gryphus seemed to clue into their discomfort and spoke up quickly.

    ¡°I¡¯m certain anyone that Vortex Mun-gi recommends is more than up to the job. I¡¯m quite happy to have all of you here-¡±

    I zoned out a bit as Gryphus droned on. He wasn¡¯t a great speech maker, and his improvised reassurance was quickly having the opposite effect. The Blue Daggers had that deer in the headlights look that made me want to laugh out loud. I held back a bit though, I still have a little bit of empathy left in me. I settled for a chuckle as I interrupted.¡±

    ¡°And so-¡±

    ¡°Whoa there Gryphus, I think they get it. You¡¯re starting to ramble.¡±

    Gryphus grimaced awkwardly while Mun-gi hid a smirk. The mercenaries didn¡¯t loosen up though. They were too busy looking at me like I grew a second head. The awkward silence extended for a while before Mun-gi introduced us.

    ¡°This is Manto, I¡¯m sure I told you about him earlier.¡±

    A light dawned in the Blue Dagger¡¯s eyes as they stared at me. I¡¯m wondering what Mun-gi had actually said for them to look at me like that. Luckily, Anthus sauntered over to break the awkward silence that had returned.

    ¡°Are we going to keep going, or what? If we¡¯re taking a break we should feed the horses.¡±

    Mun-gi grinned widely and herded the stiff mercenaries into the caravan. We started moving again while he muttered in a voice only a few of us could hear.

    ¡°Yes, it would be a shame if I was late. I made a promise after all.¡±

    Mun-gi stared off into the distance. His dark eyes were like black mirrors. However, they didn¡¯t reflect the surroundings at all. Instead, they were twisted with joyous anticipation for the coming battle.

    If I was entirely honest, I was excited too. As sad and depressing as the aftermath of that battle was; I could hardly wait.

 Chapter Twenty Nine

    ¡°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.¡±The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    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.

 Chapter Thirty

    The gate was still a ways off. Mun-gi, several archers, and I had hidden in a copse of trees after everyone split up. We would be waiting long enough for everyone to get into position before moving. The missions were going off basically simultaneously, so I needed to make as much noise as possible.

    I was practically shaking from anticipation. I thought it was a bit embarrassing to be the only one who wasn¡¯t cool-headed at a time like this until I saw Mun-gi. He was leaning against a tree with his eyes closed, but he had a hand on one of his kukris and was popping it slightly out of its scabbard and pushing it back with a clicking noise. It was barely moving more than a centimeter, but if I listened carefully I could hear the noise.

    Pop, click, pop, click, pop, click¡­

    When one of the elves nodded to me and everyone stood up smoothly and stretched. We had been mostly ready for a while now, I just needed to be at the right size to do my battering ram impression.

    I shifted into a more open part of the trees. We¡¯d been hiding from any travelers, but there really hadn¡¯t been as many as I thought there would be. It was either because most of the traffic went elsewhere, or the city was fairly empty relative to its size. I could think about the economic and sociopolitical implications of that later though.

    Growing to my maximum size always felt like stretching and flexing really, really hard. Small branches were pushed aside by my swelling mass. The tiny snapping of twigs and the way I filled up the enclosed space made my growth much more impressive than last time. Once I towered over everyone, I shapeshifted my exoskeleton into the ¡®kaiju¡¯ arrangement. Honestly, it wasn¡¯t as scary as I wanted, but it was intimidating. I didn¡¯t need to make people wet themselves so much as to make sure everyone was looking at me. Any pants that got soiled were just a bonus.

    I shoved my way through the trees and out into the sun. A man sitting on a mule sat and stared as I emerged onto the road in front of him. I didn¡¯t even bother looking at him, but the sounds of him and his mount squealing in unison told me that I hadn¡¯t needed to do anything to scare him. The sound of them fleeing away felt like a pretty good omen to me.

    The people on the wall could definitely see me. I could hear shouts in the distance and even some kind of alarm bell. It was time to introduce myself.

    One trick I¡¯d been working on was to reproduce the shrieking noise that had made such a great impression on the Macedor army. My hope was that if I mimicked the way crickets rubbed their wings together. Unfortunately, I¡¯d failed miserably; the noise that my body had made cutting through the wind was just too distinct.

    It was a shame, but I would have to go for the classic; making the nastiest hissing noise I could.

    I took a deep breath, making my abdomen swell up even further. Every spiracle along my body gulped air like mad. I started moving towards the city gate, slowly at first but quickly building speed.

    I let the tension build before releasing all the stored air as violently as I could.

    ¡°Shhhhhhhsssskrreeeeeeeee!¡±

    ...huh. That sounded a lot better than I thought it would.

    I shot toward the gate like a runaway train. The ¡®knuckles¡¯ on my claws were covered in the thickest, toughest armor I could create. I¡¯d used my exoskeleton to make myself into a rock ¡®em sock ¡®em robot.

    They had shut the gate almost immediately upon seeing me. If I wasn¡¯t planning on smashing the gates I¡¯d probably just jump over them to show how pointless that was.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    The gate was designed ornately. It was mostly made to look fancy. This city wasn¡¯t a fortress, so the walls were mostly made to keep people from coming and going as they wished. The gates were far too small, so I raised my folded claws and hit the archway directly.

    Boom!

    Even though I had armored myself and the gate sacrificed solidity for ostentatiousness, running into that much stone still hurt. The mortar cracked and the stone shifted, but the gate held. The doors hung crooked on broken hinges. I could probably kick it in and walk through, but that wasn¡¯t enough for me though.

    I aimed an uppercut for the massive keystone. That special part of the arch holds the whole thing together. It helps an arch hold weight incredibly well, but by its very nature, it is weak from underneath.

    The first slam had broken the mortar holding everything together. The uppercut that followed pushed it up out of place and the archway crumbled. The gate and part of the wall collapsed with a rumbling crash, making dust fly everywhere.

    I stomped heavily over the rubble, shrieking once more. People were running and screaming. That was phase one done. Now it was time to let the bigwigs know that they were next. I needed them to know that hiding wasn¡¯t enough, they had to send out their powerhouses.

    Far ahead, poking out above the roofs, the palace of Macedor stood. It was just as ostentatious as I had expected it. It was a monument to their attitude of ¡®we¡¯re better than everyone else¡¯ that made them such a joke among merchants and diplomats back home.

    I stomped slowly towards the palace, making my target obvious. Reached out to smash the edge of buildings occasionally, in case anyone didn¡¯t understand that I was here to break stuff. It was probably less elegant to zigzag down main street so that I could carve up storefronts, but why would I need subtlety when I was leaving a trail of destruction and making a ruckus like this.

    I made plenty of progress before I felt Mun-gi signal me. He and the elves had spotted our targets preparing an ambush while I was busy kicking carts over and generally being an oversized bully.

    It¡¯s time to bust some heads.

    ~~~

    I¡¯d done more jobs than I could count and I thought I had seen it all. Eventually, I even formed my own team. The Blue Daggers were skilled specialists, which meant we got plenty of well-paying jobs. Of course, that came with its own dangers.

    Saboteurs like us always had the riskiest jobs. We made near impossible odds easier by destroying supplies, fortifications, siege weapons, and whatever else we were paid to. The problem is that anything important enough to hire saboteurs to destroy is going to be well protected. A small team infiltrating an enemy army or fortress can be suicide if you are careless or unlucky.

    Granma Bennie always said you never make much money by playing around, playing it safe, or playing nice. I took her words to heart, and she had turned out to be right so far.

    Most people don¡¯t like saboteurs since we cheat and fight dirty. We do the tough, dangerous jobs that save their lives and they repay us by mostly tolerating us. It was just the way it was. If the pay wasn¡¯t so good none of us would do it. We¡¯d gotten used to it though, we knew what to expect.

    That was, up until the Vortex himself came to offer us a job. None of us were ready for this mission. It felt like this was the direct opposite of our normal missions.

    Vortex Mun-gi, the King of Mercenaries himself, was the one who approached us. Normally you got nobodies acting as intermediaries between saboteurs to give the employers plausible deniability. You don¡¯t get one of the most famous men on the continent. Half the team was squealing like fangirls, which was pretty disturbing.

    That was just the start of the weirdness.

    The magic beast ¡®Manto¡¯ was probably the freakiest thing we had seen, like ever. The fact that he could speak wasn¡¯t unheard of, but beasts that could were ancient and had this dignity and magnificence that Manto lacked. He was basically a clown.

    His abilities were incredible and frankly unfair, not to mention his ridiculous physique. There was no other explanation for how he could actually hold his own with Mun-gi. He could be incredibly creepy at times and weirdly goofy some other times. It didn¡¯t help that he was hard to read with that creepy bug-face he had.

    I¡¯ll say this though: he made an amazing distraction.

    Everyone in the city was hiding. Sure, a few people tried to see what the noise was. They were few and far between though, and they scattered as soon as they saw Manto. I practically strolled to my target.

    I didn¡¯t even have to kill the men who would have been guarding the warehouse. I just smashed the lock and walked inside. The rows of shelves that greeted me were full of fancy goods and ingredients. I slipped my backpack off and started pulling out my explosives.

    Before I started planning out the positioning, I needed to check out some of the larger stockpiles. I also made sure to pocket a jar of what looked like real top-of-the-line Ninkasi. It would be a real crime to let this stuff burn. The brewers who made it practically treated it as a religion.

    I was glad I made sure to scope out the area. Aside from the amazing find, there were a couple of walls that looked sturdier than the others. Where I really lucked out, was when I found the sacks of flour.

