"Mages! Fire at will!" The guard captain instructed the team of 12 mages and 60 archers. Simultaneously all the mages began to work together to cast a large spell that they all had discussed earlier. It took a minute to decide, but in the end, the mages had agreed that a firestorm spell would be the most damaging. As the mages concentrated a massive swirl of mana emanated from the mages and came together with such a massive amount of pressure that even those who weren't gifted in the arcane arts could sense it.
But this meant that the shamans and warlocks of the goblin army had sensed the forming magic spell and were scurrying to set up a defensive spell of their own. Soon enough the large-scale spell was formed as a large swirling mass of flames gathered just 50 feet away from the caravan and begin splitting up into hundreds of baseball-sized fireballs. The fireballs then began to be slung at the enemy army by the dozen. Several dozen of them managed to hit the goblins causing dozens of casualties before the goblins defense plans activated.
Hundreds of ice shards started to be formed 30 feet in front of the goblin hoard. Before they could do anything, the fireball bombardment slammed into the wall of ice shards. Following this, a large plume of steam blocked out the vision of both sides.
"Archers let loose your arrows!" The guard captain commanded his troops. Following the command, a wave of 60 arrows was fired off into the steam. Shortly after dozens of pained cries could be heard. Suddenly a loud whistling sound filled the ears of everyone on the wagons.
"Incoming arrows!" Someone cried out.
While the other people who were on the wagon started to rush off of them to get behind the cover of the armored wagons Adimir took a step forward.
"EXAGITANT VENTI!" He shouted at the top of his lungs while holding his staff high up into the air as a powerful gust of wind rushed forward from his staff's magicrystal meeting the hundreds of arrows and jostled the flight path of the arrows causing them to fall away harmlessly as they embedded themselves in the ground just a dozen feet away from the caravan.
The wave of wind continued to travel and cleared away the steam that had shrouded their vision. The smell of charred flesh and hair that drifted over to him caused the bile from his stomach to crawl up in his throat. There were dozens of injured bloody hobgoblins with arrows littering their bodies like human pincushions. Others had partially melted skin and scorched muscle covering their bodies. It reminded him of those old-world war two documentaries that he saw in his old world. By now the archers and mages were climbing back up and preparing for another bombardment. The ox beastkin began to bark out orders to everyone.
"Good job mage. I want at least two mages to start using spells like that whenever the goblins begin to shoot arrows! Archers prepare to fire another volley of arrows! We must whittle their numbers down as much as possible before they decide to charge!" Just as he finished speaking another volley of goblin arrow were shot towards them, but two mages worked together to cast another wind spell and managed to send the majority of them flying away while those that were lucky enough only bounced off the sides of the armored wagons. Adimir couldn't help but grin as he watched the battle continue. While the gore was all certainly repulsive to him, he was still excited.
In his previous life, he was a somewhat war-obsessed person with all the combat games he played. So now that he actually was taking part in a battle and was taking a frontal and important role, he couldn't help the ecstatic feeling bubbling up inside his chest.
"Hey shaman guy, Clarette. Let's go start making some barricades in front of the caravan for when those suckers charge." He told them. The reptaurian and the elf researcher both agreed to the idea, and he began to explain his idea to them. The goblin army had their shamans starting to focus on using the same wind spell technique to push away oncoming arrows like the caravan mages were doing, and both sides were getting nowhere with ranged warfare. With the exception of the occasional attack spell being cast by both sides’ mages.
However, the goblin shamans stopped their offensive spells and the hobgoblins ranks began to part to reveal more than 100 hobgoblins riding direwolves approaching the front. Seeing this Adimir cursed under his breath.
"Clarette, can you start making pikes out of the surrounding dirt and stone while me and the other guy finish up the pits?" He asked her.
"Can do." She replied as she went and started creating pikes tilted towards the enemy 25 feet in front of the caravan.
"Τούρνα γήινα σκάφη." She chanted in the elven language. Meanwhile, Adimir continued making 10-foot-long pits that were 3 feet deep while the shaman lined the bottom with numerous stone spikes. That was Adimir's idea to even the playing field. He currently made two rows of three pits with enough space between each pit to allow three people to stand side by side. By now the guard captain had noticed what Adimir was doing and commended his idea inside of his mind.
"I want three mages on either side of those pits to prepare to start lighting the place up with fire spells. If those goblins try going around bombard them!" He ordered the mages. Six mages responded to his orders and started to take up their positions.
"Now I want all the adventurers and 50 guards to get over to the pathways between the pits. Don't let anything go through there. Everyone else stay where you are and prepare for the enemy for when they break through the mages bombardment and incircle us!" He continued giving out instructions to his men. Tauna was one of the adventurers who had volunteered to be right at the pathway to use her shield to help block the path. Other adventurers like Bjorn and guards who also had shields began to do the same. As soon as Adimir and the other two finished they rushed back into the protective encirclement of the wagons to start recovering their mana. By now the wolf riders were beginning their charge whooping and howling while swinging swords and spears wildly in the air.
