Ning Xin roused up from her slumber when she felt her shoulders being nudged.
‘Oops. That’s bad, I fell asleep.’ She quickly shook her exhaustion off. The militia rotated watch duties that she took part in as well. She also joined every skirmish and cooked for thousands of people every day. Having around 3 hours of sleep every day got Ebony fully rested but not her. The man didn’t need that much sleep and worked his small forge through the night sometimes.
Sitting beside Ebony made her drop her guard down quite a bit. Her gut squeezed a little when she looked at the man who stared at the green cloud above them.
‘Uh oh, he’s excited.’ Her Intuition warned her that the man was coming up with more reckless plans. His face might not show it but she could feel his excitement. Even for another of his silly ideas, excitement wasn’t something she often felt from him.
“Don’t you dare go up,” Her mind raced.
“Oh don’t worry, I actually don’t dare. It melted my fully compressed and enhanced fingertips off in less than 2 seconds. I had to detach the whole finger before it got inside me.” He hooked the finger which she assumed he cut off moments ago.
‘And of course, he already tried touching it…but, this cloud is so potent?’ She was glad that he wasn’t trying to dive in to get resistance or something but it was a little shocking to have his body damaged so easily.
Shamanic magic wasn’t anything like a mage’s elemental magic. They were closer to wizards’ spells but still noticeably different was one to be familiar with both. None of them understood the difference, not even her.
This corrosive cloud wasn’t something a single Shaman cast. It persisted for as long as the war had gone on so far.
She didn’t think a hundred thousand mages could replicate the effect and keep it going for so long. There was no chance Tova had a hundred thousand Shamans that they could spare to cast a single spell either. There were less than five squads of a mixture of Master Shamans here. Even if their rear had more and the other Tide’s fiercer battles required most of their magic casters.
The potency of the spell above her strengthens the impossibility of numerous weak magic casters at work. They could supply the quantity but not the quality.
“So what do you have in mind this time?” She wasn’t fully against all his plans. They tend to give results one way or another.
“This spell is so strong, whatever or whoever the reason, it’s only beneficial for us that it can’t move to swallow us. It only restricts flight up to a certain height.”
“Mages are the undisputed number one when it comes to flexibility with spells. Wizardry, sorcery and shamans’ magic can’t compare.” She stated, there were pros and cons but in terms of flexibility, mages had the greatest control. Since Elva was mage-dominant and Mark had been the only half-wizard she knew, it didn’t really matter to her at the moment. Ebony should’ve known this.
“Mmm. It’ll swallow anything we throw up there. The perfect mana trash can.”
“You mean…”
“We might not know the workings of this spell but it requires mana or some kind of energy source, that’s for sure. Since we aren’t allowed to trouble the army let’s train our spells here. If we’re lucky we can erase part of this cloud or maybe thin it out. If not, we still get the experience of having our spells actively fighting against vastly superior magic. And, you know. It doesn’t move or fight back as far as I can see.”
She blinked rapidly.
“There’s no assurance the cloud can’t move.”
“Sure. We just have to do this above the Troll’s army. Unless they don’t care for their soldiers.”
“That’s…actually smart. Coming from you.” They both knew that if the cloud could move it would have long fallen and consumed the entire battlefield. There was an extremely low chance it could move.
“Mmm.” Ebony didn’t notice the rude remark that had been partly to poke fun at him.
He informed her about the rise in his runic engraving skill that made his ice scales stronger than his body and a couple of Models standing by was enough to cover them both. A second was enough for him to have gravity pull them all the way under the ground since the altitude was relatively low.
She had gotten a rough magic body only to get the hang of utilising mana so heavily. Priority one was to be able to conjure her own blood so that she could make use of her father’s spell. It was a simple blood-clad armour that she saw multiple times. All she had was the memory of him using it, her personal plan was to blend it with her magic body.
She had bled herself out but not so much that she had tubs of blood around for her to cast. Freshly spilt blood during battle, by her enemies, was getting easier to control but not enough for her to call herself fluent in blood magic. Oftentimes, she was more busy stabbing, piercing, cutting and dicing than casting magic.
They went down to the wall, she stared down at any fool who tried to stop them from getting closer. A mix of her Vitality and Ebony’s Wisdom was enough for the lady General to order her guards to step down.
“We want to cause trouble.”
The straightforward man gently let her feet touch the ground before his seat reformed into one of his ice figures.
He could have worded that a lot differently but she kind of liked him this way.
❅❅❅
Ebony had to let Ning Xin take over the task of talking. He was inwardly happy he managed to guess that every commanding officer was pissed off. This time, he secretly asked Ning Xin and she confirmed that he was right. Except for Commander Wil and General Impes, one was laughing while the other frowned so hard her brows could meet.
