Discovering that this coastal barony was run by people that cultivated ziness put things into perspective. No one guarded the bay. No one was out and working. Many of the buildings were badly in need of repair.

  “With the demons here, I don’t know if Merumeru is going to wake up.” Alex informed Funi and Marina.

  “So we have to defeat the demons then?” Marina blinked a few times, though the sleep still left her dazed. “If I remember right, that was the original pn.”

  “This whole thing is turning into a big mess.” Alex huffed. “Everyone ran in, and I don’t know if they can resist the demon’s sleep power.”

  “Ariel should be able to.” Funi spoke up. “Sea elves are resistant to enchantments.”

  “But she’s a fairy right now.” Alex sounded worried. “Are their resistances as good?”

  “I don’t know.” Funi caught Alex’s worry, her voice sounding unsteady. “Hopefully she is, the winter court is usually avoided by everyone. People hunker down and wait for them to do their thing and go away.”

  “So here’s my idea.” Alex pulled together a quick pn. “We grab the orca and head as close to the town as we can without falling asleep. Then Marina and I can fire the ballista at the demons in the town.”

  “But what about Ariel?” Funi sounded worried. “Shouldn’t we rush to her side?”

  “She can fly. She’s faster than me.” Alex grumbled. “Because someone decided to go in guns bzing, catching up to them isn’t going to work.”

  Leaving the other boats moored, Alex and the crew weighed anchor. The clockwork mechanism flipped the deck, deploying the cute-looking ballista, and they headed for the harbor.

  Initially, the waves made the long-range weapon problematic. Alex found she couldn't hit anything beyond 60 yards unless the sea was incredibly calm. Ariel's exceptional ship skills, however, allowed her to cheat and actually hit targets when at the helm. Other crew members with ranged combat skills, like Marina, could also assist.

  As they entered the narrow crack between two rocky cliffs, Alex feared they might be crashed against the rocks, but the sailor at the helm steered them true.

  “Funi,” Fufi gestured a wing at the other fmingo. “Let's see if Alex’s trick to bypass the king’s ws works here.”

  The two fmingos waddled down the companionway to the deck below. They were repelled by a barrier, taking a step back, but as the boat continued, they felt as if they'd passed through a membrane.

  “Neat!” Funi let out a sigh of relief. “I was worried we might have gotten crushed or something.”

  “Nope!” Fufi chuckled. “Behold the power of cuteness!”

  Rounding the corner, they spotted the small fishing vilge, sounds of fighting carrying on the air. As they entered the cove, the waves grew almost imperceptible. With the spring run down, they scanned the town's waterfront with the ballista, seeking targets.

  “Some people and demons are sleeping on the beach.” Alex pointed the now-lowed weapon around, considering a target

  Marina yawned. “Those people are not sleeping.”

  “But they are just ying there.” Alex protested.

  Marina leaned heavily against the rail. “Sleeping people breathe. I think I need to go y down.”

  Alex shook the scout. “Hey, none of that.”

  The human woman blinked a few times and spped her own cheeks. “Sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”

  The pair of fmingos came out from below deck.

  “Look, we snuck into the kingdom!” Fufi cheered.

  Funi strutted. “Take that phony king Jass!”

  A snoring sound came from below deck.

  “Not you too!” Alex rushed down and woke the [sailor] back up.

  “Looks like a demonic aura is poisoning this pce.” Fufi stated.

  “Cousin, let's protect our allies!” Funi added.

  “Aura of cuteness!” The fmingos sang in unison, striking a cute pose by intwining their long necks in the shape of a heart. Their forehead gems glowed, bathing the whole area in a pink light.

  “I’m not falling asleep anymore.” The gruff sailor said from his position below deck.

  “Marina help me shoot some of these demons.” Alex gestured the scout over.

  The two women aimed the ballista at a group of red-skinned imps slumbering by the water's edge and fired. The bolt flew accurately, pinning three of the demons and sending a plume of sand into the air that drifted towards the town. Alex quickly checked her phone, wondering if her assisted aim counted.

  [Next level: Defeat 400 monsters, two of which needs to be tier 2]

  [Level 7 Progress 3/400 monsters, 0/2 tier 2 monsters]

  Alex turned a crank, engaging a gear that both set another decorated bolt and cocked the ballista. They fired at the imps, who had been roused by the noise, defeating them and immediately beginning the reload.

  A dark knight came into view from an obscuring rock, zig-zagging and shouting taunts. A group of imps mostly red-skinned but with some other colors ran or flew after him, like an angry mob. He pulled them towards the town. Only a couple of the combat cssers that came with him and an angry ice fairy followed, picking off the stragglers from the crowd.

  “Pew pew pew” Ariel harried the taunted crowd of demons charging and shouting obscenities. At the revenant. She shot little bolts of ice in a staccato cadence. “Why is this so tiring?”

  It looked like mister skeleton was acquiring more demons faster than the sleepy group of combat cssers could defeat them before succumbing to the aura of sleep that covered the whole area.

  “We’ve got to help.” Alex shouted, pointing at the mob in the city.

