While Boe was standing against his inner demon in his illusion, Kamys was experiencing absolutely different situation.
After the old man activated the magic array, Kamys blinked and found himself in a middle of a dark forest. He was confused for a second, but then his mind cleared and he started looking around himself. There were nine people around him, all of them wore the same black tight uniform. But everything around him was grey and motionless as if the time stopped.
“You’re a captain of a rescue squad. Your duty is to save captured people from an enemy base. Enemies captured more than thousand civilians and hundred comrades of yours. Each member of your squad is rank 1 wizard, while you are already a rank 2 wizard with an attribute of your choice. There is a rank 3 wizard commanding enemy troops in their base. You have to save as many people as you can and try not to lose your subordinates. Good luck.” The same old man’s voice resounded in Kamys’ head, and in the next moment colors returned to the grey world, and everything started moving.
“Captain, the enemy camp is already visible from here. Our scout found out that there are more than fifty rank 1 wizards, three rank 2 wizards and one rank 3 wizard there. Hostages are all stationed inside of prison, which is located almost in a middle of the camp. What are our actions from here on?” A burly man with big hammer behind his back was looking at Kamys with eyes full of respect and reverence.
A stream of information poured into Kamys’ head as he clenched his hands into fists and closed his eyes as if he was in unbearable pain. He now knew names and specializations of all nine people surrounding him and detailed information on his enemy’s forces. He also understood why all this was happening. He and his men were from a little mountain tribe and they were now at war with a big empire, which wanted resources and lands of his tribe. There was no chieftain in his tribe, but he was the most powerful wizard so people naturally chose him to be their leader in dire times. When he and his men went to hunt, the enemy forces attacked his tribe. More than half of his tribesmen died at hands of the enemies and everyone else were captured alive to become slaves in future. He and nine men around him were the last hope of his tribe.
‘Since enemies are all using shadow attribute battle aura then I’ll choose light attribute for myself.’ Right after Kamys thought about it, he felt his body become warm and a very dim light started shining out of his body. He now felt that he could actually control light around him, it was a rather strange feeling for him. He was used to control fire attribute battle aura and it was usually wild and hard to control. Light attribute was absolutely different, it was obedient and made Kamys experience a strange soothing feeling inside of his body.
“If we’ll infiltrate their base and fight enemy head-on, we’ll have no chance to save our people and most likely all die there. So I plan to first diminish their numbers using guerrilla tactics, then lure them out of their base with half of our people and at the same time save our tribesmen with another half.” Kamys already had a rough idea of his plan, but he was going to modify it as time would go on.
“How do we lure them out?” a very young man with broken nose and disgusting scar on his face asked in a very hoarse voice.
“I’ll take their attention and then lead them into our trap. But before that, we need to find suitable location for our trap and prepare all of you to swiftly kill enemies, without giving them a chance to retreat or retaliate.” Kamys’ face was resolute as he started running off into the distance in search of a good location for their trap.
After the magic array was activated, Dale blinked and found himself sitting on a golden throne in a vast hall, which was filled with golden emblems with a dragon and a tiger painted on them. When he looked at himself, he was pleasantly surprised. He was wearing golden robes of a king with dragon on his left chest and tiger on his right chest. He had a very luxurious crown on his head and a golden scepter in his right hand.
“You’re a king of a huge nation. You rule over billions of people; your kingdom is one of the most developed countries in this world. Your only duty is to preserve your position. You can start expanding lands of your kingdom or keep developing what you already have. Other countries are now too afraid to start a conflict with you, but if you will decide to attack one of them, then most of other countries will band together to move against you. Your personal army has a hundred million warriors and ten million wizards. Your most trusted general is a rank 10 wizard, while you are a rank 8 wizard. Your kingdom’s army has more than seven hundred million warriors and two hundred million wizards. There are also twenty rank 10 wizard generals in your army, but they aren’t loyal to you. Their loyalty belongs to people of your kingdom. Good luck.” When Dale heard old man’s voice in his head, he finally understood that his trial is to rule the kingdom and lead it in right direction as a wise ruler.
“Men, quickly bring me full report on all our generals and all our troops within and without our kingdom.” Dale decided that he needed to understand the whole situation of his own kingdom and only then think any further.
Few hours later, Dale was sitting in a cabinet with a massive wooden table and big comfortable armchair. He was reading through a few piles of documents, which contained all known information on all generals and any other wizard of rank 7 or higher. There was also a map of his kingdom hanged on the wall; there were few dozens of red marks on this map, which indicated locations of his army’s battalions.
“Gregory, come in.” According to information Dale obtained when he was transported into this illusion, Gregory was the only person who Dale could trust.
Stolen novel; please report.
“Yes, Your Majesty.” Door to the cabinet creaked open and the black-haired middle-aged man in noble clothes entered and immediately bowed to Dale.
“I finished reading through all information you gave me. We have only one rank 10 general who is absolutely loyal to me, while twenty other generals are all loyal to people of our kingdom and would easily betray me if I would do anything that would put our citizens in danger. Besides my own personal army, I can only depend on seventy million warriors and ten million wizards of my trusted general at the moment. What do you think is the best way to expand my influence in military?” After Dale grasped all information on generals and army troops, he understood that he had no real power over most of the army and could only rule over mortal citizens. And after considering what the old man said, he understood that there were some people who wanted to take away his title and probably even kill him. If he wanted to preserve his position as a king, he needed more power and the best way to obtain it was to have more influence over the kingdom’s army.
