My (Monster?) Hero Life

Sophia stared at the scenery before her with a grim expression. The desert was an uncomfortable place to march through for anyone with its shifting sands. However, what they met at the end of their march was far worse than she imagined. 

A sprawling city sat proudly with its back to a rocky desert mountain. Its sandstone walls were tall and robust looking, as they completed a semi-circle to join with the natural defence to the rear. The mountain had been chiselled away somewhat over the years so that part of the city was actually protected inside of it.

It made it hard to tell if it would be easier to climb the mountain and use ropes to drop inside. Or to just simply breach the walls and gates. Neat rows of heroes and even ordinary humans manned the battlements. Every one of them had their nose and mouth covered by a thick scarf. That would naturally raise a lot of questions in this heat, but the sight in front of the city walls answered the question as to why they had resorted to that.

Five long pits had been dug at a decent distance from the city. Initially, any onlooker would assume that they were trenches that had been dug to slow any assault on the city. However, right now, all five of these pits were on fire. The heat was so immense that it even distorted the air above them. The wretched smell of burning decomposing bodies filled the air between the two sides.

"Hm, seems like they reacted pretty fast." Kace sneered as he glared towards an area full of tents off to the side of the city. It was clear that as soon as they had realised the danger they were in, the heroes had segregated anyone who could be infected.

"Did you… do this?" Sophia could not help the shock that she felt in her heart. She knew Kace could be ruthless, but this felt more like mass murder than warfare. 

"Naturally. It kills off some of their defences while saving us the hassle of killing them ourselves." Kace chuckled as his golden eyes swept over the pits between them and the walls.

"There were children in there!" Sophia could not hold back her anger. Vampires still had a vast majority of their human emotions due to their unique existence.

"What would we do with them? Give them milk and cookies?" Kace snorted. "They would never survive the trip through the desert to reach one of the goblin birthing pools. They would be a waste of resources without any return. It's far better that they perished now before being torn apart by monsters."

Sophia looked at him, incredulously. Kace's reasoning was twisted but made sense in a sinister way. Sophia was in charge of this operation, but she had no real experience of actual wars. Even her home had been taken by the heroes before she got the chance to witness the different methods that could be used.

As a survivor of the battle for Stonefall and quite a few life or death situations, Kace knew there was no room for sympathy in this war. He had already lost friends before, and the body count kept adding up. In his eyes, there was no room for reconciliation between the two sides. The best that they could hope for was sealing off this world so that the natural inhabitants would no longer have to worry about being hunted to extinction in the heroes quest for power.

Sophia glared solemnly at the city as the army formed their ranks and took their predetermined positions. This was no time for her to lose focus. After all, any survivors of her race needed her to make an excellent show of what she was capable of so that they could have a good life in the monster alliance.

The silence was almost deafening as she studied the defences, trying to decide what would be the best opening move. Kace watched her silently from the side. If possible, he wanted to leave the decision up to Sophia so that she could make a good impression of the different races that made up their army. Seeing that Sophia was hesitating, Kace decided to make a move.

"As you wish, Commander!" Kace turned to face her as he shouted this for all to hear. Since she had her back to the army, only Kace could see her surprised expression since she had no idea what he was talking about. 

"Oh! She's already making her move? Sending out Lord Kace's squad first? She must have a solid plan in mind. As expected of a bona fide princess, she's been trained well." These kinds of remarks echoed out from the officers behind them. Everyone assumed that Sophia had given Kace secret orders that were not meant for their ears.

A slight smile of appreciation spread on Sophia's face as she realised that Kace had taken the heavy pressure off her shoulders while boosting her reputation. She could only hope now that Kace did indeed have an excellent plan to get this siege off on the right foot. Either way, she would definitely receive the rewards or the blame depending on how his actions panned out.

Kace marched off to the side where the Tu'Thrag quickly moved to fall in behind him. Eager expressions crossed their faces as they realised they would be the ones to ignite the battle. However, Kace did not move after they were ready. His eyes turned towards the rear of the army where a section of natives stood that they had conscripted to help in the war.

"You guys! Get over here! You'll be helping out with this too!" Kace roared as if commanding them was the most natural thing that he could do. 

The natives looked troubled and slightly frightened as they answered his command. Their race always relied on sneak attacks. They had no confidence in fighting a frontal battle at all! The natives had grim smiles as voices of complaint spread throughout the army. All of them wondering why the newcomers got to have some fun first. This just made the natives curse mentally. 'What kind of psychopaths are you! Who willing rushes into danger?'

When the natives gathered around him, Kace began to explain the plan. The natives' grim expressions turned to hopeful ones and eventually into maniacal laughter. 'Good! This! We can work with this!'