    Flour, especially the really fine stuff like this, is practically a ready-made bomb. I had to wipe the grin off my face as I shifted the bags around and placed my alchemical mixtures under them. All that was left was to put out the delayed fuses.

    The only bummer about this job is that I won¡¯t get to see the faces of those twits in charge when they find out what happened to their fancy eats.

    But like Granma Bennie always said: if you light a fire under a bear¡¯s rear, make sure to be up a tree before you smell burnt fur.

 Chapter Thirty one

    When I was a kid many people said I could become anything I wanted to be. As I grew older their encouragement started gaining more specific directions. Mostly they wanted me to take over as the family head while others wanted me to become a diplomat.

    I knew that they had been trying to encourage me to find something I loved when I was still a child. As I grew older they had split between pushing me toward what they saw as my destiny and what they saw as my talent. It wasn¡¯t malicious, but neither were things I wanted to pursue.

    There was one man who was different though. When I was still quite young my parents spent a great deal of money to give me a chance to learn martial arts from master Ho-sung; a renowned master in our province. I wasn¡¯t a disciple, not a real one at least, but it was still an honor and a great opportunity. I took to it like a fish to water. It was amazing and wonderful. He had been teaching me for less than a month when he sat me down one day and we talked properly.

    He always used to drink this super bitter tea. I could never swallow the stuff so I always just sniffed it for a while before dumping it when I thought he wasn¡¯t looking. I kind of miss it nowadays though. I still remember the smell as we sat on the porch watching the pond. That day master Ho-sung had been acting odd, so I was nervous.

    ¡°Little Ma¡­ What are you planning to do with your life?¡±

    That question made me feel relieved that I wasn¡¯t going to get scolded, but having to think about my future was still terrifying.

    ¡°My mother says I should become a diplomat since I have a gift for languages. ...Um, father says I need to hold the reins of the family.¡±

    Master Ho-sung sipped his tea without speaking for a while. He turned to grab some fish food andI quickly poured about a third ofmy tea into a patch of weeds. Those wrinkly, talon-like hands flicked a palmful of the food so it spread evenly over the center of the pond. He wiped his hand on the edge of the porch and took another sip of tea before sighing.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t answer my question.¡±

    It took me a while to figure out what he meant, and even longer to formulate an answer. Master was patient though. He didn¡¯t even look at me; he just watched the fish gulping at the surface of the water.

    ¡°I- I don¡¯t know what I want.¡±

    Master turned towards me and gave me that funny little grin he would always have when I almost got something right.

    ¡°Really? Or is it more like you know what you want, but aren¡¯t sure if you should want it?¡±

    I nodded quietly while staring into my teacup. Master flicked another handful of fish food into the pond, but I missed the opportunity to dump more tea. His voice was quiet but sure when he continued.

    ¡°You are talented. Not only that, you have many different talents. There are not many people as lucky as you, little Ma. You have a gift for languages, you have charisma, you are good with numbers and organization, and you are one of the most talented students I have taught. Honestly, you have the potential to be successful at whatever you turn your hand to, and that is something many would be jealous of.¡±

    He paused and turned to look me dead in the eye.

    ¡°However, if you end up pursuing a talent that you have no love for, it will become a curse. Remember: talent is not a responsibility or a purpose. It is a tool. If a talent becomes a tool to pursue your love, it is a gift, but one that becomes an obstacle is nothing but a curse.¡±

    Those words stuck with me, and they were the catalyst that set me on the path of a mercenary. And during fights like this, when my heart started beating like a drum in my chest, I knew I had made the right choice.

    Manto smashed open the gate. That sort of thing was absurd; as overly ornate as the design was, it was still solid stone beneath. The sheer power Manto wielded matched, even surpassed, the strongest of mythic beasts. It takes a massive amount of brute force to destroy a gate that large. And yet Manto did it with two blows.

    I¡¯ll admit to being more than a little jealous of the fellow. I mean, all that power, plus shapeshifting and regeneration?

    Once the gate was so much rubble, we marched in like we owned the place. I know that everyone wasn¡¯t screaming at me, but it was weirdly flattering all the same. I really ought to make dramatic entrances to battlefields more often. It was more fun than I thought it would be. We practically swaggered out of the dust cloud, making sure everyone saw us walking towards the palace.

    As much as I wanted to walk dramatically all the way, I needed to be prepared. One thing I have learned over the years is to never underestimate my enemies. I had more than a few scars from opponents who were much weaker than I was. I took to the roof of a building and hid like the elves in our group.

    Manto was stomping about, making noise and generally raising a ruckus. He even would smash open buildings. That struck me as a bit petty and childish. It wasn¡¯t like he needed to draw more attention to himself. The entire city must have heard those shrieks he made. Still, he was having fun and the damage he would leave would take a long time to repair. It was killing two birds with one stone in a way. There wasn¡¯t much to be gained from the acts of catharsis aside from his morale, but the destroyed buildings would make Honeywood¡¯s message to Macedor all the more clear.

    In the distance, a silhouette rose into the sky. I found myself frowning for the first time in days. Laomedon knew flying magic.

    It was a good thing that Manto had wings. Mages that could fly were some of the most obnoxious people to fight. Out of the forty-six powerhouses I had fought over the years, three of them could effectively fight while using flying magic. They were among the most difficult fights in my life.

    There was also one twit who tried to fly and use attacking magic at the same time, but he doesn¡¯t count. I still don¡¯t know if he was really a powerhouse like people had claimed. The moron lost control of his flying magic at the start of our fight. He face-planted into the only boulder on the battlefield and died. The soldiers who had seen him kill himself had made up a limerick about him after the battle but I can¡¯t remember the words.

    Hopefully, Manto could keep up with Laomedon. During our fight, Manto had barely used his wings. I appreciated it at the time, since fighting flying enemies is more frustrating than fun, but in retrospect that was kind of stupid of him. Wings are an amazing advantage that he should capitalize on more often. I hope he can actually use them effectively.

    The elves and I signaled him and I got ready to fight. Axios wouldn¡¯t be far behind. I felt my lips twist into that smile once more and the beautiful feeling of nervous energy flow up my spine. I saw the glint of light shining off Axios¡¯s spearhead and I dashed towards him. The tiles on the roof broke and slid free easily, so I was going to need to stick to the streets if I wanted good footing.

    Manto had shrunk down and disappeared into an alley. I was worried for a moment that I would be facing two powerhouses while Manto set up an ambush, then a cart flew out of the alley, arcing towards Laomedon like a ball. I grinned even wider as I watched the mage¡¯s eyes bulge at the sight of the mass of wood shattered against his hasty shield.

    A steady stream of cobblestones and chunks of nearby buildings followed, smashing against the mage¡¯s defenses. It was idiotically genius; even the best mages could only manage three spells at once, and a flying spell already counted as one. Even if the Macedorian mage could cast three spells at once, and I seriously doubted that he could, focusing on all of them would make him sloppy. Laomedon seemed to realize this as well. His face was screwed up in a frustrated grimace as he dodged and weaved in the air.

    Manto¡¯s strategy was working, even though it was the dumbest one I could imagine. A melee fighter attacking a mage at range? It was clever, but it was also stupid. I turned away from the two before a headache formed. I really should know better; Manto is lots of things, but rational and wise aren¡¯t anywhere near the top of the list. Still, if it¡¯s stupid but it works¡­

    I couldn¡¯t afford to watch any longer. I had my own fight to worry about. Axios was approaching. My cheeks stretched a bit more as I saw his face. He winced a bit as we locked eyes. It made me remember what an old friend had said about what my smile looked like before a good fight. He would joke that my smile caused ¡®short term incontinence and long term insomnia¡¯ in my enemies. He was weird like that.

    ¡°Traitor, I knew you were an honorless cur.¡±

    I felt an eyebrow raise and gave him a mocking sneer.

    ¡°I am a mercenary. Our relationship as allies ended the moment you gave me my money. Also, did you really think I wouldn¡¯t take the opportunity to make good on my promise?¡±

    I raised my blades and approached him smoothly. He planted his feet and waited. The spear he wielded was the thick inflexible kind that you got around here. It wasn¡¯t a bad design, and flexible spears that were tough enough to handle attacks from a powerhouse were rare, but they were never my style.

    He stabbed at me with a sharp lunge. It was a careful attack, he didn¡¯t overextend and his whole body was ready to dodge. As I twisted out of the way and slid past him he shifted away to keep his spearhead pointed at me. A little sigh escaped my mouth, though my grin didn¡¯t fade. An orthodox style that took no risks. This fight wouldn¡¯t be boring, but it wasn¡¯t exactly breaking new ground either.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    I shifted into my favorite attacking pattern. My feet fell into a comfortable rhythm and I started circling round and round the Macedorian. He spun with me, his face screwed up in concentration. It didn¡¯t take long for him to start sweating. Nothing he did affected me and I got close to nicking him multiple times.

    I had spent years creating this technique and even longer perfecting it. I was quite proud of it, and being named after it felt rather good. At the very least I would rather be named ¡®Vortex¡¯ over ¡®shark eyes¡¯ or something similar.

    I had seen a lot of different counters that my opponents had tried to devise. People had tried jumping, throwing weapons, outlasting me, or overwhelming me with pure speed, but none of them had worked more than once. A more dependable method was to use the environment to one¡¯s advantage, but even that wasn¡¯t foolproof.

