Freedom's daughter

The test went smoothly. This is the plan: a girl stays in the middle, protected, while linking everyone's minds to mine. I'll stay in the front, but they are ready to defend me if something happens.

I decided, with Lyet, it's better if she stays at the village. She wasn't complaining, but I noticed something was wrong with her, but we were going, so I didn't have time to talk with her.

Once we are ready, we enter the cave.

It's so dark that I don't notice any difference between having my eyes open and closed.

Click...

Click...

Click...

The path is easy to follow; it's mostly straight.

Click...

Click...

Uh? What's that—

Whoosh

An elf shot an arrow. He reacted faster than I and was able to intercept the dash of a creature.

It was just a matter of time before we were found anyway, but from now on, even more will come.

It also surprised me how only one elf shot; they trust each other and can work in groups, so they don't waste arrows.

Click...

Another creature on the right!!!

On the left of our group, an elf dies, and the creature quickly retreats.

Did they just use my echolocation against us?

One appeared on one side as bait, while another attacked on the other side. It waited further back so we would have spotted the right one first.

They adapted to our scheme after facing it once, coordinating their strategy without even communicating with each other. What even are these creatures?

A creature appears on the front... which means... For fuck sake, let's just shoot everywhere!

Fortunately, since our minds are linked, they can perceive what I think, and everyone does what I suggest, and the attacking creature gets killed.

It was the one whom I spotted...

I believe the creatures thought I would have shot back in the opposite direction, since they followed this scheme before.

This time, instead, it was the creature I spotted that attacked. 

They anticipated what I might have anticipated.

Sigh... Give me a break, I'm not good at this!

And so the battle continues. 

I try my best to spot the targets, that's all I can do.

Fortunately, the experience the elves have accumulated in fighting these creatures for all these nights is proving crucial for this fight; it's the only reason we are losing fewer people than how many we kill.

If we can just endure and push forward, we might even win... 

I'm glad elves can resurrect each other so I don't have to feel too bad for the ones who are dying... Assuming we win, of course.

!!! 

I just spotted over twenty, thirty... no, forty of them... Will they—

The next moment, without having the time to process what's going on, I feel my stomach getting pierced, and I fall.

...

All this time... They were just gaining time, waiting to gather together... I see...

Who would have expected there were that many? We even killed at least twenty of them before...

In the end, the elves weren't able to win against the entire pack; it seemed we had the advantage, but it was just an illusion they created.

Now the elves are all doomed, since I got hit, I didn't echolocate for a few seconds...

I'm sorry... Maybe I shouldn't have proposed it from the start...

I'm sorry, Lyet...

No...

I have to finish what we started so that they can come here and resurrect them all... If I don't, I might feel too bad, and I have to return to her...

But how?

Of course, there's no way I can fight all of them.

I have to endure the pain and move... If they find out I didn't die, they might just finish me.

They can't see me, and they believe we are all dead.

What I have to do is copy how they walk, the sound of their footsteps, and the rhythm.

I can't allow myself to panic, it will lead to my breath accelerating, and they'll spot it.

And so, I stand up, slowly, the same way they would do it, picking up an arrow...

If I click my tongue to echolocate, they'll spot me instantly, but I can't see...

I'll try with the sound of my footsteps and breathing, it should be the same, just harder.

I 'see' one is right next to me but it isn't bothered. It might be thinking I'm one of them...

I move closer to it and penetrate its eye with the arrow.

It doesn't matter how strong you are, eyes are naturally soft, I can penetrate it with minimal force, and from there, the brain too, killing it instantly before it could make any sound.

I repeat the same process over and over, I mimic how they move, and when I'm close enough, I kill them before they can do anything. It doesn't matter how fast you are; you can't react to something you can't perceive.

The whole process is way easier considering they are all eating the corpses, it both helps me perceive them and partially hides my sounds, if they were vigilant... I don't think I would be able to survive.

In the end I managed to kill them all, but I still feel like an idiot. If I didn't have so many advantages, I would have died.

I feel bad for proposing this plan. You can say it's their fault too, they were confident they could take them down in that situation, and they could have refused from the beginning, but it still started from me...

Next time, I need to think things more thoroughly; I was too arrogant.

-

I'm the only one who could get back to the village, and when they saw me, they instantly healed my injury. I then urged them to go to the cave and resurrect the elves. I guided them and we were all able to come back alive... Somehow.

I'm in mine and Lyet's room, sitting on the bed.

"Histrio... You don't have to be that hard on yourself... At the end, it worked, I think you did the best you could, and you even managed to accomplish the mission..."

She caresses my shoulder, but it doesn't help.

"The only reason everything is 'fine' now is because they can resurrect... If they couldn't... I would feel responsible for the death of tens of people..."

"They could refuse your plan... It's not only your fault."

"What if I make the same mistake, but the next time it's you and there's no option to resurrect. I'm worried about this! This time I've been lucky... But nothing suggests I'll be the next time as well."

"...What did you keep repeating when you wanted me to try controlling my mana but I failed?"

"To keep trying..."

"Exactly."

"Fine... You won this time..." I try a smile.

"Even the chief was happy that the situation was solved... You should be, too. And from tomorrow he'll help me with the basic spells... We won in the end... Don't make that face..."

"I'll only feel better if you actually learn, ok?"

"I'll see what I can do." She chuckles.