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Instinctively, I tried to cover my eyes, to look away from the flash

It was too late.

I couldn't see anything, and it was disorienting as it was unexpected.

Tama's magic never burned so bright, and so hot.

Everything turned white.

I looked around, in shock, completely ignorant of the fact I was in a life-threatening situation a split second ago, blissfully confused rather than afraid as I should be, waiting for my throbbing, itching eyes to adjust to this endless sea of whiteness imposed on my sight.

They never did.

Instead, the light faded away, leaving me in complete darkness.

I couldn't see anything, not even my hand I almost absent-mindedly raised to inspect expecting to see the shape of my palm - I was unable to. My eyes refused to acclimatise.

Everything was pitch-black impenetrable, shapeless, and permanent.

I wasn't alone in the darkness.

Sounds never ceased, and neither did the smell or a sense of touch.

The battle around me still raged on.

I could feel it. I could hear its roar, and sense the vibration of the ground as the monsters rushed forward past me to meet the enemy I couldn't see, their feminine voices filled with rage and fury as they charged the enemy, while others called me, concerned.

Something dropped near me, brushing my hand, with a faint thud of the impact almost lost in all the noise.

I reached out with my hand, and the brief sensation of the soft fur was replaced by the feeling of the sand slipping between my fingers, warmth quickly dissipating almost as if it was steam that touched my skin.

The air stank of burning and blood.

The ground was still cold, and hard as the cobblestone road I fell on.

Deep inside, something tugged down on my very being with a strange, incomprehensible sense of urgency, as the feedback between me and my companions flared with frantic activity. It was indescribable and alien, almost like the very part of me was substrated and added through some metaphysical equation made manifest, and it was unsettling, pushing my emotions over the edge.

Yet, my eyes simply refused to work.

I couldn't see anything.

It wasn't improving. Everything was still black.

Another heatwave swept over me as the fireball detonated close by. There was no flash.

There was nothing.

Only darkness.

Utter, complete blackness, drowning in the cacophony of sounds, as my monsters fought and fell.

It was the moment when panic set in.

I couldn't see anything!

My first reaction was to rub my eyes, too terrified by the sudden loss of sight to pay attention to the fight around me, desperately trying to make the blindness go away, almost as if it was a little soap that could be washed away.

It didn't help.

I couldn't see anything!

"I can't see!" I screamed.

Blinded, disoriented, and unable to tell friend from foe, I experienced a moment of pure terror as someone, or something grabbed me, attempting to drag me away from my sitting position in the middle of the stone road.

Terrified out of my mind by the blindness, I was unable to think clearly. I throw punches and kicks, and tried to claw away against someone I couldn't see.

Few of them hit.

I didn't know who.

I couldn't see anything!

The fight continued.

"Master! Master!" My monsters - my girls - cried in their high-pitched voices, failing to calm me down until the pair of strong arms lifted me up almost as if I was the small, misbehaving child, and carried me away in an apparent rush. My body shook as they ran. I wasn't able to tell how far.

"For Master! For Master!" Voices screeched, somewhere behind me.

"Master!" The someone said, though rather than the attempt at soothing words it was my fingers tugging on the smooth fur that allowed me to come back from the panicked frenzy finally realising I was trying to hit one of my own.

I get a chance to apologise.

They made a sharp turn while still carrying me.

Another blast hit me with an intensity, unlike anything I experienced before, along with the shockwave of the soaring heat.

It burned.

I heard the scream of unbelievable agony.

Tama laughed, or was it Helmy? I couldn't tell.

And then with a similar power, just as suddenly, a relief swept over my body, calming the mind, mending the skin, and restoring my sight after the moment of madness where everything seemed lost.

World brightened almost as my eyes were lifted from the sea of tar they had sunk into, the floating stains disappearing, with my sight rapidly regaining its colour. It was almost like someone flipped the switch and some unseen neon light booted up, blinking before it achieved its maximum glow, allowing me to see the world around me in full detail.

My eyes worked again.

I came back to the presence of my monsters, held in the tight embrace of one of the common ursine girls. Even though I had a tendency to refer to the rank-and-file 'Ravagers' as the small ones, they were in fact, anything but little. They all had the height, bulk and muscle to tower above everyone, including me.

This particular one held me in her arms. As awkward as it turned out to be for me, the bear girl didn't look like she was particularly bothered by the idea of having to carry me around for the while.

It turned out that she was the one who had to drag me away, while several small 'Defilers' channelled their magic to heal me. There were at least three of them around, with an assortment of the other kinds for protection, all tense and full of energy.

The forest around us was withering and disintegrating, turned to ashes carried away by the gust of wind.

