Wind roared in Mulan’s ears as she dove towards the enemy forces when the countdown hit zero. All those following her decent understood the importance of this initial strike. If they gave the much larger enemy forces time to regroup and coordinate a counterattack Mulan wasn’t confidant they could hold out. Every monster in the dungeon was ready to fight till the last creature standing, but against the estimated 1:4 odds they wouldn’t last long. Making her task of taking out the [Commanders] all the more important.

The Fairy and Fireworks forces were gathered in and around a large clearing in the middle of the pine forest. On the ground scores of golems, demons, imps, and bugs wandered aimlessly while awaiting orders. In the air fairies and pixies varying wildly in species and size had been generating large quantities of a glitter like substance. On a hunch the lord had ordered all Glitter Rays to entrap the small fairies within their tractor beams and withhold from attacking. Sure enough no penalty for attacking early had been handed down and whatever plan the enemy leaders had been working towards was halted.

Using her avian vision even as she reached top speed Mulan locked onto the largest foe on the battlefield. The almost completely black humanoid shaped [Commander] stood over 20 feet tall with a pair of bright red, rocket shaped, and sparking horns boosting his height into the lower thirties. Despite his size the giant was rather lacking in muscle and his limbs appeared to have been manually stretched out. Behind its back a pitchfork tipped tail playfully tugged at the colorful organic satchel he wore on his hip. One peak into the bag warned Mulan not to strike the massive collection of explosives.

Target acquired Mulan dispatched both of her hidden arm blades and activated [Phoenix Coat] for good measure. In moments her body was wreathed in red hot flames and she pierced directly through the giant [Commander] before it could register the surprise attack and give out orders. Coming out the other side of quickly dissipating monster and rolling midair to strike towards the nearest troops Mulan realized the creature had been completely composed of a soot like substance. Nothing her blades couldn’t cut through but it was an odd feeling.

Engaging 10 smaller versions of the giant Mulan cancelled [Phoenix Coat] and in a single beat of her wings launched a pair of [Hurricane Slashes] into the group. The first struck true and severed a 17 foot giant at the neck while the second only cut open a wide gash on the 19 footers chest. Closing the distance in an instant Mulan rushed upwards and finished the second giant off with a vertical slash on her way.

‘Cutting all these shadows is oddly... satisfying.’ She thought absentmindedly as she prepared for the Soot Sowers first defensive volley.

The remaining 8 all reached into their bags with their flashing multicolored claws and grabbed as many bombs and rockets as possible to throw at the Ronin Hawk. Usually the monsters would carefully fire from a distance and choose different magical explosives depending on the environment but not when an enemy was right in front of them.

Beating her metallic wings to remain still in the air Mulan took in the sight of several dozen fireworks, bombs, and trailing rockets of various hues flying towards her body. Time almost stood still as she was blown away by the twisted beauty such demonic monsters could create.

Tucking in her wings to reduce her surface area Mulan flew directly into the oncoming barrage. Sparks bounced off her wings as the colorful explosions momentarily illuminated the dark forest around her. Once the brunt of the attack was behind her Mulan unfurled her wings and in a graceful spin activated [Reverse Orbit].

Along her dark wings a thin layer of purple mana appeared and began entrapping all projectiles that happened across it. Once a sufficient number of bombs had been caught Mulan simply beat her wings in the direction of the Soot Sowers and sent them flying back with even greater speed.

Following her defeat during the adventurer’s raid Mulan had realized her weakness to projectiles and dedicated many days towards accounting for it. For arrows and other physical attacks she would use [Reverse Orbit] and for the magical [Mana Blade]. She still needed more practice to use the new skills with her tails but she needed to make do for now.

3 Soot Sowers took the brunt of her attack and fell to the clearings floor with great thuds. Another 4 took damage from the explosions but were far from taken down. To make matters worse they began popping some smaller bombs inside their mouths and crunching down. In a similar vein the only unharmed Soot Sower shoved a handful of red and black striped bombs down its throat.

As Mulan prepared another charge at the giants she could only watch as a chain reaction of explosions occurred within the Soot Sowers themselves. Through their thin stomach lining Mulan could see bright green and red sporadic bursts of light. In time with the explosions the injured Soot Sowers injuries began to heal while the uninjured body suddenly grew extra muscles and it charged towards her with reckless rage.

