Taking it slowly through the jungle Elinor followed Mika to the more remote places between her people’s assault locations.

  Considering her options in the time the snow bought her, she reflected on the coming morning. Dawn would bring a moment’s relief, which wasn’t lost on her; the brightening sky had a blinding veil of shimmering colors, like an aurora borealis that could prove most opportune for an assault.

  They paused at the jungle’s edge, waiting for the aliens to finish their retreat. The humans had survived the first wave in this tower defense game.

  Elinor hadn’t played many mobile games since her life mostly revolved around cheer, gymnastics, hanging out with Tanner, and rebelling, as of late. Yet, she had enough friends to know certain genres, and Tanner dabbled a bit in a few games, so various system mechanic connections did play in the back of her mind.

  I may be overthinking this, but if we can get to whoever is orchestrating this, then perhaps we can nip this entire thing in the bud… No. If they are powerful enough to change the weather and create this entire scenario, it’s impossible for me at the moment.

  My efforts are best put into making this a battle of attrition. If I make things too hard for them, they’ll consider the losses too much and give up—it’s standard war practice from history—the attackers may have a stronger force, and they could win, yet at what price…

  Her focus shifted to the others, going about their own given tasks.

  Currently, she was capped on Death Orbs, but she also wanted to keep some in reserve with her butterflies acting as an overflow, and Butter was now having trouble finding suitable candidates to suck the life from in the area, much to her annoyance.

  Eduardo had adjusted through the night, observing and accepting his position until an opportunity arrived to do anything more, and he’d realized she’d provided him a way of living after the aliens killed him. Was it ideal? No, but he’d deal with it.

  On the other hand, Mika was still bitter, despite understanding it was just another part of war—well, supernatural war—and there was a strange questioning draw within her heart whenever her mind turned to her.

  Elinor dismissed it as her finally realizing she could resurrect the dead; yeah, that would make most people question their beliefs, including her, since she was primarily agnostic, but she had other things to concern herself with at the moment.

  As the sparkling, multi-colored snow gathered, Elinor had Eduardo patrolling with Butter while she spent some quality time with the alien toad woman, coming up with an acceptable way to bridge their language barrier by drawing symbols for things in a cleared patch of mud.

  It was only simple things, such as the four tribes, yes, no, both, maybe, and various other things she could point to when asked a question. They had time to fill while waiting for the main force to leave, and she needed to know very important details in regard to their retreat.

  The possibility that they knew there was a traitor was very low, and the only possible way it could be discovered would be if the plant speaker leader of the blue tribe managed to glean the information from the foliage. Since they hadn’t been discovered, she figured it hadn’t happened as of yet, which meant she needed to strike a decisive blow during this next operation.

  Their retreat would be centered around identifying many of the things their initial teams managed to steal back to their world; it seemed ‘conquered goods’ could be brought through to the other side of the gateways. Mika didn’t know how it functioned entirely; she only knew what she’d been told and heard from the expedition leaders of the orange and blue tribes.

  It was worth considering being captured voluntarily to reach her parents, and act as a trojan horse, raising the dead in secret to cause chaos within; of course, that plan of action only applied if her parents had been captured. In addition, she had to prepare properly by leveling the tools at her disposal.

  Eduardo was fine with such a plan since the storm would make him practically invisible, but Mika didn’t particularly enjoy the idea of Elinor just throwing her away to return to the void of death—whatever it was—and she appeared to be terrified of what might become of her on the other side. Elinor had to wonder if they had some kind of religion in regard to the topic; it was something to explore later.

  Butter was all fangs when it came to the possible direction, practically licking her lips at the prospect of all those lives to be culled.

  Elinor didn’t care either way, which barely registered on her new and more refined sensibilities. She had people to protect, and she’d do whatever it took and commit any war crime required to see them returned; her heart was as dead as those she rose when it came to the topic of rescuing her parents.

  Her focus went to the brilliant heavens, rays of light beaming through the rainbow snow that had gathered a few inches across what was visible of the town outskirts from their hidden position. Mika had been ordered to draw in the hardening mud a map as to where the Hub-Crystals were and which factions controlled them.

  She had a plan that she’d worked with Butter on throughout the hour; between the three butterflies—including her High Monarch—she had a total of seventeen Death Orbs. It was a good stock for what was to come, but they’d need to draw out more from the scouts left behind.

