"Three hundred kobolds…" I said, tasting the offer on my tongue. Three hundred was no small number. It could mean the difference between holding the line or being swallowed whole.

  The black smudge on the horizon was closer now, and I could feel the pressure building with every passing second. This wasn't just about me; it was about everyone. The people I had to protect. The base I needed to defend. And Tilz—whether I liked it or not—was right. I was running out of time, and I needed every hand I could get.

  I met Tilz's gaze, my own expression hardening. "Your word better be worth more than the stones this fortress stands on, Tilz."

  He gave a fanged grin. "The stones are nothing without warriors to stand upon them."

  I hesitated a heartbeat longer, then raised my hand. Spectral flame flickered in my palm, bright and cold. "Hold still," I said.

  [Spectral Flame: Revision]. The bindings around Tilz's men hissed as my frostfire licked them clean, unraveling enchanted knots and melting chains to harmless dust. One by one, the warriors staggered to their feet. Some rubbing wrists, others saluting Tilz.

  Tilz inclined his head, the faintest glimmer of approval in his reptilian features. "My thanks. And my warriors' thanks. We will bleed with you, KiAera."

  "Then take your positions," I said. "You know these walls better than anyone. We're counting on you."

  He turned, and I glimpsed the horizon beyond the gate. "Wait."

  "Yes?" Tilz looked back.

  "We'll want to plant landmines outside the perimeter."

  "Landmines?" he asked, his expression scrunching. The phrase seemed foreign to him. "Why… are we mining?"

  I revised my fire into small seed like pellets and handed them to him. "In my world we had ways of setting traps—explosive, sudden, meant to break an enemy's charge. These… they're like seeds of destruction. Plant them shallow in the earth, and when the enemy treads upon them, they'll burst in flame and frost."

  Tilz weighed the pellets in his clawed hand, then gave me a sharp, approving grin. "Ah… clever. We'll scatter them along the eastern approach."

  "Good," I said. "It might buy us precious moments."

  He motioned to his warriors, who took the pellets carefully, holding them like tiny embers of promise. They fanned out beyond the gate, careful and quick. In the distance, I could already see the shifting shapes of the goblinoids and skelhounds, their eyes glowing like embers in the dust.

  "Loa!" I lifted my voice.

  The tengu woman shimmered into existence beside me, feathers rustling as she gave a short bow. "You called?"

  I gestured to the horizon, to the massive army thundering ever closer. "The landmines. I need your talismans; reinforce them with illusions. Layer them over with false ground, make them vanish to the enemy's eye. They must never know where the next step will kill them."

  Loa's lips twitched into a wry smile. "A dance of misdirection and death… I'm honored." She reached into her sleeve and pulled out her talisman brushes, the bristles shimmering like starlight. "I will weave confusion into the earth itself."

  "Do it fast," I said. "We don't have long."

  "Then let's not waste a moment." With a flick of her wrist, she vanished in a swirl of dark feathers, already moving to enchant the perimeter.

  Kyrawl shrieked again, circling high above, and then dipped low in a spiraling dive. He didn't land.

  Mina landed beside me, her gaze hard as steel. "Clever. If it's enough to slow them, we'll make them pay for every step."

  I nodded, my ears flicking back at the wind that carried the scent of iron and ash. Kyrawl's silhouette cut across the sky, his wings folding as he dove to report. The moment he landed, he let out a low, rattling growl.

  I reached out to him. "What did you see?"

  He bowed his head and opened his beak. "Two massive siege walkers. The size of mountains, lumbering in their rear lines. Hundreds of grimgems. Dozens of skelhound packs. A warlord in bone armor at the center, radiating a black aura."

  Mina cursed softly. "So they have a commander."

  "One who will not stop until we are dust," Kyrawl rasped.

  I exhaled slowly. "Then we'll just have to stop him first."

  Tilz returned, his warriors slipping into the trenches and crevices of the basin. "The mines are set. My kobolds know the patterns, no one will tread there by accident."

  I gave him a nod of respect. "Good. Scarbol will anchor the first ring of defense. Your warriors join him. The second ring will be mine and Mina's. Nex and Viz, you'll take the air and the ridges."

  Nex snarled. "Let them come."

  Rox shouted from the upper wall. "They're splitting up!"