Dodging to the left of the enraged Soot Sower’s punch Mulan flew around the giant before stabbing her left wing into its back where a humanoid’s heart should be. Inside the giant’s body Mulan’s wing was met with immense heat that would have begun melting her wing if she’d not torn it out through the monster’s shoulder.

‘I can’t wait for these things insides to cool down!’ she screamed internally as she landed on the ground and taking her [Persona] form to ease the pain in her wing. The injury manifested as light burns on her arms but the pain did seem lessened.

Fully healed from her previous attack the 4 remaining giants surrounded and began trying kick around Mulan’s small body. Still inhumanly fast she managed to dance around the ground shaking attacks. It was when she happened to kick off one of the giant’s chests and match another’s kick mid air she had an idea.

When the next punch from above came Mulan leapt onto and quickly ran up the Soot Sowers arm. On her way to the shoulder she used all of her tails to sever the various bomb bags and began pulling them upwards with her. Making good use of her strength and mental control over the tails Mulan tipped back the giant’s heads and dumped the entirety of the bomb bags contents into their bodies. She was going to burn them from the inside out!

Leaping into the air and taking her normal form Mulan quickly gained some distance from the volatile monsters. If her theory held true them and all their surrounding forces would be going up in mere moments.

Having swallowed all their bombs, both those meant to be ingested and not, the Soot Sowers stood still as their bodies began to react. At first the usual healing, berserker, and defensive buffs came, but then... almost the entirety of the backline forces Mulan had been fighting around were wiped out. The ensuing explosion of 4 Soot Sowers momentarily blinded all those present in the clearing and when their vision returned all that remained was a single crater and the glowing lights of monsters being reabsorbed.

Not having the time to celebrate her success Mulan met back up with the main body of her forces. From a momentary glance the hawks and rays were fairing well against the other dungeon’s monsters. Losses were heavy on both sides but most of theirs were stemming from all the previously missed fairies. Too small to hit and with physical strength capable of matching the hawks they were proving a difficult enemy to effectively damage.

Making sure her voice could be heard over the battlefield Mulan ordered “Glimmer Rays! Mesmerizing Mantas! Commence operation Coalescence!”

Following their [Commanders] orders all the rays flying amongst the trees and fighting in the skies above soon met just above the tree line. Once they were united the Glimmer Rays began swimming as a school in a circle above the clearing. Several of the larger fairies tried to interrupt the operation but the bats, Aural Owls, and various hawks quickly cut them off. While their enemies certainly had the numerical advantage only Mulan’s forces could strategize and work together effectively.

Having charged up enough the Glimmer Rays converged their tractor beams into one giant beam wide enough in circumference to cover a quarter of the clearing. The great rainbow beam immediately trapped many of the fairies present. Next came the Mesmerizing Mantas who began schooling around the beam itself. Using their hypnotic bellies the Mantas began convincing all remaining fairies, and even some of the other monsters, that flying into the beam would heal them before taking them back to their island dungeon.

Once the foes were vulnerable and stuck within the great beam the Glimmer Rays began sucking the smaller pixies up into their fanged jaws. Those too large to be consumed were taken out by Honed Hawks diving in and out of the pillar of light and slicing whatever their wings happened to pass through.

As the Coalescence worked to thin the enemy forces Mulan and the Serrated Hawks fought side by side against the Soot Sowers, Bomb Beetles, Incubi, and particularly troubling Blast Golems. When any kind of spark landed against their flint bodies explosions would ring out across the golem’s entire body, making a fight with metal wings almost impossible. It was quickly becoming apparent only Mulan could dispatch them with relative ease.

While holding the line Mulan realized how the enemy dungeon masters had organized their troops. Unlike her lord who had loosely separated monsters by land, sea, and placed them under [Named] leaders; the enemy had divided their forces by species with a [Commander] of each leading them. These [Commanders] appeared to be slightly stronger variants of their base template. And 3 were currently facing Mulan down at once.

Standing opposite her stood an Incubus built like Everest, a horse sized Bomb Beetle riding atop a great ball of gunpowder, and a Blast Golem with 4 arms carved to look like spears. Individually each was weaker than her but against all 3 Mulan was in for a rough fight.

Deciding to take on the Blast Golem first Mulan rocketed towards her prey with her 4 tails each sent ahead to meet the spears head on. The emotionless Blast Golem managed to raise all its spears in time to parry and soon 4 explosions rang out in front of Mulan’s path.