    Axios clenched his teeth and lunged violently. He timed it perfectly; if I wanted to keep circling him I would either have to enter his range or risk slamming into the wall of a storefront. Unfortunately for him, I had recently seen a rather fun answer to that sort of problem.

    I made a few strikes to certain parts of the wall, then smashed straight through. Chunks of brick, wood, and glass rained around me as I repeated the feat and burst out of the store. My grin widened even further as I saw Axios¡¯s bug-eyed expression of shock. He hadn¡¯t expected me to actually ¡®ignore¡¯ the building as I circled him.

    It¡¯s too bad this fellow never saw the original technique; it had been quite a thing watching Manto wade through Macedor¡¯s army to keep me on my toes. I bet Axios¡¯s face would be much funnier if he had seen that. I don¡¯t have the armor and sheer power to pull something like that off, but I can do a pretty good imitation.

    We moved up the street in a deadly waltz. I had definitely pressured Axios mentally with that move, but he had rallied himself admirably. He was leading me somewhere. One of the elves gave a signal and was ready for his plan though.

    I don¡¯t know where the other pseudo powerhouses are, but apparently, Kliment was here to support Axios. It was annoying but inevitable to be disturbed. I can¡¯t really claim this was a surprise. All¡¯s fair in love and war and all that. Plus, people like this tend to be just as paranoid as they are arrogant.

    I really enjoy working with the elves though. Their professional attitudes and competence are really great to work with. Manto seems to thrive on chaos and tends to act like a wolf among sheep, but the elves are amazingly coordinated and prepared on the battlefield. They gave the signal telling me the enemy archer¡¯s location. He was planning on shooting me in the back. As soon as he made the attempt, he would get ambushed by multiple elvish archers, who were incredibly skilled in their own right.

    This was going to be tricky. Dealing with archers always was. An arrow from a powerful archer moved like greased lightning. If you weren¡¯t prepared for it then you wouldn¡¯t have a chance to survive. The arrow would punch through you before you could react.

    Of course, things were much different if you knew their exact location and that they were preparing to shoot you.

    I have great peripheral vision. Even better, my ...unique eyes meant it was hard for people to see where I was looking. It was easy to spot Kliment perched on a roof a block away. It was hilariously easy to spot him, especially with how Axios had gone defensive and how his eyes kept flicking towards Kliment¡¯s hiding place. The Macedorian archer was slowly getting used to my rhythm as he drew back his bowstring. The way he held himself made him easy to read.

    When he finally let the arrow loose, I was more than ready. Bending my torso to the side, I held out my right kukri ¡®Burning West Wind¡¯ where my torso would have been. It was flat side up, and the arrow skipped off it with a musical noise. Axios didn¡¯t even have time to change his expression when the arrow¡¯s ricochet sent it through his waist. It punched a hole right through his side, just below the ribs.

    I stopped my vortex and watched the spearman double over and wheeze. I kept Kliment in my peripheral vision, but it didn¡¯t look like he would be interfering anytime soon. The elves had shot him full of arrows the moment he¡¯d attacked me. Axios forced himself to straighten and choked out a single word.

    ¡°H-How?¡±

    I sighed, waving my kukris idly.

    ¡°I became known as a powerhouse thanks to the Battle of Red Mud.¡±

    He looked a little confused. I had forgotten how far I was from home.

    ¡°It was in Zhongguo. The emperor had died and there was a war for succession. The princes, the empress consort, the general¡­ anyone who mattered in the court was fighting. Even the neighboring nations sent troops to support one side or another. I was just a relatively skilled pseudo powerhouse who was drawn into the war.¡±

    I licked my lips as the images, sounds, and smells filled my mind. I felt the phantom twinge from a half dozen old scars as I continued.

    ¡°Most of the war was spent jockeying for position, with no one willing to commit their forces. That was until, for whatever reason, everyone met at this one spot. It was just a bunch of bad farmland. The soil around there was dry and yellow. That particular area didn¡¯t grow crops too well. Still, the land was flat, and it was a good enough battleground.

    There must have been millions of soldiers, hundreds of elite fighters, over a hundred pseudo powerhouses, and dozens of true powerhouses.¡±

    Axios¡¯s eyes widened. I couldn¡¯t blame his shock. That had been three generations of powerhouses, and it was still considered a massive number no matter where you lived. This little wannabe who lived in this tiny country couldn¡¯t begin to understand the scale that empires like Zhongguo operated at.

    ¡°It was the dry season. Even so, by the second day, we were all wading in mud. The blood from hundreds of thousands of bodies soaked into the dirt and our steps churned it into a foul-smelling muck. Hundreds fell from exhaustion, were trampled into the mud, and drowned.

    ...The battle went on for three days and two nights. I don¡¯t know how many people ran, in the center we certainly couldn¡¯t. There were only three of the original powerhouses alive after that battle, but the few of us pseudo powerhouses who lived were considered powerhouses from that day on.¡±

    My smile had been fading for a while now, but then I completely dropped it. I gave him a deadly serious stare.

    ¡°That was when I learned what it meant to fight as a powerhouse. You don¡¯t count on the perfect environment and fair fights. If you want to be the real deal you need to be willing to fight in the middle of a swamp made of blood and gore. You need to be able to do it while arrows and spells rain from the sky, and someone is always sneaking up to stab you in the back.¡±

    I dropped the expressionless look to give him a sneer.

    ¡°Your little scheme? One archer shooting me from behind? It¡¯s a joke.¡±

    I shifted my grip on my kukris and crouched down like an animal, digging the tips of my blades into the stone.

    ¡°If you were a real powerhouse it might have put me in a bad position, but you aren¡¯t. You don¡¯t have the willpower, and you don¡¯t have the mindset. You¡¯re a paper tiger, and now it¡¯s time to meet the real deal.¡±

    I started moving once more. This stance was definitely unorthodox, but I had worked to refine it into a working strategy. It was something that most powerhouses did; if you wanted to stay alive and keep your position you needed to keep others guessing.

    At first, I ran around him, leaping about just out of reach. I would leap and plant myself on the side of a wall before pushing off and flying by him. He was having trouble keeping up, especially with the hole in his side.

    I slammed my kukri, ¡®Cold East Wind¡¯, into the cobblestones. It kicked up stone dust and shards of rocks but gave me leverage to change directions easily. The way I moved in this stance, shoving off the ground and walls violently, was a lot different than my much smoother ¡®vortex¡¯ technique. It was also deliberately animalistic, taking cues from the way wolves and lions brought down prey.

    Axios was really starting to panic now. It was actually kind of embarrassing. He had the skills and strength, but his mental composure was shot and he was letting his wound slow him down. I made a vicious leap, sweeping my blades against the shaft of his spear. He absorbed the impact competently, but his caution made him retreat. He planted his back against the wall of some windowless building to keep me from getting behind him.

    It was so stupid.

    Aside from how it prevented from using his spear properly, I had already proven how brick and wood wasn¡¯t the impenetrable barrier he thought it was. I lunged for him before turning at the last moment and diving into the wall. It took four chops to cut a hole in the wall and one simultaneous strike from the backs of my blades to smash the chunks out of the way.

    Instead of carving my way out I aimed for the section of the wall where Axios should be and shoved my kukris though the wall like the pincers of an enormous insect. When I pulled them back there was no blood, so it looks like I missed. I wasn¡¯t really expecting to hit him though.

    A few more cuts and sections of the wall fell away. I stepped through, frowning. Axios was on the other side of the street. He was so cautious that he gave up a golden opportunity to attack me. Neither of us could see the other through the wall, but my attack earlier should have revealed my position to him. The fact that he retreated too far to take advantage of that showed his cowardice.

    I was done; this wasn¡¯t fun anymore.

    It was time for the killing blow. Crouching low, I pushed forward at my fastest speed. I shot into the air, throwing myself into a spin. A light twist kept me from getting impaled on Axios¡¯s spear. He nearly got me, and he managed to pull the spear back in time to block. As pathetic as he was, he could manage that much. He wouldn¡¯t have been called a powerhouse otherwise.

    I ended my spinning flight towards him with a chop using my entire body. Both kukris impacted the shaft of Axios¡¯s spear with an almighty bang. He did everything right; letting the spear bend, absorbing the impact by utilizing his body, and keeping the attack from striking head-on. It let him take the hit, but my blades had embedded themselves in the wood.

    For a brief second, I hung in the air, my weight supported on my blades. Then I threw my body into a wave, starting from my toes and traveling up towards my blades.

    Back when I was still learning from master Ho-sung, he had taught a very special technique. It allowed a skilled user to transfer an impact through their body without harm. Master Ho-sung could stand next to a wall and let the nearby town¡¯s blacksmith hammer away at his chest. I remember the way the wall cratered and cracked from each impact, and the way master grinned as he walked away unharmed.

    I eventually mastered the technique, and it was very useful in fights against opponents with a lot of brute strength. It was years later that I used my master¡¯s technique as the base for my own. Rather than transfer an impact or momentum I received, I learned to create that force and transfer it into a target. I had refined the one-inch punch into a point-blank one.

    Once a king had asked for a demonstration of martial technique. It was a show of power to cow some of his political enemies. I was to use unarmed techniques on a massive man in full plate armor. I planted my fist on his chest and used my technique. He had barely moved from my attack but I left a fist-shaped dent in his armor and cracked his sternum.

    I don¡¯t have many opportunities to use it in battle, but using it through my kukris against a blocking opponent works wonderfully. This time was no exception. The force traveled up my body like a wave bearing down on a beach. I kept myself almost boneless as I forced more and more power into that wave. Then, when it finally reached my wrists, I slammed my blades deeper into Axios¡¯s spear shaft. The wave broke; it changed from a gentle swell of water into a tidal wave that shatters stone.

