Karnage walked back and forth as the others argued nearby, precious moonlight being wasted away as they contemplated on how to attack the outpost that was so suddenly reinforced. Her makeshift army stood around within their makeshift camp of portable tents and heating magic stones as they waited for their commanders to come up with a plan.
But it didn’t seem to be going anywhere soon.
“As I just told you, those walls will not fall from brute strength alone and magic will only be countered by more magic.” Explained one of the Dezol officers.
Dherik groaned in annoyance “What do you suggest then!?”
The Castanic Demon grimaced and glanced away in shame “We have no siege equipment, no flyers and nobody on the scale of a Demon Lord or Devil…”
“So nothing then?” asked Regina followed by a sigh as the Demon shook his head.
“There has to be something we can do to get through their defences, we cannot just stand around all night and do nothing!” exclaimed Karnage suddenly as she stopped pacing.
Zaahr bit her lip in annoyance “If they really pulled back numbers from Helix then we won’t stand a chance in attacking them. I suggest we just head to Devil’s Eye with the Dezol we’ve freed.”
Another Demon, also a Castanic but female nodded in agreement “As much as I hate to leave our brothers and sisters under enemy chains with our current forces we can’t be expected to do anything but retreat and regroup.”
A third Demon, an Imp with reddish grey skin spoke from between his two Dezol companions “Not to mention, if General Talran was the one in-charge of Carn then the one in-charge of Frosthold will be…” a shiver seemed to go through his small body “The master tactician First General Moore…” he then grumbled.
A snort sounded off from behind them as Jacky approached with an amused smirk “Master tactician…Ah please continue, don’t let my presence distract you.”
Zaahr turned to glare at him “What do you want?”
“Sheesh.” He backed away from her while still smirking “Just here to poke and prod at your apparently simple minds.”
Dherik loomed over Jacky “And you know better how exactly?”
Jacky sighed in apparent exasperation “Okay let’s go about it like this then…Our goal is to what?” he asked while gesturing around.
“To break out the Dezol prisoners and return them home as a sign of peace?” said, or more asked Regina.
Jacky flicked a finger gun at her “Bingo, so why the hell are we still here? We broke them out, so let’s leave.”
“We were just talking about that.” Said Zaahr with a grimace “And even then there are difficulties, the only way to Devil’s eye is through Helix and to get through Helix we’ll be giving the army at Frosthold our backs, our wide open backs.”
“So instead we’ll just stand around here doing nothing and wait for them to find us, surround us and massacre us?” Jacky asked with a raised brow in question.
Dherik sighed “I sort of agree, we have a better chance of heading for Helix now while they expect us at Frosthold and try our luck.”
“And here I thought you were a thick headed moran, good for you big guy.” Said Jacky as he slapped Dherik’s arm while chuckling. Dherik growled menacingly while visibly restraining himself.
“What about Helix? How do you plan on getting through that wall of arcane mana?” asked the Imp.
“We had planned for me to mess with it enough to open a gap.” said Zaahr “My Arcanist class allows me a certain degree of control over arcane mana, although I don’t have any knowledge on runes I figured if I messed with the barrier itself I could create a disruption in it’s flow.” She explained.
“So it’s decided then? We head for Helix.” declared Karnage as she turned to a few officers than sat nearby “Silent get everyone moving, we’re skipping to our retreat!”
The army of over a thousand adventurers with mixed in Demons began to gather and form up through placements given to them by officers who relayed them from Zaahr. It took almost an hour to ready everyone up to move but after so they finally began to march. With the Dezol soldiers in the very core of the formation they were surrounded from every flank with adventurers from the three large guilds now made one.
They marched at a steady pace, to most they seemed to be running but in this world where stamina and movement speed were an increasable stat they were barely moving at maximum speed. The guild leaders were spread out through the marching army to effectively relay commands around, Zaahr and Karnage were at the front with Jacky. Zaahr still didn’t trust the adventurer and wanted to keep him close to keep an eye on him.
Jacky smiled in anticipation as they moved, his hands never moving too far from the belt of daggers he kept on him. It creeped Zaahr out, his attitude was cold in combat but completely that of a jack ass out of it. If it wasn’t for his skill in combat and stealthy manoeuvrability she wouldn’t have allowed him in.
