In the middle of a plain that separated the Amaryn Kingdom, The Holy Empire, and the Free Cities alliance, stood a massive lone volcano, Mount Etna. The three countries had agreed to never place their military power on the plain and the mountain in the past. And the agreement was never broken Until now.
Three garrisons surrounded the base of Mount Etna. The one from the Empire covered the northwest of the mountain, the Kingdom's was located in the southwest, while The free City Alliance made theirs in the western area.
Not a week has passed since the message popped up in everyone's head. It was amazing how fast the three governments could muster their forces and built a strong garrison to hold back the waves of Fire Elemental descending the mountain, considering how slow usually they reacted to such threat.
A huge tent stood out among the thousand tents set by the Kingdom. It was a special tent for the Commander of the Kingdom's army. The war meeting room of that tent was dominated by a wooden table. On it, a huge map detailing the surrounding area along with stacks of scrolls, parchments, and books.
Surrounding the table were six people. The first one was a woman over two meters in height. She wore a massive plate armor that hid her bulky muscular body. She was the General of the Turtle Army and the second in command of the forces sent by the Kingdom of Amaryn. Lune Peregrin.
Next to Lune was a long haired man with glasses. Unlike the others in that room, He wore clothes befitting of a noble. He was the Emissary of the nobles that gave their support to the operation. His official job was to act as an emissary for the kingdom in case they need to contact the Empire's or the Free city's forces. But everyone there knew that his real job was as a symbol of Noble participation in defending the kingdom and to make sure that the Nobles gained something out of this disaster.
Then there was a woman with short light blue hair with a plate with a carving of a dragon hanging from her neck. Out of four Dragon ranked parties in Amaryn, only her party was available at the time. She was 'Miracle' Vex, the leader of 'Miracle' adventuring party. Her job was to coordinate and lead other adventurer parties that were lower ranked than them.
The fourth was an old man with a monocle on his right eye. His wizened face and his long white beard showed just how old he was. He wore a bright colored eccentric robe that didn't match his age. He was the representative of the Kingdom's Magician guild and also one of its strongest members, Warwyn The Wizened.
The fifth was High priestess Sara, the representative and the leader of the forces sent by Ketu Theocracy to aid the Kingdom. Ketu Theocracy was unique in this matter because they didn't set their own garrison. Instead, they split their forces into three and sent them to each garrison to aid in the war effort. The influence of the Church of Ketu in each country made it impossible for them to reject the help, even if the leader of each army was wary about the true intention to why Ketu Theocracy sent their help.
The sixth and the last was Theo, another envoy of the church and a hero of the Kingdom.
At first, Theo was unsure whether to approach the Kingdom's encampment even after Sara told him not to worry. She also told that Aria was still recovering from whatever Theo was doing to her, and probably won't be able to return to her normal life for the next month or two. However, when he approached them, no one seemed to know him other than the fact that he was the Hero who saved princess Ana. Because of his reputation as a hero, he was invited to the war council.
They all stood in silence. The council hasn't started yet because they were still waiting for the last person, which coincidentally was the Commander-in-chief of the whole operation.
The tent door suddenly flung open as an old man in a gold colored armor entered the tent. His white hair barely covered his head and his face was full of wrinkles, but the way he carried himself showed that he has no intention of retiring anytime soon. Theo clenched his fist to calm himself down. He felt guilty about leaving Sir Arslan with all that mess that he left.
Even though many nobles protested about appointing Sir Arslan as the leader, the King was adamant about his decision, it was the first time the King involved himself in a governing matter since his fall into despair. His decision was partly because the Nobles only suggested a person which could further their own agenda instead of suggesting a competent and experienced commander.
"Pardon my lateness. Without further ado, let us begin the council." He placed both of his hands on the table. He glanced to his second in command. "Lune. Please explain everything. Some of us haven't got a clear idea of the situation."
"Yes. As we all know we came here because of the world quest we received. A portal to the Fire Realm have opened inside the crater on top of Mount Etna and Fire Elemental forces have been pouring out of it ever since. On the first day, only lesser fire elemental descended from the mountain and their number was small, but with each passing day those waves become stronger and stronger and increased in number."
