I saw the 10,000-strong army forming outside the bay.
At the forefront, I spotted one of the six commanders I had seen in the tent, sitting on a horse, leading the army. I heard him shouting something, but as always, I couldn't understand him.
After he said something to the army, they started marching in unison. They marched for about an hour until they reached the forest, where they came to a halt. The sun was slowly setting, and they set up a tent camp to spend the night.
"Hmm... why do they want to enter the forest with such a massive army?" I wondered.
...
"Oh! That's why!"
When I looked at the map, I saw that there was a [Time-Spanther] with consciousness in the forest, and it was not weak. I suspected that they wanted to kill it so they could safely clear the forest.
Since I didn't want to wait for 6 hours until the lizard people began their crusade, I went to the Control Room to finally figure out how to manipulate it. I was really tired of the dull white room and wanted to start working on it.
What I noticed now was that it had increased in size, not by much but somewhat. It was now 100x100x40 meters in size.
————
Control Room:
Creating:
[Overview]
[Core]
[Construction]
[Inanimate Objects]
[Living Beings]
[Completion]
—————
"Hmm, this looks almost exactly like when I created the first floor!" I observed. "Just one more option, the Core function."
————
Core:
[Move]
————
"Oh, that's not much," I remarked. As the name suggested, this section allowed me to place my Core freely in space.
Since I didn't have much time, I just noted it and returned to the first floor.
16 minutes had already passed there, and it was a bit over six hours.
When I arrived, the tent camp was already dismantled, and a quarter of the impressive 10,000-strong army had ventured deep into the dense forest.
The other three quarters of the force seemed to be taking positions at the edge of the forest. The reasons for this were clear.
Firstly, the terrain outside the forest provided enough space to assemble and organize a large army. It would have been difficult to effectively deploy so many soldiers among the trees. It was also easier to develop an orderly retreat strategy if things went south.
Secondly, I suspected that the commander of the lizard people recognized that it was strategically wiser to fight the Panther in the open field rather than in its natural habitat.
I followed the forest squad, which carefully and slowly traversed the woods. They paid close attention to their surroundings but never left their four-row formation.
Outer shields, inner spears, swords, and even... hand-to-hand fighters? Well, at least they were unarmed, which led me to believe this.
Their goal was to kill the Panther, and whether they won or lost, one thing was certain—there would be bloodshed. I didn't want to pass out again and miss the battle, as I was genuinely interested in it.
"What should I do now?" I wondered. I chuckled at my helplessness in the face of my trauma. "Maybe it helps to remember that neither side of the battle is human."
As the army continued to advance deep into the dense forest, I could feel the tension in the air. The lizard people moved slowly and deliberately, their formation disciplined and efficient.
I could see the seriousness in their faces because they knew they were on dangerous terrain.
A slight tension came over me as I noticed the army whispering excitedly and pointing at something. "Oh, here it comes!" I nervously exclaimed. The excitement among the troops grew as they prepared for the possible battle.
The lizard people maintained their formation as they confronted the [Time-Spanther].
Their shields formed a protective barrier, that shined with a golden hue in the air.
It seemed they were ready to do whatever it took to defeat this dangerous creature.
"What should I do now?" I muttered as I searched for a way out.
Finally, I decided to focus on my distraction tactic, which I had learned during astronaut training. I tried to hide my nervousness, put on a confident smile, and took deep breaths.
In through the nose, hold briefly, and then slowly exhale through the mouth.
"Regardless, I'll give it a try!" I whispered to myself, trying to muster courage.
The battle began as the Time-Spanther emerged from the darkness of the forest. It moved too quickly to be seen, and it started by eliminating the rear row, prompting excited shouts from the army.
It was so fast or elusive that the 13 dead soldiers made no sound.
The ground and the armor of nearby soldiers were splattered with blood.
"Damn..." I murmured as my vision blurred.
Emotions like fear, excitement, and disgust battled within me. I couldn't fully grasp the brutality of the battle as my thoughts were distracted by my own weakness.