She informed him that most of the officers present were above level 400. Only Commander Wil, General Impes and two other men were worth mentioning. Other commanding officers were probably out on the battlefield. The battle stretched too far for one to be able to observe everything from the walls but the Imperial Army had some traps set up around the edges to confine the battle so that nothing could slip past them.
Seeing how the Trolls desperately pushed for ground, the unseen traps must be useful. Although he did hear from his customers that it was due to the Trolls' pride that they didn’t want to back down from a head-to-head battle he didn’t expect the shaman to follow the desires of the majority. Ning Xin took over the talking but she was being shot down left and right. Seeing their attitudes towards her tickled his clear mind. Commander Wil wasn’t an Imperial officer in charge hence, his silence.
“Shut up girl! We will not stand such foolishness with our men’s life at stake!”
Ebony put his hands on her shoulders to calm her down, luckily she didn’t reach for her swords. As for the rude bearded man, he was rooted to the spot the moment he stood up and yelled.
A messenger interrupted them by whispering into General Impes’s ears. She had also been silent the entire time they proposed their actions.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“Wilson, bring your men eastward. I authorise your command over my fourth rear brigade.”
“Reinforcements coming from Fourth Tide’s battle?” The old man was the most relaxed person here except for Ebony.
It was a small problem fit for small, mobile groups like the militia. The big problem was even more reinforcements from Tova’s rear. They estimated the Troll number here to triple within two weeks. The Imperial’s reinforcements would take more time as they had supply issues.
There was no need for anyone to go into detail for Ebony to guess that it was due to how much equipment and items people needed. After the first attack on the Troll’s forward base, he saw they had a lot fewer things that they brought along. Most of them didn’t wear clothes much less armour. They had a lot of spare weapons but the physical brutes would have less trouble with carrying those things compared to the Imperials. Every single soldier required armour, food and a bunch of other luggage. The building materials for magic towers and defensive siege weapons were some that took the most effort to transport. The Tides themselves hoarded the defensive equipment and all the spares in stock were currently used.
Stronger soldiers were all eastwards protecting the other Tides and the average soldiers here could barely fight off their enemy. More weak reinforcements would only put more deaths on the General’s record. Sadly, all she had coming were weak reinforcements. Or so the rumours go among the militia’s members.
Fifth Tide wasn’t a high priority for the Empire. Past them was Trailane Plains which doesn’t really have any important resources or structures while Hoarfrost Glades wasn’t even within their control. The towns and cities further away, all had strong barriers and defensive capabilities that the current King had focused on improving for many decades.
Obviously, they didn’t give up on Fifth Tide since it would give the Trolls a path of entry into the mainland.
“Take them away.” General Impes didn’t have to look towards them but he knew she also didn’t like his idea. She tossed a pouch over to the old man before they left.
“Come on.”
The two of them left with Commander Wil.
“Ha, once we’re out of sight you can do whatever you want.” The old man was all for it.
“Will the militia be alright?” Ebony asked. He understood that more than a few people would die in every clash they had if it wasn’t for him. The others in the first assault squad could handle themselves even if they were surrounded but the same couldn’t be said for everyone else.
“Those muscle heads don’t move well in large numbers, I will be at the front. They are usually sluggish when their younger members panic.”
“I will still join the battle.” Ning Xin added.
“Mmm. I forgot we can do that in our free time.” Ebony said without thinking. He was probably the only one who could spare that much mana in his free time.
“Oh, she got this fast. Here, put it on.” Commander Wil opened the pouch and his eyes lit up. He passed them a black crystal in the standardised bracelet shape.
[???]
“What’s this?” Ning Xin didn’t move to put it on as Ebony did.
“I put an order for obfuscation jewels for both of you. Most commanders have this too.”
“This is the thing that hides class and levels?” Ebony was a little surprised. He read so many books on materials and items but this ‘jewel’ wasn’t in any of them.
“These two should be able to partially block off tier 3 identification such as Assessment or Evaluation. All tier 2 should give others question marks and tier one might not even be able to pick anything up.”
“Is this a natural material or someone’s creation?” He was intrigued by the nature of the item more so than its awesome effects.
“It’s something the royal alchemist formulated. That’s all I know. With these, it would weaken the senses of the mark on you but not by much.”
‘No wonder the commanders have it. In any case, this is a great gift.’ He wasn’t so worried about Trolls finding him but Appraise and other tier 2 identification skills can see his class name and glimpse into his Sub-Class. They helped Commander Wil spread the word to the members that ran off from their designated area. Since they already packed up whatever belongings they had, it didn’t take an hour before the militia moved off.
