The Demon's Princess: Raptors and Splinters

THE BATTLES FOR DRIKEN VILLAGE.

DAY 15.

SUNDAY.

GOLD: 10,193.

Tyler woke to see the beautiful face of his dear Seria beside him in his bedroll. He smiled at this and leaned over her ear.

"I love you."

She woke with a shiver.

"I love you too."

He hugged her tightly and the princess smiled happily.

"I'll be waiting for you."

"I'll come for you soon, my WIFE."

She sighed happily at that and he smiled.

"And I'll have trophies."

Seria laughed at that one as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"I'll have tricks to use on you!"

"Ha. I love you, Seria."

"I love you too, Tyler. I'll see you at home."

He shivered at that and smiled.

"I'll be home soon, Seria. In the meantime enjoy the show."

"Oh I AM."

She faded out and he sighed at the loss of her warmth before he refocused and geared up for the day. he left his tent and went to the longhall where he was met by Asuna. The hall was laid out with the chieftain's throne at the far end of the hall while numerous tables and benches made from animal parts were set around a grand fire in the exact center of the hall. Asuna slid him a mug of coffee as he sat down.

"The guard got probed last night. A lesser tyrant."

Tyler frowned.

"I'll need a picture."

Strand slid him a tooth and he looked at it.

"Oh. That's nothing big. Ceratosaurus. 8 feet tall and up to 20 feet long. Who brought it down?"

Asuna smiled.

"Unicorn did. with her trident."

"Point made."

There was a mass groan from the room at the HORRIDENOUS pun and Tyler chuckled at his own joke before he got serious again.

"So are you sure it was a probe?"

Asuna sighed.

"Your jokes SUCK. There. I said it. We are. It attacked Unicorn after being seen wandering along the outer wall. They left it alone that long as it seemed to be a wandering predator."

"She level up?"

"She's halfway to level 2. It helped her a lot, but so far only you and kirito have leveled up. I'm halfway to 2."

"You're SLACKING Asuna."

She rubbed her eyes in frustration.

"I know, I know. I need to get out there and grind. Ugh. So what we do today?"

"reinforce. I'll take a crew out and see what prey we can track down for the village's stores. Strand,"

"Here."

"Are there any other villages in reach?"

She thought for a moment before shaking her head.

"None. The nearest is a full three days down the road from here. And is a military garrison with 1,500 men. It's an outpost for their mage corp's training."

"Hmm."

He opened the map and she tapped the secluded village higher in the mountains.

"Here."

He traced a line from Drikin to the new village through the harsh mountains and nodded.

"There is some EXTREMELY harsh terrain up there and you'd literally have to cross three peaks to get there. Okay. A direct attack on them while we're busy here is not an option due to the strain involved. Okay. We're on a resupply mission for the village. Best we can get in a 6 hour hunt."

Mina smiled.

"fortify for a seige and probe them at the same time. Smart. Who's on the hunting crew?"

"Me, Strand, YOU, Yoshkia, Barkhorn and...Akeno."

They nodded and Asuna chuckled.

"I like how you set up raiding parties. Okay and we're still working to rebuild the village."

"How many were lost?"

"About 15 after we arrived. Their wound were infected and a few had been poisoned by the monsters and we don't any poison purgers."

He sighed.

"I have one. Shit I forgot to tell you."

Mina nodded sadly.

"A VERY EASY oversight. You know now."

"Yeah. We'll make it so any abilities you have are Leader knowledge and you have to inform the Table when you get a new one."

Asuna smiled.

"We did that in the Bloodoath. Heathcliff would get so pissed when some rookie some hardcore ability by litterally TRIPPING over it."

"Ha. He spent all those years building that paradise....and a buncha highschoolers made him look stupid."

"HA."

Tyler looked at Mina.

"Ready up for a hunting trip slash scouting op."

"roger. Sanya's a scrier."

He blinked and Strand explained.

"She is highly skilled at Scry spells and cumminication skills. Her ability, Outreach, can turn any reflective surface into a communication mirror."

"Asuna, I want EVERYONE to get a copy of that spell. Mina, Sanya is now ORDERED to level up to MY level as soon as she can. SHe just got made vital."

