Reidar stood in the middle of it all. He had no formal rank here, but the others moved around him like he was the axis of the world.

His summons flanked him: ten Spectral Knights, ten Rift-Sprites, and five bears, of which he was riding one. He was ready. They all were. The question was whether the plan would work. A lot of it hinged on their ability to group the monsters in a single area.

"Listen up!" Helga's voice carried across the clearing. "We're going again into the town." She paused. "There won't be any more detours, no more delays. We need to lure the monsters to where we can kill them all. We hit hard, we kill fast, and we go forward. Anyone who can't keep up gets left behind. Understood?"

Affirmative responses echoed back, but it was just those from the smaller groups that got nervous about her words.

"Good. Move out!"

The raid entered the forest again, leaving the clearing behind. The crimson growth intensified. Vines covered every surface.

The spongy ground deepened, making each step hard to take. The air grew thicker, saturated with spores and the sweet-rot smell of corrupted vegetation.

The raid summoned Spectral Knights and Rift-Sprites forward as advance scouts to test the ground and probe suspicious vegetation.

When one group dissolved from hidden attacks, they summoned more, but this time the raid knew there was a threat and avoided it.

It was working, although not very efficiently. They avoided a dozen ambushes in the first hour by catching them early through sacrificial summons.

Ember Rift-Sprites moved around the raid and provided light. The red leaves of the briar patch absorbed most sunlight, so without the sprites, navigation would have been impossible.

An hour into the march, another fifty Thorn-Lashers burst from the undergrowth.

"Target the cores!"

"Don't waste energy on limbs!"

"Use fire to prevent regeneration!"

The fight lasted ten minutes. There were no wounds this time since the humans didn't actually go in the first line. The formations were meant to work when the monsters bypassed their summons.

The survivors had learned and adapted. They worked together with an efficiency they didn't have when all of this started, covering each other's weaknesses and exploiting the Thorn-Lashers' predictable attack patterns.

When the last creature fell, the raid continued without looking back. Time was short.

The ruins of the town loomed ahead, swallowed by the crimson briars. Buildings stood like broken teeth, their windows dark holes in the encroaching vegetation.

The same collapsed street Lena had led them through earlier yawned before them, now even more choked with vines.

The only sound the raid could hear was the rustle of the tree leaves moving because of the wind.

Reidar dismounted his bear, the creature snorting nervously at the scent of decay and spores that hung in the air.

He walked forward through vine-covered debris and spongy terrain until he stood at the very edge of the town entrance, with his mount behind him.

He turned, facing the raid members. There were many grim faces; many eyes were shadowed with exhaustion. He saw Helga's Ironsides, Aldric's Sun Chasers, and Seraphine's fighters, all looking at him.

"Listen! This is where we failed before."

He pointed towards the town, whose entrance was the only visible thing through the thicket.

"The Thorn-Lashers are here. The Elder is beyond them; we need to go through the mobs if we want to kill it." He paused.

"Our previous encounter taught us we can't fight them head-on with our current level of power. There are too many, they're too tough, they're too smart, and their only weakness is a core they can move. Their regeneration makes them even worse. We got lucky enough to escape before. We won't be lucky twice. This time people might die."

He scanned the faces, making sure they understood what they were getting themselves into.

"The plan is simple, but it has to be executed perfectly. We use the Spectral Knights as bait. All of them. They go in first, right into the heart of the town. They'll draw the Thorn-Lashers out and force them to engage and to bunch up. They'll be our shield, our lure. They'll take the hits, the ambushes, and the hits from the monsters. They'll die, and they'll die well, buying us the time we need."

He paused.

"While the knights are holding the line, every single one of you must summon Rift-Sprites. Now. Flood the surrounding buildings, the rooftops, and the streets leading out of the square. Not the square itself—not yet. We need the Thorn-Lashers concentrated on the knights. Once they're fully engaged, then…"

He raised a hand, clenching his fist. "…we unleash everything. Fire. Every Ember Sprite, every Fire Bolt, every flame you can conjure. We set the entire town on fire. The stragglers hiding in the vines, the ones trying to flank. They'll be trapped. The flames will spread, fueled by this cursed growth, and they'll consume everything that isn't us, and the more it burns, the more the fire will grow. The heat, the smoke, the sheer volume of the fire… it will finish what the knights started. We don't fight them directly. We burn them from a safe distance."

He looked at the many faces stuck on him. Helga's jaw was set, Aldric calculating, the others nodding slowly at the plan and the reliance on the fire. There were high chances the plan wasn't going to work, but even if it did partially, their success would be ensured, because fewer monsters were more manageable.

"Remember, the knights are the key. They NEED to hold the monsters long enough for them to all converge on them. The Rift-Sprites are the furnace, and we are going to be the ones who light the match. Understood?"

A chorus of grim nods answered him. There were no cheers, just the silent acceptance of the necessary tactic. Their pride was wounded. They were the elite of all the settlements they came from, and yet they were still nothing compared to the monsters; they were still nothing compared to those like Reidar, Lena, Jake, Seraphine, Aldric, and Helga.

"Alright," Reidar said, turning back towards the dark maw of the town. "Send in the knights now."

He didn't need to shout. The survivors summoned 10 spectral knights each. A thousand of them appeared, and their heavy footfalls started moving down the forest towards the town center. Behind them, the first portal opened, and the Ember Rift-Sprites began to cross it to spread inside the city.

The bait was walking into the trap. The fire was ready to be lit. The only question was if the flames would consume their enemies enough for them to be able to at least kill them on their own.

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