Skill Hunter -Kill Monsters, Acquire Skills, Ascend to the Highest Rank!

There was a round room just off the battlements with arrow-slit windows pointing in all directions. Ike had no idea what the purpose of it was, but it was big enough to fit the four of them, and it had a table, so he snatched a tapestry off the wall and splayed it out over the table, back-up, to scribble a quick map of the area.

"Here's what I saw with Mag," he said, pushing it toward the group.

There were three main features scrawled on the map. One was the river, where he'd marked the weak point on its bank. Another was a tall cliff near the edge of their territory, where the boarmen's hoofmarks poured through a narrow gap. The third was a downhill plains toward the castle. The plains sloped up again before it reached the castle, but it served as a sort of funnel, pointing the enemy forces directly at the castle walls.

He pointed at the first cliff. "This one's too close to where the enemies enter, but it's a good place to start, nonetheless. Relin, your men can't leave the castle, but can they make us a spell formation that we can carry outside?"

"They can leave, during the intermediary breaks. They just have to be back inside before the next round starts," she replied.

"Even better. I'm thinking we get a hot tar or stone-drop spell formation here. Something that can go off automatically when the enemies start. Nothing we do is going to stop them entirely, but we can slow them down and divert them a bit, give Mag a chance to pick a few off from the sky."

Mag nodded. "I can pick a few up."

"That's not…" Ike moved on. I'll clarify later. He looked at Relin. "Can your men make that happen?"

She nodded. "Certainly."

"Second point. The river. This is a good place to catch them off-balance. They don't have to cross the river here, but it's an easy crossing. If they know the land, they'll aim to cross here. Can we build reinforcements on the far side of the river to block them?"

Relin frowned. "If they see reinforcements, they'll just cross somewhere else."

Wisp raised her hand. "Send me. I can build a web after they start crossing. Plus, I'll stick around and fight. A web's no good if it's abandoned. Anything you catch will just struggle out."

"Excellent. But don't stay too long. If they start overrunning you, cut and run. We need to survive this more than we need to hold the river, and when I say 'we need to survive,' that includes you," Ike said.

"Who do you think you're talking to? I didn't live this long by making stupid, heroic last stands," Wisp said, planting her hands on her hips and shaking her head at him.

Relin flinched. Ike glanced at her, but said nothing. Now isn't the time. "Right, right. Who was I talking to?

"That just leaves the plains. Even if they don't know the land, it's an obvious place to charge the castle. Momma pig didn't flatten all the trees like she did on all the other castles, but it's still a natural funnel. I'm thinking we use that against them. Pitfall traps. Metal spikes. Caltrops. All kinds of foot traps, tripping ropes, anything to slow them down and make them rethink the charge."

"I can put the smiths and craftsmen on that. My scouts will find the best places to hide the traps," Relin said.

"Great. Then…" Ike thought for a moment. He put a hand on his chin. "I guess I'll rest until the next round starts?"

"Look at this guy! He becomes the leader for ten seconds, and he's already bossing us around and taking breaks for himself. He'll be a great king, a great king for sure," Wisp jabbed him with a grin.

"Hey! I can help with the traps, too. I just… didn't give myself a job."

"Yeah, yeah. That's what leaders do. Give everyone but themselves jobs," Wisp said, shaking her head.

"What's happening? Is Ike being a tyrant?" Shawn asked, blinking awake.

"A tyrant? That's being a tyrant? I want to be a tyrant," Mag muttered.

Ike scowled at Wisp. "It was an oversight, come on. I'll help, I'll help. We can always use more hands to place the traps, right?"

"We can," Relin interrupted, before the conversation could totally devolve. She nodded at the group. "I'll rally the men. When they're ready, I'll summon all of you, and we'll set out to lay the traps."

Ike saluted somewhat sloppily. "Thank you."

"Wanna show me where the river is?" Wisp asked.

"Might as well." Ike gestured for her to follow. Mag hopped out onto the balustrade. At first, he expected the bird to follow them, but to his surprise, Mag flapped up to the top of the tower and perched there instead, watching out over the field.

"He's surprisingly vigilant," Wisp commented.

"I did tell him to watch the other battlefields and tell us if one of them was going poorly. I didn't expect him to take it so seriously." Ike glanced after Mag. For all that the kid seemed to be a little kooky in the head, he could be surprisingly straight-laced and earnest. It sounded like he's been alone for a long time. Maybe he's just lonely. Just a lonely kid, trying to figure out how to live on his own. All I need to do is give him a little direction, and he thrives.

"Weird. Especially for a bird," Wisp said.

Ike nudged her. "Come on."

"What? Birds eat so many spiders. You have no idea. And they eat our tasty bugs before we can get them. If it weren't for birds, the world would be crawling with spiders. Absolutely covered in our glorious webs. It's a true pity that birds are interfering with our proper place as the kings of the forest."

Ike shivered, running his hands over his arms. "Yeah. A pity."

Wisp scoffed. "Bird lover."

"I'm not a bird lover! I'm just…" Ike considered for a moment. "Someone who deeply appreciates the balance of nature."

She laughed. "You don't like spiders, isn't that right?"

"The idea of something tiny crawling around me, equipped with powerful, deadly poison… it spooks me. And the webs… walking through the forest just to get a face full of sticky silk…" He glanced at Wisp. "Er, I don't mean to insult you or anything."

"Insult? Why would I be insulted? I'm glad you fear spiders. We've worked hard to be the scariest things around. The world would be better if more people had the proper level of fear and respect toward us ascended, eight-legged beings," Wisp said, nodding.

Ike laughed. "I don't know what I expected."

"Come on. Show me where this river is. Rivers are great places for webs, you know?"

"Are they?" Ike asked.

She nodded. "A biiig gap over an empty place where no plants can grow and obstruct your perfect web-making space, plus lots of water bugs and bugs that hang out around the water, and lots of overhanging branches and sturdy trunks to build a web around. It's a perfect place!"

"I guess I never thought of it like that," Ike said.

"You wouldn't. Typical non-spider weak brained thought patterns," Wisp said, shaking her head regrettably.

He nudged her shoulder. "Yeah, yeah. Come on. It's just up ahead." He took off at his top speed, leaving Wisp in the dust.

"Get back here, you! Don't show off just because you're jealous of spiders' natural superiority!" Wisp chased after him, barely keeping his dust trail in her vision.