The first of those who were charging started to split up to go around the fortifications placed in front of the caravan, but just as they were about to reach it dozens of fireballs and chunks of rocks were shot at them taking the lives of the first dozen leading the group. Upon seeing this the wolf riders slowed their charge. One way there were pits and pikes which would block their way. The other way teams of mages who would use powerful combat spells to slay them.
It was an unfavorable situation that no cavalry rider would want to be in. Before they could recover from the initial shock however the archers began to rain arrows upon them wounding dozens and killing easily 15 of the wolves and hobgoblins. The cavalry now panicking began to retreat back to the gathering of goblins.
"Haha! Yeah, run you bunch of cowards!" The loud voice that Adimir easily recognized as Tauna resounded throughout the ranks of the front lines of the guards and adventurers.
Spurred on by her eager shouting, and the hobgoblin cavalry retreating so easily they started to cheer and mock the goblin army. However just as quickly as they began to cheer, they stopped. The entirety of the goblin army was beginning to march forward, and to make things worse 50 heavily armored hobgoblins riding dire boars the size of cows was in the front row to act as living rams to knock down the pikes.
"Lusob! patayin ang lahat ng ito!" The enraged cry of one of the goblins reached their ears.
"Brace yourselves!" The head guard yelled as he watched the goblin hoard draw closer. The boar riders smashed straight through the stone pikes with very little harm inflicted upon them from their layers of protective fur and fat. 20 of the boars continued forward to go along the paths around the pits as they couldn't risk going through the pits with the spikes being able to get at their more vulnerable bellies. The archers continued to fire arrows at the goblins but only succeeded in taking out goblin infantry who only had leather armor.
Two mages started to cast fire spells to cast fireballs at the boar riders who had now navigated through the first two rows of pits. Despite the boar's strength and the hobgoblin's armor when faced with the power of the mages they were one by one forced to fall into the pits impaling many of the boars and their riders. Those who didn't die instantly were forced to slowly die in an agonizing way. Just as the two mages killed off all twenty boar riders who were spearheading the attack they ran out of mana and were forced to take a break.
Instead of sending out another two mages to take their place however the beastkin in charge opted to hold them back for an emergency and let the archers bombard the hobgoblins. Adimir, on the other hand, was recovering a good degree faster than the other mages as he had his staff, so he didn't use as much mana as others, and had his enchanted robe to give him a 150% increase in regeneration speed. That's 1.5 times faster than normal. So, he was busy coming up with ideas to try and turn the tide in their favor. He watched as the two sides infantry clashed. The two hundred hobgoblins, and goblins that were attacking the adventurers and guards easily outnumbered them 4 to 1. But with the pits that he and the other two mages placed they were forced to fight without their numbers advantage.
"So, what are you thinking?" Clarette asked interrupting his line of thought.
"They aren't attacking us with their full force. I think that they might be using those goblins as a distraction for a different plan. I'm going to use my sonar. See if anything shows up on it that could hint at their plan." He answered. Before closing his eyes and sending out a chantless mana pulse. Just as he had suspected there was some suspicious movement. There was a group that numbered just over 100 taking a long detour around some hills heading towards the more vulnerable back of the caravan circle.
Based on their speed which easily matched up to that of a horse he could guess that they were the remainders of the direwolf cavalry that he helped with getting rid of.
"Claratte hows your mana?" He asked the elven researcher.
"I probably have enough to cast ten or so more spells before I need to recharge." Adimir grinned. That was just the type of answer he was hoping to hear. He gestured for her to follow him as he began heading towards the other side of the caravan. Once they reached it, they climbed up on top of a wagon.
"So why are we over here?" Clarette asked unable to restrain her curiosity any longer.
"Simple. I detected that the leftovers of the direwolf cavalry are circling around to ambush here. We are going to foil their plan to break through our weakest link with just the two of us." He explained to her with a coy smile. She looked at him with an aghast expression set upon her face.
"Just the two of us against over 100 cavalry!? That's insanity! I don't have enough mana to set up more barricades, and in the first place, I'm not even a battle mage! We should at least get the guards stationed here to help us." She profusely protested.
"Relax I have a plan to allow us to wipe out the enemy without expending too much mana." He consoled her. This caught her attention.
"Make as many stones as you can manage around this size." He asked her while making a circle around the size of a ping pong with his finger. She looked at him with confusion clouding her face.
"What use will such small stones be?" She asked with a measure of doubt.
"Just do it, and you'll see soon." Was all Adimir said before turning to look towards the hill where the direwolf cavalry would emerge.
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
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Grokna was furious. The great goblin Lord had promised them that they'd have a swift victory against the hated humans and their allies! But when they went to attack them the enemy was already prepared for them, and exchanged arrows and spells with their mighty hoard, but yet they had no casualties while the goblins had many. Then when the mighty direwolf riders were sent to crush the humans they discovered that they had already set up barricades against their charge using magic! And as if things weren't bad enough when they were circling around it, they were bombarded by powerful magic, and without the help of their goblin shamans, they were forced to halt the charge and retreat. He had thought that when the elite direboar riders were sent out to crush the humans they'd be crushed, but once again expectation betrayed them as the already few boar riders lost nearly half of their forces.
