Chapter 55: When he’s asleep

The forest raged against her presence. The branches of trees rattled and shook in rage. Leaves freed themselves of stems and flew through the air, attempting to slice through her armour. All their efforts were for nought.

Aïska smirked as rows of soldiers marched towards the city not far in the distance. Spells collided with each other above their heads. Fireballs popped like soap bubbles and boulders the size of men hurdled down to the ground, only to fragment into a rain of stone and powder.

Magic shields flickered as they absorbed the impacts of spells slung their way by the monsters. A particularly large rock, poisonous vines coiling around it flew through the sky at her.

“Brace!” Aïska roared as she added her own magic to the shield spells. Her might in that respect was only a flame akin to the mages that shone like bonfires in her vision, and yet those scraps helped. If not in practice, it always made morale rise.

The stone shards bounced off the light wall and the soldiers moved forwards. Aïska unsheathed her sword and pointed it at the city, or what could pass for one in the wretched forest of Luxia.

“Charge!” Her legs kicked off the ground and she blurred. The soldiers followed in her wake, their yells fading into the background as she led them into battle. At the end of her youth when she enrolled in the Zulissian academy to become a general, she had learned she was not fit to lead from behind.

Aïska met one of the monsters. She swung her sword and the thing crumpled to the ground, suddenly missing an arm and its head. The teachers told her, demanded even, that she lead them from the back. But why would she cower behind the soldiers? If she asked them to put their lives on the line to vanquish evil, it was only fair for her to do the same.

Uncaring of the danger, she led from the front. Any other way was alien to her. Who cared that her level was higher or her skills stronger? All the better so she could bear more of the weight.

Another monster was cut down by her and finally, she reached the city. The poor monsters, with their inhuman minds, came up with something new for each dwelling they built. First, she had taken down a collection of hundreds of houses built on the branches of an ancient tree. Then another village that used gigantic ferns as roofing.

And now? Aïska gazed at yet another excuse of a city. Most of it was buried like one of the ancient temples that adventurers discovered now and then. Like a volcano, the city was built in the crater that allowed for an abundance of light.

It was a place where their dryads liked to hide their trees, easily defended from most threats, from the forest or otherwise. Penelope didn’t seem to be included in either group. Her loud chuckles seemed to reach through the din of battle for everyone to hear.

Orbs of fire formed between her hands and she quickly lobbed them towards the city. They crashed through the spells in the air, melting the rock, burning the plants, and evaporating the highly condensed jets of water. All while ballooning in size every second.

The fireballs, sized like a house, descended on the city like vultures. The first of the orbs of flame and heat crashed into the face of the hill, leaving behind a gargantuan crater as if a giant of old had taken a bite out of the city. Charred chambers and rock were revealed as if it was one of the ant nests she tended to dig up in her youth.

Aïska heard the monsters cry out with their almost human voices. The screams of pain and the shed tears made the anger in her heart rise. How did these monsters dare to imitate them? Did those things even understand what emotions were? Did they understand the sadness the families of fallen soldiers felt when they didn’t return home?

She freed a communication stone that was tuned to the one Penelope carried and pushed a sliver of mana into it. “Smoke them out if you can,” She told the mage.

In response, the fireballs that barged through the air morphed. Their size and heat decreased, condensing into vengeful orbs of red. They shot into the crater and smoke began to billow out as if the hill had turned into a volcano.

Just like the ants that fled their hives as Aïska dug into them, the monsters poured out screaming in fear and rage. They met the neat lines of soldiers that reached the foot of the hill, blocking the entrances of the city.

Aïska surveyed the battlefield and noted how the soldiers had grown accustomed to her orders and the tactics she liked to use. She watched the monsters, clawing at their throats as if it might have helped them breathe. Perhaps, she pondered, the beasts were trying to dig a hole in their flesh for the built-up smoke in their lungs to escape.

All below (D) grade was quickly slain by her soldiers. The stronger ones either tried to flee deeper into the forest or consumed by rage tried to kill as many of her soldiers before she was able to dissect them with her blade.

One particular monster, a mix between a wolf, a human, and something else she couldn’t put a finger on, had quite a strong skill. She parried the beast’s claws and pulled back as the nails distended, threatening harm as they pushed past her defences, almost raking over her face like what happened to a certain unfortunate soldier in the past.

