[Nightmare]

"He couldn't help you, so what did he do?" Elsa asked.

Marie's breathing slowly started returning to normal.

"He… he…." Marie began between deep breaths.

"He did his job well, but… he got distracted and put his own… wants first.

Then everyone… everyone almost died…."

—

Hundreds of troops flew across the chasm, one after another.

The squadron leaders waited for their full team to arrive when they touched base.

Since Marie temporarily mobilized the beast, they seized upon their fortune to gather their members and get into formation.

Once in position, the tanks lined up and used their long shields to create a Roman-style phalanx formation.

The group then marched uniformly to prevent the formation from breaking.

In their hands were long spears, ideal for stabbing an opponent they couldn't get close to.

Only the fighters with distance strikes or brave and skilled enough to jump and fight were on the battlefield with swords.

The agility requirement set by the army was 500.

Even to Helix, comparing his weak stats, that number was a joke.

However, a Level 100 or higher was required to achieve that attack for Myriadians.

The main issue that the fighters faced was gravity.

No matter how strong of a defense stat a person had, it couldn't survive a ten-ton arm landing on them and pinning them down.

When the Colossus moved—period—the ground shook.

If it fell on someone, they would die.

That includes Tyrene and Tilo.

Another issue was size.

If someone stood on its chest and it sat up, that person would roll 150-feet to the beast's waist or fall if they were holding on.

So someone needed to be able to dodge attacks quickly and jump off it if the monster moved.

The third issue was that they couldn't make the beast bleed out.

It was massive, and its skin was almost as thick as a sword.

With it lying down, Tyrene would have to use a magic slash attack while sprinting across it at an agility stat of 1400 to make it bleed enough to do damage.

These realities started weighing on the marching troops as they approached the Colossus.

Helix watched the brave soldiers with pity in his eyes.

The only statement at the back of his mind was: [this definitely isn't a video game].

He realized watching him that he wouldn't be able to touch the Stalkwalker with a sword.

He was grateful he could convince Tinker to stay out of the fight.

Gravity, size, weight, shaking the earth, and strength.

The lethal factors the troops were facing were the same for him.

He was helpless against the beast alone.

However, with the aid of his partners, Tyrene and Tilo, he could bring it down.

It was his turn to do his part.

—

"His job? What was Helix's job?" Elsa asked with a confused expression.

"Helix…." Marie replied with a calmer voice.

"His job was to—"

—

"KYAH!"

BOOOOM!

"KYA!"

BOOOOM!

The Stalkwalker snarled and bared its fangs at the troops attacking it.

Its neck fur was matted with blood, and the location its head was twenty minutes ago was half full of blood.

Most of it was the Stalkwalker's blood from massive slash attacks from Level 100+ elite swordmasters.

The rest was from the thirty corpses next to the area.

The side of the Stalkwalker's head was compressed with gravity spells by a group of mages while the swordmasters cut toward its spinal cord.

However, when the spell wore off, the Colossus lifted its head lightly and smashed it back to earth.

The shockwave and force instantly killed everyone in a thirty-foot radius.

Their efforts weren't in vain.

The already beaten and battered creature was losing blood heavily, and one eye was showing its dizziness.

A group of fighters cut its right ear off and blasted the eardrum with fire magic.

A spear master pierced its right eye.

It relied nearly exclusively on its nose, which had retained partial senses after being burst by steam and fire attacks.

"Gahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

BOOOOM!

"Regroup!"

BOOM!

"Save as many as you can and get the hell out of there!"

BOOM!

Nevertheless, the colossal monster didn't need to do more than slap its hand to rain death upon the earth.

It was sitting on the ground, slapping its hands on the ground like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum.

"We should have let Charlotte weaken it more…." Helix muttered while gritting his teeth.

His face wore a grave expression.

"It's not even attacking them, and they're dying!" He scoffed under his breath.

"Are you doing that, boy?" General Lackbolt asked.

"Doing what?" Helix asked with an irritated expression.

"That thing isn't even attacking in the direction of my troops.

Did you lay traps ahead of time?" The man asked with a discerning gaze.

"... Yes." Helix replied after acting annoyed.

"Look at the beast's left thigh.

You see that rock over there with a smooth black boulder?" He asked.

General Lackbolt narrowed his eyes.

"Yes. I think I know which one you're talking about." He replied while staring into the distance.

"Watch that area." Helix requested.

A magic circle lit up five feet away from the rock.

The Colossus' left hand smacked down on that area with full force only five seconds later.

"What the hell…." General Lackbolt cried with disbelief.

"That is a fifth evolution beast with considerable intelligence.

It started destroying the magic circles we created after identifying them.

We anticipated that." Helix explained.

"The circles I made with Tilo used a self-erasing masking ink to hide its presence.

Those circles activate the smell of war horses.

We placed them near rocks and ditches that we're having people fill with water.

That way, the beast would feel something if they were getting hit.

Now I'm activating them to keep the Stalkwalker's attention away from the troops."

Everything that Helix was telling the man was honest.

General Lackbolt and his troops didn't understand why Riley had them dig strange flood ditches that led to random points on the battlefield.

They also didn't know why there were groups of people whose only job was to fill them with water.

However, now they knew the purpose of the strange tactic.

The only thing Helix was lying about was the [magic circles].

Everything he was doing was the work of his Nightmare.

General Lackbolt's eyes were wide with surprise.

"How…. That's amazing, boy!" The man cried in disbelief.

"Thank you for setting up simple traps with my soldiers in mind."

Helix gave him a thin smile.

"You're welcome. I tried designing this strategy in a way that prevented all deaths.

I wish that the shockwaves weren't lethal." Helix sighed.

"Look, boy. It's clear you haven't seen a battlefield before." General Lackbolt replied with a firm tone.

Helix turned to him with a curious expression.

"If you had, you'd recognize that this fight is a miracle, even by normal battle standards."

The man put his hand on Helix's shoulders.

"If you weren't doing what you're doing, our whole force would be wiped out even after your team broke and crippled that freak.

Everyone knows something's happening right now, and they're praying to the gods for their good luck.

So keep it up, kid. We'll buy your team more time to recover as we discussed."

General Lackbolt patted Helix on the shoulder and walked away.

He wanted to give Helix room to work since he was sweating and heavily focused.

The man only showed up to alleviate the burden written on Helix's face.

"I suppose that's true, but… I can't keep this up much longer." Helix sighed.

A large group of horses with chariots came into the battlefield from the south.

Helix moved them strategically to areas with boulders inside small ditches filled with water.

He was using these areas to move around the beast's attacks.

It was similar to a game of chess, where every time he used a piece, it died.

Once the Colossus hit a ditch, the water couldn't flow to it anymore.

Moreover, it took out the surrounding ditches.

Helix had them dig 100 ditches, and only 60 were left.

However, thirty-five were behind the Stalkwalker, and ten were out of striking range, so the real number was fifteen.

The strategy became more nuanced over time, sacrifices had to be made, and his spirit particles were running low.

—

"His job was to route the Stalkwalker's attacks away from the troop with his Nightmare.

He was doing an amazing job… incredibly amazing…." Marie whimpered softly.

"Until the troops started winning…."

Elsa gave Marie a quizzical expression.

"It sounds like you're praising him.

I don't understand…." She replied.

Marie gave Elsa a bitter smile.

"He was doing amazing. It was incredible.

It's just… when the beast realized it would die…."

Elsa listened to Marie with trembling eyes and bated breath.

"I switched its strategy to a suicide approach." Marie explained before bursting into tears.

—

Power stones and grammatical errors = more content. :)