It has been a week since we have been stuck in this stalemate. Right now, the iron skin spell is chugging along strengthening the fort as well as it can. In this week, the spell has accumulated quite a bit of iron mana. It won't be of much help though unless I can break this stalemate.

Well, there are not many things that a formation mage can do when he is forced to act without his formations. We are not as weak as some people like to make us to be without our formations but it certainly makes us quite desperate.

Right now I am working with the five people other than me that have a cultivation. They are the only people that would be able to survive the outside of the fort without their coats.

While those formations are more than useful at holding back the cold, but it also tends to make our presence obvious to our enemies. When I am strolling into their home base, being easily detectable is equivalent to suicide.

These five people other than me are the only ones that I am confident will be able to hold their own if they were forced into a fight. Right now we are at the southern gate of the fort. The enemy has made their base about a kilometer from the southern gate.

Right now the plan is to infiltrate into the enemy base. As for what we plan to do there, better to describe it as it occurs.

“Prepare the soldiers to leave, shamon. We will leave in five minutes.“, I speak to the man next to me.

“Yes, captain.“, he speaks while disappearing like a ghost.

Well, now that I have five minutes I guess that I should begin by checking the durability of my damn sword. This particular sword I have had to borrow from the troop.

It is quite embarrassing to have to ask my underlings for weapons like this. Well, there is little that I can do about it now. As for why I would need a sword when I have the vine armour. Well, the vine armour would be obvious against the ambient mana of this place. It would stick out like a sore thumb.

On top of that, things might not turn out as positive as I am hoping it to be. Returning to the sword, it is a pretty standard design for a sword. It is something that is issued to every soldier of the frozen peak. The quality of the sword is decent at the very least. It is going to survive a fight between mages too. At least that is the hope. It is not like I can swing the sword at full strength now. I will end up breaking something and our presence would be revealed.

This is not mana attuned metal, so there is not going to be any surprises there. I can fill it with all of my mana and the only thing that I will be able to guarantee is that the sword is not going to break any time soon. Even that is not a strong guarantee.

I swing the sword a few times, trying to get used to its weight and balance. The sword is about the correct size for me to use all of my stances at the very least.

(After about five minutes of me playing around with this sword.)

Right now in front of me are the five people that are going to be my present team. Among them it is hard for me to even sense the cultivation of three of them. Looking at them, they are even younger than me. These are fresh soldiers in every sense of the term. The only thing redeeming them is their cultivation.

Other than that, we have shamon and entim. Shamon has nearly achieved the first circle based on the mana that he is emitting. Entim on the other hand, I would say that he is half way through the process. He is the soldier with the most potential of breaking through in this group.

I would say that he is roughly about my age. He might be a few years older. Regardless, all five of these soldiers are ready for action. Right now, it is mainly due to my actions that we are still waiting here.

Well, I begin to focus on pushing back all of my mana back into the mana core. Right now the lesser the mana that we are emitting the safer it will be for us. I had formed a habit of circulating mana resisting the cold here. Now it has come to bite me in my back.

It takes a few embarrassing moments for all of my mana to return to my core. Instantly, I feel like somebody threw me into a pool full of ice. I feel like my body has become sluggish and moving is becoming harder.

Well, I somehow manage to hide all of this. I think so at least.

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“It is time for us to leave.“, I command, which the soldiers listen to dutifully.

Right now we are standing in the safety of the southern gate. Once we step out we will be completely at the mercy of the weather outside.

Not thinking about it too much, I step out into the frigid wasteland outside of the fort. Instantly it feels like I am trying to walk through ice. The winds battering me feel like blades of ice that are cutting into my body. The soldiers are walking through this weather like it is nothing.

Well, I grit my teeth as we begin our trek. Right now, the enemy is about five to ten minutes worth of trekking from the southern gate. This trek is the most crucial part of our plan. After all, if we are caught en route, we will be too dead to care if the plan has succeeded.