She kicked the monster’s footing out from under him and stabbed her sword through the beast's chest. Aïska moved on and hummed to herself. It was a strange thing. Certainly, some of the humans or others of the Greater races carried skills that allowed them to achieve more than they usually could. For monsters though, it was rare. Aïska wondered why the System even allowed it to happen.

Yes, the monsters were challenges made to be overcome. But did those monsters need to have the same advantages the Greater races had? She didn’t dare doubt, and yet, did Pursua make a mistake when she filled in the gaps the system had?

However, The Gods either the old or new ones, didn’t make mistakes. At least the gods that came from the Greater races didn’t. Maybe the gods from other races did make mistakes.

If so, she had to correct those, starting with ending all the monsters in the city. Aïska ran ahead of her army, cutting down the monsters that fled from the burning ruins. She leapt into the tunnels of fire and flame, the enchantments on her armour protecting her from the heat.

The smoke that hung on the ceiling hid monsters that leapt down as she passed. Claws scratched against metal. Her blade dug into flesh and she continued her sprint to the heart of the city.

Perhaps she should’ve stayed back with her army, but she had given them instructions they would follow to the letter. If worse came to worse, Penelope would take over.

Aïska entered the plaza that lay in the crater of the hill. Burning buildings crackled around her, collapsing into heaps of ash under the assault of the ravenous flames. The beasts hid from her like the pests they were. Sheltering beneath the ground as if a few centimetres of earth were able to hide them.

Stolen novel; please report.

She leaned out of the way of a spell, the green bolt of magic earthing itself on the ground. Where it landed grass sprung up, the blades searching for her before it too got besieged by the flames.

“You!” The dryad screamed at her. His skin was cracking under the heat. More fire licked his form, probably a backlash from his dryad heart being aflame elsewhere in the city.

Aïska didn’t deign the weed a reply. She coated her sword and donned her armour with magic and clashed with him. She ducked under the swing of his axe and took advantage. The misfortunate dryad had put all his strength in the swing and was now standing wide and open.

Her sword lanced into his heart and she twisted the blade. She was rewarded with a gasp and a notification by the System. Unimpeded, she searched the city for the orchids of dryad trees. Burning they would be, but she still wanted to cut them down for the experience and event points.

Fire Penelope, strong as she was, didn’t need to grow any further, lest her control over the woman with a temperament hotter than the flames she conjured slipped.

A minute later she found it at the back of the main entrance of the market. As she thought, the flames ate through the trees and already several of them lay toppled over, their bark nothing more than soot and ash. Dryad corpses were intermixed with the trees. It seemed that some of the weeds prioritized their hearts, rather than the defence of the city.

She kicked one of the bodies in disgust. Even if they were monsters, not a proper thought in the entire grove, how could they be so selfish? Her dark thoughts only grew as she strolled further into the grove of dryad trees where she found more bodies.

Aïska determined that the dryads, for all they had the title of Forest Keepers, given by one of the Old Gods, considered themselves to be more important than the forests they kept.

Her sword cut through the trees that still stood, easily slicing through the scorched bark, most of the defences the dryads had set up were now gone.

One of the enchantments on her armour flickered out. Even the masterworks the army produced had their limits. She sped up, rays of blinding light emanating from her as the trees around her toppled over.

In minutes the orchid was flattened. She hurried back into the market where most of the buildings had fully succumbed to the conflagration. She searched for the ones that hid among the rubble and slew them. Monsters had the habit of growing strong, especially when you let them escape when they were in your grasp. They didn’t need another curse mage popping up, like what happened several years ago.

She shivered, her thoughts drifting closer to the painful memory of what monsters were and what they could do given the chance. Aïska promised herself to order the mages to check for magical signatures once the fires died down enough for them to enter.

Another rune on her armour flickered out. The general rolled her eyes at the thing. Only a fool didn’t keep track of their enchantments and gear. She strolled back the way she came, twirling the sword in her hand and cutting through the smoke that now hung in thick blankets against the ceiling in the tunnels.

Outside she met with her army and told them to surround the city, lest any of the monsters she might’ve missed escape. Next, she met up with Penelope who had decided the best use of her time after besieging a city was grilling the monster bodies for the nearby soldiers.