Even if most of her guild including Karnage seemed to trust him somewhat she couldn’t get herself to trust that mischievous smile he always wore, it simply pissed her off. (“Dammit focus, don’t get distracted by the ass hole.”) Zaahr chided herself looking away from the source of her annoyance.
Instead she glanced at her leader and close friend, she wondered why Karnage even trusted him enough to place him in important missions and positions. Sure he was high level and the strongest member they currently had but that didn’t mean nobody else was capable of doing good enough to replace him. Someone more trust worthy.
Out of shear paranoia she glanced at his last position again only to see that he was gone, she glanced around but no trace of Jacky was to be seen “Where did he…”.
“What’s wrong?” asked Karnage as she moved beside her, barely half her speed she kept a slower pace to stay with the rest.
“Douche is gone.” Whispered Zaahr as she glanced around looking for him.
Karnage looked around to notice the same “Maybe he went ahead? Not the first time?”
“Maybe…” said Zaahr as she put him out of her mind and focused on the task at hand.
“You might want to stop everyone.” said Jacky as he suddenly appeared between them making both their hearts skip a beat.
“Mothe-Ugghhh! Don’t do that!“ exclaimed Karnage with a slightly pale expression.
“Stop unless you want to all die.” He then told them with a straight face.
Zaahr glanced between him then the forest ahead as a horrified expression suddenly took over her face “Stop….STOP!” she suddenly shouted with mana infusing her voice.
Slowly the entire army came to a stop as everyone glanced around in confusion, all except for the ones at the front as they stared at the obstacle at hand.
“What is…this?” asked Zaahr as she stared at the army of riders charging their way through the field of scattered trees and snow, the amount of vegetation massively decreasing as they approached Helix.
“To arms!” called out Karnage as she unsheathed her swords “They were ready for us!” she then exclaimed.
Hundreds of Esfeltian sabretooth riders charged at them as squads of Avians moved to surround their army from the flanks, further behind moved Dwarven constructs of war preparing volleys of destructive mechanical projectiles along with squads of Fae sorcerers.
Jacky chuckled “Wonderful, they actually brought everything.”
Zaahr turned to glare at him “The hell do you mean!” she quickly raised a barrier to block the enemy’s magic projectiles as did many other of their mages “This was an ambush! How the hell di-You…You knew!?” she suddenly exclaimed while looking back.
Jacky snorted “It was either here or where we were camped at, boss didn’t like that spot for the plan so had me aid you into coming to a better conclusion than waiting.” He shrugged while wearing a self-satisfied smile.
Zaahr couldn’t believe her ears “What…What do you…”
Jacky slightly leaned forward as a dagger appeared in each of his hands, his smile twisted into a wicked grin “Master tactician…Hah…Watch and learn.” Shadow engulfed his body as he charged up a tree and leaped at a squad of Avians.
Mages and archers fired away at the riders but the evasive creatures were too quick and well suited for the forest. “Melee combatants forward!” shouted Zaahr as she herself retreated back for the swordsmen to take the frontline.
But the enemy weren’t fools, as their melee fighters moved ahead the charging riders separated into two waves and parted to either of their flanks. They rode away and turned to come charging in from opposing directions.
“I am Jason D.Moore! For your acts against the Dominion you shall be punished accordingly! Run them down! For the Esfeltian Dominion!” shouted a menacing voice from the charging riders.
As fighters, archers and mages ran around to take position creating a massive fuck up of confusion the riders clashed into the army’s flanks as Avians flew over and attacked by swooping down from above.
Zaahr casted buffs and formed barriers to repel Avian attacks all the while looking around herself for how far the riders had pushed into their ranks. They had been effectively surrounded, outmanoeuvred and soon to be defeated. The riders would charge in and harass before running away for the mages and Dwarven artillery to weaken their barriers and deplete their mana stores before charging in again.
She panicked as did everyone else, now fully comprehending how farfetched their plans truly were. They were just children playing at war games, fighting against real soldiers and experienced tacticians. They had lost their element of surprise, the only reason they had taken Carn’s prisoners in the first place.