  I vaulted up the slope beside her, claws digging into the rock, and pulled myself beside her vantage. Through the haze of rising dust and heat shimmer, I saw it: what had once been a single mass now branched into three separate lines. One heading straight for our front gate, the second veering toward the cliffside, and the third, slower but larger—hulking siege beasts. My heart sank at the sight of enormous skeletal behemoths and lumbering beasts chained to iron carts of war.

  "Grimgem engineers," Mina hissed behind me. "Damn it. They brought their entire arsenal."

  "And towers," I said. Even from here I could see the skeletal framework of moving towers, shadowbeasts climbing their frames like insects.

  "They're trying to encircle us and batter us into submission."

  "Then we need to adapt," I said, my mind working quickly. "If they're splitting up their forces, we can take advantage of that. We'll need to funnel them where we want them."

  Tilz joined us on the wall, breathing hard from the climb. He scanned the horizon, then growled. "They're probing for weakness. Let them. I'll have my skirmishers bait the left flank, drag them into the canyon paths. If your mines work, we'll collapse the cliffs right on top of them."

  "Do it," I said. "Loa—!"

  A shimmer of feathers and smoke appeared near my shoulder. "Already listening."

  "Veil the southern ridge. Make it look like we're reinforcing there, heavily. Maybe they'll commit their elite there and waste their strength."

  Loa vanished again with a nod.

  Scarbol's voice boomed across the encampment. "First line—brace positions! Forward spikes up! Kolkobalts—ready spears and fall-back routes!"

  The ground trembled faintly now. Not metaphorically—literally. The steps of the approaching army began to reach the earthen walls of the basin, sending tremors through our bones.

  Rox's ears laid flat against her head. "They're going to reach the trenchline in minutes."

  I turned to my companions—Nex, Mina, Scarbol, Viz, Rox, Tilz—and all those watching from the ramparts, from the trenches, from the sanctum. My voice rang clear.

  "We stand today not because we're stronger, but because we refuse to be erased. These monsters think they can swarm and devour us. But we know these walls. We know each other. And we know what it means to protect something."

  I flared my arms, frostfire streaming from my fingertips. "Let's show them this isn't just an outpost. It's our home!"

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  A unified cry answered me. Roars, screeches, battle howls. Even Tilz threw his head back and snarled something in his tongue.

  The first enemy ranks broke through the haze—shadowbeasts and armed goblinoid riders atop skelhounds, shrieking, jaws wide and claws out.

  The first wave slammed into the minefield like a flood crashing against a dam. The moment the lead skelhound's claws dug into the earth, the ground cracked with a hiss of spectral energy. Frostfire geysered up in an explosion of blue and white, freezing limbs mid-step and igniting skin and bone in the same breath.

  The illusion-blanketed terrain gave no warning. The goblinoids howled, their shrieks cut short as spectral frost surged upward from the soil like pillars of blue flame. Skelhounds leapt and tumbled mid-stride, their limbs crystallizing mid-air before shattering against the rocks. Whole pockets of the front wave were caught mid-charge—legs frozen to the ground, armor locked with spreading ice, skulls engulfed in searing-cold light.

  And then the second line of mines went off.

  The nearest pack of shadowbeasts was caught in the blast, their shrieks cut short as ice and flame devoured them. Crystalline frost burst from the soil, spearing through their chests. In that moment, the air was nothing but cold fire and the splintered wails of dying beasts.

  And I felt it—the visceral connection to each life extinguished, each fierce spirit snuffed out. More than a hundred had fallen so far, their essence melding with mine.

  ???

  {KiAera's Status}

  APeX: [41455] → [48343 Units]

  [15 | 15] {Conquest Limit Reached}

  ???

  From my vantage point along the eastern wall, I watched as chaos unfurled like ripples across a still pond. The enemy ranks began to waver, stumbling into confusion and then spiraling into panic. The trap I had set hadn't merely worked; it had annihilated their formation, shattered their resolve.

  It was terrifyingly exhilarating.

  "They're breaking," Tilz growled beside me, his golden eyes wide in disbelief. "They're actually breaking formation."

  The mines didn't just trigger individually. Some must have linked, reacting to proximity or pulse or command: Loa's enchantments weaving chains beneath the surface. Now they detonated in waves, a rolling cascade of brilliance that tore through the forward column like lightning dancing across a frozen lake.

  "Yes," Loa whispered from the shadows behind me. "Yes, yes, dance…"

  A towering brute roared as he charged through the carnage, only to step squarely on a buried charge. His lower half detonated in a burst of frost so intense it flash-froze the surrounding air, his upper body launched backward like a ragdoll.

