A teleportation circle was placed in the middle of the Army Training Grounds, where Willem focused his energy to distort the physical world. This was not his usual method of teleportation, as normally he would choose to travel through the darkness and consequently the Void, to get to his destination. Since there would be fifty people teleported with him and Zira, spatial distortion was a much safer route that traded temporary blindness and deafness for the possible threat of creatures of the Void.
Willem drank a small potion to negate the effects of the blindness and deafness before teleporting the fifty soldiers to the landing point just outside the deep part of the forest where the Magical Beings were rumored to be staying.
"Zira, which way is your home?" Willem questioned.
Zira could not provide an immediate answer, as she was waiting on the blindness and deafness to subside. Her condition eased up much faster than the soldiers however, as she had magically infused blood repairing her vision and hearing. Once her vision and hearing returned, she gathered dirt from beneath her feet before pointing in the south-eastern direction.
"Are you ready to get your revenge?" Willem nodded his head in acknowledgement of receiving the direction.
Zira did not speak, but breathed heavily and nodded her head.
When the soldiers got their sight and hearing back, they finally understood where they were. They had never seen some of the trees and bushes that inhabited this part of the forest. However it was all taken in stride, since they had never even thought of fighting beside a sentient Magical Beast before either. They just counted their blessings in being able to be the first to experience all these new things.
Willem coated the soldiers sollerets with the medium level wind magic 'wind walk' chantlessly so that they did not need to touch the ground in order to move forward. This was the only method Willem thought up for dealing with possibly being heard early from the overly sensitive ears of elves.
Willem motioned for the soldiers to move in their practiced formation while he acted independently, his figure disappearing into a low gathering fog that seemed to center around him.
By the time Zira and the soldiers found the camp they were meant to ambush, the fog had reached it's peak density and no one could see more than a few feet in front of them. Relying on the positioning of the soldier in front of them, they cautiously readied themselves in order to ambush the enemy when the signal was given.
Willem did not tell them what the signal was, only that they would know it when it happened. This left many anxious, unsure if they were actually prepared for this attack. This anxiety combined with their fear of death, leading to a moment of hesitation in their hearts.
After what seemed like an exorbitant amount of time had passed, the fog suddenly began to roil in the center of the camp and continued to rise well above the treeline.
When the fog reached a height of a hundred feet, lightning descended from the dark clouds of the night sky as if from nowhere, striking at the middle of the dense fog.
Guttural cries rang out as the fog dissipated and the lightning was shown to have struck several Magical Beings. As more Magical Beings rushed to deliver emergency treatment on their kin, three more lightning bolts crashed down on them.
All too late, the Magical Beings realized that the fog was unnatural and that it was not a freak accident, but a deliberate magical attack. More cries rang out as the lightning bolts arced out from the first Magical Being struck, traced along a path on the ground and struck some of the Magical Beings in their tents.
A deep gravelly sounding voice called out from the darkness of the night.
"KILL!"
The soldiers understood that it was their time to attack. The offensive Squad took a five pointed star formation as they swept through the encampment. The offensive mages danced in the middle of the formation weaving enhancement spells with fluidity.
Zira smashed through the defenses of the rallying Magical Beings who realized too late that they could not scramble an offense fast enough. Her thick fists pulverized the mediocre shields of the fighters with a terrible amount of force.
As the Magical Beings began to be slaughtered in their tents and campfires, a ranger was able to light and nock an arrow to send as a warning flare to their comrades. As the fire-lit arrow flew to just above the treeline, the fire was snuffed out as if there was no oxygen left to fuel it.
In despair, the ranger attempted to nock another arrow but was quickly sliced in half by a couple members of the offensive Squad.
The Magical Beings were in full panic, not expecting at all to be ambushed in this environment. With the efforts of the offensive and defensive Squads, they were easily dispatched before retaliating. If this had been a test to them, the Squad would have considered this a resounding success.
Many of the Magical Beings attempted to flee, but were quickly taken down by the ranged and mage part of the offensive combat Squad.
"Not much of a challenge at all!" Mark spoke out as the battle ended.
Willem appeared from the darkness and told the Squad that he commanded the truth.
"This is only an advanced scouting unit sent to probe our defenses. This can only be considered a warm up. If that arrow had been seen, we would have lost our element of surprise." Willem rebuked.
Mark looked at his feet, ashamed for thinking it would have been that easy. Willem could not help but feel a sour taste in his mouth as he patted Mark's pauldron.
"When we reach their main fighting force, get ready for a real fight. For now, gather anything that we can use for resources back home and put it near the campfire. You have five minutes." Willem ordered.
