It was a weird situation for Three Squeaks to be in, becoming involved in a conflict between two other people groups. Because he was involved now, unable to ignore what was happening.

When he’d been a young meerkat, his only aspiration in life was to find some tasty scorpions regularly, and to survive. Maybe protect the burrow from intruders, but even that was more of a hope than an actual possibility. Some things were simply too strong and they couldn’t do more than hide. That was the life of meerkats, until recently.

Now he had too many choices. He felt like he could do anything- but he knew that wasn’t true. He wasn’t the strongest, not even considering just Akrys.

But Three Squeaks supposed that he didn’t have to figure everything out himself. He wasn’t alone, after all. “What do the rest of you think we should do?”

“Approach… the… situation… with… sufficient… caution,” Meep slowly churned out a sentence.

“Yeah,” Three Squeaks agreed. “We don’t want to get in over our heads, or on the wrong side of a conflict.” Though he found it hard to justify what he had seen. He was also pretty sure that dried up river was supposed to flow into coalition territory eventually.

“I will cut down our enemies,” Half Oink said. “Just tell me who they are.”

That didn’t actually help. But Three Squeaks appreciated her support. “Princesses?”

“We should be cautious in our approach,” Crossed Antennae signed.

“Be ready to fight,” Fearsome Mandibles said. “If we need to exterminate them, we should do so.”

“... Extermination is a big step from talking to people,” Three Squeaks shook his head.

“You should not accept forest devastators as your neighbors. It’s more efficient to remove them.”

“Us and what army?” Three Squeaks asked. “There aren’t exactly a lot of us.”

“Can… poison… water,” Meep suggested.

Three Squeaks shook his head. Based on what he was sensing. “I don’t know if you can. Or if we should.” There was… a lot of water to be found up ahead, behind some sort of wall. Even if Meep managed to poison it all and it killed these tree chompers, that would be a lot of contaminated water to deal with.

Fearsome Mandibles had her head lowered. “... I knew we forgot something. We should return for an army. Void ants aren’t meant to fight in small groups.”

“We’re not going to get an army,” Three Squeaks said. “Besides, are there even that many void ants here?”

“There are others who can fight,” Fearsome Mandibles said.

“Well, it’s just us right now. So we have to deal with it.”

Three Squeaks began to explain the situation ahead. First was a massive wall. It was something like three meters high, which towered over even a hippo. But its height wasn’t the truly impressive part. Instead, it was the width. It covered a vast area some kilometers in length.

“It’s clear where most of the trees went. They took the logs, but also weaved the sticks into the wall. It’s not so cleanly organized like the construction Anton taught.”

Yet Three Squeaks also couldn’t find any flaws. With mud packed in, the whole thing was water-tight. He knew that, because the wall was holding back the water, creating something like a massive lake where there had only been forest previously. And while there were now many water plants growing in the area, he could sense the buried shrubs and stumps that littered the area.

Along the river, he could sense a change in the structure- though he supposed it was only a river, or perhaps the remnants of one, on their side. Only what seeped out of the ground made it into the river further beyond.

“It’s kind of like… a gate?” Three Squeaks commented. “It has a place for some beavers to stand with some things they have up there above where the gates might open. I think there’s a ladder that can be lowered as the only way to cross.” Besides just jumping over the wall, of course. And it seemed like the gate probably wasn’t supposed to open, as water pressure would make closing it near impossible. As for the power of the tree chompers, not a one was beyond Spirit Building. Or at least, none of those guarding the walls.

There was little else they could do but draw closer. Three Squeaks could simply attack them unprovoked, but he didn’t know the whole story yet. So, they continued forward.

“Stop right there intruders!” called one of the guards on the wall as they approached. All of the tree chompers were rotund furry creatures with wide tails and claws for digging. They also had sharp teeth hidden behind their maws. “Why are you intruding in our territory?”

“We haven’t even entered your territory yet,” Three Squeaks protested.

“Not so,” the tree chomper declared. “We claim far beyond the limits of our wall. This area is designated for future expansion.”

