Albert was tired. The people he was fighting with were used to using wonderful abilities in fights, even Tiffany was a natural with her druid magic. He’d started to learn to call on the wind in a fight and it was a deadly attack, exhausting too.

At his heart of hearts though, he was a boy with a spear. So, at first, he’d been happy when the elf had switched to using their own body more than regenerating plant creatures.

He didn’t feel that way anymore.

The elf lashed out at him again. His fists flickered at Albert in quick succession. It was all Albert could do to get his spear in the way. His arms shook with the effort of blocking, yet he didn’t have the speed to dodge him.

Abigail came to his salvation, pushing the elf back. She was like a one-woman cavalry charge, if the entire horse was made of metal. The difference was unlike a charge, she just kept going. The elf couldn’t fight her for extended periods. He basically did his best to run away while she pursued him.

Albert rushed back in, his spear snaking through the gaps in the fight. He was just trying to keep the elf tied down while Abigail landed the killing blow. He was also trying to keep him away from the mages.

He spared a glance for Eliana and Tiffany. The two had given up on landing the killing blow and were now just focusing on area denial. Tiffany did this by slowly gaining control of the plants and Eliana did it by burning the area down. Whatever worked.

Albert just stayed focused on his job. He wasn’t a hero, he was just a kid with a spear, and a kid with a spear just needed to stab.

The elf jerked its head in surprise as Albert’s spear sliced across his cheek. He tried to jump back, and Abigail grabbed him out of the air and slammed him down. She lifted her sword high and brought it down before he could move.

Something slammed into the elf and green hands extended from his body and caught the blade. The group stared in shock and the elf took the opportunity to jump back. A goblin stood next to him, his hands up to keep fighting. He was flickering in and out. A glamour maybe?

The elf glanced at the glamour.

“Never before have I been to so happy to fail in my task,” he muttered. He looked over to the rest of them. “How about we call this off?” he asked.

“Seems like you’re on the ropes while we’re all fresh and ready to go,” said Abigail. Albert gave her a side-eye. What fight had she been in?

“Fresh and ready huh?” said the elf. He shrugged. “It’s true, you can almost certainly kill me, but it’ll take time, and time is something your friends don’t have. Your little demon lover exhausted herself and now they’re all holed up in their mansion, how long do you think they can hold out?”

They watched him as he started to walk away, and Albert watched the glamour.

“Wait,” he called out.

The elf turned to him with a raised eyebrow.

“That glamour came from Ratface right? Is she okay?” he asked. The goblin barred its teeth at him.

“Go and find out little boy,” it said.

The elf and the glamour ran. Albert and the rest waiting until they were out of sight, then they went to help their friends.

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Rabbittail wasn’t really a fighter, but he was better than Dirthand. It was with some confusion he watched the old goblin move out with her knife.

The two of them were outside the mansion where the monsters roamed. The monsters had already broken through the outside barrier and all that was left was the house itself. Rabbittail and Dirthand had been among the people to volunteer when Isabell had called for help. They slunk through the monsters. An illusion was layered over them, so the monsters didn’t attack them. He looked like a boar with two particularly sharp tusks. They were getting as deep as they thought they could. The plan was simple, cause chaos.

He got close to Blade Horn. He pulled his spear back and slammed it into the neck. It was a clean stab, and he pulled it out before it could get stuck. He darted back as the creature looked in confusion. It looked to where it thought he was and struck at the boar there.

It wasn’t him and the boar reared back in pain and struck back at the deer. Around the charging monsters more of them turned on each other as similar scenes played out around the battle.

Rabbittail went for a few more stabs before getting ready to run. He darted away as it turned into a mini stampede around him.

He looked for Dirthand and found her running away. He went to heave a sigh of relief until he saw one of the Blade Horns aim at her and charge. He rushed over and pushed her out of the way. He tried to dart out of the way as well, but the blade cut deep into his stomach, and he dropped to the ground. It raised its hooves to crush him and Dirthand barreled into its neck and stabbed it repeatedly. It crumpled to the side next to him and he smiled. He felt woozy.

“Rabbittail get up, you silly goblin, don’t go playing hero,” Dirthand hissed.

“Run, they caught me, I suffer the fate of all rabbits now,” he said. He’d be eaten of course, hopefully he wasn’t alive for that. Dirthand scoffed.

“Who’s caught?” she asked. She grabbed him and pulled him onto her back. The pain was excruciating and his vision flickered in and out. He let out a little whimper.

“Focus on me Rabbit, we’re getting out of here,” said Dirthand. Then she was scuttling through the chaos trying to get him back to the mansion. He didn’t realise how much he’d wanted to be held by the true goblin until now. He hoped he’d get a chance to tell her.

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Isabelle watched the outside of the mansion with her eyes wide open. She hadn’t blinked in about ten miniatures and had set up a spell for one of her helpers to maintain while she watched the battle.

Her powers weren’t great in one-on-one combat. She could beat anyone who hadn’t fought an illusionist before, but if the fight went on too long, or if they’d fought her kind before, it was only a matter of time before she was caught out. Part of why she was adventuring was to make herself better in those situations.

This sort of battle though? She was a menace.

Her and Claudette had always understood that the battle would end here. So, while the others had held the monster back, she’d been setting up her field.

She set simple traps, like pitfalls and spikes around the place. Dirthand had helped her a lot with that, and Isabelle was still concerned at her statement that it was just like gardening. She resolved herself to never go to the other woman’s garden.

She’d sent plenty of the monsters into the traps already, but she wasn’t a glorified trapper. She was an illusionist, not many people knew what that meant.

Most people understood that it meant to make illusions, but that was only half the play, the real trick was to stop the opponent trusting anything they saw.

She’d needed a spark to get it going, and her few volunteers had provided it by stabbing the monsters. It was risky, she’d felt a few of her illusions waver and she was pretty sure a good portion of them were dead. She tucked that away to grieve about later when she had brain power to spare.

The effect was excellent. The monsters were in a frenzy, and she just added to the chaos. She couldn’t attack the monsters with her illusions, but if say a Blade Horn was being pulled down by wolves next to other Blade Horns? Well, it wasn’t going to stand for that betrayal.

The more chaotic the battle got the less her illusions had to be complicated. Her personal favourite was to simply hide a monster from view until another one slammed into it and they started fighting. If it was just the monsters, she’d be able to take care of this.

Yet it wasn’t just the monsters. Amaranth walked through the middle of the chaos coming ever closer to the battle. She’d adapted to the problem by surrounding herself with the Lizard apes and cutting a path forward. Isabelle’s eyes lingered on the woman. It hadn’t escaped her notice that they’d yet to see her glamour. She didn’t think it was a thinking one, but she didn’t know what it was yet and that could make all the difference.

She twisted illusions across the world, manipulating the place in front of her into a kingdom of lies. Slowly yet surely, she twisted her illusions until more and more of the monsters swarmed Amaranth. It wouldn’t stop her, the monsters swayed under her control when they got too close, yet it would slow her down and thin the herd.

Hopefully it’d give Claudette enough time to wake up.