That evening brought a surprise that Karl had never thought to see in this lifetime. Lotus had found a creature that she simply could not cuddle.
Leafa was made of hard and sharp bark, and without Karl’s Limited Invulnerability, even touching her caused instant cold damage. The nature cleric learned that the hard way when she shook the Overlord’s hand before the other woman could stop her.
The Haint didn’t sleep, so the sat up with all the watches, and seemed to take great joy in the fact that she could shake Karl awake.
Normally, she wouldn’t be able to touch anyone without a barrier in place, as her very nature drained body heat to a lethal extent. But it was a damage over time effect, so it was never more than ten percent of his health at once.
The Satyrs were already getting ready, and the farmers were waking up, while trying to be quiet to keep the kids who were in the tent behind the house asleep.
“How are we going to arrange this?” Leafa asked quietly.
“Right, we didn’t go over that. Last night I was on the side of the house where the kids are, along with the Naga Warriors and a pair of Summoned Lamia Bodyguards, as well as two Golems.
The Satyrs took this side, along with the Cerro and the two old Royal rank soldiers. The two younger Royal Rank Minotaurs took the right side of the house, and the rest of the force filled the final side and sent reinforcements as needed.
We did it that way based on who can see and fight best in the dark. I have thermal vision, so I can see nearly as well at night as in the daylight.
How well do you see at night?” Karl replied.
The tree woman chuckled and patted him on the shoulder, still not over the novelty.
“I can see souls and magic. I don’t see light in the first place, so there is no difference between day and night to me.”
“Alright. Then you can be wherever you like. As the strongest of us, you will likely be moving around a lot. Well, either that, or your presence will scare them away, and you won’t need to do anything at all.
That was how the second half of last night went. We got a little bit Stabby at the start, and then they just stopped coming this way.”
One of the Minotaurs standing behind Karl laughed.
“You will understand once he starts fighting. He’s got a maul that lets him stack power on it, and he can one hit a Royal Rank Cyclops.”
Leafa stared at Karl for a few seconds. “You can one hit kill a target of your own Rank?”
Karl nodded. “The maul was a dungeon reward, and it lets you stack five copies of the same skill on it. I’m already a bit of a beast in combat, but that weapon is just unfair against less intelligent opponents like boars.”
“What about against smarter targets?” Leafa asked.
Karl chuckled and took out his maul, then stacked five copies of [Disintegration] on it.
Leafa smiled. “Oh, I get it now. They have to be stupid to not do their very best not to get hit by that. So smarter targets go on the defensive and make you work for it.”
“Exactly.”
Karl let the skill dissipate and put the weapon away.
“We don’t have long to midnight, we should get something to eat and pick a position.” He offered.
A Satyr ran over with plates of food for them as soon as Karl mentioned it, and Leafa smiled.
“It looks like the honour guard has been nominated to be the message runners tonight. They are more of a fast-moving scout unit, not a frontline combat unit. With proper weapons, the farmers would do better.” She whispered to Karl.
“Yeah, They’ve all grabbed what they could from my supplies, but it’s not high grade military weaponry. That’s why we have Tessa, the Red Dragon Cleric, working all night to keep them enchanted. With that sort of help, they can launch Commander Rank attacks. Not with full Commander Rank strength, but at least the weapons will cut through Giant Boar hide.”
It wasn’t hard to guess that particular moment was exactly midnight. Even if they hadn’t sensed the pulse of power, it would have been impossible for Karl to miss the fact that there was a massive Cyclops standing right in front of him.
“I don’t suppose that this is a great time to point out that my species isn’t well known for our combat abilities, is it?” Leafa joked as she looked up at the Monarch Rank Cyclops, then into the distance, where two dozen Royal Rank Giant Boars had appeared.
“Are they known for discretion?” Karl asked.
“Yes. When we give our word, we keep it.” Leafa replied in an offended tone.
“Will you promise not to tell the rest of the Council what you see here tonight? Or at least not the parts that involve me.” Karl asked.
“Alright, but I don’t see why you’re so worried about the Council. I’m only here to make sure that the spawn doesn’t overrun this farm.”
[Everyone, come collect the pigs for your pantry. I will work with the Lamia pair to deal with the Cyclops.]
The beasts appeared in behind the one – eyed giant as Karl hefted his maul and called the Lamia Bodyguards.
Leafa began to laugh. “You’re him. Oh goddess, Morrisa will never let me live this one down if she finds out. You’re the champion she has been searching the continent for, only she didn’t recognize you because she thinks that you’re a human.
That’s why nobody figured it out.” She gasped as she laughed.
[Five. Four. Three…] Remi began to count.
“No! You’re not a troll at all, you have Trollish Regeneration as a skill, along with Limited Invulnerability and something that makes you big.” Leafa realized.
[And there it is.]
The cyclops seemed to think that they were plotting against it, and pre-emptively lunged at Leafa, going for the greatest threat first. But the Bodyguards were faster, and its attack was smoothly parried while Karl dropped a [Disintegrate] loaded maul on the Cyclops’ back.
“That’s one down. Watch the children, I will go help out with the boars and come back for the lecture.”