"I will have her join our hunting expedition. She wields a battleaxe."

"Why does that just FIT? Okay."

Asuna had a notebook out.

"Scry spells and antidote spells. Any other orders, Tyler?"

He frowned.

"Overlap.We overlap wherever possible. And set level quotas. I'm the highest level out of 125 fighters. That is not acceptable. I want 25 at level 2 by the end of day three. Kirito is to reach level 3 in the same time period."

"Oh he's got a fire under his ass now. Alright we'll get to work."

"Good. BREAK."

The crew left the table to see to their preperations. Tyler went to his tent where he retreived his bow and quiver of arrows. He smiled as he saw Seria's place in his bedroll empty.

"I'll see you soon my Wife."

He smiled and left to meet with the rest of the force. Mina was waiting with her girls and Akeno. Yoshkia smiled as she had a satchel on her pack.

"Tyler, a request?"

"What's up?"

She had a light in her hazel eyes as she looked up at him.

"Sir. I request to search for herbs as well. I am skilled in nonmagical healing too."

"Granted. Make sure to let us know when you find something. Let's NO ONE get jumped today."

She beamed at this and he looked to a tough looking girl with a pair of broadswords on her hips. She was half a head shorter then him with a slender frame and dark brown hair in a twin braid. Her brown eyes were blazing with an iron will and her skin was light. She had a large bust in her scalemail tunic and plateskirt while her swords were double edged slashers.

"Barkhorn, you got a bow?"

She nodded and hefted a crossbow. Her voice a hard bark.

"Yes Sir. I know how this better then a normal bow."

"Good. DON'T MISS."

She smirked.

"Sir, I'm a true soldier of karlsland. I NEVER miss."

"Ha. Atta girl captain badass. Sanya."

There was a squeak as a VERY pretty girl stepped forward.

"Here sir!"

She was his hieght with a VERY slender frame and pale skin. Her hair was short cut and a rather pretty shade of silver that shimmered in the morning light. She was slender with a modest bust and her attire was a tight fitting tanktop and shorts covered by mail while on her back was her large double headed battleaxe and bow. The girl's eyes a lovely green and her vice a soft whisper. Tyler nodded.

"You need to level to my level. You comms spells are vital t us."

"I will do so."

"Good."

Akeno smiled as she tested her own bowstring.

"I'm ready too."

"Alright. Strand?"

"Here."

The elven ranger appeared beside him and he nodded.

"Let's move ladies."

They left the village and immediately got into the woods. Tyler had his bow low as he looked around at the trees as the village was lost behind them.

"Oh. Yoshkia, there's some ginseng."

"Wow. I got it."

The skilled witch collected the valuable herb as the silent forest made the warrior frown.

"Hmm. That cerato is out of place up here to begin with."

Strand nodded as they moved through the woodland.

"It is. It usually lives on the grassland lowlands. Not up here."

"Hmm. A scout."

She nodded as Mina scanned the trees.

"9 oclock."

They looked to see a large bear moving through the woodland. Tyler blinked at the size of the immense thing as it stood 10 feet tall at the shoulder on all fours and was maybe 30 feet long. It;s fur was slate grey and the head was angular like a wolf's. Strand blinked as she saw the monster.

"A Bear King. VERY impressive."

Tyler nodded as he watched the animal.

"If we take it, we can feed the village for WEEKS. Plus that fur is AWESOME."

Strand smiled as she eyed the thing.

"They ARE a prize. But are EXTREMELY tough. Make the choice."

Tyler smiled and walked over towards the lumbering creature snapping twigs under foot. The bear looked over curiously atthe noise and Tyler waved cockily at it.

"Hiya. You're gonna look great as a rug or something."

The bear reared to an imposing 45 feet tall with an earthshaking roar.

"Frozen wastes."

The ground under it's rear paws turned to slippery ice and as it went to drop onto it's front paws....it slipped. The thing fell flat on it's face,

"Sanya."

"Here!"

The TERRIFIED witch was there to slam her axe into the back of the gargantuan bear's neck with all her strength and the bear grunted and went limp. Sanya was panting with HUGE green eyes at the sudden excitement but as she pulled her axe free Tyler smiled.

"Good kill."

Strand blinked.

