Plan B

Plan B was not a back up plan in case Plan A didn't work. Plan B was simply the name of the second phase of the whole plan they had planned out.

As Apollo announced the start of this operation, the maids team, the farmers and the nurses who were all hiding behind the wall put their hands on the floor.

Using their special skill that they had acquired either through birth or through the Upgrade Center, the 13 plant girls united their effort to grow the vines spread on the ground a few meters before the wall.

The quick growth transformed the vines hidden in the grass into tripping traps and to make things worse, the vines had thorns that not only hurt but also hooked any clothes it touched, and, as if this was not enough, the enemy group was recklessly charging so they could not even notice the trap, much less slow down or be careful to not get caught by them, resulting in the spectacular sight of 27 of their warriors falling down one after another until the whole area was covered by them.

Unfortunately for Apollo's team, while those 27 warriors were surely hurt, this was not enough to take them out. Despite the mud in their faces, the steps and kicks in their backs and the thorns grabbing their clothes or even their skin, this damage was still too light, so as time passed, more and more of them started to mobilize themselves to get up and follow the charge.

Of course the plant's team wouldn't let them go free, so, at the same time this was happening, the vines continued to grow more and more, slowly tying up any prey they were able to caught. The final score was 15 incapacitated oni and 12 barely escaping with more than just a few scratches.

While this was happening, Daisy wasted no time in ordering another wave of arrows but as the enemy was already quite aware of the danger only 3 were taken out while many others suffered light to heavy wounds with arrows perforating their arms and legs.

The 33 charging warriors finally arrived at the walls, but instead of trying to climb them through any possible mean, they aimed their axes at the walls and swung them using all their strength.

Seeing their actions Daisy immediately shouted "RETREAT!" but only the soldiers and rangers were able to respond in time.

Bamn!

A dozen axes blades hit the wall's logs, cutting through more than half of them at once. Normally that wouldn't be enough to down them but one must consider the platform holding all servants that was located inside the wall. The weight of the platform plus the servants over it was just enough to force the damaged logs to break inward making everybody who didn't jump in time fall along the wall in a dangerous fashion.

Seeing the wall suddenly falling down Apollo was forced to recognize that the battle he thought it was going to take a long time to finish, was probably going to be finished quite earlier than expected. Hell! He never expected them to break the walls in a single swing of their axes! If he considered his trip to Negi's base, maybe he would have acknowledged the possibility, but unfortunately he didn't which resulted in the scene he was witnessing right now!

While the maids were somehow able to dodge the falling wall, the same could not be said to the farmers and nurses that were now buried below the debris.

Apollo quickly looked through the map and saw their number of points still remained intact, which meant at least they were still alive, but there was no doubt they should now be fairly hurt and he doubted they would be able to get out.

Now, on the attacking side, there were 33 warriors on the walls, plus another 12 closing in while limping due to their wounds. 30 of them were soldiers and the rest were rangers, but due to all the soldiers in the front falling, their formation was a complete mess, a far cry from the organized lines that they had when they started their charge.

To stop the enemy from coming inside, Daisy, Paula, May and Mika stood right where the wall had fallen. As they were the only girls wearing armors, it was their job to act as tanks and hold the line, protecting their allies who stood right behind them.

As for taking out the enemies, this job was left to the other 8 soldier girls who stood one step behind them, using their spears in coordinated attacks, aiming to defeat one enemy at a time by focusing all their attacks on the same target.

The girls who were left, the five new ranger girls as well as the maid team, stood right in front of Apollo's tent, attacking with arrows or throwing knifes whenever an opportunity appeared. Luckily for them, their enemies were tall, so it was easy to shoot above their allies heads to hit them.

The attackers had greater number but because the hole in the wall was not too big and the Oni's themselves were quite big, only five of them could stand side by side though the breach of the fallen wall. The plant girl's formation proved itself to be effective, resulting in a stalemate, but this was going to last only as long as the four armored girls were able to hold on.

The battle progressed quickly but Apollo felt as if each second lasted a whole minute as he held his heart beating strongly watching the girls battle nonstop. It felt a bit unreal, all that action, all those sounds, the strong sense of danger and even the smell of blood and sweat in the air. There was no black stripe, no screen edge, no holographic projector, only pure reality as brutal as fascinating right in front of him.

A war cry echoed through the battle field and suddenly the Oni's troops movement started to change, instead of continuing to press forward, they took seven steps back, opening way for someone to pass.

Slowly one big Oni limped his way through the passage created by his troops. His clothes were soaked in blood, there was a golden arrow on top of his arm and twin broad swords on both his hands.

"Boss battle? Now? Is this a video-game!?"

While Apollo looked skeptically at the approaching Oni, Daisy took stops forward calling out to nobody particular.

"Greatsword Please!"

Hearing her request, Lumina disappeared for a second, only to appear one second later carrying a greatsword with both hands.

"Here you go!"

Throwing the greatsword like a javelin, it passed above all the girls heads but as it approached Daisy, Daisy lifted her hand, grabbing it while still flying in the air, and making a single vertical swing to kill its momentum as it stuck the ground, raising a cloud of dust.

Boom!

The sound of the impact acted as a gong announcing the start of the battle and both girl and oni charged at each other with their respective weapons in hands.

--//--

"There they are. Should we start now?"

"Let's wait a little. We have to make sure the main group has already separated them, so they can't come rescue them when we attack. Alyssa, can you confirm?"

"One second... Yeah, their main forces are crazily charging ahead. Wow! Their battle will be quite hard! I pray Master will stay safe... Hey, are you sure they didn't notice us?"

"Eh? Why are you asking me that?"

"Because they are aiming their bows this way."

"Shit! Everybody spread out!!!!"