It didn't take me long to figure out we were heading back towards the Man-Eating Woods that were no longer man-eating. I suspected the Fort Bridge Ulug would be a very important defensive point that helped protect the border city of Faltra from the previous Demon Lord's forces of unaligned demons and creatures called Fallen.

I did wonder why we didn't find any of them in the iced-over forest, though. Wasn't that where most of them lived? Or was it just a hiding spot and they only went there to hunt or something? There were a whole lot of monsters and things that had filled our bags, after all.

“I'm bored.” Shera said after an hour of walking and we reached the Starfall Tower sign and the nice road that went off to the side. We stayed on the main road, though.

I suspected she was bored because Rem wasn't there for her to argue with over nothing. “I suppose I could do something to speed this trip up.”

“Oh? What can you do?” Shera asked and stopped walking to face me as she hugged the basket of wine. “I know you can't teleport like before without being there first.”

“Yeah, teleporting without knowing where you're going is always a huge mistake.” I said. I refrained from trying to use my clairvoyance power, because every time I thought about using it, my danger sense tingled. I did not want to set off anything like I did when trying to peek at the Greek Pantheon in High School DxD when Odin caught me and started a war with the Devils.

“Then what are...” Shera stopped talking when I stepped around her and hugged her from behind. Her face flushed red because she fit perfectly against me and she really liked how it felt.

“Close your eyes.” I whispered in her ear and she shivered and her nipples popped out.

“A-Atlas... we... we're on a mission.” Shera said without conviction.

“Trust me.” I breathed and lightly bit her long pointy ear.

“Ohhh!” Shera moaned and closed her eyes.

I apparated as far as I could see with her, silently of course, and then did it again and again. The remaining four hour walk was over in moments and I landed us just out of sight from the guards on this side of the bridge fort behind a few trees. I released her ear and she turned her head to give me look that should have only been used in the bedroom.

“Tonight, I'll do more than that and make you feel even better.” I promised.

Shera gave me a hopeful smile and nodded.

I let her out of the hug and made an appropriate space behind the trees to create another teleportation circle, concealed it and protected it with wards, and made a motion towards the road.

Shera turned and was surprised she could see the edge of the fort. “H-how did we get here so fast?”

“I'll fill you in later.” I said and walked beside her as I put a hand on her lower back and guided her out from behind the trees and into sight of the guards.

“Halt! Who goes there?” One of the guards asked and raised his sword threateningly.

The other guard patted his shoulder and pointed at Shera. “The demi-human is collared and isn't a threat.”

“Oh, that's fine then.” The first guard said and sheathed his blade. “If you're just passing through, you should turn back and return to Faltra. This is no place for casual travellers to be.”

That sounded ominous to my ears. “Why? What's going on?”

“We've received word that the Fallen have gathered in great numbers and are heading this way.” The other guard said and looked worried. “I sure could use a drink right now.”

“Oh! I have that for you!” Shera almost shouted and happily held up the large basket. “Compliments of the Mage's Association!”

“Celestine Baudelaire herself sent us here to deliver it.” I added, in case they doubted Shera's enthusiastic words. “The quest sheet is in the basket.”

The guard looked relieved as he lifted the cloth to reveal the expensive bottles of wine and the sheet. “We'll take you to meet the commander of the garrison.”

We were led over to the bridge fort and up the stairs to the top where a man wearing better armor than the other guards stood. He stayed silent as the gate guard retold what just happened and the man sighed and signed his name to the sheet.

“At least we'll have one last toast before it's all over.” The commander said, defeated.

“What? Why?” Shera asked, confused by his behavior.

“There's no way we can hold off over a hundred boss level monsters.” The commander said and looked out over the large river the bridge crossed. The lush fields on the other side were prime farmland and I could see several bunches of people trying to evacuate into the fort. “Once they break through us, there's nothing stopping them from reaching Faltra City.”

“But... it has a barrier...” Shera tried to argue.

“It does now.” I said, understanding the problem right away. I also knew why there had been no Fallen inside the Man-Eating Woods, since they were gathering together somewhere else to make an army. “This seems like it's been planned out beforehand. If their large force came here, knowing there was nothing to stop them...”

“...they already have Fallen demons inside the city walls.” The commander said.

“A little sabotage on the Lightning Tower, or an attack on Celestine, and the whole protective shield comes down, leaving the way clear for the Fallen army to crush everyone.” I said and he nodded.