    My blades sliced reduced the spear into three pieces and left an X shaped wound on Axios¡¯s chest. It was shallow, but that didn¡¯t matter; I¡¯d won the fight. Axios looked at the pieces of his weapon and I swear he started to tear up. His hands shook as he whispered quietly to himself.

    ¡°H-how?¡±

    I couldn¡¯t help but roll my eyes slightly.

    ¡°What, that¡¯s cloudbreaker oak, right? It looks like it''s been alchemically treated, but whoever made it didn¡¯t use the heartwood. Stuff like that isn¡¯t invincible you know.¡±

    His face shot up and his eyes met mine. The coward made a whimpering noise and turned to run. It disgusted me. This was what passed for a powerhouse around here?

    He made it a half dozen steps before I attacked. I ran up and kicked off the corner of a building, throwing myself into a spin. One kukri bit deeply as I slashed it across the coward''s back while the other took his head from his shoulders. I shook most of the blood free from my kukris and walked away.

    The light sound of feet hitting the cobblestones made me glance over. The elves walked towards me casually, although they had their bows out and were ready for any attacks. One looked towards me as I listened for the signs of Manto¡¯s fight.

    ¡°We¡¯ve still got a minute before the bombs go off. You really finished that fight fast.¡±

    I tried not to grunt in disappointment. I failed. The elf, Lanius I think, gave me a questioning look at my response. I shrugged disappointedly.

    ¡°Axios turned out to be ...underwhelming. I was hoping for a better fight than a cowardly, wannabe powerhouse.¡±

    One of the others opened their mouth to say something but seemed to change their mind. A crashing sound and flashes of fire and lightning came from a couple of blocks ahead. The spells and noises were getting further away as well. We increased our pace until we were almost but not quite running.

    With the noise Manto and Laomedon were making, the fight wasn¡¯t going to end anytime soon. We weren¡¯t planning on interfering either; Manto didn¡¯t need the help. I did wish I could have gotten a better fight, but just because mine had been so underwhelming doesn¡¯t mean I was going to ruin Manto¡¯s.

    Even from here, that fight looked like a lot of fun.

 Chapter Thirty Two

    Being huge was awesome. It was just a shame that I didn¡¯t have eye beams or radioactive fire breath. Other than that, things couldn¡¯t get any better. I got to unleash my titanic fury on a helpless city. It was also guilt-free, since there wasn¡¯t anyone around, and these buildings were in the fancy part of the capital city of a bunch of fascists.

    Spending time drawing a ¡®dotted line of destruction¡¯  from the city gate to the palace was addicting, but I needed to keep an eye out for Laomedon. Also Axios and the other fighters, but they weren¡¯t my personal responsibility unless things went bad fast.

    After a bit more smashing, one of the elves peeked out over a roof and gave me a hand signal. They sighted the enemy. Off in the distance that they pointed towards I saw a small silhouette floating over the buildings. There was a spearman on the ground, but it was pretty obvious that the flyer was my target.

    Mun-gi dashed past me and drew Axios¡¯s attention. The two ran down a side street, leaving me and the mage looking at each other. It seems like these schmucks have a similar strategy to ours. My guess was they were hoping Axios would last long enough for Laomedon to bombard me with spells.

    I started shrinking myself down to size. It was relatively easy to do; forcing myself to grow that large in the first place was the hard part. The mage flew into firing range as I was shrinking down to the size of a Clydesdale horse. He raised the wand in his right hand and drew out a symbol in midair with ridiculous speed. I didn¡¯t wait to see what would happen, I just dove for a nearby alley, forcing myself down to the size of a normal horse as I did.

    This was going to be tricky.

    Since the dude could fly, I had to rethink my strategy. Since my target was floating above the rooftops I wasn¡¯t going to be able to ambush him the way I had been planning. If he had been street level then I could use the buildings as cover, but that wasn¡¯t going to happen here.

    When I first heard that I was going to be fighting a high-level mage I had been strategizing carefully. This was a new one for me, so I needed to make sure I wasn¡¯t going to fried because I got careless. Even at my largest, I was only dinosaur-sized and my fastest speed was nowhere near that of lightning.

    This fight required a more cautious approach. I needed to figure out the mage¡¯s abilities before I threw everything into this fight.

    Say, there¡¯s an idea...

    There was a medium sized cart nearby, the kind made for hauling goods rather than people. I reached under the axle and hooked a transformed claw into the thickest portion. This thing was awkward to wield, but I had a surprising amount of space to move, and my claws gave me plenty of traction to use my strength properly.

    Laomedon floated into view; his twin wands raised to cast a spell at any moment. He had this pretentious look on his face and a stupid, wispy beard that made me hate him at first sight. I twisted my body, the cartwheels scraped across the cobblestones as I dragged it in a circle, building momentum for my throw. Our eyes met as I released my grip on the improvised projectile, and I got the perfect view of the whites of his eyes as he stared bug-eyed at the cart arcing through the air at him.

    The cart had been solidly built. That and the speed it was flying at made the heavy wood vehicle into a scarily dangerous projectile. Laomedon frantically strengthened his shield, barely making it in time. Magic shield and wooden cart crashed into each other and the shield held, barely. The cart came apart from the force of the impact and bits of wood flew everywhere.

    The shield wobbled dangerously and the mage inside was nearly knocked out of the sky. Even without seeing his pale, sweating face, I could tell I¡¯d nearly shattered his barrier with that hit. This was definitely the go-to strategy from now on.

    Smashing the nearby walls gave me a decent supply of bricks and chunks of rubble to use as more projectiles. My scythe-like claws didn¡¯t make throwing very easy, but I had gotten used to shape-shifting them enough to be able to hit the big bubble that Laomedon was hiding inside.

    He flinched badly at first, but it became pretty obvious that these bricks and chunks of woods weren¡¯t nearly as dangerous as an entire cart was. Wearing him down like this wasn¡¯t possible. This was a guy who could block arrows from powerhouses. Depleting his energy one brick at a time would take all day.

    I jammed my claws into the broken wall and carved out a piece the size of a small table. Stepping into the middle of the alley, I began to spin myself around and build momentum. Once I had the speed I slung the piece of wall at Laomedon like a giant brick frisbee.

    This time Laomedon managed to fly out of the way. My projectile barely missed, skimming past and smashing through the roof of a jewelry store. The mage finally returned fire; a glowing symbol spouted a cone of flame at me. In moments the entire alleyway was on fire. I wasn¡¯t fast enough to dodge it all completely, but I managed to hide inside one of the buildings I had been smashing for ammunition.

    The fire had covered a good chunk of my rear, along with my back legs. It didn¡¯t have anything fueling it, so it guttered out quickly, but I still felt like I had been barbecued pretty badly. I gave my back end a quick wiggle, it hurt but still moved perfectly. That fire wasn¡¯t as hot as I was worried about. I still didn¡¯t want to get hit by that again.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

    This was going to be tricky. Laomedon seemed to be able to freely defend and attack while flying around. That was three spells at once, and as far as I knew a mage could only manage two at maximum. There was probably some trick to it, but I didn¡¯t know enough about magic to guess. I didn¡¯t even know why some people used wands and some people used those cat¡¯s cradle thingies but no one used ¡®premade¡¯ magic circles.

    Bulldozing through the opposite wall gave me more ammunition to use. I nabbed a pair of oblong chunks the size of manhole covers and leaped up the wall of another building. Laomedon and I locked eyes before I slung both my projectiles at him. He cursed, trying to dodge and return fire at the same time. A lightning bolt scorched the roof behind me as the chunks of the wall I threw smashed against Laomedon¡¯s shield. They didn¡¯t hit head-on, but at least I had hit.

    The magic shield vibrated under the blows rather than deforming. I really wish I knew how these things worked. His barrier could be a force, like a magnetic field, or some sort of temporary physical object. I wasn¡¯t a physicist and besides, it wasn¡¯t like my body and abilities followed the laws of nature either. Still, I doubt that barrier will last forever, so as long as I kept hitting it I would eventually win.

    Of course, that strategy would only work if I didn¡¯t get hit either.

    Smashing through the walls wasn¡¯t exactly easy, but I could manage it so long as I had room to smash it in first. Even so, I preferred windows when I could. I moved into the main street and leaped through the front of some fancy clothes shop with a fireball literally hot on my heels. Diving into the back of the store, I burrowed up to the top floor and smashed out through the roof with a thick wooden beam in my claws.

    Laomedon had drifted a bit too close as he prepared to hit me with a spell, and I was able to fly up in his face and clobber him with my makeshift baseball bat. He didn¡¯t go flying as I wanted, but his flinching face as the beam snapped across the barrier protecting him was almost as good as the one earlier with the cart.

    Credit where it¡¯s due, he recovered quickly and returned fire, but this hit and run approach felt really natural to me. It didn¡¯t have the finality of a proper ambush, but it kept him off balance. That would do until I could really get my claws on him.

    Despite how much I was hitting him, Laomedon wasn¡¯t really flying as high as I expected. Maybe he was trying to bait me into approaching and didn¡¯t want me to go to ground, but he stayed within the range of my throws.

    We were working our way up the road. Maybe a third of my projectiles were hitting his barrier, although that seemed to be enough to make him sweat. His own attacks weren¡¯t nearly so accurate, although I was still a little burnt and fried from near misses.

