The charge into the Hill Giant lines had gathered enough momentum now that they were easily clearing the defenders, but the more that they eliminated, the more uneasy the attackers felt.

They had to be missing something. The Hill Giants weren't this stupid, they should have retreated when they realized that their tactic wasn't working.

But it was only when a stone barrier in front of them collapsed that Karl and the others on the attacking team realized that the Hill Giants had brought a secret weapon.

Traitors.

Ten human men, all at the low side of Royal Rank, and looking unstable, with insane eyes glaring back at the Elites above the distinctive tabards that Karl recognized as the uniforms of church guards, minus the white robes, which had been replaced by black ones.

They must have been given a resource to boost their power, perhaps temporarily.

Their leader pointed a blade at Karl. "The Titan Gods demand his head. Bring it to me."

Karl spun his blade to a defensive position, ready for the incoming attack, but from behind him, the Spellblades were even faster.

The ten of them soared over his head, aiming for the traitors, and the fight was on.

The Spellblades were unflinching in their attack, but they were outmatched, and as Karl sent the first [Chain Lightning] into the attackers, the Titan God followers quickly split apart, so each of them could hold off two of the Commander Rank Spellblades, leaving five to deal with Karl while the rest of the Elite group fought the Hill Giants.

But Karl wasn't alone either, and Rae sent her Spider Golems to his sides while the traitors carefully advanced, making preparations to deal with the added threat.

"Too weak." Karl laughed as the closest of the warriors' blade shattered as it failed its attempt to absorb [Chain Lightning.]

He dropped the shattered blade and pulled another from reserve, while two more moved to engage Karl and two moved to block the Spider Golems.

Four quick strikes from the traitors shattered [Refreshing Lightning] but not [Flaming Body] and the attackers' smiles turned to glee while they parried Karl's furious counterattack.

The man in the back took a moment to gloat before rejoining the fight. "Any last words?" He sneered, wiping his soaked hair from his face as the [Thunderstorm] continued to rage overhead.

[Blood for the Spider God.] A streak of distorted air flashed by Karl as Rae moved to attack. Blood flew as her foreleg pierced the chest of her target, and the gloating man's eyes turned wide in shock as the blood spray made the outline of Rae visible again.

Skill Upgraded: [Perfect Adaptation] grants the user the ability to mimic their surroundings so perfectly that they become invisible to those with lesser senses. Royal Rank progression of [Camouflage]. Rae had evolved another skill to Royal Rank, but it couldn't deal with the blood spray on her, so she darted back into the swarm of Hill Giants while the man gasped and tried to staunch the blood flow, unaware that he had been hit with [Lacerate] or that the wound extended out his back.

The two traitors fighting Karl renewed their attacks, hacking away at his defences faster than Karl could parry their blows and leaving him no chance to make an attack of his own.

For a most of a minute, it seemed that there was nothing that Karl could do to gain the upper hand without having the Spider Golems cover for him, but they weren't finished with their own targets yet.

The melee was turning into a drawn out and losing battle as his barriers were repeatedly diminished, then refreshed, even with the effects of [Circle of Protection] active. Individually, the traitors weren't much stronger than Karl was, but they had years of experience fighting together, and when Karl moved to defend against one, the other always seemed to get a hit in.

Karl was forced back on the defensive, and [Refreshing Lightning] was taken down by a glancing blow to his face just after he got it reactivated for the fifth time.

But the two traitors fighting the Spider Golems weren't faring as well. They were no faster than the spiders, and they didn't have eight sharp limbs, four of which the spiders typically used to attack their targets while balancing on their hind half.

Then Rae flashed across the battlefield again, and another traitor fell with a pair of forelimbs through his back, before being hurled across the battlefield.

The Spellblades weren't as outright powerful as their targets, but they were all exceptional fighters in their own right, and considered a battle against an average target above their own rank to be the minimum standard for their members.

At the moment, they weren't winning, but as Rae aimed at another target with his back to her, it was clear to Karl that wouldn't be the case for long. This was Rae's perfect battlefield, and assassination was in her very nature.

Karl rolled backward to avoid the next attack, as his defences were failing and Refreshing Lightning wasn't back up yet. The blades whistled through the air where he had been standing, then two huge feet stomped down between Karl and the traitors as Thor intervened with an [Earthquake] that threw the attackers to the ground, while Tessa sent out a wave of Golden Light that empowered everyone on their side.

Then the Cerro retreated to charge the Hill Giants who were trying to take advantage of the situation to get at the mages while Thor was out of position, and Karl hurled a [Chain Lightning] through the rain as he got back to his feet.

One traitor backed away, using [Guard] to absorb the blow, while the other moved to attack, raising his blade over his head.

Then tragedy befell the aggressive traitor, and he lost his footing in the mud, sliding past Karl toward the mages as his strike was parried.

Remi didn't hesitate, and her fangs sunk deep into the man's throat before she retreated to safety behind Ophelia, who simply kicked the man back away from the group, sending him flying out into the melee.

The remaining traitors began to glow with a purple light, doubling in height as they fought, but becoming thinner by the second, wasting away as they burned their life force to achieve their goals.

Four of the Spellblades fell in the first seconds after the change, while the others regrouped into a defensive circle to reinforce each other's magic and wait out the remaining life of the traitors.

Traitors who were never truly interested in them.

As one, they all turned to Karl, who braced for the worst, before a strike to the back sent him flying. Not just tumbling across the ground, flying through the air and over the Hill Giant defenders, out of combat.

The berserk traitors turned to chase after him, and Karl felt Thor's immense pleasure that his catapult trick worked.

It might not have been the answer Karl was looking for, but the distraction cost the traitors three more of their members as Rae and her Spider Golems took advantage, leaving the last few traitors outnumbered and outmatched.

Strategically, it was brilliant, and the last of the Titan God followers died with a bellow of rage. However, that left Karl on the wrong side of the battle, fifty metres from his team, with an army of Hill Giants between him and the others.

He was getting that odd feeling that someone was laughing at him again, back in the back of his mind, but he couldn't quite put his finger on where it was coming from. Not from one of his beasts, that was for certain. They were laughing at his situation, but it wasn't the same feeling. Their laughter was more due to a sense of amusement that he made such a good projectile.

Karl looked at his options, deciding what the best way to get back to the group would be.

They had lost a total of six Commanders during the last fight. Four to the Royal Rank traitors, and two to the Hill Giants, but Karl couldn't tell which two from Hawk's updated headcount.

But there were more mages and healers incoming from the main line, now that the progression had stalled, and hopefully, they would get someone who could resurrect. The teachers had to have sent messages back by now, letting the others know the situation.

Karl was about to move back into combat when he looked down at his gear, and noticed that his armour was absolutely shredded, cut in over a dozen different spots and soaked with his own blood from shallow wounds that had already healed under the effects of [Refreshing Lightning] as well as Lotus and Doug's area healing abilities.

If he was lucky, those with magical repair abilities might salvage that mess, but he might have to replace his gear after today.