After the others covered themselves in mud we waited for it to dry while I continued to every so often wonder around in sight to continue my behavior that had turned into a pattern for our enemies to read. It was comfortable and unchanging, and even if they weren’t shooting arrows, I was sure I would draw their attention. When that happened, I sent the others around the left side of the hill and off through the valley.

After some more time had passed. I drew my bow, firing a shot at them, breaking the pattern, and putting them on their back foot. They dodged… Just barley… But it allowed me to hold their attention. As my eyes focused in I could tell by their expression they were wondering what was going to happen next. And so, they started to become nervous by the breaking of the pattern.

With their attention fully focused on me. I pulled my greatsword and began to move forward holding it over my shoulder and trying to appear as arrogant as possible. If I wasn’t fast enough to dodge I would block, but in all likelihood, I would be fast enough. I could calculate the trajectory of each arrow the moment it left, and of course, I could slow time.

Their nervousness began to show more as they started to move, calling for orders and communicating the situation. ‘It’s too late… We’ve already crossed the boundary… And you still haven’t noticed.’

The moment I reached the halfway point they began firing again, but just as I planned, their arrows were almost useless. Although, admittedly, they were harder to dodge than I assumed… And I ended up blocking most of them.

I drew closer still and finally, the two men with hammers came out over the hill to meet me. ‘And with that… Your fate is sealed…’

The moment they reached the bottom of the hill Mo pounced on the archer from to my left, choking him out with no delay, bringing a smile to my face, as none of them noticed.

“You intend to fight us alone? Pride is a virtue… But you shouldn’t be so arrogant…” One of the men said, taking the lead as they approached.

“I’m disappointed… I finally met another strategist… And somehow he manages to lie twice in one breath…”

“Ok then, tell me, how was I lying? The truth seems clear to me. And as for strategy, you seem to be lacking… You approached a fortification alone, leaving your friends behind.” The archer to the right noticed before he got jumped, firing a shot and grazing Bear's shoulder before initiating a battle with Mo, keeping her at a distance with his surprisingly skillful swordplay… The two men with hammers… Still completely clueless… At least until he shouted for help.

“Well… First off, I’m not alone… And second, you can’t be arrogant… If you really are the best.”

One of the men turned to climb the hill to reinforce the archer's position. I threw my longsword at his back, but it was blocked by the leader's hammer. “Fine then… I hope that sword of yours is stronger than you look!”

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He started the fight with a massive swing from his hammer, one that was too easy to dodge… But only after it struck did I realize he probably wasn’t even trying to hit me. It shook the earth beneath my feet and rattled my bones up through my knees and even to my hips, making me almost stop still for a moment, unable to move. ‘Fairy dust…’

Raising his hammer less than an inch off the ground he thrust it forward and slammed it into my chest, toppling me over as I tried to regain my footing. Thankfully I managed to spin as I fell, quickly getting back up to my feet, but my whole body was trembling. I widened my stance and placed a second hand on my sword. ‘This is what a year or two of training does here? Maybe I haven’t been giving the academy enough credit…’

He charged forward to strike again, and again I dodged, this time far away, to not get so rattled. ‘I can’t win with defense alone…’ I moved in closer, but a wide sweep from his hammer nearly wiped me out, making me stop and quickly jump back again. If it was a sword I could have easily ducked underneath… But his hammer was so wide that there were few angles to dodge… And even if I did, the swing would follow through and rattle my bones… ‘Just what… Am I supposed to do here anyway…’

I froze time to think. ‘The best course of action can only be seen in the midst of the problem…’ Looking around me, I could see that all things that conspired… We weren’t doing extremely well. Bear’s shoulder had been injured enough from the arrow that he was slow to move, and Mo was still hesitant about making offensive moves without her daggers. Isy was no fighter and almost looked lost, probably even more confused about what to do next than I was. Suffice to say… Waiting for help likely wasn’t a good option. If I wanted to win, I had to beat the opponent in front of me.

‘Alright… So how do I do that without showing off my magic and getting executed?’ I paused, letting my mind relax for a while before re-approaching the problem. In essence, the issue was that I couldn’t get close enough. I couldn’t dodge easily because the strike would rock me to my core even if I did, and parrying was probably only an option if I could get past his hammer’s head… ‘It’s almost like I’m fighting an opponent suspended in air…’ I thought back to how I killed the ghoul, avoiding its rampage, and then catapulting out of the void. ‘I can hardly use that technique in this dimension though…’ I continued time at a slower pace, carefully watching everyone's movements to try and get an idea. ‘Ok… Given all the information…There are three options…’

I let go of my hold on time and moved back, resuming my stance. ‘Let’s start with the least risky one first…’

I took a deep breath, charging forward again and dodging another downward swing that would shake the earth, but just before it struck the ground I did a bunny hop, which I’m sure looked ridiculous but saved my legs. He lifted his hammer off the ground with the same follow-up as before, but I was able to dodge it this time. And after thrusting such a large weapon, there was no way there wouldn’t be an opening. I swung my sword right for his head, but he blocked with his arm. Letting go of the hammer completely. Grabbing my sword's sheath, he pulled me forward into his fist making my eyes go wide.

My nose bloodied, I stopped time again purely on reflex, pissed off that I wasn’t allowed to use a real blade… ‘He couldn’t have blocked like that if I could use my sword like normal…’ Even with time frozen, I felt the strong urge to recoil in pain and grab my nose, but after a while, it passed. Then I could start to read his movements, but I was starting to run low on manna. ‘Ok… So that didn’t work out… Step one now is to not die…’ As I resumed time he grabbed my hair, about to punch me again, but the moment he let go of my sword I swung it straight up into his armpit, greatly weakening his punching arm, at least for a moment, making it feel like he didn’t even hit me.

He growled, trying to kick me instead, but I jumped over his leg, wrapping my own around his arm and ax kicking his throat, bringing him to the ground in an arm bar. Unfortunately, the size of his arm was too big to actually get enough leverage to do anything with it… So after that, I rolled away, grabbed my sword… And we were back where we started…

It wasn’t as if things atop the hill were any better either. Bear had been brought down protecting Mo from a hit, and while Mo managed to render the archer's right arm useless, it was hardly a fair trade. ‘Did I mess up? No… This was the best plan… It’s just a matter of execution… They are strong… Stronger than us… But since we jumped them we started with more numbers… I just have to keep playing the fight.’