To the surprise of the [Heroes], the [Mother of Monsters] somehow managed to react in time to avoid the brunt of their attacks.

Well, perhaps the phrasing was wrong, as it wasn’t the woman herself who moved fast enough to do so, but the [Masterwork Chimeric Undead Titan Lvl 47] she was standing on. Even before the woman herself registered the lethal attacks aimed her way, the abomination twisted its neck a full one hundred eighty degrees to face the [Heroes] and moved with a speed that belied its hulking form.

The undead abomination raised one of its massive arms and directly blocked Joshua’s [Overcharge]d spell, at the cost of the annihilation of most of its arm, and swiftly lowered its shoulder, resulting in Ethan’s blow to miss entirely, the blade of his pollax digging deep into the undead’s flesh instead. Alissa’s spear still managed to nick the [Great Champion]’s shoulder, but it was a minor wound at best, even with all the active skills that empowered her blow.

“You kids must be the [Heroes] I was told so much about, then,” muttered the woman even as she clutched her bleeding shoulder, the bleeding far more profuse than it should be thanks to [Truth is a Bitter Pill to Swallow]. That skill was likely also responsible for how the woman sounded almost out of breath while she spoke. “No, no, this won’t do at all… [Misery Made me a Fiend].”

“Damn it!” cursed Joshua even as he barely managed to get out of the way of a blow from the [Masterwork Chimeric Undead Titan Lvl 47]’s stump of an arm. Missing most of its left forearm didn’t seem to bother the creature much at all, neither did it hesitate to deliver a full-force blow using the stump that was left. “That woman’s mana is skyrocketing! The skill must be some sort of self-buff! Watch out!”

Unfortunately, despite his warning, neither Alissa nor Ethan were in a position to actually attack the [Great Champion] since the woman was far above them, and by that point of time the two [Advanced Patchwork Colossus Lvl 47] had joined the fighting as well. The undead abominations also bodily blocked Joshua from launching another magical blast at the woman, without any care for their own well being.

“[Beware, for they are Fearless, and therefore Powerful!]” said the woman from her perch above the [Masterwork Chimeric Undead Titan Lvl 47]’s shoulder. As she intoned the words, the name of her skill, Joshua could feel her a chunk of her abundant mana seep into the bodies of the three undead abominations, and almost immediately they all noticed how the monsters moved faster and struck with even more force than before.

Of course a necromancer-type would have some skills to buff their undead.

“[Accumulation of Anguish!] [I Shall Cause Fear!]” said the woman as she used another pair of skills in quick succession. As soon as she used the first skill, all three [Heroes] almost stumbled as they were suddenly assaulted by agony. Joshua himself felt as if his left forearm was nothing more than a lump of pain. It didn’t take him long to realize that the pain they were feeling was identical to the injuries they had caused to the [Great Champion] or her undead marionettes, however.

More troublesome was that the skill apparently wasn’t a one-time thing, as when Joshua launched another blast of magic at the woman – which one of the [Advanced Patchwork Colossus Lvl 47] took on the shoulder instead – he felt searing, burning pain from his own shoulder.

That was a quandary, though mostly for him, as Ethan and Alissa seemed far less bothered by the pain and kept fighting, with only the occasional scowl or wince that indicated that they too felt the skill’s effects.

He started to worry, worried that they would all fail there and be captured alive, the worst fate possible awaiting them at the hands of the demons. Worry that he would never be able to return home once more, that his entire life would be spent on this god-forsaken world that had summoned him without even bothering to ask. The worries compounded and started to accumulate in his mind, and made him start thinking about fleeing.

Unbeknownst to Joshua, Ethan felt similar to him, in that various worries racked his mind, worries that were further amplified when they noticed how the undead abominations were each capable of taking them on in single combat, even if the [Great Champion] herself seemed pretty helpless. It was only when the thought that he should just abandon Alissa and Joshua as bait so he could escape crossed his mind that he shook his head and sobered himself.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

He noticed that Alissa seemed unbothered by her fears, unlike him. Then again he recalled Alissa saying how her very first skill was a passive that kept her emotions stable, and understood why she wasn’t affected in the least. On the other hand, Joshua seemed to waver, an uncertain look in his eyes, and Ethan could tell that he was also struck by the skill, the same way he himself was.

“Snap out of it!” Ethan yelled. “It’s that woman’s skill! She’s making your fears manifest in your mind to shake you!” he added, with the hopes that Joshua would be able to shake himself off the effects of the skill. He himself had to focus back on the fight, as he only barely managed to block a blow from another of the abominations with his shield.

It was a rather frustrating fight overall, as no matter what he did to the abominations, they seemed to just shrug it off, with no sign of pain on their features. They would keep fighting even while missing parts of their bodies, like the [Masterwork Chimeric Undead Titan Lvl 47] that fought on without being bothered by its missing forearm.