As for the fourth rear brigade, they needed some more time to get their ration, supplies and cannons but they would catch up. Mr kidnapper was in charge while Commander Wil stayed back to move with the rear brigade pushed onto him along with the academies.
Mr Kidnapper was very good at avoiding them, Ebony hadn’t bothered trying to get him because Ning Xin had a personal grudge against him. Although he also wanted to ask the man some things, he wasn’t much stronger than his partner that got trashed. It was questionable if they could force any words from the man himself. Maybe if they fought together but Ebony really didn’t care, he already knew who ordered his capture and those people weren’t worth his time at the moment.
“Commander, help me put an order for some metals. Ores or ingots doesn’t matter.” Ebony stopped the old man before he left with the militia.
“Ah, good idea. There aren’t any gravity mages who picked up crafting.” Commander Wil knew about the things he had been doing. The rings might not be high in quality but every bit helped, especially when it increased people’s speed. He asked for empty mana ores to fit them so the users had a ‘battery pack’ in case they didn’t have the mana to operate the rune and he didn’t have to fork out the ores for it.
‘It’s just runes though…oh, most people don’t know about that.’ Ebony didn’t correct the old man. He had been trying to make a new ring that adds ice elemental attacks onto weapons but he didn’t know anything that would work from a ring. Developing a new rune was not prominent anywhere on the list of his abilities so it would take time.
He took off ahead of the group together with his partner. Even if some of those in the first assault squad could keep up with them, they wouldn’t.
‘Lazy’ was the opinion the two of them had for them. Those people thought that they didn’t need to train daily if they fought a war.
‘Hmm, the surface of the sea should be pretty safe if these Trolls fish for their sustenance. I guess sea travel shouldn’t be that dangerous if we stay near the surface.’
He tried to keep up so that he could silence her explosive running style but he was slower when they were in their base form without augmentation. The wastelands were the best place for her to run around since nothing impeded her speed. He would easily catch up if this were a jungle or denser and uneven terrain.
A layer of wind protects her from dust and debris even though her mask and clothes were tough enough. He had Imperishable Frost Scales over his robes all the time to reduce the wear and tear on them and it was a great layer of defence against Troll’s mostly blunt weapons and attacks. He attempted to fashion a helmet but none of the designs really stick to him. He didn’t really care about the sight reduction anymore so it was more of a fashion choice.
The Xeng’s mask should be able to expand more after they evolve but Ning Xin could barely cover her ears with it. Her grandmother’s mask supposedly fully covers the head like a helmet. They always wore it in the mask form though.
The Trolls were marching like any regular army, with giant pillars and rocks likely for some of their buildings. If they weren’t so huge, Ebony would be able to see thousands of them carrying spiky spheres. Midnight Shepherd wasn’t capable of creating ammunition but there were many tribes that were expert tossers. With their immense physical capability, anything they throw tends to be destructive.
‘Even these physically inclined races choose to walk, no wonder wars take years.’ Ebony understood it was due to the load they were lugging, the rough formation they kept when travelling to protect important personnel and items and also to conserve stamina. It took half a day at their top speed to see the Troll’s reinforcement, he estimated they would take three to four days to cover the same distance. Quicker if they didn’t stop to rest. They were not looking good, he could tell from their faces. These giant soldiers were hungry and injured. Their injuries were healing at a visible rate but not anywhere as fast as those he fought in Bubble Hills.
A lack of food reduces regeneration, he was very aware since he starved during the training with Gen and Ful. The body simply didn’t have the sustenance to repair itself. With their huge figure and mass, high physical strength output and regeneration they must require a disgusting amount of food each. Before he could continue to observe the state of the marching army, the woman ahead of him dived into battle without a care in the world. She yelled something at them but he couldn’t hear it from where he was.
‘She doesn’t cook them or slice them into cuts. And she’s not collecting their blood either… is it her respect towards her opponents? As people?’ Although the dual swordswoman doesn’t appear to need a strong reason to kill, he knew the woman was not completely cold-hearted. As a chef, she eats all her hunts and they make use of every life they take. A lot of bones and furs were stored in their trailer for sale. Dungeons recover every corpse so it wasn’t a waste even if they didn’t eat their flesh.
It had been news to him that she killed her first person a bit after his own experience, in Ordina. She mentioned it when she was drunk. She didn’t fear it and killing a person didn’t haunt her but she got an upset belly after the act. She detested anything that worked against her appetite.
Ebony didn’t notice that he wasn’t clear-headed again but he got struck with a realisation. A certain sense of unfounded confidence told him her current thoughts or perhaps conviction ‘I’ll put you out of your misery right now.’
“What are you sensing from them?” Ebony spoke out to no one but himself.
Icicle drew itself out and they joined the intense massacre.