An Unborn Hero

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For assembling over half your team, even if one of them vehemently disagrees with your fashion sense, [Magical Girl Transformation] advances to level 15.

"What is her problem, anyway?" thought Mystery, staring at Grace as she made a spirited attempt at disembowelling Rose, despite the army bearing down on them. "Did she have her heart set on the long skirt look? Whatever. At least she's standing up properly now; the religious debate between short and long dresses is hardly important compared to the literal army of monsters."

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For your attempts at counting a rather large number of wyverns, [Soul's Eye] advances to level 29.

"Yes. Point taken; there's a lot of them. I don't think three magical girls are going to cut it, but Mum is running short on mana. Presumably she needs some for herself, too. Maybe one more cast? Let's go with Rose's mum."

The outer wall exploded as an armoulphaunt charged through it, enchantments be damned, launching boulders the size of cars over the farm. Some of them hit the wyverns, knocking a dozen of them out of the sky. A hundred more took their place, chasing the fleeing soldiers.

"Yup... We definitely need more firepower," thought Mystery, starting to cast.

One of the lumps of high-velocity debris clipped Hayedalf as he ran, sending him sprawling, blood pouring from his head. He didn't get back up. A couple of soldiers grabbed him without stopping as they overtook—the [Lieutenant] thankfully having the [Rescue] sub-skill for [Ordered Retreat]—but he was still dead weight, and he slowed down his carriers. The wyverns gained ground more quickly. They wouldn't make it back in time.

"Well, if Grace hates me, what's Dad going to think?" wondered Mystery, redirecting her cast, glad that she'd thought up a design for him beforehand but hoping like hell that the spell didn't have a range limitation.

It didn't, and the unconscious body of Hayedalf started to glow.

The fleeing soldiers sped up a little as their carried load shrank and lightened, but they'd fallen too far behind. The wyverns launched their fireballs, and the soldiers couldn't dodge. Thankfully, Kellela was in range, too, and she willed a set of translucent pink barriers into existence, the balls of flame splashing harmlessly against them. Rose—ignoring Grace as she tearfully pounded on her back—summoned more orbs of light, which sprouted into a fan of rapiers arrayed around her. With a wave of an arm, they shot forward, stabbing into the wyverns in mid-air.

"Oh, cool. I have a ranged attack!" she exclaimed, summoning another wave of projectile swords as a ding resounded in Mystery's mind.

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Achievement unlocked: [Monster Slayer II].

Monster Slayer II (Uncommon)
You have single-handedly slain a monster of rank 2, or played a significant role in the defeat of a higher ranked monster. Grants a 20% experience bonus to all combat skills and a 5% boost to offensive and defensive abilities when fighting monsters.

"Hayedalf!" screamed Kellela, having more important things on her mind than research, for once.

"He's fine," confirmed Platus, his eyesight enough to clearly see what had happened. "Mystery healed him."

"Or her might be more accurate," added Rose as she watched Hayedalf's face take on a more feminine appearance as he shrank. "See how petty you're being, Grace? You think you have problems displaying your knees, but poor Hayedalf just suffered an involuntary sex change."

Kellela gave up on trapping the wyverns, only able to contain a few of them at once, and instead summoned barriers to block fireballs. When they ran out, she placed a few in front of the fastest moving creatures, which slammed into them at speeds sufficient to crush their heads. The speediest soldiers made it back into the wards and leapt up onto the walls.

"They're stupid, but there are far too many of them," commented the [Lieutenant], helping up the last of the group. "Grace, please heal their burns."

The [First Princess], being given a direct and clear order, finally started behaving sensibly, chanting her healing magic.

Hayedalf gave a girly groan as he stirred and pulled himself to his feet, peering in confusion at his new knee-high boots. And black bands around his wrists. And medium-sleeved black dress, with a copious amount of gothic lace. And the way the soldiers were suddenly considerably taller than he was. "Thanks for the healing, Mystery," he said, instantly figuring out what had happened.

She thankfully hadn't given him oversized breasts, not wanting to be that cruel to her own father, but that didn't mean no breasts; the dress needed to be filled to the correct shape, after all. On the other hand, when it came to hair, she'd panicked. Her original design had called for long hair, but again, not wanting to be crueller to Hayedalf than necessary to heal him, she'd backed down. Not having a more masculine design preplanned, that had resulted in him sporting the same black buzz-cut of Sir. Combined with his freshly feminised face, the overall effect was somewhat androgynous.