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Their army had nowhere to run, no cover to make use of and no advantage to pull off. The enemy numbers were equal to their dwindling ones, their firepower and manoeuvrability far superior. They had caught their foot in a bear trap and were now being used as target practice.
(“What the hell was I thinking…We never stood a chance!”) thought Zaahr as she failed to reinforce her barrier in time for an Avian attack, the winged warrior swooping through before the wall of mana blocked him and headed directly for her at unavoidable speed.
She closed her eyes as his spear approached her, too fast for her to react. The sound of metal meeting metal rang in her ears as the sound of flesh being torn followed soon after. Slowly she opened her eyes to see blood, not her own but instead a splatter on her face.
“Stay focused now, can’t have you all die so quickly.” said Jacky as he crouched down to pull a dagger out of the Avian’s chest. His black clothes were soaking wet with blood and covered in splatters of snow, his daggers doing just as bad as his clothing.
“What…What are you talking about!? We’re surrounded! We’ve lost!” she exclaimed causing many of the mages around her to glance over with desperate expressions.
Jacky chuckled as he raised a circular device ahead of himself, a large ring of wood and gold carved with runes and emanating a flow of mana within. “Did you hear that? Looks like we’ve lost.” He snorted at his own joke.
“Heh…” replied a voice from the device “Do not engage an enemy more powerful than you and if it is unavoidable and you do have to engage, then make sure you engage it on your terms not on your enemy's terms.”
A sudden explosion sounded off throughout the forest as several Dwarven constructs were turned to splinters and scrap metal, a cheer of over hundreds of voices followed. From behind Esfelt’s forces a new force appeared, a large makeshift band of fighters clashing directly into the alliance’s behind.
“Who are those?!” asked Zaahr as she watched multiple other explosions flash through the night.
“A friend we made not too long ago.” Replied the voice she now recognised as Birse from the device “Ever heard of the Dusk Blade Bandits?”
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Kyle grinned as he listened to the clash and clattering of battle along with more than a few explosions, Woody, Death and Seren having a literal blast with their magic as the Dusk Blades assaulted the alliance’s mildly defended spell casters and artillery from behind.
“Should we get started?” asked Steph from his right as they stood at the edge of the forest bordering the encampment behind them, Lilior and Cherry also stood around with him along with other things…
Kyle glanced around as the green to grey skinned creatures shivered in anticipation, he grinned “So, who’s ready for shiny things and tasty loot?” he asked the army of goblins. Chuckles, snickers and straight up laughs were his responses, along with voices that would send a shiver down anybody’s spine.
“How did you procure these…beings?” asked Lilior with a distraught expression.
“Well we promised them loot and plunder if they assisted us, along with the Dusk Blade’s new commander vouching for us and that we left Skill down at their place for insurance.” answered Cherry with a smirk.
“Not even gonna hide it, he asked for it.” admitted Kyle as he turned to face the large wall of wood reinforced with metal plating “Let’s get this party started!” he then exclaimed in a whisper as Steph raised her gloves ahead of herself and flowed mana into the mixture of gems embedded to her wrist.
They suddenly disappeared, her magic turning them invisible only for a few seconds but enough for the quick creatures to reach the wall undetected along with Kyle. Cherry stayed behind with Steph and Lilior for the next stage.
Kyle rested his back to the wall as did the couple hundred goblins that were with him, he glanced up to see that there was no way for the guards up top to see them. He then turned around and crouched down between metal plating where there was only wood, the space between metal plates was small but enough.
He placed his hands on the wood as greenish slime oozed out and began to eat away at the wood with it’s acidic properties, slowly the wood gave away creating a small three by two feet hole taking inside the wall proper. Too small for Kyle to squeeze in but…
He stepped back slightly and gestured for the goblins to move, one by one they passed through the hole and into the dimly lit corridor inside making their way with short swords and daggers. Once all the goblins had entered it was time for Kyle’s favourite part of the plan, causing absolute chaos within the enemy’s ranks.
