"Oof, this is terrible," Jyrki murmured from the rooftop of a house.
"Hmm. It looks like the monster-tamer platoon's basic strategy is getting the monsters to do the fighting, boxing the stragglers in, and then finishing them off. Yeah, it's a pretty terrible tactic, but not so bad from an energy-conservation standpoint."
Asura and the rest of Moon Blossom were dressed in their usual black robes, but now also equipped with bows and quivers of arrows.
"Er, that's not what I meant," Jyrki sighed.
"I believe he was referring to the massacre the monsters perpetrated, Boss," Marx said.
"Can...we win this?"
Mullux Village was already in a terrible state of affairs. "Pillaged" was an apt descriptor for it.
"Prob'ly not, yeah? Intermediate-tier monsters are waaaaay too strong."
Every single corpse on the ground had been torn apart by a monster's claws or fangs. Intermediate-tier monsters were far faster and stronger than humans. But that's all they have going for them, Asura thought.
"We just need to stick to the plan," she said. "I'll take responsibility if we can't defeat them, and if we survive, then you can punish me as you see fit, heh heh. More importantly, the problem here lies primarily with the Arnian army."
Judging by their messy leadership and coordination, the Arnian soldiers were out of their depth when it came to urban warfare. They were hardly putting up a fight as the enemy slaughtered them.
"Right. Didn't anybody order the villagers to evacuate?" Lumia asked. "So many of them are inadvertently getting caught in the cross fire."
"Inadvertently? Nah, Vice Cap'n, don't those Therbae bastards look like they're goin' out of their way to kill the villagers? Those sickos are havin' fun."
"I agree. Heartless monsters," Marx spat.
"Well, that isn't our problem," Asura said. "Now then, it's about time to get started. We're in a pretty nice position here."
A monster-tamer platoon happened to pass below Asura's group. They didn't notice her group because they weren't looking up, a fault they shared with the Arnian army. Whether it was their inexperience with urban warfare or just general idiocy, the platoon couldn't even fathom the idea of being attacked from above. Their shortsightedness was understandable to Asura though, as the armies of this world usually fought in formations in wide-open spaces.
"Don't misread the situation here, everyone," Asura warned. "We are in an advantageous position, so our strategy will be fire and fire."
***
The man was the commander of one of the four monster-tamer platoons of the Great Therbae Kingdom's army. His Majesty himself had been the one who'd come up with the revolutionary idea of using monsters in warfare. This platoon used an intermediate-tier monster resembling a black wolf, which the soldiers had named "Pilly."
Pilly's speed and strength had pushed the Arnian army's lines all the way back to Mullux Village. This village was located near expansive tea fields, the source of the Arnia Kingdom's income, and burning them to wreak economic devastation was this platoon's mission.
The platoon commander enjoyed drinking tea from the Arnia Kingdom, so this was a bit unfortunate. However, sacrifices had to be made during war. He set the tea fields and villagers' houses ablaze, and mercilessly cut down Arnian soldiers along with any villagers who hadn't fled in time. Of course, many soldiers also fell to Pilly's claws.
Mullux was a big village and the platoon had come here to completely annihilate it. Flames licked at the wood, creating a burnt stench that rose through the air. Even now, the commander walked through the roads, keeping an eye out for Arnian soldiers and villagers. Complete annihilation meant utterly erasing Mullux Village from the map.
"Man, with Pilly around, Arnia's just a bunch of worms. Isn't that right, Captain?" one of his subordinates said with a grin.
In total, the commander had four subordinates and one monster. This was the same structure as the other three monster-tamer units. In this world, a platoon typically consisted of around five people, with four platoons forming a single company to carry out military duties.
Before they entered the village, the grandshield company had also participated in the battle, serving as protection against arrows. However, since they weren't necessary in battles within the village perimeter, they'd returned to base first. The Arnia Kingdom's army was at battalion strength, but the commander estimated that they'd already lost over half of their men. By comparison, the Therbae army had suffered virtually no casualties. The monster-tamer platoon was more than enough to mop them up.
"Arnia was never that strong to begin with, right?" another subordinate crowed. "Add Pilly into the mix and bam, it's massacre time."
We're winning by a wide margin. Our victory is guaranteed. This has already become a search-and-destroy operation. By the time the sun set, Mullux Village would be wiped out. After that, they could return to base and enjoy a brief respite.
"Petals?"
That was when a large number of pink flower petals began drifting down from the sky.
"Did the more impatient guys already start celebrating with some flower confetti?"
"Who knows?"
The commander grabbed one of the petals as it fluttered and held it in his hand. It looked perfectly normal, with nothing out of the ordinary.
"It's so beautiful..." his subordinate said, looking up at the sky.
Following his line of sight, the commander looked up as well and noticed a silhouette out of the corner of his eye. A group of people were observing them from the rooftops. In the middle of them was a silver-haired girl whose face was stretched in a terribly dark smile. The mere sight of that expression made him feel as if ants were crawling over his skin.
