The battle line is messy to say the least, with giant summons smashing through the thinly spread Rover lines and rampaging into cunning traps.

Some of these summons go down easily, stabbed and sliced apart by the Rover formations, others however break through the traps and encirclements, continuing their massacre.

It’s brutal but also quite comforting to know that I am once again on the winning team, It’s quite easily to tell simply based on the fact that the number of defeated Summons is far outweighed by the number of Rover corpses.

It’s almost too easy, if the Rovers don’t actually begin to stop this Summon onslaught then I may be compelled to join in or risk disobeying my orders since there won’t be a frontline left soon.

It’s just such a slaughter and the Empire troops haven’t even fully committed yet, it’s just all summons.

There’s an enchanted weapon user and skilled soldier every now and then but it’s just not enough to change the favour of this battle.

The charge started with three dozen summons and even now after breaking through the lines and being swamped by infantry there are still two dozen left.

Perhaps taking inspiration from the Empire these Rovers show no fear at all despite how vastly overwhelmed they are.

Or maybe I just can’t see anyone routing in all this chaos.

There’s still some semblance of an overall frontline but it’s been greatly disrupted and once the second wave of Arthians reaches their lines I doubt they’re going to be able to hold.

It’s a shame since my creator is still unconscious and vulnerable but I doubt that these Rovers can truly threaten her now and while the Empire remains a threat, if they wanted her dead they would have killed her before I was summoned.

So she’s not in danger, at least not immediately.

I still feel bad when I start to walk away from her and towards the collapsing frontlines but I’ve always obeyed her orders, it’s one of the few things I haven’t failed yet.

Barging my way past a small squadron of pikemen, I stride towards the chaotic battle line, I receive my fair share of odd looks while doing so but it hardly matters.

I need to get into the fray quickly otherwise I might fail to fulfil what was asked of me.

I’ve greatly overestimated just how fast I can get there but at least the methodical advance of the second wave helps afford me some extra time.

I could also just start bashing my way through these grunts if I need to but I’ll stay clear from doing that unless absolutely necessary.

After darting left and right, as well as jumping over a couple of soldiers, I manage to make my way around the dense packs of soldiers and reach the back of the second wave.

This kind of counts as being on the frontline, so I’m going to say that I’ve achieved the goal she gave me.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Besides, unlike before there are no real gaps for me to get past, so I’m stuck behind this slowly moving wave of discipline and steel, or is it iron?

I know the difference between the two but I don’t know which is more common for the Empire soldiers to use.

Spears and pikes are expendable and cheap weapons so maybe iron?

This is dumb to think about though, I should be thinking about more important matters like my creator's health and how to keep her safe.

I think that’s actually part of the issue as to why I’m like this, I’m avoiding thinking about these difficult questions even when I have opportunities to do so because I just don’t know what to do.

It’s awful, I just don’t know what to do.

How can I keep her safe? Especially in a conflict of this scale, I wasn’t even aware we had thirty summoners that could just be randomly assigned to a relief force.

Either they just had thirty summoners lying around or they were ready for a battle of this scale, which is worse maybe?

Because well it means the Empire's military power is less potent, it also means that they prepared for this, maybe even planned for it to happen and if they can plan something like this then they can probably figure out a way to capture my creator.

Unfortunately, I don’t think we’re unimportant enough to justify letting go, which is probably my fault.

I was too zealous and wanted us to become valuable but that might have doomed her to live a short brutal life of death and carnage.

Even if I were to achieve great things in the future and bring glory to her and the Empire I doubt it will make things better.

What can I do?

All this planning and thinking is doing, is making me aware of just how hopeless I am at keeping her safe.

I mean how can I possibly compete with these civilisations?

All my victories have mostly been against bandits and weaklings, even that victory I achieved with Malgazar against Vaelor isn’t really a true victory since I couldn’t have done that alone.

And if we flee then I’ll have to fight battles like that frequently, otherwise, how will I get water for her to drink?

There isn’t exactly an abundance of streams and rivers around, our only real option would be to raid supply caravans and camps.

Which will just mean we get placed even higher up on the hit list of these nations.

Just what am I going to do?

Perhaps the answer is nothing?

Maybe I can’t do anything but what about other people?

She might be able to have a chance at escaping by disguising herself as a trader, or something similar.

We just need to find a neutral party to attach ourselves to.

Merchants aren’t common in warzones but there will always be a few who are motivated by greed and I’m sure they wouldn’t mind having an extra passenger so long as a few extra coins fall into their hands.

But that’s me being optimistic, if they’re greedy enough to trade in a warzone then they’re probably willing to sell Coralet out for a nice reward or trade agreement.

I just don’t know what to do and I can’t do anything right now.

The Empire line has started to engage the Rovers but I can’t even skirt around them and flank the Rovers since that’s where most of the other summons are and the squadrons are starting to form up together near the flanks as well.

There’s just nowhere for me to really move.

I might not be longer a passive defender in a siege like last time but all I’ve done is trade that away in exchange for being a passive attacker.

Yet despite that, I still get attacked and a random bolt slams into my side.

Wait my side?

The wound is of little consequence but the direction it came from is another matter entirely.