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

Ike rushed toward the border between his and Scar's castles. The trees rushed by, the monsters from his castle far behind him. Ahead, a fire raged. Thick black smoke billowed into the sky and rushed through the trees. Ike took short, quick breaths whenever the air cleared, avoiding as much of the choking smoke as he could.

The monsters loomed over the flames. Looping horns twisted into razor-sharp spines behind their heads. Their eyes glowed through the smoke and the night, and black ash flew when they opened their furnace mouths. They marched down the straight path the pig- and boar-people had cut through the forest, directly to Scar's front gate. Her men battled from the walls. Complex techniques, the likes of which Ike had never seen, launched from their hands. A projection of a huge snake leapt from one, jumping into the fray with such ferocity it almost seemed real. Another person swept their hand, and a dozen swords materialized out of the air behind them and obliterated a monster. And yet, for all their strength, they were clearly at the ends of their ropes. Their mounted weaponry stood abandoned, either never fixed or long-since abandoned in favor of fighting directly.

At the center of her underlings, Scar stood proud. She swept her sword. Bright red light flew from the strike, broadening as it flew to cover the entire front of the castle. The front line of monsters fell, but immediately, the second line stepped forward to fill in for their fallen. There was no reprieve. No rest. Scar and her men could fight them off, but barely. It was a constant battle for survival, a war to keep their last inch of ground. If they gave for an instant, if they buckled for a second, the whole thing would come crashing down. From the exhaustion evident in her troops' eyes, it wasn't long before Scar's men reached that point.

One of the monsters stood back up. It had ducked rather than falling to the blow. Scar's eyes widened. She drew her sword back again.

A green fist projection flew toward its head from ground level. The monster's head snapped back. Ike jumped up onto its knee as it bent and took its throat with a tearing slash of a strange sword whose surface churned as though alive with a thousand ants. He vanished once more, then hopped up onto the walls beside Scar.

She glanced at him and cracked a smile. "I was hoping for more help than just you, you know. We're happy to have you, but we're in kind of a desperate situation, here."

"I know. Listen: this is going to sound crazy, but… you need to come with me. You and all your men," Ike said.

"And go where?" she asked, cocking a skeptical brow.

Ike shook his head. "This part of the trial is a trial of endurance. It's meant to wear us out. The way I see it, there's only one way to avoid each getting exhausted individually and all of us dying to these monsters: we all have to work together. Take shifts to defend one castle, rather than each of us protecting our own castles alone."Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Experience tales at empire

"And that castle is your castle, right?" Scar replied sarcastically.

Ike sighed. "It is, yes, but—"

"Oh, big surprise. Let's all defend Ike's castle! It's the only way to make it through! Yeah, sure. Can't see how that benefits you. Is this all your alliance amounts to? Asking me to pledge fealty to you for your protection?" Scar shook her head in disappointment.

"It's not like that. Rufus is already in my castle. I took him in when his castle fell, but he was already exhausted, his men injured. I didn't have to take him in. I could have let him die. It's because I don't care about anything but surviving this trial that—"

"Uh huh."

Frustrated, Ike spread his hands. "Okay, fine. Let's say I protect your castle. We all fight to the last man. Then what? Then it falls anyways. Meanwhile, my castle's defenses are weakened by my absence. The monsters advance further, and everyone at my castle gets worn out fighting for it, while you, your men, and myself get worn out protecting this castle. Then we get none of the benefits from combining our forces, and all of the detriments. Everyone will be worn and injured, and we'll only have one castle's worth of alimentations and heals to contend with them.

"If you join now, on the other hand, we have backup fighters, fresh and uninjured, who can easily swap out when the first force gets tired. My castle faces no additional danger; the monsters have no way to press further forward. We live in harmony, and everything thrives together, as opposed to turning against one another, seeing no true possibility for cooperation, and throwing everything away."

"Yeah, and then you become king," she pointed out.

"I don't want to be king. If that's your hangup, rest assured—I'll pass the crown straight to you. I'd honestly suggest we defend your castle instead, it's just that mine is better defended and in better shape all around. I don't care who wins, as long as my life is secure."

Most of those lines were half-lie, half truth. He truly didn't want to become king, but to say he didn't care who won? That wasn't true. He wanted to control his own destiny. He couldn't do that if he lost. Still, he needed Scar on his side if he was going to win. And everything else he'd said was absolutely true. If he waited until her castle fell to argue his case, he'd gain her for sure, but the weakened form. He'd prefer to have her at full power. He just had to hope that she saw her fate as inevitable enough to choose to follow him, instead of fight to the end for the right to become king.

She squinted at him. "You really don't want to be king?"

"No."

"Then why are you here?"

Ike opened his mouth, then thought better of it. If she didn't know, or didn't care, about the skill orb waiting for them, he wasn't going to mention it. "I wanted a challenge. Something I could use to strengthen myself."

"And that's all?"

"Yep," Ike said, nodding. In a way of thinking, it was. After all, the skill orb would make him stronger. He'd just left out the critical detail about the orb.

She looked at her men, then hesitated. Her brows furrowed. She looked at the monsters, who still advanced toward the castle. They were holding out for now, but it wouldn't last long. Her men were tired. The monsters were close. They could stave them off, but only for a short time. Even if Ike helped, they weren't in a good situation.

"If you really don't want to be king… if you're really doing this because this is the best option, then…"

"Cross my heart," Ike promised.

She nodded. "Okay. I'll abandon my castle and follow you. You better not be wrong about this, though."

"Same," Ike muttered to himself, too quiet for her to hear.