The battle between Kael’s forces and the Golden Legion was in full swing. The legion's tight formation was broken but they were holding their ground. Kael's slimes, golems, his companions, they had been pressing the soldiers hard but victory was far from Kael’s grasp.

  Above, the griffins made another turn, ready to dive down. Their powerful wings beating the air, the riders ready to unleash the storm. And just as the griffins started their descent, Kael heard it.

  “Go away!”

  Kael’s attention flicked to Myke, who stood to his side. In the air, small pieces of metal flew from Myke’s hands, the coins spinning and whirling toward the oncoming griffins.

  Coinshot.

  Kael recognized the technique. Myke used it on some of his slime in the past, but this was the first time he had witnessed Myke wield the technique with such precision. The griffins veered off course, swerving upward in a chaotic attempt to avoid the sharp, spinning metal.

  The maneuver had worked. For a brief moment, the griffins were thrown off balance, their attack delayed.

  "Myke!" Kael called. Kael’s hand shot out, and he threw a handful of gold coins toward the merchant.

  "Make the best use out of those," Kael said.

  The gold wasn’t payment. It was a weapon. If Myke wanted to fight, if he wanted revenge, Kael was there to support him.

  He reached out, catching the coins. He was part of this battle now, and Kael had just given him the means to change the course of the fight.

  Myke didn’t hesitate. A flurry of gold coins were launched into the air again. One of the griffins was struck, its wing clipped by the sharp edge of a coin. The beast veered off-course, its rider losing control for a brief moment before the griffin regained altitude.

  Another griffin was struck soon after, its body tumbling downward in a cloud of feathers and screeches before hitting the ground with a satisfying thud.

  With Grymos and Myke keeping an eye on the skies, Kael could turn his attention back to the battlefield.

  Gerry was engaged in a brutal sword fight with one of the Golden Legionnaires. The soldier, though bleeding from a deep gash in his shoulder, was still holding his ground. His shield was raised high, his only protection.

  The golem’s slime arm moved with speed and flexibility, trying to wrap around the soldier's shield, testing his defense, trying to find an opening. The soldier wasn’t backing down. He slammed his shield onto the ground, pinning the slime arm beneath it.

  Kael knew what was coming next.

  The soldier’s sword came down in a precise, deadly arc. The blade sliced cleanly through the slime, severing it with a squelch.

  Gerry was one armed but his body didn’t falter. His remaining arm clutched the flaming sword and he was still ready to fight. The soldier, seeing the golem injured, pressed his advantage. He charged forward, his sword raised high, intent on finishing the battle.

  Out of nowhere, Three Arms leaped onto the back of the soldier. The soldier let out a strangled yell, as daggers found their mark, slashing deep into his neck. The Golden Legionnaire staggered, his sword swung wildly as he fought to dislodge the golem.

  Gerry wasn’t finished yet. He charged forward, flaming sword in hand and buried the blade deep in the man’s chest. But even as the flaming sword burned deep into his chest, the soldier fought back.

  Kael watched in shock. He couldn’t imagine the brutal battles Vor had fought, facing off against soldiers like this by the million, each one as tough and determined as the last.

  From the corner of Kael's eye, he saw one of his green slimes slipped through and slithered across the ground. In one fluid motion, it engulfed the man’s face, completely swallowing him up in its gelatinous form.

  The soldier fought, his fingers grabbing at the slime, but the green slime held him fast. The soldier’s struggles weakened as his air supply was cut off, the slime tightening around him like a vice.

  Then, with one last gasp, the soldier stopped moving.

  The Golden Legionnaires were starting to fall, their shields fractured, their formation broken. The battle was turning in Kael's favor, but he wasn’t blind to the cost. His companions had taken hits.

  And then, through the chaos, Kael saw him.

  The leader. The man with the Thunderhammer. And in his other hand, the dragon egg.

  The leader was running with it. Kael’s pulse quickened as he watched the soldier's movements. The egg was being taken away.

  No. Not after all this.

  The leader was trying to escape with the dragon egg, to carry it away from the battlefield, out of Kael’s reach. Back to Golden City.

  Kael’s hand shot up, instinctively, his fingers already moving toward the magics within him.

  Deathbolt.

  Three Deathbolts flew from his hand in a fluid arc, each one a green streak, cutting through the air faster than the eye could follow.

  The leader had his back to Kael, and for a brief moment, the sense of victory flooded Kael’s chest.