"HOW?"

"Think about it. That bear has so much mass behind it when it stands on it's legs like that, if it slips, it's STUNNED for a good few seconds."

"That is the strategy used against giants."

"No reason it dunn't work on other stuff."

"THAT is a VERY solid point."

Sanya looked at her plate.

"I leveled up! I hit two!"

Tyler patted the exicted girl approvingly.

"Atta girl. Now you got two more to go."

She smiled proudly as she put her Status Plate away.

"I'll work hard!"

He chuckled at her joy before they got to work butchering the immense beast. A grisly(Get it?) task that took about 2 hours before they had the entire animal back in the village. Tyler ran a hand over the extremely soft fur and smiled.

"I think I'll take the pelt."

Asuna chuckled as she loaded the meat into the village's storehouse.

"A better bedroll for the princess?"

"Yup."

"Ha. Sure."

The hunters headed back out on another raid this time up towards the Ranger Station. Yoshkia collcted numerous herbs and plants for her satchel while Tyler and Strand sought new prey. As they hunted the group came across another sandy clearing and Tyler noted it was perfectly circular. Strand did too.

"It might be another worm."

He flicked a fist sized rock into the mass of white sand and the teeth appeared snapping at the thing. He nodded.

"The teeth were bigger and fewer Strand."

"A mountain Worm. They're infuriatingly common up here. But are great food. Their skins when baked are delicious pie crusts, the meat like cow, and their teeth are good for decoration."

"Cool."

He flicked another rock and the teeth appeared. He used his lance to impale a spot between the shark like teeth and the 150 foot long worm reared from the ground in pain before Mina's katana hit it and Yoshkia waved her staff.

"Holy FIRE!"

The worm died and they pulled the thing from the hole. Yoskia checked her plate and pouted.

"OOOOh only halfway."

Tyler chuckled at her disappointment as he looked into the hole. Strand smiled as she cleaned the carcass.

"we can look once the worm is butchered."

"Sure. I can see some worms shitting gems."

"THOSE are known as King Worms and are EXTREMELY rare. When one is found they usually are tamed through a spell to produce gems for their new owner."

Tyler smirked as he heard that.

"We'll find one for the company then. A gem shitter would go a long way for our funding."

Strand chuckled.

"They live in the Grand desert far to the west unfortunately. And the Desert is a legendary death trap.....you'll explore it eventually."

"KInda comes with the territory."

She sighed with a smile as the worm was butchered under her expert advice. Once the hole was empty Tyler looked into the 6 foot wide pit.

"Don't bother. Mountain Worms shit sand."

"We should fill it in so something else doesn't use it."

"I see the logic, but when it rains they help with ground water."

"Ah."

The friends moved on around the ruined Ranger station as Barkhorn spoke up.

"3 oclock low."

They looked and were faced by a large white tailed deer moving through the trees. Tyler frowned nearly instantly.

"Thhhat is not a normal deer."

Strand nodded as she saw the oddly lumbering gait of the animal.

"No it is not. My guess is it's a Shadow Deer. Or False Deer. it's a form of undead actually and if you attack it the thing turns into a rotting corpse. Holy spells are the only way to bring it down for certain.

"Barkhorn, pass me a bolt."

She did and he used his spell.

"Holy Smite."

The now Holy Infused crossbow bolt was passed back and Barkhorn took aim. The deer looked at her curiously as the shaft slammed into it's shoulder. It screamed like a rusty hinge before exploding into white dust and Strand smiled.

"The antlers and pelt are EXTREMELY valuable to crafters. I'll handle them."

Barkhorn looked at her plate.

"Ugh. HAlf."

"Good kill though."

She nodded as she reloaded her crossbow.

"I need to get stronger."

Tyler looked around at the forest when Yoshkia perked up.

"I got a few Snowdrop flowers here, Tyler."

"Load up Yoshkia. i gotchya."

She smiled as she plucked the plants from the ground. As she did, Tyler caught a faint sound on the wind, the faint sound of metallic screaming in the distance.

"Go! The raptors are attacking the village!"

The hunting party were off like a GUNSHOT back for the village. Tyler out in front with his greatsword in a ready position as the air filled with the angry sounds of screeching raptors and fighting warriors.