“I would have sent a guard on a horse as soon as I heard, only it wouldn't reach them in time to warn them.” The commander said and motioned to the farmers and their families on the road below. “We won't even have time to get all the people out of the way before the enemy arrives.”

Shera gave me a look, one full of pleading hope. “Atlas, can you...”

“One or two won't be a problem. A hundred with special powers and magic? The collateral damage...” I started to say.

“If you can whittle them down and slow their advance, we might have a chance of stopping them here if we blow up the bridge.” The commander said, hope in his voice.

I looked around at the nervous guards and I couldn't in good conscience not do my best to handle this, even if it wasn't part of the quest. I chuckled, because the simple quest turned out to become a major event.

“A-Atlas?” Shera asked and put a hand on my chest.

“Don't worry, Shera. You're right. I got this.” I said and walked over to the edge of the parapet. I could see a light could of dust growing over the edge of the horizon. “I'd be a fool if I stood here and let them destroy all that farmland on their way here.”

I faked casting a Flight spell and air flowed around me and lifted me into the air. Everyone gasped and stared at me as I turned to wave at Shera, then I flew off towards the dust cloud at a speed just below the speed of sound.

My enhanced eyes saw the large group of giant monsters of all kinds, most of them mutated by evil energy, and I could feel their corruption emanating from them as I approached the army. I was really glad one of my affinities was Holy Light, which I combined with Legend's laser power and my Heat Vision.

I came to a stop floating a hundred feet above the front of the army and a fairly pretty demon lizard woman sat atop a dinosaur. She stood on the thing's back and aimed her spear at me.

“KILL THE HUMAN!” She yelled. By her greasy thoughts that resisted my probing, she wanted to wipe out all of humanity, corrupt the other beast-kin, and bring back the Demon Lord Khrebskulm to rule them all.

I sighed at her resolve to prove her strength to serve at the demon lord's side. “Asking you to surrender is pointless, isn't it?”

Instead of answering, she fired a magic blast of light at me and I bent it around my head harmlessly.

“I'm sorry about this.” I said and my form glowed with Holy Light. “But people like you need to be exterminated with the same prejudice you wish to do unto others.”

All of them screamed as they were bathed in the energy that could hurt them the most, stumbling and falling to a stop, then I opened fire with my eyes and hands as I tore through the closest ones like tissue paper. Some of the flying beasts managed to get above me and dropped down to fight and claw at me, which was why I had been worried about there being so many.

I had to divert my attention to them, which gave the ground troops a chance to recover and attack as well. Blasts of fire, magical energy, beams of different kinds, and even some water and ice hit me from below as I defended myself from teeth, claws, and fists in the air.

As I suspected, whatever rules governed this world allowed some attacks to bypass someone's natural defenses, like that Tempest Arrow did that could pierce anything. I felt large talons grip my shoulder and yanked me sideways. They tore at my costume as I punched the half-pterodactyl creature into mulch, lost one of my shoulder pauldrons, and the talons left angry red scratches and welts behind.

Unfortunately, that was enough of a distraction for a giant tiger-like monster to leap up as a blast of fire covered my face. I felt its claws dig into my chest and its massive weight dragged me to the ground.

“Hold HIM!” The leader shouted.

The other creatures pounded on me all over, claws and talons raking over every surface they could reach. They were hurting themselves more than me; but, hundreds of attacks a second was not something I had been prepared to handle as most of my clothing was shredded.

I was having a hard time concentrating, trying to heal myself, as they continuously attacked and overwhelmed me. It shouldn't have been this hard to fight them all. Something was wrong.

“Tear... him... APART!” The leader ordered and she stepped into view and lifted her spear and charged it up to glow like a small sun.

I felt them all pull at the same time and held in my scream of pain as I spoke two words. “Ice... Age.” I whispered as the spear plunged down. Everything around me went white and the spear slowed as it was covered in ice. It stopped barely an inch from my right eye and I shivered as I felt many claws frozen inside my body.

I tried to not scream in pain from the movement and it took me a moment to realize my left arm and leg were dislocated. I could still move them slightly, even with my hand partially chewed and halfway down a creature's throat.

Now that I had a moment to think, I realized how stupid it was to confront them like I did. Each of them were major boss-like creatures that were much more powerful than any of the adventurers at the guild. They usually gathered in ten and twenty person parties to fight against just one of them, and I tried to tackle a hundred of them up close.

