V7: Chapter 14

…

Ilych’s mission report came and I let myself breathe a little easier.

It’s always a gamble to send in just two Champions to kill the Legion Amalgam without whittling it and its forces down. Ideally, if you’re tackling it alone, you’d encircle it, attack it with supplementary armies without Champion, and whittle it down with long range fire and kill its army while depleting its stores of energy. Rinse and repeat until you can throw in your main force, so that they main force gets the massive experience payout, while the supplementary armies enjoy some veterancy ranks.

However, I’ll take a few hundred dead and a thousand injured out of ten thousand or so troops, in exchange for that thing’s death.

Especially since we were now in sight of the Death Lord’s main city.

Which was already on fire, besieged, and being pummeled into ash.

“Good news, my king?” Riegert linked up with me after arriving with our flying fortress. The front prow was cratered and blasted from a pure white. However, the layers and layers of magically resistant defenses did their duty. It accomplished its mission, though. It disgorged the frozen Guardians in its hold on the enemy city and the Conquerors inside followed after the tide of sentient, nigh-indestructible blades. In short, it did as I wanted and unleashed a terror mission on the city for the Death Lord to deal with. Conquerors were the bruisers with big guns, while the Guardians were the skittering, rapid fiends that cut just about anything apart. The ship now loomed over the city, the mages on it firing down, while the army ravaged it. “Did Ilych complete her mission?”

“Yep, she did. She’s already recovered thanks to finding some monsters to kill, too.” Undead didn’t trigger the regeneration ability that her equipment gave her. By my estimations of her level and equipment loadout, though, she should’ve been able to kill it even without it, since she reached the final stages of both her armor and blade and has been growing in power steadily since I met her. She’s probably midway through her skill tree now. “She’s taking it slow with her army. She’ll be here in three or four weeks.”

“Not sending a transport to bring her in to kill the Death Lord? How kind of you.”

“As strong as Ilych is, even she has limits. Killing a titanic creature from myth warrants a few easy weeks of marching.” And, besides that, Morgan and Rita needed some experience points, too. Can’t put all my eggs in one basket and just dump all the experience on Ilych. That wasn’t a risk that I wanted. I didn’t expect Riegert to understand the mechanics of RPG experience systems, though. His brain wasn’t so rotten that it transferred between lives. “The plan’s already in place, too. We’re moving in, so any changes will just confuse everyone.”

The Ancient tower that the Death Lord used now presided over a ramshackle city covered in flame, being bombarded by Celica’s familiar-based artillery system, ravaged by my paratroops, and being breached by my main army linked up with the Wardens. It was a massive mess, a blackened, burning city being invaded by four armies at the same time with different strategies, methods of fighting, and with messengers and signaling flags as the primary means of communication.

Bringing in more troops sounded good on paper, especially as the remaining forces of the Death Lord dug in and the Death Lord was fighting for its own life, but doing so would only make the mess worse. Sacking a city was a lot less dangerous when your opponent doesn’t have guns. In fact, it was closer to sending in armed troops with shot and cannon to put down mobs melee weapons, but that didn’t mean it was easy.

This was already a massive shitshow, so we made sure to not throw everything in the city.

“Well, then, if that’s all I’d like to head on it. I’ve never sacked a city before.” Riegert nodded and I gave a nod in turn. I looked him over. Riegert of the Holy Axe had been known as an “XP Dumpster,” but a Champion is a Champion, so I went ahead and sent him to discover things, kill shit, and generally just level up. Before he just relied on his enhanced physique and magic to weather attacks, but now he was fully armored from head to toe and even had a stylized bull helmet to put on. Instead of being some meathead barbarian on a horse with a fuck-off, huge axe, he was now closer to a main battle tank in terms of deadliness. Maybe even deadlier. “Unless you need me for something?”

“No. Go ahead. Make sure Khalai and his people don’t charge too far forward too quickly.” The Wardens were as zealous as I feared. Erlan went as far as to complain about them. The dude barely talked about his people literally leaving him to die on the vine, yet the Dark Elves’ irritated him enough for him to complain. If that wasn’t enough, most of my officer corps were sending complaints, too. There weren’t any casualties because of it yet, the Wardens were skilled enough to make sure of that, but close calls were still hard on morale and deteriorated unit cohesion. Riegert, with his pedigree of leading a warband and his unit specialization as a Tier 1 unit booster and army general, pretty much made him the best person to send in. “Once you’ve engaged the defenders at the base of the tower, Morgan, Rita, and whoever the Guardians want to send will swoop in and kill the Death Lord. Don’t stop Sirena if she wants to join them, but we can’t afford to lose Khalai. He’s their leader, even if he’s acting like some sort of paladin on the front.”

Riegert looked like he was waiting for more information, but I just shook my head.

“Just keep it simple. Coordinating in there will be a massive mess. Keep the primary objective in mind, and advance while killing anything that’s the enemy if you’re not sure what to do.”

“As you wish, my king.” Riegert laughed lightly, before using his spurs to urge his armored warhorse forward. “I’ll do my best to corral the fanatics and not let them take my head.”

I had to resist rolling my eyes.

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“Tell them that they can have the corpse to burn or seal or whatever else they want to do with it. That should help.”

Riegert looked surprised at a moment, before grinning and donning his helmet.

Moments later he was followed by his personal retinue into battle with his scarlet banner flying behind him and his troops.

In another life, if I was ridiculously overpowered and knew I could take on most people on the planet in a fight, I’d be jealous of him looking so cool riding forth to sack a city.

Right now, though?

I just wanted everything to be over, so I can start preparing for the next war.

This is all a life-changing, history-making event for all of you… but this is just the tutorial, guys.

The sooner we finish it the sooner we can get on with the midgame and start ramping up.