    This game of cat and mouse couldn¡¯t go on forever though. Laomedon was getting frustrated and twitchy. His attacks got bigger and bigger, covering entire buildings in fire or ice. The power didn¡¯t go up much, but I couldn¡¯t dodge them so easily. I was forced to spend more time dodging and hiding. On the other hand, he was getting sloppier.

    I¡¯d been testing that shield for a while now and I was getting a good idea of its quirks. It was a solid shell that prevented anything solid from touching the user. I don¡¯t know if poison gas or lasers would pass through, but I don¡¯t have either of those, so the point is moot. What is important is that the shield has trouble dealing with steady pressure. It handles impacts just fine, but the momentum and weight are more taxing.

    That¡¯s great since it means I can end this pretty quickly if I get my claws on him. That shield of his will pop pretty quick if I start putting the squeeze on him.

    I started faking an injury. It wasn¡¯t much, just a bit of a limp, but the charred sections of my exoskeleton helped sell the act. I also started shifting one of my claws to make the spike launcher design. I ducked in and out of a few more buildings before catching my breath in the most ostentatious restaurant I¡¯ve ever seen. I ducked away from the windows and was about to smash out the back when one of the decorations caught my eye.

    It was a really pretentious looking set of statues. Laomedon and Axios were easy to identify, and I¡¯m guessing that the third in the center would be the ¡®esteemed leader¡¯ of Macedor. I felt my mouthparts twist into a grin, and tore the statue free, snapping it off at the ankles and heaving it into the air.

    I burst out the front window just as Laomedon flew lower. He was charging up some spell to fill the restaurant with fire and had been lining up a good angle. It put him right where I needed him.

    I flicked open my shifted claw and launched a burst of spikes at him before he could fire his spell. He flinched slightly, and that was enough for me to snap open my wings and dodge the cone of fire. I zipped past him and used my wings to airbrake. By that time my claw had returned to normal, so I was able to grip the statue with both claws.

    ¡°Hey! Don¡¯t you know courtroom etiquette?¡±

    Laomedon turned to see me holding the statue of his leader over my head. His eyes widened as he saw my grin.

    ¡°When you see the king, you kneel!¡±

    And with that, I brought down the heavy stone sculpture like a sledgehammer. The magic shield rang like a bell and Laomedon was sent to the ground. He smashed into the cobblestones like a meteor. The shield barely held, bouncing him into the restaurant.

    I dropped the remains of the statue and flew into the restaurant. Laomedon was on his hands and knees. The hit hadn¡¯t done any damage, but the violent movement had rattled him around quite a bit. He tried to stand, but his wobbling legs couldn¡¯t hold his weight. I was amazed that he managed to keep the shield up.

    Maybe I was feeling a bit cautious, but I felt like this needed something safer than just grabbing and squeezing. I grabbed the statue of Laomedon and tore it free as well. Walking over to the real deal, I lifted it up and slammed it down, over and over. Eventually, the shield failed.

    ¡°W-wait-¡±

    I almost hesitated, but then I saw the way he was holding his right wand. I don¡¯t have a clue how he managed it, but he¡¯d managed to draw the magic circle and charge a spell while I wasn¡¯t looking. I tried to bring the statue of him down before he could release it, but I was almost too late. The tip of the wand belched out a half-formed fireball right at my face. Luckily, the malformed blast collided with the stone chest of the statue, blasting the thing to pieces but leaving us both unharmed.

    Laomedon started scrambling backward while whipping his arm around quickly to draw out another spell. Before he could finish I drove my claws into his chest, killing him. An almost finished magic symbol faded from the air as the mage took his last breath. I pulled free and stumbled back, letting out a gasp I hadn¡¯t realized I¡¯d been holding.

    The fight had been difficult. Not like when I had fought Mun-gi, but there still had been a tension there that I hadn¡¯t noticed. Just thinking of that last desperate spell he¡¯d pulled off made my shoulders knot from the stress.

    The sound of clapping made me jump. I whipped around to see Mun-gi entering the restaurant with an odd look on his face.

    ¡°Well, you look like you had fun.¡±

    I flicked the blood off my claws and tried to hide how badly I had jumped.

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t call it fun¡­¡±

    He snorted.

    ¡°Well, at least your opponent was a challenge. And now we only have two pseudo powerhouses left.¡±

    Ahh, That was why he was acting funny. He¡¯d gotten a disappointing fight. Well, I didn¡¯t mind taking a back seat for the rest of this battle.

    ¡°Hey, you can have them both, just let me knock on the door, okay?¡±

    Mun-gi¡¯s grin was worth a thousand words. I bet mine was too.

 Chapter Thirty Three

    Back on earth I always found the paintings of royalty interesting in a funny sort of way. The culture involved in their creation was surprisingly fascinating.

    A painting isn¡¯t like some random selfie. Most teenagers wouldn¡¯t have the patience to pose for hours on end. Also, facial expressions like ¡®duck face¡¯ have very little in common with the half smile common in old paintings. Not only that, but the props were carefully selected, letting the painter incorporate the traits or accomplishments of the subject using the background of the painting. Just picking a suitable spot and the right filter doesn¡¯t really compare to that level of preparation and forethought.

    And yet, at their core, selfies and renaissance portrait are made because of one simple motivation: vanity.

    And that vanity means that pictures tend not to be entirely accurate. A painter who drew attention to unflattering traits in his work wouldn¡¯t be very successful. The best knew how to gloss over the deformities of inbreeding or signs of bad health and obesity. The different portraits of Charles ii of Spain were a good example of that.

    The statue of Macedor¡¯s ¡®glorious leader¡¯ must have been made by a master.

    When I saw the statue in the restaurant I wasn¡¯t paying attention. As far as I was concerned that sculpture was just a set of oddly shaped clubs. It wasn¡¯t until Mun-gi and I reached the big one in front of the palace that I took a closer look at it. It was in that stereotypical, one hand upraised pose and did look quite impressive.

    I really wanted to see what the king of Macedor looked like. The statue suggested that he looked tall, handsome, and majestic, but somehow I doubt that it was completely accurate. At the very least he wasn''t solid bronze. I turned to Mun-gi and gestured at the towering statue.

    ¡°Honestly, does he actually look like this at all?¡±

    Mun-gi had been spinning his blades about casually. He grunted and looked at the statue while the kukris swung round and round with every twist of his wrist. His hands didn¡¯t even seem to grip them and he didn¡¯t bother to pay attention to what he was doing. It was like he was pen spinning, only the pens were two feet long and razor sharp. After squinting at the statue for a second, he shrugged.

    ¡°Who, ''king'' Giniligan? Kinda, but not really.¡±

    ¡°...That¡¯s not actually an answer.¡±

    Mun-gi smirked a bit before shrugging.

    ¡°You need to see him to understand. You can tell that this statue was modeled after him, but he looks nothing like the statue.¡±

    I guess I wasn¡¯t going to get an answer. It wasn¡¯t a big deal though; I was going to be meeting the king soon enough. I needed to get in his face and scare him straight anyways. Plus, without the threat of magical bombardment, I could afford to grow to full size and do things with a little more drama.

    It was time to turn things up to eleven.

    I grew back to my multi-story height. I also made sure to bulk up as much as I could. Once I was taller than the statue I removed the barbs from my claws and grabbed a hold of the statue. It didn¡¯t take much to snap it free. The shape was awkward and heavy, but I managed to heave it onto shoulder spikes I¡¯d to support it. Mun-gi raised an eyebrow and grinned at me.

    ¡°You really like using statues as weapons don¡¯t you?¡±

    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    At first, I didn¡¯t respond. I needed to put organize my thoughts into a coherent pattern before I explained my actions.

    ¡°This whole fight, it¡¯s not like a normal war or battle. The goal and methods are similar, but we are doing things differently. We don¡¯t want to destroy Macedor or conquer it, We want to dissuade them.¡±

    I twisted my head around to look Mun-gi in the eyes.

    ¡°Honeywood used to have a reputation for being unconquerable, and that reputation has been called into question. This attack is to show the world, and Macedor specifically, what happens when anyone tries.¡±

    Suddenly, a series of deep, thudding explosions echoed in the distance. We both paused before continuing.

    ¡°Smashing up the stores and blowing up the warehouses full of expensive stuff?¡±

    I jabbed an antennae at the rising clouds of smoke from the Blue Daggers¡¯ acts of sabotage.

    ¡°That¡¯s just to make sure people pay attention. Thanks to all the burnt and damaged products we can rely on merchants to spread the message. What people are going to hear about is much more important than a bunch of torched silk though.¡±

    Comprehension dawned on Mun-gi¡¯s face. A tiny, wicked smirk formed as he looked at me. I nodded.

    ¡°Yup, I smashed the gate and nabbed this statue for a reason. We¡¯ve killed their most powerful fighters, and demolished the symbol of Macedor¡¯s ¡®greatness¡¯ both literally and figuratively. Now, when we march into the castle and threaten the king''s life before sparing him¡­¡±

    ¡°Honeywood will have made an effective demonstration of power without threatening the power base of any countries besides Macedor.¡±

    We exchanged evil grins.

