Crystal was laughing at him, or tinkling may have been a more appropriate description. Ambros had been sitting in the room of his tent that he had dubbed his deep-think room. He used Control Wind to make the room soundproof and placed a plaque on the outside that he would turn anyone who tried entering into a frog. He wasn't sure how many believed him, but so far, everyone who had needed to contact him for something that could not wait had used the small bell he had put by the entrance that he had connected with a copper thread to an even smaller but similar-looking bell inside the room. It wasn't that he thought he would accomplish anything of great consequence by spending time there. It was just nice to have a few moments to himself. While the four lovely ladies that currently shared his tent with him went above and beyond to make him feel like a king, you could only sit down and try to read as someone snuck up to give your back, feet, thighs and more often than not, other parts a massage. It was gratifying to be treated like that, but not only was he used to it from his stays at Gramp's home, but it was almost impossible to concentrate, and if he wanted to clear out his first meridian any time this year, he needed all the concentration he could get. Yes, he fully understood that it was something that took people decades, but for some reason, Ambros didnt think he had decades until shit hit the fan, so to speak. While reaching the rank of Adept may not seem that big of a deal on paper, the thing was that it was a big deal. It would hurl him into another level of power. His skills and attributes would behave differently, and more importantly to Ambros, increasing his ability to utilize Energy by a large margin.

What had Crystal so tickled was that Ambors considered turning this world into a seat of power. To Crystal, this seemed like a dump, not in as many words, but that was what the images translated to. It would be like putting a throne on an empty field and declaring himself the king of nothing. He had some trouble understanding that the amount of power he could draw from here was immense by his memories, even better than some of the mana rooms found back home, set up to have a denser layer of mana available to whoever utilized it. Crystal thought Earth sounded strange. However, it very much wanted to see humans that had not been changed in any way. As Ambros understood it, it would be like someone from Earth going back in time to observe dinosaurs. He wasn't really sure what to think about that or what that implied about the Council. It didnt make sense to him that beings as powerful as those in the council could survive there even with all the tribute they received.

Just living there for someone that powerful would be a constant battle against starvation. Crystal metaphorically bonked his mind, sent him images of his Sanctum, and told him he would understand when he grew in power, but he should learn to use the Sanctum. It was a very good tool, Crystal claimed, and unlike the System, he would be able to use it forever if he needed to. While he agreed that the Sanctum was a powerful tool, it wouldn't work for him until he could disconnect from his body for possibly years at a time. Crystal found that silly. Time was just time. He would do what he needed to do at the right time. He did it anyway, not before or after. He should worry less. If it really bothered him that much, Crystal should be able to help as they bonded closer and gathered more pieces of it. That led to an entirely different discussion about when it planned on telling Ambros that he needed to gather more pieces of Crytal. Crystals was of the idea that he would do it when he did, so it didnt seem too worried about telling him something he would find out eventually. It's sufficient to say Ambros didnt get much time to work on his meridian before someone rang the bell.

Closing his eyes for a moment to clear his head from the looming headache, he rose as Crystal went back to poking and making noises at his meridian. He found the commander of the supply train and hangers-on apologizing for disturbing him, but the army was marching, and they needed to pack up to get the supplies moving. Ambros gave the mana clap on the shoulder and said, “Of course,” before remembering his name was Isandros and thanking him for his consideration, making the man smile like a kid opening Christmas presents.

Stepping outside, he saw that the entire camp was gone, just a phalanx guarding his tent and the carriage the ladies had commandeered. He thought it belonged to a patriarch named Cretheus, who ruled over a large stretch of land south of Achisos. The man didn't even protest. He just joined another carriage with a smile. It had been a bit disconcerting how high his stock had risen with the eastern army. It had only been a few days since he had slain Kreizog and Jumoke, but it seemed to have garnered him even more celebrity status among the troops and loyalists. Even the independents only had good words for him. The followers of Diomedes, as few of them with the Eastern army, were wary but polite enough. He didn't particularly represent a direct threat to Diomedes since he was here with the easter army and had shown no inclination that he wanted to make his own faction. Ambros hadn't even spoken out against Diomedes, mostly because he didn't mind what the hell the man was up to as long as he worked on increasing their quest points and his interest in this country only stretched as far as the System quest. Without it, he doubted he would have bothered staying her longer than it took getting pointed at another rift and having his rations filled up.