“We need to gain trust of as many generals as we can. All the real power over our kingdom’s might lays in their hands,” Gregory answered as if he was ready for such a question beforehand.
“As I thought. Then I have a few tasks for you. First, find out which generals are easily swayed with money or power and prepare a meeting with them for me. Second, find me a weak spot for each of twenty generals. I want to know how I can pressure them or even remove them if needed.” Dale wanted to get as many points as he could, so just remaining a simple king wasn’t enough for him. He wanted to obtain complete authority over his kingdom and then expand it as much as he could. He was sure that he could obtain maximum points for this trial if he could transform his kingdom into an unstoppable powerhouse of this illusory world.
“And what do we do with generals who won’t show any weak spots nor will be interested in money or power?” Gregory was obviously a smart person as he already understood what his king was planning to do.
“I’ll find a way to crush them under my feet.” A cold killing intent flashed in Dale’s eyes and his mouth crooked in an extremely sinister smile.
After Richard blinked, he found himself in a middle of a huge crowd. There were explosions around him and a lot of people died because of them. Suddenly, the whole world stopped as if time and space were frozen in this exact moment.
“You’re an ordinary mortal in a middle of a war of wizards. You have your wife and two kids by your side and all your friends and other family members are around you. Your task here is to survive. You don’t have any affinity toward any attribute or other special characteristics in your body. Everything you have right now is your brain and people around you. Good luck.” For some reason the old man’s voice was incredibly kind when he was talking to Richard.
Suddenly, a streak of light passed through one of man in front of Richard and that man fell onto the ground. Richard stopped moving and his family followed his suit.
“Follow me and stay as close to each other as you can.” Thanks to new information that appeared in his mind, Richard knew that he was fleeing from his village because it was attacked by enemies. Allied wizards were already here and they engaged enemies in a deadly battle. Mortal people with no magic affinity couldn’t do much in this war, so all of them were running from this fight as far as they could. But Richard also understood that his allies would lose this fight soon and enemy forces will continue moving in the same direction as all the fleeing people.
At first, Richard wanted to somehow turn around and flee into enemy territory, try to blend with their people and ensure safety of his people in this way. But he later understood that he was a human being, while enemies were all half-beasts, so that was impossible. He now needed to make a plan while evading random attacks from his enemies and allies. Any of those attacks would definitely kill him or anyone near him, it was very normal for mortal people to die because of a collateral damage from fights between wizards. It would be even worse if there was a wizard above rank 3, he would be able to exterminate a whole village with just a single attacking technique.
‘The best way to survive in these conditions is to move a bit further from battle and find a hiding place or create one if needed. But there is still a possibility that enemy will check each suspicious place and we will become their slaves. We can also try to pretend to be dead while hiding in a middle of a pile of dead bodies, but children wouldn’t be able to do that so that’s not an option too…’ Richard was now running with both his children in hands and trying to come up with plan, but it was too difficult to think clearly while he was bombarded with magic techniques from every direction. Also, other people were running in a complete chaotic paths, which didn’t let him run as fast as he wanted. Richard even considered to become a slave for the enemy, but there was a risk that he would die by their hands just because he was an adult male.
“Father, let’s run into a forbidden dark forest!” Richard’s son was always rebellious and he wanted to visit the dark forest from his early childhood, but Richard had always forbidden him to do so. The main problem with that forest was the fact that almost no mortal has ever escaped the forest alive. While it was relatively safe for wizards, common folk like Richard and his family would be in a great danger there.
“Richard, don’t listen to him. That forest is far too dangerous for us. Let’s just run toward a capital, royal wizards will definitely save us from those beasts!” Richard’s wife, just like most of fleeing people, was hoping that they would reach the capital, but it was too far from their current place. They would have to run for more than a week non-stop and it was impossible task to accomplish.
“Richard, let’s stay and fight while our wives and children run away,” A burly man on the right side of Richard said with a shaky voice. This man was evidently very scared, but he was ready to throw away his life for his wife’s and children’s survival.
“We won’t be able to even stall them for a moment. I’ll be taking my family to the dark forest, if you wish – follow me.” Richard decided that his only choice right now was to risk everything and not follow everyone else. In his mind, beasts would definitely choose to follow most of men and run straight toward capital. There was a possibility that he didn’t even need to actually enter the dark forest, as beasts might not follow them in that direction.
*ROAR*
At that moment, a huge green skinned creature with sharp claws pounced at one of the people close to Richard. The creature roared and teared the human into two pieces. Blood flew everywhere and Richard’s daughter was covered in blood and guts. After that, creature put both pieces of the dead body into its mouth and started loudly chewing.
Richard ran away as fast as he could, without even glancing back. He just saw a terror that just one half-beast creature could cause. He needed to survive! He needed to save his children and wife no matter what! Only now did Richard finally understand how hard it is to survive in this cruel world without power.