The sickly, emerald-green afterglow of the life-draining magic slowly dissipated into nothingness, leaving a dead, barren patch of land behind.

It wasn't the only damage left in the aftermath.

Only now, when the fight was finally over, I finally understood what they needed to drag me away from, and what I so foolishly resisted in the brief moment of madness.

A large portion of the surrounding forest had been turned into a scorched, smouldering wasteland of overturned trees, with Tama standing in the epicentre of the blast along with Kuma, both seemingly untouched by the explosion that annihilated nearly thirty metres of the surrounding vegetation.

I had been so worried about losing one of my senses I didn't think about the destruction unleashed until I had the chance to see it with my own eyes once more.

The vixen shook off the blue flames out of her clawed hand, while ursine's fur readjusted its colour from the metallic to a more usual brown, stomping on the remnants burned beyond recognition.

Tama rushed towards me through the raging storm of the ruby fog from which the crowd of my smaller monsters materialised by the dozens, forcing her to slow down and hush the mob of her rebirthed cousins away.

The red mist brought Miwah back too, her tall white werewolf-like form standing up among the crowd of her cousins, her fur shining. Only the bear-like 'Ravagers' were larger than her, but they were far between compared to the horde of the other, more petite species.

I caught a glimpse of Mai, but Helmy and Narita were nowhere to be seen. More of my companions hurried to me as the small tide of claws, fur and scale, as those who escaped the blast naturally rejoined those brought back to life by the red mist, forming an excited mob around me.

"Master! Master!" The horde cheered, but I felt unworthy of such praise, especially considering the panicked outburst after losing my sight even so briefly.

It was pathetic in hindsight.

Being carried by one of my bear-like girls didn't help my self-image either. I whispered a word of thanks to her ear and gestured for her to put me down. She did.

Freed from the grasp of the unnamed, or perhaps just unrecognised 'Ravager' to meet my mates in the middle, only to be stopped by the announcement windows invading my freshly restored sight in the worst possible moment.

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Unit absorbed an artefact. Unit evolved! Kuma, The First Obliterator

Three Major Enemies were killed. One more to advance the General Level.

Skill "Scorched Earth lvl.29" gained.

Skill "Slayer of Men lvl.26" gained.

Skill "Great Devourer lvl.16" gained.

Skill "Slayer of Champions lvl.10" gained.

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I glanced it over and waved it away, opting to get lost in the warm, fluffy embrace of Miwah and Tama instead of worrying about the implications of the obnoxious system message, at least for the time being.

Tama tried to say something, but I silenced her with a kiss. The moments in the past, when I considered such a thing far too weird and completely alien, were almost forgotten, lost in the intensity of the present. Kissing the anthropomorphic fox wasn't that bad after all, and Miwah soon received the very same treatment, and for that moment, they were what the annoying message window had been declaring them to be - my mates.

The brief, intimate moment of course didn't escape the attention of other girls.

"Master! Master!" They chanted happily, leaving me wondering whether I simply amused them, they approved of it, or perhaps even wanted to receive the same special attention as Miwah and Tama did.

After all, they weren't all that different from their larger kin.

I didn't know.

What I did know was that they at the very least deserved all of my gratitude.

Tama and Miwah read my wordless expression well and retreated as I decided to socialise with my smaller monsters.

"I hit one of you. I am sorry. I am really sorry." I said, apologetically, when hugging one of the smaller ratty 'Defilers'.

She, just as it was true for all of the smaller kin versions within my furry menagerie, couldn't speak, yet in the brief moment when she breathed out the only word they would pronounce, I swore I could understand her.

"Master!" She chirped softly to my ear, without any trace of regret or blame towards me.

"I am still sorry." I insisted, "Thank you. Thank you all. I owe you my life."

She wasn't the only one I had to thank.

"And you..."

Mai was silent, and overall not looked to be in the mood, but still welcomed the embrace. Her smaller versions were much more enthusiastic.

"And you..."

Dozens more of my little, fluffy monsters demanded their share. I was thankful for their effort and had to show it.

It took a while. There were quite a few companions I felt indebted to, and they deserved at least a little appreciativeness for their continuous efforts to save my sorry hide, only to notice that among the crowd there were only a handful of 'Eviscerators' left, comparable to other species.

"Miwah? Where are your sisters?" I asked Miwah instead of querying the overview screen and ruining the moment. One of the mini-werewolves which were still around, a newly spawned one, maybe, hung on me. I appreciated the affection, it made me feel less of a nuisance.

"One of the humans escaped, Master," She answered immediately, "We are chasing him. He is faster than us even when wounded, but he can't run forever."

