CHAPTER 10
LINES OF SHIELDS
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The heroes' behavior drove King Armin III into suspicion. The monarch kept his expression unreadable when they acted like everything was okay. He knew there was something wrong with the disaster. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. “Tomorrow I'm coming to Valora myself.” King Armin tested the water by provoking their reaction. As expected, a hero hurriedly interrupted.
“Your Majesty, your health is deteriorating. Better to send a messenger to the Land of Elven.”
The king slightly squinted. His suspicions went up. Gauging their reaction, he felt the Walker nobles had other plans. Particularly when they started whispering to Ramones, his second son, who wasn't fit to be king. There must be something behind their support.
“Father, better to send a messenger than go there by yourself. How important are the elves for you to come in person?”
“Because King Falasa always came to our land himself.”
“Isn't that natural? Elves are beneath our feet, after all.”
Bam!
King Armin III lost his mind over his son's disrespectful response. “I though I have taught you how to respect,” said the king with a disappointed look in his eyes. Anger, sadness, and his mixed feelings shaken his voice, condemning his second son, who distancing himself from their roots. “As bad as you look at the elves, don't ask me to be the same. Your grudge was your own fault. You made a fool of yourself six years ago.”
“But—
“Stop ... talking.” Regardless of his low tone, the king's dignity trampled Ramones' will to talk back. He knew what had happened to his son's morality. Emphasizing his word's meaning, he glanced at the Walker Nobles, satirizing their attitude that was poisoning his children's brains. “Their culture is not for ours. Don't forget your royal etiquette.”
Even King Armin was clearly aware of the character of nobles in a world without magic. His judgment of them had changed since the shameful incident six years ago, as had his respect for them. The heroes of the gods were greedy. They didn't know the rules because maybe Earth's culture didn't teach manners. They liked to sow hostility, spread hatred, and always be hypocrites when it came to religion. The heroes of the gods were so disrespectful that King Armin started to think that they were actually from hell.
“Asedes, come with me to Valora tomorrow. We have to know what was going on.”
“By your command, Your Majesty.” The first prince respectfully knelt down.
***
Bam!
“King Armin dogshit! Fuck! How long will that old NPC disrespect me? Damnit!”
Disappointed by the royal conference, Count Vardant kept cursing, feeling sick of Ethereal's disgusting culture about etiquette and useless codes. His sacrifices would be in vain after he had done everything in order to keep Armin and Valora at odds. He had killed all the carrier pigeons that connected the two kingdoms, as well as all the envoys. The incident in Crocosela should be the main reason to wage a war. Furthermore, he had suffered many casualties. He even sacrificed Crocosela to be destroyed after screwing up the elf ritual.
“Shit, if King Armin came to Valora and he found out that the ceremony was deliberately screwed, everything could go wrong. My head will be hanged. Tsk! He keep driving me on an eggshell.” Count Vardant talked to himself like a retard. He went back and forth in the magnificent mansion on the edge of the Renouil that was way grander than average local nobles.
Since becoming a count, Vardant has made money like magic. His daily income was twice or a third of the average person's annual salary. Rich as hell from stacks of nutjobs he had done. However, if it was related to Valora, he was willing to work without a paycheck. His grudge against the elves would never be forgotten. Neither would his resentment toward King Armin III, who had kicked him out just because he cursed the elf. He could not wait for the war to happen. He could not wait to push the old king to appoint Ramones as his successor.
“Tsk! That old fart is tough like a fossil!”
Flashhh!
A flash of light appeared in a crystal. Vardant turned around and knelt in front of the light. He promptly relayed an important information that the King was departing for Valora.
Surprisingly, the man laughed.
“Our sweet opportunity is dancing on the door, Vardant. If you smarter, that'd so.”
“Huh? How? Our plan could fail if that coffin dodger finds out our shits, My Lord CEO.”
The mysterious man, who was unsurprisingly the Indonesian Walker Association's CEO, laughed like nothing to be worried about. Vardant squinted in wonder because the CEO was the mastermind of their entire plan.
“My Lord, we can be accused of being traitors if that bastard elf makes a weird report. They must have found the shaman's corpse. King Armin III will hang our heads after he returns from Valora.”
“Yes, we'd be hanged if the King came back alive.”
Vardant was a bit confused when the CEO pronounced the three last words with an unusual tone. “What does that mean?”
“Buy omega-3 for your brain.”
***
Armin Royal Residence, Renouil
“Fuckin' dogshit! Everyone is dogshit! Why are you treating me like a good for nothing, father? Why are all your attentions on Asedes? When will you see me? When? Fuck! I can't deal with it anymore!”
