Dante’s Immortality – Chapter 85
Dante sat against the wall of the trench, flexing the muscles in his right hand to distract himself from the pain. Three days. The pain had lessened after the initial hour, but a searing sensation hadn’t gone away. Three days of unbearable pain.
“Not only are we sitting ducks, but I also won’t be able to get a good shot off in this blasted dirt pit.”
Dante looked at Daniel, imagining his flexing hand around the man’s throat. The pain was definitely affecting his temper, and he was pretty sure he would kill the bastard if he got the chance.
Dante Blinked the leather that was clenched between his teeth down into his pocket, it was amazing how much biting something helped the pain. “If you don’t want to fight from the trench, feel free to lead the charge yourself.” Done speaking, he stuck his hand in his pocket and Blinked the piece of leather back into his mouth, repositioning it between his teeth before he clamped down.
Daniel didn’t seem satisfied with his answer. “What’s the point of having Warriors if we aren’t even going to use them? I am far more valuable than those common brutes.”
Dante didn’t answer Daniel, the Warriors were all standing with shields at the ready, waiting to block any projectiles that might fall into the trench, or attack anyone who charged in. Daniel’s great battle plan was to send them at the enemy as the rest of the unit rained shots in from behind. Absolutely stupid when he could sit in the comfort of a trench and not lose anyone.
Daniel looked as though he was going to say something, but a single glance from Victoria shut him up.
Victoria’s sat off to the side, picking at her nails with a dagger. She didn’t seem to care about the upcoming fight. She wouldn’t even be taking part unless it was necessary.
A war horn sounded behind them, indicating that the enemy was marching forward. The three rangers strung their bows in anticipation, and even Daniel activated his skill, a glowing bow made of light appearing in his hand. Daniel’s skill was called ‘Astral Arrow’, apparently. He would only believe that if he saw the skill description for himself though.
In all honesty, the skill seemed both mediocre and amazing.
It was basically just a bow. That was it. The only advantage it had over a regular bow was slightly increased range, unlimited arrows, and ridiculous firing speed. Other than that, it was standard. Even the power it shot with wasn’t above average. Any regular combatant should be able to block the arrows, unless they were overwhelmed by the quantity that Daniel fired.
In his opinion, the three Rangers had far better skills. One of them was a sharpshooter, able to attack with incredible speed, power, and accuracy at an incomprehensible range. Another had an incredibly rare skill that shattered mana on contact, perfect for destroying any mana shields. It wouldn’t work on an overly powerful shield though. And the last had a skill that poisoned his arrow before it was fired. That skill was by far the most ridiculous, one nick from the arrow would turn someone into a withered black corpse in less than a minute.
Other than them, he had a Geomancer ready to use Barricade for defensive purposes, and the other Geomancer and the Mage were creating a mana shield that was also ready to be used. Aldric, the Pathfinder, was sitting right next to him. He had wracked his brain for two days, thinking about how Aldric’s skill could be used to the greatest effect, and he was pretty sure he had figured it out.
Aldric was sitting in front of a diagram that represented the field in front of them. The diagram had the trenches location, a line indicating where the forest began, and most importantly, a line between the two indicating the reach of his Manipulate Blade skill. Aldric already had five arrows out to sense the enemy, and after some previous testing, he knew that he could hit a moving target quite accurately without even peaking out from the trench.
Shouting could be heard both to their left and right as the other groups prepared themselves. Most of them didn’t use trenches, but just a simple wall from a Barricade skill, some of them at half height so that they could be peaked over. Geomancer’s were running up and down their side’s frontline, placing up walls for each unit, their skill in high demand.
Dante heard the twang of the bow, and he glanced over to see that the sharpshooter Ranger had already begun to pick shots. It seemed that things were already picking up.
They were several miles from the main camp, and their force was more of a visual deterrent than anything else. There wasn’t a single mercenary group among them, just ragtag units made up of conscripted combatants with one of the Warlords men leading them. If they were hit by the opposing warlord’s main force, and not just a small raiding party, they would be wiped out within minutes.
An explosion sounded out a few dozen feet from the trench and he could feel the ground tremble lightly.
Daniel peaked out from the trench with the other two Rangers, it seemed that the enemy was closing in. Aldric pointed to the diagram in front of him, his finger resting between the line of the forest and the line that marked Manipulate Blade’s range. The finger lightly traced closer towards the line of his skill’s range when it abruptly stopped. Aldric then moved his finger to a new position and began tracing it, indicating that the previous target had been killed.
He had instructed Aldric to track the closest target at all times unless instructed otherwise, which could be problematic since the closest enemy would always be targeted and attacked first by others.
The shouting around him picked up. Some were screams of people dying, others were orders to kill specific enemies. It was deafening.
Aldric’s finger traced closer to his skill’s range, and Dante picked up a sword from the pre-prepared pile with a mere thought, ready to act.
“Not yet.”
Dante glanced at Victoria in askance.