"When we get in range, Barkhorn, Mina and Yoshkia aim arrows into the HIPS. NO where else. Sanya drop back and keep tabs on everyone. Akeno send lighting in the center. Strand snipe anything that looks like it's giving direction. I'll get in their teeth."

The heads nodded as they came to the top of an overlooking hill on the village. The front gate had been breached and close to 75 raptors were attacking the Heroes Company in cooridinated patterns like flying wedges designed to take a single warrior to the ground. Asuna had the heroes and the villagers firing arrows and dodging attacks but it was CLEAR they were backed against the wall. Tyler smirked as he saw a 15 foot tall slate grey shape at the back of the mass of raptors. The thing looking like a giant gorilla on it's elongated hindlegs and arms four times as muscular with the same slate grey fur as the lock Bjorn had shown them.

"HE'S for me."

Ty;er fired a grapple into a tree to swing off over the battle while the Father of the Forest sent a fresh wave of a hundred raptors at the beleaguered heroes. Mina and the snipers took aim and loosed shafts. A few raptors in killing position were dropped with arrows in their hips, which locked up their entire skeleton. The Father growled at this developement and went to retreat.

"Where da fuck do ya think YOU'RE goin?"

Only for Tyler's ice wall to raise up before the creature and the warrior slash at it's fur with his azurite sword. The beast had the face of an ape and it roared like one too as it blocked the greatsword with a stone club the size of Tyler's ENTIRE BODY. The warrior was deflected and a raptor leapt onto his back from the rear as the cowardly Father of the Forest ran. Tyler grunted as the 3 foot tall predator sank it;s claws and teeth into his flesh but had the wherewithall to SLAM his back into the still present ice tall. The raptor screeched in pain as something broke.

"OW that was my EAR you dick."

The raptor came loose and Tyler stabbed it in the chest with a dagger before two more leapt at him from the rear.

"Oh for fuck's sake. FIRESTORM."

A swirling tornado of bright blue flame exploded into being around him and it caught a mass of the raptors in it's perimeter, ROASTING them alive. The flames also cut off the retreat of a large number of raptors already in the village. The reptilian predators had nowhere to go as Asuna led the counterattack. Tyler met her in the middle and the fiery redhead was bleeding from her own claw marks and bites as she pulled her rapier free from a dead dino.

"They came out of nowhere and attacked EXACTLY like Bjorn said they did. Big guy breaks the gate, raptors flood in."

Tyler nodded as he swung the blood off his frame.

"Okay. We have a bead on ONE leader. That Stonish Giant has to go. It's controlling the raptors. It dies, the raptors tear at each other in a power grab. See to the wounded! YOU get that gate closed, healers get to work! and let's get these things butchered."

The adreniline riding Heroes got to work with a will seeing to the hurt and repairing the damage. Tyler included as he threw his own impressive strength to the rebuild. Once the village had been put back in order for the most part and Asia had healed Tyler's own injuries the leaders regrouped in the longhall with Bjorn and a much refreshed Ingot. Tyler sighed as he sat down.

"Okay. We're looking at a bleeder strategy."

The heads nodded and Bjorn sighed.

"They be attacking us at RANDOM, Lord Berserker. they could attack again RIGHT NOW."

Sora perked up.

"That Ape looking thing broke the gate and RETREATED instantly. It did NOTHING the entire fight until you took a swing at it."

Tyler sighed.

"That club is made out of granite. ONE square shot and I'm done. I felt that thing's strength in the block, and right now? IT'S higher level then I am. That said? it is TERRIFIED of fighting me."

Ingot frowned.

"HOw do ya know laddee?"

"I looked it in the eye and they flashed as if it knew me, and WHAT I am. If anything? it PANICKED."

Strand blinked from her place.

"From my vantage, the sword was blocked, it grunted, and HALF of the raptor army turned to attack you. En mass. It fits. But why?"

Tyler sighed.

"Now THAT I DON'T know. My guess is my Soulkiller. Even the Forest Spirit is wary of it. And since I've never hidden what it can do and have USED IT, it makes sense the enemy would hear about it."

Asuna looked at him with a frown.

"We've only been in world for two weeks or so Tyler. Can information reach that many people?"