  The first bolt hit.

  The second.

  And the third.

  When all three bolts hit a target level 2 and below, the target instantly dies. That was the spell. The leader should have crumpled to the ground, his life snuffed out in an instant.

  But he didn’t fall. The leader barely moved, his body twitching only slightly, as if the Deathbolts had struck a wall of iron.

  Why isn’t he—

  And then Kael understood.

  The leader turned to face him, the Thunderhammer was already in motion. The attack came fast, too fast for Kael to react in time. The bolt of lightning shot toward him like a spear crackling through the air with the force of a storm.

  Kael barely had time to raise his scimitar of fire and hammer of ice to block the incoming strike. His arms burned as the energy coursed through his weapons, their magical properties struggling to hold the lightning at bay. It wasn’t enough.

  The sheer force of the attack blasted him backward, throwing him to the ground with brutal force. Kael’s body hit the earth with a jarring impact, his slime cape cushioning his fall but doing little to soften the blow. A sharp pain shot through his chest, an ache that left him gasping for air.

  But even in the haze, his eyes locked onto the leader. The leader was already moving. The egg was no longer in his hands.

  Kael’s gaze followed as the leader hurled the dragon egg toward one of the griffin riders. The griffin was already descending toward the ground, its rider reaching out to grab the egg from the air.

  They’re getting away with it.

  The agony in his body was overwhelming, and a wave of despair threatened to engulf him. But he couldn’t afford to think like that.

  Kael took a deep breath, pushing the pain aside, letting the adrenaline surge through him once again.

  “Get the egg!” Kael shouted.

  In the distance, Grymos lifted his greatbow high, turning it toward the leader of the Golden Legion. The giant arrow flew through the air. Kael watched, knowing that this strike could decide the course of the battle.

  The leader, however, was ready.

  The moment the arrow was released, he turned toward it, swinging the Thunderhammer downward. The weapon came down with a crack of thunder, the lightning surging through it as he deflected the incoming arrow. The shaft splintered on impact, and the explosion of dust and debris filled the air.

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  “Go, go, go!” Kael heard the leader shout. He was pushing forward, intent on keeping the egg safe, and nothing would stop him.

  Grymos drop the greatbow with a flick of his claws, his massive greataxe already in motion. The Skara charged forward with the raw savagery, his steps shaking the earth beneath him.

  The two warriors clashed with a brutal crash, the greataxe and Thunderhammer meeting in a shower of sparks. Grymos, despite his size and strength, was locked in a deadly struggle against the leader, who wielded his hammer like an expert.

  Kael’s teeth clenched as he watched Grymos and the leader exchange blows, the Thunderhammer coming down with devastating force. He swung the hammer low, catching Grymos off guard as it slammed into the Skara’s abdomen. The blow sent Grymos flying backward, falling onto one knee.

  Kael saw the leader raise his hammer again, intent on delivering the killing blow to Grymos.

  “Grymos!” Kael shouted. It was too late for words.

  But then, just as the Thunderhammer descended, Boney appeared. His massive foot came down with a terrifying force, crashing onto the leader.

  Was it over?

  The leader defied the force of Boney’s crushing weight. The leader was relentless, his Thunderhammer raised, holding it high against the bone leg. With a strength that Kael had not expected, the leader pushed back. The Thunderhammer glowed faintly, his muscles straining with the effort, but the power of the weapon held steady.

  He needed only the smallest of gaps to roll out from under Boney, his movements swift. In the same movement, the Thunderhammer was swung with brutal force, slamming into Boney’s limb.

  Bludgeoning damage.

  Boney, despite its immense size, was vulnerable to bludgeoning damage. Boney stumbled, its heavy form lurching awkwardly as it faltered, unable to stand as steadily as before.

  Kael had made the same mistake Vor and Avaris had made before. He had relied too much on brute force. He had not accounted for the sheer toughness of the Golden Legionnaires. He had charged in but there was no careful maneuvering, no thought beyond attack.

  The walls of his square had come down, and in haste, he had rushed into the fray, bringing his companions with him without a clear plan. This wasn’t how he had fought before.

  This was a mistake.

  Grymos, recovering from his earlier strike from the Thunderhammer leader, lifted his greataxe once more. Boney and Grymos—two of Kael’s strongest summons—now faced off against the leader, but the soldier wasn’t yielding. His Thunderhammer was relentless, swinging in arcs of blinding lightning, its power sending shockwaves through the air.

