Set the trap.

One Class Upgrade Remaining.

The resulting chaos of my sudden offensive was just what I'd hoped. Some of the villagers rushed towards me while some just stared at me, stunned by my appearance. The priestess cried out in surprise as the bolt struck some sort of tangible magical protection and skated across it to finally tear through and bury itself in her bicep. I smiled. Despite the din of the chaos, her feminine gasp of pain was music in my ears. I wanted more.

I didn't care to reload. I just dropped the crossbow and put a long knife in each of my hands, ready to draw some blood.

I let the surge of villagers rushing at me divert my charge away from their Priest's position as she tended to her wound with some quick magic. I ducked under several wild swings of poles and tools and made a show of taking hits to my horned head and strong shoulders. I slashed at the thighs of a man who lifted a heavy pick over his head and I darted sideways as he stumbled and fell, bleeding profusely.

The priestess, once again able to lift both of her arms comfortably, quickly wove her healing magic over the wound and the man stood again, just in time to see me gut another man. She worked fast. Her healing magic was quick and efficient. Much better than mine. I wondered if she'd ever seen an actual battlefield before this sleepy town, or if she was just a natural healer.

I kept all my tentacles pulled in tight along my back as we fought. I stabbed into someone here and there for the priestess to rescue, slashing arms and legs as they swarmed me. As I slowly gave ground, circling the priestess in a wide arc, and as the healer proved more than capable of keeping up with my knives, the group of men grew bolder, more aggressive. Some of them cheered as I fell back slowly, drawing the whole crowd further away from the church a few feet at a time. Every step they gained was earned with blood and pain.

They weren't really competent enough to realize that most of their attacks were shallow cuts or glancing blows, and those attacks that did manage to draw blood healed themselves thanks to the effects of my Mending spell. My health fell very slowly despite the bedlam. This was actually going well.

I managed to get a good view of the priestess as one of the men dropped in front of me, gurgling around a slit throat. Her expression was tense, focused. Worried. She knew what they didn't: time wasn't on their side in this battle.

I took the moment to reach out with my mind and take hold of the woman.

Monster Power: Mind Control
<<Lay down your staff and surrender.>>

Her mind was nothing like Henri's had been. Where his had been soft and pliable, hers was iron. Possibly magically shielded. My feeble attempt to nudge her thoughts had no effect whatsoever, except to widen the woman's eyes in alarm. She had to know I was no ordinary monster. In trying to seize her mind I had fallen behind in our dance, however, and she took the opportunity to conjure a potent holy smite.

It hit me hard, throwing me several feet backwards. My flesh burned.

"Don't chase him too far! Something is not right with this demon!" She called to her men.

She stared at me. Cautious, but burning with righteous determination; I smiled back as smoke rose in columns from several charred patches of my flesh. Feeling her power firsthand only made her more attractive to me. She could kill me if I wasn't careful; it was hot.

Health 27/58

Minor Health Regeneration: 00:46:34
Damage Resistance: 00:03:12

One Class Upgrade Remaining.

I responded by cutting the throats of two men and whirling to thrust both knives upwards behind the ribcage of a third, leaping on him and snapping at his neck with my jaws. The third died before he hit the ground, and the priestess scrambled to save the other two before they drowned in their blood. My health would slowly tick back up if I avoided the worst of the villagers' attacks; I just needed to keep her from smiting me too many times. That had to have cost her a lot of precious mana, and she was healing non-stop. How much could she possibly have left? I was impressed.

I killed another man to my left who was looking like he might try to run away. I couldn't let fear take them yet. This needed to remain carefully controlled. So as I cut him down, I let another villager stab me in the side with the broken haft of his shovel to bolster their morale.

"I should thank you, Priest," I called out, stopping to roll away from the man with the pickaxe. I kicked his leg out from under him, feeling it crack as he went down. "I'd have had a hard time penetrating your church. Thank you for saving me the trouble and meeting me on neutral ground." I laughed even as a hammer caught me in the side of the head, cracking my jaw. My Ironskin was nearly gone; I needed to start being a little less generous with those free hits.

"Do you toy with us, monster?" She called, hastily mending the broken leg of the man so he could fall back to circle around to attack me again, but his expression was pained. Her men couldn't take this forever, healing or no. She'd already lost a few along the way to instant **** or wounds too severe to be healed from a distance.

I saw the hesitation on her face, wondering if she'd made a mistake. She was a courageous and competent leader, considering the men she'd had to work with. She'd kept them organized and alive for several minutes against me. But my words worried her visibly. She looked around quickly to reassess the situation. I was pulling them away from the church, that much was true.

I wanted her to believe I'd tipped my hand with that remark. But would she take the bait?

Just then, a woman's scream echoed through the night air, and there was a pause in the rhythm of the fighting as the men wondered where it had come from, fearing it had been their Priest. It wasn't.

The nightgown woman had entered the dwarf's home and gotten herself killed by my minion. I took some dark satisfaction knowing that she had likely died at the hands of her husband. Shame to lose the potential mother, but I knew there were too many females in the village for me to reasonably get all of them by the time this was over. But I couldn't let any of them flee, either. Some would just have to die. That's where the idea for the church gambit had come in.

The scream was enough for the Priest, however. She shouted for everyone to fall back. Anyone not fighting was to gather in the church and hide while she and the stronger men would buy them time. Women, children, elderly, and infirm townspeople all hurried to comply, appearing from various hiding places and rushing for the safety of the church.

Perfect. If they were all in the church, they weren't scattered throughout the woods and farmhouses. I wouldn't have to go hunting for anyone; they would all sit and wait for me to come to them. It may have indeed offered them some kind of protection from me, but it was far better for me to keep them here than any alternative. And I could find a way inside, with time. Especially if I had the Priest in my clutches. She was the only prize I cared about. I'd burn the church down around the rest of the town if I had to.

I stabbed one of the men in the shoulder and abdomen, reminding them that the fight wasn't over, and the group cursed and returned to the fray. I was honestly surprised that they hadn't given up, but they had faith in their healer and a lot of hatred for me. They were stubborn farmers and I was the devil.

My Ironskin expired right on schedule. It was time to shift into the second part of my plan. Now that the stage was set and my lovely priestess had burned a huge amount of her store of mana, it was time to go on the offensive.

Health 24/58
Mana 79/100

Minor Health Regeneration 00:43:22

One Class Upgrade Remaining.

"You've been a charming opponent, Priest. But let's end this, shall we?" I said, finally standing to my full height.

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously, already weaving protective barriers over the men who stayed to hold me off.

My undead soldier burst from his hiding place, leveling his own crossbow at the Priest and firing with a clack.

She was caught out of position. Her men were all out of position to help.

The bolt took her just above her hip and she cried out in pain, stumbling as she turned to deal with the new threat all by herself.