Tree of Life

Fuki, the King, all of the army, and I all walked throughout the town to reach the border. Our goal was to clear out all demons from the path leading to Yggdrasil and build a gate so we can eventually move out to Hecate. The mages hadn't answered me, so I assumed I was just supposed to use [Bullet] and [Heal] to work for my own space.

Fuki was too focused on marching through the city to notice our surroundings, but I took close notice of them.

The houses were all made of wood, brick, and stone. Their bricks here melted down into an orange color, and the dark brown wood complemented it quite well. It was amazing to see architecture that was almost alien to my world's time. It looked like an olden-age building would, with cloth overhanging on balconies and giving shelter to the elements, along with several other unique additions to the town.

The second floors of buildings stuck out past the first one and had a different look to them, making me think they were all made recently. The stone pathing on the floor with cementing paste between each crack stuck out, but not too much to disrupt my steps as I walked forward. Not to mention, several high-hanging torches could've been lit with magic hanging up past the second floor of many houses.

Tons of drying lines were strung up between the streets and those drying their clothing on a sunny day would've had results in thirty minutes with this heat. I was continuously impressed with the layout of this town. Even while marching through the streets, the citizens looked happy. They didn't fear the army, endlessly supported them. I even had children pointing me out and parents smiling and looking away, feeling secure in their city as the soldiers marched through.

Some of the people in the city had animal-like features... I always wondered how they got the features, but I think that the question I thought about usually went down of path of somebody being really lonely and trying something they shouldn't have, which gave birth to a dog-human hybrid.

The King had really built something up here... it gave me more motivation to fight against the Illusive Demons dead ahead. I had even wanted to protect this Kingdom now. He really did have a great influence.

From the back of the line he created while marching, I could see the King wave towards several small children while joining that line. I smiled with anticipation while still marching.

We soon got past the town center of the city and reached the wall, where several other guards opened up a large gate leading to a smaller path encased by the same stone I saw on the floor in the town center.

We walked down the dirt-ridden path for a while. I couldn't really find a place to insert myself to contribute to a conversation, but I also didn't want to interrupt because everybody looked happy. I just thought about how I could use my skills to fight.

[Bullet] Was really my only hope, but if I helped raise Fuki's stats while he fought, I could be pretty good support. I could also heal the people around me for the highest possible chance of survival. I had my strategies, but learning tactics from the other mages around me would probably help me out as well.

Before I knew it, we were sitting right outside of a wooden fence, watching the Demons walk around like they owned the place. They were good at illusions, they almost looked identical to the people inside of here. They mimicked the behavior of Humans as well, carrying around jugs on their heads, holding hands with each other, and picking up their young to move them. The King turned to everybody and called for our attention.

Through the cracks in the walls, I noticed all of the Demons had run off. I wanted to say something, but I knew not to interrupt a King like him. If they ran off, it would be better for us anyway, as we're only trying to secure a point to the Tree of Life, Yggdrasil.

"My friends! This is it! Please, know that the words of the Demons will persuade you into believing they are real humans and then they will kill you! Do not let yourself fall victim to this!" The King explained. "I want all Healers upfront with the soldiers! Attackers can sit in the back behind our second layer of shield users. Is everybody ready?" He added. I kept silent, I was as ready as I was going to be.

But... I didn't know where to go. Were healers and attackers separate? Which was I? I can do both? It was very unbecoming of a hero like me to sit behind everybody else, so I wanted to go upfront, but how much damage can I do with one skill?

"Uh, where should I go?" I asked the mages around me. They were all too focused on preparing healing spells though. Why were they such dicks about this?

I followed right behind, holding my left hand up towards the soldiers in front of us.

"[Raise]" I blurted out. The mages all turned to me in confusion as the blue magical particles enveloped everybody in front. I used every single ounce of my mana doing that, but it regenerated at 5 mana per second. It would only take a minute for me to be full again.

The soldiers charged in and started to attack the Demons. The Demons fought back with their own power as well, pushing back for a bit as well. I used [Heal] as frequently as I could, but with low mana, it was hard to keep up. Every time I tried to use the skill while I had no Mana, my head started to ache.

It was weird to witness, even from a distance, but the Demons weren't from a video game like I was used to. The Demons had blood and guts and organs to spill out. Their cries of agony as they were cut up and murdered were just as real as humans. [Raise] did a lot in supporting the degeneration of stamina on the front lines, and my heal was supporting as many people as possible while they fought off the Demons.

"Good job Anima! Keep it up!" Fuki yelled out. I waited for my mana to completely regenerate to use [Raise] again, but the mages kept their confused stares at me from a distance. I hadn't noticed until now, but they were all far away from me as possible. What was up with them, seriously?