Now the brave goblin and hobgoblin warriors were in a deadlock with the hated ones. But the direwolf riders had been given a mission of utmost importance to repair their tarnished pride! They were to circle around the caravan's impenetrable defense to attack the vulnerable back using the hills as cover from the vile mages. Grokna looked to his companions. They were his brothers in arms, and they have toiled endlessly alongside their direwolves to form an unbreakable bond. He had no doubt that this time for sure they would be able to defeat the vile enemy.
Soon their run had brought them over the hill, and he could see the caravan up ahead. Unlike the other side, there were no barricades other than the wagons, and only a dozen figures were standing on the top of the wagons. Grokna raised his iron sword into the air and a furious battle cry forced its way out of its throat. And with it, all the hate and rage of losing his brothers in arms in their last charge carried on the wind towards the enemy. Following his initiative, his brethren released their own war cries as they continued their glorious charged. He could only imagine how terrifying they were to look at.
However, a whistling noise filled his ears, and he looked to the side with a questioning look on his face. Instead of seeing the comforting face of one of his brethren however he saw them get flung backward as some invisible force slammed into their chest spraying blood everywhere. He was not the only victim however as both direwolf and hobgoblin alike were getting hit by the invisible force as the whistling sound grew louder. What sort of demonic sorcery had the humans dabbled in this time Grokna wondered before soon he too was flung backward by an invisible force. Before everything went black.
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(Clarattes POV)
"Keep it up Claratte! Their charge is faltering!" Adimir yelled out with a grin on his face as he watched the carnage.
"Alright alright!" Clarett's panicked voice replied. She wasn't panicked about the hobgoblins. No, rather she was panicked from how devious of a mind the elf mage child named Adimir had to have come up with such a cruel and brutal strategy. He had her make the small stones which were obviously not large enough to do any real harm. Especially at the hundreds of feet that separated them from the direwolf riders. But yet he once again defied expectations as he used aeromancy to rapidly spin all the dozens of stones she made around him. Then once they built enough speed that they were only a faint blur he hurled them with magic towards the cavalry by the dozen.
In less than a minute the two of them had already wiped out a third of the Hobgoblins, and their mounts. But yet they used even less energy than would be required for 3 fireball spells because of the presence of readily available earth and how small the energy requirement for such small stones was. It seemed that Adimir didn't need to expend much magic power either as he didn't seem phased by the magic he was using.
She wasn't the only one who was experiencing a mixture of shock and terror. The archers and other guards that witnessed this had terrified looks on their faces. She couldn't help but think that the archers probably felt useless when they saw the cruel efficiency of Adimirs spell.
"Hey, I don't need any more stones Claratte. They're all dead." A child's voice interrupted her thoughts. She looked towards where Adimir was pointing in the distance and could see a pile of corpses that was the direwolf cavalry just a minute ago. She looked back to Adimir with a mix of terror and awe in her eyes. He didn't really need her for something as simple as making tiny stones, and most likely only took her along to focus on shooting the stones.
What a terrifying genius this kid was to have not only casually solved the problems with the detection spell idea where dozens of expert seasoned mages have failed, and come up with such a simple method to massacre large numbers of troops for a fraction of the price of spells meant to do that type of job. She mentally reminded herself to never get on the bad side of this kid for she didn't know what sort of monster he might become in the future.
(Adimir's POV)
Adimir didn't notice the look Claratte gave him as he was too busy admiring how successful his spell was. It wasn't exactly worthy of being called a spell however as it was quite literally just throwing stones at his enemies. Just at a higher speed than one would expect. He got this idea from two things. The first was the machine gun units that the Nazis used in WW2 to pin down large numbers of enemies with only a couple of people. The other was a random bit of history he remembered about bolas which slung stones with the power of a high caliber revolver. He figured if he could spin ping pong to the 100 miles per hour mark that roman slings could reach then if he launched them en masse at his enemies they'd be turned into mincemeat.
Just as he predicted that ended up being the case. He made a mental note to find a way to shield himself from projectiles with a new spell-like an energy shield to counter this sort of spell if any mages came up with this attack method or copied him. He wordlessly went back over to the wagon that the guard captain was standing on with Claratte following him surprisingly quiet. He didn't mind that though as he enjoyed the lack of questions.
"Sir we've intercepted the remains of the direwolf cavalry that had attacked the back of the caravan, and took care of all of them," Adimir reported to him.
"All of them?" He asked skeptically. He merely nodded his head in response.
"Good. go take a rest you probably need it. The goblins have pulled back for now, but they will attack again." The beastkin finally said after looking intensely at Adimir for any hints that he was lying and finding none.
Adimir looked at the battlefield to see dozens of bodies impaled on the spikes on the edges of the pits, and more corpses on the pathways of the pits. He couldn't immediately spot his teammates and hoped they were alright. He didn't want to lose his friends so quickly after meeting them, but he had to keep faith in their capabilities. Adventuring does typically involve putting your life at risk every day after all. The guards and adventurers who were still at the battlefield were busy gathering the corpses into the pits to burn them since undead was a very real thing in this world, making battles that much harder to fight. Adimir went to a wagon to rest up a bit more. They won the first battle, but the main force of the enemy still had hundreds more to throw at them.