  His mind reeled through the events, analyzing, recalculating. The leader’s lightning and bludgeoning damage had taken a toll on his faithful companions.

  By that logic, my slimes should be resilient. They should have held up, should have been a match for the Golden Legion’s strength. Yet, despite their natural resistances, his forces were being overwhelmed, pushed back.

  Why?

  They weren’t working together.

  Slimes, in their current form, were too weak alone. They needed to combine, to meld, to become stronger as a collective. That was the key. They couldn’t just be one creature charging forward.

  “Slimes,” Kael whispered to his cape.

  At his command, the slimes on his cape slid and wobbled into place, moving together. The slimes surrounded him, moulding themselves into something new, something stronger.

  The Slime Armor was like a breastplate, moving and shifting around him, the cool, wet sensation of it sliding against his skin. Kael had tried Slime Armor before, but something had always been missing. He just needed more slimes for it to work.

  He stood tall, despite the pain from lightning. Kael was no longer hesitant. Without a word, Kael charged into the fray, his feet pounding the earth as he sprinted toward the battle between Grymos, Boney, and the Golden Legionnaire leader.

  The clash of steel, the roar of Boney's massive bones, the heavy thuds of Grymos' greataxe. It was chaos. He didn’t need to get too close; Kael had other means to turn the tide.

  He summoned the fire whip, its flames crackling to life with a snap. The fire whip snaked through the air as it streaked toward the soldier. The leader, still focused on Grymos and Boney, didn’t see the attack coming. The whip struck him across the chest, the flames searing his golden armor.

  The leader let out a strangled cry, his eyes flashing with fury. With a fluid roll, he dodged another snap of the whip, the Thunderhammer raised once more. The leader, his focus now fully on Kael, hurled the bolt of lightning directly at him.

  But this time, Kael was prepared. The Slime Armor absorbed the brunt of the impact, the energy dissipating harmlessly as the lightning spread across the gelatinous surface. The leader was equally stunned, his eyes wide with disbelief.

  The leader lunged at him, his Thunderhammer raised high, intent on smashing through Kael’s newfound protection. Kael stood his ground, the Slime Armor settling around him like a second skin.

  Kael, poised and ready, watched as the Thunderhammer swung toward him in a wide arc. Without hesitation, Kael raised his flaming scimitar, parrying the blow. The fire of his blade flared bright as it collided with the weapon, sending a burst of lightning and heat into the air.

  The collision sent a jolt through his arm, but Kael didn’t hesitate. He was already moving. Before the leader could react, Kael swung his ice hammer in a swift counterattack, bringing it across the leader’s head.

  The impact landed directly on the leader’s head, the force of it enough to send a wave of frost and ice spreading across the soldier’s face. Kael watched with satisfaction as the leader staggered back, momentarily disoriented by the force of the blow.

  With a defiant roar, the leader rolled out of the way, his movements quick and precise despite the freezing damage. He stood up, the frozen half of his face breaking away like glass, revealing the anger and determination still burning in his eyes.

  Kael’s mind was already calculating the next move but the leader did something Kael hadn’t anticipated.

  The leader hurled his Thunderhammer directly at Kael, the weapon spinning through the air with the force of a thunderstorm. The hammer was coming too fast for him to dodge.

  The weapon smashed into the center of Kael’s slime armor, sending shockwaves that rattled Kael to his core. His slime armor flexed to mitigate the power of the blow, but it couldn’t hold.

  The lightning coursed through the slime’s gelatinous surface, searing through it as Kael was thrown backward by the force of the strike.

  For the second time in the battle, Kael found himself on the ground, stunned by the sheer power of the Golden Legionnaire leader’s attack.

  Grymos took the chance when the leader was distracted. He swung his greataxe with all its strength aimed to slice the leader in half. But against all odds, he caught the weapon mid-swing.

  The leader screamed from the effort, his teeth bared and his eyes filled with fury and desperation.

  Desperate times called for desperate measures. The moment when you throw everything you have at your enemy, not out of strategy, but because it was all you could do to survive. Kael needed something more.

  “Blue!” Kael shouted. Without a second thought, Blue, the wisp, zipped forward, streaking through the night sky.

  The leader saw the light.

  But it was too late.

  Blue shot straight toward the Golden Legionnaire leader, diving into the soldier’s mouth in an instant. The leader froze, his eyes widening in shock and confusion. He gasped, trying to cough the wisp out of his throat, but it was already too late.

