When he saw the man screaming in agony, rage surged through him. Restlessness overtook his body, burning away reason. With a roar, he unleashed a wide-ranging strike, his weapon cutting through ten, maybe twelve, figures at once.
Blood exploded into the air.
Bodies fell.
Screams echoed across the forest.
Yet none of them died.
They writhed on the ground, torn apart, crying in endless agony, unable to cross the line between life and death. The sight shattered what little restraint he had left. He entered a berserker state, swinging wildly, cutting down anyone who came near, drowning in violence.
Then, something felt wrong.
Why are they sending weak knights forward? If this were truly a trap, stronger enemies should already be engaging.
That doubt forced him to slow. He steadied his breathing and focused his energy into his eyes.
The illusion shattered.
This was no forest.
Mist stretched endlessly in every direction. The ground beneath his feet was soaked, not with rain, but blood. When he looked down at the bodies he had cut apart, his stomach twisted.
They weren't human.
They were his own men.
Realization struck like a blade.
They had entered a formation.
"Everyone, stop!" he shouted, forcing his voice through the chaos. "We're trapped!"
His men reacted instantly. Some halted. Others, already overwhelmed, continued fighting, now relying on sound, smell, instinct, anything to identify real targets.
It didn't matter.
Every enemy they struck was another ally.
Above them, high-grade magic rained down relentlessly. Attacks they couldn't see. Enemies they couldn't locate. Confusion spread like poison.
"This is unwinnable," he realized.
"Retreat!" he ordered.
As they pulled back, he grabbed several fallen soldiers, checking for life. They should have been dead. Their bodies were destroyed.
But they were still alive.
He ordered healers forward. The healers tried desperately to mend wounds, but healing magic failed. Nothing worked. The soldiers screamed, alive but broken beyond recovery.
Then something snapped.
One of his closest men turned suddenly and attacked him.
"Wake up!" another shouted. "I am not the enemy...!"
Too late.
The attacker's head twisted unnaturally, reshaping mid-motion into a massive axe. It came down in a single, brutal arc, cleaving him in half.
As the lizardman's body split in two, a memory surged through him, his sister's face, frozen in pain.
I'm sorry, he thought. I couldn't get revenge for you.
Then the axe shifted.
Its edge twisted, reshaping into the troll's face, tongue hanging out, eyes wide, mocking him. Laughter echoed in his mind, cruel and inhuman.
That was when the truth fully struck him.
The devils of the Twelfth Unit, the lizardman realized too late.
As his body collapsed, vision fading, he saw the truth.
Nearly all of them were dead.
Or worse, should have been dead.
There had been five thousand beasts when they entered the forest.
By the end, nearly all of them were captured.
The main commanders were restrained. The few who escaped found themselves immediately surrounded by the knights of the Twelfth Unit.
Mi's ability was the core of it all.
Negative temporary immortality.
Those who drank his blood could not die, unless their heart and brain were destroyed simultaneously. They could not regenerate. They could not heal.
They could only suffer.
Their bodies failed them. Pain never stopped.
When the Vice Captain arrived with the Twelfth Unit, four to five thousand knights were with him. His core forces remained in the city, while the rest had already dispersed through nearby villages, lying in wait. It was a trap set by the Vice Captain for any attack that dared come their way.
They had acted dead.
Letting the enemy believe they had won.
Then, once the beasts turned their backs, the "dead" rose and hunted the survivors.
The Vice Captain had noticed the insect watching him.
Because of that, he left Blondie behind. And acted suspicious of him to lower the guard of the elf.
At first, Blondie alone.
Using mirage magic, Blondie formed a vast, layered formation, powerful enough to turn the forest into a maze of lies. The Vice Captain said this aloud on purpose, knowing the bug was listening.
The bait worked.
When he realized the bug was still following, he also left Mi with Blondie. So can blondie tell Mi to use his ability.
That sealed the outcome.
The mirages shattered enemy coordination. Mi's blood ensured none of them could die quickly. Pain crushed morale.
Then the troll arrived.
He transformed, taking the form of the attackers themselves. He moved among them, pretending to be confused, striking allies while lowering guards.
Teddy attacked from afar, unleashing high-tier magic, drawing attention and panic.
Meanwhile, the Vice Captain used sound magic to distort senses. smell, hearing, spatial awareness. Fake commands echoed through the forest, perfectly mimicking the lizardman leader's voice.
Units turned on each other.
Orders contradicted.
Trust collapsed.
The Beast Kingdom's force never stood a chance.
Reinforcements from the city arrived, already injected with positive temporary immortality, allowing them to fight without fear of death.
From the moment the enemy entered the forest to the final capture, it took the 12th Unit four to six hours.
A powerful Beast Kingdom force was annihilated.
Five thousand were taken alive.
Their bodies were destroyed.
Only their heads remained, lined neatly in the main hall of the Vice Captain's residence, each with a heart placed beside it, still pumping.