Following the Air Elemental track has been as easy as backtracking to the forest and keep going. The magical creature only relied on its natural stealth to stay unnoticed and never learned any of the cheap tricks any animal would learn to cover their scent, like crossing a river or masking their odor with something else to make the task of tracking them more difficult.

The Air Elemental was oblivious to all those, confident that its invisibility would protect it, which was a good and a bad thing. Good, because following it back to its territory has been far too easy. Bad because its smell was anywhere inside its environment, and after three minutes of trying, she had to come clean and admit it:

'It's magic, and smell is everywhere. We are in the right place, but it could be anywhere in the area. And its territory isn't that small.'

"Ember is confused cause the creature smell is everywhere around us. Watch out. He might already know we are here, searching for them." The doll translated.

"How can we be sure it didn't run away?" The second in command asked gun at the ready.

"We can't." the living puppet dismissed the question before changing her mind. "Or maybe we can. We can always go around its territory in circles, but that would be a waste of time. If it wants to run away, there is nothing we can do to prevent it. Our only advantage is that it is an apprentice tier magical beast while we are only two beginner tier, so that he will underestimate us. From its point of view, we are preys, not predators. It would take us one by one if we split or wait until night to try its luck. But if we find it first and attack it, it will stand its ground and not realize it should flee before it's too late."

"Fucking know-it-all," One man muttered under his breath, although the doll, and so Ember, understood just right.

And so she growled in response.

"Ember stops it," Her system assistant said, both through the notification and out loud. Before adding, only to her:

Thank you for being so supportive. But I can fight my own battles.

"I was going to pretend I didn't hear that," The doll said coldly. "But you were so subtle that even my dog understood you loud and clear. So let me answer you."

She got closer to the man, close enough that he could kick her if he wanted to, and continued her speech:

"Yes, I'm a kindergarten stuffed toy. And yes, I might be overcompensating for that. But I'm here right now because I was reborn with a human soul and the DYING MEMORIES of twenty-three people butchered alive and asphyxiated by the very same creature we are tracking.

And I have to trust you, any single one of you, to have my back while I'm going to fight that thing to the death. So, please pardon me the question, but I have to ask: Does anyone here have a problem with me they want to share?"

Only silence responded to her question. So she focused entirely on the man.

"You, Private Bigmouth, how do you feel about a friendly spar? If we are lucky, the creature might even take the bait and come investigate." She suggested.

Ember was a little worried about that idea but keel it to herself, as deeply buried within her mind as she could.

"You want to use me as a bait?" The soldier repeated, dumbfounded.

"I know..." The living puppet started nagging, using her most annoying voice on purpose. "It was not part of the plan, and you did not sign for this. But you are not fond of me, and I don't like you either. So here is my idea to speed things up so we don't have to suffer each other any longer than necessary. Unless you are afraid of taking a beating from a doll?'

Several men were suddenly loudly vocal about the challenge, and the man in question was red in the ears and ready to throw a punch.

"Major?" He asked laconically.

To which the second in command replied, "I won't call for disciplinary sanctions. It's your life, Jeb," before shrugging.

"Okay, I'm game. You made the challenge. I call the rules?" He asked.

"You know, I never intended to replay David and Goliath with my slingshot." She joked, putting down the offending weapon."And I can't promise not to use magic. I'm a Magical Creature. I'm only walking and speaking thanks to magic."

"Fair enough," the man conceded.

"So what's the rules?" She asked, "You can't put me KO, so that would be unfair. To you, that's it."

"First to hit make the point, first to ten win?" He proposed.

"Agreed." She confirmed," Major, I trust you to be the referee?"

"It would be my pleasure," the officer said, smiling ears to ears.

So Ember shrugged it off and sat close to the major while the other men formed a circle around the two.

"Fight!" The major announced.

And suddenly, as the doll started running, nine identical living puppets did the same in different directions until they surrounded the soldier.

"So, I see how it is." The man commented before taunting. "As you said, you have much to compensate for."

And then, the man dropped and swiped the area around him with one circular kick, which met nothing but air.

"Too slow!" The ten dolls taunted back at once, surprising everyone but Ember.

The doll her system assistant was possessing did not have a voice box. So, of course, all the sounds coming from her mouth were illusions. So was the expression on her face. Or all the other things she did to look more human. In the end, she was an artificial intelligence, and her body was a mere living piece of fabric. The only thing that mattered was how she used the magic that came with it.

Illusions were only a subspecialty of mind magic which she had access to thanks to Ember and a species modifier. However, her main power over life magic consisted at the moment of three cantrips. The first was Mend, a powerful cantrip allowing her to repair objects, which apparently included her body. The second was Touch of Decay, which she could obviously use both offensively and for utility, trading power for versatility. And the last was calming touch, a healing cantrip she picked solely for Ember that became a pun between them because of its misleading name.

So her companion was already playing all her cards as contrary to Ember, she only had four cantrip slots already occupied with the aforementioned tricks. There was no way she would use Touch of Decay in that mock battle, and she should not have to use Mend unless things went too far.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

So illusions were really her one-trick pony, which she trained extensively, 24/7 actually, for the past few weeks. Even if the poor man did hit her, he — or anyone really — would not know about it unless she wanted to. For all Ember knew, he might as well be fighting nothing but mirages and ghosts while her mischievous partner was doing something else entirely.