Walking up to the carriage, he saw all four ladies seated, two on each side. He wasn't sure the thing would hold his weight or fit him alone anymore. Ariadne called out as she saw him, "Come, Ambros, join us. Chryse was just about to tell a tale of the goat herder and the milkmaiden!" Clapping her hands and practically bouncing in her seat, she made for an adorable sight. Chuckling, he answered, "I doubt I would fit in there, Chryse. Besides, I need to check in with a few of the commanders on the road." Limnoreia's voice reached his ears as she said, "Oh, We wouldn't want to take you away from your duty hero." Giving her a long look, he could tell she was hiding something. She had probably received some instructions by bird from the queen and was planning to discuss it with the other ladies. That he didnt keep any loose paper around or tried to hide meeting any of the factions probably made him the most boring target they had ever been assigned to. Ha was fine with the current arrangments, so why bother rocking the boat. Waving goodbye, he waited for the carrige to drive off while sitting on a nearby rock pretending to read a letter.

Straightening up, he looked at the phalanxes that would be the rearguard of this part of the march and raised a clenched fist at them. He got a forest of spears answered his gesture as they marched out. Each phalanx would be between a group of the baggage train, with four phalanxes guarding the rear of the army. It was the worst place to march, but they were surprisingly stoic about the ordeal, these free citizens. He was starting to be impressed at their willingness to get things done if not their martial prowess. That would come. He just wanted to ensure the price wasn't too high before they reached that point. The distribution of catalysts was helping, though. He could see more of them had a power in their step and demeanor that had been missing. Taking off at a jog at the side of the marching column, he greeted and waved at as many as he could remember. The ladies waved back when he passed their carriage. He knew he couldn't trust them further than he could kick them, but it was still nice to be pampered occasionally. Thinking about it, he could probably kick them pretty far. He chuckled as he waved at a commander with whom he had shared a meal.

Soon enough, he reached the front where strategus Eurycliedes was riding on roethars with the rest of the command. Ambros had gotten them to stop trying to dismount when he walked with them because he held no official command in the army. He was just a busybody. No one could say no at the moment. It would look bad that the army command dismounted for someone without rank in front of the citizens. There was also the matter that he could look them in the eyes without lowering his gaze when they rode on the strange spotted and antlered horses. He had yet to find one big enough for him to ride on. Greeting the commanders as he passed them, the patriarchs and matriarchs were, as always, nice. It wasn't strange since Eurycliedes had no problem playing favor, and only loyalists were in his inner circle. After meeting the queen at the capital, the loyalists were convinced he was a strong supporter after his priceless gifts of dimensional bags. He also donated around 10,000 grains of Energy to the royal treasury. It was more than the entire country would have earned during a successful clearing of the undead inside the rift, mostly because of his far too generous drop rate from the system. He suspected it was connected to his System title and merit points. Either way, he knew he could earn them back later when the quest ended, and he would be getting drops again.

Eurycliedes shouted, “Ambros! Good of you to join us. The scouts may have found something of interest. We are still waiting on confirmation from more scouting teams.” The man was as happy and enthusiastic as always. Ambros didn't think the patriarch knew what being somber meant. He did make for an excellent strategus. Even with the lack of wars, there had still been some house-on-house action. He was well-read in the somewhat archaic tactics deployed by the phalanxes, and even better, he was genuinely interested in winning the war, so he had Ambrose's full support. Answering the strategus with a smile, he said. “It must be interesting to have you so fired up this early in the morning, Eurycliedes.” Waiting until I was walking next to him, the strategus answered. “An ogre hold has been found in a valley two days travel further southeast. A rockslide during the last weeks has opened a passage we can use to reach it, hopefully. We have sent scouts out to map it properly and look for any dangers that have been missed. If it turns out to be safe for travel, we will see battle again in the coming days.” Ambros thought for a moment before asking. “Do we know the size of the hold, what clan leads it and if they have any allies to draw on? Do they look to be preparing for war?” Eurycliedes didn't take long to answer, “If the hold is full, we expect between thirty and forty thousand ogres to make it their home. With the majority of fighters being the bulls, we could be looking at between ten and twenty thousand ogre warriors. We do not know if the hold stretches into the mountains. Unlikely as that may seem, it isn't completely unknown to happen. The report states that daily life was unaffected by any special gathering of the bulls, so we are going by that they don't know we are coming for now. As to allies, we do not know yet. We are still waiting for other scouts to come back with more information. None of the locals from the foot of these mountains has ever heard of an ogre hold in the area, so we are walking in a little blind. I am a little surprised we have had no contact with them in anyone's memory, considering how close to our land they are. We will see what the scout's rapport is.” From what they knew so far, it seemed like a tempting target. It shouldn't be enough ogres to threaten the eastern armie with being overrun, but it would be a hard battle, Ambros thought.