Clank!
Crash!
Ramones kept cursing and throwing a tantrum because of the meeting this afternoon. He threw all the furniture out of his room and scared the maids. Sadly, the esteemed royal prince acted like an uncivilized mercenary. His behavior became more and more similar to the style of otherworldly heroes, who could not hold their dirty mouths. The second prince also sulked easily, like the heroes of the gods.
“You got a point, Your Royal Highness. A good parent must obey their children.” A mid-20s nobleman responded with clearly fake sympathetic looks, putting his arm around Ramones' shoulders and speaking intimately. “Take it easy, My Prince. As long as we're around, the throne will be yours.”
“Really, Count Vardant?”
“We can't stand either, my prince. Those conservative boomers keep forcing us to obey their bullshit. They should have retired. Let's replace the useless oldies with the young ones. If my prince cooperated, poof! The throne would be yours.”
Hearing the ass-licking opinion, Prince Ramones calmed down. But he didn't understand what the hero meant, because almost impossible to seize power, no matter how powerful the hero was.
“If your highness thinks we only have power, you are wrong. We have brains. Our civilization is far more advanced than yours. We have a way to do it. And as long as Your Highness agrees, poof! We will do some magic.”
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The prince's forehead showed more wrinkles. He didn't know what kind of cooperation they were asking for. The prince tried to calm down and asked the nobles to explain more. Count Vardant, on the other hand, smiled slyly, clapping his hands to summon a soldier and asking him to open the cloth parcel. From the smell and traces of blood, the prince was sure it was corpses.
“Filthy long ears!” The prince yelled hysterically when he saw five rotten elf heads.
He quickly put the head away. Ramones hatred towards the elves kicked in, coincidentally recalling how ungrateful those long-eared were to his kingdom. Valora was a small nation with barely 20 thousand inhabitants. Even Armin's troops were triple their total number of people combined. However, those weak nations controlled his kingdom and influenced his father's behavior. It was the elves who shouted the loudest against the war. And also the filthy long ear who humiliated him six years ago. Even until now, Ramones was a laughingstock.
“What's the meaning of this, Vardant? And who are they?”
“Elven shaman we killed at Dragona Cave.”
Ramones' eyes widened. Looking once more at the severed heads of the people he hated, he confirmed their identities. The prince smiled with relief after knowing the body was unknown to him. “Have you gone mad? Does that mean the elves fulfilled their promise? They performed the ceremony. And you're the ones who thwarted it?”
“Calm down, Your Highness. This is how politic works.” Count Vardant stayed smiling even as the Ramones tugged at his collar.
“Thousands of soldiers died in vain because of you! Tell me what your plan!”
“War with Valora.”
Prince Ramones lowered his hand from the count's collar. Sitting back in his chair and crossing his legs, he gave a sign of wanting further explanation. The prince was most excited when he heard the word of war.
“Your Royal Highness, this way we can erase Valora from the map. There will be no one to prevent us from annexing neighboring lands. Armin Kingdom is guaranteed to advance.”
The second prince showed clear interest. The name Armin was like God to his ears. He couldn't wait to be Armin IV and change his kingdom to what he wanted to be. Still, hesitation haunted him because it was not that easy to take throne. “Only a few of you compared to the nobles who support Asedes. Father couldn't possibly give the throne to me. And even if I become king, gathering an army is not that easy. My Kingdom is a feudal nation. The king's power is not absolute. There are three other parties that influence the decision to go to war. High nobles, the religious leaders of the Order of Lumina, and the King of Valora. Let's just say Valora is crossed off the list. Our plan has to be approved by the high nobility and leaders of the Order of Lumina. All of which is impossible.”
Count Vardant almost yelled in surprise as the idiot prince suddenly became smart. “Damnit!” He cursed on his mind. Leaving aside his lost in political debate, he changed the subject. “My Prince, let's talk about the dragon army, cough!”
***
Two months after the Dragon Army's attack, Crocosela had become increasingly tensed. Parts of the wall had been destroyed, and hundreds of soldiers had died to repel the first wave. More walkers were also monster victims.
Sadly, all of them were junior walkers. They died to defend the city while senior walkers occupied themselves with whatever their business was.
Lumina Grand Cathedral, Crocosela
The bell tolled loudly in the tower of the cathedral. Dozens of clerics went back and forth healing the soldiers. As did all the priestesses in Crocosela. The number of casualties was too great. They had no time to rest, especially the saintess, who was beloved by the people of Armin. She was even beloved by the heroes of gods, who usually acted like nobles toward the natives.
“Mother, I can fight,” said a handsome man with a knight armor.