He briefly waited for several corpses of guards to fall from on top of the wall, the throats slit open or necks stabbed deep from behind. As they dissipated he rushed back into the forest “Alright, here we go.” He told the other three as he sat down as if meditating “Watch my ass now, else a snake might kill me.”
“I’ll watch it real good master!” exclaimed Lilior with a victorious grin.
“I…don’t even know what to say after that.” said Steph while resting on the snow, the spell for cloaking so many targets draining her mana stores almost immediately.
“Nothing else to say, we’ll watch his ass real good.” repeated Cherry with a smirk.
Kyle snorted “Here goes.” He focused while taking out the largest crystal core he had at his disposal, a four by four feet violet core taken from an elder slime a while ago. He quickly flowed his mana and Spirit into the core creating it’s resource from which he would build up his golem. His Spirit depleted slowly as more began to flow into him while the goblins sneaked around the camp murdering it’s inhabitants while his mana steadily drained down to one, allowing it to regenerate as to not fall under the effects of mana exhaustion.
After almost a minute of flowing his mana into the core he felt like it had filled up enough, placing his palms over the large crystal sphere he refocused on creating his construct. Slime oozed out of the core raising it up as it suddenly took form following what Kyle pictured in his mind, the form still very much vivid from a close encounter.
The golem grew in enormous size and took form of a Drake made of (Monstrous) slime covering it in shell plating and spikes along with (Swamp) slime flesh over it for magic resistance. At strategic spots, he also placed (Cursed) slime for the [Illusionary] effect to give it the correct colouring and appearance while also placing (Elder Dark) slime tucked away under the limbs to create more confusion within the enemy camp and making his little green assassins more effective…just in case they fucked up.
He could sense the camp already moving around as they spotted the massive beast outside their puny walls, as for the last touch he moved his consciousness into the golem as he silently named it “Lesser Fire Drake” giving it artificial life.
Soldiers stood in place as they gazed up at the monstrosity that stared down at them, it’s sheer size enough to terrify them on the spot. Then it opened it’s jaw and let out a golden yellow flame that engulfed them, or at least that is what they saw as the (Elder Fire) yellow slime gushed out of the golem’s mouth and drenched them in smouldering hot liquid that seared their skin.
Kyle absorbed the Spirit created by their confusion allowing him to spurt out more slime covering a large area with it, working his illusion he showed them a camp on fire as the very snow melted from it’s golden heat. While in reality the slime’s heat was barely enough to give the soldiers second degree burns as it easily slid off their skin and left their armour untouched.
Yet the illusion was enough to bring the entire camp down to utter chaos at the idea of a Drake assaulting their small blockade. In the meantime the goblins snuck around the camp killing anyone in their path to the second wall, they went mostly unnoticed under the disguise of night, their dark cloaks and the massive Draconic beast taking most of the attention.
They reached the second wall and sheathed their weapons, digging their claws into the wood they began to climb with ease. One by one, two by two, three by three, the goblins swarmed the wall’s inhabitants as their eerie chuckling and laughter permeated the camp’s inner.
Officers tried to bring the camp back into control only to falter themselves as they stumbled over their subordinates still living corpses, stabbed in multiple ways and gargling blood they somehow remained alive and pleading else covered in yellow slime and burning away.
Kyle watched the entire camp from his vantage point through his golem’s magical perception, he remained with his front legs clawing over the wall while blowing out makeshift flames into camp. The golem was simply too massive for him to move along with it’s form being too strange and having one too many limbs for him to begin to understand what to move. Instead he remained still and made use of his [Ooze] ability through the Golem.
He cackled wickedly, his voice emanating from the golem a hundredfold louder before spilling out another doze of yellow burning slime. Arrows flew at his golem only to stick uselessly to the gelatinous surface, magic blasted at it’s body only to either be absorbed by the (Swamp) muddy slime and dissipate or when not elemental to pierce through ineffectively leaving a hole for him to close or a chunk for him to patch up.
He took great care in keeping the core’s location below the wall so no stray projectile got a lucky hit, damaging a golem’s core would instantly destroy it. He watched as the camp began to regain some composure as squads of mages formed up to blast away magic at his golem, taking off large chunks of it’s body with each co-ordinated attack.