  When Mika finished, telling her that they’d likely completed the retreat—it was swift, given the snow—Elinor studied the simple circular drawing of the dome with the dots representing the gateways; the main crystal seemed to be important only after the others were destroyed.

  The best case scenario would be if her parents were still in town; if they were, all she had to do was build up an appropriate force to do a smash and run of the remaining hubs, sealing the crystal so they couldn’t return or make another attack. If not… she had her work cut out for her.

  Deciding it was time to make her move, Elinor spread out her six new blood soldiers, mount, ghost, and cavalry rider. The strategy was simple: Eduardo, Mika, her pet, Butter, her butterflies, and two of the young bloods methodically took out those skulking behind, one by one.

  Elinor had another focus—it wasn’t like any of her minions could accomplish it—she’d talk to the people that remained to understand the situation while looking for news about her parents. Her best bet was to return to the hotel they were staying at. She needed more appropriate clothes, in any case, since fighting a war in a bra and silky shorts didn’t feel quite right.

  The snow didn’t impede her that much since she was well resistant to the elements, given her natural stats in that area; if it really did become a blizzard, she’d have trouble, but overall this wasn’t even a hindrance.

  Mika found it somewhat magical that her own undead body countered one of her most feared nemeses—frozen water—which did make Elinor smile a little to think about. Clearly, they’d started developing the method of clothes, yet it seemed more for carrying purposes than to retain heat. For all their evolutionary advantages over humans, they did come off as rather primitive.

  Her execution squad took off without her, leaving four of the unintelligent young bloods to act as her escort. They weren’t exactly heavyweights but had quite a lot of power if able to utilize leverage—well over three times that of a strong man.

  The damage to the town was worse in some ways than others; demolished walls, collapsed roofs, and fires had been started in a few places, likely by humans, not the aliens. It was somewhat of a mess. The discolored green clan’s pets’ passing was very clear, flipping over cars, breaking through infrastructure, and upturning the town’s graveyard.

  Elinor was getting a better picture of how each clan operated and was surprised at how few people she saw, including corpses.

  The toads snatched up everything they could, and it looked like they’d forced a few humans to use trucks to move things; they really were more intelligent than they appeared by the brutality of their passing. On the other hand, she doubted it was the creature-using tribe that thought up the tactic.

  She spotted a few men with guns peeking out of the general store, showing signs of a battle with blood, and there were a few corpses with the writhing plants inside of them—the orange clan’s work.

  The men pointed her out, mumbling to one another about the half-naked teen walking with a bunch of skeleton toads, but, obviously, they weren’t going to approach that situation, letting her pass without calling out. If she needed to speak to them, Elinor knew where to go.

  Pockets of resistance were seen in a few places, and few wanted to leave their safety holes in case this was a ploy by the toads, no doubt. She was a bit surprised how few people seemed to be left after the first invasion; of course, most would still be hiding, but she expected to see at least some groups using the opportunity to move to a better-fortified location. Then again, she had insider knowledge to work off of.

  Shouts were heard as the battle between Butter’s assault team and a spy played out, and she received a live report from Eduardo since all he had to do was basically hug the alien, hoping his curse would take effect.

  As Elinor expected, it was a slaughter when it came to one or two toads; Mika was knowledgeable in each tribe’s tactics and could tell Butter which ones would be better as food or soldiers. Expecting more Death Energy, she sent two unintelligent soldiers with the task of discovering more alien bodies for her to raise.

  In a way, they were much like computers, just a lot simpler; she could input instructions to an extent, and Elinor figured it would improve by Grade and Tier. Trapped in one of the burning buildings were the bones of a few young bloods on her path, and she managed to weave around the flames to raise them. Luckily, the smoke had no effect on her—other than making her smell bad, she was sure.

  The teenage toads ranged between Poor-D and C—it wasn’t great, but she could only raise what she could get—and a smile spread across her lips upon touching the last one, maxing her unintelligent units to thirteen. [Raise Undead] and [Minion Pool] became E-tier.

  “Huh…”

  Returning on her wandering path to the hotel, using the main road as a way to track where she’d come into the town, Elinor felt the information about the upgrade bloom in her mind upon inquiry.

  I gained eight unintelligent slots, but only a single intelligent… Shame. Still, that bumps my overall army from fifteen to twenty-four. Mmgm… No changes to my Grade. What good are the tiers if nothing happens when they go up? Maybe there is a subtle difference, like slightly higher stats when raising them…

  Putting in the back of her mind, Butter flew back with her two other winged lackeys to refill the energy she used.