  The battle had turned.

  The leader’s head exploded in a violent burst of blood, bone, and flesh. The sheer force of the wisp’s self-destruct had caused a devastating rupture, his skull shattering from the inside out. The explosion of gore sent bits of the leader flying across the battlefield. Fragments of armor, blood-soaked pieces of his skull, and shattered bone rained down in every direction.

  Kael sat up slowly, still groaning in pain, his body protesting the movement, but he didn’t stop.

  Grymos stood there, his hands still gripping the greataxe, his eyes flicking from the remains of the leader to Kael, waiting for a command. The Golden Legionnaires, stunned by the sudden death of their leader, paused.

  The Golden Legion’s resolve shattered with the death of their leader. It was a momentary crack in their disciplined armor, but it was enough.

  The Golden Legionnaires, once so confident in their strength, now hesitated. They faltered. Some dropped their shields, others lowered their swords, their faces filled with doubt and fear. It was a slow unraveling, but it was undeniable.

  His forces surged forward, Boney, Grymos, Gerry, and Three Arms pressing relentlessly against the broken lines of the Golden Legion. The slimes, what remained of them, wobbled forward, throwing themselves at the last pockets of resistance.

  Each soldier that fell seemed to further fracture the will of those still standing. One by one, the Golden Legion soldiers crumbled under the weight of Kael’s summons. Kael could feel the victory inching closer, but he wasn’t blind to the sacrifices and loss.

  Xal was gone. Grymos was injured, his body battered and bruised. Gerry had lost an arm in the battle. Blue had sacrificed himself for the cause, its self-destruction a necessary but costly blow. And half of his slimes were gone.

  It had been a battle that demanded much from his forces.

  Still, the Golden Legion was retreating. The griffins that had once been an overwhelming force turned tail, their riders abandoning the fight. The soldiers on the ground had been broken and the remaining griffins had no choice but to flee with the dragon egg.

  Myke, the merchant turned warrior, took full advantage of the retreating griffins. The griffins veered sharply, desperate to avoid the onslaught of Myke’s deadly gold. The final remnants of the aerial threat scattered into the sky, retreating into the horizon.

  Kael couldn’t help but let out a long, ragged sigh of relief. It was over. The victory was his, but it had come at a steep price.

  The ground was littered with bodies. Golden Legionnaires, his own slimes, and the remains of Xal. They were mangled and torn by the merciless claws of battle. The scene was one of chaos and ruin, and Kael couldn’t shake the sense of cost.

  Was it worth it? This had been the closest he’d come to death in a long time, and yet, here he stood.

  The golden chests that had been left behind by the fleeing soldiers glinted in the distance. They were there for the taking but the egg was lost.

  Kael looked down at his hands, the scimitar and hammer of ice still heavy in his grip, and he realized the truth.

  He was outside his square.

  The thought hit him suddenly. He had been so absorbed in the chaos of the battle, in the thrill of the fight, that he hadn’t even noticed.

  Kael’s hand pressed against the earth, feeling the coolness of the dirt beneath his fingers. It felt the same as the mossy earth in his square, yet it was different somehow.

  His whole world around him had always been contained. The blue walls of his square. The confines of his prison. His dream, his yearning to break free of the walls, to step into the world beyond and taste the freedom that existed outside was not just a dream anymore.

  It was real.

  He was here. Out there.

  Where trees stood tall against the horizon, where rolling fields stretched out as far as his eyes could see, where the stars blinked endlessly on the night sky.

  Kael took a deep breath, the air sweet and clean.

  The world was his.

  ******

  Square: Unknown

  Status: Wallbreaker In Progress

  Master: Kael

  Difficulty: Bronze

  Conclave: New Conclave 1

  Treasure: 78 436 Gold

  Residents: 5 Ice Slimes Lvl 1

  1 Ice Slime Lvl 3

  8 Green Slimes Lvl 1

  1 Green Slimes Lvl 2

  2 Green Slime Lvl 3

  1 Poison Slime Lvl 1

  22 Will-o-wisp Lvl 1

  1 Steel Golem (Strength Specialization) Lvl 3

  1 Steel Golem (Complexity Specialization) Lvl 3

  1 Skara Lvl 3

  1 Ossuary Lvl 3

  Mount: Shadow Mount

  Kills: 77