They received a continuous string of reports over the next three days, but all seemed good to go, so on the third day, he was with the vanguard making their way down into the valley from the north. The valley itself was beautiful. Green and luscious, with great herds of wolly cattle that looked more like rhinoceros than cows to Ambros, grazing between streams that made their way down from the mountains into a lake close to the center of the valley with an outlet going west and down under the mountains somewhere. He watched as what little there was of an eastern army cavalry entered the valley and brought the herds away from the ogre hold to deny them any food they could. The few ogres that were outside the hold were soon slain by spear-throwing cavalry. He was a bit surprised at how good they were on the strange horse's back. It would definitely be something they could take advantage of with some distraction from the main phalanx in field battles. This battle would likely be fought at the clan holds walls that he could see lay quite some distance away at the valley's southern end.

The commander of the vanguard matriarch, Autonoe, ordered the phalanxes to split in two and march on each side of the valley toward the hold. Ambros stuck with the one taking the right wing since the commander led the left force. Autonoe was one of the more competent eastern army commanders, so he had little worry about her keeping the left flank secure. The main army would follow up the middle of the valley, the baggage train and the rearguard close on their heels. With any luck, they would have set up a siege line by nightfall.

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It was inevitable that they would be noticed shortly after entering the valley, so time was of the essence. The slower central groups marched after. The vanguard advanced on the wings as the citizen cavalry slowly herded the flock to the valley's northern side. They made it almost a quarter across the valley when the horn sounded. Its deep tone rattled the trees through the valley and made snow slide down the mountains in massive plates. A great drum could be heard, starting a slow beat that echoed against the mountains. Shit, they needed to get between the cavalry and whatever the ogres were planning to retake the herds with. Signaling to the commander of the phalanxes, he voiced his thoughts to the man he hadn't been introduced to yet.

However, the commander understood the point he was making immediately and was signaling for the phalanxes to start jogging. They wouldn't reach where they needed to be in any sort of formation, but they would hopefully reach it in time. Glancing at the other end of the valley, it seemed matriarch Autonoe had the same idea because their phalanxes were already making good time to reach the cavalry on her flank. Turning to the jogging commander next to him, Ambros said. “I'm going to speed up and see if I can hold back anything that comes out of that hold long enough for you to come and rescue me. My life is in your hands, commander.” He had meant it in partial jest, but the commander looked deadly serious and, in a grave voice, said .”Your will great one.” While doing that fist-to-the-air salute, Ambros did a few days ago when he sent a pulse of life mana through the closest troops after they had thought him dead. With a shake of the head of the honorific, he had been unsuccessful in getting removed. Ambros sped up to full speed from one step to the next. He wasn't sure how fast he moved in a full sprint, but he bet he could outrun a commercially sold car on Earth at this point. It was a strange feeling running that fast. It was more like taking long jumps, but with his Control Air spell to remove the drag, he almost floated over the ground at a breakneck speed.

It didn't take him long to reach the river running from the lake to the lower regions of the mountain range. For all he knew, it would combine and make one of the great rivers in the eastern lowlands. The cavalry had started moving the herds across the river, but he could see it would take some time. How so many massive beasts could live off the forge up here in a mountain valley seemed a bit suspect. More than likely, they had to regularly move the herd down to the warmer lowlands. However, there were thousands and thousands of animals. Someone would have noticed it by now. The dust raised by the moving herd would have been seen from a long distance. There had to be other ways to get out of this valley.

