I surveyed the land around me as I got back on the move. A moment ago, a large section of the wall suddenly exploded and fell apart. It was not like the previous time where they were trying to shrug off my plants. This time, it seemed to be because something hit it at very high speeds.

Although it was so fast I could not even see what it was, I did have some guesses. My plan with Tiaren dictated I would remain largely out of sight as much as possible while supporting with my plant-based sabotage. My skill set was the most appropriate for remaining undetected. Even if one of the gnomes caught sight of me, I would be able to shrug off their recognition with the magic of my void kata.

In fact, I was actually in more danger if I was travelling together with one of my known associates. They could very easily assume my identity, even if they couldn’t recognize me, just because I was appearing along side someone I could be identified by.

Considering I was their primary target, this meant the single best course of action would be for me to move alone.

Meanwhile, if mine was the role of covert sabotage and support, Tia’s role would be the role of the warrior and bodyguard. Her primary task was to locate and rescue Levin and Rolwen. Meanwhile, she and that strange new two-headed pet of hers were to kill as many of the gnomes as possible. I had no ability to deal significant damage to them, but she was always the stronger of the two of us. If anyone would be capable of taking on this role, it would be her.

There should be twelve enemies. The demons always moved in groups of twelve. I did not really understand why, but it seemed twelve was some kind of significant number for them.

Well, I could think of one reason this might be considered significant for them, but it could very well be my bias speaking. That demon who was quite incessant about hounding my dreams was quite obviously a demon from Earth. Twelve was a significant number in Judaism in the positive sense. It represented the twelve tribes of Israel. And, to a greater extent, the number represented Israel itself.

It would be just like a demon to introduce it as an unholy number in another world.

At any rate, whatever their reason for having twelve demon troupes, it seemed Tia had already made contact with the enemy. Her pet was making an awful lot of noise right outside the wall. With any luck, it should get at least 1 kill.

Judging by the way the wall exploded, whatever had hit it could have very easily come from the same direction as all the commotion outside the wall. Judging by this information, it’s entirely possible it was a gnome that had hit the wall. I will need to investigate to see if it’s a confirmed kill.

Before that, though, I should prepare the ground a little. There’s absolutely no doubt the gnomes will have the same idea. If they’re smart, there should be a minimum of two of them on the site pretty quick. Tia had reported that there was a wall of rapidly growing trees just outside the wall, and these trees seemed to be feeding upon the wall fragments that had been sloughed off after my first onslaught of seed rain.

There is zero doubt those trees originated from the same spirit grass I had planted. Considering the orders I’d given them, this means that the ruby material that wall is made from has to be some kind of solidified earth mana. This means that the gnomes would have a distinct advantage in the area around where the crystal avalanche had happened if I were to go in unprepared. On the flip side, though, all I have to do is seed that area a little bit and it will actually be me who has the advantage there.

I had already set the growth of the seed launchers and was currently on my way to the avalanche site. I’d set them for 5 minutes, 3 minutes, 1 minute, and immediate, for a total of 4 different seed launching trees.

I’d wound up timing them perfectly, and as I was on the move, a barrage of wooden spikes started sailing through the air, destined to embed themselves deep into the broken-up crystals. With any luck, this could even become a foot-hold for a plant that could begin draining the wall directly, possibly increasing the damage Tia had already done to this particular section of wall.

I was already under the influence of my void kata as I came into sight of the actual avalanche. Just as I’d suspected, there were two red-robed figures standing at about half the height of an adult human ducking and looking about at the sudden wave of wooden spikes directed at them.

I scampered into an alley in a manner that would be appropriate to any scared child upon seeing something like this, and I listened in on what they might be saying. Fortunately, these gnomes spoke Elven rather than some other language unique to them.

This was not without reason. Eirlathion had briefed me on them when I’d gone to check up on him. They were not true gnomes. The real gnomes are some kind of immensely powerful elemental spirit that possesses power over earth beyond even the astounding feats we’d seen demonstrated here.

In order to capture some of that power and use it for themselves, the dark elves had developed some kind of dark ritual where they would merge one of their unborn with the captured spirit of a gnome, turning the unborn infant into a prison for the powerful earth spirit. As such, it made perfect sense that these gnomes should speak the same language as the elves.

And so, I listened, and I was only half surprised to hear that they were talking about me.

[It’s the key!] One of them said in reference to my wooden barrage.

[Damn! We can’t let these ones take root! Clear them!] The other said in a panic.

[We should start absorbing these crystals!] The first commented. [So long as they stay loose like this, that flighty little wretch will just launch more!]

[Grrr… I’m half tempted to just let that bitch try it! Maybe we could get someone to intercept her as she’s setting up the next one. How in “Hell” is one little gray elf giving us so much trouble?!]

Wait. Did he just say the English word ‘Hell?’

[That… has GOT to be the stupidest idea I have ever heard! We would be caught in her timing if we did something like that, and do you have any idea how many of us it would take to watch all the possible places she can launch an attack from? She doesn’t have to be at the location at the same time as the plants are growing. She’s probably giving the plants some kind of instructions and then immediately running off. By the time we see a tree growing, it will already be too late!]

[Grrr… yeah, you’re right! I’m just tired of us always being a step behind that blood minder.] The second one grumbles.

I had no idea what a ‘blood minder’ was supposed to be, but guessing from the context, I imagine it must have something to do with the role gray elves play in demon society. Is it some kind of job? Perhaps a slave of some kind. A slave position with a name like that sounds like it can’t be anything good.

At any rate, the two of them are now scrambling to rip my newly planted trees up from the ruby rubble. By the sounds of it, they also plan to compete with my trees for absorbing the ruby shards themselves.

