Tactics

Mallory may not have had the best skillsets and spells to make use of offensively but that did not mean she was out of options.

She had her own personal style of combat that differed from others which took into account her natural physical capabilities of her race and the various things she had available to her.

Mallory was always careful about her preparations and was cautious by nature so many things had been researched and planned out to provide her with an advantage over others.

Her time learning bits and pieces of making items and armours did not go to waste no matter how small and insignificant her abilities were compared to professionals who had spent longer honing their abilities and experience in that area.

If there was something that Mallory could not build alone then it would be left to Almura to create.

She had quickly understood after some trial and error that being too greedy to learn too much and take on too many professions was just going to make her a jack of several trades while never really being able to specialise in one area.

She had to think about where she was really showed talents and where she could delegate other work onto others so that her time could be freed up for her main pursuits.

It was not like she would abandon some areas completely but she felt that it was best to let others shine in that area while assisting them with her own area of expertise.

Her own specialty was having knowledge of her previous life which aided her in drawing out designs that could be built for her or others to make use of while her other specialty was more focussed towards magic and language structures.

In order to draw out that potential, Mallory practiced more towards drawing out Talismans and other similar things while providing useful blueprints to prepare for whatever effects her talismans brought out.

A flash of light had spread out from the talisman which was connected to the Kunai that had been blocked during the first exchange.

The group failed to notice the paper talisman attached to it after it had been blocked and fell down to the ground.

That became a fatal mistake for them as a blinding light flashed in the middle of them and a smaller figure closed in on them holding a spear aimed towards one of their throats.

The goggles were made to combat the flashy nature of her talisman which was only useful for blinding people for a short moment.

Whatever others were experiencing, Mallory had already leapt into it without worrying about herself being affected by it since the goggles acted like sunglasses and lessened the overall effects.

Valis was thrust forward towards the throat of one larger man who had dropped his guard for a moment.

His shield had lowered slightly and his other arm was raised to block the light from entering his eyes so he did not see the spearhead approaching him in time to stop it. "Urgh.."

The advancement and retreat of both the spear and Mallory had been so fast that the second thrust was done within a very short span of time which allowed her to stab the person standing close to the man holding the shield that was closed to the front lines. "Ack."

Each step and the positioning of Mallory was done very carefully to allow enough range for her spear to reach them without being in the groups range of attacks.

Feeling that it would be unwise to push her luck, Mallory retreated before the group could reorganise themselves. 'This tactic is useful but it cannot be used all the time.'

Just as she recognised the flaws of her tactics and the enemies ability to overcome them and adapt, more arrows flew out towards her location barely missing her body which showed that her judgement had been correct.

She leapt around creating more distance between them again as she moves around the trees.

The enemy forces had two losses but still had many more to continue the fight.

It did not take long for those on the front lines to no longer focus on the defence of the others behind them as the ones quicker on their feet had left those tasks to the remaining guardians of the group.

Seeing their ranged attacks not working on Mallory, they adjusted their tactics and sent out the better close combatants which could deal with her better and provide more openings to be exploited once she was forced to fight them.

Mallory noticed several figures moving closer as they chased after her trying to close the distance so she increased her speed of running and changed her direction entirely.

Rather than circling the outer perimeter of their attacks, she ran in the direction that led her around them back towards the location of the first battle that had many large rocks and obstructions around.

Her gaze stayed on the leader of the group that was watching her from within the protective formation of those who remained in place for a moment during the time she was running hoping that he would act the way she wanted.

She knit her brows and realised that everything would not go to plan if she left it to chance.

Reaching into her bag, another handful of Shuriken were removed before being thrown out towards the group again causing few people within to be wounded among them due to their loss of two people who played a larger role in protecting them.

A taunting smile appeared on the face of Mallory. "Hahaha! You guys really suck-nya~! To think that a mere mutt is leading such a pathetic bunch. Nyananyanya!"

A sword was swung down towards her as she taunted which had been responded to by her twirling Valis around to use the blunt end to knock the sword from its original path.

Valis came back around as the tip pointed towards the attacked then pierced through the gap in their armour. "Ack!"

Another sword was swung towards her quickly but she had already retreated and ran away in time to avoid being harmed after killing the third member of their group.

The taunts from Mallory and the sudden killing of another member of the group had made the full attention of the leader and his group to be locked onto Mallory.

Each of their movements shifted towards her completely not paying attention to others that they were aware of further away.

As they were chasing her, Mallory grinned showing her sharp teeth being pleased with herself. 'That should solve my first worry but now for the difficult part of dealing with the rest of them.'

She began to notice that those who had moved out to attack her were not the average fighters and if she was careless then it would be very dangerous. 'All the more reason to keep using these kinds of tactics.'