The commander's voice boomed across the entirety of the battlefield.

  "Shields up! Formation two! Formation two!"

  We were fortifying yet another border outpost and killing any enemies we saw when the monsters suddenly turned and ran. The commander ordered us to hold our ground, wary of being led into an ambush, but the troops we had come to save had no such officer. They were the grunts and foot soldiers who had somehow survived their assault long enough for us to reinforce them, but without the advantage of a veteran officer, and with their blood boiling from surviving just long enough to feel powerless, they were quick to pursue their assailants, even at the cost of holding the fort they had bled and lost lives to defend.

  Now we were in the ruins of the fort and its original troops were lost to bloodlust and unlikely to return, seeing as we were facing off with the familiar species that had just lured them away and likely killed them.

  We got into formation and waited for the sergeants to give us the order, even as the monsters drew ever closer, their footsteps nearly unbalancing us as their weight caused the earth to tremble as they moved.

  "Now!"

  At the signal, a pit opened up around us, lined with sharp metallic spikes on all its surfaces. The monsters' hasty charge caused their front ranks to fall into the pit and die impaled on spikes, while the back rows were struck by lightning bolts and other projectiles, rendering them immobile and on the verge of death. Even the defensive variants were being dealt with, increased gravity forcing them to their knees while acid and ice bolts took care of their natural protections.

  Within an hour, all the enemies were dead, even if the fort suffered some minor structural damage, and all that was left was cleanup duty, aka gathering all the corpses and piling them up before setting them ablaze. While half of us were doing that, the other half were rebuilding the fort, using earth magic and whatever rubble was leftover to strengthen the holes in the walls and gates that were caused by the initial attacks.

  Despite how quickly the battle ended, it took time to traverse the area and not only cut off the heads of each monster, a direct order from the generals of the entire military and their alternative to double-tapping, but to also move the body to the pile where they would eventually be burned.

  All in all, it was going as typically as missions went...until something chose to break the monotony.

  "Aaargh! Euaa -"

  A scream full of pain that suddenly cut off, resounding throughout the dead forest, its origin unknown? No matter the cause, it wasn't good news.

  "Form up! Form up now!" the commander hastily shouted. Everyone stopped what they were doing and assembled in the main courtyard of the fortress, still covered with rubble and the marks of the battles that had touched this place before we ever arrived.

  After a quick headcount, everyone in the unit was accounted for, which meant the scream was caused by someone else. But there was nobody else around besides us. Any voranders in the area were dealt with, and there was nobody else in the vicinity after the survivors had attacked the fleeing voranders with a near-suicidal tendency.

  "Until we find out what made that sound, we're playing defense. Earth mages, seal the gates, reinforce any gaps in the walls as best you can. I want two teams on the walls, sentries and patrols both on rotation! The rest of you, get some rest if you can, if not, work on some traps outside the walls just in case this is the beginning of another attack. Move ou-"

  The commander's eyes widened as he grasped at his neck, a spike of ice sticking out of it and rendering him mute. He nearly crumpled to the floor after blood dribbled out of his mouth, but somehow, either through years or training or a pure act of willpower, he returned fire, a dagger accelerated with a wind blast heading towards the front of the troops.

  Right at the ice princess, who dodged the projectile before creating an ice field around herself, freezing everyone in the unit as they were caught off-guard by her actions. The sergeants were already freeing themselves, but the rest of the troops were stuck in place, fear overtaking their discipline at the display of treachery.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  But it wasn't treachery...as those ice-white eyes had gone glassy, and there was a certain disjointedness in her movements, as if she wasn't fully in control of her body.

  As lightning gathered at her fingertips, she was about to attack when she spasmed, the sparks she held dying out before she managed to whisper a few words, only audible to those closest to her.

  "Kill....me...plea-"

  Then the moment was gone, and the lightning was back. Her eyes went empty once more as lives were struck down, flattening any resistance that managed to rise up. Any spells launched at her were simply hijacked and redirected to their original casters. Those who had the presence of mind to throw weapons were electrocuted and charred black with lightning or cut down with blades of ice. Even the experienced officers were now reduced to piles of blood on the ground, having been attacked first after the commander, their reactions and reflexes providing little armor against the onslaught that was the elven mage infected by the parasite.

  Save for me.

  As soon as I realized what was happening, I retreated into my space, my spatial affinity allowing me to see what was occurring in a small radius around where I had just been. There wasn't even enough time for people to plead for mercy or beg for their lives. Everyone was simply cut down in minutes, a grim reflection of the previous battle.

