The knights' screams pierced the crisp morning air, a haunting chorus of agony and rage. The battlefield was a gruesome tableau, awash with blood that pooled and mingled with the churned mud under the first light of dawn. Crushed rocks, glistening crimson in the early sunlight, littered the ground, painting a vivid picture of the relentless chaos of war.
The western side of the farmlands didn’t have a large wall like the southern side. Instead, it was just wooden barriers. The few hundred knights served as a human shield.
Joshua was standing on the wooden plank together with the commander and his wife.
Occasionally throwing spells, the single element that was effective against them, the water element weakens the rock turtle (Pokemon Logic) but taking it down with a physical attack would still be hard. Hammer was the friend of the knights, it was effective but it would still take a lot of effort and strength to break the rock shell down.
“Make way!!! Another one is lunging!!!” one of the captains of the knights screamed, 2 knights got crushed as they didn’t have the chance to move away from the direction of the jumping attack of the turtles.
Indeed, the turtles could jump. The monster wielded a devastating blend of earth and wind magic. When the turtles leaped and struck some of the knights, they devoured them instantly, without any preference—splattered, broken, or crunchy, it consumed them all. This gruesome feast also enabled the turtles to heal themselves.
“This is hell,” Joshua muttered as he watched. He had some friends in the farmland. He looked back toward the farmlands and saw knights on the walls to the south watching the battle. Some were in the barracks, while others were patrolling around. Why wouldn’t they come here and help?
“Farris… rest for a while, it's my turn,” Wilfred said, his wife sat for awhile. There were boxes of magic potions on the wooden plank.
“My lady… why won’t they help,” Joshua suddenly asked.
“This side is ours… we defend it like the south is their part they defend it… asking for help would stain our name,” Lady Farris said with conviction, she then drank a magic potion but it would still take time for it to be ingested.
But just watching the fight he could tell that they were already losing, wouldn’t it be much better if they fought alongside themselves? Thoughts racing through Joshua’s head… ‘Nobles are idiots.’
He would not be one of them.
<--->
The battlefield was chaos. The old man was clearly annoyed by the situation, the knights were moving really badly, they were disorganized, and the captains didn't have enough training either.
“You numb skulls!!! HIT ITS LEGS!!!!! LEGS!!!” the old man was screaming on the battlefield, unlike the knights he had fallen 3 already. He couldn’t see the boy anymore. But the loud crunches were the sound that said that he was still alive.
The knights are totally confused. In the heat of the battle, even the trained ones were losing control.
“His dead!! He is dead!!” one of the knights is screaming.
Some of them took the opportunity to attack a turtle that was eating a lump of crushed meat.
“Old man!!! 3 Hits!!!” a boy was screaming just in the right direction of whichever direction the old man was facing. The old man immediately found Simon, dirty with mud and some blood but he was not fazed rather the boy was smiling.
“You killed one?” the old man asked.
“No!! 4 already!!!” Simon smirked pumping his fist just above his face.
“The hell… how’d you do that?” the old man asked. If only he could muster a proper control of his magic the fight would have been much more easier.
But his health was failing him. Failing his control and his reign with magic.
“...” and the thought of consuming the drug made him smile… but no he would not.
“You found out something didn’t you? You little rascal,” the old man smiled fiercely.
The boy smiled back too. “The hardest part is easier to crack,” the boy said.
“How did you know that?” the old man asked in wonder.
“I tap their back and I find it… sometimes I don’t,” Simon tried to explain as clearly as possible but that’s just what he had to say.
This was enough for the old man to think of a plan capitalizing on the boy’s ability to discover the weakness of the Rock Turtles.
“Okay, boy… I have a plan… wait you are not using the wooden sword?” the old man noticed that the wooden sword behind him was still clean.
“Hit the hard part with Palm and hit the soft part with a Fist… you said it,” Simon answered while nodding… the old man was quite impressed. All his hard work seems to be working now.
<--->
A messenger approached the wooden plank. It was a rugged Knight, some of his fingers were missing because rocks caught it.
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“My Lord… the old man… he wants some paint, 2 colors!! He said that if you don’t bring some he will use the blood of the knights to mark it!” The knight was clearly tired, losing some blood.
“I will take care of it… Joshua! Your name is Joshua right?” Sir Wilfred immediately found the boy that was together with him in the plank. “Could you go to the carpenter’s shop do you know where it is?”
Of course, he knew, he was one of the workers on the farmlands “I understand, 2 paints it is,” Joshua dropped all his bags and started running down the plank in the direction of the farmlands, the boy smiled, while he was at it he must notify the others, at least try to ask for more help.
“What is the old man’s plan?” the commander asking for more explanation. His wife quickly put some bandage on the knight’s fingers to stop it from bleeding in the least. Her hands quickly turned red.
“He says that; hit the spots with an X mark in the middle… then go all out to the ones that will be marked in a single line,” the knight explained.
“Sir!!! The adventurers guild have sent some reinforcements!!!” another knight reported. The knight pointed out north. A few 10 to 20 of them which is a lot for the adventurer’s guild to send. It justified the emergency request.
The commander sighed, this news was one of the best things he had heard today. “Brief them and send them to fight… let them decide on how they would do things,” the commander said.