    ¡°No one will have a decent excuse to attack us that will outweigh the danger of a giant bug using their national monuments to break their important buildings. Plus, even taking me out of the equation we proved we have the economic power to hire people to ruin other people¡¯s day.¡±

    Mun-gi kept nodding, then his smile twisted into a little smirk as he raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°And the real reason for your obsession with using statues as blunt weapons?¡±

    ¡°...Just because smashing stuff with the statue of some twit in the crown is really, really fun doesn¡¯t mean that I can¡¯t do it for the right reasons. Besides, how many opportunities am I going to get to cause this kind of guilt-free mayhem?¡±

    Mun-gi snickered and we kept walking. It didn¡¯t take long to reach the palace. Mun-gi was obviously eager, so he took these long, loping strides that was practically a run. With my crazy height, I could keep up just walking normally. When we stood in front of the gates I grabbed the statue with both hands while Mun-gi rolled his shoulders and bounced on the balls of his feet to limber up.

    The gates were wrought iron and patterned in what I was starting to recognize as Macedor¡¯s royal emblem. Before I could smash them Mungi pulled out his kukris and stepped forward. A few lightning speed slashes reduced the gate to pieces. I did my best not to sulk. It looks like Mun-gi is still a little annoyed at his previous fight.

    ¡°Hey! I am the one who knocks!¡±

    ¡°Yeah, yeah, just limbering up.¡±

    I grunted and stepped past him, making sure to cut him off so he couldn¡¯t get at the palace before me. We reached the front door, and I planted my feet to get ready. Winding up, I swung the massive metal statue into the front of the palace. It smashed right through the wall, gouging it out and scattering pieces of it across the ground.

    I kept going, smashing chunk after chunk out of the massive building, working my way inward. As far as I could tell, the throne room was fairly deep inside. That meant I could just keep swinging away. It was pretty fun.

    My muscles started really burning. I couldn¡¯t keep this up much long. As it turns out, swinging around so much bronze could be tiring. Who knew? I did manage to reach the throne room though.

    ¡°Knock knock!¡±

    Tossing my improvised weapon aside smashed even more of the building. The statue hit the ground with a heavy clanging noise that would have been a lot more impressive if it hadn¡¯t been for the ruckus I¡¯d been making earlier. Shrinking down so that I barely scraped the ceiling with my antennae, I strode in with my mouthparts twisted into a grin.

    ¡°Sorry for the mess, I couldn¡¯t fit through the door, and¡­ No ones here.¡±

    Mun-gi stepped over a large piece of lumber and rolled his eyes at me.

    ¡°Did you really think they were going to just sit there and wait for you? I¡¯m surprised you didn¡¯t bring more of the building down.¡±

    ¡°Alright, you¡¯ve got a point. Still, this ruins my awesome entrance.¡±

    ¡°You poor thing. The question is: where is our target?¡±

    I was about to suggest running for the back door when a musty smell cut through the dust. After a bit of searching, I found the source. Behind the throne was a trapdoor. An awkwardly folded carpet showed how it had been hidden. Hooking the tip of my claw in the handle, I pulled it open. Mun-gi and I stared at the descending stairs before looking at each other and grinning.

    ¡°So sneaky¡­¡±

    ¡°Yup, looks like the rat has gone to ground.¡±

    We snickered as I shrunk down. I gestured like a gentleman holding open a door and smiled widely.

    ¡°After you.¡±

    Mun-gi nodded and we strolled into the darkness.

 Chapter Thirty Four

    Being a guard was about the best job I could ask for. Sure it doesn¡¯t pay the best, but accepting a few bribes and confiscating items from people would net enough cash to make up for it. But that wasn¡¯t the real reason why I love this job.

    It was, to me at least, the perfect mix of power and safety. A guardsman had a certain amount of authority, but he wasn¡¯t important enough to be dangerous to anyone. Everything was fine as long as guys like me didn¡¯t stick our necks out and made sure to ingratiate ourselves to anyone influential enough to make us suffer.

    Plus, this was Aigai, the capital city of Macedor. Anybody who could make trouble at where I had to deal with it would be rich or powerful enough that I would be turning a blind eye anyways. This was about the cushiest job I could have gotten. My current goal had been to get the same kind of paunch the captain has.

    It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and the wind was blowing just enough to cool off anyone outside. There wasn¡¯t too much traffic, so Jaga and I were slouched by the gates. We kept an eye out for anyone important enough to receive with decent posture, but otherwise, we relaxed.

    The road was built to give us a clear view of anyone coming for a fair distance off. It had to be; anyone moronic enough to build fortifications without clear sightlines was just asking for trouble. It only mattered in wars though, since any smugglers would find it simpler just to include the gate guards in any bribes they made.

    Either way, the influx was sporadic enough that we had time to watch people appear from behind the patch of trees of in the distance. Jaga and I made a game of identifying as much as we could while they were far off. I squinted at an approaching man¡¯s mount.

    ¡°Donkey.¡±

    ¡°Naw, that¡¯s gotta be a pack mule.¡±

    ¡°Bet on it?¡±

    ¡°Pfft, you wish. It¡¯s a while till payday, and I¡¯m not going to let you lure me into this again. Every time we start actually betting money I end up needing to choose between dealing with the missus being mad or asking the bursar for an early paycheck and having him act like a horse¡¯s rear for another week.¡±

    I snickered at that and we traded jabs for a bit. Eventually, the man got close enough for us to tell that neither of us were right. He was riding the oddest looking horse we had ever seen. We waved him through after a quick check. Jaga watched him ride his horse through the gate and muttered in mild wonder.

    ¡°I mean, that wasn¡¯t a mule or a donkey, but was it really a horse?¡±

    I shrugged. I wasn¡¯t any more sure than he was. Rather than think too much about it, I leaned back against the wall and stared off into the distance. Another silhouette appeared and the two of us squinted at it once more. It looked similar enough to the previous person¡¯s mount to make me pause.

    ¡°Another one?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know anymore. I doubt it though.¡±

    ¡°...Bet on it? We can use any confiscated items we get today if you don¡¯t want to use cash.¡±

    ¡°Only if we make doubly sure the captain has first pick. I don¡¯t want to get executed for ¡®rebellious actions against the state¡¯ because he thinks he didn¡¯t get his cut.¡±

    I nodded and turned away from Jaga. We both squinted to take in the person and their mount when those two suddenly panicked. Jaga turned to ask me a question when a massive creature burst free from the trees and stepped onto the road.

    It was huge. I couldn¡¯t¡­ How could it be so big?

    It looked like the bugs in his parent¡¯s garden; the ones that wobbled about and snagged butterflies and other insects out of the air. I remember one had caught a hummingbird. The poor thing had twitched in its grip as the bug literally ate its brains. I hadn¡¯t gone in the garden for a week after seeing that.

    This thing was so big... What would it eat?Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    Jaga and I scrambled inside the guard room. Once we were inside Jaga went for the alarm while I ran to give the leaders the message of the attack. The moron obviously wasn¡¯t thinking straight. He could stay if he wanted. I wasn¡¯t going to hang around here. My only wish was that I had a horse to get away faster.

    The clanging of the alarm sounded out over the mumble of the people around me. Their expressions went from curiosity to concern as they realized why I was running. I pumped my legs as quickly as I could, heading straight up the road. The smarter ones followed suit.

    ¡°Sssshhhhhkkreeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!¡±

    I nearly fell flat on my face. That horrible noise¡­ My body locked up in sheer terror and I felt sick. It was like a thousand swords scraping against each other. The hairs on the back of my neck rose. I tried to block it out and cover my ears, but it was too loud. Even worse, it echoed inside my ears and head. It was like I would never stop hearing it.

    No one was running anymore. I didn¡¯t blame them, my leg muscles shivered and twitched. They wouldn¡¯t hold my weight properly. The crowd fell silent. Then we heard it. It was muffled by the wall, but the beat of heavy feet running echoed out.

    It wasn¡¯t...

    ¡°No, no no nonononono¡­¡±

    That¡¯s impossible!

    *Boooom!!*

    The massive gate, along with the entire section of that wall, shook from the hit. Cracks covered it, but it didn¡¯t break. It couldn¡¯t break, could it? That was solid stone. Bits of broken stone fell from the cracks. ...Well, it was solid stone.

    *booom!*

    A second impact shook the ground and shattered the wall. The gate collapsed, throwing up a massive cloud of dust. We all stared at the destruction. Then someone screamed. That set off a chain reaction of panic and fear. I ran up the road as fast as my feet could carry me while the crowd scattered like rodents. A second hissing screech shattered the air, but this time no one paused. It just made us run faster.

    I chanced a look backwards and saw that foreign mercenary, Moon-something, by the titanic bug¡¯s feet. Then the towering insect swung a claw into a building, smashing away a huge chunk of its roof.

    I never knew I could run so fast. The noise coming from behind me gave me wings. Nothing mattered but the need to get as far away as possible. The burning in my lungs didn¡¯t matter, the ache in my legs and the blood in my mouth from biting my tongue didn¡¯t matter. Only escaping mattered.

    The horrible noises kept coming. It felt like they were just steps behind me, no matter how fast I ran. I needed to reach the palace. That was my only hope.

    I pushed myself even faster, and the horrible screeching and smashing noises faded into the distance. I didn¡¯t slow down though.

    ¡°Halt.¡±

    I nearly kept running. However, when I raised my eyes and saw the source of the voice I nearly jumped out of my skin. It was Laomedon and Axios. I tried to stop so fast that I tripped and tumbled across the cobblestones. Ignoring the pain, I scrambled to my feet and gave them a bow.

    ¡°Revered Guardians!¡±

    Axios raised an eyebrow at me as Laomedon demanded an explanation.

    ¡°We¡¯re being attacked by a giant mutant beast and that mercenary!¡±

    Axios glared at me with an odd expression.