Kyle inwardly smirked as more soldiers began to form up, he patiently waited until one attack blasted away the Drake’s entire head causing the formed up soldiers to cheer. They quickly fell back to whimpering terror as the headless Drake awkwardly stepped over the wall and collapsed towards them. It’s illusion broke as the entire golem fell over them, mages hastily cast a barrier stopping the massive construct from crushing them all but Kyle was still one more step ahead.
The entire golem glowed blue as it’s surface began to peel off, revealing the massive blob of (Elder Frost) slime within as it pulsated with energy and condensed. The echoing sound of something massive cracking reverberated throughout the camp before the entire mass of solid ice exploded.
Most of the soldiers survived the blast through hiding behind the barriers but many still succumbed to the explosion or blast, crushed beneath the force or flung away like ragdolls into the distance. The explosion destroyed a large chunk of the wall sending metal plates and wood flying all over the place, projectiles Cherry and Lilior had to defend Kyle from.
Kyle suddenly woke from his focus, the destruction of his golem recovering his consciousness to his actual body. He shakily stood up as a minor headache began to form, he gazed at his masterpiece. A massive hole made through the camp’s outer wall along with just as large a crater inside.
He glanced around himself to see that the trees that once covered them were reduced to nothing more than uprooted and fallen or simply broken off stumps. He took a deep breath allowing himself to be empowered by the chaotic emotions flowing through the camp, his Spirit slowly re filling as his mana still lacked the regeneration speed.
“One down, one more to go.” He said while strolling towards the wide-open gap, Cherry, Steph and Lilior following closely behind.
The soldiers took formation while facing them, several hundred of them still keeping to their ranks. They outnumbered Kyle’s small party of four, completely and utterly outnumbered and outgunned them.
“Whuahaahahahaa!!” Yet the wicked laughter of the goblins above the wall behind them, several hundred little green monsterlings, caused the soldiers to falter as they glanced back and above them.
The goblins began to randomly throw things down at the soldiers, be it pieces of armour, weapons, crates or even limbs they threw whatever came by their hands. Mages turned to blast the little critters away with magic when the sudden roaring challenge of warriors caught their attention.
From the left moved in the Dezol soldiers that were once prisoners inside the camp, wielding weapons they scavenged from the camp itself their numbers outweighing the remaining defender’s. The goblins had managed to release them before moving to throwing shit down at the defenders, some literally throwing shit.
Kyle summoned forth a pair of [Slime Scattershot]s as he openly grinned.
Cherry popped his neck as stone rolled from all around him and moved to cover his body, he slammed his now stone covered fists together and chuckled.
Steph raised her palms up in front of herself as a different assortment of gems decorated her gloves, they glowed in different colours as blue, red and white mana flowed all around her body forming tendrils that lashed out unpredictably.
Lilior’s wings first switched to blue slime before forming six pairs of long silver scythes. She glanced around in confusion as her companions didn’t move to attack.
Kyle sighed “Come out come out, I know you’re there.” He spoke with mana infusing his voice letting it engulf the new battlefield.
“Heh, looks like waiting around was pointless after all.” said Talia as she appeared out of the ground, the earth moving to her will as she ascended from it along with several others.
“I’m never listening to YOU again.” Exclaimed Nakano as she unstrapped a massive sword from her back.
“It is only dirt, nothing wrong with getting dirty now and then.” Zeeke sighed as he swatted off some dirt off his plate armour, a massive shield on his left and a longsword within his right hand.
Several other adventurers stood behind them facing either Kyle’s group or the Dezol’s.
Zeeke glanced back “Help the soldiers, we’ll take care of these four.” He ordered while heaving up his shield.
Kyle smirked “What, you’re not going to hide behind your subordinates again scumbag?”
Nakano clenched her sword as she suddenly charged forward at great speed, snow parted at her charge when she suddenly clashed with something midway causing a small crater to form as more snow parted further.
Lilior glared at the adventurer with wide open frosted eyes, her scythes clashing with the massive sword “You shall not touch a hair on my master.” Her voice turning ice cold as she spoke.