Another issue was the choice of flower. Mystery had seen a black bloom on the farm, and had even seen Kellela name it, but of course the name had presented as a complex pattern of colours. Mystery had incorporated it anyway, resulting in a personalised activation phrase that was partially phonetic and partially visual. Yet another thing Kellela would whine at her for once she had the capability, but for now, α̶̬̈́δ̶̞̆ε̸̹̅ι̵͚̅α̸̧̇ν̸̟̎ό̵̼͗ς̸̲͒φ̷̻̔ρ̶̖̾ο̸̜̍ύ̸͆ͅτ̷̖͋ο̶̖̈ Black was blissfully unaware of his code name.

One of the flowers now decorated Hayedalf's shortened hair; unordered layers of obsidian black petals shimmered under the sunlight, giving just a hint of midnight purples and blues or mahogany reds as the sun caught them. The centre of the flower was a void, reflecting no light whatsoever. Whatever detail the flower contained was invisible to the naked eye, even under the bright summer sun.

Mystery had incorporated that feature into the costume simply by making Hayedalf's panties the same shade of all-consuming black. To anyone who happened to get a glance between the layers of petals that made up his skirt, the effect was somewhat disconcerting.

"See? Now that's how you react with grace. Unlike you, who aren't living up to your name at all."

"Shut up," demanded the [Lieutenant]. "Save your bickering for later, assuming we survive. There's no way we can beat them, and their numbers preclude any method of escape I've discussed with Hayedalf. Does anyone have any other ideas they've failed to mention?"

"No. I've told you everything," confirmed Hayedalf.

The [Lieutenant] took a couple of seconds to work out who had spoken, before nonchalantly continuing as if Hayedalf turning into a little girl was normal behaviour.

"Then my best suggestion is to slay the demon that's controlling them."

"Are you sure there is one?" asked Kellela as another wave of wyverns crunched against her barriers. "They don't seem to be behaving with any sort of intelligence."

"There's far too many of them to not have been driven here deliberately, and there are species here that would never cooperate naturally."

"These abilities use very little mana," commented Kellela, catching a few of the closer wyverns in her barriers. An attempt at crushing them within failed, though, the monsters proving tougher than the bone hornets she'd previously faced. "Grace. What ability do you have?"

"I... umm... can do this..."

Grace glowed with a white light, which burst from her in a sphere, rolling over the battlefield. Alas, it seemed to have no effect on anything it touched, whether friendly or antagonistic.

"Well, that's useless," complained Rose, still annoyed at the prudish [First Princess]. "What about you, Hayedalf?"

"Uhh... I need something to throw, I think," he answered.

The [Lieutenant] tossed him a water bottle, which started glowing red in Hayedalf's hands. Then he threw it at the advancing crowd of monsters, where it exploded on impact, leaving a significant crater in their ranks.

"Cool!" exclaimed Rose.

"I think I can do ice, too. And some other stuff. Probably," said an uncertain Hayedalf. While the powers of the magical girl squad were intuitive, they didn't exactly come with an instruction manual. Nor could Mystery share the image she had of each member of her magical girl squad. She'd viewed Hayedalf as a master enchanter—someone who could take mundane items and imbue them with all sorts of magic—but she had no idea how enchanting actually worked, so his ability didn't mesh with anything he already knew.

"Okay then. The monsters are coming from one direction only; directly from the forest. They aren't employing even basic tactics, despite easily having the numbers to surround us, thus I believe the demon driving them is a straightforward brawns-over-brain type. It's unlikely he'll be trying to hide, and is most likely positioned directly behind the horde. We need a strike team to get in there and take him out."

He looked at the four magical girls appraisingly.

"Hayedalf's abilities don't seem suited to melee combat. Nor do Grace's. Kellela's barriers will be useful, but since she's carrying the target of the monsters, that could be outweighed by the extra attention she would attract."

He looked around thoughtfully.

"No, none of the monsters seem focused on her. They haven't been ordered to focus on anyone in particular. That could easily change once you leave to engage the demon, if he thinks you're fleeing..."

"Oh, come on!" shouted Rose as a disorganised squad of ogres reached the inner wards and suicidally threw themselves against them. "There's no time for an in-depth analysis!"

"Actually, despite the inner wards being a little weaker than the outer wards, they'll hold out at least three times as long," chimed in Hayedalf, still tossing whatever he could get his hands on over the walls, where monsters burnt, froze, were electrocuted, poisoned, diseased, and in one odd case, spontaneously broke out into song. "They have a far smaller area to protect, so the shield is more concentrated."