Pushing through the flames Mulan sent a dozen of her sharpened feathers straight for the Blast Golem’s body with a flap of her wing. The feathers were weaker than [Hurricane Slash] but while fighting through so many enemies her skill strain was growing at an alarming rate.

Seeing the attack coming the Blast Golem activated a skill and coated its spears with light blue mana. Placing all 4 in front of its body the golem began twirling the spears at such high speeds they knocked down all the oncoming arrows.

Realizing she’d prioritized the wrong target Mulan turned just in time to leap over the Bomb Beetles charge. Getting stuck in just one of those gunpowder bombs before it detonated would get her killed so she needed to be careful. Keeping the location of the moving Beetle [Commander] in her mind Mulan ran towards the Incubus who seemed to be the weakest of the 3.

Soon as it realized Mulan was coming for him the Incubus [Commander] flexed and activated some strength multiplying skill. By the time she sent a rolling kick of her talons towards the Incubus’s chest his physical strength was so great he managed to catch and hold her by the leg.

Sensing his chance the Incubus’s eyes clouded pink as it began releasing a cloud of pheromones. Mulan managed to break free of the demon’s hold by shrinking into her [Persona] form and pulling her now human leg out and shifting back. But she was not fast enough to avoid getting a good whiff of the demonic pheromones.

Sidestepping another charge of the Bomb Beetle’s quickly growing gunpowder bomb Mulan was assaulted again by the Blast Golem and felt her movements grow sluggish. The lewd pheromones were bringing her animalistic instincts to the front of her mind and pushing back the adrenaline of battle. It was overwhelming her senses so badly that it wasn’t until she lost an exchange to the Blast Golem and had most of her left wing severed she managed to snap out of it.

Using the rush of pain to push through her instincts Mulan blinked the tears from her eyes and let out a defiant caw before activating [Ghost Blade] with her hidden right blade. Her sword phased through the Blast Golems raised spear as if it didn’t exist and she struck deep into the golems chest. The ensuing explosion wreathed her body in flames and threatened to send her flying but she dug her talons into the dirt and sent her tails towards the [Commander].

Wrapping 2 around the golem’s wrists and 2 around its legs Mulan screamed as she pulled the golem’s body taught and extended her tails far as they could reach into the sky. Moments later a pair of Honed Hawks passing by struck the golems body, severing the core and ending its false life.

Mulan tried to pull her tails back in while raising her good wing to block the Incubus’s next strike but didn’t make it in time. Gripping 3 of her tails in one hand the Incubus began swinging Mulan around himself. Once she’d gained sufficient speed he let go and sent her slamming into the Bomb Beetle’s newest creation.

Flames licked her body and her ears lost all function as Mulan was sent several hundred feet into the air. Her consciousness began to fade, her wings melted, and she felt the familiar sensation of the dungeon reabsorbing her. Feeling herself lose control of her body Mulan’s eyes slowly fell. The pain grew distant and she felt herself falling asleep.

That’s when she felt her lord’s presence.

He, the one who had made the place she called home, the place she was fighting for, was with her. Over the link she’d grown to cherish Mulan felt one overwhelming emotion. Not sadness, anger, or disappointment. Only one came through. Confidence. The one she called lord still believed she could win.

And who would she be to disappoint?

The Ronin’s eyes shot open as she beat what was left of her melted wings. Letting out a war cry that stunned her enemies and invigorated her comrades Mulan spammed her strengthening skills despite the pain they relayed to her mind with every activation.

“[BRAVE BIRD]!!!”

Instead of the red flames of [Phoenix Coat] Mulan’s body was cradled in blue, her speed multiplied until she created a sound one could have mistaken for Peryton reinforcements. She knew the blue flames were using her body as fuel for her attack, but hell, she was dying anyway.

Sensing her death rattle the Incubus sprouted a pair of bat like wings in a vain attempt to flee while the Bomb Beetle generated and quickly buried itself underneath a 3 story ball of gunpowder. Neither would be safe.

In a flash of blue and white flames Mulan put the last of her consciousness into her exclusive skill [Sparrow Strike] and cut through the Incubus without feeling any feedback in her wings. Plummeting straight through the mass of gunpowder until she laid eyes on the final [Commander] Mulan let out a small smile as her own flames ignited the bomb. Dooming the Beetle to an ironic fate.

And as her body was finally absorbed back into the dungeon amidst the grand explosion Mulan whispered “Glory to the Lord.”