At the idea, Ember decided to close her eyes to concentrate on her one reliable sense and took a good sniff.

'Got you! How long are you planning to play with that poor man?' She asked.

You know, I'm just trying to make a point. It's a human bonding thing.

And as she said that, all ten copies of herself became see-through to all but the poor man while the doll revealed herself, chilling at Ember's side, causing everyone to laugh.

"What's so funny?" The man shouted. "Come and fight me, you coward."

Okay, that's right. Ember, would you mind giving me a lift?

And so Ember took the doll in her mouth and sent her flying toward the man's face as per her instruction, concluding the first bout with a slap to his face, only a split second before she canceled the illusion entirely.

"Point to Miss Doe," the referee said.

"It's getting old really fast. Do you wish to concede already, or do you need nine more?" She taunted the man mercilessly.

"I will knock you down a peg, " The man replied, red in the face.

"Suit yourself," The doll replied with a smirk.

★☆★

The mock battle proved fruitful as, indeed, the sound of the men having fun at their peers' expense did attract the attention of the Air Elemental, who came closer to investigate. Or at least close enough that Ember could finally tell that the magical was nearby.

And so she warned her partner: 'It's coming closer.'

I know. But let's pretend we don't know a little longer. We want it to come closer, not to spook it.

So far, the score was 7 —1.

And the man scored that point by losing his balance and accidentally falling face-first on the doll, which taught her a valuable lesson: No matter what trick she pulled off, with their difference in weight, all the man needed to pin her down was luck.

She never gave him the slightest chance ever since and kept using the public to go face, some helping willingly while others turned into stepping stones against their will. Though, Ember could say everyone was taking it lightly and having a good time.

Except for the unfortunate victim, that's it.

By the time she scored another one, the Air Elemental was so close that she could now see it approaching. And she was about to say so when Ember interrupted the referee:

"Everyone, pretend everything is normal, but we got company. When I shout 'now,' I want everyone to spread as I told you. And I would make an illusion so you know where the creature is so we can surround it. Now big guy, come at me, we have a new audience waiting to be entertained, and we don't want to disappoint, do we?"

Now that the doll had canceled all her illusions, the man was all too eager to play the part and charge her, although Ember could tell he was more frightened than angry now that she had mentioned the threat they had come to fight against.

When the Air Elemental passed the ten meters of her innate ability, the doll shouted and created an illusion in false colors of the creature. Though she doubted the men appreciated the sight any more than Ember did. It was nothing but a magic fog with a somewhat pear-shaped body.

However, as soon as it realized it had been spotted, the Air Elemental extended part of itself to take control of its target air and forcefully remove it. And so, as they had been instructed, people started shooting, one bullet at a time, to get the Air Elemental's attention off its current victim. And it worked.

He is floating too high. I will have to ride on your back until we get it down.

'Okay,' Ember assumed the want-to-play position to let her climb before she started circling the creature, ready to bite.

Now

She happily obliged and used her Nerve Snap to the fog while her partner was applying Touch of Decay everywhere she could reach. Then, Ember returned to circling it while the doll was retrieving some peebles ammunition for her sling while the Air Elemental was trashing around.

I don't know why, but it looks like we did a number on it. That's a pleasant surprise, but I don't understand.

'Maybe it's because you hit it in the bladder. It smells bad.' Amber commented

It doesn't have organs. It's made of AIR.

Touch of Decay is turning the air under its control to nitrogen oxides and ammonia. That's what you are smelling.

Then, the Air Elemental finally recovered and sent a barrage of air slashes at them.

'We got its undivided attention!' Ember exclaimed as the air slashes kept following her as she raced away.

I'm going to give it a practice target. Go snap it and come pick me up.

The doll sent a clear image of her plan to Ember as she dismounted and proceeded to empty her satchel of ammunition as fast as she could while Ember turned around and executed the plan.

She bite at it, and again, it started trashing around as if in agony.

You are doing it! OMG! Nerve Snap is supposed to make the target lose control of only one body part... but it doesn't have body parts! The Air Elemental's existence relies on its power over the air it's made of, and you are causing it to lose it. You made it lose 7% of its Mana in two bites just to keep existing! Did I mention I love you?

Ember ignored the last part and took the doll the elemental had turned into a pile of rags into her opened mouth while her partner started healing.

Thanks for the save. Now you are going to jump as far as you can and throw me even higher. Then bite the damn thing as much as you can.

Running straight to the trashing Elemental, Ember jumped, released the doll into the air, and proceeded to bite the Elemental until she reached ten stacks of Nerve Snap, and her cantrips slots started flashing red. So she now knew she could only make the combo once before the warning for magic fatigue triggered.

'I'm already out of magic.' Ember whined.

Who cares? You shaved off 44% of its magic in less than a minute. It was supposed to be a drawn-out fight. The Air Elemental turned visible, and I can now reach it on my own. Go rest a bit and come back soon.

And indeed, Ember could see the doll spamming Touch of Decay on the creature while it tried to turn her into ribbons. But conversely, a pool of smelly liquid was forming under the Elemental, so she guessed they could do without her for now.

"Grenades!" Was the last thing Ember heard, the doll asking for support as she walked away.