"Absolutely. In my world, the underworld can transport goods from Brazil to Boston and back in under 24 hours."

Sora looked at him.

"So if your ability is known by the creature, and it reacted to it, that means it's REALLY freakin smart."

Ingot nodded with a sigh.

"Them beasts are smarter then we think. That weren't a Father of the Forest either. I got a good lookee at em, an in my opinion? It's an Old man of the forest. Or Forest Ghost as you'd know it Little Strand."

The elf blinked at this news.

"An Old man of the forest, MAster Ingot? THIS far south?"

"That be the strange part. And seen OUTSIDE their beloved conifer forests makes it the stranger."

Tyler crossed his arms.

"Okay. What am I dealing with Ingot?"

The dwarf chuckled.

"It's smarter then your average man and IMMENSELY strong physically speaking. They're born as level 6s and top out at level 15. That one I would place at level 8. So still a young un yet."

"Hm. So it's three levels above me. That club?"

Here the dwarf sighed.

"That not be Old Man work, laddee. That thing was fashioned by a forest giant as a TOOTHPICK. And they cherish those oddly enough."

"forest giants live out there?"

"They do. In numbers. They be a right pain in the ass too. 35 feet tall and about 10 wide at the chest. You'd think you was lookin at a tree...and then it steps on you."

Tyler frowned.

"We're not anywhere NEAR strong enough for giants yet. Even my Soulkiller is iffy. Stolen?"

Ingot smiled an unpleasent smile.

"Ya better hope so laddee. Not even I would WILLINGLY fight a clan of Forest Giants in their home turf."

"Gee THAT'S reassuring. Alright. 35 feet tall and mean."

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully and Sora sighed.

"We'd take immense losses if they appeared Tyler."

"Yeah i know. I'm little over halfway to level 5 right now. Anyone level in that fight Asuna?"

"Belfast did. She's level two. GAsper is halfway to level 2, and Kirito is a quarter of the way to three."

"Hmm. We don't have the time nor the prey to grind. We have the advantage of food and morale on our side. And that forest is dry as a bone."

Bjorn smirked unpleasently at the flash in Tyler's eyes.

"If ya set the forest on fire, Lord Berserker, we'd ALL DIE."

"NOT if we do it downHILL."

They looked at him at this and Sora blinked.

"A controlled burn?"

"Exactly. We DRENCH a set area around the village in water and clear out ALL the loose brush, dead trees, and stumps we can for that area. it's called a Fire Border. Then we peg out a section of woodland as the burn site. In my world it's used to help forest growth and deal with overpopulation as well. if we do it RIGHT, we can LITERALLY create a DEATHFIELD for ANYTHING that lives in the forest."

Strand smiled widely as she saw his plan.

"This is the same method my Kin in the eastern forests use to tend their forests! I am WELL VERSED as well as I spend many a decade with them. I will lend my knowledge to this ploy, Lord Berserker."

Tyler looked at Ingot.

"We'll need EXACTING measures for this to work the way we want it to. Could use some good dwarven perspective."

That made the barrel chested warrior laugh!

"Ya SHOULDA beena dwarf kid! I'm in this madman's scheme!"

Bjorn looked at him.

"You are a madman."

Tyler smiled.

"Well, thank for that then. Cause otherwise this'd probably never work."

The group chuckled at that before they split to their tasks of rigging the Firefield. Tyler had the map of the forest out with a few of Ingot's Rangers for the most densely packed section of woodland for a suitable area, Strand had a few rangers and the Heroes moving along forty yards of woodland collecting every dead branch, feeling every dead tree, and pulling every dead stump for transport to the burn site while the bone dry leaf litter was collected. Behind them came Belfast with her water mages soaking the ground for the safety barrier. Asuna had a wagon train moving from the road tom the 3 football fields of woodland set for the burnsite carrying the fuel and it was laid out in set walls for added potency. the work was carried out in a frency while Tyler bounced from position to position working alongside them all. The sun went down and they regrouped at the longhall. Strand drew a loop around the village.

"100 yards of woodland have been prepped as the barrier, Lord BErserker. and close to 500 yards are ready to burn."

