Getting the foothold was easy, keeping it was a whole other matter.

“Sir! The left flank is cracking!

Again?

Ryku turned and yelled towards the lieutenant he put in charge of the support and auxiliaries, “How long are the cracks?”

“Half a meter sir!”

“Reinforce it again! We’re almost clear over here!”

They had to constantly yell to hear themselves over the cacophony of bullets and spells. It made relaying information over any distance longer than a couple of meters difficult. Ryku had accounted for that, that’s what the lieutenants were for, but even getting information from them was laborious.

He told the support lieutenant that they were close to clearing the right side, but he wasn’t actually sure. He hadn’t received any information from the attack lieutenant in the past ten minutes. He was tempted to move from his position at the center of their ice formation to go check-in on them, but he carefully restrained himself. His presence in the middle was what kept this whole thing working.

The moment they had broken through the door, all manner of attacks poured in. He had the twelve defenders line up in three rows of four and instructed them to project whatever form of defensive spell they used. Some had domes of protection, some could conjure shield walls, and some just had ahjer barriers. Only one or two were impressive on their own, but the collective strength of all twelve provided a very sturdy mobile defence.

So sturdy their push through the door went much smoother than he expected. They managed to press almost fifteen meters past the entry point and cover the support that came in behind. Once safely beyond the door, they had gotten the three meters high, two meters thick walls of ice up in less than a minute. It formed a semi-circle all the way around the door, protecting them on all sides. Up to that point, things were perfect.

After that… they got complicated.

The first issue was a lack of visibility. Though the walls gave somewhat adequate protection, they hampered most attempts to return fire. The ahjerists who made them couldn’t edit them. The only shape they came in was large, thick squares. They functioned less like the walls of a fortress and more like a huge barrier that split the battlefield in two.

There was technically enough of a gap to the ceiling, around two meters, that they could just peek over the walls to attack, but there was very little cover up there and about six hundred reasons to duck. Three of the ranged attackers had spells they lobbed over the wall, but the three on their own would do little in a battle like this. He tasked them with stopping enemy lobs instead.

To add to their obstructed attack, the defence they provided came at a hefty cost. On their own, the walls of ice would crumble under the immense pressure they constantly received. To actually keep them up, the entire support group and a few from the defence group had to intermittently reinforce them with ahjer.

Ryku had momentarily panicked when he found out how limited their use was. He had counted on being able to actually attack from cover, but the walls effectively just trapped their group behind them. While adding a time limit for extra measure. The ahjer upkeep wasn’t low.

He had thought on his feet though. If the walls were more obstacles than anything, then he just needed to use them as such.

He had cast one of his clan’s specialties, a spell that engulfed a part of the field in pure darkness. He first applied it to the entire length of the wall. Then he cast it a second time and aimed towards the right flank, blanketing them in black. Once the spell was set, he made a small path through it, had the support bring down a small chunk of the wall, and sent part of the defensive unit through.

One of the two wall makers joined them and under their protection, they extended the wall all the way to the edge of the right side of the battlefield. As they formed it, the entire attack unit followed closely behind.

They jumped on the opportunity to ambush from the shadows. When the extended wall fully formed, roughly fifteen of the forty or so total makeshift barricades were separated and isolated from the rest. That was a far more reasonable number for the attack unit to deal with.

That all happened roughly fifteen minutes ago. He’d been keeping the area beside the wall shrouded to ward off any untimely reinforcement attempt, but the last time he got an update was ten minutes ago. It was good news then, they were making steady progress. It’d been silent since though. His sight was blocked and his ahjer sense didn’t stretch far enough to see what was happening.

He wasn’t worried they were losing, they had more than enough firepower to handle the slice he’d prepared for them, but he was worried about how long they were taking. They caught the Baron’s men by surprise with this maneuver, it wouldn’t be easy to do it again. If it took this long while they were caught off guard, it’d take much longer when they did this on the other side. Assuming their own left flank was broken through by then.

Boom!

Ryku shifted on his feet as a large explosion went off right in front of him. The wall mostly rebuffed it, but there were a number of small holes that went all the way through.

“Reinforce! Reinforce!”

This was the second time they managed to put together something powerful enough to damage the wall in one go. If they gave them too much time, they’d eventually find a way through.

“Sir! We’re done on the right! Waiting for further instructions!”

Finally.

If there was one thing he was glad his overall group had, it was the military presence. If it was just a bunch of mercs and guilders, keeping order and cohesion would be impossible.

“Come here!”

The robed woman jogged over.

“Okay, listen carefully. First, tell them to reinforce the wall as much as they can before coming. Also, tell them to leave a few there, three or four should be enough. The ones that are left should cycle between reinforcing the walls themselves and making noise; firing guns, breaking the barricades, slamming armor pieces together. That kind of stuff. We want them to think the fight is still going on. Okay?”

The woman nodded, “Yes sir!”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“Oh. And tell them to not waste too much ahjer reinforcing the wall. It's fine if it falls, we just want to delay it.”

“Yes sir!”

The woman ran off and Ryku took some deep breaths to steady himself. His spell wasn’t designed for long term use. It was made for quick, sudden bursts not sustained darkness. The ahjer tax on using it improperly was heavy. He had to trudge through though, Dalric would be done any moment now. He would like to finish up entirely before then, but even if he failed that, he needed to at least deal with half of them.

After a handful of minutes the attack unit jogged by, Heitor in the lead. The rest of the defensive unit came soon thereafter.

He yelled towards both, “Same thing ag—”

Boom!

The entire section of wall in front of him shook, much of it shattering.

