Sadly, the omnipresent meter-long grass is terrible for stealthy approaches, so we were discovered well before we reached the ‘fort.’ Meaning they were well prepared for our arrival.

Well, for our arrival, at least.

What they weren’t prepared for, however, was the summons Hansen sneakily sent out first popping out of the grass to bite and claw at the bandits just before we reached their estimated firing range.

That ambush was more than enough for the camp to enter Rapunzel’s range, allowing her to give the bandits a real threat, and adding in Hansen’s summons, the bandits had no choice but to hide and deal with said summons, instead of firing back, allowing us to approach unopposed.

Until the bandit’s next plan, at least.

Which was the suspected calvary—two surprisingly well-trained ones, even. I presume they planned on having fire support during their charge, though, considering how they fared against Greg and Rapunzel.

The first bandit didn’t make it that far, as Rapunzel was able to focus on him almost exclusively. Sadly, the other bandits quickly noticed, so she had to return to launching suppressive fire at the fort before she could take out the second.

Luckily, the second bandit didn’t last too much longer, as he soon hit a trap Greg made, flinging him off his horse. And while it didn’t kill the guy, being pinned under his horse almost makes the difference a matter of semantics.

All in all, we were able to get to the ‘fort’s’ walls with minimal fuss.

And then the grass got up and attacked me! I almost ignited my aura right there! Luckily, it wasn’t some horrific monster the bandits tamed. Unluckily, it was the bandits themselves dressed as the savana (I would later learn they were wearing something called ghillie suits).

And, of course, two of them attacked the obvious healer first, with the last going to distract the person closest to me, Hansen.

So I now find myself being held hostage.

Not good.

Haa. It just goes to show that, yes, we are fighting humans, and they can be annoyingly clever. That was quite a good trump card. And they even attacked right as everyone was distracted climbing the walls! Against your standard adventurers, that would have been checkmate.

But we are certainly not standard.

One of the bandits puts a knife to my throat, giving us an ultimatum. “If you know wha-” Is as far as he got before my, buff enhanced, foot hit him between the legs.

Yeah, that got me a good cut to the throat, and wouldn’t help me against the other guy, but I am no longer being held hostage, which is a win in my book.

Helpfully, I didn’t even need to worry about the second guy, as my actions distracted him enough that Rapunzel could easily deliver an arrow to his throat, removing him from the fight.

Man, these bandits have no discipline. While he is as good as dead unless a healer gets to him, Leveling Up makes such a wound not immediately debilitating, so he could have kept fighting.

Still, how disappointing the discipline and will of the bandits are isn’t super important right now; the bandit I stunned is. And I need to do something to him soon, or he will actually defeat me.

Before I could work out how to do that, though, Melly came crashing down on him from above, having apparently decided to jump off of it to rescue me.

I could have done without the splatter her ax caused, though…

Haa. At least my robes are self-cleaning.

The Hero, of course, was able to easily deal with the bandit harassing Hansen via sword through the throat, which I like to think my distraction helped with.

Still, that’s at least five bandits down, not counting any Rapunzel might have taken out during our advance.

Satisfied that I'd be fine, Melly returned up the wall.

Now I just have to join her, which, thanks to the Hero forcing us to practice climbing, isn’t all but impossible!

“Come on!” Melly shouts from the top, offering her hand to help me up.

…Or we can just do that instead…

Well, as that’s vastly superior to me struggling up on my own, I gladly accept her help. And as soon as I was up, she quickly charged back into the fray, leaving me to do my thing.

Which honestly isn’t much, considering who I share a party with. I do make sure to get some cover, though, as getting shot would be inconvenient.

Not that that’s a particularly likely situation, considering the Hero just shoved his sword into the throat of another bandit.

What’s with targeting everyone’s throat?

Anyway, the battle is progressing fairly well, all things considered. While, yes, the fact that we are outnumbered and fighting in strange, unfamiliar terrain puts us in a weaker position currently, I doubt that will continue much longer.

And it’s my job to help that along!

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First things first, make sure no one is particularly injured, which, of course, no one is, but it’s always best to be sure.

Next, I took a brief moment to take everything in, checking the terrain (a small, walled-off compound reinforced with their carriages, some horses in the corner, and a kitchen/dining room combo in the center), where everyone was located, and what their current circumstances were.

Then, I look for where some buffs would be of best use (buffing everyone fully, while decently effective, isn’t efficient, so I’ll continue conserving mana as usual).

And, after analyzing the situation, I decided that Rapunzel would be my first priority, helping her deal with the bandit trying to climb the wall, stopping her from giving everyone covering fire, which would be a massive force multiplier right now.

Funnily enough, I believe the thing that will help her most is buffed strength, so she can just kick the guy off the wall. It won’t stop him from climbing back up again, unless she is able to take him down while he’s stunned from the fall, but it will turn stopping his attempts into a minor break instead of the constant distraction it is currently. And luckily, she understood what I wanted, so I didn’t have to shout out my plan for everyone to hear. Not that it isn’t fairly predictable anyhow, now that I think of it, but no plan is perfect, and it’s never a good idea to give your plan away, no matter how obvious it is.