Victoria didn’t stop picking at her nails. “This is just a probing attack. The enemy commander is looking for the biggest threats so that he can quickly take them out, while simultaneously draining our sides mana.”
Dante pointed to Daniel and the three Rangers, not bothering to take the leather out of his mouth to speak. Daniel was practically shooting bolts of light at the enemy.
Victoria’s gaze shifted to the archers. “Yes, that is a bit of a problem. This trench will likely be targeted by the first wave. It doesn’t really matter though, this entire battle is a probing one. There will only be a few casualties on both sides.”
Judging by the screams coming from both sides of the field, he had a feeling that ‘a few casualties’ was a relative term.
Dante glanced at Tabitha, their healer. She didn’t seem to be too concerned about the people with arrows sticking out of them only a few feet away from their trench. In fact, she was casually knitting. He didn’t say anything though. Over the past few days he had come to understand how headstrong - and strange - the small woman was. He just hoped that she would be a bit more concerned if it was him bleeding out in front of her.
Dante casually listened to the sounds of battle for a few minutes. Victoria seemed to be correct, like always, the enemy wasn’t really attacking them yet. True, there were archers raining arrows at them, and a few Warrior’s had crossed into their lines, but they were being easily repelled.
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Aldric abruptly shifted the position of his finger until it was a bit outside of his skill’s range. “A group of six is targeting us. Two mages holding a mana shield, a mage and three archers taking aim.”
That wasn’t good. Dante spit out the piece of leather and looked over to the Rangers. “Thomas, take out that groups mana shield.”
“Yes sir.” Thomas nocked an arrow, and the tip glowed blue just as he fired.
Aldric followed the group with his finger as it slowly marched closer. “Shield’s down, but they are firing.”
Aldric had just finished speaking when three arrows collided into the back of their trench, one of which immediately blasted apart with a burst of mana. Thankfully it blew up the soft dirt of the trench wall, making the blast’s damage minimal.
“Barricade!”
The stone wall barely made it up in time to block the ball of fire that crashed into it. It exploded with devastating force, blasting shards of stone into the trench.
Dante cursed. The mage had a powerful upgrade on his fireball skill, if he had been a second late on the call for Barricade, things would have ended badly.
“Focus on the mage, and clear the stone off the Rangers!” The last command was for the Warriors, and they immediately followed through. Dante looked at Daniel and the three Rangers, they were covered in the stone shards from the Barricade wall. “Tabitha, make sure our archers can still fight. Lucas, if you don’t cover us with the mana shield next time, I’ll kill you before the enemy gets around to it. Jackson, start expanding the trench, we need to move.”
Dante looked down at his Pathfinder. “Aldric, aim for the mage.” As he spoke, Dante lifted up five weapons with his skill. He tracked the enemies’ movements with the help of Aldric and he fired.
“Left.” At Aldric’s command, he turned the blades slightly to the left as they flew through the air and escaped his skills range. He awaited confirmation. “Mage and one archer dead, another mage wounded. They are forming another shield but it’s currently weak. Their group is also taking fire from others on our side.”
Dante scanned the trench to see what he was dealing with. The sharpshooter had a very crushed arm, and Tabitha was healing Daniel’s wrist. Jackson had already extended the trench to the point that it was twice its previous length, and the Warrior’s were preparing to defend the trench now that the enemy was getting closer. His hand was also still flaring up in pain, making the situation far worse.
“Captain.” Dante looked over at Aldric, who now had two fingers on the diagram, both of them somewhat close to each other. “Two more grouped units just entered the field and are heading our way. Both using shield walls.”
Dante processed the information. A shield wall was definitely the most effective defense against their group, which was made up almost entirely of archers. And the Ranger with the mana destroying arrows was no longer useful. He wondered if the person commanding the enemy forces was already adapting to their skills, the lack of mana shields could testify to that theory.
“Warriors, prepare for close combat, prioritize defense! Jackson, as soon as the trench is extended get the Rangers out of here.”
They were definitely being watched, but if the trench was extended far enough, the enemy might not target them as the fled.
Dante stood up, peaking out of the trench to get a feel for the battlefield. The two groups that Aldric mentioned were closing in, their shields large enough to almost entirely cover their bodies. Both seemed to be made up of ten Warriors each. Strangely, those two shield walls were the only part of the enemy force that was grouped together. The rest of their combatants were scattered, prioritizing defense over offense. They charged over, doing their best to block projectiles, but none of them got close. Any time they did, they would stop and look for cover before engaging his side.
That didn’t mean that their number wasn’t overwhelming though. They had sent out at least two hundred and fifty combatants so far, while his side was made up of less than four hundred. At least fifty of the enemy side were archers as well, they were returning fire, shooting arrows charged with various skills back at his side, but the damage was minimal.
From what he could see, Victoria was right about this being a probing battle. And it was obvious. It made him hold back. He had been planning on charging the shield wall, Blinking behind it would have allowed him to decimate them through the element of surprise, but that no longer seemed like a good idea. He didn’t want to reveal all of his skills to the enemy, it could cost him later.