A moment of realization struck me. They are about to be very occupied with a rather hectic task. The spike seeds still have not stopped launching, and they are coming as many as three at a time from each of four different sources. Ironically enough, they have numbers ranging as high as twelve at the max touching down at any given second.

They are simply not going to be fast enough to keep ahead of these. But, they certainly do intend to try, and they will be very distracted while they are in the process.

This… might just be my chance. While Eirlathion was telling me about these guys, he also mentioned something I could use as a weakness of theirs that I am in a highly unique position to exploit. In fact, out of everyone in our party, I’m actually the only one capable of attacking this particular weakness.

Is it wise to do this though? This would be putting myself at risk. If they manage to capture me, then this is all over. But, at the same time, if I keep to what I’ve been doing then it will make me predictable. This could endanger Levin, Rolwen, and Tia. No, more importantly, it could endanger mother and Eirlathion. With them in the city, the only way I can keep them safe is if I keep their attention focused on me.

I can’t afford to play a predictable defensive game. The longer I let them move without stirring things up in a new way, the more chances there are that they might decide to change tactics and take a hostage.

Alright. I’d made up my mind. I was going to go for it. Even if I don’t manage to get anything done, the mere fact they will have seen me attacking them will change the entire dynamic of their approach.

I run out into the middle of the street and make a bee-line for where the two gnomes are frantically jumping around and clearing trees, while at the same time snagging up handfuls of ruby shards which glow red and then seemingly melt away in their hands as the red energy gets absorbed into their arms.

They are so preoccupied running all over the place that they don’t even seem to notice me approaching. I manage to fall in line behind one of them as he is running off toward yet another recently planted tree. The moment he stops running, I shift my efforts into the ninjutsu-tier fire kata, and then make use of the reversed-effect fire energy as I strike him across the mid back.

The fibers of his red robe can be seen taking on a frosty tint to them as all the heat is instantly leeched out of them, and then there is a sound like shattering glass as the gnome spins around quickly to see what it was that just hit him.

Having expected this kind of reaction, I am already delivering a follow-up of the exact same reversed fire-kata strike to his mid-chest, causing the robe to shatter instantly, and also revealing that the gnome I’d been dealing with is, in fact, not a he but a she.

Pure shock and disbelief can be seen in the eyes that are the only thing visible through the face-veil on her robe, and I use this moment of failure in her comprehension to beat a hasty retreat, directly up the shifting pile of ruby fragments as I use the living weapons I’d carried with me to lash onto one of the trees that had managed to establish itself.

[It’s the key!] The gnome woman shouts. I swear, I really can’t tell the difference between male and female by their voices! They are both squeaky voices, and none of them sound particularly deep in tone. Not to mention, those thick red robes they all wear make it impossible to see any other features that might give away one’s gender.

[Igir! She’s here right now! She just attacked me!] The woman gesticulated wildly as her sleeve flew half off due to her gesture as it was now only held on by friction with the entire torso of her robe now gone. The lower portion of the robes had already fallen to the ground as the back of the belt that might have held the lower portion in place had snapped as a result of my first icy strike on her back. This left her in only a pair of underwear, every bit as red as the rest of the clothing she wore.

[Huh…] The other one, of now indeterminant gender, turned around to look at the loudly complaining gnome woman. [What in all of “Hell” happened to you?]

As they were busy catching up to speed with each other, I was actively using whatever sturdy object I could to quickly navigate myself around with my now multiple living wood weapons all launching me about like some kind of friendly neighborhood wall-crawler in order to get myself into position for a follow-up.

With the second gnome now still trying to catch up, I launched myself straight in their general direction. Not directly at them, though. I may have caught them off guard with my highly unorthodox tactics in that first strike, and the other one still seemed a little dumbfounded, but I would be a fool to think that would be enough to get another free attack in on them.

I may have caught them off guard, but these were still high-end professional soldiers. The elite of the elite among the demons, as I had been told. There’s absolutely no chance this other one would stand there like an idiot knowing there’s a hostile in the area.

Instead, I launched myself over-head, and flung my whip-like living weapon at them. The still robed gnome caught the offending flexible weapon as casually as one might pluck a piece of fruit from a tree, putting truth to my suspicion that they were quite alert to any potential threat despite their apparent dumbfounded response to the state of their partner.

I gave the command for my living weapon to shorten itself, and the force of the weapon contracting dragged me down toward the gnome as I lifted my feet to my chest facing toward my target.

Their eyes immediately locked onto me and they were instantly in a stance that was ready to receive me. No way was I about to let them catch me.

I brought out the second of my four living weapons and had it stiffen into a pole, which I used to vault right over the gnome.

[Two living weapons?!] The half-naked gnome yelled in shock and disgust.

The clothed gnome was already spinning in preparation for me to land behind them, but I could tell they were paying a lot of attention above, suspecting I might also decide to drop straight down instead. They were really good, constantly covering every possible angle of attack.

In fact, dropping straight down was exactly what I’d intended to do. However, I would not let myself be caught. I used the flexible weapon they were still holding in one hand to drag me toward the side that had a hand occupied. After two consecutive attempts at adjustment, I’d finally managed to out play my opponent and managed to bring down a reversed fire-kata strike on their shoulder, near their neck.

The fabric on the shoulders shattered, but the now icy fabric on the face stuck to their hair, causing them to scream out in agony as both hands began beating at their own head, causing the brittle frozen sheets of fabric to crumble.

As they were distracted, I directed one more hit to their waist and then booked it right back up the ruby hill. This had only just begun.