Thus we begin our trek. None of us even dare to strengthen our barriers for fear of being caught. The only mana that I dare to use is to reinforce my sword. Even for that I am pushing my mana control to its limits to achieve this. I can assure you that no ice beast will be able to detect my mana unless they are standing next to us.

(After about five minutes.)

We have finally reached up to the enemy's caves. Things are going to grow quite tricky now. You see things are going to be quite uncertain from here on.

Right now, we have no clear idea about the underground structure of the enemies base. The little that we know about comes from echolocation. I am no master of this dwarven art so the only thing that I can really tell is the general structure of this place.

We absolutely cannot get lost in there, especially with what we are about to be doing. Well, I cannot really turn back after reaching here now can I.

As I am thinking this, I throw my sword right into the throat of an ice beast. I had almost missed the creature in my mana sight. The creature is not a threat but I can't have it warning it's master before it is too late. It has just popped out of one of the nearly invisible holes in the ground and would have discovered us quite soon.

Well, we have spent enough time outside. I gesture the soldiers to follow me into one of these holes. Jumping into the hole, I end up in a tunnel that is quite large for my expectations at least. if there is going to be a fight then we are going to be fighting quite comfortably.

That is both a good thing and a bad thing at the same time as it also applies to our enemies. Well, no use obsessing over it. I gesture towards a tunnel to the left. based on my map that should lead towards the center of this tunnel system.

I can't say for certain but the center is in that rough direction. We manage to walk for a few moments as I feel a concentration of ice mana behind me. My sword flashes behind me right into the mouth of an ice beast. The creature struggles for a few moments before dying. I guess now would be a good time to mention that the icebeasts are quite similar to wolves in their shape.

The only thing that could be considered different would be their faces. their faces and mouth resemble more like a snake than that of a wolf. Well, if the creatures can detect us enough to ambush us, there is going to be no point in maintaining stealth.

“Screw it. Troop, enter into a defensive position. We will charge towards the target.“, I command them. The soldiers follow my command silently and effectively as they quickly enter into a box like formation.

I begin to run, while the soldiers behind me keep up with me as well as they can. Any creature ambushing us now would be in the easy reach of at least two soldiers.

We begin to run. It does not take us particulary long to get lost. the entire thing is a confusing mess of tunnels built under the ground. Thankfully, we are still able to retain a general idea about the direction in which we are going in.

I have been remembering every twist and turn that we have taken. If I mess this up while leaving, the icebeasts will be the least of my worries.

Meanwhile, I think that we have managed to provoke every creature in these tunnels. It is almost a wonder that one of the troop leader have yet to make their moves. They are supposed to be really slothful creatures if Shamon is to be believed.

Well, that was always the gamble involved with this mission. Regardless, things are going well for now. I am so lost in my thoughts that I almost miss the fact that we have reached our target.

It is like a massive cave that exists at the center of this tunnel system. Shamon tells me that these centers always exist. Something about this place acting as the foundation of the entire cave system.

The only thing that I have understood or care about at the very least is the fact that destroying this place will collapse the entirety of the tunnel. Again I am surprised that there is no troop leader here. after all, with such a massive structural weakness I would have assumed that a troop leader would always be stationed here.

Well, it would take a massive amount of mana to destabilize this place in the first place. I might be able to do it if I were to expend all of my mana. Then I would not be able to run when the entire thing came crashing down.

Naturally I have no desire to go out in a blaze of glory here. We are not even facing our proper enemy. Still, that leaves an issue of blowing up this place. For this I have to make use of the single most wasteful thing that a formation master can do with a mana reservoir. I am going to be projecting the mana from the reservoir at the fort to this place.

Well, I am sure that many of you do not know what projecting is but it would be stupid to try and explain it in the middle of a battle like this. Better to do it later.

Right now this cave of ours has two entries. Enemies will be pouring in from both of them. Before I even command the five soldiers under me have already begun to cover these positions. They have good teamwork so I am sure that they will manage to hold the enemy for a few minutes.

Now I have to make use of these few minutes to do my work. Well, I have delayed this enough. Time to get to work.