On the other hand, while they were effectively immortal thanks to [Respawn], Ethan’s group couldn’t do that. If they perished, they would not be able to return to life before ten minutes had passed. Unless their side was winning, returning to where they perished wouldn’t be an option, so they would likely have to return to life in the chapel back at Fort Ixlay instead.

Ten minutes might as well be an eternity in a battle like this, so he doubted that if one of them fell prematurely, the other two would be able to win the battle, unless the other fourth tiers from the fort managed to force their way through the Demon camp to get to their aid.

The three of them had hoped to be able to cripple the demon [Great Champion] with their ambush, but that had clearly failed. Given how the woman also possessed three undead abominations of high enough grade to fight against them, the plan was clearly botched, and as such, Alissa decisively gave the signal to retreat.

It was something they had discussed with the commanders of the fort, about what they should do should the ambush turn out to be a failure. Sir Marsten had decisively ordered for them to retreat in such a case, unless they felt there was still a chance to capture the target. Alissa judged that their chance had clearly passed already, so she started to retreat while she fought, towards where Sir Inolet was fighting.

Both Ethan and Joshua noticed her gesture, and after a moment of hesitation, nodded in agreement. It was easier said than done for them to retreat, however, as the three undead abominations doggedly pursued them, giving Alissa and Ethan who held them at bay a hard time, whereas Joshua behind them winced in pain every time he launched a magical blast to strike the monsters.

While it wasn’t a long distance to where Sir Inolet and the rest of their party along with Sir Marsten and Magus Drummond fought against another eight abominations and four of the demon army’s strongest warriors – at least out of the ones stationed there – it felt almost like an eternity for the three [Heroes] to reach there.

The distance couldn’t have been more than half a mile at most, nor did they take that long a time to reach the others, but to them, it felt like ages had passed, while the nagging feeling of fear caused by the effects of the [Great Champion]’s mental disruption skill kept surfacing from time to time as well. It was definitely not a pleasant experience, even for Alissa who could ignore the fear.

When they reached the others, the fighting was still going on. It was a hard-fought battle, since the humans had one less high-end fourth tier than the demons, while the undead abominations – although these ones were notably weaker than the three with the [Great Champion] – were each more than enough to give the rest of the party a run for their money.

So it was a pleasant surprise for them when Joshua launched a large blast of fire and incinerated one of the abominations they were fighting, opening the way for the three [Heroes] to join the rest of their party to fight together.

Fortunately for them, the [Great Champion]’s skills didn’t seem to affect the remaining weaker abominations, or maybe it was so strong because she focused it on the three higher grade undead with her, either could be true. When she too joined the fight, however, the humans were quickly put on a disadvantage.

Both Sir Marsten and Sir Inolet gave the signal for a fighting retreat. They were located too deep inside the demon camp to simply turn and run, so they had to maintain cohesion at least until they reached their allies who were still fighting outside the camp itself. The group slowly retreated even while they fought, no longer resisting their foes as hard as they instead took the chance to escape where they could.

The demons were far less willing to let them escape, however, and pressed them hard. Alissa noticed how the attacks from the abominations became wilder, more brutal, even while the demon fourth tiers pressed their human equivalents hard. At that point, Alissa exchanged a series of gestures to Ethan, asking him if he could hold the line against the abominations.

When he returned her query with an affirmative and asked her in turn what she had in mind, Alissa only replied with a glance towards where Sir Inolet was fighting against two of the demon fourth tiers at the same time. Ethan instantly got what she had in mind, as he remembered all too well the last time they sparred against Sir Inolet at full force and managed to hold their own.

It was a long shot, to be sure, but it was an opportunity for them to potentially turn the tide around, perhaps in a big way. As such, Ethan stepped in front of Alissa and held the line against the abominations’ attacks, while Alissa herself quietly disappeared behind him. The cooldown for her [Walk in the Shadows] had just reset, partly thanks to how she had trained the skill a lot of late.

Inside the shadow realm, Alissa quietly snuck towards where Sir Inolet was fighting the two demon fourth tiers, as she knew that if she could free Sir Inolet up, that could potentially turn the tide of the engagement right on the spot. Their mentor was one of the most powerful combatants amongst the humans, and it was not a hollow reputation.

Quietly, she slipped behind one of the two demons Sir Inolet was fighting against, her various buffs still active, though approaching the end of their duration by that point. She quietly clad her spear in whatever actives she had on hand, the ones that had already refreshed by that time, and when the opportune moment came, she charged out from within the shadows.

Her spear viciously thrust straight towards the back of a demon fourth tier who never expected her interruption.