    ¡°You are mistaken. We never hired a mercenary.¡±

    I flinched. I¡¯d forgotten the official story in my panic.

    ¡°Yes, my mistake.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±

    ¡°Jaga.¡±

    I lied smoothly. They would just tell the ¡®peace-keepers¡¯ my name and when I had been working. People as important as the honored guardians wouldn¡¯t bother to confirm that the nobody being tortured and executed was the right one. Too bad for Jaga, but he¡¯d do the same in my shoes.

    ¡°A-anyway, it shattered the gate and is heading this way¡­¡±

    A look of concern flashed across their faces before they gave me appropriately condescending looks. One of them signaled a royal guard I hadn¡¯t seen earlier and the man nodded and ran off.

    ¡°No matter, We will destroy these interlopers soon enough. They will learn to regret disrespecting the sanctity of Aigai.¡±

    ...

    The ¡®sanctity¡¯ of the city aside, they still waited for one of the Honored Guardians to act as back up. That was the right choice. They couldn¡¯t¡­ Against that thing¡­

    It just made sense. No human could fight that. Not alone.

    I was shanghaied into acting as a witness for them while the royal guard went to report on the situation. There was no way I would stay nearby, but I was mostly willing to watch from a distance. Getting dragged into their fight or drawing that beast¡¯s attention was the last thing on my mind. Either way, I managed to do my job and watch the fights.

    The fights were¡­ horrible.

    That insect could change its size and was faster than I could believe. The mercenary was no better. He smashed through brick walls like they weren¡¯t even there and moved like a storm of blades. The way he handled the honored guardian''s arrow¡­ It gave me chills. That was when I noticed the elves. It was them. They were behind this.

    I ran again. I had to.

    I made it to the palace this time. I wheezed out an explanation and the guards let me in. I don¡¯t know what my expression looked like, but they flinched when they saw my face. I pushed past them and ran all the way to the throne room. A pair of crossed halberds prevented me from getting further, but the king and the remaining two honored guardians were here.

    I threw myself into a kneeling position and gulped air for a moment before speaking.

    ¡°Your majesty! The revered guardians¡­ They are dead!¡±

    The king¡¯s face paled. The white color and sweatiness of his skin made him look like gross and doughy. He squealed before turning to one of the armored guardians.

    ¡°That can¡¯t be true! You¡¯re lying! He¡¯s lying! Execute him for lying!¡±

    I felt the blood drain from my face as well, but I didn¡¯t move. My only chance for survival was avoiding drawing any more attention to myself and hoping the others would focus more on the current crisis. Mitron glared at me and squeezed the shaft of his spear.

    ¡°What. Happened.¡±

    I explained as best I could, ignoring the king¡¯s mutterings and the way Peithon and Mitron glared at me. When I finished they gave each other an inscrutable look. Peithon waved his hands oddly as if dismissing me.

    I barely made it out of the throne room when a series of gossamer threads wrapped themselves around me. There was a moment where I felt them tighten, then everything was pain.

 Chapter Thirty Five

    I¡¯d expected the escape tunnel to be dank, with guttering torches and either cobwebs or mushrooms growing here and there. It wasn¡¯t like that at all. As it turns out, a well-made tunnel stays dry. A sealed escape tunnel has no need for torches either, and no spiders or food for spiders would bother with this place, so there weren¡¯t any cobwebs either.

    It was dark and dry. The tunnel weaved quite a bit, although I wasn¡¯t sure why. Considering how it was relatively narrow, it probably had some defensive purpose. Considering the look on Mun-gi¡¯s face, it wasn¡¯t going to be nearly enough.

    Past the entrance, there was almost no light. Neither of us minded. Both of us had pretty awesome night vision, and both of us were confident that our quarry wouldn¡¯t be able to see as well as we could. We made our way down the tunnel, moving at a fair clip. Mun-gi looked like he was moments away from sprinting. He was holding himself back in case of ambushes, but it was obviously a strain. The guy was really enthusiastic.

    The dark got so bad that eventually, I started using sound as a guide, letting the echoes of my footsteps as a sort of improvised echolocation. I didn¡¯t know how Mun-gi was coping, but he seemed to be fine in the pitch blackness as well.

    Finally, we saw a trace of our quarry. The flickering of torchlight slowly brought light back. We slowed down and I gave Mun-gi a look and whispered quietly.

    ¡°Do you wanna do this sneaky or scary?¡±

    The perpetual grin on his face widened into something predatory. He leaned back and muttered back in a low voice.

    ¡°Scary sounds fun. What do you have in mind?¡±

    It took a second to explain my idea. Apparently, he liked the idea since Mun-gi¡¯s smile got wide enough to show off his molars. The guy could be really unnerving sometimes. I was aware of the irony of me saying that, but really that just showed how I knew what I was talking about.

    ¡­

    We walked heavily, making sure our footsteps echoed loudly down the tunnel. Mun-gi held out a kukri and let the tip slowly scrape against the wall. The sounds resonated oddly down the escape tunnel. Mun-gi¡¯s noises swelled till he sounded like some hulking man dragging his blade, while the stone walls multiplied my footsteps till I sounded more like a monstrous centipede than a mantis.

    We rounded a corner and slowly stepped out of the shadows into the torchlight. I was standing behind Mun-gi, but I just knew the light must have reflected off his teeth as he grinned. For my part I stayed at the edge, having turned my exoskeleton black and letting it shine subtly in the flickering light. We got a good look at our targets as they saw us.

    The one in front was a scrawny, middle-aged man that looked like he sucked lemons in his spare time. He was sweating as he tried his best to keep the fear off his face. He had a completely unconvincing sneer and was holding his hands up in an odd-looking guard. Aside from the gauntlets, he was unarmed.

    The second man looked just like a younger version of Axios¡¯s statue had, so it was obvious he was his son. He had a spear and everything. He was obviously furious as well. The cold look of laser focus on his face showed his intense willpower. It was pretty impressive, especially considering how everyone else in this city seemed to have been ruled by their emotions. That wasn¡¯t to say he didn¡¯t hate our guts; he just didn¡¯t let that rage influence him.

    The final man in the back was ...a sweaty dough ball in the shape of a man?

    It took me a few seconds to realize that this was the king of Macedor. Mun-gi was right, the statue I used to knock on the door to the palace was modeled after him, but he looked nothing like it. The king was fat and saggy where the statue had a large, muscular frame. The statue held itself in a way that made it look taller than it was while the man himself was slightly above average and had a posture that made him look shorter. His features were similar to the statue but lacked any of its regality and handsomeness.

    It was odd. Every part of him had a bit of similarity to the statue in some way, but they were the complete opposites. It was like a before and after picture. He was also quietly whimpering and looked to me like he was seconds from wetting himself. Then I twitched my antenna and smelled something that made me correct myself. He was seconds away from wetting himself again.

    Mun-gi pulled out his other kukri and began spinning them idly. His head tilted in a nonchalant but unnerving way. If his grin grew any larger it was going to touch his ears. Before he could say anything the king squealed like a pig before managing to actually speak.

    ¡°Why are you here!? You work for me! I¡¯m the king! I hired you!¡±

    Even from behind, it was obvious that Mun-gi was rolling his eyes. I don¡¯t know if this twit of a king was actually a competent ruler, but he certainly wasn¡¯t showing any sign of the ability necessary right now. Mun-gi replied in a clipped tone.

    ¡°You hired me to do a job. I finished the job. This is my new job. End of story.

    The king squealed something unintelligible at his guards. Nobody really reacted to him anymore, especially Mun-gi. He¡¯d lost patience with the annoying man three words into their exchange. The king of Macedor really knew how to spoil the mood. Eventually, Peithon flexed his fingers and stepped forward, interrupting the ranting behind him. He looked Mun-gi in the eyes, although they still flicked to me from time to time.

    ¡°Is that ...thing fighting as well.¡±

    I cut in before Mun-gi could speak for me.

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯d love to, but mister Mun-gi here called ¡®dibs¡¯. We are paying him to fight, so we may as well get our money¡¯s worth. Plus, it seems that his previous opponent was a bit of a disappointment.¡±

    I added that last bit for Axios jr¡¯s sake. It definitely got to him too; it looked like he was seconds from dropping the torch and charging. It was funny watching him change colors. I felt a bit bad that it was over his dad¡¯s death, but all¡¯s fair in love and war and all that.

    Peithon was still sweating like he was in a sauna, but he managed to wave his hand dismissively. Something caught the light for a second, but I think it was my imagination.

    ¡°Hmmph. Just because you beat them doesn¡¯t mean you¡¯ll survive me. You should have cut your losses and-¡±

    Mun-gi whipped a kukri around in the air, and Peithon¡¯s hand jerked out suddenly. The light of the torch ran down four invisible lines of spider silk stretched between Peithon¡¯s gauntlets and Mun-gi¡¯s blade. Mun-gi raised an eyebrow and twisted his kukri, letting the razor edge take the weight of the lines and snap them.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

    ¡°Really? An assassin, and worse, a gimmick weapon user. That alone would be disappointing, but you just tried to kill me while making a pun. I¡¯m not sure I can forgive that.¡±

    His injured tone was strangely hilarious. He wasn¡¯t making a joke or saying that to mock the guy at all. Mun-gi honestly was offended that some weakling had made wordplay while using a gimmick to try to kill him. Peithon flinched and manipulated his odd gauntlets to release the cut wires and tried to replace them. I stepped past Mun-gi who gave me a look, but I had to make sure of something.

