Chapter 169: Smol Spooders = Terrifying Ninja

- Central Abelis, Plains of Opportunity, The Next Day – Rose's POV –

I woke with a start, my sleep anything but restful, the events from the previous day replaying in my dreams over and over. I could sense Logic trying to pull me into my Mind Palace, but I refused to turn my head away from what I had done. It was painful, excruciating even, but I needed to face it. I’d learned that after I’d been forced to kill before that pretending nothing had happened would only lead to me internalizing that trauma. The events in the Arena haunted me to this day, I couldn’t continue to fight for what and who I loved if every time I did it just added to a building knot of trauma within me. So, even if it were just in my dreams, I faced the voices calling “Your fault!” over and over again as I saw the faces of those I killed dyed in terror and desperation. I knew what they thought of me, I knew they thought I was some kind of horrible monster. Some of them might have thought they had no choice, so consumed by the rhetoric that I was some kind of supreme evil they must have thought that sacrificing themselves for their friends and family was the only just thing to do. My experience with modern ideals told me that the soldiers were so rarely the ones at fault, they were here under the orders of their leaders and often filled with so much propaganda that they couldn’t see the truth even if told directly to their face.

Even so, I couldn’t betray the people I love just because the ones I was protecting them from weren’t evil.

Telling myself that, I finally roused myself from blankly staring at the lightly flapping tent roof to wake Karen who had wrapped around me while we slept.

[Karen, wake up. We need to get up.] – Rose

[Hmm~? Oh, Rose! Are you okay?!? You fainted and I-“

Lightly jiggling her violet jelly in a way that I’d learned to associate with sleepiness her face formed with a drowsy expression before concern and panic blew away her early morning drowsiness.

A small smile grew on my lips as I quietly shushed her, my eyes filled with love from her concern.

[I’m fine, sorry for worrying you Kare Kare.] – Rose

[Oh, thank God! I was so worried when you passed out! I’ll tell off those damn nobles for forcing you to fight again! Just leave it to me! I’ll make sure you never have to go thro-] – Karen

[Kare Kare.] – Rose

I would be lying if I said that her offer didn’t appeal to me. If I never saw another battlefield again it would be too soon. But I couldn’t. As scared as fighting and… killing… was to me, I was more terrified of losing my loved ones. I was terrified of being alone once more, of being abandoned. And to protect that connection if I needed to become a demon, I would.

[Rose…] – Karen

[We should get up; they’re probably already waiting for us.] – Rose

[…yeah, I think I saw Annabelle’s shadow a little bit earlier…] – Karen

The look in her eyes, as fake as I knew they were, told me she understood even without me explaining it, I wasn’t going to run, not this time. So, we got up to face the battlefield once more. Even if it was worse going forward, I wouldn’t break, I couldn’t afford to.

- Central Abelis, Plains of Opportunity – Rose's POV –

The silence was palpable in the command tent. All of the commanders had seen my ferocity the day before and, while I could see the respect in their eyes, it was also paired with concern and, to my dismay, even a little fear. Because of course it was. Even if I hadn’t been actively counting each of the soldiers I’d killed, I’d been in the middle of the battlefield. I had nearly held the entire army back on my own as the rest of our army had fought their way to our defense. Stranded in the center of the enemy most of the volunteers had assumed that we’d be killed in short order. Somehow, though, we’d not only decimated the Church’s forces, but we’d also done it while losing only a few dozen on our side.

I’d seen the looks I’d gotten from the women in camp as I’d made my way to the command tent. It was the same looks that Grandma and Grandpa got from anyone outside of our territory. A mix of awe and terror that came from seeing an unleashed predator.

[Ahem! So, as you can see from this map, most of our fronts were pushed back by these guns as you called them. Apparently, while we only had to deal with a few hundred of these so-called gunmen, most battlefields had upwards of a thousand or more.] – Prince Arlen

[A thousand of those…?!?] – Military Commander

[No way…!] – Another Commander

The shock and despair that filled the room was palpable, a few hundred had been enough to grind our assault to a halt. If more than a thousand had been on this front we would have lost the field. The fact that we didn’t was only due to the volunteer force led by the prince and myself.

