I check my watch to see only two minutes left until the Kingdom reinforcements arrive. The soldiers’ numbers grow with each passing second.

While some of them are tense, the vast majority of them seem unworried. They talk animatedly with one other, some of them even lightly joking around.

‘What the hell is this? Do they really think it will be that easy? How many agents are they expecting? Uncle Moren said we should expect at the very minimum fifty, though most likely there will be more.’

‘And it isn’t as if these guys are pushovers, most of them should be tier 5 or higher. Do they know something we don’t or are they just underestimating how many people the Kingdom has inside Empire borders.’

The important-looking person seems to contradict this cheerful atmosphere, sporting a dark, solemn face. Why this is, I have no idea, maybe he’s just trying to look tough in front of the soldiers, who knows.

With only one minute remaining, I look around in an attempt to find one of my crewmembers.

Unfortunately, I’m unable to spot anyone, which is probably a good thing if I’m being honest. After all, if I can spot them, one of the soldiers can too, and even if I somehow saw them, depending on who it is, I might not even want to be around them what with the ever looming threat of the traitor hanging over my head.

Mr. Important begins to rapidly shout out orders left and right, causing the once carefree soldiers to tighten up a bit.

I watch as archers draw their bows, mage-types summon their projectiles, and everyone else readies their weapons.

With thirty seconds left, I prepare to begin my self-named ‘operation goblin take out part 2’. My plan being to do exactly what I did with the goblins and take out target that are in the back and separated from the group.

My hope is that when I inevitably get spotted by someone, they are going to be too busy dealing with bigger, more pressing problems than myself.

I find my first target about ten seconds before the reinforcements arrive, a somewhat meek looking archer at the very back of the crowd of soldiers.

Five more seconds remain, and I begin to make my way to the target, slowly creeping up behind him.

Finally, the moment arrives, and a flurry of arrows and explosions ring out onto the warp pad. Luckily, as the warp pad was system generated, it is almost indestructible.

As the loud explosions and projectiles ring out, I make my move and slice the neck of the archer clean open.

Looking to take advantage of the large distraction occurring right now, I move to the archer directly in front of the one I just took out and give him a good slice to the neck as well.

Unfortunately, the explosions grow quiet and a cloud of dust obscures what happened to the reinforcements.

Everyone stares in anticipation, wondering if it was enough to end this whole debacle right then and there

As the dust settles, an odd scene is uncovered. A large red barrier encompasses the entirety of the warp pad. Behind it stands some sort of strange metallic red man covered with seemingly childish glowing drawings covering his face. His arms are spread wide indicating that he is the source of the red barrier.

Behind him stands an eclectic group of about a hundred or people seemingly of all shapes and sizes. Red skinned people with black horns sprouting from their forehead, ten-foot giants with swords the size of pillars, even some sort of strange goo person.

Suffice it to say, none of these people are native to planets anywhere near earth.

‘Man, I’m really going to have to do some homework on some of the races that are out there in the multiverse.’ I say to myself.

Meanwhile, the battlefield seems to have gone to a standstill, with both sides seemingly content to just stare each other down.

A few more tense seconds pass before Mr. Important shouts out to attack and chaos begins to ensue.

I watch in awe the four hundred plus soldier begin to collapse onto the wrap pad. Mr. Important jumps up and flies into the air towards the metallic fellow who put up the initial barrier.

Deciding this is a good moment to continue my operation, I find more people on the edge of the battle.

My first target is an older man who seems to be pelting the reinforcements with some sort of lightning bolt projectile. I sneak my way behind him and take him out with no problem.

A nearby soldier catches my sneak attack though and moves in to intercept me. Luckily, he seems to be only a tier 3, meaning I should be able to take him.

He uses some sort of movement skill to close the gap with me quickly, bringing his mace over his head, ready to bash my skull in.

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I decide not to allow the man to do that, surprising I know, and I skillfully deflect the attack to the side. He doesn’t let this deter him though and spins with the deflection, bringing his mace around to my side.

I duck hurriedly under the strike and attempt to lodge my sword inside the guy’s stomach. My thrust lands, piercing his armor, but to my surprise, the strike doesn’t penetrate more than an inch. I look up at the man to see him smirking and his skin turned a metallic gray.

Hoping to avoid whatever counterattack the man has planned for me, I try to pull back. Unfortunately, my sword seems to be lodged inside the man’s skin, allowing the man to land a clean punch directly to my face.

Thankfully my sword gives as I’m blown backwards from the blow, causing me to land not-so gracefully on the ground.

I look up to see him charging full force at me, once again bringing his mace overhead. I roll to my left, somehow managing to get out of the way.

As the mace smashes into the group, I roll backwards and get back to my feet. I follow up by immediately thrusting forward, aiming my sword straight for his neck.

This catches him off guard, and he puts his arms up in a panic. I throw my full force into the thrust, and manage to pierce straight through his unguarded arm and into his neck. He falls limply to the ground, allowing me to breath a quick sigh of relief.

