Chapter 58: Bitter Escape

Meanwhile, in the border between the second and third layer, grenade-like explosions can be heard left and right as two entities of immense speed and power are entangled in a fight, fireballs were strewn all over the place whilst a frozen shield was used to block them, after which a gigantic lance came out of the serpent's hands to counterattack, but a single water bullet shattered the thick pointed ice.

The once grinning faces of Bakunawa and Sophia that reflect their oozing self-confidence were now replaced by teeth-gritting, crumpled faces that announce their hardships just to keep up with one another's attacks, but in the middle of the seemingly life and death fight between the two hero prospects, Sophia is doing something no one entangled in a fight of such caliber will ever dare to do.

[Are you sure the monkeys will be a fit in this war? I mean, they have battered pride because of you after all.]

_Their loyalty? I am sure, they are monsters I named, so I essentially made all of them stronger... Confidence? Well, I am also sure, that they will not do well without a commander, just look at their demeanor earlier, they were so raring to go into a fight that they questioned my orders._

[So they want to restore their pride as quickly as possible.]

_Yup._

[Will they not be counterproductive?]

_Under normal circumstances, yes they will, but Eleanor is there, so it should be fine._

[Why ar-]

Sophia already knew what [Guide] was about to ask, "Why are you so confident of her?" Thus she replied before the unique skill even finished its sentence.

_Don't worry, it should be fine... I want the monkeys who only get satisfaction from hard-fought battles to know the pleasure of overwhelming victory._

[But you will not have one at this point-]

_[Guide] suddenly, stopped talking as Sophia dodged a giant two-edged blade made of ice that was hurled by Bakunawa using her two small hands, the disproportionate size of the object and the wielder is quite amazing._

"Urgh..."

Sophia looked at her hair that was nicked by the giant blade, and strands of her already short white hair flew about in the air, she then turned her attention to [Guide] one last time.

_Shut up now, I'm fighting._

________

Back to Wokung and Saru, the two of them are watching their soldiers prepare, their formation is still that of squares in order not to create a line, of course, it will not be square anymore the moment they start traveling in the thick sea of trees, the only point is that they put appropriate distance between themselves.

However, that is not what the father and daughter combo is thinking right now, because even at this moment, they still have questions about the order of their temporary commander. The statement given by Eleanor to the two of them about what will be the probable move of the enemy's remaining army now that their defeat is certain is quite simple.

The two armies will join forces, as simple as that.

Of course, this is not to say that the mantises and the ogres have a good relationship that they will immediately pair up if wars like these happened, if anything all of the community-type monsters of this place is plotting against each other, they just formed an alliance that is not even completely intact from the start because of Sophia.

They just join together because the situation demands it, the fusion of the two races' forces is also the reason why Eleanor did not hesitate to order the temporary abolishment of the light cavalry to be used by the monkeys. She was appointed as a commander and she obviously can do that much.

"The light cavalry is a good type of soldier and can protect us from unexpected things like a sudden surprise attack from more inferior community monsters all around the forest who got their ambitions kindles because of all the chaos, thus I cannot order them to personally act, so I temporarily lent their wolves to all of you. More so according to my observation, only the monkeys in the mix can perform well and complement the speed of the wolves with their reaction speed, the goblins can only attack if the wolf they are riding stopped running and attacked while sitting still in one place."

Eleanor started to hurl orders once more, asking what is the approximate location of the forces of the mantises and ogres among other things, in her estimations at least.

"Listen, the two of you might not agree to these orders of mine, but please understand that because of the problem of familiarity between the riders and the amount of light cavalry and the need for a unit that can run faster than infantry, the heavy cavalry, you are the only one that can accomplish this mission.

The two monkey soldiers went silent for a while, of course, they knew all of that, they were no fools after all. They know that the main force of the first settlement against sudden attack from third parties is the goat cavalry and that part, they accepted already besides the fact that they need to swallow their pride and seek help against a band of enemies inferior to them for effective and efficient extermination of the enemy, they still have one doubt or more like a question in their mind.

"Rest assured, the moment you finish executing this order, you will realize the pleasure of serving your lady."

_What does Commander Eleanor mean by that?_

They cannot help but wonder, surely, that being a named monster by an adopted daughter of god is already an honor in itself, thus they cannot help but be curious why their commander said such words.

_How curious._

If Sophia witnessed the exchange between Eleanor, Wokung, and Saru, she would immediately remember a saying: If a counselor cannot convince his or her King in a way that aligns with the attitude of their monarch, then he or she is not worthy of his or her post. That also applies to superiors, especially when controlling eccentric subordinates, if you cannot make them move in a way that won't disgruntle them, then you better pack up and get the fuck out of your office.