    It wasn¡¯t easy to find the wires in the dark, but I did manage to locate one and use my shapeshifting to stick the end of a claw to it and pick it up. It was about as thick as a human hair and made of some sort of metal. It was plenty stiff too. I was right.

    ¡°Wait¡­ This guy fights with glorified cheese wire?¡±

    ¡°Razor wire!¡±

    Peithon snapped at me while Mun-gi snickered quietly behind me. Meanwhile, ¡®his majesty¡¯ was cowering on the ground with his hands over his head. Mitron was¡­ not really reacting. Aside from the white knuckles he had from squeezing the shaft of his spear and the handle of the torch, he didn¡¯t show any signs of emotion at all. It was kind of creepy how he¡¯d hid his anger and gotten so much control over himself.

    Peithon, on the other hand, seemed to be a lot less emotional than he was acting. I hadn¡¯t caught it at first, but his expressions and body language were calculated to disguise the gestures he made to send those wires at his target. I watched him closer now, and it looked like he was setting up to do it again.

    ¡°You think you can mock me you stupid animal!?¡±

    Peithon swung a hand around to point a finger at me. It was grandiose, a little hammy, almost completely unthreatening. If I didn¡¯t know what to look for I would have missed the glint of floating wire drifting towards me. Now that I had seen it twice I agreed with Mun-gi. Expecting a gimmick like this to work on an actual fighter was downright insulting. At least he wasn¡¯t smug enough to try to make a pun.

    I let the wire loop over me and slowly drift down into place. Mun-gi gave me a concerned look but I smirked confidently back. Peithon couldn¡¯t read my insectile face, so he missed our exchange. He grinned in triumph and hooked the fingers of his other hand on the wire and tugged it tight with one smooth motion.

    ¡°Gotcha!¡±

    The wires made a high pitched squealing noise against my exoskeleton. The noise they made was surprisingly grating and made my antenna itch. Other than that, nothing happened. Peithon and I stood stock still, staring at each other. Sweat slowly built up on his rapidly paling face as my mouth parts twisted into an evil grin.

    ¡°Hey, no poaching.¡±

    Mun-gi¡¯s annoyed voice interrupted us. He had let me show off a bit but was getting impatient, so I shrugged. I grew a set of tiny blades where the wires were as I moved, and it cut the wires. The sweat on Peithon¡¯s face started running freely when he saw how easily I broke his attack. I stepped back and Mun-gi moved forward.

    He wasn¡¯t going to wait any longer.

    Peithon started flicking his hands out over and over. He had abandoned the theatrics and was obviously trying to overwhelm Mun-gi with lots of wires from odd angles. It was a good idea, but the wires were too light and floaty. Plus, this was Mun-gi he was up against. Trying to overpower the king of mercenaries like that was like trying to beat Superman at arm wrestling.

    Mun-gi waved his blades around, seemingly at random. In moments he had the wires tangled up and held between his blades If it wasn¡¯t for the torch backlighting the wires I would have missed it. He lunged forward and flicked his kukris. I got a glimpse of Peithon panicking and reaching upwards as the wires settled around his neck. Then Mun-gi swung his kukris out and blood sprayed from Peithon¡¯s neck as he was decapitated by his own weapon.

    Mitron dropped the torch and leveled his spear with both hands while Mun-gi turned his kukris to cut through the loops of super-thin garrote wire wrapped around them. Both of them ignored the thud of Peithon¡¯s corpse as they sized each other up.

    It was weird, watching a high-level fight from an outsider¡¯s perspective. I hadn¡¯t realized how it looks without the laser focus on the enemy acting as a ¡®distraction¡¯ from all the unimportant details.

    The first thing I noticed was the body language. Mun-gi and Mitron were watching each other like hawks and ¡®listening¡¯ to every twitch and shift the other made. They were lying to one another as well by pretending to make unconscious movements or deliberately having a certain posture. It was like they were playing poker.

    It was so incredibly cool that I had trouble figuring out why I felt slightly guilty.

    I couldn¡¯t do that. I didn¡¯t have the skills to play those sorts of crazy mind games with an opponent and I doubted I would be able to pick up on those signals in a fight. Sure, I could think a few moves ahead, but Mun-gi and Mitron hadn¡¯t even moved yet. I just made up for it with pure speed and inhuman reaction time.

    That meant that my fight with Mun-gi had been missing something to Mun-gi. That also explained why Mun-gi was able to read my facial expressions and body language now.

    The two interrupted my thought process by exploding at each other. They went from barely moving to suddenly attacking each other at breakneck speeds with almost no warning. They weren¡¯t stopping either. The sound of crashing metal was deafening in the small confines of the tunnel. It was like a team of giant woodpeckers trying to drill their way through aluminum siding.

    And woodpecker really did describe Mitron¡¯s attacks surprisingly well. He stabbed like a jackhammer. It was so fast that he barely left any openings. With the feints he used, Mun-gi wasn¡¯t able to go on the offensive at all.

    Mun-gi reminded me more of a swarm of silver piranhas, oddly enough. The boneless way he moved made it hard to pin him down and drew my eyes towards his glittering kukris. They swooped about, swiping in to deflect a stab or test a vulnerability. I could see the parries and near misses messing with Mitron¡¯s rhythm and slowly drew him into Mun-gi¡¯s multi-layered trap. Mun-gi fought like a calculated feeding frenzy.

    And he looked positively giddy while doing so.

    Mitron was definitely the real deal. Unlike Peithon who had been a joke in a straight fight, the spearman was actually able to keep up with Mun-gi. Sure, he was slowly losing ground, but he hadn¡¯t lost his head in the first couple seconds.

    The king squealed and ran, well waddled quickly, further down the tunnel. It was funny, there were plenty of people who were fatter than him who could run faster and more gracefully. He was just so embarrassing to watch. Mun-gi and Mitron didn¡¯t notice though, they were too busy with their fight.

    Mitron had a spear. That gave him plenty of reach and power. Of course, I knew from experience that Mun-gi¡¯s kukris always reached a little farther than you¡¯d expect and hit harder than they should. Between that and the weird angles, the sheer speed, and the inhuman grace he swung his blades with, well, Mitron didn¡¯t have a single advantage.

    He wasn¡¯t going down without a fight though.

    Mitron had become a machine. It was like his brain had been replaced by one of those supercomputers for playing chess. His spears were always on point, aiming for any vital point in reach. Every time Mun-gi pulled the spear or shifted it off course Mitron forced it back into place before Mun-gi could take advantage of the opening. It was really impressive, especially since he had been practically frothing with rage earlier.

    It couldn¡¯t last forever though. It only took one slip for Mungi to get a cut in. That barely slowed down Mitron, but the cuts started adding up. Mun-gi slowly but steadily overpowered him.

    It was beautiful, in a horrible way. The droplets of blood that spattered off Mitron¡¯s body and Mun-gi¡¯s blades caught the light of the torch as they flew through the air. Mitron and Mun-gi¡¯s body were silhouetted by the same torchlight while the metal of their weapons sparkled.

    Eventually Mun-gi gave his opponent a deep cut across the chest. Mitron took a while to fall. He tried his best to keep attacking, even though he had been cut to shreds. The hate he had finally rose to the surface for a moment before he died and slumped to the stone floor.

    Mun-gi stood there quietly for a moment before turning to me and speaking softly.

    ¡°He was a proper powerhouse. His father wasn¡¯t, but he qualified, if barely.¡±

    He wasn¡¯t really grinning. He seemed satisfied, but I had gotten used to his unnervingly wide smiles.

    ¡°You alright?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s never as nice fighting people who can¡¯t enjoy the fight as it is with those who do.¡±

    There wasn¡¯t anything I could say to that. We headed down the tunnel after the king. I grabbed the torch and created a holder for it on my back. It let me cast ominous shadows of myself, like a really scary shadow puppet.

    The king hadn¡¯t gotten very far. It turns out that the pasty, out of shape, borderline asthmatic coward didn¡¯t have great night-vision either. I could smell him not too far ahead. That wasn¡¯t really an impressive feat though; the guy could really use a new pair of pants.

    He whimpered quietly as the light ran over him. Then my shadow eclipsed his face and the noise turned into the wheezing squeak of a soundless scream.

    ¡°Giniligan. Little king. Little man. Little... maggot. You sit in your little chair and yell your little commands to little people, pretending you¡¯re important¡­ You¡¯ve been quite naughty haven¡¯t you? You¡¯ve gotten a little arrogant, thinking you can do things without consequence. Well, I am here now. Your little scheme has made me very angry.¡±

    His eyes were wide as saucers. I leaned closer and closer at a glacially close pace.

    ¡°I am here to warn you. The next time you get a silly little idea like attacking Honeywood? I will come for you. Nothing will stop me. Not your little walls, not your little army, and not your pretend powerhouses. I will crack your palace open like an egg, drag you out into the streets, and tear you to pieces. Do you understand?¡±

    He didn¡¯t nod, but the breathy squealing scream was good enough for me. My razor-sharp mouthparts worked slowly. I placed them right next to his ear, letting the edge brush past his cheek, and whispered quietly.

    ¡°Make sure you don¡¯t forget.¡±

    Then I dropped the torch and disappeared into the darkness. Mun-gi had hung back to let me do my thing, so it was about as dramatic as I could manage.

    That had gone perfectly.

    Of course, Mun-gi had to ruin it. He snickered quietly in the dark, turning towards me.

    ¡°Did you think you used the word ¡®little¡¯ enough? You can always go back and say it a few more times.¡±

    ¡°Dude, let me enjoy the moment.¡±