…

Interlude: Riegert

…

He called the operation chaos, worried about adding more troops, yet the sacking of the Death Lord’s city was brutal and efficient.

Buildings and fortifications were levelled at our approach.

Magic from the enemy was repelled.

We marched over the meagre formations of the enemy and slit throats like butchers, rather than soldiers.

I had looked upon the fortified city from above with trepidation.

Layered trenches and palisades had surrounded it. Every road had barricades manned by soldiers. Undead flowed like water from the Death Lord’s tower to oppose its foes, while its magics lashed out at all. Even from above, the Death Lord’s bastion looked like a black tumor covered in spikes and flowing with undead pus.

Then, the Guardians fell upon the city and destroyed any organized resistance in an instant, leaving us to clean it up.

“Cluster of Undead up ahead!” A single officer called out, and the command reverberated through the whole column walking through the city road. The buildings around us, made of wood and carved stone, were now rubble. Rubble that was carefully watched by passing soldiers until Mages could arrive and pierce it through with spells from top to bottom to ensure nothing within the ruins lived. “Hold march!”

“Hold march!” Was repeated amongst the men as they stopped, until the whole column stretching several of the city’s blocks, stopped completely. “Hold march!”

In less than a minute, we were still with non from behind us forcing us forward.

“Permission to engage, sir?” The officer of this portion of the army went by the name Bartholomew. I hadn’t seen his face yet. He always wore his helmet, barely pulling up his visor. “Or, do you have other—

“Aye, I do. Let me take care of this and keep an eye out for anything strange. We need you fresh to take the tower.” I spoke casually, but the overbearing nature of the spire became more and more apparent as I got closer. It was just a raised Ancient tower, most of which were used to observe the perimeter of a region in our lands. However, the Death Lord changed it to suit its goals. It was covered in writhing, undead flesh and bone. Baleful yellow eyes were all over it as well, staring in every direction, as if attempting to see the battlefield entirely. It was like our own surveillance system in a way, but not manned by Iterants and not nearly as effective. “I’ll take these on.”

Bartholomew nodded once, before gesturing at the front and giving a whistle.

The frontmost troops parted in an orderly fashion, like a gate rather than a line of armored soldiers five men deep and ten across.

“Use your flare if you need assistance, sir. Otherwise, we’ll wait until you clear the path.”

Some part of me missed the reverence and the prestige, but I’d rather be treated like a fool then be rid of the discipline and the strength of the new generation.

“I’ll do that, lad. Don’t worry. We won’t take long. Just keep an eye on the sky for any attacks and repel them.” Handing my reigns to him, I dismounted and stretched my legs for a moment, before heading onward towards the Undead ahead. Six or so giant Undead from various species, multitudes of ghouls, and dozens upon dozens of skeletons and animated corpses. “I’ll be back in a moment.”

With that shared, I focused on the enemy, and charged forward with all the strength my renewed youth and all my new training gave me.

The frontline of the enemy collapsed instantly against me.

Bone and flesh came apart, as I covered myself in rippling power, as knights would atop their steeds. I had no need for a steed, given the strength given to me by the circumstances of my birth. As a Champion, I tore straight through the enemy with a singular charge, not even swinging my sword, and rid myself of over a third of the enemy combatants in an instant.

Before they could react, before they realized that a third of them number was dead, and before they realized I that I had crossed the length between my army and them just a few heartbeats… I swung my weapon with all my strength. A weapon imbued with the magics composed by the Ancients to harm their greatest foes, and the masses of their Undead soldiers that were turned against them.

A crescent streak of light flew forth from my axe. I felt the familiar loss of power in my gut, like something just vanished from my body. However, ever since my rejuvenation, the loss of power was but a fraction of a fraction of what it used to be. It was better than being young. I retained all my methods of conserving power, as well as all my skill and knowledge in making my attack better, while also gaining my youthful body.

I was not restored to my prime.

I was made the best that I could be.

The slash’s ends carved a path through buildings and bisected all in its path. Through the whole cluster of foes, my attack went forth and destroyed all. Skeletons and animated corpses came apart, ghouls died and tried to cling to life before dying trying to crawl to the nearest source of living flesh, and the giants all lost their legs at once and crashed down.

Swiftly, I went to each one, and killed them by carving their heads from their torsos.

Then, I returned to Bartholomew, who was waiting for me with my horse.

I hopped back onto the saddle without a bit of blood on my person.

“You’re stronger than I anticipated. Why are you not with the team going forth to kill the Death Lord?”

“You question your king’s orders? How dangerous.” I teased the young office back, but received a blank stare in return. The silence made me clear my throat and lose what was left my good mood after devastating a hundred foes so swiftly. “I am here because I specialize in leading armies and fighting against armies. Those going forth are potent killers. Not all Champions are alike.”

“I see. Thank you for telling me.” The young officer nodded, and gave a whistle. A trumpeter gave two blasts of a horn and soon enough we were at a march, the column moving through the battlefield quietly. No cheering. No accolades. Just acceptance that I did my duty and accomplished what I said that I would do. Refreshing. “I’ll rely on you to do that again, but tell me if you need rest. I will do my utmost to conserve the strength and lives of my men.”

I nodded and readied myself to begin the slow, careful march through the ruined city once more.

Steel-hearted, stern-gazed, and when confronted with Undead monstrosities… there was caution, not outright fear and panic.

Sometimes, I believed the Jack was too cautious with his troops and that he ought to use them more aggressively.

Then, I realize the simple fact that men such as Captain Bartholomew would not be without such caution.

Just a few years ago, these were all young men eager to ride out for glory and prestige.

Now, nearly one and all, they were veterans that waged war that looked upon Champions as assets to be deployed and monsters as enemies to be killed as efficiently as possible.

These are the soldiers we’ll need for the horrors to come.