Tama

  We left Grok's tent and made our way down the main path, before taking a left. Grok led the way towards them. When we reached them, I commented instantly, "Wow Grok! You made them bigger than last time!"

  Grok puffed out his green chest and looked proud of himself. He had stopped and turned to them. Behind him was a massive four-wheeled device that Tama knew from experience. When you put something in the big bowl-looking thing and cut the rope, the thing in the bowl would go flying.

  They were smaller when the goblins had attacked her home. Sensei had promptly let them fire, destroyed the boulder in midair just to scare the goblins, then walked through and dismantled their weapons. He then sent me to kill them. Good times. I smiled at the memories.

  I looked over at Saki and then Tera. They both stared open-mouthed at the large shooty things. I agreed. When I had first seen the smaller ones, I had been the same way. "Nya! With them this size, you could easily destroy an entire wave, Grok!" I said with glee.

  Grok pounded his chest as he puffed it out further before speaking. "Grok is great! Grok will kill all the enemies!"

  "Nya!" I said as I jumped and fist-pumped the air.

  "Since when did goblins have siege weapons?!" Tera said in a bewildered voice.

  "I have no idea. There was nothing about this in the bestiary for them," Saki replied, her voice full of shock and disbelief at what was in front of her.

  "Of course we weren't gonna attack large ones with these. Large ones leave us alone unless we go too far, so we bring our fighters and they do battle with the large ones!" said Grok matter-of-factly.

  I mean, it was kind of obvious. I don't see why Tera and Saki could not see that. If goblins brought shooty things, then the enemy would too, and it was just not a good time. Not when you could normally fight fair!

  Luckily for us, the undead did not fight fair, and we would need every advantage to win against them. So I would get to see the shooty things shoot!

  Saki turned to me and asked, "Any other surprises you'd like to mention, Tama?"

  I frowned at her in thought before answering, "Why don't we go through the goblins' arsenal of weapons to get a clear view of their capabilities? They have bows, those things that are like bows but shoot thick arrows, they have bombs, explosives, swords, spears, pikes, different types of armor..." I trailed off as I noticed Saki and Tera were staring at me like I was crazy.

  "Nya! What!" I said indignantly as I crossed my arms. Then my eyes widened as I remembered. "Oh, they also have the annihilator!" I said as my tail wagged back and forth excitedly at the memory of the massive thrashing beast.

  Tera and Saki's faces paled, and Saki opened her mouth to speak, closed it, then opened it again. "W...What's the annihilator?!"

  I looked at Saki and simply smiled. Taking her hand, I said, "Hold on!"

  Saki's eyes went wide as she was suddenly grabbed by me. I activated my blink and we were suddenly over one hundred feet in the air. Saki screamed, causing my ears to flatten in pain. I covered her mouth and pointed below us.

  She looked down and squeezed me tightly as she began saying, "Put me down, put me down now, Tama. So help me, I will erase us both!"

  Instead, I giggled as we began to descend. I pointed towards a massive cage in the distance. It was bigger than anything else around it, and inside was a large creature. It had the body of a wolf, with three wolf-shaped heads. It was easily bigger than even the shooty things by a large margin.

  Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

  Saki stared at the creature in stunned horror and she passed out. I wasn't sure if being in the air had done that, the amount of surprises, or the massive beast. Either way, I had shown her like she asked.

  I activated my blink at around seventy feet from the ground and we appeared on the ground again, a small crater where I landed. I held Saki carefully before I had done so, making sure she was safely in my arms and not going to touch the ground.

  I looked down at her unconscious form and giggled. "Silly Saki, it was just a small jump."

  Grok looked at Saki with a sad look. He knew what it felt like to be pulled into the air with me. He had not screamed when I had done it to him in the past, but he had passed out instantly.

  I figured they were both just crybabies. It wasn't that bad! I looked over to Tera and smiled. "Nya! Tera doesn't think that was scary, right?!"

  Tera looked like she was shaking slightly before she spoke. "E...Empress Tama, please have mercy. I feel like such action may have been unneeded when we could simply have walked over there, right?"

  She looked at me pleadingly and I deflated. "Oh... Tama didn't..." I looked down at Saki, still asleep in my arms, and I felt bad.

  Slowly I nodded. "Nya, Tera is right. Tama was just trying to help, but we can walk there."

  I sighed as I looked sadly at Saki's form and feared I might have hurt or upset her.

  "I mean, my Empress, if you want. I am still your devoted servant and will happily do that with you if... if you wish," Tera said. She stuttered over her words.

  I wasn't always the smartest when it came to people, but even I saw the fear and reservation in her eyes and her face, though she tried to hide it.

  I considered it for a moment. Maybe Tera would like it, but if Grok and Saki both didn't like it, why would Tera be any different? I looked at Tera's fear and made a choice. "No, Tera, Tama has hurt Grok and Saki. She doesn't want to hurt you either." The look of relief on Tera's face gave me all the validation I needed.

  My tail fell and my ears deflated even further as I stared down at Saki.

  "Actually, I kind of want to try that, Tama, if you don't mind. It looked like a thrill!" David said as he walked up to the group. I had heard him coming but was focused on dealing with Saki.

  I looked at him in surprise before smiling. "Nya! Really?!" I said as my tail began to flick back and forth excitedly again and my ears perked up.

  "Yeah, honestly after that boar fight yesterday I am so pumped. I saw you and Saki go all the way up there. I can only imagine what you can see from up there!" He said with a grin. He seemed genuinely interested in doing it. I felt my heart flutter and my cheeks flush.

  I looked over at Tera and she stepped forward, holding her arms out. I placed Saki in them. "Nya! Thank you, Tera!"

  Tera simply nodded and smiled down at Saki. Her smile seemed less happy and more... mean? I ignored Tera and held out my arms for David.

  He stepped forward and I wrapped myself around his waist, then activated my blink. Unlike Grok or Saki, when we appeared one hundred feet in the air, David did not panic. Instead, he looked around under him and started pointing.

  "That thing is massive! I wanna fight it!" he said, pointing at the annihilator. Then he looked down and laughed. "They are all so small, like ants. This must be how you and Matriarch Talia see things, huh? All of us so far below you? I wish I was that strong, Tama. One day, I will be."

  I didn't fully understand what he meant. I wasn't even thinking straight. My head was literally touching his belly and I was hyperventilating from joy and pleasure. I felt my blink activate by sheer instinct at fifty feet this time and we appeared on the ground, David in my arms.

  I looked over and saw that Tera had removed Saki's clothes and was letting the goblins draw on her like a piece of paper. I giggled at the stupidity of that and opened my mouth to tell them to stop. Before I could, however, David spoke up.

  "Umm, Tama, can you put me down now?" David asked, looking uncomfortable at me. My face went even redder and I felt my nose begin to bleed.

  Wrapping my tail around my leg, I gently lowered my right arm, allowing him to put his feet on the ground. "Thank you, Tama," he said with a kind smile.

  I smiled back as I felt my eye twitch and activated my blink, appearing far away from everyone and deciding I should go find Jiggle.

  After blinking around a bit more, I had finally calmed down enough to think clearly. Once I did, it struck me I had left Saki to be bullied by Tera while I ran off! Horror filled me and I blinked back to where they had been, only to see they had already left.