My (Monster?) Hero Life

Those simple words spoken by Sophia gave Shadow a terrible feeling. It was apparent now why the heroes had retreated so quickly. They were counting on succeeding in capturing one of their important figures! Shadow's mind began to race as he began to conceive ideas about what the heroes were plotting.

'I'm sorry, Sophia. I can't tell Kace about this. If I do, he'll just rush straight into their trap.' Shadow silently swore to resolve this problem before it could come to Kace's attention. All they had to do was seize Lilly right out from under the noses of some of the strongest heroes they had ever come across. 

Shadow ordered some nearby goblins to start patching up the wounded while waiting for a member of his tribe to appear to guide him to the heroes location. These goblins were far less skilled in the healing arts compared to those who had worked alongside Lilly. However, they would have to do since all of the specialists had been slain during the hospital's raid.

Shadow overlooked the work for a while. He used the time to try and formulate a few plans. After all, his tribe specialised in this kind of thing. It was evident that they were the best choice to make Lilly's safe rescue a reality anyway. A few hours had passed before one of the tribe came to fetch him. 

They nodded silently to each other before they melded into the ground to become part of the shadow realm. Shadow kept a grim expression plastered on his face as he swam through the murky waters as he followed the goblin in front of him. Since it was just the two of them, it did not take long for them to reach a ripple that showed the Tu'Thrag tribe waiting on a ridge above a campsite.

Shadow silently swam through the ripple, only to pop up next to Lorget in his usual frilly dress. "What's going on?"

Lorget glanced at his senior before turning a grave expression back towards the heroes encampment. "I won't lie, sir. It doesn't look good."

Shadow raised an eyebrow at that remark before casting his own gaze over the mess of tents and fires below their position. He spotted hero mages casting spells on the ground around the camp in various places from time to time. Shadow decided to take a stab in the dark at guessing what they were up to.

"They're setting magical traps. Probably alarms and other things to deal with us specifically as well." Shadow felt a headache brewing as he watched even more of the traps being placed.

"That's pretty much the gist of it, sir. They probably know what to expect after our previous battles with them. They should definitely be aware of our ability to ambush them. Though they probably don't know our exact method. Otherwise, I doubt we would have been to come this close to them as it is." Lorget solemnly replied. "I can't see an easy way to take them unprepared."

Shadow barely spared Lorget a glance as the latter let out a heavy sigh. "It gets worse. This has just become a rescue operation."

Lorget looked shocked as he heard this. "Who are we rescuing?"

"That Dryad, Lilly. Seems like she was taken. I take it, that means you haven't seen her based on your reaction." Shadow replied with a dry tone. "In that case, split the tribe up into recon groups. Have them spread out in the surrounding area. If you haven't spotted Lilly, then it's possible whoever took her has not rendezvoused with this main force yet."

Lorget nodded at his new orders before splitting away from Shadow to organise the operation. Shadow just continued to observe the situation below them for now as he probed the enemy camp for any signs of weakness. There were a few places that he noticed that the heroes overlooked when placing their traps.

However, Shadow felt that this was probably done on purpose. From what he could figure out, it seemed like the heroes were overly aware of their actions to make it look like they had left blind spots in their defences. If the Tu'Thrag used any of those points to infiltrate the camp, Shadow was confident that they would actually be detected immediately.

'Should we go in loud to take our time with it?' There were pros and cons to both sides, but Shadow decided that they should take their time. It would be better if they could cause the heroes to feel pressure over a few days. This way, as long as they were not caught red-handed, then the heroes should assume that a local creature was responsible. 

It would also mean that those set to stay on guard would stress out so much that they would probably miss many details that could expose them. Shadow had a wolfish grin on his face as his plan came together. Once the different groups split up and moved off to search the area for Lilly's approach, Shadow beckoned Lorget over to him. 

"What do you say the two of us go and say hi?" Shadow really struggled to stop himself from laughing at Lorget's incredulous expression.

"How the fuck do you suppose we do that? Just waltz right into their camp and be like, hey guys, you don't happen to have a dryad here, do you? We seem to have misplaced one." Lorget scoffed at Shadow's suggestion. 

"Nah, nothing like that. But, we can start collecting a few heads." Shadow pointed out the group of watchmen at four different corners of the camp. "We'll have to be fast, though. Each group can see two others clearly. If one disappears, it won't be long till they notice."

Lorget scanned the four groups and realised they were comprised of weaker heroes and natives alike. This should technically make their ambush even more straightforward than it seemed to be in the first place. This time Lorget could not help himself from smiling as he gave his reply.

"Count me in…"