On the second day, we carried on like we had on the first afternoon. We made the most of the full day to lure the Fighting God toward the Ravine of the Earthwyrm.
The third day dawned. I stood atop the barricading wall I’d built at the edge of the cliff on the other side of the ravine, keeping a close watch on the shadowy forest. Right beside me stood Ruijerd, also staring hard at the forest. The Ravine of the Earthwyrm was extremely well suited to defense—it was almost a kilometer deep and, though I hadn’t realized the first time I’d crossed it, the cliff on the side of the Superd Village was slightly elevated. As a rule, the side with the high ground had an advantage in a fight. Height gave better visibility, and climbing took more energy than descending. Thanks, gravity. With that in mind, I’d used earth magic to build a barricade wall at the edge of the cliff on the Superd Village side. It was almost twenty meters tall, shorter than the one at the edge of the forest. Seeing as this was the only point that the ravine narrowed, that wasn’t a problem. I had made a hole in that defense when I’d made a bridge as a way in, but that hole had been filled when I brought the bridge down with me. With this, we wouldn’t have to deal with another episode like with the Ogre God, where we suddenly found ourselves fighting at close quarters after he cleared the gap with a running jump.
Probably.
Not to underestimate the Fighting God’s powers, but this wall was the tallest and strongest I could make it in the short time I had. If he could still jump over it, we might as well just give up. Assuming he couldn’t, if he clung onto the cliff face, I could blast him with Stone Cannons from above. In this battle, I’d learned that even if he could neutralize magic, that didn’t extend to neutralizing changes in the landscape. The first battle had shown me that Stone Cannon was plenty effective. And Geese, well, he didn’t have any strength. If I hit him with a Stone Cannon while he clung to the cliff face, he’d fall to the bottom of the ravine. Even if knocking him off that way failed, I might be able to make him slip off by dropping a massive volume of water on him. Geese was a tricky guy, but he was useless in a head-on brawl.
Badi seemed like he’d have some tricks up his sleeve, though, and Geese was cunning. They were a perfect match. Risky as it was to lead them to the narrow point in the ravine, it was still better than having them cross without our noticing and then blindsiding us. I stood with Cliff, Ruijerd, and the Superd warriors above the ravine. The other Superd were positioned at regular intervals along the stretches not covered by the wall so that we’d be alerted right away if Badigadi crossed there. Eris stood by, directly behind the wall. Once Geese and Badigadi broke through, it’d be all-out war. We’d bought ourselves some time. What should have been a day’s journey, traveling in a straight line, had taken three. We’d earned an extra two days…but I still hadn’t heard anything from Roxy, so that extra time might have been for nothing. Still, I wouldn’t change my approach. I knew from the battle in the port town I couldn’t win a head-on fight. I wanted my trump card.
Night fell. I had no idea when they might come. The Superd were watching the forest with me, but wherever our enemy was camped was outside of their detection range.
Keep on your toes, I thought. Just then, I heard Ruijerd shout.
“They’re here!”
I strained my eyes as hard as I could to look into the shadows of the forest. There they were. They were no bigger than a grain of rice, but there was someone standing in the trees. No golden sheen, though. This person wore a white robe. I’d seen a white robe like that before.
It was Geese. Well, it was possible it was someone else, but it looked like Geese.
“Who is it?”
“It’s him,” Ruijerd said with conviction. The distance between us and them was within the range of his third eye. It was unlikely Ruijerd was wrong. Geese appeared to be watching us, not from up close to the edge of the ravine, but from back in the forest, among the undergrowth. It was still too dark to see clearly, but it really did look like him. And I couldn’t spot the faintest sparkle of gold anywhere nearby. Geese was alone.
“Huh?”
Alone? Was he scouting by himself? Geese, who knew the magic I could use, who knew I had the Eye of Distant Sight, who knew there were Superd here, was alone? Was he that confident? Or was Badigadi lying in wait nearby? The ravine was a hundred meters across at most; if Badigadi were close enough to come to Geese’s defense, Ruijerd would be able to see him.
An attack from me would take him down, wouldn’t it?
At this realization, my heart started racing. Stone Cannon would reach him. Geese was looking our way, but I had the feeling he couldn’t see me. I’d hit him. It was a hundred meters. Even considering height and position, the arc of a Stone Cannon, the shot couldn’t be more than two hundred. If I aimed carefully, that was a distance I could reliably hit from.
I paused. Should I do it? What if it was someone else? Like, an adventurer in a white robe. Who’d just happened to get lost in the forest. In the middle of a battle.
Yeah. No way.
After the Dense Mist and Quagmire of the previous day, the forest was a mess. No adventurer would have made it this far. Even if they’d already been close to the ravine when it began, the Superd’s radar would have picked them up.