The beginnings of a town entered my eyes as I walked with Rebecca to my side, holding her hand for the first time in what felt like weeks. We hadn’t had much physical contact, at least intimate contact, in a very long time. We hadn’t even had sex for the last year. We knew the reason why and it wasn’t because we didn’t want to, but because it felt wrong to sully the Spirit Realm like that.

Stopping, I looked behind me and saw hundreds of thousands of Fairies slowly following me. Including the ones resting on the shoulders and head of myself and Rebecca, there are a total of 341,498 Fairies. A lot, but nowhere near their true population according to Maji. There are places, magical in nature, that are home to more Fairies and Spirits.

On my back, I carried a bag that contained the egg. It’d been placed back into its incubator and according to Maji it should hatch within the next two months. She said that due to the surge of Nature magic it is experiencing a change, which has delayed its hatching.

“Thankfully they’re hiding themselves from others. Imagine Jokestar’s face seeing this scene approaching the town.”

“I’d imagine if we saw such a scene approaching our base we’d also have a similar expression.” Chuckling at Rebecca’s response, I turn once more towards the town.

After absorbing the essence from Yggdrasil, we had started to leave the Spirit Realm, which had started to collapse. Yggdrasil itself has started to slowly die as well so I decided to lead everyone out before it completely died. I wanted everyone’s final memory of Yggdrasil to be of it looking alive, not dead. Now, we approached the designated town that we had set to meet up with Jokestar and those under him. From there, we would then travel slowly back to our base, which I found myself eager to return to, especially since this entire trip hadn’t been expected, nor had my evolution.

Reaching the town, or rather village due to its small size, and leaving Maji and Greyback with the Fairies just outside the town, we quickly found a few people who led us to Jokestar. When we arrived at a large building, we found him fairly quickly and found that he looked rather exhausted.

“Ah, so the lovers return and now Ruby looks like some sort of Disney princess. Seriously, where’d you get a dress like that in this world? Makes the rest of us look poor.”

“A few things happened, we’ll explain later. How soon can everyone move out?”

Jokestar led us to a small room and entering I saw two others there, waiting. One male and one female, both of them looking at Rebecca and I with some excitement.

“You should know these two. Morgana and Winnie.” Jokestar nods at the pair.

“It’s been a while, Ruby, Rebecca.”

“Likewise, Morgana, Winnie. I take it all is well?”

“Define ‘well’. If you mean everything hasn’t collapsed within the Clan, then yes, we’re doing well.” Winnie spoke up with a slightly annoyed tone, but after a quick glance from Jokester his tone changed to a more expressionless one. “I apologise, we’ve had a lot of difficulties so far.”

“It’s fine, we understand.” I sat down on one of the nearly rotted away chairs. “Preparations on our side are done, we’re fairly eager to return. Can you guys move today?”

Jokestar moved to the table, which had the map we left them and looked it over. “This trip will take at least a month. We don’t have any vehicles, our food supply has improved but won’t last the entire trip and as for water…we’ll be okay on that front. We found a fresh water supply in a Dimension before heading here. All in all, as long as we find a Dimension here or there to restock on meat, we should be okay. God I can’t wait for something other than slightly burnt monster meat.”

“Don’t get your hopes up, it’s all we’re surviving on at the base as well. Have you had any luck with trying to remove that Useless Curse from anyone?”

Morgana and Winnie pursed their lips at my words and shook their heads while Jokestar just sighed and leaned back on a wall. “We’ve got a few people we’ve been trying to help with this task, but the requirement of killing fifty Husks alone is proving extremely difficult. Even firing a gun for those under the curse is too much, a few of them broke a few fingers while doing so because of the recoil, and the weapons we provided were some of our weakest. If we assist in any way, and I mean in any way, it doesn’t count.”

Grimacing a bit, I knew this would be the biggest obstacle to overcome. Over four hundred people in Jokestar’s Clan suffered from this curse, and while we could assist them, having that much baggage within our base would hinder us massively. It would need to be a priority for us to get those who are cursed to complete the quest and finally be freed of it. We needed the manpower and if they did indeed become nothing but a burden, we’d have to go with Greyback’s suggestion.

“That’s fine, we’ll work something out. At the end of the day, there will be a solution. Obviously the System wants them to stop being Useless otherwise it wouldn’t have given them the task of solo killing fifty Husks. Right, let’s depart, the sooner we return to Lux, the faster we can get everyone taken care of.” Standing, I look at the trio who all nod and move out into the other rooms.