"Let him run." was my first answer, but immediately realised that it was yet another in the long string of dubious decisions, and hesitated.

The only reason I decided to go with this crazy, and nearly suicidal plan was to prevent the five of those mysterious, but extraordinarily strong individuals from ever reaching the castle.

Considering the effort it took to take them down, in an ambush, after luring them into the trap we prepared, it was probably a good call. I nearly died in the attempt where we seemingly had all the advantages, losing a lot of my followers in the process, some perishing twice in the encounter forcing the penalties to kick in. Some of my 'Alphas' didn't even reform yet.

One of those magically enhanced individuals left alive was one too many.

"No humans close by?" I asked, carefully scanning my surroundings despite the fact I wouldn't have any reliable way to detect anyone nearby considering my senses were much worse than those of my companions. Still, I felt somehow obliged to check, almost expecting the attack, even if my personal perception was practically irrelevant in the situation.

"No, Master," Miwah confirmed. The surrounding furry menagerie grew tense, and then more at ease, almost as if they were verifying the findings.

"I take that back then. Continue with the chase." I reconsidered

My werewolf nodded.

Letting the survivor go would be stupid after everything we had to go through, not to mention disrespectful towards my faithful followers who threw themselves at the enemy to salvage my own finicky plan to draw the enemies in.

Whether we had resources to fight him if he proved to be a challenge was another question. There were still a lot of us left, but numbers could be deceiving.

"Overview." I subvocalized. It seemed I would be forced to check anyway.

The screen came up, as always, making me realise that the strange game-like notification couldn't show when I was blinded, serving as the grim reminder of how vulnerable my eyes were, forcing me to shudder.

I absent-mindedly hugged one of the girls while staring at the screen. She didn't seem to mind.

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The Master

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<The Root of All Evil, level 5>

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Skills

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<Scorched Earth lvl.29>

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<Slayer of Men lvl.26>

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<Great Devourer lvl.16>

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<Green Hell lvl. 40>

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<Slayer of Champions lvl. 10>

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Mates

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Miwah, The Bride of Shadows

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Tama, The Bride of Flames

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Units (Active)

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Brave, The Eviscerator Alpha

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Mai, The Corruptor Alpha

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Kuma, The First Obliterator

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211 * Purifiers

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10 * Named Purifiers

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262 * Eviscerators

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40* Named Eviscerators

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80 * Defilers

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8* Named Defilers

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341* Corruptors

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14* Named Corruptors

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15* Ravagers

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5* Named Ravagers

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Units (In queue)

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Narita, The Defiler Alpha (respawns in 44:21)

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Helmy, The Purifier Alpha (respawns in 44:05)

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121* Purifiers (first in 43:21)

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58* Eviscerators (first in 43:20)

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20* Named Eviscerators (first in 45:52)

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17* Named Purifiers (first in 46:00)

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38* Defilers (first in 45:25)

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19* Ravagers (first in 47:00)

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Sealed (per caster)

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15* Eviscerators

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6* Purifiers

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3* Purifiers

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1* Purifier

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The numbers were jarring.

On the one hand, there were a lot of us, even despite the heavy losses

Despite our seemingly overwhelming numeral advantages over two hundred of my people perished in a single battle against merely a handful of those 'elite' natives gifted with nearly magical fighting abilities, and it was only the respawning mechanic that kept us alive against the inevitable onslaught.

The poor girls 'on the timers' weren't only temporary casualties of this encounter, they were the ones who died twice, suggesting that actual losses would be much higher.

My stomach churned at the realisation of how many of my girls were kept alive thanks to this power despite my inadequate leadership and haphazard plans, while suffering each time someone drove the blade through them sending them back to the red mist.

Even then there were cases when mist didn't give them back - victims of the 'sealing' - and it hurt.

It made me somehow more determined to bring the last of the 'elites' or 'ninjas', or whatever they were, down.

"Heading towards the castle? Can you get him before he reaches the gates?" I asked, blinking away the screen.

"No. He's running to the hills." Miwah said, and I breathed a sigh of relief, as it meant that the other humans wouldn't be reinforced, or even informed of this fight. My girls didn't sacrifice themselves in vain. At least, I hoped so.

The fact that the last of those super-powered elites was fleeing didn't mean he was vulnerable though. It could be a trick - after all, the five "not-ninjas" had to come from somewhere, not to mention I had underestimated their fighting prowess before.

They weren't easy to kill.

Smouldering remnants of the forest around us reminded me that the enhanced survivability of some of the 'elites' wasn't anything to sneer at either.

"Try to exhaust him before you attack," I said. "But be careful. I don't want him to lure our fighters away."