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Sir Kris and Sir Rowan elaborated further on what was expected to be gathered, such as rations and weapons, to which the soldiers went and gathered what they could.
After the five minutes had passed, a total of forty weapons including ten bows had been recovered, and seventy rations of food were piled near the campfire with the other resources.
Willem nodded his head in approval and quickly stored them into his spatial spell. As if under the effects of a vacuum, the suction of the spatial spell pulled everything that Willem pointed to into his personal void space.
When everything had been gathered, Willem passed around fifty small potions and ordered his soldiers to drink them. Without hesitation, all fifty soldiers drank the small potion in their hands and their eyes began to sting a little. As the potion took effect, the eyes of the soldiers sharpened to a vertical slant, much like a nocturnal hunter.
Willem snuffed the campfire out and looked at the fifty soldiers, and to their amazement, they could see in the dark just as much as they could in the light. The only flaw to the potion was that they could not look directly at the full moon that splayed itself in the night sky, gently illuminating the surroundings.
Willem snapped his fingers and both the offensive and defensive Squad gathered into formation.
Zira drew on the ground with her finger a very crude map that showed her home being roughly two kilometers from their current position, continuing south-east.
Willem re-casted his 'wind walk' spell on himself and the soldiers, and the Squad quietly and deftly maneuvered through the forest guided by Willem.
After thirty minutes had passed, they arrived at the outskirts of the Magical Beings encampment, just outside the range of the patrolling guards enhanced perception.
The guards that patrolled the outer area seemed to be some type of humanoid cat with various body parts slightly different from a regular human. There seemed to be no outwardly female fighters, all those within the camp seemed to be either male or androgynous.
Willem again slipped into the darkness of the night, using the wind walk and his natural affinity with the dark to completely mask his presence. Before the enhanced perception of the male humanoid like guard had sensed something was amiss, it's throat had been slit as the dagger appeared in front of it and then disappeared almost immediately.
The cat fighter fell to it's knees while it grasped it's throat, attempting to call out for help despite it's vocal box being sliced open. Understanding that the camp was under attack but unable to speak out, it attempted to flee toward the light of the campfire in the middle.
Willem, of course, could not allow such a thing to occur and quickly hamstrung his opponent by slicing the tendons in it's large slender legs.
The soldiers whom were watching on at Willem toying with his opponent, felt their scalps tingle. They were now completely convinced that if they ever offended Willem, they would not even know how they died if he was feeling generous.
Willem was done playing with his prey, and quickly sliced the guard from stomach to collarbone. With the regeneration of the Magical Beings, it likely was not enough to completely kill him. According to the information he had gathered from his torture victims, 'demi-humans' had a higher level of regeneration despite being classified as worthless like humans.
Willem inhaled deeply as his entire figure vanished into the Void. He had sensed something stirring from within the Void for quite some time the closer he got to the camp, and it appeared to move as part of the Magical Being's forces.
Willem reappeared in front of his soldiers to deliver the news.
"Sir Kris and Sir Rowan will take the lead in this fight, so minimize casualties. I will not be directing you or aiding you for a time, as they have some king of nightmarish being in the Void that may easily wipe out all of you." Willem did not blink or look away.
He needed them to understand that they did not have his support until this threat was dealt with.
"As you command. We will lead the humans to victory this day, of that I promise you. We are the sword and shield of Grandia." Sir Kris whispered as he lifted his sword into the air.
The entire fifty soldiers replicated his action and lifted their swords into the air. In the dead of night, an aura of strength and resoluteness washed over the soldiers, emboldening their spirits.
Willem could not help but smirk as he handed out fifty flasks to the soldiers. While they had accepted the flask they awaited orders.
"Drink, and live..." Willem nodded his head in approval.
The fifty soldiers drank from the flasks unhesitatingly and felt their muscles tense with newfound strength. Unlike when they first donned their equipment, they felt that they had complete control of the strength they just received. This was the difference between a temporary and permanent effect.
Willem then handed Sir Kris, Sir Rowan, Mark and Eli a potion each to hold onto.
"This one is if you cannot hold your own, and you lose this fight. It will not revive you, but it will immolate you using your own blood as fuel. The explosion will subsequently ignite the other three bottles, and nothing within ten kilometers will survive the blast." Willem warned.
Sir Kris and Sir Rowan gulped down a mouthful of saliva before carefully pocketing the potion. Mark and Eli did the same, but they just nodded at Willem. Ever since they met Willem, they treated him as a precious brother, and secretly they knew that he would not just leave them to die.