Pikachu!

A fierce battle cry had reached their ears only as a faint, elusive hiss.

“What is this?” the one hiding in the woods muttered without pause, peering ahead through a crude pair of binoculars at the battered assault force rushing toward them. “However I look at it, this doesn’t seem like an army of fifty thousand. Has my nearsightedness gotten worse again? Impossible. I haven’t even opened a book lately—I’ve been staring at the woods all day!”

“According to the latest intelligence, the so-called fifty-thousand-strong monster army is actually moving in separate groups. The ones in front number thirty thousand, while another twenty thousand are far behind them. The scouts had assumed they would advance together, but halfway through, the twenty thousand trailing behind suddenly turned around and ran back without even looking over their shoulders.”

“Huh?” the one with the binoculars frowned in utter incomprehension. “Then are those twenty thousand coming later, or not coming at all? Are they retreating home, or circling around to flank us again?”

“From what we can tell now, they are withdrawing in a straight line, and they show no sign of stopping anytime soon.” The furrow in the other man’s brow deepened as well; he, too, could not make sense of what the monster army was doing. “What could have made the twenty thousand in the rear bolt before the fight even began?”

“Brothers, hold them off—I’m pulling back first...” The one with the binoculars twitched his mouth and muttered the complaint aloud, then handed the makeshift telescope to Lance.

Lance took it with curiosity, looked over the situation ahead, and came to an impromptu conclusion: “Maybe those thirty thousand monsters are a private force that launched a battle without permission?”

“What do you mean?” the one with the binoculars asked in confusion. “This is war, not some street brawl.”

“Maybe those thirty thousand monsters really are here for a brawl,” said Li Yi, who had remained silent all this time. “Didn’t you notice the special mark on them?”

“On the forearm guard: a red dragon tattoo,” Lance said with certainty.

“Then it’s obvious,” Li Yi said as he stood, his tone suddenly lightening. “This is a revenge squad that traveled all this way to avenge the monster crown prince. Too bad they have no official orders and no backup.”

“The monster crown prince is a red dragon?” The one with the binoculars couldn’t help scratching his own bright red hair.

“Yes.” Li Yi nodded. “The Beast Emperor is the mighty monster who rules all monsters, and its true form is a powerful dragon. Naturally, its son is also a dragon.”

“All red, then...” The one with the binoculars snatched the telescope from Lance and looked forward again, his mind automatically superimposing the red-haired youth he had seen that day into a little red dragon, a red dinosaur, a fire-breathing dragon...

“Not gonna lie, you really do look like him.”

The one with the binoculars swatted Lance’s hand aside and said proudly, “That’s what you call the good-guy protagonist buff. What would you know?”

Lance made a mocking face at him, and the other nearly wanted to smash him to death with the binoculars.

“Ahem,” Li Yi interrupted the two, who were arguing as if no one else were there. “It’s getting late. Let’s get moving!”

The one with the binoculars had no choice but to swallow all his dissatisfaction and silently take his assigned position.

Although the command beast had been driven somewhat mad by anger and came charging in with great fanfare, its formation was nevertheless intact. Leading the charge were the monster shield troops, made up mainly of all sorts of thick-skinned, sturdy monsters. Their attack power ranked nowhere near the top, but their tough bodies and hard armor allowed them to stand in the front line, absorb the first wave of attacks, and create the best possible output environment for the monster warriors behind them.

In the middle of the formation marched the assault troops, and farther back were the powerful frontal shock troops. The command beast blended in at the very front of the shock troops, its eyes locked ahead. Its naturally keen vision let it discern even the tiniest floating specks in the air, and its trained hearing made it clearly aware that many people were lurking in this seemingly calm surroundings.

The monsters moving with it were no fools either. They too sensed the warm human breathing drifting from the woods on the left, and the whole formation tacitly slowed its pace.

The command beast swept a forepaw. The shield troops that had been in front swiftly shifted to the left flank with uncommon agility, rolling in unison toward the edge of the grass and using their shields to block the front as they plunged straight in.

The assault monsters immediately tried to follow, but several sudden bolts of lightning flashed before their eyes. The clever ones leaped away at once, leaving their positions to dodge the first attack, while the slower ones were struck squarely. With a crisp crack, beast and armor alike were blackened by electric sparks, until only their bewildered eyes remained white, blinking again and again.

The monsters that had avoided the first wave instinctively looked up at the sky. The clouds were still drifting lazily as ever, the blue backdrop remained that dreamlike blue, and even the sun sat in its place without the slightest hint of setting.

How had thunder suddenly struck on such a clear day? The monsters stared upward in confusion.

“Underfoot!”

At that cry of alarm, the monsters felt a fierce surge of lightning blast straight upward from the ground. Though most monsters were thick-skinned and tough, an attack of that level was not enough to inflict instant, severe damage upon them. Yet even the strongest body can feel pain. The shoes and armor that had not been treated to resist lightning not only failed to protect them, but almost obediently helped the current leap and dance across their bodies. The fierce crackle of electrical sparks seared every inch of skin, and all of them were engulfed in pain and scorching heat.

“Get away from the magic circle!”

Even though it was being struck by the current as well, the command beast’s mind did not go dull. The earth does not generate lightning; only the sky or an electic mage’s spell circle could do that. This was an ambush!

Its eyes flew wide. The armor all over its body had become an accomplice to the current, and the violent shocks coursed everywhere across its frame, its mind sending wave after wave of pain through its body. Every inch of its skin felt charred.

“Roar!”

With a furious bellow, the command beast gathered all its strength and stamped hard on the ground. The electricity seized the chance to climb over its skin without the slightest courtesy. Enduring the fierce stimulation, the command beast used the recoil to spring upward and temporarily escape the lightning magic circle on the ground.