This is what Eleanor did, she used the bait "Serving your lady", something that all named monsters seem to not able to resist. Well, it's not like she's lying because she knows very well what Sophia's way of life is.

Landslide victory.

_Well, it's not like she's enjoying repeated one-sided victory... I bet Ms. knows it all like herself and loves uncertain fights, too._

That was what was in Eleanor's mind after she said those words. Wokung and Saru are oblivious to that fact, of course, they just patiently waited for their mount, and soon enough, two wolves came dashing from left to right, alongside them were the many wolves under their wing.

"I have come with the assistance of my kin to fulfill the mission Commander Eleanor has given us, to not let the remaining remnants of the enemy escape."

"Hm."

The 4 did not talk much, given that they were in quite a haste, more so the wolves who saw how Eleanor was very gentle in everything she said and shouted orders like that, Sophia's alpha wolf thought she was angry.

Wokung and Saru went and mounted the back of the wolves, the one on the right (Sophia's) for Wokung and the one on the left for Saru.

The two of them then shouted:

"Mount and Depart!"

That was met by: "YES!"

_________

Meanwhile, about several hours before the monkeys reached the site that is supposed to be the initial location of the mantises, a messenger from the said race came back from a mission that he got from the leader for his race, the part between their legs (the chest) is still bleeding, but not because someone hit them hard in the balls it is not where the reproductive organ is located, that place is the single ear of mantises. They have a single ear in the middle of their chest, thus after the sound pulse, all of them either have their whole upper body destroyed or their chest bleeding like fountains.

After all, how can a being that only has a single ear bear the brunt of an attack that focuses on sound? It is safe to say that the mantises are the ones that have the greatest damage in terms of personnel casualties among the now-destroyed alliance army next to the bats are are most likely destroyed and extinct at this moment.

The mantis finally went back from his mission, and several people from his race were using their scythes to bury the lower torsos of the mantises, he ignored all of those working people and then went in front of his leader and said.

"The ogres have agreed with our proposal of joining forces and escaping the forest."

The leader of the mantises, as stupid and impulsive as he may be is still a leader in the end, and it is just logical to say that he is the wisest individual in their race, thus she knew how much of a lost cost this war is the moment the whole alliance army, even the smartest monster in the forest, The Spider Queen did not anticipate the sound pulse. Because of this he immediately decided to drop any hostility with the nearest survivors of the pulse, the ogres.

With the report of his messenger, a group of blue-colored, burly monsters led by a small person (Compared to the majority) can be seen, they are the ogres led by the one who had been humiliated by the Spider Queen, all of them have one thing in common, their ears are bleeding and some of them have difficulty balancing themselves.

"I never thought of joining forces with an idiot like you." Said the Oni and the mantis leader replied.

"Shut up chandelier."

Their little bicker caught the attention of their subordinates who immediately gathered between each other to talk, the mantis leader and the Oni already discussed the non-aggression pact between the two of the races, and the subordinate that they are, they did not have a choice but to comply.

"We do not have much time, the monkeys will reach us if we do not haste, some of my spies have already scurried our lair and are preparing the food we have gathered to supplement our supply in escaping."

The mantis leader said as he started to order his mantises to finish all the burying, while he ordered, the Oni replied.

"Unfortunately, our home most probably became collateral damage for the battle between the hero prospects, thus we cannot offer any help in increasing our supplies other than hunting some monsters on our way."

The mantises and the ogres cannot help but be a little awkward, they never thought their leader would ever talk to the other party with such a respectful tone, all, they are well aware of what the original relationship between all of the community monsters in their forest is.

_Warring times bring out the most unbelievable side of people._

All of them thought so as they continued to do all of their given task, one must commend the adaptability of monsters in perilous situations, one moment the mantises and ogres were glaring at each other, but as time went by, the two different races became tolerant of each other until when the spy who went to the lair of the mantises in advance reported that the supplies are ready to be fetched, all of them seems to be fully assimilated with each other.

This point might be repetitive at this point, but monsters are simpler than humans no matter how close their brain levels are to them, humans will hold their greed so dearly that some maniacs will die for it, but monsters are different, they might want to rule the forest, to destroy a race whatsoever, but they have a single thing in mind, survival.

Thus they will set aside their pride or grudges and will work together to survive.

Well, of course, some monsters do not conform to this principle, but surely the mantises and the ogres are not one of them.

They finally set on their journey after their ranks were arranged, the ogres will be at the outside rim of the escaping formation and the mantises are not in the formation for they will scout the terrain to escape.

They dodged any clearings that would make their very catchy skin colors and went to the densely packed trees whilst eating their rations to recover from the fatigue they were pushing themselves as now because they were still injured.

They traveled just like that continuously until the sound of the fight's explosions could not be heard anymore.