The instant Jen cleared the keep gate she accelerated to warlord speed. Her maces crashed into the nearest crystal statue ten times in a second. Vibrations ran up the hafts and into her arms. She could be pounding granite blocks for all the impression she made on the demons.

She darted back, evading a rending slash, then back in to pound out another string of worthless attacks. Up and down the line the other warlords were having just as much luck as she was. They had the damn things outnumbered two to one, but it didn’t make any difference if their attacks didn’t do any damage.

After two more fruitless efforts Jen stepped back. Her opponent turned its attention to a closer warlord who found himself beset on two sides. She grimaced and battered the demon across the back of the head drawing its attention back to her. With quick, darting attacks Jen baited the construct away from the bulk of the battle.

When she’d drawn it a good twenty feet from the general melee Jen enhanced her vision as far as she could and really studied the crystal demon. It slashed at her, but Jen’s speed was more than enough to keep her safe while she examined its body. They had to have a weakness.

There! A thin line running around one of the crystal’s facets. It was so faint she couldn’t see it even with normally enhanced sight.

Jen ducked a slash, darted in, and hammered the line. A thin spiderweb of cracks formed before repairing themselves. So she could damage them after all. Now she just had to break them faster than they healed.

Jen struck the same spot once, twice, three times in rapid succession.

The cracks spread and grew wider.

She was doing it. Her maces struck over and over in the same place.

Chips flew and crimson light showed through the gaps.

Almost there. A chunk the size of her fist broke out and went flying. The head of her mace went through the opening.

The demon shuddered and exploded. Jen went sprawling across the dirt and rolled to her feet, a fierce grin on her face. She knew how to beat them now. They weren’t invincible, just really tough.

She sent soul force into her voice box and lungs then shouted as loud as she could. “Enhance your sight. Find the fracture lines. Strike the same point as hard and fast as you can.”

Jen’s enhanced voice rang out over the battlefield even louder than the sounds of fighting. She’d told them how, now all she could do is hope they had the strength to do what she said. And where was Marie-Bell? The paladin was nowhere to be seen.

She couldn’t worry about it. Jen chose another target and went to work.

Now that she knew what to look for, finding the fault line was really easy. She managed three solid hits before an attack from her left forced her to spin and batter a claw aside. She spun back and found all the damage she’d caused already restored.

Damn it! One on one she knew she could handle any of them, but with enemies on her flanks she couldn’t focus, not if she wanted to stay alive.

An explosion down the line told her someone had heard what she said. The very human scream that followed made her wince. Jen sometimes forgot that not all warlords were as fast as her. It was far too easy to get ripped to shreds if you made even the smallest mistake.

Another scream followed the first then Jen was too busy fending off a trio of statues to even think about landing a blow of her own, much less listen for the deaths of more comrades. This was impossible. Fighting so many at once left you vulnerable. They needed to separate them from the army and attack one on one.

“Skirmish line!” Jen shouted at full volume. “Don’t attack, just hold them back.”

It was a credit to their training that the warlords immediately moved to obey her command. Whether their commander was desperate or dead, no one countermanded her order.

Jen held her breath and watched. Slowly, with much shouting and smashing, shoving and shuffling, the warlords formed a line free of gaps with all the crystal demons in front of it. She waited half a minute before she felt certain they’d hold.

Now for phase two. “Center line, gap.”

Four warlords in the middle of the line stepped back and to the side; their heavy iron hammers never stopped moving. They batted aside claws and fanged mouths until a single construct had forced its way through the opening.

Jen charged in and began battering it before it could slash at the warlords’ exposed backs. “Close gap!” she shouted between blows.

The warlords shifted again, sealing the opening. Jen drew the construct a handful of steps from the line and began her attack. Her maces sounded like a mad drummer as she pounded its weak spot. A minute later it exploded. This time Jen had braced herself and didn’t end up on the ground.

She wiped the sweat from her forehead. Only a hundred or so to go.