She shook her head when the woman offered the red meat. Aïska eyed the monster meat and cleared her throat. “While the soldiers wait for the fires to calm down, we should seek out our next target,” Aïska told the fire mage who scarfed down the food as if she had been locked up for weeks.

The general supposed that casting that much magic did require an extensive amount of mana. Together, they walked back to her tent in the army. In silence, as Aïska preferred. It allowed her to shift through the notifications the System had given her during the battle and prepare for the reports that would soon be on her desk. She didn’t look forward to paging through lists of used supplies and the number of her soldiers that had fallen to the monsters in the initial attack.

She greeted a few of the patrols in the camp with stiff nods while Penelope waved at them as if she belonged to the royal family. That reminded her of a particular scrap of information she had put in the second drawer on the left of her desk. She almost groaned as she recalled the words.

Apparently, according to the King’s guards, the princess had evaded her guards and fled into the wildlands on her own. While it was improbable for the princess to appear in the inner forest of Luxia, she had gained additional orders to keep her eyes open, should she see something odd. It was yet another thing Aïska needed to keep track of.

She unfolded the tent and let Penelope step into her personal space first. Aïska followed and tied the tent flap shut behind her. Soldiers shouldn’t be privy to the musings of generals, lest they come to wrong conclusions.

Aïska peeled the armour off her, letting the plates of steel clang on the floor. Then she removed the inner layer of skin-tight fabric that helped absorb blunt blows that clung to her skin with more fervour than some soldiers had.

She cracked her neck and raked a hand through her hair which had grown frizzled and messy due to the smoke. Her arms ached from cutting through the dryad trees and her calf bore a painful gash. It must’ve been that humanoid wolf, she thought to herself.

The general turned around and saw Penelope in the same state. The bemusement on her face had vanished as the woman lay flopped out in her chair. The mage massaged her temples, groaning about how using that much mana at once caused headaches.

Aïska stepped to her wardrobe and removed the magical lock from it. She put on a luxuriously red bathrobe and removed a bottle of wine from her personal collection.

Penelope glared at the bottle of wine, “I thought you didn’t drink.”

“I do on occasion,” She pulled the cork and filled two glasses with the aquamarine wine, brewed from cave berries that grew in the darkness of the second layer of the Underworld. Aïska sipped on the beverage, savouring the umbrous taste.

Penelope downed her glass without poise and went back to slouching on the chair.

Aïska didn’t comment on it as she spread out the map of the inner forest on her desk. It was one in a collection of a hundred, each connected with magical bindings to one another. When a general marked a spot on one map, all the others showed the change.

She marked the city that had been scouted at the beginning of the event and changed the flag from a green to a deep orange, soon to be replaced once the soldiers cleared the rubble and hunted down the monsters who thought they could hide.

“Another city is gone,” she told Penelope.

The fire mage that still massaged her temples glared at Aïska. “Yes,” she snapped. “The sixth in just as many days. We need to slow down, especially this deep in the forest.”

The general looked back at the map and saw that she was right. Most of the other armies were far behind her, sieging cities and starving them out. The only other general this deep into the forest was Liaz. To his account, he had taken down over ten cities since the start of the event. It was even rumoured that he single-handedly took down one of the smaller monster villages, raining lightning on them for an entire day.

“Perhaps,” The general finally admitted.

Penelope echoed the words, “I don’t know what has you like this, but it needs to stop. The soldiers under your command need rest. They are faltering.”

Aïska sighed, “Don’t you think I know that? The army has full reign in the forest, however, that will end soon. The first of the adventurers are already entering the Outskirts. Too much is happening at the same time in the forest and they will only exacerbate it.”

The mage stretched out like a cat and eyed the wine bottle on the table's corner. Quickly, before Penelope could reach it, she stoppered the bottle and put it back in the wardrobe.

She received a glare before the mage spoke up, “So? Let them. The more chaos, the better. Luxia won’t survive the war anyways.” Penelope eyed the room for anything edible. Finding nothing she let out a low sigh and turned to a different topic, “Have you seen what the Plateau is doing?”

“Yes, I’ve seen the updates on the magical density if that is what you are referring to.”

Penelope grinned. “Chaos will only be the start. I’ll promise you this, when the Event enters its last hour, we’ll be standing in the throne room, watching the largest dryad tree in the forest burn.”

The words, however improbable, brought a smile to Aïska’s face. “Yes, we’ll watch that damned tree burn.”