With that revelation the eyes of everyone present filled with another emotion that had just as many scars for me as hatred or fear, hope. Those were the same eyes as those that viewed me as a hero because of the Arena. I hated those eyes more than any other…

[Quit down everyone. While the ease with which these new weapons can kill was unexpected, they also seem to have very little power behind them. Those with moderate defense were able to withstand even point-blank attacks. I’ve been informed by the Black Guard that, should we encounter such weapons in the future, anyone with at least 50 defense should expect to help in suppression.] – Prince Arlen

[50?!? Only those with the strength of a C-Rank Adventurer or higher would have such a high defense! Most of our soldiers are at less than half of that!] – Older Looking Lamia

[Wait…? If that’s the minimum, then that would mean…?] – Military Commander

All of the lamia in the command tent looked at me again, this time with shock on their faces. I got where they were coming from to be honest, I’d been shocked as well by my stats recently as even my lowest stat had passed the 100-point mark, something I’d been told usually was the result of a rank-up similar to the one Karen had gone through when she became purple…

Inching closer protectively, Karen glared at those present, a thing that she seemed to have earned after her own showing in the battle yesterday. Even without a clear sense of the actual numbers involved everyone present knew that my violet lover had contributed close-to or as much as I had. Even without a status as a noble this gave her a certain amount of status and I knew that she was rumored to be my lover which made her even more untouchable. A rumor that I was happy to spread for many reasons.

[Moving on! We’ve been ordered to take the majority of our forces and advance our front lines. The rest will stay and build up fortifications, we will be joined by a contingent from the Arachne forces who will assist us with night raids on Church forces. Any questions?] – Prince Arlen

Clapping his scaled hands to pull attention from me he brought the focus back on the map displaying the full countryside, pointing specifically to a force that was nearly double the size of the one we faced the day before. And, based on the looks of grim determination on the faces of those present, they were going to be a far harder challenge.

- Central Abelis, Near Kalon Village, The Next Day – Rose's POV –

After the strategy meeting the rest of the day was spent packing up the tent city that had sprung up around a hill overlooking the entire plain as we each said our goodbyes to the people staying behind to defend it. Those being left behind knowing they might never see their friends again, and those going knowing they may never return. Despite this understanding the general feeling of those leaving was surprisingly positive. The fact that we’d lost so few against a force carrying unknown weapons bolstering the optimism of those going to war. Even the defenders had started building palisades that would deflect bullets more effectively when a set of instructions had come down through image stone transmissions. Overall, everyone was in good spirits as they looked forward to seeing somewhere other than the bleak wasteland the plains had become after weeks of fighting. Even if that “somewhere” was currently occupied by a force nearly double our current size.

[Zhizhu’s people will be joining us tomorrow, right? I wonder how they’ll fight? They’re used to fighting in caves and stuff, right? Seems like a pretty big difference between a cave and a forest.] Argent

[I know it’s probably a bit rude to compare them with actual spiders, but I’d bet they’re amazing at ambushing from treetops…] – Rose

[Not all spiders can climb but, from the drills we’ve seen, I agree. They were amazing at moving in strange ways, changing directions without slowing down even a little or vanishing into the shadows.] – Karen

[From my understanding of their tactics they are unfamiliar with direct combat between large armies but are invaluable in harassment campaigns and asymmetric warfare. They’ll be invaluable in a forest where there isn’t room to have large forces face each other.] – Annabelle

[D-Do you think Zhizhu will be with them? I miss her already…] – Urz

[…probably busy. With politicians… leader…] – Shade

[Shade’s right, she might be our friend but she’s technically a ruler, I doubt they’ll have her personally involved with battles of this scale… wonder if we’ll know their commander though?] - Rose

- Central Abelis, Near Kalon Village, Several Days Later – Rose's POV –

Well it wasn’t what I expected to happen but it’s certainly impressive. Zhizhu didn’t command the Arachne troops that were sent to reinforce us, as we expected, in fact the person in charge didn’t stand out from the rest of those sent. Despite us apparently having met previously I didn’t actually remember them specifically, their impact as a group had blown away any ability to remember a specific face. Seeing their agile forms leaping from branch to branch with barely a rustle of a leaf or even the sound of wind from their passing illustrated to me again that size made no difference in this world in telling how deadly a combatant was. Even as their outfit’s should have made them stand out even more, they somehow still seemed to vanish with no warning the second you took your eyes off them.