“It’s that very thing that calls us here,” Three Squeaks took the opportunity to approach the topic he wanted. “You seem to have expanded greatly, but did you ask any of the others living in this area?”

“Why should we?” the guard declared. “We made this all ourselves.”

“But were the trees yours?”

“Obviously. We have them.”

Three Squeaks took a deep breath. He didn’t want to be hasty but… he was approaching a conclusive opinion on the situation. “So you claimed everything by the right of power?”

“It is the natural way.”

“Do you speak for your people as a whole?”

The tree chomper looked down upon him, as another half dozen poked their heads over the wall curiously. “I don’t like your attitude, little rat. The Widetimber Colony is the proper owner of the land you stand upon, and you are no longer allowed to remain.”

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A slight pinch on his paw had Three Squeaks look down. Fearsome Mandibles signed rapidly. “Tell him his colony is bad at land management and conflict resolution.”

“Your colony of tree chompers is overstepping its bounds,” Three Squeaks said.

“You shall call us beavers. And who could retaliate against us? Tiny rats like yourselves? Maybe a bunch of wet cats or monkeys who have no trees? Prepare the weapons!” the beaver guard called.

Half Oink snorted at them. “Hey! I’m neither of those things! Also hippos would still totally eat you if they wanted.”

Things were clearly beyond words at that point. Three Squeaks could see the weapons being readied. They were some sort of weird wooden contraption built on very different principles than he had seen, but he understood the part that was wooden spikes. “Careful! They’re going to launch-”

He got about that far before the contraptions snapped around, flinging wooden spikes… or perhaps spears or arrows without metal heads. It didn’t matter what they called them, he had to dodge. He only hoped that Meep managed to find cover.

Aaaand… Meep was suddenly behind a stump a dozen meters away. “Mush… room,” he commented.

Half Oink was fine, of course. She hadn’t exactly dodged, but the spears that vaguely approached her location were split in half. And then in half upon another angle, ultimately flying apart into splinters.

As for the princesses, they had been carried by Three Squeaks so his dodging was sufficient. The devices were kind of scary for the amount of wood they chucked but… their accuracy left much to be desired.

“Reload!” the guard captain declared. That process… seemed to be far less than instantaneous.

“Half Oink,” Three Squeaks transmitted his voice towards his warthog companion. “Can you cut open the gate?”

She looked him dead in the eye. “Can I cut? What a stupid question.”

“... Cut open the gate,” Three Squeaks ordered.

That would unleash water into the river bed, but it would greatly disrupt the ‘beavers’. As for the others, Meep was squashing the mushroom between his paws. And the princesses… weren’t on his arm.

Not being able to track them down with his energy senses, Three Squeaks just called out. “You girls better not do anything stupid!” At least he wasn’t worried about them getting hit by the projectiles. They didn’t cover that much area- even targets of his size were really too small. Half Oink was closer to the proper size to guarantee hits, if she didn’t have the ability to destroy the projectiles.

Speaking of which, he should cover her approach. The warthog was charging forward, but the weapons might be reloaded before she got there. Three Squeaks didn’t have to stand around and let them do that.

His bow had been off his back even as they approached. Apparently, the beavers hadn’t understood what it was, or they wouldn’t have been so confident up above just a small height. They probably thought he’d have to run up and jump towards them.

If he knew things would have turned out this way, he might have just shot them from the limit of his range. They wouldn’t have been able to do much but run around or block themselves. Then again, they had less time to dodge at this distance. His first spirit arrow appeared on his bow as he pulled back, releasing towards one of the beavers concentrating on loading the projectile contraption.

The guard captain reacted in time to block the attack for the other beaver, spinning around and slapping it out of the air with his tail, but that still ultimately deserved the beaver loading. “Hurry up!” the captain ordered when the beaver paused. “And be more accurate this time!”

Personally, Three Squeaks thought they were a bit naive with their weapons. While high speed projectiles could certainly hurt people, they had barely imbued any natural energy onto their shots. Not that he was going to tell them how to properly try to hurt him. Instead, he was just going to shoot them. And anticipating that the guard captain would block, he focused more on power than speed. If the beaver captain did nothing, he would slay his intended target. The loader was only peak Body Tempering.