"Yes, Master!" My pale werewolf confirmed.

"Can only hope he stumbles upon the toxic roots when running," I said, looking at Mai hopefully.

My reptilian follower didn't reply, staring at the horizon. Perhaps she was already working on it, they were still quite a few 'Corruptors' scattered around.

Although I considered limiting the number of hunters involved in the chase, I ultimately decided against it.

Uncertain of what their weakness was, I had to keep the reserves - not all of them burned.

I glanced at Tama. She smiled at me, probably annoyed about one of the smaller 'Eviscerators' still clinging to me, but didn't say anything. I somewhat enjoyed having one of my companions with me all time, after the nightmarish seconds and minutes spent blind, alone, scared and confused.

"Could you explain to me what happened?" I asked and freed myself from the embrace of the mini-werewolf.

Though my nightmarish blindness was the result of Tama's overcharged powers, I blamed the humans first, and my own incompetence the second. In the end, it was her pyrokinetic magic that saved the day.

"One of the humans was more durable than the others, Master." Tama admitted, "Our flames had a very limited effect on him, and even Narita's power affected him very little. Until Kuma absorbed his armour, he was nearly invulnerable."

"Armour." I breathed out. I almost forgot - the message spoke about the absorption of artefacts. The warrior in armour shrugged off the first attack, maybe more, yet I never truly considered it could be the work of the item.

There were powers, obviously supernatural in nature, but aside from the reference to the scroll I still didn't quite understand there weren't any enchanted items I came across. However, if it was metallic, 'Ravager' could absorb it. At least, I assumed so now.

Despite all the hugging and petting, I didn't pay much attention to Kuma at all. The system even warned me about the change I recalled, but I wasn't focusing on it at all.

The huge ursine still waited patiently. Kuma didn't seem to be too bothered by the lack of attention though, busying herself with experimenting with her power by attempting to form the armoured scales against her gleaming fur to imitate the lamellar the local humans were with only a moderate amount of success.

I came closer, and she smiled at me. Even though I clearly recalled the message announcing her so-called evolution, she didn't seem that different from before. Her clothes might have been destroyed in the process, but she didn't show any discolouration or any physical or other notable changes, like an extra tail in Tama's case.

She was still, somehow, different, yet I couldn't place my finger on how exactly.

Kuma kneeled. It was the only way for her to have her eyes roughly at my level.

"Master?"

"How do you feel?" I asked.

"Tired, Master. I would welcome some peace and quiet with no humans around." Kuma said. She didn't show much of a sigh of exhaustion, but I didn't question her assessment - she more than deserved the rest, just as the rest of my companions did.

"Anything different?"

"The armour, Master, it made me stronger.." She said, slowly, trying to find the words for something she couldn't quite explain, something within her. Kuma raised her hand, trying to form a metallic glove over it.

It fell apart, yet the metal disappeared before it even hit the ground, and became a sword in the hand of the former 'Ravager'. Then it was a glove again. I wasn't quite certain if her power was upgraded, or downgraded, although it was due to lack of experience with it.

"It's weird. Ickles. Weapons work, armour not so much even if it was armour that caused it." She continued quietly, showing a little bit more disappointment than she did the moments before, a slight change in her previous, lazed personality noticeable.

"Don't worry about it," I whispered, gently passing my hand on the side of her snout, in hopefully an assuring gesture, "You saved me. Thank you, I owe you my life.."

"And we owe you ours. We will always protect you, Master." She said, more resolutely, "Always."

Kuma seemed sadder, somehow, and I could swear her eyes become slightly teary now, another sign I never caught among my numerous fluffy companions.

I was surprised when she suddenly swooped me out of my feet, pulling me closer in the embrace.

Still, I let her, it was a difficult time for all of us.

When she finally released me from her bear hug, I looked at my surroundings for the last time considering what I should learn from this debacle.

It didn't seem like anything was worth salvaging - Tama's magic was far too potent this time, what didn't burn, disintegrated, melted or bent had likely been picked - and I was tired of this damned forest already.

Still, there might be a valuable item to find, surviving the blast. If items had extraordinary properties just as the warriors who wielded them, they were worth finding.

I was about to order my monsters to search the blast zone, perhaps have 'Ravagers' to absorb any scrap of metal they found, and then I recalled the blinding blast, just as my thoughts rushed towards the other lesson I learned today.

Standing in the open wasn't good for my health.

I was fragile, and for all their devotion, my protectors were struggling to keep the increasingly powerful enemies at bay, maybe I should think of a way to get to a more defensible position sooner than later.

The time for hesitation was over.

Perhaps I did need a fort, after all.

"Let's get back to the village then. We should plan the siege."