Reaching out with his Control Water spell, he could almost cover six and a half hectares or a bit over fifteen football fields at his level and spell rank, so that was nothing to sneeze at. It just took a lot of time to get any proper work done. Luckily, the river he used his spell on wasn't that big. Forcing the water to stay still as he used Control Earth on the outlet from the lake to raise a temporary dam. He allowed the water to trickle down the stream again while the dam grew by the second. The cavalry didn't waste much time as they realized what he was doing and started herding the large woolly rhino cows through the rapidly diminishing water. Letting out great whoops as the riders passed him, he grinned and waved in return. They wouldn't lack meat during the siege, at least. He made his way up to the lake and saw the dam holding nicely. It would be great if he could divert its outlet down somewhere else during the siege. Looking at the hold walls, an idea struck him. It would probably take a few days, but depending on the foundation, it could make the siege much easier. He would need to inspect them when he got closer.

The cavalry herding the walking hamburgers on the other side of the lake seemed to be doing better. The river was one of three that fed into the lake and looked equal in size to the other two from where he stood. It was just unlucky that the side he was on had to ford the only river outlet from the lake.

When the last of the cavalry had passed on his side, he knocked out the dam and watched the large wave going down to where it continued underground, creating a small lake around the area. That was fine. It would drain. Starting to make bridges along the river now that the cavalry was done moving the herd toward the north. He ensured each bridge could hold as many as could fit at any time before making the next one. They would need to be renewed after 24 hours, but he hoped to have a more permanent solution by then. Scratching his stubbles for a moment, he realized he would also need to make a few much larger bridges for the baggage train when and if they came to that side of the valley.

Looking back at the twelve phalanxes that followed on the right side of the valley, he could see they were still jogging, as were the ones on the left side under the command of Autonoe. He could only hope that no ogres were hiding in the mountainside since none of the battle arrays would work when they were out of formation. A good-sized group of ogres could cause havoc before they got back in formation. He thought, "Please don't let that be foreshadowing,” as the drums from the hold stopped.

To his relief, he could see the gate of the hold open. At least it wasn't a sign for hidden forces to strike the flanks. Ambros watched in interest as ogres started exiting the hold. He wasn't sure how many yet, but around a hundred had made their way outside so far, and they kept coming. If too many showed up, they would have to retreat to the main force. Looking closely at any of them that stood out, he didn't get any system updates for the quest, but he could see that about one in every thirty had some sort of black metal armor covering them and stood taller and wider than the rest of the ogres. That was saying something as an ogre stood a head taller than Ambros. They carried various weapons, from clubs to spears. Except for the extra large ones, there was little to no armor to see.

When around four hundred ogres had left the hold, he was surprised to see about twenty ogres riding those enormous rhino cows stomping their way out before the gate closed behind them. Trying to see what direction the ogre cavalry would head off to, he failed to notice anything was wrong until a ballista bolt plowed into his Arcane Shield. The bolt splintered on impact, but damn, that thing hit hard. It almost broke through, and his Arcane Shield could take 6,350 damage units at his level, attribute, and spell grade before it broke. Scouting the walls, he spotted two emplacements that would fit a ballista firing bolts that side, on the far corners of each wall, so the other ballista would be too far to hit him, but they would need to take them out somehow, or they would rain down destruction with impunity at the on the Ageran forces.

The ogres gathering outside the gate apparently decided they wanted nothing to do with him, so they set off to join battle with the left wing. Ambros started running, deciding he wouldn't reach them in time to intervene, but he would make it in time to charge in at their backs. Despite their size, ogres were surprisingly fast over flat terrain. Maybe it was because of their massive stature that moved them far with each step when he thought about it. It didn't take them long to start fording the first river. Ambros could see the left-wing phalanxes forming up with the second river to their backs. The herds had made it over some time ago, so there was no danger to the cavalry.