[Honestly, the fact that they can move like that even with maid uniforms makes them even more terrifying. Like, have we even had to fight anyone at all today? They’ve killed all of the Church scouts before we’ve even had the chance to see them, they didn’t even leave any blood stains!] - Karen

[Y-You don’t suppose they’re...?] - Argent

[...small boys “eating” big strong men... heh...] - Shade

[It’s.. It’s probably better not to think about that. Whatever they’re doing with the bodies it’s good for us that we’re not leaving anything behind for Church forces to track. Although I sure am glad they’re on our side.] - Rose

That’s right. The ones helping us so efficiently that we barely had to worry about Church forces knowing we were even there until it was too late was the crossdressing male Arachne. Dressed fully in stereotypical maid outfits with short skirts, they had assisted us with striking before the Church could react for the last week. When they’d shown up, suddenly, without warning, the camp had panicked, thinking that we were being attacked. Only their strange uniforms had stayed the Lamia’s hands and many of the cute, smol, femboys had since been almost “adopted” by the extremely sexual Lamia. While I tried to ignore it for the most part, I’d heard enough offhand comments from around campfires to know that their small, feminine, appearance apparently aroused some kind of protective, maternal, instinct in the mostly bisexual Lamia. Neither seemed to mind the release though so I decided to leave it be. Especially considering their extremely successful kill count. Since they’d joined us, we hadn’t lost a single soldier, every raid hitting the Church and retreating before we’d gotten more than a few minor injuries. We were so successful I was actually a bit worried that the Church would be forced to respond in some way, and we weren’t the only ones.

Since they unveiled their new weapons last week our various fronts had adapted and quickly learned to respond with members against which guns weren’t powerful enough to kill leading to our allied forces quickly retaking our lost territory. Even I could tell, however, that the Church wasn’t going to take this lying down. They had something else planned and, whatever it was, it was likely to be something even more powerful than the guns that they’d somehow been able to acquire.

[Of course we are Mistress Rose. Our Goddess has told us that we are to do everything according to your wishes.] - Head “Maid” Suu Jung

[Gah! Wh-Where did you even...?!? You need to announce yourself or something before you give us a heart attack! Also, stop calling me that! Rose is fine.] - Rose

[That won’t do Mistress Rose, someone as lowly as I would never dare to call important individuals such as yourself by their given name. I apologize for not being able to fulfill your wishes.] - Head “Maid” Suu Jung

Bowing his cute head to me I found myself bewildered once again at his appearance. Even with the knowledge that he was most definitely a man I still couldn’t see him as anything other than a cute girl. He’d told me that we’d apparently interacted while I was in the Arachne city but, because of the impact of his appearance alongside all the other crossdressing maids, I hadn’t remembered him specifically. Designated as the Head “Maid” that apparently also meant that he oversaw commanding the “maids” if combat was required. Acting more as a group of ninjas or assassins their skills seemed extremely geared towards quick assaults and asymmetrical warfare, which was exactly the type of thing we needed right now, especially considering our target this time.

[I daresay that someone such as yourself wouldn’t trouble the Young Miss just to reassure her of your loyalty, correct? Tell us why you have shown yourself, mister Head “Maid”.] - Annabelle

[Of course, one as skilled as yourself would understand my intentions, I find myself humbled once more by senior’s skills.] - Head “Maid” Suu Jung

[Tch! I’m assuming there’s a problem with our target? Well get on with it then.] - Annabelle

[Once again, my senior’s powers of observation show my own skills to be lacking. You are, of course, correct. My scouts have told me that the Church seems to be aware of our attack, they have increased patrols and seem to be more on edge than normal. I would assume that they’re just reacting to our recent success normally but some of my best maids overheard a few of their guards talking about some kind of new “weapons” that they are protecting that the damned “monsters” are coming for. The other remarked about some kind of trap that they have planned for us. I believe, if we are to proceed, we should do so with caution. As unworthy as the opinion of one such as I am.] - Head “Maid” Suu Jung

So they knew we were coming? That meant that they’d either figured out a way of checking in on their patrols without us noticing or we had a spy... Either way it meant that this would be much more dangerous than anything we had done previously. Even Annabelle, with her obvious open hostility to the “maid” that she seemed to view as a rival, nodded at the opinions of the small Arachne. The grim determination on her face told me everything I needed to know and, with Prince Arlen commanding troops in a more direct conflict elsewhere I was the only one in command, it came down to me. So, after thinking for a moment I nodded.

[We’ll proceed, prioritize the lives of our soldiers but if the Church has some kind of new weapon, we need to deal with it now before it gets out. Any objections?] - Rose

Seeing none from those around me and a slight smile on Annabelle’s lips I knew that I’d made the correct decision as we prepared to face a much more difficult challenge than any we’d met before.