"Good. Now we just lure that coward into the trap. It knows we're here. It knows I'M here. So it'll prepare for a hard assault."

A sound of snapping timbers was heard and the sound of screeching was heard. Tyler sighed as he tore out of the hall to see ANOTHER mass of raptors charging into the village with the Old Man at the far rear of the 100 plus raptors waving it's foot thing arms in a CLEAR taunt. Tyler flipped it off.

"Firestorm."

The ape-like creature huffed as the spell slammed into the spot it had JUST been before it flung a rock the size of Shadow at the warrior from the backranks. Tyler sighed as he and the rest of the heroes dodged leaping raptors and sliced heads while the cowardly Old Man of the forest threw boulders at them.

"Coward. Okay."

He let out a slow breath,

"RUSHING SLASH!"

He acitvated the ability he'd bought at Sabrina's shop, Rushing Slash, a Blade Dancer trick that sent him hurtling through the pack of raptors at the speed of a tempest with his howling blade taking several heads. He made it halfway to the apething....only for it to BACK UP THE EXACT SAME AMOUNT. This just served to irritate the warrior and he planted his feet,

"Frozen WASTES."

The ground under the raptor's feet for 60 yards turned to ice and they slipped while Tyler fired a grapple to FLY through the air at the retreating ape. It was full on RUNNING away from the battle and Tyler smirked as it left it's ENTIRE force of raptors behind.

"ICED WALL."

A 10 foot span of ice penned the entirety of the raptors inside the village for the heroes to mop up and Tyler waved at the far off creature.

"Thanks for dinner ya FUCKIN loser! I'll see ya REAL SOON!"

A rock the size of Shadow came flying at the warrior and he sidestepped the thing and leaned on it.

"Ya missed."

The screeching from inside the village cut off and the Old man was witnessed to realize the loss of it's raptors in a stomping fit and Tyler waved mockingly.

"I'm over here. AANNNNNNYTIME skunkape."

There was a low growl of anger at this and Tyler smirked.

"Oh? Hey, shit-for-fur, I'm over here! I CAN smell you from here!"

Another rumble of irritation and the warrior chuckled.

"Come on don't be shy. Skunkape."

The growl was deeper now and Tyler noted the thing in the distance had taken a few steps towards him as it's temper got the better of it's cowardice.

"Come on. One foot in the front of the other. No wonder you got kicked out. BABY BACK BITCH!"

The ape threw a tree at him this time and Tyler watched the thing soar over the edge of the hill by the village.

"Oh. You got fucked up vision. I'm only one person ya jackass! Not THAT hard to hit! Come on REJECT!"

The ape roared in anger at this...and went to walk away.

"LOOOOOOOOSEEEEEER!"

Only for Tyler's sweetly voiced taunt to get it in the heart. The ape turned on a heel and CHARGED the warrior in a rage and Tyler crouched with a wild light in his eyes as he prepped to meet the thing. The ape had it's granite club up and as it reached the lone warrior.....when the sound of trees exploding from the right announced the arrival of an IMMENSE hand made from tree roots. The hand ALONE made the ape look tiny as it grabbed it by an arm and hoisted the thing screeching like a horse into the air. Tyler looked up and blinked as a 45 foot tall man thing made from trees rumbled like groaning wood at the now PISSING itself in fear ape. The Forest Giant shook the ape viciously now rumbling at it intensely and Tyler blinked as it clicked. That ape fucked up their plan. Okay. The GIANTS are running this show. The warrior backed away slowly as the forest giant roared in evident anger at the ape before slamming it into the ground with enough force to shatter every bone in it's body. The Old man of the Forest died on impact and Tyler cut and ran for the village wall. The forest giant turn it's attention to him now with a scream like an elf as it swung a hand the size of a wagon made from trees at him. it was so large it was moving slower then it seemed to with the sound of creakling timbers accompanying it.

"Frozen Wastes!"

Tyler used the ice floor spell as the fist made contact with his back and the zero friction surface helped him absorb most of the collassal force packed into the blow and he was launched THROUGH the gate of the village and into the wagon they'd brought fo supplies. In total he'd flown a resounding 150 yards. Thankfully he wasn't THAT badly hurt as the forest giant reared to it's full 45 feet of height and screamed at the now despairing village before turning to walk through the forest. The crunching steps of it's foot roots echoed as the thing was lost to sight n a mere few minutes and Tyler pried himself from the shattered wagon with a grunt. Asia came over white faced as he dropped to a knee.

