V7: Chapter 12

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The Undead marched against us in force.

The numbers were so high that they spread across the field like a living, teaming, unbroken mass of bodies. Besides animated skeletons and corpses, there were lesser, feral Undead units usually summoned by Guardian spellcasters. Empowered zombies, known as ghouls, had incredible strength and regenerating health as long as they consumed their enemies.

Many of the Undead weren’t humanoid, but also animals. Flying flocks of Undead birds attacked my troops, while packs of quadrupedal creatures slipped between their standing fellows to try and slip into our ranks. Then, there were larger, creatures that were raised up. Ogres, trolls, larger beast tribals, waded amongst their common, smaller Undead brethren wielding large trunks of trees like clubs. Most of the Undead scavenged some sort of weapon, many of them just wielded rocks, but a few had arms and armor scavenged from former, living soldiers of the Death Lord.

Needless to say, if I had an army of only spears and bows and maybe some mages, I would’ve lost against this enemy composition. The classic solution to the problem wouldn’t have been able to contend against the medley of other units to play. The archers would’ve been set upon by the birds and animals, the mages wouldn’t have been able to concentrate fire on the larger monsters since they’d need to wipe out the enemy chaff. Finally, while the spears could’ve held, they’d have lost morale as they continued to lose people, and they would’ve been smashed aside by the enemy’s larger Undead units completely.

In other words, being overprepared and getting all the help I that I could had been the right call.

“Reports are coming in from Riegert’s forces. The aerial fortress is weathering the attacks of the Death Lord with greater resiliency than expected. It will arrive a few hours earlier than expected.” Ayah relayed information to me, while I watched through a telescope the ongoing battle a few kilometers away. The tide of Undead was colliding against the Forger’s frontline and being mulched. They were the center of the formation, and my spears were defending their flanks, while rifles and mages poured in firepower at the mass. Conquerors were picking apart the larger targets from range and acting as heavy cavalry from time to time. “The first barrage from the Guardians will be sent upon the Death Lord by noon today.”

“Any news from the Wardens? Are they holding fast like I asked them to, or are they moving forward as I predicted?”

“They are eager to kill their most hated foe, so they have begun to move.”

“Are they moving or are they charging?”

“Moving.”

“That’s a small mercy, then.” I idly stated. I didn’t want to step on Khalai’s toes. We’ll need a few years of reorganization and building after this. Could we attack the Wardens right now and wipe them out? Yes, but they can resurrect their troops. We’ll take out their equipment at cost, maybe less with the element of surprise, but the troops and Champions will be back. There’s also the issue with the Forgers and Guardians being present. Maybe, I could threaten them into staying quiet. Nah. Celia would attack on principle. Wouldn’t be Celia, if she didn’t. “We’ll support them from the air when we can. Only our best fliers flying low.”

Ayah nodded, commands were given, and I turned to the next telescope.

If I found something, I’ll get some reserve force to move in and assist the troops on hand.

As horrible as it was, I was slowly getting used to letting my field commanders do their jobs, while I looked at the battlefield and added more soldiers where I thought they’d be needed… or where signals came up.

Things just got worse the farther my forces got.

Riegert’s forces were beyond my ability to support, as were Celia’s, due to logistical and communication constraints. I could send a few teams of Conquerors their way, to deal with heavy units, with some priority messages. That’s decent. However, if things went wrong, our hands our tied if we needed a couple thousand troops to handle the problem.

That was the reason why I wanted the aerial fortress in the first place.

Slow as they might be on paper, getting five thousand troops and enough supplies to last for two weeks anywhere was a massive advantage.

And, I was using my only one as a massive shield and bombardment vehicle that might get shot down.

In the end, what I really need is just a lot more people, a lot more factories, and the ability to churn out more of everything, while making sure that everything can reach what I needed. After this, I’m going straight into activating the Ancient’s underground rail network, while putting everything I can into factories.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

If the tutorial is this hard, then I wasn’t prepared enough for the shitshow that’s going to follow.

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Interlude: Cathe, Mage of the King of Wisdom

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Like a roiling sea of rotten flesh, our foe had stood before us, seemingly indomitable and invincible. Monsters of legend faced us. Endless legions of untiring foes that did not fear injury nor death. Amongst their number were packs of ravenous animals whose mouths and beaks were filled with rot and poison. Feral, mad undead were amongst their ranks, which had the strength to tear apart steel and recover lost limbs from the consumption of flesh. The largest of them were titans that were half-flesh and half baleful, spectral flame that swung around whole trees as clubs.