“What has happened here is not your fight, my child.”
“They have killed our little brothers and sisters. I can't accept it!”
The blonde, middle-aged woman shook her head softly. Lumiere remained calm and showed her gentle nature as the mother of the Order of Lumina. The handsome man, on the other side, along with his three companions, were C-ranked Walkers who had just arrived from leveling up. Of course, the party wasn't affiliated with the Walker Association. They were pure adventurers who explored the world without political nonsense..They tried to hold back their tears, watching young walkers who were hiding in Lumina Grand Cathedral. 87 of them had died after Count Vardant forced them to fight the monsters. Their innocence was heartbreaking.
“Mother, I'm afraid. I wanna go home,” said a young hero.
“You're saved here, my child. You're saved. Stay here until the disaster passed by, okay?”
***
Crocosela City Hall
“The main force has arrived!”
“Really?”
“Yes! We're safe!”
“Hooray!”
Hundreds of people cheered when they saw a huge march enter Crocosela City. The reinforcements, twelve thousand main army from Renouil, were all fully armored. The second wave was about to come out. They didn't delay facing the disaster, heading forward to the cave where the monsters crawled from.
“Isolate all monsters! Let's face them at the cave door! Don't let them spread!”
Waves of thousands of troops combed through the Crocosela forest, heading north. One by one, the ferocious monsters were slaughtered. Armin's troops advanced until they arrived at the cave entrance and started the real war. Surrounding a massive cave, they prepared various combat formations.
“The safety of Armin Kingdom is in your hands! Hold their attack until the reinforcements of other kingdoms arrived!”
“Uwoooo!”
At the front was a line of shielders. They positioned themselves as the spearmen's guard to hold off the monsters. Behind them were swordsmen, archers, and hundreds of mages. There were also ballistas, catapults, and trebuchets in the rearmost formation. Their enemies weren't something to look down on.
“Don't be afraid! The only one you should be afraid of is Goddess Lumina! Don't let her down! Her embrace is waiting for you!”
Everyone gulped when they saw the thousands of eyes in the darkness of the cave. The second wave will arrive soon. They had to hold them off until the arrival of other kingdoms' reinforcements.
“O great Agni, bestow your grace upon me. Scorch all my enemies with your heat. Ignissphera!”
Blasstt!
Hundreds of fireballs shot into the cave door. It was a preemptive strike from a row of fire mages. Their fireballs illuminated the cave and showed what was inside. All the soldiers trembled in fear. The war had started when hundreds of Velomodrakes darted forward to the vanguard.
“Archer, hail!”
Thousands of arrows rained down on hundreds of monsters. However, they were too agile to hit on. Some arrows were deflected due to the thick skin on the horse-sized monsters' backs.
“Incomiiing!”
Bam!
“Drive them away! Don't let them spread!”
The shielders tried to hold the formation while the spearmen pierced monster between their shields. The line of soldiers walls couldn't be easily breached. Armin soldiers were disciplined. Whenever the vanguard died, another one covered the hole. They could repel the dragon minion attack with fewer casualties.
“Step back! Hooop!”
“Hoooop!”
A pile of Velomodrake's carcasses lay down along the line of shield formation. The shielders had to keep their distance to prevent the enemy from using their fellow bodies as jumping stones. Some Velos succeeded in jumping through the wall. However, the swordsman killed them right away after they landed. The formation was smooth.
“Keep up! We will survive!”
”For Lumina!”
“Uwoooo!”
However, Velomodrakes were formidable. And their number was too great. They kept attacking like tsunamis. Hundreds of soldiers were torn to shreds. To make matters worse, Velomodrakes weren't only their opponent. The soldiers were taken aback when bigger monsters appeared.
“Mace dragon! Mace dragon!”
The bigger monsters were more terrifying. They were the mace dragon, or Ankylodrake on the index of earth code-naming. Their bodies were so thick that they were almost impossible to penetrate with arrows. Their tails also became weapons whose power was greater than trebuchets.
Bammm!
“Argghh! For the Kingdom ....”
They easily destroyed the shield formation.
“Ballista! Fire the ballista!”
Between the blood and meat scattered on the field, Armin's troops put up a fight. Hundreds of spear-sized arrows rained down on the huge monsters. Tens of huge boulders had been thrown from the trebuchets. Armin's troops desperately advanced after dealing with Ankylodrake.
“We have a hope! Don't be nervous! Goddess Lumina with us!”
The monster wave died down. By the end of the hour, thousands of lives had been taken.
“We are survive!”
“Uwooooo!”
“Hail Goddess Lumina!”
However, they would never know that the attack was a small portion of the disaster's true scale.