Putting down the pen, I took a deep breath and closed the book. With a thought, both the pen and the book were returned to my storage space. I knew that this would be the last entry that I made into the book. Either I won, and we were able to return to our own world, reunite with our loved ones… or I die here, today, and all hope is lost.

First, I had to sit back and think of a strategy. Even from this distance, I could tell that the area had been properly warded. The army was preparing for a grand defense, with me as their expected foe. Stealth would be difficult… if the hive mind had already planted the identity of me as a chitinite in their minds, then they would likely see me as such no matter how I disguised myself.

It was possible that I could get in by tunneling underground, and prevent casualties… but the wards were likely set to detect such things as well. If they were, then I was doomed… I wouldn’t even realize I had been detected before they bombard the area around me. Tunneling was definitely not the plan.

Similarly… their numbers may be vastly reduced, but there were far too many people for me to successfully fight head on. More importantly, I didn’t want to kill our people. They were brave men and women of our homeworld. It may be their honor to die in battle, but by the hands of an enemy, not a friend.

I couldn’t stealth. I couldn’t charge in from the front. I couldn’t sneak from below. As I thought about my remaining options, my eyes turned upwards, towards the persistent storm cloud above. It was possible, just maybe… but it was the greatest chance I had.

I swept my spiritual senses across my storage space, once again checking the contents to ensure that they weren’t contaminated. Then, I grabbed one of the last pieces of dried meat and ate it in silence. I was going to need my energy for this.

I know I’m not a talented elementalist. Just please, let this work once. As I thought that, I created a series of spell circles around myself, concentrating to ensure that they were all properly formed.

“I am the last hope. I beg the world to aid me in this final hour.” Dimly, the spell circles began to light up, and I took a deep breath. “Bestow upon me the gifts of the wind, to move swiftly and unseen. To fly high into the sky, to protect others from my battle.”

The wind began to slowly gather around my body. For a moment, it felt like it was even beginning to pass through my body. Looking down, I saw my green skin turning translucent and hazy, the hard stone visible beneath me. Then, I felt my body become lighter and lighter.

Kicking down against the ground, I launched high up into the air. Every time I kicked, I condensed my ki at the tip of my feet, creating a small platform for me to ascend higher on. Only once I had moved into the giant cloud did I stop, changing my direction to move forward as I felt the soft, pillowy mist of the cloud spraying against my body. I had to make sure that I was still low enough in the cloud that I would be able to see the ground below, but high enough that I would be well outside of the ward’s range.

I kept moving until I was directly above the mountain which the rest of the army was guarding tightly. Only then did I stop. I could feel that my invisibility wouldn’t last for much longer, that it was only a matter of time before I was discovered. But… I didn’t plan to sneak in.

“I have this formidable body… it’s time to use it.” I muttered to myself, curling into a ball. I had no intention of going in quietly. The mountain looked like it was made out of packed dirt, not hard stone. And herocs are naturally born with a far more durable body than normal, even without taking my level into account.

I stopped supporting myself with my ki, and… I began to drop. The wind rushed around my body like a cushion as I pierced through it, holding tightly onto my helmet. Armor forged by a god, right…? Time for a test of its performance!

It wasn’t long before I was able to feel the wards. True barriers take too much energy to constantly maintain, and I was plummeting too quickly for them to erect it in time. As the alarm blared, I had already crashed into the top of the mountain, sending a downpour of dirt everywhere. Of course, I made sure to create a small shield around my head with my ki, not wanting any worms to take the chance to ‘attack’ while I was buried.

With a flex of my will, the dirt parted from around me. Before me lay a worm… far larger than the grubs. This one was six feet long and eight inches thick, having a circular mouth of razor-sharp teeth. Behind it, in a trail, were hundreds of small grubs burrowing into the soil. A breeder…. I thought to myself with a nod.

It wasn’t clear if this was the controller of the hivemind or not, so I couldn’t take any chances. I had to hurry, before the attacks came from the army. Drawing my sword, I sent a single slash towards the beast, bisecting it down the middle.

There was the chance that the enemy was at the top of the mountain, and that I had crashed into the final chamber, but… I thought that that would be too easy. Everything about these beasts suggests that they like to live under the ground, not above it. And so, with my sword in hand, I began running into a nearby cave.

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To me, it didn’t matter whether I had chosen the right path or not. All that mattered was that I continued going down. My believe that I had yet to kill the true enemy was all but confirmed when, after a few moments, I came across another massive worm, very similar to the one I had only just cut down.

Naturally, I did not spare this one, either. If I had an ability at my disposal that could ensure that everything in this mountain died, I would use it without hesitation. Unfortunately… such large scale attacks are beyond my training.