An army of nightmares, created by a mythical monster, yet it could not stand against us.

“Lady Cathe, a target has entered your section of the battlefield.” My aide spoke to me with respect. Ten in number, each of my aides were soldiers and messengers both. If my life was threatened, they would spirit me away and protect me on their own. Such was unnecessary with our frontlines advancing, their steel steps unbroken, and spears reaping through our foes. My aides, instead, watched the battlefield and informed me when to strike as I gathered power and waited for the moment I was needed. “Undead giant.”

“Thank you.” I spoke with my mouth, but found my target through the gaze of my familiar flying above the battlefield. The swarms of undead avians were dispatched first by the Conquerors and the Ancient weaponry, leaving me and my fellows free reign over the skies with our own familiars. I saw from the gaze of my falcon the teaming battlefield filled with foes, crashing against straight lines of steel and spears, and disregarded the lesser foes being dispatched by rifles and spears. I found the giant. It was a misshapen and crude thing, dragging its club behind it, without a hint of understanding in its eyes. All it knew was that it must kill for the sake of its master. Nothing more. I opened my true eyes, as I bid my familiar to continue circling above us. “Send the signal that I will be firing.”

“Signal! Yellow!” My aide called out, and the command reverberated around me, until the yellow flag was raised. The one who held it watched in front of us for a response. I waited, gathering power, and in just a few heartbeats we received a response. “Green signal received from frontline. They’re ready, Lady Cathe!”

I nodded in response.

The thermal lance was a spell conceived by our King of Wisdom. Though he lacked the innate magical power to wield sorceries, he understood how to create, how to iterate, and how to refine spells. He shared with us his method of thinking, listened to us when we offered our own views and understood, and together we slowly began to pull back the veil that hid true magic from our grasp. Though only a few amongst our number could claim to be as capable in creating and iterating and refining as he did, many of us benefitted from the processes and discoveries those select few made.

Once upon a time, this spell was known as fireball. A powerful, mighty spell that created an orb of flame that could act as artillery. Its base form was used for centuries by mages under the employ of Warlords. It was a weapon designed to shatter the formations of conscripted peasants, and perhaps set a few soldiers in armor alight. It was merely an empty sphere of a spell, meant to fill up the sky, terrorize the enemy, and kill only a few unarmed combatants at most.

The thermal lance did away with pageantry and appearance and took only the heat generated by the massive flame. The energy and power needed to maintain it became a fraction of what it once needed. Condensed to a fingertip, it appeared as a ball of white light, but in truth it was pure heat, enough to burn ten men into nothing. However, such a thing was dangerous. If I fired it now, it would react with the air and moisture around us and explode the moment I let it loose. Many would’ve decreed the spell a failure at that point, but our King of Wisdom saw that another step was needed.

A path devoid of air and of water and something else needed to be created for the lance to travel.

The principle of zero, so plain and simple and involved in daily life, applied itself elegantly to magic.

So, I created the path towards my opponent, pushing aside everything with ease, and then I launched my attack.

A brilliant, pure white light as wide as a finger coursed through the air in an instant and collided with the Undead giant. Twice over resistant to magic, because of it being Undead and being composed of a Giant’s body, it nonetheless faltered against my attack. I had struck at the remaining flesh portion of the Undead beast, and the effects of my attack were instant. Flesh rippled and quaked and began to glow as heat suffused it. For a split second, the giant’s upper body ballooned outward and a massive pocket of flesh was filled with a reddish light, then the next it came apart as water superheated and broke what surrounded it apart.

The undead Giant’s legs took another step forward, before it fell forward, its upper half no longer existent, while I retook my seat to gaze upon the battle from above.

I saw from above more lances striking at the lumbering enemies of our people. The results were the same time and time again. The massive creatures were felled with single strikes. Lances of light sped forth and felled beast after beast in fiery flash after fiery flash.

When the Conquerors finished resupplying and resting, they will retake the duties we have now, and put the larger monsters to the sword.

Then, we mages will return to our duties and come together as one, whole force.

My heart raced at the mere thought.

What will our conclave’s leader ask of us to work upon?

Will we create a lance of heat so large and powerful that it will sweep across the battlefield and set the very ground alight?

Will we create a sphere of nothingness so large above the enemy force that the rushing winds to fill it will send our foes flying high into the air and fall to their doom?

Or, will we composed great, stone spears that will fly above the enemy and smash into them before becoming a landslide as it came apart?

We were already so mighty alone and acting as mere killers of giant beasts.

But, together, we changed the very battlefield according to our king’s wishes.