  “I sensed you get a tad stronger, Priss. Congratulations! Mika is watching a spy, who is nearby observing you; the flaming entourage certainly does draw a lot of attention.”

  A good harvest from the two you’ve rooted out already? Elinor asked.

  Her calm eyes drifted to the right as a pure green toad jumped down from the building with Mika and her pet in pursuit. Eduardo was hanging onto the alien with all his might, grumbling through the Nexus that if Mika didn’t slow them down, he’d be blown off.

  She paid no attention to him as Butter directed more of her guard to join the hunt, and Elinor paused to observe, watching them easily scale the single-story buildings in single, dancing leaps. It became fairly obvious the creature was trying to break away to inform the others about her—her minions weren’t about to allow that, though.

  Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

  “Quite the harvest,” Butter mused, floating higher to guide the unintelligent skeletons into position to keep the far-swifter warrior in their web. “We really are quite the villains, Priss; a monster, demon, savage, evil… I’ve heard a lot of names thrown around by various people hiding away. You are being lumped into the attackers by many.”

  It’s to be expected, Elinor evenly replied, seeing the drained butterflies return to the hunt with their general. I don’t mind being the villain if I get what I want… I didn’t even want to come on this humanitarian aid retreat, she grumbled.

  “I don’t know anything about any mission for humanity,” Butter returned, more or less playing with the toad, pinning him down to refill on spheres. “Are we keeping this one alive for questions about the green tribe and their light-based powers? Obviously, this one doesn’t have it, or Eduardo would be ectoplasmic paste by now.”

  “Wait, what?!” the man balked since Butter transmitted that part to him.

  “Oh, don’t worry about it, dear! You’re safe this time. You should pay more attention to the colors, though; you never know when one might zap you back to the void.”

  Elinor debated Butter’s question as she got into position to drain the sweating and panting creature. It was no doubt panicking like mad after seeing the dead pursuing them; they likely didn’t have a concept of zombies in their culture, or, if they did, it certainly elicited quite the response.

  I only have two intelligent slots left, and I’d rather wait until we can find someone of Common-Grade, so they can act as a Staff Sergeant to command another unit. Sure, the information is important, but I doubt this one is more than low Poor-B-Grade; better than the new bloods, but not by much.

  “Unlucky for him!” Butter sang, happily landing on his back as the undead held him down.

  Elinor didn’t bat an eye while moving past them; the creature aged rapidly, skin wrinkling as its life was pulled out, causing the golden butterfly and one of her lackeys to brighten once more.

  As she neared the hotel, she was a little surprised when a young, black-haired woman in her early twenties or late teens jogged out of a house, wrapped in a blanket. Breathing heavily in the falling snow, she glanced over at the disintegrating alien before returning her brown eyes to her, speaking Spanish.

  “Y-You are one of the people who, ack… that gained powers?” she asked, shivering in the cold and wearing flip-flops. “Can you… kill them all—can you rescue those that were tak—what?! I’m sorry, I…”

  Elinor held up a hand, keeping her casual pace as one of her guards moved to intercept the woman, mentally instructing it to make an exception. “I’m looking for answers and my own parents,” she said in her language, slowing a tad to look at her to let her know she could approach. “We were on a trip from the United States. Come, walk and talk; we only have a limited time before their main force comes back.”

  “T-They’re going to return?!” she shivered, hugging her blanket tighter and swallowing to wet her dry throat. “You can fight them like that prison warden that turned into a snake?”

  Recalling Raul’s earlier statement about the topic, Elinor’s eyebrows furrowed, catching sight of the large crystal in the hotel parking lot further down the street. It was still cone-shaped, and about fifteen meters tall, hosting its sapphire shade; the glow had changed, though, now displaying a bright green.

  “Hmm. What happened to her… Was she killed?”

  The woman’s messy hair shifted against her shoulders as she shook her head. “No, umm… I heard the green ones managed to put her to sleep, but she killed dozens of them with water and poison, even ripped them apart with her bare hands… This is so crazy! Old Man Carlos became, eh… he became younger and grew horns like a bull—what the hell is happening—they killed him, too?!”

  Noting the possible candidate for resurrection, Elinor shrugged. “I’m not concerned about whys right now. I have other things to contend with. Do you know what happened to the people in the hotel, or any survivors?”