I could hear orders being relayed and walking back towards the Spirits, I could see people helping those who were weakened. Thinking it through, I wondered if I could have the Fairies assist them and deciding it’s worth a shot, I pulled one of the Useless aside.

“Hello, my name is Midnight. I want to test something to see if it would help with your Curse. Don’t worry, it’s nothing bad nor experimental, do you mind?”

The person I had pulled aside looked at me, their eyes filled with nothing but depression and no hope. They just simply shrugged and stood still. Taking that as consent, I raised a hand and looked at a few of the Fairies.

“I leave it to you.” Whispering this in the language of the Spirit Race, I motioned for the Fairies towards the person. The Fairies, seemingly knowing what I wanted them to try, moved towards the person without hesitation, resting on their shoulder. As the Fairies started to glow, I detected a hint of magic coming from them as some colour returned to the person’s face.

"Huh?" Seeing him blink and look at me, he looks at his body.

"How do you feel?"

"Better. Still weak, but it's like I've got some energy."

"What do you mean? What is the closest it resembles?"

"Like…like I've had a great night of rest…"

Looking at the human male, I wondered if he'd had any sleep recently. The Fairies could perform minor healing and relieve some fatigue. If we could do this with everyone while moving, I might allow for some room for error.

Waving the human off, I turned to Rebecca and with us both nodding we headed back to where Maji and Greyback awaited us. Upon meeting up with them, I went through my plan to have the Fairies assist those who were cursed.

"While that will work, the abilities the Fairies provide will diminish when used for such a long period of time. I would estimate that such a method would last roughly three days, and given their condition I would not be surprised if they were worse off afterwards."

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

Hearing Greyback's words, I folded my arms and pondered about whether I should use the Fairies or not. Looking at them joyfully floating about, I ultimately decided against it for now. If those humans needed our help, I would provide it, but for now they would be fine.

"Alright, Maji, Greyback, make sure the humans can't see you. Bek, I'll have you work with the leading team while I bring up the rear. Can you ensure the safety of those up front?"

Rebecca gives me a grin and nods. "Leave it to me, Ruby. I'll cover the humans up front, I'll entrust my back to you."

Along with Greyback and Maji, we headed back to where Jokestar was waiting for us. Upon seeing us, he nodded before looking us over.

"I have a few sets of military gear that you two can use. Not in the best condition but is surprisingly resilient to bites."

Looking down at the dress I wore, the same one Maji had given me, I shrugged. "Sure, it’ll be a shame if I tore this while fighting.”

Within a few minutes, we changed into khaki pants, a long sleeve shirt and a vest with many pockets. Dressed in this, it felt like I was a soldier in some movie. Walking out, I met up with Rebecca and Jokestar and with a quick discussion we departed from the town, with me in the back. Looking over the humans moving forward in formation, I couldn’t help but be impressed at how well coordinated they were.1

The total size was over 800 humans, and they formed groups of 50 with a leader guiding them forward. Even those who were cursed we sorted neatly into a group. The cursed humans were in the middle, with those who could fight on the sides, in front and behind. Before long, orders rang out as the entire group started to move, signalling the journey to finally returning to our base…with nearly 400,000 Fairies following behind me.

***

‘I didn’t expect this much of a delay. The cursed humans really are a burden.’

‘Mm, it might’ve been an idea to just leave them behind, but if we resolve their curse, then they’ll become extremely useful to our base and boost our number of fighters. Plus we’re only a day away now.’

Rebecca and I spoke telepathically while the large group continued to walk. We’d been delayed by nearly an additional month due to those who were cursed being unable to continue walking, requiring a day or two to recover enough to walk for another day. At first, I had resolved this by having the Fairies assist them, but as Maji said, the effects quickly diminished. Not only that, but I felt a bit of disgust at using my Fairies on those who allowed themselves to reach this point.

Thankfully we hadn’t run into anything too threatening, all swarms we came across were easily dealt with without much intervention by Rebecca or I. It appears that Jokestar had done a fantastic job at training those who weren’t cursed, operating at a rather high level.

We continued walking after yet another several day rest. Maji and Greyback hadn’t complained about this trip at all, rather they seemed rather excited even after several days.

The surroundings slowly changed, becoming more and more familiar. With a feeling of excitement rising in my chest, I knew we were now only about half a day from the base. As we kept walking, I saw signs of swarms having passed through and within another few hours, I felt unsettled as I tried to look past all of the heads, trying to see the base, but not being able to without clear eyesight.

At that moment, the unmistakable sound of gunfire enters my ears and it’s not close at all. Focusing on this sound, I could tell it’s still very far from us. Turning to Maji, I pursed my lips before giving her an order.