Deeper and deeper, I went. Soon, I began hearing the sounds of soldiers charging through the cave. I saw them walking alongside the worms, speaking to them as if they were people while the grubs climbed all over their body. My eyes narrowed, and I sent out two blasts of energy. One to kill the worm, and one to stun its ‘escort’ long enough for me to get by.

“It’s after the First Legion!” Someone called out after I had passed by. So that’s it… they see these things as the First Legion… My steps only grew faster, my sword cutting through the air the moment I saw one of the large worms.

There had to have been a hundred of them, maybe two. If not for all the evidence leading up to this point, I myself may have even believed that this were really our base. But we would never build something this defenseless. Our walls were reinforced with stone and steel, not packed together mud.

I began to hear a voice from below, calling, beckoning. I knew that it had to be the source, the ruler of the hivemind. Our troops were defending the enemy commander, and they didn’t even know it. And so I went, deeper still, cutting my way through one wave after another.

Sometimes, I saw faces that I recognized within the army, but that recognition would never be returned. They only saw me as a monster, just like I saw the insects that they were walking with. The real trouble came shortly after… when I found a General blocking my way.

I knew the faces and names of every general that had come with us. Over the last few months, I had made it a point to cement their identities into my memory. So that I would remember them, even if everyone else forgot.

Now, standing in front of me, I saw the General of the First Battalion. Logan Wask, an ursa soldier that had displayed a remarkable performance during the training. Although he still wore the shining red armor of a Dragon General, it was covered in writhing maggots. His fierce eyes stared towards me as he stood with no weapon in hand.

“I don’t know how you made it this far, beast. But you go no further.” He took two steps forward, thrusting his fists out towards me. I knew what was coming from my memories of seeing Logan train, and quickly stepped to the side. A blast of flaming ki shot past my body, opening up another hole in the tunnel behind me.

Logan was an elemental monk, which would make this battle rather tricky for me. However, I knew that I held a certain advantage in this fight. I knew more information about my opponent than he knew about me… and he wasn’t seeing my proper proportions.

It had taken a long time to reflect on my memories in order to recall exactly what I had seen. Whenever I fought someone who should have been wielding a sword, they instead had long, scythe-like arms or sharp claws. If they used a hammer, they hands were thick and heavy. With a staff, they had a long tail that could whip around in a variety of interesting ways.

In his mind, I should be tall and thin, with two long, bladed arms. This would affect how he targeted me, and how he perceived my attacks. For instance… I charged forward, swinging my left hand towards him. I knew that I was still over a foot too far away to hit him like this, and that my attack would never have connected.

Yet still, his eyes widened in alarm, and he backed up a step, leaning his body back and eyeing the space in front of himself. Almost as if he were watching the chitinite blade passing mere inches from his skin. Only once my swing had finished did he step forward, attempting to plant his palm against my abdomen.

I knew better than to allow the contact. My central eye flashed, sending a burst of spiritual light into his eyes. He let out a shout, stumbling back and shielding his eyes.

My first thought was to immediately try to free Logan from the insects, but… his body was covered in them. I wouldn’t have the time to free him and then explain things before another one had worked its way into his head, undoing all of my work. And if he saw me attacking him to clear them off, he would perceive me as a threat without giving me the chance.

So, I stepped forward, taking advantage of his stunned state to place my hand on his chest. “Sleep, my friend.” I said quietly, surging my ki to grab onto his own. His eyes immediately went wide in a panic before he began to stumble, his energy leaving his body. “I will try to end this soon.”

“You… won’t get me… that easily.” He muttered, forcing himself to stand with the sheer strength of his will. It was clear that he didn’t have enough ki to properly function, though I did not take all of it away from him. To do so would be no different than killing him. However, I still had to admire his strength to stand when he was so weak.

He truly was our greatest fighter. Even when an enemy released attacks and strategies that should have surpassed his imagination, he did not fall easily. Looking down to my hand, I saw the grubs that had clung to it from the brief contact, fire appearing on my armor and searing them away. Although briefly, I had stolen his fire ki.

“I hope you will forgive me for this, later.” I muttered, pointing my sword towards Logan. A gentle blue light began to shine off of the sword, before I waved the sword in a small circle. A path of light carved itself in the air, behind the tip of my blade. Once the circle was complete, it shot into Logan’s body.

One of the great techniques you learn when you take the warrior class to the extreme, the Sword of Binding. An infusion of mana and spiritual energy filled Logan’s body, freezing him in place as I charged past. I couldn’t waste any more time, lest reinforcements arrive.