  The woman’s mouth drew in, and Elinor noticed the buses they’d come on were gone. No…

  “Umm. They, eh… they took all the foreigners, as far as I know, since they were all grouped around the hotel; I saw them make the driver take a ton of stuff with them out of town to the northwest side.”

  Elinor scratched her temple with agitation and sighed, scanning the hotel area, which was devoid of life. “Did anyone escape? They can’t have taken everyone in town in one night… there are thousands that live here.”

  She nodded, nudging her head to the side. “There were a few women and kids that escaped due to some of the Americans creating a distraction for them, and Virgil has a group near a warehouse that he managed to keep safe with Gloria. I came out to see if I could find my husband, but…”

  Not having time for her emotion or sniffles, Elinor grunted, moving to her hotel room. Some of the doors were broken into or had their windows smashed, yet theirs remained untouched.

  “You can guide me to this warehouse after I get into some better clothes.”

  She ordered one of her soldiers to break the knob on the door since busting through with weight wasn’t an option, and Butter engaged another spy a few streets away that grew interested in the noise her previous fight caused.

  “I’m Alicia, by the way…” she whispered, teeth chattering. “You’re looking for your parents, too?”

  “I said as much, didn’t I?” Elinor muttered as the sharp sound of snapping metal came from the door, and her minion punched what remained of the lock through, fracturing one of his fingers in the process. “My name is Elinor, and, to be clear, I’m not here to be your friend.”

  “No, I understand,” she said with a strained smile, shuffling in after her to escape the chill outside, not that it was much better indoors. “It’s pretty cool…”

  “Being dead?” Elinor dryly asked, shooting her a dull stare that made her flinch.

  “No! No! I, umm… I meant to control them. I wish I could fight back,” she muttered, sniffing again and rubbing her red nose. “It just… happened so fast. Deniel and I were just out shopping…”

  Feeling rather apathetic toward her attempt to bond to someone who could protect her, Elinor cut the woman off while hoisting her suitcase onto the bed with some effort; she may be even weaker than she was while alive, which was somewhat annoying to contemplate.

  “Not to be rude, Alicia, but I’m not the bad guy you’ve signed up for, nor the good heroine that will save you. You’re useful to me right now, and if you become a burden, like making too much noise, we’ll have to go our separate ways.”

  The woman’s chest fluttered as she sucked back her emotions, nodding frantically. “Understood… I’ll shut up. Sorry.”

  Shaking her head with mild exasperation, Elinor found it much easier when dealing with just her undead, which, admittedly, wasn’t the best sign regarding her humanity; yet again, those questions came later.

  “Stay with my guards; try to remain out of sight…” she trailed off as another link snapped inside her breast, making her vision defocus.

  [Level Up - Level 4]

  [1 Stat Point Added: 1 Available]

  [Mika - Advanced to Poor S-tier]

  “Elinor?” Alicia hesitantly whispered, nervously glancing around and shuffling away from the window as more sounds came nearby from a battle her squad was having.

  Butter, did you just kill another one?

  “Hmm? Oh, a level! Wonderful. Also, no, we’ve just engaged another one of those orange plant toads; quite annoying to deal with—are you kidding me—these orange plant ones always go after me!”

  Elinor’s gaze shifted to her shoulder as swirling golden threads exited her left earring to form Butter’s body again. Lost two Death Orbs?

  “Nope! I purified them when I saw his target,” she proudly boasted, flying back into battle, and Elinor sensed three of her young blood crumble upon taking too much damage. “This one is going to be a problem…”

  Need help?

  “No. You do your make-up and fashion show while I get all the real work done,” she huffed. “I don’t need your help to win a battle.”

  Haha. Snappy much?

  “I like that word. Yes. I am a bit snappy right now, and I’m about to snap this toad’s neck!”

  Elinor found it a tad comical to see a tiny butterfly snapping a giant toad man’s head around. Try not to pull a wing, and you need to replace the…

  “Dammit!”

  Heh. You need to replace the three Death Orbs you used in reforming your gatherers and body, she mused, seeing her hastily flutter back in to collect her entourage.

  “Yes. Yes. He’ll pay with his life… literally.”

  Unfortunately, Butter…

  “Ugh. Haaa. I know. I know. He may be worth investigating for a soldier candidate. I’ll be as gentle as I can with his body; Mika and her pet are keeping it distracted.”

  Have fun.

  Giving the nervous woman a dismissive gesture, Elinor opened her bag. “Just a battle with one of their more powerful warriors; it’s being handled.”