“Maji, teleport to the base and find out what’s happening.”

“Yes, My Lady.” Maji disappears, leaving behind only a thin black smoke. Turning to Greyback, he gives me a nod before closing his eyes and raising a hand.

“Magic Sense.”

A pulse of mana speeds off, passing over the crowd of humans in front of us and into the distance. While waiting for Greyback’s magic, I look towards the front of the group.

‘Bek?’

‘I know, I hear it as well. Jokestar can’t hear it nor can anyone else. He’s wanting to continue onwards until we can see what’s happening. Can your vision see the base yet, or is it blocked by those in front of you?’

‘Blocked. If need be I can find a tree to scale and check on things. I’ve got Maji already checking in on the base and Greyback has sent out a magic pulse to figure out what lies ahead of us.’

‘Got it. Jokestar said we’re going to stop in ten minutes and take a task force towards the base. Get ready.’

After a few more minutes of travelling, orders came from the front to stop and set up camp. This time however the movements of the non-cursed changed. They started setting up around the camp as if to protect it, while others moved towards the front. Greyback, the Fairies and I moved towards the front as well, just as Greyback grunted, a pulse of mana coming back towards us.

Closing his eyes for a moment, Greyback gasped and looked towards the direction of the base before looking at me. At the same time, Maji returned to my side.

""My Lady."" Both spoke at the same time and raising my hand, I glanced at both before setting my eyes on Greyback first.

"My magic sense detected thousands of undead, hundreds of monsters and even humanoids."

My stomach drops at Greyback's words and turning to Maji, she nods.

"That is correct. The base is currently in a deadlock, not advancing but also not being pushed back. From my observations the invaders appear well coordinated, as if there is a proper command structure."

"Shit. I thought you said the attack wouldn't happen for another year and a half at most?" I turned my head to Greyback, whose face paled quickly, at least as much as a gorilla could, before shaking his head.

"I-I do not know, My Lady. This might be a precursor to the battle the Seer saw, I only repeated their words."

Gritting my teeth slightly, I cursed myself for not being more forceful and demanding to speak with this Seer before the ceremony. Handing the egg to Maji, I walked towards where a large tent is being erected while having Maji explain exactly what she saw.

According to her, the west wall, which is where we are heading, is under siege. So far they are holding out, but that is only due to the efforts of the Lvl 3s, which according to her are slowly starting to dwindle in stamina. She gave them another 3 to 4 hours before they needed to rest which meant the horde could flood them at that time.

"Alright, so Rebecca here says that your base is under attack?" Jokestar turns to me as I approach and I simply nod before explaining the situation.

Grabbing a blank piece of paper, I drew a circle to represent our base and with Maji's help I very quickly made a detailed map of the attack, showing not only the forces attacking and the bases force, but the one Jokestar had brought.

Looking at the details, I came up with a plan of attack. "Alright, Jokestar, I want your men in two formations to flank the sides here and here." Drawing two circles and arrows, I directed to the sides behind the invading force. Writing an M and a W next, I drew lines for them towards the middle. "Rebecca and I will work alone and push towards the middle. Due to our magic and firepower, we are better alone, so we don't need to hold back. Any questions?"

"Yes. Are you two going to be fine? I don't know how you know the condition of the base, but you said your Lvl 3s are close to exhaustion, which means the enemy is a lot tougher than we thought."

Jokestar couldn't see Maji and Greyback at the moment due to their Spirit Magic, this didn't know the two were responsible for the information.

"We will be fine. As we are, we are a lot stronger than those in our base."

"Then I'll trust you. I'll make arrangements now. Good luck out there, Ruby, Rebecca." With that, Jokestar left while yelling out to certain people.

Rebecca, Greyback, Maji and I then proceeded to discuss our strategy. Maji and Greyback would remain behind to help protect the cursed humans. Their strength was equal if not slightly stronger than ours, which meant they would be able to easily deal with any threats.

"My Lady, would you like me to get any weapons for you before you depart?"

"No thanks. I have my bow already and Rebecca has her shotgun, we will be fine."

After several minutes, Jokestar returned to inform us that preparations had been made and that they were ready. With that, Rebecca and I headed towards the base, with my vision now picking up the horde that blocked the view of our base. By focusing I could barely make out a few humans fighting on the walls.

Withdrawing Hawkeye, I turned to Rebecca and lightly smiled.

"Don't die."

"You too. I'll see you soon."

With that, we separated, heading towards the battlefield of our choice, keeping ourselves hidden as to launch a surprise attack.