  Rox gawked from her perch on the ridge. "They're routing! The left flank's pulling back!"

  Viz whooped from above. "That's what you get, you sack-spawned creepers! Eat frostbombs, losers!"

  Skelhounds writhed, flinging off their goblinoid riders in mad scrambles to flee the icy fire. A siege tower's front wheels buckled as a mine burst beneath it—one corner of the war machine tilted, then crunched to the side with a shriek of splintering bonewood.

  "Kyrawl!" I shouted, vision sharp with elation. "Now!"

  The wyvern gave a scream that split the air and dove in a spiraling dive, wings tucked tight, wind curling along his claws. He slammed into the wrecked siege engine, igniting the spilled oils and loose glyphs along its back in a roar of wind and fire.

  An entire line of the enemy flank collapsed into wreckage and stampede. Panic surged in their ranks, unraveling coordination, turning fury into confusion. They'd expected a wall. A defense. A battle. Not a mass grave with a heartbeat.

  Mina laughed, eyes wide with grim satisfaction. "KiAera. You didn't just slow them. You crippled them."

  "They're scattering!" shouted a kobold from below. "They're falling back to the rocks!"

  Tilz stepped forward, his voice booming with sudden power. "Now! Push forward while their minds are shattered! Burn the momentum into them!"

  The battlefield lit up. Tilz's warriors gave a ragged cheer, already pressing the advantage with pellets and javelins. I watched as another rank of goblinoids tried to bypass the scorched earth, only to be caught by another hidden mine, and crack, an explosion of cold light and shrieking winds that tore them apart.

  Loa shimmered back into view for a moment, sweat streaking her brow but her smile sharp. "I wove the illusions deeper than they expected. They see only safe earth until the very last moment."

  "Can you layer the terrain again? Hide traps in the ground?"

  "I never stopped."

  "Perfect."

  "Let's clear the breach!" I shouted, my voice cutting through the din.

  Tilz's warriors sprang from their cover, hurling javelins into the broken ranks. Scarbol's line marched forward with shield and hammer, smashing into those who had somehow survived the initial burst. Screams and steel filled the basin, and I leapt from the wall, landing behind the front lines with frostfire raging in my palms.

  "Move with me! Stay close to the walls!"

  I twisted my flames into searing arcs, cutting down a charging shadowbeast in a single blow. Its head hit the ground in a plume of smoke, the rest of its body collapsing.

  Beside me, Mina's club blurred like a silver storm, her eyes gleaming with fury. "They'll never take this place,” she hissed, spinning and smashing a goblin into smithereens.

  "Watch the ridge!" Rox shouted, her voice tight with strain. Above, Nex and Viz dove, wings slashing the air as they harried the second line, picking off archers and riders with savage precision.

  The minefield's echoes still crackled across the basin. Another line of skelhounds charged in—slower, more wary now, but still driven by their warlord's will. And again, the ground betrayed them. Another mine flared to life, engulfing them in frost and flame.

  The shock of it, the brilliance and the sheer, devastating effectiveness, stole my breath for a moment. I'd expected them to slow the enemy. I hadn't expected them to tear through the ranks like a hurricane. Every step the invaders took was a gamble, every footprint a potential tomb.

  Rox's voice cut through the chaos from the ridge. "The center's still coming! Bigger waves! They're sending their bone armored champion forward!"

  I could see the warlord now, a monstrous figure made of bone and iron, bellowing orders from behind the lines.

  ???

  Creature: Skeldokuro

  Faux Nym: [Grush] the Skeldokuro

  Titles: "Skeldokuro Lord" "Commander"

  APeX: [81802 Units]

  Attributes: [Terra] [Evil]

  Evolution Stage: [Emergent]

  Current Variant Grade: [Rare]

  Brief description: ginormous skeleton monster.

  ???

  He raised his skeletal arm and gestured to the siege walkers still lumbering forward. Their pace was glacial, but their steps were cataclysmic—each one sending new tremors through the basin.

  "They're going to try to break through with brute force," Mina said, panting. "They'll sacrifice a thousand grimgems to clear the mines for those Skeldokuro walkers."

  "Then we'll kill a thousand if that's what it takes," I said.

  She gave a savage grin. "I'm with you."

  "Viz! Nex! Take out the flanking riders!" I shouted, my ears flattening against the bang of another mine going off. "We hold the center here!"