  Once everyone was confirmed dead, I came out of my space and immediately controlled Lady Elf, the parasite within her falling under my control as well. I could possibly remove the parasite from her...but this would be a grisly sight for her to wake up to, not to mention the kind of life she would lead as a fugitive, traitor and criminal. Even if her family shielded her from the worst of the effects, she would have to go through life knowing that, on some level, she was responsible for multiple deaths.

  It was better for everyone if I just thought of her as dead and the parasite was wearing her like a meatsuit. I stored her in my space as I continued thinking.

  However, no matter how I thought about it, I was in a bad situation. I could return to base as the sole survivor of my unit, but my options from there were either ransacking everything I could before immediately heading north, or staying and facing some kind of inquiry or tribunal. Considering how many prominent heirs and noble descendants had just died, I would be viewed suspiciously at the very least, or I might even be deemed guilty and framed as the culprit just so there would be someone the victims' families could hold responsible.

  "Dammit, I thought I would have more time than this," I muttered to myself, before taking a deep breath and instantly regretting it, as the smell hit me hard. If I couldn't go back, I could only go forward, and regrettably, that meant going north, braving the northern sea, and somehow finding and entering the northern continent without drawing too much attention to myself.

  I looked around and salvaged what I could from the remains of my comrades. I wouldn't shed a tear for their demise, I didn't know them that well, but I regretted the circumstances of their deaths. I gathered the spatial storage items from the officers and space mages, while taking any usable weapons. I also collected the socks and boots of everyone, as well-fitting boots were hard to come by.

  Once I was finished, I let loose a group of my tamed voranders to eat on the remains. This way, it would muddle any investigation that occurred in the future. Better yet, fire would erase any traces I had forgotten, so after a few minutes, I recalled the voranders and set fire to the entire fortress. Let the investigators think some kind of dragon did this, but I certainly wouldn't be their prime suspect. Even if, by some miraculous coincidence, they thought I was responsible and searched for me, by that time I would hopefully be close to the north, if not fully inside.

  Looking at the blaze eating away at the remnants of my unit, I realized that this was the point of no return. From this moment forward, I was committed to leaving the planet. Anyone who stood in my way was either struck down or tamed, there was no other option.

  I went back to my space before awakening and releasing a small rodent-like beast into the forest and directing it northward. I could see through its eyes and share its senses, but my spatial sense also provided me information from a range beyond that. As the beast scurried across the black and dead soil, voranders occasionally took notice of it, but with a single spell, I tamed them before depositing them into my space and moving forward. It would be my vehicle for the journey north and I could enter and exit wherever it was.

  Very rarely did I come across other members of the army, but the possibility of running into them was why I had chosen a small beast rather than a larger or faster one that could cover more ground. Right now I chose to prioritize stealth over speed, believing that one lone beast would be less conspicuous than one lone soldier. Thankfully, no soldiers ever stopped my small beast even if they noticed its existence, a fact I could only attribute to luck.

  A month had passed since the death of my unit, and I still had not reached the northern coast. To the best of my knowledge, there were supposed to be much fewer voranders than normal, as they had supposedly all pulled back to the north, yet I encountered no less than a thousand of them as I travelled north. My personal forces had grown quite a bit, but not enough to make me complacent. I left any nests or breeding pits I found untouched, as I didn't want to leave any clues to my whereabouts, and I did my best to avoid any soldiers I came across. The only options if they were aware of my existence were killing or taming them, both of which would mark their disappearance as suspicious, especially after my own unit died.

  While it was possible for me to continuously make portals and jump through until I reached the north coast, that would also leave magical traces behind, something I was looking to avoid. Hence, the month-long journey on foot.

  However, it looked like the end was in sight. I could finally smell the unique scent of saltwater again. however....

  How the hell is this even possible?!

  Along the entirety of the coast, as far as I could see, there were deep and crudely dug trenches parallel to the ocean. At a single glance, it was obvious that they weren't done by magic, or by hand. Yet they were there all the same. From my perspective of the rodent beast, I could even see voranders jumping across the trenches to reach the coast, and while they may have left my sight, I doubted that they had simply died. As though my thought had summoned it, an enormous mutated vorander that resembled a shelled seal breached the surface of the water and swallowed the voranders waiting on shore before diving back into the sea and heading north.

  There were plenty of flying voranders as well, though they were much smaller in size, and seemed to be the only defenders of their side that were left.

  It was easy enough for me to quickly exit my space, teleport onto the shelled seal vorander and release a pulse of essence, taming everything in range, before instructing the monster to continue north. My small pulse was unavoidable, but it also represented another trace of my passage. Speed was of the essence here. Once I reached the northern continent, I could simply tame everything in sight before searching for the spot I could use to leave this world.

  I entered my space once more, pulling back my rodent beast as I tried to rest during the trip north. I doubted I would be able to rest much once I reached my destination.