After all, no one can pay attention to the whole battlefield all the time.

What next… Hansen is staying back and likely wouldn’t need help anyway. Greg is still on the other side of the wall, sadly a good distance away from me, or I’d help him like Melly did. A buff would be wasteful as well; he won’t be long.

That just leaves Melly, who is taking on seven bandits, and the Hero, who has five. There are a few more scattered about, but the logistics of the environment prevent them from assisting directly. Huh, there’s more than Rapunzel thought there would be. No matter.

Melly is using a high-energy style that mainly uses large, sweeping motions to keep her from being surrounded, a major priority when your enemies can grapple. And in general, really, but humans can be particularly vicious when given the opportunity.

Sadly, while any buffs would help, there’s nothing I can do that would change the situation.

The Hero’s situation, however, is odd. Like, it almost feels like he’s surrounding them. Yes, he’s technically backed into a corner, but it sure doesn’t feel like it with how well he’s controlling the situation, constantly launching attacks right as anyone even thinks about doing something, apparently.

Anyway, as the Hero can't use his preferred method of striking critical weak points to instantly defeat, or at least cripple, his foes, he instead uses many weaker strikes to bleed them out—a ‘death via a thousand cuts’ as he calls it—not being one to try and force his way through an opponent’s defenses, preferring finesse over brute force. As such, my tried and true method of helping the Hero once again applies, boosting his speed so he can actually get to said weak points.

Which he immediately used to shove his sword into some bandit’s throat…

Why!? Is that really the most effective strategy you have?

Haa. Whatever, now’s not the time to complain; now’s the time to enact justice upon these vile fiends!

Ahem, anyway

By the time I finished buffing the Hero, Greg had finished his climb, so: “Greg! Help Melly!” I shout as I quickly buff her so she can fully take advantage of the opening I’m hoping to create.

And because of the help I gave Rapunzel earlier, she was also able to join in, though not for long, sadly. Hmm, I should deal with that properly.

Still, with everything coming together, everyone was quite capable of taking out a few more bandits, meaning that there were just ten remaining.

The bandits, finally realizing just how outclassed they were, started to... retreat? I don’t know where they plan on going, especially as they are doing a decent fighting retreat instead of just up and running like I would have expected.

Regardless, we managed to take down another bandit before they reached their destination, the wagons, likely hoping to even the odds, even if only slightly.

And annoyingly, it worked. The two wagons they entered only had a door for an entrance, meaning the bandits, four to a door, could just camp around and stab anyone who tried to enter. And, while Melly is tough and my healing phenomenal, four is a bit too much for her to handle in this situation. Even she could lose her life if she tried.

Haa. We wouldn’t have this issue if the bandit harassing Rapunzel hadn’t decided that he would stop her from acting no matter the cost, preventing her from picking some more off.

And while we can break apart the carriages, we lack the proper tools for that, so it would take hours, turning the engagement into a proper siege.

On the upside, the bandits’ retreat left the one harassing Rapunzel completely defenseless, though I’d have preferred if that’d all happened a tiny bit later, allowing her to properly assist against their retreat, but that’s just how things are. It doesn’t help that this was apparently the only proper fighter amongst the group, as they sacrificed themselves to give their comrades a fighting chance.

So, we are left just attacking ineffectually through the doors, hoping to get lucky and tag someone. They can’t stay in there forever, luckily; they’ll succumb to the wounds we keep causing first.

Still, it was an annoying way to spend the next hour or so.

During this time, we attempted multiple strategies:

We tried sending a sacrificial swarm of summons, but the doors bottlenecked them too much to gain the critical mass needed. We might have also tried following after if it wasn’t as much of a failure.

We tried just doing as much damage as we could, but the alarming amount of damage I had to heal even during our cautious attempts stopped any further plans of that type.

We also tried throwing things, but I guess they have some sort of cover in there, which is likely responsible for most of our failures.

We even debated sending in Zarewthem! We wouldn’t have, as that would be an extremely callous thing to do when all we’d have to do otherwise is wait.

In the end, all we really could do was have either Melly or the Hero reach in, try to stab something, and then quickly retreat.

Crude, ineffective, and requires more healing than I’d like, but it beats just waiting. Or hacking through the wall of the carriage, considering how armored it is.

Eventually, we got lucky, and one of the bandits overextended and could be grabbed. He was then quickly dragged out of the wagon to be coup de grâced by Melly, but she was interrupted by his frantic cries. “Wait wait wait! I surrender! I sur, en, der...” The bandit desperately pleaded between his sobs. He was thoroughly crying by the end.

Pathetic

And annoyingly, Melly, for some odd reason, accepted his surrender, letting the other bandits realize that quitting was apparently an option, making the rest of them also surrender.

“Put your hands where we can see them!” Melly shouted at the bandits hesitantly leaving their carriages, accepting this tomfoolery.

And, of course, the cowardly wastes complied.

What happened to the people who set up that ambush outside the walls! Trained as calvary! Built a mobile fort! Why are you surrendering!?

Sadly, regardless of my discontent, the bandits all dropped their weapons and surrendered.

And I don't know what to feel.