"Twilight Healing."

He smiled as she healed his broken leg.

"Thanks Asia."

She smiled and her shock lessened. Tyler reared tall.

"What are you all gawking for? Get that gate closed, and let's clean this mess. we can piss ourselves later."

The shaken group relaxed in the face of Tyler's undaunted spirit and they got to work. The warrior then had the leaders reconvene in the hall as the rest tried to get some sleep. Ingot had a grim expression on his face as he looked at Tyler.

"That was a Forest Giant. And an OLD ONE too."

Tyler sighed.

"The ape was to harry us and NOT GET CAUGHT. I pissed it off, and the giant, the TRUE LEADER, reacted. I think we can assume the goblin attack on the Station was another ploy."

The dwarven Ranger nodded with a sigh.

"Forest Giants HATE we of metal above all else. And this is a common ploy they use to drive us out. Enslave the local monster and predator populations and then use a stronger seeming creature to seem to lead the assault. All the while all of it's competition for food and space is killed."

"MAny birds one stone. We've taken out it's armies. AND it's general. We can assume there's only the one, Ingot?"

"Aye. Forest Giants reproduce with actual trees. HOW you don't wanna know.....okay that look in yer is creepin me out. They fuck em. With a FLESHY DICK. There ya happy?"

"Sure. It's a weakness we can use."

"Lad they be something wrong with you."

The warrior chuckled at that one as a fair few heroes that KNEW the obscure reference cringed. Then Tyler became serious.

"what level is that giant Ingot?"

"I'd put it at level 30 to 35."

"Okay. I'm a level 4, and the knights are level 25. Victoria?"

The knight captain sighed.

"I'm a level 30."

"even though you've killed a dragon?"

"It was a level 29 dragon. A VERY WEAK AND YOUNG ONE."

"Makes sense. Okay."

He sighed.

"Our plan hasn't changed. We HAVE to lure it into the firezone. Not even that thing can resist a serious burn. And since it's MADE from wood, it'll work the more."

Strand looked at Ingot.

"How do we lure it to the center of the burn Ingot?"

The dwarf sighed.

"They feed on trees. Good sized oak trees to be exact. The sap is like musk for certain animals."

Tyler smirked.

"There's a grove of some REALLY good sized oak trees in the burn grove."

Ingot blinked.

"Was there really?"

"Uh-huh."

"You MIGHT have found it's dinner table by accident. Did you notice massive dents in the dirt you thought were odd?"

Asuna perked up.

"I led that job myself. I did think it was odd how the trees were so neatly laid out."

Ingot chuckled.

"That be it. Forest Giants cultivate their own food trees like that. And we're gonna set it on fire."

TYler nodded.

"How good are their senses?"

"They slumber like actual trees until noon without fail EVERYDAY. They literally can't function without direct sunlight like actual trees."

"There's an idea. We have our mages cast a fog spell BEFORE we light the fire. The thicker the fog, the less it'll move, the more it'll burn."

Asuna smiled.

"We have a Fog Mistress actually."

"His name?"

"Prick. One of Erza's friends, Juvia, can use her ability. It's called Fogfield. it conjures a fog of blue whose thickness and missdirection effects stack based on her magic skill. She has a 3 digit magic skill."

"Good. HAve her get mysterious in the morning and I'll take our pyromancers to the first pile."

They nodded and Mina smiled.

"Your jokes still suck but we're with you."

Tyler smiled.

"Let's get some food and crash for the night. Tomorrow is going to be a SHITSHOW."

The heads nodded and they made a meal of baked raptor and bear washed down with some refreshing pear cordial. Tyler then went to his tent when a drop of some liquid hit him from the sky.

"Oh for FUCK'S SAKE. Seriously?"

A clap of thunder rang out overhead as a summer rainshower came down. Tyler just chuckled humorlessly as he laid in his protected tent.

"Man makes plan and god laughs. FUCK YOU. UGH. Thunder mages it will be."