CHAPTER 1 How strange it felt to hike along in the open Frida thought where any griefer sor cerer or other hostile could attack at any moment The longtime survivalist shook off her natu ral tendency to hide yet remained on guard She had to appear unworried and assume her new identity a subordinate to Lady Craven and the criminals who were terrorizing the Overworld Somehow human griefers had obtained the magic to withstand normal injury and to enchant dan gerous mobs to do their bidding Although Frida’s commander Captain Rob had managed to slay the powerful Dr Dirt his next in line Lady Craven had absorbed Dirt’s power and become even more fearsome The sorcerer was continuing to systemati cally take over biome after biome by using her undead 1
2 legions to threaten innocent citizens Not if I can help it Frida thought grimly She walked briskly toward the plains boundary trying to act comfortable in the borrowed gray skin that masked her olive green coloring and family tat too Her usual camouflage clothing had been replaced with a red and white jogging suit and her dark hair was encircled by a terrycloth headband So not me she reflected with a slight grin But the costume would help her infiltrate the griefers hillside encampment and hopefully find a way to help her battalion over come their evil zombie and skeleton troops As she traveled she rehearsed the spiel meant to convince Lady Craven’s officers to let her ally with them I’m Drift from the Mushroom Island 6 grief ers We lost our base during that last tsunami I heard about your cause and want to join up Frida knew she would have to perform a test to prove her trustworthiness Her battalion supply chief Jools had equipped her with TNT and fire starter to booby trap the enemy camp but the explosives would also be believable griefer weapons She’d just have to find the right moment to wield them preferably not against civilians She sighed Liberating villagers and safeguarding borders was not her career of choice She had been born a survivalist trained by skilled women to fend Nancy Osa
3 for herself in the jungle Her goal was simply to live a good life undisturbed by the dark forces of the world In better days she had done just that But now that the mobs had been rallied and unified by sorcer ers bent on conquering the free lands that life was over unless Frida and her compatriots could pre vent or win an all out war Better to be on the offensive than the defensive she thought glad to have under taken a solo mission to stir things up Maybe she could put Battalion Zero in the win column this time around Still she’d have to confront her opponents first deliberately making herself a target I might as well call myself Bull’s-Eye she mumbled Basically asking to be attacked reminded her of climbing on a horse for the first time She and her pals in Rob’s cavalry unit had discovered that taming and riding wild beasts was easier said than done but it was something Frida had always wanted to do The ability to ride could certainly benefit a young woman making her way in the Overworld alone Horses were fast they could jump high and Frida had to admit they were good company She had never needed company before but after riding with the bat talion she had grown used to the closeness As unfamiliar as her solitude seemed now she was enjoying the feeling of freedom that came from Battalion Banished