"Speaking of holding the position. How is the other army?" Vex asked.
Lune went to the map on the table and began pointing. "A legion of the Empire covers the north west of the mountain. That's roughly 6000 infantry lead by Marcus Lepidus. Plus 1000 adventurers from adventurer guild, 300 Mages from their mages guild and around 200 priests and healer." Her finger moved to the east of the mountain. "3000 'Iron Axe' mercenary along with 1000 private sword was employed by the free city to defend their position. 2000 adventurers, around 1000 mages and 300 priests." She moved her finger to where the kingdom camp was. "8000 infantry from the Royal Army plus 2000 Duke's men. However, compared to other, We only have around 400 adventurers, 200 priests, and only 50 mages. Of course, that was before the arrival of the church force."
"How much did you bring High Priestess?" Sir Arslan asked Sara.
"The pope has been very kind for giving me command of 100 combat priests and 200 Church Guard. Unfortunately, I don't know what the other team brought to the other army. However, I do know that the new Chosen One is residing at the Imperial garrison."
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Everyone raised their eyebrows when they heard that. "Hmm, the new Chosen One. As much as I want to meet him, we can't just rely on him for this kind of problem." Sir Arslan replied.
"Any attempt to make an alliance with the Empire or the Free Cities?" Vex asked.
Sir Arslan answered by pointing at the noble emissary. Everybody there understood, making a formal alliance with the other army will have an impact on the political situation and the nobles didn't allow it. There was, however, an informal, unwritten alliance between the Leader of each military garrison. Seeing the dissatisfaction in everyone's eyes the emissary interjected. "I believe it is not fair for you to say that. Condition like this doesn't only bring problems for the soldier and common people, but also the Noble houses and the government."
They ignored him. arguing with a Noble emissary who saw commoner as nothing more than a fodder wouldn't get them anywhere. "Now that we all know the condition. Any question?" Sir Arslan asked.
"How much do we know about the enemy forces? While the one that attacks us from the mountain are low-level fire elementals. The one who summoned them and its guard must be pretty high leveled." Warwyn asked.
"That, we do not know. Any spy we sent near the crater never comes back. Which could mean that there is indeed a high-level fire elemental up there. Maybe even a Flame-Born Knight." Sir Arslan chuckled. But no one there was amused. "Sorry, that was in poor taste."
Flame-Born Knight was the strongest kind of Fire Elemental, not counting the Ancients, the Fire Lords, and the Fire King. Each one of them was roughly as strong as an army of 10000 men. If there were more than ten Flame-Born Knights up there already summoned, then the whole operation was doomed from the start.
Sir Arslan pointed at the map. "Here's the path leading to the summit. After the army set up a decent fortification down here. We can slowly move up along the way. Since the path is not that big, the main army will move slowly. Not to mention the occasional attack and the defense, they have prepared for us which will further slow us down." He proceeded to explain where they planned to make their second camp, the role of the Mages Guild, the role of the Adventurers, and the rest of their strategies.
A magical clock rang shortly after Sir Arslan finished explaining. "Look like it's the time." Sir Arslan mumbled. Everyone wanted to ask what he meant, but the scream and shout from outside answered their question. "The second wave of today is coming.
"I and my team will come too," Vex said.
"Any help is very much appreciated." Sir Arslan answered. "Sir Theo, I want to speak with you later in private."
Sir Arslan hurried outside and Vex followed suit. Then the Emissary left the room, unlike the pace of the two before him, he walked gracefully. That left Sara, Lune, Theo, and Warwyn.
Sara glanced at Theo.
"Sir Theo, I have something to discuss in private too concerning a matter of the Church. I hope you will spare some of your time for me." She bowed her head. "Then excuse me, everyone, I have some matter to attend to. May Lord Ketu blessing be upon all of you." She bowed once more before leaving the tent. When she passed Theo, she whispered to him. "Don't forget to bring all of your companion, including 'her'."