"Breathe... breathe... BREATHE!" I tried to force myself to calm down, but it didn't help.
All I could hear was the excited cries of the lizard people and the grotesque sound of killing.
Then I heard a faint, mysterious murmur, and everything turned... "green?"
I opened my eyes, and everything was quiet, including the agitated soldiers. I saw a faint green shimmer in the air, emanating from the unarmed lizard people in the center of the formation.
"Pdlmrv, erqw xylivw Xärklivmrw!" the commander cried out.
I then noticed the small stone on the foreheads of the unarmed lizard people glowing, and they murmured something, causing the army to glow slightly green.
With the return of calmness, everyone had a clearer mind, including me.
"SODQ D!" the commander shouted, causing the army to slowly retreat. As the formation was now clean, you could occasionally hear the claws of the Panther clashing with the shields.
These claws were very sharp, leaving deep notches each time.
Now that there was less blood splattering, I could focus on what I could see. With the map at my disposal, I naturally knew where the Panther was and what abilities it had.
It had only two abilities, but they were relatively strong.
"HLQV!"
And the whole army took a step back.
„HLQV!" … „HLQV!" … „HLQV!" … „HLQV!"
Step by step, I watched as the army led the Panther out of the forest until they reached the clearing where the others were.
Some time later, it happened—they were in the clearing. The Panther followed them, and you could only hear the clashing of claws to know where it was.
The Panther, driven by anger, didn't notice when it left the forest. The forest army seamlessly merged into the ranks of the clearing army.
I heard the mysterious murmur again, this time a bit louder, as 200 lizard people chanted the same words.
Their green stones lit up again, and then they knelt down, pressing both hands on the ground. The earth trembled, and a wall of earth and stone rose in front of the forest.
20 meters high, 4 meters wide, and 200 meters long, forming a semicircle since the army had now formed in that shape. The Panther had no escape. The magicians, as I now called them, collapsed.
"Amazing!" I said. "They've cornered it without even seeing it!"
The Panther also realized this, but it was too late. Unable to use its Assassin abilities anymore, it chose to conserve mana and reluctantly deactivated its invisibility ability.
Its silky black fur shimmered in the sunlight, and its furious green eyes pierced through the ranks of the lizard people. His body was larger than an average panther, as his back towered 10 meters into the sky.
Looking like a giant fow against thousand of smaller ones.
I saw it looking at the status how much mana it has, I flew closer and noticed that the panther is a woman.
She has [150/400] mana left but couldn't think anymore, because the commander started shouting.
"HLQV!"..."HLQV!"..."HLQV!" and the army tightened the noose further and further.
She growled loud and fierce at the Lizards.
"PDFKW LKQ NDOW!" the commander suddenly shouted, and the army attacked.
The Panther was a true survivor. With its time-travel and spatial distortion abilities, it skillfully evaded the attacks of the army, albeit not entirely, sustaining minor injuries.
She couldn't breach the shield wall, even though it was nearly as tall as the lizard people. But the glow hindered her nevertheless.
Suddenly, a shield bearer made a mistake, and the clever Panther didn't miss it.
It was lightning-fast and killed the shield bearer, breaking through the formation.
I tried to keep my own emotions in check, feeling the effect of the magicians slowly fading.
It was difficult to focus on the action when I felt repulsed by the blood, but I didn't want to look away.
Now behind the shield line, it began to slaughter the soldiers.
The army lost its composure more and more, as did its soldiers.
There was chaos, with the commander trying to keep control from the rear row, shouting orders that got drowned in the chaos.
Just as the 3,000th soldier fell, the Panther ran out of mana. It didn't go unnoticed, and everyone attacked.
It tried to dodge, but it was hit by a lance, then another, and another, even a sword.
And a hit with a fist… but no effect.
I watched as the Panther female staggered and fell to the ground.
"Is that a tear?" I wondered as I looked at the Panther's dull green eyes.
She growled one last time, and then there was silence.
Everyone seemed to hold their breath, and once it was clear they had won, there was loud cheering.