Just as Anton taught him, Three Squeaks flew forward with his arrow. The guard captain… sensed the power of the shot. And so, a neat hole was made through the torso of one of the beavers. How pathetic, not even attempting to protect his companion.

A moment later, Half Oink had arrived, running next to the riverbed and then leaping across the width of the gate. For a moment, it appeared that nothing happened- then crossing cuts appeared on the thick wood, and water pressure burst everything apart. Half Oink’s cut had gone so far as to chop apart the footing the beavers were using, and one unlucky individual in the path.

The beavers were momentarily disoriented as they dropped into the water, but the captain quickly righted himself as water spewed forth. “You!” He pointed to another Spirit Building beaver. “Come with me. The rest of you, take care of the pig! We’ll deal with the rat!”

Only one of the two of them had rat teeth, and it wasn’t Three Squeaks. But clearly these beavers had a large opinion of themselves.

Three Squeaks took shots at the approaching commander, not actually expecting to hit him but watching the way he dodged and deflected attacks. He considered trying to snipe the other target, but he had to conserve his energy for this particular foe.

“Ouch!” the second approaching beaver jumped. “Something bit me!” the beaver clawed at his own fur, and Three Squeaks saw a small bloody patch. Well, that would be the princesses then. Hopefully they didn’t get squashed. Either way, they distracted him enough that only the captain reached Three Squeaks, who was prepared to claw the beaver.

“Excuse… me…” a voice spoke from besides Three Squeaks. Meep was there. He took a deep breath and puffed on some powder on his paws, spraying it towards the guard captain. Then he casually walked away, ducking under the spinning tail and pulling away as the beaver’s teeth chomped at him. “You… forgot… your… mushroom…” Meep commented almost tauntingly. Fortunately, he’d saved the majority of that for after his attack.

Three Squeaks didn’t waste any time shooting at the beaver’s rear. While the tail might slap away his shots… a suddenly quicker one dug into his fur. Light was a property Three Squeaks understood well enough to form basic arrows. Fire… was probably no good here. But he did suddenly change his next shot to be slower about the time the tail was going to slap it away, leaving another bloody mark as he pierced through the beaver’s defensive energy.

The other Spirit Building individual was flailing about wildly, spraying natural energy all over presumably in an attempt to blow away whatever was crawling on him. It just turned out that was literally the worst way to resolve his current problem, as small wounds continued to appear around his body- and his short limbs weren’t flexible enough to reach. He might still be able to crush the princesses against the ground, but only if he could even figure out what was happening before it was too late.

Three Squeaks continued to shoot the captain, while Meep tottered along just out of his reach. It wasn’t clear if the old meerkat couldn’t go any faster or if it was calculated. At least, until the beaver began slowing down.

He toppled over, covering himself with his tail. “Wait! I surrender! I recognize your strength!”

Taking in the whole situation, Three Squeaks pondered. “You know, I’ve heard a saying where I am from. Live by the sword, die by the sword.”

The beaver tilted his head as he curled up on the ground. “What’s a swo-”

Half Oink was back, her tusks completely pristine as she had cut down the rest of the beaver guards from a distance. “Swords are the best,” Half Oink declared, not that the beaver would even hear her.

Three Squeaks sighed, watching the few dead bodies being carried away by the river- a little overfull considering the water built up beyond. “Princesses! To me, please!”

Something nibbled his toe. He looked down to see Crossed Antennae. “My sister said to tell you that she was going after the big one.”

Three Squeaks just put his head in his hands. The ‘big one’ was obviously the approaching Essence Collection cultivator. Or at least… a beaver of similar energy level. There was still a difference between proper cultivation and just consuming enough natural energy, after all. He’d sensed the threat coming after the battle began, but it was the beavers who struck first so it hadn’t really been avoidable.

This was going to be… a bit difficult. Hopefully Fearsome Mandibles would hold off on attacking until they could work together. Actually… could she swim? Could she even have gotten far yet? If only he could sense her. But maybe her sister could pick her out better.