Silence returned. Lune was organizing the scroll, parchment, and book on the table. Theo observed her. Her face wasn't that bad, though her skin looked rough, that was to be expected from those who fight in the front line. Her body, however, was scary. It was huge and Theo could almost see the muscle bulging from under her thick armor. He can't say anything else because her armor covered most of her body.
"I'll help the defender too." He then left the room.
Just as he left the tent, a soldier bumped into him. He didn't apologize to Theo nor did Theo minds it. The soldier appeared to be in a hurry, carrying a lot of arrows in his arm. He followed the soldier from behind to the front line.
He could see from far away, the sheer number of lesser Fire Elementals that came down from the mountain.
Among their ranks, there was also some Fire Elementals and higher variation of them. Even one or two greater Fire Elementals. Their number was nothing compared to the defending army, but it was still an amazing sight to see them in such a huge number.
Shouts of battle came from the soldier on the front line as they raised their shield and countered the Fire Elemental. While Fire Elemental and normal Fire Elemental have a ranged attack, most of the time it wasn't that powerful, it could warm up the soldier's shield and that was it. Nothing more, especially if the soldier was buffed with fire and heat resistance by the priests and mages behind the line.
The problem arose from their number. Even a candle flame could kill a man if he were to sleep on top of a thousand of it. If five or more of them focused their attack on just one man they might be able to damage, or even destroy the shield, but alas, their attack wasn't organized. Another problem was the higher and greater Fire Elementals. Their attack was strong enough to break a shield formation. Though such problem was easily solved by mages and archers who killed them before they could attack the front line.
A great fireball rained from the sky and crashed on the magical shield set by the mages, causing it to crack. Everyone could see that one more of those fireballs and the shield would shatter to pieces, leaving the infantries vulnerable to aerial attack.
"Fire Lizard!" One of the mages shouted.
"I handle it." The voice came from Theo's left, where a strikingly attractive woman stood.
Theo knew her. She was Kanetsugu Tomoe, one of the members of 'Miracle' and the subordinate of Vex. She looked like a normal city girl, but the plate hanging from her neck that bore the image of a dragon meant that she stood among the pinnacle of human capabilities.
Her appearance was the definition of oriental women, which often found in Nippon, fair white skin, thin lips, small butt and breast. Things which would make them appear less attractive to most people on the continent, but not for Theo. Theo didn't care much about how big woman's butt and breast is, he cared about their body proportion and their face. After all, what he sought in them wasn't just their body.
To Theo, Tomoe's face complemented her perfectly proportional body. Her lustrous black hair tied in a ponytail behind her head. Her healthy pink lips were flat, not showing any emotion. Her black pupil gleamed when she stared at the mountain slopes, searching for her target.
'Well, well, seems Vex has some nice friends here.'
She took the massive Warbow from her back. "I can't see them... yet." She said as she scanned the mountain "I have to wait for the next attack." The mage nodded and ordered his subordinate to set up an extra layer of shields to protect them from air attack.
A fire rose in the distance, only a small red dot, almost imperceptible to the human's eyes. That was all she needed.
She pulled the string of her Warbow to maximum, infusing it and the arrow to the brim with her aura, causing it to glow blue. Though her arms were slender, the act of pulling such massive a Warbow without much effort goes to show that you can't judge someone from their appearance.
She let loose of the arrow and a massive 'twang' came from it. Theo, who stood near her could almost feel a shockwave. Whether or not her bow released a shockwave, he couldn't be so sure.
The arrow whistled as it pierced the sky at a staggering speed, such that it was impossible to be followed by the eye. Another fire rose to the sky from another position. She repeated her action three more times before putting her bow back. Each shot never aimed at the same place as the one before.
She then left with a graceful manner without as much as a word and without even confirming that her shot was on point She was. After she shot them, there was no more fireball raining from the sky. It was more staggering considering that Fire Lizard could spew their fireball from more than one kilometer away, and they tend to fire from maximum range to protect their relatively fragile bodies.
After the fire lizard was dealt with, the army has no trouble anymore, at least for that afternoon.