[POV of General Henry]
“You really shouldn’t be here, your majesty.”
“It’s fine. Even if I die, it may be for the best.” He says it in a joking tone, but I can’t help but feel disappointed. Mostly in myself. Crown Prince shouldn’t be here, even if we are fucked up. “Actually, I plan to help. Maybe I will be enough to push them back.”
I don’t like this, but maybe he is right. “Still, this battle is too small for someone like you to risk your live here.”
“Ha! If not here, then where? Jescar practically broke our lines. We can only hope their neighbors will temper Jescarians ambitions. If not, it’s over. We can no longer fight them. Defeating Tangidians here is the best we can do.”
I sigh. Our kingdom, once so proud, is now only reduced to this pathetic state. “Can we even survive?” I ask. I know how to fight, but politics are not my forte.
“Yes. I think so. I’m not someone who sinks with the ship, no matter how romantic it sounds. After the wars, we will seek protection from the church. It’s not like we have any chance to reclaim lost lands. Not unless some catastrophe hits them. Besides, I heard that there are already two orc tribes that attacked our settlements. We can't leave them be.”
Indeed. If we vow to only fight monsters, churches are going to protect us a bit. I often think about Bright Gods as order, while Dark Gods and their monsters are creatures of chaos. It’s not official, and I think priests would stop me from saying it publicly to prevent any bad rumors about the mana type. There are simply too many idiots in the world; some would want to ban the mana or something. Still, I think the comparison is apt.
Enlightened grow slowly, creating legacies and civilization. Monsters and their kingdom are like a bright flame. They burn hot and bright, being very dangerous, but short lived. In my option, it’s best to leave monsters alone, letting them kill each other. Fighting them is a gamble, especially those that create societies. Many of them can grow very fast, the best example being goblins. To win, you need a definite advantage. Otherwise, you can easily lose if they get a chance. Annoying.
“I suppose soldiers won’t return home anytime soon.”
“Many of those homes are now under foreign rule. It’s not like they can, unless they want to be hanged for spying.”
I want to sigh again. Such is the war, I suppose. We don’t talk much anymore. I check my plan for the battle, while the prince checks his gear. An hour later, I stand on the top of a hill, surrounded by my troops. In the distance, the Tangid kingdom army slowly marches in our direction.
“If you don’t mind, I would like you to break their formation on the flank.”
“I thought you didn’t want me here.” The prince says with amusement in his voice.
“I’m realist.”
“Very well. I will trust your judgment. Just point me to the enemy.”
The Tangid army has similar numbers to us, but they have two more units out of 3rd tier soldiers. The rule of threes says you need three combatants good at teamwork to defeat someone one whole tier stronger. That’s not how it works in a battle. The whole rule is based on the fact that the three combatants can all attack the enemy at the same time, either because they encircled them or because some of them are ranged fighters. Such a thing is hardly feasible during a pithed battle.
In a formation, soldiers practically are fighting one-on-one. Sure, I could maybe give my army long pikes and support them with archers, but it’s not like the enemy can’t do the same. At the end of the day, the 3rd tier squad will nearly always win against 2nd tier one.
Archers start firing, and skirmish starts. Their light troops move quickly, while cavalry is trying to flank us. I let them. We are in defensive anyway, so I’m not worried they will simply avoid us and march deeper. If that were to happen, we could easily cut their supply lines. They won’t be able to forage easily, given that harvest season ended quite some time ago and most of the grain is protected by walls of castles. Tangid have to defeat us here, so I let them try. I just hope they won’t notice the traps.
I give the signal, and the sound of a horn echos through the battlefield in a rhythm, informing commanders of my orders. I could use my perks, but I want them to think they decoded my signals. It probably won’t work as well as I hope, but it’s better than nothing.
“Go there!” I tell the prince and then inform my commander to prepare a cavalry charge.
Crown Prince jumps forward, becoming a blur to lesser tiers. He is at the peak of the 5th tier, though a lot of artifacts and legacies of the royal family make him easily as strong as an average 6th tier. Being a 5th tier warrior myself, I grab my weapons and prepare to intervene.
My cavalry moves, and the enemy formation prepares braces their spears. They are all 3rd tier soldiers, while my cavalry is composed of only 2nd tiers. Their horses are nothing special either, most of them 1st tier monsters.
This is where the prince enters the battle. He jumps over the first line and enters the thicket of enemies. He uses his magic, and a bunch of soldiers are dead, frozen over. Air becomes frigid, freezing lungs. That’s compound magic. Making air dangerous is an old strategy, something most armies train against. After initial deaths, enemy soldiers keep their breaths. Prince probably used an item to make air poisonous as well, though that’s less noticeable and overused to the point all armies have a specialist who can cure the poison.