  Rummaging through her stuff, Elinor smiled ruefully upon extracting a dress that fit her previous body perfectly, having front and back black leather ties to tighten where needed. The hoodie had a witch’s point at the end, and the inside had a gothic patterned mesh fabric with a wood stitching design.

  I can’t believe I took this on the trip. Mom was right; it would have been suicide to wear this stuff in this heat—not that it applies now—but… it’s not like it affects me in this artificial body. I’m very resistant to thermal changes. Cool, I don’t have to worry about getting hot anymore. I don’t have any liquid in my body, so there’s no chance of sweat.

  Her smile fell a little at the sight of the two black boots that she’d brought—her only pair of footwear. Man, that was such a bad idea.

  Gathering the items along with a pair of black moon design socks, she went into the bathroom to quickly dress, posting her guards outside; Elinor quickly changed, noting that she probably didn’t have to use tampons anymore.

  Finished putting on the dress—it fit the goth lich empress style—she was halfway done with her boots when Mika managed to get the finishing blow on the toad; she could practically feel the woman’s seething curses at how troublesome he’d been—or it may have been his taunts because she was pissed.

  Hmm, these toads seem to have complex relationships, she noted to Butter, cursing him for her own reasons while sending Eduardo to find more victims; he wasn’t excited to potentially run into one of the green toads.

  Doing a quick knot, she opened the door and exited, gesturing for the woman to follow her to the scene of the battle. When she got there, Butter sat on top of her savaged foe like a hunter showing off her prize.

  Proud of yourself?

  “Happy to see him dead,” Butter grumbled. “You realize he single-handedly stole nine orbs from you—granted I did the smart thing and ate two—but he did force me into that position. I had six stored, and three I used from your eleven to reform the butterfly squad, including myself.”

  Elinor’s own mirth died at the admission; her personal reserve was down to eight. You’re supposed to be in charge of those, Butter.

  “You don’t need to tell me I messed up,” Butter growled, wings fluttering. “These orange scouts certainly are observant; I’ll give them that.”

  Alicia stayed behind one of the burning, skeletal young bloods, eyeing the dead toad with fright. “Are… you going to raise it—like a necromancer ritual or… No, shut up—just shut up…”

  Emerald flames lit across her black-silk-wrapped hands, which would help hide her pale skin in the dark, thinking about the long run.

  “Well?” Butter asked. “Please say he’s Common-Grade.”

  Elinor sighed, shaking her head, and making Mika’s forehead furrow in question. For whatever reason, he’s very high Poor-S. We could work him into Common-F, but at this point, Mika is on her way to that. I’ll make my decision when we find this man that turned into a bull.

  “Oh? I’m interested,” Butter chirped, actually happy not to bring back her blunder since it would be a constant reminder of her failure. “This charming young woman is going to take us there?”

  Fire extinguishing, Elinor straightened, having one of the remaining six young bloods carry the body with them; a few more had fallen to the advanced scout during the conflict. She’d make him an unintelligent undead if things worked out with the other prospect.

  “Is Carlos’ body in the warehouse where Virgil and that woman that escaped from the hotel are bunkered?”

  She nodded, looking a bit hesitant about her motives. “Last time I checked… Are you going to bring him back to life? What about that orange toad—isn’t he supposed to be strong?”

  “You don’t need to ask too many questions… Ugh. More spies?” she asked aloud, turning to the blonde as she took to the air, following up on Eduardo’s notice. “We should hurry; I think they operate in shifts, and if they don’t return, they’ll send a stronger squad to handle whoever is killing their soldiers.”

  Alicia quivered, hurrying down a side street. “I’ll take us the short way! Umm… thank you, Elinor; I know you said you aren’t doing this for me, but… you’re showing me we’re not just screwed,” she sniffed, trying to keep her emotions in check. “Alien frog monsters… How is this happening?”

  Elinor didn’t respond, keeping pace with the woman; she had a new level to consider, and, oddly, it happened between killing things, which meant there were many methods of achieving experience. If that were the case, she could get stronger in less noticeable ways.

  Our pool of Death Energy took a hit… I need a way to replenish it again, but the snow caused all the animals to retreat into dens or hide. Maybe Mika can track them better than Butter since she lives in a jungle, as well…

  I’m making slow but steady progress. Hold on, Mom, Dad… Don’t do anything stupid, especially you, Dad… Please, don’t go crazy because I’m missing, and cause more trouble for me.