"That's nice. We have an entire minute instead of a mere twenty seconds."

"Fine," declared the [Lieutenant]. "All four of you, leave via the west wall. Circle around the horde and assassinate the demon at the back."

Grace blanched, paling so badly that it was hard to tell where dress ended and skin began.

"Yes, you too. We don't need healing here; either the wards remain intact, in which case we're in perfect health, or they fail, in which case we're dead. You're better placed using your purification magic on the Demon."

"But I don't have..." started Grace, before Rose grabbed an arm and yanked her away from the group.

"Time limit!" she shouted, as Kellela and Hayedalf followed her.

Despite not being explicitly ordered to surround the farm, the monsters were being pushed around simply by the crush of numbers, and the four-strong assassination squad needed to run quite a way around the walls before being able to jump out unimpeded. The monsters at the edge of the horde took notice, and swerved to intercept, but found themselves swiftly impaled by Rose's projectile blades.

Thankfully, just as the [Lieutenant] predicted, the entire swarm didn't begin chasing Kellela.

"Why didn't we just send Rose out on her own?" complained Grace.

"If you don't stop whining right now, I'm going to... I want to say throw one of these swords at you, but you'd probably consider that a light punishment. Let's say I'll paint a picture of you in that outfit, knees included, maybe even your skirt fluttering in the wind and hinting at what's beneath, and get it copied and distributed around the capital."

Grace stopped whining.

"So, what's the plan?" asked Kellela as they ran.

Everyone else remained silent.

"Who are you asking?" asked Rose in turn.

"Grace technically has rank?" suggested Hayedalf.

"What? I mean, yes, technically, but this is a battle! I don't know what to do! Why didn't the [Lieutenant] come with us?"

"Because his skills are centred around commanding and buffing his subordinates. Not only do we not count, but without his skills, the barrier would fall a lot faster."

"Rose is the only one with actual combat experience," pointed out Kellela.

"I'm just an iron ranked adventurer! Not to mention a kid!"

Rose stopped to rethink that sentence, glancing around at the group of girls she was sprinting alongside. Grace was the only one that looked noticeably older than she was, still being young enough herself that Mystery's [Age Correction] hadn't fired, but even she only had a single year over Rose.

"A real kid, I mean."

"Being old doesn't make any difference if we don't have the experience to back it up. We know nothing about hunting monsters or demons."

"Right, fine. Then... He's certain to have monsters protecting him. Hayedalf, collect some stones and open a path for us. Kellela, defend us from ranged attacks. Grace, keep us fighting fit. I'll go first, and..."

Alas, her plan, simple as it was, was interrupted at that point by forty metres of wyrm bursting out of the forest. Trees splintered like matchsticks as the draconic beast charged at the group. The thing was quadrupedal, with a long neck and an elongated muzzle, its entire body covered in dull golden scales. Its massive claws tore up the ground with every step it took.

"... Never mind," supplied Rose. "Let's just wing it."

Spoiler

μ̵̼͉̐υ̴̡̽̿σ̷̭͓̃̀τ̸͉̤̾̆ή̶͎̱͌ρ̸̤͕̏̿ι̷̬̾͜ό̸͈ (Human)
Age: -8 months
Occupation: Hero (L)
Skills:
- Soul's Eye (U) (29/80)
>> Sense Vitality (U)
>> Sense Soul (R)
>> Sense Mana (U)
>> Sense Light (C)
>> Sense Sound (C)
>> Pierce Illusions (U)
>> Sense Miasma (R)
- Astral Projection (U) (20/60)
>> Sure Navigation (U)
>> Uncontainable (U)
>> Tether of Will (L)
- Robust (C) (18/40)
>> Hardened Soul (R)
>> Secured Mana (U)
>> Pain Tolerance (C)
- Stealth (C) (3/20)
>> Camouflage Vitality (R)
- Magical Girl Transformation (R) (15/30)
>> Age Correction (R)
>> Gender Bending (R)
- Light (C) (8/20)
>> Heterochrome (U)
- Increased Attributes (C) (7/20)
>> Mana Storage (U)
Achievements:
- Early Bloomer II (R)
- First Skill (C)
- Apprentice (C)
- Survivor of Zarklaxxos, the Arcane Infernal (R)
- I Broke The System, And All I Got Was This Lousy Achievement (E)
- Astral Explorer I (R)
- First Spell (C)
- I Broke The System Again, And Now The Administrators Hate Me (E)
- Spell Forger (R)
- Demon Slayer I (R)
- Monster Slayer II (U)
- Curiosity (U)

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