A petal brushed against his subordinate's cheek. The next moment, his face burst.
No, that wasn't right. His face exploded? As blood and flesh scattered around them in a rain of gore, panic gripped the platoon. No one had any clue as to what was happening.
Yet another subordinate screamed in pain as his shoulder was blasted away.
"We're under attack! Don't let the petals touch you! We need to find some cover!" the commander yelled. Not all of the blossoms were exploding, but it was impossible to tell which ones would. "We need to get to a place where the petals can't—"
However, an arrow to the throat interrupted the commander before he could finish issuing his order. Immediately after, countless arrows embedded their tips into his body, and the commander's corpse fell to the ground, his eyes staring aimlessly to the sky.
The soldiers' panic peaked upon losing their commander. They unsheathed their swords, but none of them had visual confirmation on their enemy. Some of them blindly slashed the air only to have their blades explode, and they yelled as the shrapnel dug into their skin.
Arrows continued to rain down on the troops. Though they bounced harmlessly off Pilly's armor-like pelt, the humans weren't so lucky. To accommodate Pilly, all of them were only equipped with light leather armor for quicker movement. One by one, the commander's subordinates fell and Pilly raised his voice in a howl.
Oh, Pilly. We've all perished, but at least you're still alive to avenge us.
The commander had already died, so he had no idea that after Pilly's final cry, the monster immediately suffocated to death.
***
"See? What'd I tell you? Monsters are no biggie," Asura said, atop the roof of a house.
"Boss, thank you so much for your assistance. I never imagined that my Water Prison could be so useful," Marx said excitedly.
Water Prison was a spell that Marx could use with his manifestation magic. It could only create water and had no offensive properties, unless one happened to cast in front of a target's face. Then they'd drown, which was how Marx had killed the black, wolflike monster.
"Oh, don't be so dramatic, Marx. You hardly need to thank me," Asura replied. "We're comrades and like-minded romantics about magic. As long as you know how to use it, magic can be as strong as any weapon."
Asura had been the one to come up with Water Prison, not Marx. The idea of using manifestation magic as a means of attack was unheard of in this world. At its core, all magic had its own element. There were many different kinds of Fixed Elements, but there were six basic ones: water, fire, wind, earth, light, and darkness. Of these six, darkness was fairly rare.
After that, there were four different categories of magic: attack, support, healing, and manifestation. Marx's Water Prison was a manifestation spell of the water element. Every mage possessed their own element, which meant that Marx could only use water spells. This would never change, outside obtaining a Fixed Element.
"Boss, I really like your flappy little Wild Dance spell. It's super pretty."
"Jyrki, can you not describe it as 'flappy'?"
"Huh? Why?"
"I just don't really like that word." Asura shrugged. "It sounds ridiculous."
"Good idea on mixing an attack spell with a manifestation one. That was Mines in the Wild Dance, right?" Lumia asked.
That compliment made Asura smile. "Doesn't it get boring to start each battle with Flashbang? There's nothing we can do about Water Prison being our finisher though. It's just too convenient."
"I can't help but feel emotional about all this," Marx said. "I never imagined that a water mage like me could defeat enemy commanders or monsters with magic... I'm truly glad that I became a soldier-mage, even if it got me disowned by my family."
Marx descended from a line of warriors, and had spent most of his life dealing with his family's scorn at his magic. So in the past, he'd had to hide and practice his magic in secret.
"Y'know, I'm more shocked that we're actually winnin' these battles as if we're normal soldiers," Jyrki said.
"And without breaking a sweat either, since my Water Prison's been our trump card."
"Monsters...die if they can't breathe...too?"
"Was that the first time you all fought a monster?" Asura asked. In the past, she and Lumia had exterminated a monster together. If she recalled correctly, it had also been an intermediate-tier monster.
"No, I fought against them back when I was a knight," Marx answered. "But it didn't go as smoothly as today, since we attacked it head-on."
"Today was our first time. Right, Iina?"
"Yeah."
"I see. Well, I hope you all understand now that they're not too difficult to beat." At Asura's comment, Marx, Jyrki, and Iina all nodded. As for Lumia, it seemed that she had never considered an intermediate-tier monster a threat. "Why don't we split into teams of two and three, and then hunt down the remaining three monsters? This can double as your training."
"'Kaaaay. How should we split up?"
"The Blue Team will be Lumia and myself. The Red Team will be the remaining three."
"Huh?! Hold up now!" Jyrki yelled. "That's unfair! The power balance is way off with you two on one team!"
"We'll...die..." Iina sighed, slumping her shoulders.
"Er, I believe that it would be fairly difficult to kill a monster without the boss or the vice captain's help," Marx argued with a serious look on his face.
"No, the teams are even. The three of you should be able to handle it." Asura shrugged. "Let's see... Normally, I'd ask Marx to be the leader, but since this mission is gonna double as a training session, I want Jyrki to take command."
"Me?!" Jyrki yelped.
"We're...dead..." Iina whispered in despair.