Taking in the rest of the battlefield, I manage to catch glimpses off various fights. Mr. Important and the red robot guy seem to be duking it out, with everyone around them giving them a very wide berth.

The red guy seems to be some sort of jack of all trades fighter, changing his hands into different weapons and implements. He frequently swaps from one to the other depending on the distance to his foe, from up close knives and daggers, to ranged projectiles and beams.

Mr. Important is far less flashy, but still and impressive fighter nonetheless, sporting a rapier that’s seemingly as long as himself. He ducks and weaves gracefully, clearly displaying his years of training behind him.

I surprisingly see Uncle Moren and Garut together fighting off five or six guys at once. Uncle Moren throwing haymakers left and right, each strong enough to take off a person’s head. Meanwhile Garut swings his axe wildly, causing the soldiers to stay back and away, wary of the deadly attacks.

Elsewhere on the battlefield, the reinforcements are somehow managing to hold their ground against the soldiers.

I keep on the lookout for any gaps in the soldiers’ formation that I can use to get to the warp pad. While it’s easy to forget, what with all this chaos happening around us, our main objective is to get the hell out of here, first and foremost.

Two soldiers on my left take notice of me and begin walking towards me, guards up and ready. I also ready my stance and wait for the two of them to engage.

Deciding that now is a good chance, I begin circling my spiritual energy. Just like last time, I go slow at first, making sure to use proper technique. Then I begin to speed up, and by the time the two men reach me, I’m able to get my revolutions up to my top speed.

Both men wield spears, clearly intending to use their distance and numbers to their advantage, hoping to wear me down slowly.

Not letting them get the chance, I rush the man on my left, trying to close the distance. My plan is ruined, though, when the second man attacks me from behind. At the same time the first man backs up, once again keeping me out of his range.

I manage to dodge the attack from the second man, but as soon as I dodge the first guy attacks me. This continues like clockwork, over and over again. I dodge the other guy attacks, I dodge again, the other guy attacks again.

‘Fuck this is tiring! These guys have clearly trained together before, they’re not leaving me any room to breath!’

Finally, I slip up. I react a fraction of a second too slowly, and they manage to pierce my calf about an inch deep.

While not a big deal on its own, this slight misstep allows them to ramp up the pressure on me even more.

My concentration increases, as I focus every ounce of my mind on dodging, while at the same time looking for any gap in their formation that I can.

After another minute of this, I find my chance. One of the men lose their footing slightly on a nearby puddle of blood.

Immediately I take advantage, charging rapidly at him. Unable to back away in time, I manage to land a deep cut onto the inside of his thigh. The gash starts to bleed profusely, indicating that I managed to hit a vein.

The other guy doesn’t relent though and continues to pelt me with attacks, but without his friend, the tides of the battle quickly switch, with him going on the defensive.

Eventually, he falls to a clean slice to the neck. I walk over to the other man who is on the floor bleeding out and end his suffering.

I quickly throw all of my stat points into agility, willpower, and dexterity, with four going into agility and three into the rest. I put the most in agility because I figured at some point soon I’m going to have to make a break for the warp pad, and some extra agility definitely couldn’t hurt with that.

Looking at the state of the battle now, things seem to have some to a standstill with neither side able to hold ground for very long.

Deciding it’s time to start making way towards the warp pad, I look over to Garut and Uncle Moren struggling against ten men.

I sneak up onto the edge of the small battle, and look for the weakest guy I can. I find him almost immediately, another young, clearly nervous guy. I slowly walk behind him and pounce quickly, taking him out instantly with a slice to the neck.

This cause the rest of the guys to look over to see what all the commotion was allowing Garut and Uncle Moren the perfect chance to strike.

They take out two guys almost instantly with a third and fourth being severely wounded. This tips the scales to my two crewmates heavily, allowing for them to quickly dispatch the rest of the soldiers.

“What the hell are you thinking kid?! Those guys could’ve killed you ya know! One of thyem was even tier 6 for system’s sake!” Uncle Moren shouts quietly as to not draw any attention to themselves.

“Um… sorry? It worked out anyway so who cares.”

“Who cares?! You know what nevermind. For now we need a plan to get past that wall of soldiers, waiting here all day for them to create an opening isn’t a viable option.”

“Okay well what do you suggest then?” I ask

“Step one is to group up with Gael.” He says quickly.

“Are you sur-“ I get cut off.

“Listen you a smart kid, so I assume you came to the same conclusion I did, but I trust Gael with my life. Out of everyone on our crew, he’s the least likely to betray us, and considering Garut here just fought right next to me without any signs of betrayal, I think it’s safe to trust him too.”

He pauses briefly before continuing,

“My top suspects right now are obviously Delorie or Hoggle. Knowling both for years now, it definitely lines up with what I would expect from someone like Hoggle, slightly less so Delorie. Though I suppose maybe I don’t know them as well as I thought…”