  The brothers took to the air, wings spread wide, diving like shadows.

  Scarbol's deep roar boomed across the line. "Spears! Forward! Don't give them a single step inside these walls!"

  The first rank of goblinoids reached the trench at last. They leaped in, clawed and snarling, only to find the spears of Scarbol's Kobolbalts waiting. The clash was vicious, but the mines had already taken half the enemy's strength, turning what would've been an overwhelming tide into a bloody melee.

  "I'll take the warlord. Keep the line, no matter what."

  Mina's club cracked against the skull of a charging goblin. "We're with you."

  I leapt over the trench, frostfire trailing me like a comet's tail. The warlord met my charge with a bellow that rattled the air, his arm sweeping out in a great arc.

  I twisted in midair, frostfire gathering in my palms. "Spectral Flame: Revision—Piercing Frost!"

  The blast caught him square in the chest, the black-green aura around him flickering but holding. He staggered, his mount rearing with a shriek.

  "You… are no saint," he rasped in the monster's tongue. "You will fall."

  The air thickened with malice as he wrenched his weapon from his spine, a wickedly curved sword that shimmered with residual darkness. "You dare challenge Grush of the Skeldokuro? You will know the taste of defeat!"

  "Not today," I hissed, and I struck again. His sword met my flames with a crackling hiss, sparks flying as the opposing forces collided in a flash of light. The impact sent shockwaves through the air, pushing us both back a step.

  Grush's limbs were frozen in place, and he remained still, his hollow eyes lingering before trailing behind me.

  "KiAera! Watch out! Your back!" Tilz's voice was heard.

  My attention drifted from Grush, scanning the surroundings but perceiving only a faint outline of a tall, gaunt shadow materializing like mist behind me.

  A chill gripped me. There was no visible flesh—only sharp angles and a shimmering distortion. Suddenly, a cold glint caught my eye: a curved gem-blade descending swiftly and silently toward the back of my neck. My instincts screamed at me to move!

  But before I could shift, a flash of scaled hide and Tilz's roar filled the space between me and the shimmering blade. Tilz's heavy sword met the gem sword in a thunderous clash that cracked the ground beneath our feet. Sparks exploded in a burst of orange and dark blue light. The Grimgem monster, which had emerged from its camouflage, widened its eyes as its blade locked against Tilz's weapon.

  "You picked the wrong prey," Tilz growled, his horns casting deep shadows across his face. His stance was perfect—feet planted, shoulders squared—and he pushed the gremlin's curved blade away from me with a snarl. "I saw your shimmer in the dust, Berlygem. No illusions fool these eyes."

  ???

  Creature: Berylgem

  Faux Nym: [Berylgem] the Grimgem

  Titles: "Commander"

  APeX: [65608 Units]

  Attributes: [Grim] [Evil] [Ore]

  Evolution Stage: [Emergent]

  Current Variant Grade: [Rare]

  Brief description: gem gremlin monster.

  ???

  Berlygem hissed, his gem-sword snaking back with an almost liquid grace. "You… mountain whelp," he sneered. "You think you see everything? I have a thousand facets. A thousand blades."

  "And I have a thousand reasons to crush you," Tilz spat back. He pivoted his sword with a flick of his wrist, the edge biting deep into the earth as he lunged again, shoving the monocled gremlin back with a burst of force. "You stink like greed and cowardice. That scent never changes."

  "A shame. I had her. One clean strike, and poof—no more pretty flame-girl."

  Berlygem twisted, a whiplash of speed, his gem-sword lashing out in quick arcs—hiss-hiss-hiss—like a serpent's strike. But Tilz was ready, his sword intercepting each cut with brutal parries.

  The ring of gem-steel and iron filled the air in staccato bursts. My own claws already raised to reinforce him. But Tilz's eyes flicked to me as a silent command, Let me handle him.

  So I turned, facing the looming shape of Grush once more. As I tore through a group of stunned grimgems with a sweep of flame and claw, I noticed a familiar peculiarity in the sky—how it darkened.

  The wind sharpened. A sonic boom cracked across the clouds, followed by thunder and lightning. Then a figure dropped from the sky, diving fast toward where we stood.

  Creature: Minokaurbo

  — Species: Oni

  — Faux Nym: [Jalkra]

  — APeX: [318,000] Units

  Grush's hollow sockets flared bright as he turned, skeletal jaw clacking. "Jalkra…" he hissed. "You were supposed to be at the borders."