“Lucas, wall up!” At his command, a mana shield rose up in front of him. It was dense, the product of almost an hour of preparation beforehand. “Aldric, do they have any offensive combatants behind the wall?”
Aldric frowned as he extended his senses. “No, it seems to only be made up of Warriors.”
Dante spun on his heels. “Jackson, stop extending the trench. Just widen it.”
Jackson didn’t look too pleased to receive the contradictory order, but he carried it out anyways. He was likely already low on mana. Unfortunately, the other Geomancer didn’t have the Excavate skill.
The enemy hadn’t stayed idle. Their archers were raining arrows on either side of the trench, forcing away the rest of the combatants on their side in an attempt to isolate his unit. It was a good plan.
Dante picked up the swords and spears behind him one by one, hurling them at the feet of the shield wall on the right with Manipulate Blade. He sliced into the feet of a Warrior with the first, but after that the shields were lowered and the Warriors crouched behind them. To the sides of the shield wall other Warriors that weren’t a part of the group marched in by themselves. They were also holding shields, but their aim was clearly to distract the rest of his side from interfering with the shield wall’s progress.
As he slowed down the group on the right, continuing to shoot weapons at them, the shield wall on the left marched forward unimpeded. They were closing in far faster than the other group, and didn’t seem to care that they were marching forward alone.
Dante sat behind his group of Warriors, they were now forming ranks in anticipation of the fight. “Prioritize defense!” He looked at the other Geomancer. “As soon as they get close enough, put up a few walls behind them.” The man looked at him as though he was insane, but nodded.
Daniel and the other Rangers stood to his side, all but the one with the crushed arm were lobbing shots over the mana wall in front of them. Tabitha and Aldric had taken refuge by Victoria, which was the safest area on the battlefield by far.
The first shield wall met their mana shield, bashing it at a full charge and weakening it. Behind them a few stone walls went up, indicating that their Geomancer had done as instructed. “Thomas, break the shield!” Thomas also looked at him like he was insane, but did as instructed. He charged an arrow, shooting it into the shield that was directly in front of them.
The mana shield shattered, causing a few of the enemy Warriors to stumble forward into the trench. They quickly regained their footing and began to fight with his Warriors in close combat, but those that fell into the trench were quickly eliminated. To his side, Daniel had already begun to pepper arrows at the ones that had yet to jump down, impeding their movement. “Step forward!”
At his command, the Warriors in his unit immediately obeyed. They stepped forward, over the bodies of the enemy they had just downed to engage what remained of the shield wall that was standing above them.
Dante pressed himself against their backs, waiting a few seconds for them to fully engage the enemy, then he Blinked. He appeared behind the shield wall, fully blocked from enemy view thanks to the stone wall his Geomancer had thrown up only moments ago. As soon as he appeared behind the Warriors he tore through them easily. All of them were too preoccupied with his own combatants to react in time. “Pull them into the trench.”
The Warriors looked shocked, they had never seen him use Blink before, but they also looked at him with a newfound respect as they pulled the corpses of the Warriors into the trench.
As soon as all the bodies were hidden, Dante looked at the Geomancer. “Take down the walls, but get ready to put them back up.”
The stone walls came down just as the other shield wall neared. The Geomancer had already gotten the gist of the plan, as he put the wall back up without being asked.
“Prepare to engage, focus on defense!” Their moral now high, the Warriors on his side stepped up to meet the enemy. The low ground was a definite disadvantage in a fight, but in this case, the effects were minimal. Not only were his Warriors only focused on defense, but Daniel and the two Rangers fired arrows into any gaps they saw in the shield wall.
As soon as the enemy was thoroughly engaged, Dante stepped forward and Blinked behind the enemy. Dispatching all ten in seconds with a swipe from a world essence manipulated blade.
Dante began kicking the bodies at his Warriors. “Pull them in.”
They did as instructed, clearing the field in front of them so that no evidence of their enemy remained. “Lower the stone walls.”
At his command, the Geomancer did as instructed. The stone walls came down, revealing nothing where a fight should have been taking place.
From the opposing side, a horn blared, indicating a retreat. The enemy force began to pull back and cries of victory rose up from their side of the field. The men in his unit weren’t an exception, the Warriors celebrated heartily, slapping each other on the back with wide smiles on their face. Even the Ranger that had his arm crushed seemed to be happy.
Dante sat against the trench wall, the pain in his hand was unimaginable. Killing the enemy might have been easy, but every drop of blood that fell on his glove was a nightmarish torture. Now that his battle high was fading, the pain only seemed to increase.
Victoria looked him over, she seemed a bit apprehensive when she saw the obvious pain he was in, but skimmed over it. “Well done, captain. You handled the battle well, keeping a few cards hidden was smart in this situation. Although, I think that hiding the bodies afterward was a bit theatrical.”
Dante didn’t respond, the pain was overwhelming.