He knew how adventurers operate. They could cooperate with them or do their own thing. It's better to be like this because, unlike the knights that were trained in a military fashion. They are bound to follow orders and adventurers were not like that.
<--->
Hours into the fight. Finally, they have developed a system to fight the rock turtles. The old man was crazy with his ideas but it was working. The boy was a monster too… when the paint came and the plan to organize the front lines started the boy began checking the rock turtles by jumping around.
2 captains are taking turns in watching the front. The first few hours were a struggle because they were overflowed by monsters but after the old man really got serious he pushed that rock turtle’s flood. The old man fired some kind of laser magic.
“Cross marked!!! A cross mark is coming!!” The captain warned the knights. A rock turtle approached the front lines.
“Single line mark!!! Left of it!!” the same captain said. The knights that were resting formed up.
“Lure it to the left side of the lines!!” the captain added another command and the adventurers that were resting up went to the left side.
The adventurers just needed to go into range and make the rock turtle lunge at them, it was very dangerous. Of course, this was all part of the plan.
On the left side of the front lines, a group of adventurers and knights was waiting to launch an ambush. While on the other side, the knights were already equipped with large hammers.
The old man was now sitting on the plank where the commander was standing.
“The paint should be running out soon,” the old man said.
The commander was still on the plank assessing the situation and listening to any words of wisdom from the old man as he was thinking hard.
“It should be here anytime soon,” the commander said. His wife is together with the knights who would be taking care of the lined-marked turtles.
“How’s the calculations? Is it finished?” the old man asked. Sir Wilfred was actually on a map drawing circles and such.
“Old man, you are sick… but it is possible… is this the same tactic my grandfather used?” Wilfred asked wondering, the old man just nodded and looked at him.
“If you are indeed on a caliber of at least your old man then it's possible,” The old man was clearly challenging him.
“I will not fail you this time… thank you for the advice,” Wilfred bowed to the old man out of respect.
“Oh also bring food. Lots of it okay?” the old man smiled as if he remembered something.
<--->
A bit far from the frontline a boy was on the top of a rock turtle. Carefully skimming the surface, tapping around, and checking it twice. There was no fear on his face, he was just faithfully doing his work.
Simon was getting hungry. But the old man said that he must empty the bucket of paint. He was earnestly following the orders.
“Here” Simon muttered as he painted a cross on the back of the rock turtle. He looked around and there was still a lot of them. He smiled since he was enjoying painting crosses and lines.
The old man taught him a trick to be able to be not seen by the turtles. He just had to empty his magic low enough and he would not be detected by these large turtles. And he was actually good with it.
After being satisfied he checked for the next turtle he would be jumping on“Next” and Simon jumped.
As per the program he just had to tap around the rocky shell of the turtle. “Oh… here maybe” Simon smiled again but his paint was only good for 3 or 4 markings more. He will have to go back after a while.
<--->
The knights were working hard to clear up the space on the front lines. The Rock Turtles was just a chunk full of minerals. Using pick axes and carts they distributed and took the minerals dumping them near the farm lands.
A boy arrived walking with a stride with his bucket in hand, his silhouette totally didn’t look heroic but the knight and the captains that were watching over the battlefield recognized him.
“Boy!!!! Simon?! The old man is over there!!” one of the captains that was on the watch informs the boy.
“Okay,” Simon immediately closed his eyes. It was like an instinct whenever there were people around.
“Good job boy!!!” some of the adventurers and knights that were on the operation commended the boy. The boy just nodded but he was happy hearing compliments like that.
…
The old man was there together with Joshua. Another bucket of paint and some food it seemed. “Boy… you will have to continue until you have marked all of the turtles… how much more do you think?” the old man asked.
“I don’t know” Simon truthfully answered. Of course, he was just not counting.
“If you walk out there again with this bucket… wouldn’t it be enough?” the old man asked again.
The boy nodded. Lady Farris who was listening to them smiled. It won’t be long it seemed.
“Thank the light,” the lady said with a release of tension from her voice. She closed her hands like she was praying. A typical act from the believers of the faith of Light.
“Lady you know we still have a problem… you know there is still the ancient one,” the old man just loved to break it to the nobles.
“Boy, get some food and rest for a while,” the old man said.
Simon nodded. The boy then proceeded to eat the food that was already on a table specially prepared for the boy. The boy laid eyes on the table and saw foreign objects. He knew the spoon, fork, and knife with all of it with different varieties but all else was something of an alien to him.
The old man was staring at Simon wondering how he would eat and he did it like he was taught. Then the old man approached him.
“Simon, do not approach the big turtle okay?” the old man said. The boy just nodded because his face was stuffed with food.
“You are crazy old man,” Joshua suddenly commented, he was just sitting near the wooden plank.
“Hmm… this is nothing… we’ve been through worse,” the old man said. In just one look Joshua could tell that the old man was not well. It must be the large magic spell he used to push the flood of the rock turtles earlier.
Staring at the old man closer… his hands were shaking.
“Are you okay old man?” Joshua asked. It seemed that he was the only one who noticed it.
The old man smiled and left the spot. “I’ve already asked some adventurers, you will go with them into safety,” the old man left this comment before he went on.
“Wait I’ve got a request…” Joshua said as he tried to catch up with the old man.