  “This is going to be my first time shooting this far at a moving target.” Marina lined up the sights and fired.

  With a whoosh, the bolt soared, barely grazing the rear of the crowd before kicking up a cloud of dirt and debris that momentarily hid them from view. They quickly reloaded, cranking the mechanism for another shot, and hoped the erratic skeleton would guide their aim away from any obstructing buildings.

  “He’s heading to the biggest building in town.” Marina reported. “Should we take it out?”

  Alex fretted. “There might be people in there. I’m worried about killing them in their sleep.”

  Eventually, the edgy knight and his trusty murder doll drew the crowd of angry imps to the center of town. To enable ‘easy mode’ the mob was kited around repeatedly in a circle several times at a constant speed, shouts of “ground teeth” and clicks of a doll-sized repeating crossbow firing. Doom music pyed loud enough to wake the dead the whole time.

  “If we fire right at about a quarter block away that should lead the shot enough to get it right in the bulk of the crowd.” Alex told her pn to the crew.

  “Empower shot!” Alex shouted, doing a little pose, just so Fufi wouldn’t judge her ter.

  The ballista, cracking like lightning, was held tightly by Marina and Alex to prevent it from bucking and shooting too high. Its bolt, trailing sunshine, rainbows, and sparkles, struck the road in front of the main house. A heart-shaped mushroom cloud of dust erupted, scattering imps in all directions, some missing limbs. One side of the manor wall caved in.

  Alex yearned to rush in and aid Mister Skeleton, but Ariel had ceased her flight. She had likely found a roof for a nap. Leaving the fmingo barrier might cause her to fall asleep as well.

  “Who dares interrupt my cultivation.” A voice roared from inside the building.

  “I am the end of all demons.” The dark knight raised his sword in defiance. “For your sins I will cleave you from these nds like the parasite you are.”

  The armored hero doll also raised his toy-sized repeating crossbow, heavy metal music bred louder. It was kinda cute.

  “I was so close.” A pudgy five foot tall demon staggered out on the 2nd floor balcony. “If I cultivated just another few days of sleep then I could call myself a master.”

  He appeared disheveled, as if he had woken up on the wrong side of the bed. The demon closed his eyes, and a potent light blue aura, resembling a toxic mist, emanated from him, sweeping through the town. Every imp caught in its path succumbed to sleep.

  “Such cheap tricks only will work on the weak minded!” The edgy-knight provoked.

  The demonic sleep cultivator unched an expanding pillow at the knight, smothering him to the ground.

  “Mhhh ffff.” The voice of the raging undead struggled against the floofy entanglement.

  “I got a shot.” Marina looked at Alex for confirmation.

  They fired and the bolt zoomed to the demon. However, it didn’t go as pnned.

  The demon stared at it and narrowed his eyes. The projectile slowed when it entered the field he emitted and he easily dodged it.

  “Drat.” Marina grumbled. “I was hoping that would have been my level up.”

  “What?” Alex couldn’t make sense of her words.

  “Level up, one of the shamans said that I only need one tier 2 demon defeated to get to my next level.” She paused. “I’m fairly sure that is a tier 2 demon.”

  “Let's keep firing anyway.” Alex loaded another bolt. “Even if it doesn’t work, it gives mister skeleton time to break free.”

  They kept peppering the demon with bolts that all missed. Just because they were slowed didn’t mean they lost momentum. The rge projectiles punched through the second floor and shot out the other side of the mostly-wooden second floor.

  “It is useless.” The demon looked annoyed. “You can’t hit me with your little boat’s weapon.”

  He tossed a pillow at them, but luckily they outranged the demon. The pillow nded in the water in the harbor with a *sploosh*.

  Reluctantly the sleep demon came down from the manor and headed toward them.

  Alex gulped, not wanting to be pillow-smothered.

  But their dark knight finally cut through the pillow and leapt on the demon. “Plunging strike!” He yelled, closing the gap in an instant by jumping in the air and arcing down right on him. The giant sword swinging in hard.

  The demon conjured another pillow to block it but was forced down to his knees. He held the pillow with both hands and pushed the knight’s obsidian-shard-covered bde away.

  “My turn now!” He pummeled the knight with an upward pillow strike, unching him into the air. The demon kept the strikes up, juggling the knight in the air.

  “Rampart!” The knight yelled, dropping to the ground and tearing through the pillow.

  Distracted, Alex and Marina saw their chance. They fired a bolt at the demon.

  The demon started to turn at the noise but the knight taunted. “I’m your opponent. Only a fool will turn away from death incarnate such as I.”

  Not sure where the greater threat was coming from cost the demon. Even slowed, the bolt wasn’t something that could be ignored. It struck him through the torso and impaled him to the manor wall.

  “This is your punishment!” The dark knight wound up and did a fearsome side swing that beheaded the demon.

  He grabbed the demon’s head by the night-cap and held it aloft. A blue mist intensely poured from both sections of the demon’s neck.

  “Yuck.” Alex wrinkled her face. “This demon smells like dirty sheets.”

  melchi