Autonoe was setting up her phalanxes with a soft center, probably hoping to trap the massive ogre cavalry between two lines of spears and box them in. The left-wing had thirteen phalanxes at its disposal, so she had set up a first line seven phalanxes wide, with four phalanxes set up as a second line on each edge of the first line. The two remaining phalanxes were set up a little behind in the center as if to stand ready to reinforce the battle line at need, but it was more than likely the bottom of the box trap for the cavalry, not that it didn't work as both. It was a straightforward plan but probably too complex for Ogres to understand. Then again, most ogre battle plans went as follows. Enemy, attack, and eat. He had no great expectations from them on that front.

The ogres were past the first river and were lumbering towards the lined-up Ageran free citizens. They were about two hundred steps from the phalanxes when the ogre cavalry went far out on the flank, keeping close to the mountains, clearly attempting a flanking maneuver themselves. Autonoe ordered the two phalanxes in reserve to screen the ogre cavalry, setting up a double line of spears toward the incoming oversized cavalry.

Ambros could only watch as the two forces got nearer. He would be on them shortly, but not before the first clash was ongoing. He heard the hum of the battle arrays being deployed, turning each phalanx into the sum of all its members and giving each citizen a boost of strength and toughness. Then, the ogres were on the first phalanx line. They had split up, trying to hit all the front phalanxes simultaneously, and holy mackerel, did they hit hard. He watched as ogres get impaled on several spears by the phalanxes and entire groups of citizens get trampled by several armored ogres. The clash of metal, great roars and screams of pain reached his ears.

Not many had fallen on either side in the first clash, but the ogres had a longer reach. If the phalanxes didn't start advancing into the ogres soon, they would lose too many to be an efficient force. Even worse, the ogres would win at the current rate if nothing changed fast. Phalanxes would start losing cohesion, and the war arrays would stop working. Cursing himself for not making sure more citizens got into a higher step before the first proper field battle, no matter how small, Ambros took a couple of long strides and launched himself at their backline.

Coming down like a meteor on a group of five armored ogres making their way toward the front, he landed with Ogre Slayer first on the closest one's back, forcing it to the ground while Ogre Slayer was impaled in the back of its chest armor. Turing ogre slayer into a battle axe, he summoned his great shield and hacked the head off the ogre before the four remaining ones reacted to his presence. Casting Arcane Bolt at the closest one on his left, he was dismayed as the black armor seemed to suck in the Arcane Bolt. The ogre was hurled off its feet and crashed into a few ogres behind it, but otherwise, it seemed fine. Cursing, Ambros ducked under the mace coming towards his head and spun as he came up, taking the arm off the wielder. Jumping up, he kicked off the ogre's chest, launched himself past a spear coming towards his midsection and impaled an armored ogre through its face plate. The ogre fell like a sack of rocks. Taking a sword hit on his shield rim and feeling something smash against his Arcane Shield, he felt the Arcane Shield retaliate. The unarmored ogre that had hit his back was impaled by several purple spikes while Ambros cut the feet off from under the ogre that had attacked him with a sword. Jumping up on the shoulders of an ogre engaged with the phalanx line, he quickly took in the battle before caving the ogre's head in before he got back to the ground even as several spears passed over where his head had been.

The ogre cavalry had carved up one of the two phalanxes that held their left flank towards the mountains. The other one was still in formation and tied up part of the cavalry, but it was not looking good.

Twiring into the front line of the ogres, he launched an ogre with a kick into the one next to it, the citizens that were there had it impaled in moments. Ambros needed to reach the armored ogres, decimating one of the middle phalanxes. The only reason it hadn't fallen was that the matriarch Autonoe was there, keeping them from hitting the same spot twice. Now, that was a sight to see. He would guess her to only be in the fourth step, but she was much more practiced than he was when it came to battle. Her quick small movements and precise strikes were beautiful to watch. The armored ogre's attempts at boxing her in were sidestepped and taken advantage of by the surrounding citizens. strikes had their momentum either led away or stopped by another ogre weapon. Her spear struck like a viper, hitting unarmored flesh with each strike. It was like watching a practiced choreography. She was reacting to things that were yet to happen. He knew it would only take one miscalculation, so praying to whoever decided to listen to someone as openly against the idea of gods as him, that he could reach her in time to be the meatshield she needed. Ambros braced himself, took two quick steps and jumped.