It was no wonder I was overwhelmed. Why did I think this was a good idea? It was stupid and... my mind replayed the commander's talk and how my own thinking went from not handling it to doing it all by myself.

I hadn't felt him cast a spell at me, so it must have been some kind of innate skill to make his suggestions sound so reasonable that I convinced myself to change my mind. That conveniently bypassed my Mind Block, because I was the one changing my mind, not them.

There was a sound of ice cracking and I realized I was laying there, among a bunch of enemies, and was severely damaged. I used telekinesis to shatter everyone touching me and shakily stood up to see several of the large monsters at the edge of the group trying to break free from the ice. I could also see the leader's eyes flick inside the chunk of ice surrounding her.

I flicked her forehead and she shattered with a soft scream, her powerful spear cracked and broke apart as well. I spent a moment to heal myself using Panacea's power and then overhauled myself, just in case, then I braced myself to attack. I moved instantly in concentric circles to shove my hand through the head and hearts of every creature that was still standing.

I was covered in icy blood as I dropped the hearts onto the ground. I created several bags and shoved all of the monster bodies and parts inside of them, still frozen, and then vanished my blood where I had almost died. I stood there and took several breaths with that fact, equipped my actual Atlas superhero costume made with near indestructible materials, and stored all the bags.

I tapped my foot and shattered and dissolved all the ice I had created, floated up into the air, and flew back towards the Bridge Fort. I had a commander to interrogate and to kill.

*

Shera was a little worried that her summon was gone for a lot longer than she thought he would be. She was also quite enamoured with the commander. He was charismatic and seemed really nice. He even shared the wine with her and she seriously considered telling Atlas to go back to town by himself and she would say at the bridge fort for the party celebrating everyone's survival.

The commander told a joke and she laughed, even though she didn't understand what he said. Everyone else was laughing, so it was only polite to laugh, too. When he stepped close, she thought about letting him hug her like she let Atlas hold her. That felt really nice and he didn't look at her like she was a dumb demi-human like every other human did.

Shera smiled warmly at the man as he reached for her breast. Letting him grope her was a good idea, wasn't it? He was a commander after all and there was nothing wrong with spending some personal time with him. A wet splash of something red hit her face and startled her and the hand reaching for her was gone with just a stump left.

“I guess I don't have to interrogate you after all.” Atlas said, his voice full of anger, then he backhanded the commander's face and the man's head disappeared.

No one reacted, not even her, and a punch to the body's chest flung the commander's armored body off of the parapet and into the air and a bright blast of light disintegrated it.

“Shera, you will forget all of the suggestions and comments the commander made to you and you will no longer be influenced by his words.” Atlas ordered and wiped off her face.

Shera blinked her eyes at him and her thoughts went right to him going out alone to fight all of those powerful creatures. She felt dread fill her and tears came to her eyes as she tried to examine him for wounds or anything else, only to see his outfit was different from what he wore before.

“I healed up already, so it's fine.” Atlas said and picked her up in his arms. “Let's get back to the city before they set off whatever plans they have there.”

“O-okay.” Shera said and blushed at being held so tenderly by such strong muscular arms.

Atlas smiled at her and jumped off of the top of the fort and the soldiers stared as he gently floated down to land on the road back to Faltra. He walked over to the side of the road where the trees were and the soldiers lost interest in what he was doing and went back to their jobs.

Shera blinked her eyes at the small flash of light and she didn't question that they were back near the city gates. She knew they had just teleported a very long distance again and knew that they could keep doing that as much as they wanted. It would make doing quests far outside the city a lot easier and that made her really happy.

“You're not going to ask to be put down?” Atlas asked.

“Why would I do that?” Shera asked with a knowing smile.

Atlas chuckled and carried her inside the city to look for Rem. “Just think of her and you'll know where to go.”

Shera did as he asked and she felt where her friend was right away. She was near the inn they stayed at and Shera pointed forward and to the left a little where the demi-human block was.

“Good girl. You got it right away.” Atlas praised her and kissed her cheek.

“Th-thank you.” Shera said, her face a little red. She felt all tingly inside from both his words and his kiss. She was seriously falling for him and she didn't know why she thought the commander was a good replacement for him. No one could compare to her awesome summon!