The crown prince keeps killing enemy soldiers, his sword freezing them over. He runs along the enemy line, breaking enemy formation. Two 4th tier captains move to intercept, slowing him down. That would work nicely against a typical 5th tier, but a prince is simply too well equipped and strong. He keeps moving, though he starts using his armor to block 3rd tier soldiers occasional strikes. Even though he is over 10 times stronger and faster than them, he is surrounded. Given he has to fend off two 4th tiers, he is no longer invincible.
A tactic of a high tier attacking a weaker army is something any general learns along with countermeasures. Most armies are too big for one person. The strength is not a factor here, but stamina and mana. Most battles like that take days over which high tier fighter keeps attacking and destroying supplies. The defending army usually tries to create traps to either kill a high tier or slow them down and then overwhelm with numbers.
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Such a tactic is only possible with enough difference in strength, though. Even one person one tier lower is usually enough to slow down the high tier fighter enough that the rest of the army can participate and kill them. Many arrogant high tiers died like that, which is why I keep vigilant and ready to intervene.
It’s not required, though. Crown Prince uses another artifact of his and manages to kill one of the 4th tiers. Soon after, my cavalry charges into chaotic enemy lines. At this point, the difference of one tier doesn’t matter. Lances puncture armor, and horses hooves crush bones. Cavalry pushes deep, and I order retreat before the enemy regroups and kills my troops. Archers are helping with that, proving cover.
On the other side, enemy cavalry charges from the side, just onto spikes I prepared beforehand. Their horses jump over them, most of them 2nd tier, while riders are 3rd tier. I snort, and the second set of spikes is raised. Using camouflage mana in the army is a standard, just like having means to detect it. This time, Crown Prince gave me a potion with hiding mana recovered from some ruin.
Three-merged mana types are not great treasures in our kingdom, but no alchemist managed to reverse-engineer this potion. After that, it became a treasure of the royal family. The potion was for a single person, but using it with camouflage mana was enough to hide the spikes.
A lot of horses die. Riders are better off, but my 2nd tier unit attacks the cavalrymen. They are equipped for riding and attacking from the horse, while I send heavy infantry units. Even with the difference in tier, my troops should keep them occupied for a while thanks to the circumstances.
Crown Prince returns and imminently goes for a sack with health potions. “Are you fine?”
“One of the 4th tier had some strange mana type. She hit me with it a few times. I just need a health potion and a few minutes.”
Good enough. At this rate, we are going to win. If only winning the whole war was only that hard.
[Smag’s POV]
The fight ended rather anti-climatic, with the hawk already dead when we reached the village. Still, we got ourselves four new cores. Two air cores, one from the hawk and one from kobolts, plus one earth core and one chaos core. One of Eonet subordinates ate air core, but that’s not a big deal. I have now three idle air cores in my collection and I will probably give another soon.
A bunch of hobgoblins died, around twenty of them. It’s not a very significant number for our tribe, which has around 300 members, including all regular goblins.
Time continues to pass, and I give air core to Gen. Maybe I should invest in them more, but I’m selfish. I’m keeping the best cores for myself, especially since I can’t really be sure Gen won’t rebel against me in the future.
On the note of giving cores, Anastasia comes to my house.
“Do you want a core as well? I have two chaos mana cores, so I can give you one.”
“I suppose.” Her thoughts seem to be elsewhere.
“What’s the matter?”
“I… I hope I can learn more runes.”
“Runes?”
“Yep. My fighting style is to shoot from a distance. I usually have some time to spare, even in a fight. If I can sneak upon my target, that's even better.”
I nod. “Makes sense. Do you want an air core then? It would help you create runes in the air.”
She shrugs. “I would rather have something about wood or metal. Most of my runes will be on arrows anyway, working as an enchantment.”
“Why not ask Axi to make you arrows?”
“She is busy enough. Besides, arrows are consumables. If I ever separate from her, I will need to sustain my stash with my own efforts.”
I think about it. I have some old books, but I will need to teach her everything I learned from perks myself. It’s a waste of time. I don’t tell her this to not offend her, but I have better things to do.
“I will give you books, but I’m too busy to be your full time teacher. Just come to me with questions from time to time. I will write my understanding in another book, so you and Axi can learn from it.”