"Yep." Marx nodded. "We're dead."
"Boss, this ain't me giving you lip or anythin' but, uh...could you maybe reconsider?"
"Not gonna happen. Even if you don't believe in yourself, you gotta do it, Jyrki. If you fail to kill the monster, then die vivaciously. That's an order."
Marx had once been a platoon commander during his time with the knights. If this were a more dangerous opponent, then Asura would have let him handle it, but considering what they were dealing with on this mission, it was the perfect time to let Jyrki rack up some experience.
"A-All right..."
"Does anyone else have something they'd like to say?" Asura asked. After no response, she nodded. "Good. Then let's start the mission. Move out!"
***
"We met in a place just like this, didn't we?" Asura said, jauntily walking through the ruins of Mullux Village as if she were enjoying a picnic. The occasional corpse strewn on the ground brought a smile to her face. Did you die a vibrant death? Or did you simply just die?
"I can't believe it's already been ten years," Lumia murmured nostalgically as Asura pondered upon the bodies.
"We've sure been through a lot, haven't we, Teach?"
The flames consumed the houses with a satisfied crackle, and the scent of burning wood mixed with the aroma of freshly spilled blood. There weren't quite enough bodies for this to qualify as a hellscape, but it was a view that Asura dearly enjoyed.
"I haven't heard that nickname in so long." Lumia sighed. "By the way, should we really be wandering around like this? I thought scouting ahead and landing a preemptive strike was the soldier-mage's way."
"And I said that this doubled as a training session, didn't I? If the two of us strike first, then we'll win too easily. Besides, there's no guarantee that battles will always start on our terms. So for this one, I'm thinking we should enjoy a preemptive strike launched by the other side."
"You mean we'll purposely let the enemy find and attack us?"
"Exactly. We'll build ourselves back from that, and then it'll be 'fire and maneuver.'"
As soon as Asura finished her sentence, a boy who looked to be around ten years old ran out from behind one of the houses. When he saw Asura and Lumia, he tried to stop himself but, carried by his own momentum, he slipped and fell onto his behind.
"Don't be afraid. We're members of the Arnian army," Lumia said with a gentle smile upon seeing the boy's terrified expression.
"To be more specific, we're mercenaries who've been hired by the Arnian army. We won't hurt the villagers, so—"
"Please help! M-My mom and dad were killed!" the boy interrupted. "A-And if I get caught, I'll get sold off to the West!" He pushed himself to his feet and threw himself against Lumia's body, wrapping his arms around her waist.
"Over there! I found the brat! Oh, and more women too, Captain!"
"That's fantastic news. Perfect for some pocket change."
A monster-tamer platoon accompanied by a bearlike monster emerged from the shadows of the same house that the boy had run out from. In total, there were five men and one monster.
"By 'pocket change,' I suppose they mean they're engaging in some human trafficking," Asura hummed. "If I recall, West Felsen has slavery, right?"
"That's right."
The entire region that Asura and the others lived in was the land of Felsenmark. In terms of size, it was slightly smaller than Europe. If you were to look at a map of Felsenmark, you would see that it was split up into three subregions: West, Central, and East. The Arnia Kingdom, for example, was located in East Felsen.
"Ooh, nice. They're hot. We should have some fun with them before selling them off," one of the soldiers said.
"I like the silver-haired one."
"What in the world are you gonna do with a brat like her? You know, normal people like the older lady."
"You idiot. Girls around the silver-haired cutie's age are at their prime."
The soldiers of the monster-tamer platoon conversed with slimy smiles on their faces. Ahh, it truly feels like a battlefield now, Asura thought to herself. Every battlefield had units that felt like they were composed solely of thugs.
"Let's update the parameters of our training mission," she said. "We'll exterminate our enemies while protecting this boy."
"What are you saying?! That's too dangerous! We should just let him escape!"
"No way. It's not every day that we have a kid to use for practice. Just relax. No one would blame us if we failed."
"Y-You..." Lumia gritted her teeth and clenched her fist, but ultimately fell silent.
"Besides, don't you want to see the men who killed your parents die a pathetic death, boy?" Asura asked with a dark grin.
The boy's body twitched back in fear, but only for a moment. "I do! If you're gonna take revenge for my mom and dad, then I wanna watch it!" He released Lumia as he voiced his request.
"And there we have it, Lumia. I won't have you arguing against my decision. Now then, let's start from these conditions." With that, Asura turned to fully face the monster-tamer platoon.
In response, the men smiled confidently. From their perspective, Asura's team was a woman and two children. No one would expect any of them to put up much of a fight. The soldiers were likely thinking that they could capture them and then have some fun raping them. Then, they probably planned to sell them off and forget about them.
"Ha ha, missy, you're thinking about fighting?" one of them said. "We're the strongest monst—" But he couldn't finish his sentence, as Asura threw a dagger clean through his throat.
"Pretty good, aren't I?" She laughed mockingly.
"Why, you little—!" the remaining members of the monster-tamer platoon roared with rage.
(3k word count)