“Reinforce! Reinforce! Reinforce!”

“Hurry up! You!” He went back to finish his statement, “Same again! As soon as you see the shadows, move!”

He waited a handful of seconds for them to get in position before casting the spell.

~Musei Style Second Art: Sweeping Shadows~

He’d usually never use the incantation in public, even if he was confident no one could hear it, but he made an exception this time. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to handle having three active at once without it.

Fortunately, or really unfortunately, he didn’t have to hold them all for long. The Baron’s men had learned their lesson, a little. His attack lieutenant yelled that while they still managed to trap some behind the new wall, the moment the darkness descended many of the riflemen withdrew from the area.

Less than ten minutes later, the attack unit returned. Ryku dropped the spells at the sight of them and went back to just empowering the wall.

“Mr.Tai. We’ll need to switch strategies.” Heitor’s voice was unnervingly consistent, he never needed to yell but his words were always crystal clear.

“I know.”

Of course, he knew. He just didn’t know where to pivot to. At this point, he’d more than achieved his initial task. He may have even gotten to the halfway mark already. More could be done, but that would require risk-taking.

He looked at the watch on his wrist.

Almost twenty-four minutes since the whistle. He won’t take more than thirty to finish over there and get here…. Six more minutes then.

“May I suggest. Attacking from both sides?”

Ryku shook his head, “We want to limit casualties as much as possible, there aren’t enough of us to comfortably attack both of their flanks. We don’t need to do any more than we have, in truth. We’re almost guaranteed victory at this point.”

The draken was silent for a moment, “Hrrmm. You are correct.” He then looked up towards the top of the wall, “But I am unsatisfied.”

“So am I!”

“Me too!”

“I am too!”

“Me as well!”

“I, also!”

“Myself included.”

That’s bad.

Not just the attack unit, every other person in earshot of the draken agreed with him. Even Adlartok, the atka. Atkas were known for their passive, non-aggression, but Ryku could see the malice dripping off his fur. There was a lot of blood dripping off of it too and he seemed to want more.

Ryku didn’t expect or account for such high bloodlust. He fully understood why they would be eager to exact punishment on those that enslaved them, but they seemed so calm a mere twenty-five minutes ago. When he was organizing downstairs he saw some rage flares, but no one looked bloodthirsty. Now they held nothing but hate in their eyes. A hate so fierce they itched to needlessly follow the draken into open combat.

In any other situation, he’d let them. As long as they didn’t harm the whole, what they did with their lives was their own. In this case, their lives were his responsibility. If Dalric arrived to find a third of them dead from a poorly thought out assault, he’d receive the blame. Even if he could explain it, all his hard work building a connection and goodwill would still be for naught. He could not let that happen.

He had to think of an alternative, quick. Before the draken grew the will to act.

What can we do, what can we do… think!

“Si..th..r..tin..!”

Think. Think. Think.

“Sir!”

“Hmm? Wha—What?”

They were too far to hear clearly, “The..re...ting!”

“What? Come closer!”

“They’re retreating sir!”

His eyes bulged, “What?!”

The draken didn’t waste a moment. The second he heard they were retreating, he leapt to the top of the wall and dived into battle. The ones that could follow him did, the others turned towards Ryku expectantly.

Shit. Well. This better not backfire.

“Bring down the walls! We’re attacking!”

----------------------------------------

Dalric looked on, slightly concerned. He didn’t expect Ryku’s group to best their side before he arrived, but it wasn’t something he considered impossible. There were a few heavy hitters among them.

He definitely, definitely didn’t expect to find his group stripping bodies bare and throwing them into a green bonfire. The few that were not collecting corpses, were crying. One of them sang a morose melody.

The scene made no sense.

The draken that followed him left his side to reunite with the male. He didn’t know their story, but the way they hugged alluded to a certain intimacy. The rest of those who came with him followed her example, moving to either toss the naked bodies into the fire or stand around with the rest.

What happened here? Where’s Ryku?

He looked around, but he didn’t immediately spot him. Not a pound of Dalric believed the man died... but maybe an ounce worried about it. He was strong though, stronger than everyone here bar Dalric himself. He couldn’t have died.

Surely…

“If it is Sir Tai you seek, he is above with some others liberating those held there.”

Dalric peeked at the six-legged being that walked up to him. Whatever bear ancestry they once had, their fur was the only true remnant of it. Aside from the black and white pattern, their body appeared more like that of a large, elongated gorilla. Their head was strangely valinbarn-like though. The lack of lips and eyebrows made the difference seem at a lot more stark that it truly was. Aside from those two, their face could pass for human.

To Dalric.

“I see.”

“He is thorough in his efforts.”

He had seen and spoke of the atka, but this was his first time speaking to them. He almost wished they had spoken sooner, their brand of Salian was much easier to decipher.

“That is true. So, what exactly is going on over there.”

The atka didn’t turn around, but their expression grew more sullen, “Communion.” They used the Hellgurian term, “You and Sir Tai are new to this horror. A time not long ago, they used such cursed flame to burn those of us they deemed too troublesome. We all were made witness. Some of us lost much in that time...”

Dalric understood they counted themself among those, “My condolences.”

A small smile crept onto their face, “I came to deliver my thanks. I know not your journey, but whatever transpired to allow you be a savior to us, I am eternally grateful. We are all likely small and insignificant to you, but you will forever remain immense to most of us... I hope one day I can repay you with more than just gratitude.”

They bowed and left Dalric to rejoin the others.

Dalric just stood as they strode away. He hadn't expected that, he didn’t know what to do with it. His emotions quickly became… tempestuous.