I compromise in the end. Most of my abilities are supportive anyway, so increasing their powers is important, especially now that Soul Enthrallment skill allows me to use Axi, Asaru and Anastasia like death-sworn suicide fighters. Sure, the skill is not omnipotent. Besides others who can manipulate souls, it’s vulnerable to lack of earth mana, as it’s needed to maintain soul shell. If we ever move into a desert or sail into a sea, we will all need an earth core near to sustain the shells. Otherwise, it will become regular ambient mana on its own and dissolve.
Time passes. Just as the first snow falls, a messenger arrives. A human messenger.
“Lord Smag! I came here to deliver a letter from Lord Adam.” A man in his twenties and in 2nd tier gives me a letter.
“Thank you.” I motion to Gon. “Give him something to eat from our supplies, so he can safely go back.”
“Thank you, but Lord Adam instructed me to wait for your reply.”
It must be something urgent, then. I tear the envelope and start to read.
It’s not good, mostly for Adam. According to him, the human kingdom he is a part of, Terava, is going to reclaim and colonize the forest. Apparently, they reached peace agreements with all their enemies. One of them prohibits them from seeking any land gains against fellow enlightened. Instead, they sought patronage of the church of Ketor, god of light, sun, and warmth.
Adam warns me that the kingdom is going to attack me soon, tells me he will help me as a friend and ally, and urges me to attack preemptively.
What a load of crap. The letter reeks of desperation. Before attacking monsters, the king most likely decided to clean his own place and deal with all kinds of robber barons and bandits infesting his country. Given that Adam is practically a rebel, he has a problem.
“Sure. I will write a reply right away.” I say with a smile and reach for some paper, inkwell, and quill. Writing with a quill is annoying, but with my Dexterity, I can manage. Technically speaking, my precision of movement is not directly correlated to Dexterity, but to the ratio of Strength and Dexterity. Mine is a little less than two to one.
Starting, I express my friendship to Adam, but regretfully inform him that I have my own fights with other monsters and I can’t really spare troops for his fight. I’m just about to write that I will flee and tell him to surrender, but I notice that something doesn’t make sense.
The kingdom wants to pacify the situation, but Adam is willing to pay taxes, and it’s not like he is murdering his own people. Sure, he prefers refuges that followed him, but it’s not a big deal. Why didn't the kingdom and Adam make a deal?
Maybe they did. Is this a trap for me? I ponder. It seems unlikely. There’s no mention that we should meet, or something similar suggesting he wants to lure me into a trap.
Oh. I think I get it. Adam is ambitious. Maybe too much, considering his rather average competency. He wants to take on the kingdom and conquer it. He wants to become a king. He hopes I will help him right now, so we can jointly attack Terava Kingdom when it’s weakest.
This is actually tantalizing to the point I’m going to consider it. If I could loot Terava’s capital, I could instantly get an insane amount of wealth and knowledge for someone in my position. The books in their academies would save me years, if not decades, of experimenting.
Can I do it? In a month, most hobs will become orcs. That’s a force strong enough to take on a town like Roheb. Towns further away from monsters are likely less defended, though. I could massacre a few towns, use women to bear goblins, and use men as food for the army. Most of that army would be just regular goblins, but assuming Terava’s army is in shambles and Adam’s forces support this, it may be possible.
I sigh. I would rather miss an opportunity because I was too cautious than die for being too rash. Who would follow Adam if my forces ate everyone? Not to mention, Adam wrote in the letter that this offensive is with official support of a church. How humiliating would it be for the church if the kingdom were to fall?
One thing I know well is that gods are masters of this world. Even if various churches are not absolute hegemons ruling the world with iron fists, I don’t dare to underestimate them. If I had clear and obvious advantage, I would attack. But the notion of winning is even based on Terava’s being in shambles.
I finish the letter, telling Adam to just accept the Terava’s rule. I don’t know how successful the offensive will be, but I would rather flee. For that, I need to prepare. Ideally, I need the location of the ruins Delahar mentioned. There should still be at least half a year before Terava attacks, so I have some time. My second priority is to find paralitic poison strong enough to work on 3rd tiers.
I won't be able to figure it out on my own in a few months, so I have to buy the recipe. I suppose I can spare one of the air cores for that. Farming EXP is more important right now. I will also need to evolve. I hope to grind my skills a bit more, but since I check regularly available options, I noticed that better skills don't matter much. Ultimatly, monster evolution is about achievements, with skills being only a part of those.
I finish the letter, which ends with me asking for trade and well wishes. Hopefully Adam won't be offended, and will agree to continue the trade. In the worst case scenario, I can send Asaru disguised as an adventurer to another town.
"Here." I give the letter. My leisure time here seems to be coming to an end.