Meanwhile, thousands of individual leigh witches began channeling magic to smite an undead army with the ocean's power promptly. Mar was watching their General going to work. Sieging Argoush was notable enough that they had turned away from the big picture pondering to observe and guide the battle personally if the need arose. Curiosity was part of it as the army would be the first true test of the new Subject type.
"Blood-Thorn Vampires...they cost more than all of my other Subject types combined."
Mar noted to Estiella who "figuratively" floated beside her in their divine domain and watched the finalized siege camp. Sensation was becoming more difficult for Mar to easily quantify as technically they saw, heard, smelled, and felt everything that all of her Subjects and Units experienced. But it was becoming more and more difficult to properly encapsulate the collective Data intake despite the rising attributes of Mar.
So, they had begun creating figurative scrying windows in their divine realm. Technically it was just a way to compile the data into a recognizable format, but Estiella had shown them how. Mar could therefore, hold up multiple windows and flit their attention around as they wished. The windows would collect information ranging from the collective visual experiences of the related Units, the energy level, the health and general condition of the Collective and various other pieces of information that they picked up.
It was almost like playing the ultimate expression of a grand strategy game, and it was easier on the mind than the more organic but inefficient approach that Mar had so far gone for. Estiella did not seem to care about the cost as she replied.
"Yes, yes they cost you extra energy to make but they are notably made to support armies. They are commanders who are desperately needed to aid the Antmite General. Which is one of the many things that you have to address. You let big picture schemes distract you from the logistics of the now, I have already compiled a list of new Avatar candidates you should add."
"But the-"
"Use. Insects. The cost in lives is negilable considering the millions of insect Units that are produced every week, most of which don't have long lifespans and are better used as infection vectors or fuel for power pylons. Which also leads me to settlement development, you have not nearly explored that enough and I have notes based on examinations of your interface system."
Estiella pestered Mar good naturedly as the two looked at the screen, Mar worried absently if they had become one of those book protagonists who prioritized selfish and frivolous pursuits over the hard work of managing the territory they had claimed. Ever since the pixie had become part of Mar's system interface, she had communed with every Collective, Avatar, and notable individual within the Swarm. Compiling information and helping to guide them in their development.
"We have a siege to deal with, I will dedicate myself more to the managerial after helping Antmite-"
"You should win this battle, but the Antmite General is stretched thin. His armies grow with every passing day but you aren't giving him enough exceptional individuals to counter the threats already projected to exist in this kingdom. Let alone the world. As is he relies too much on you when his conventional Units fail. Even the monsters turned into Fungal Zombies and Swarm Champions cannot fully compensate for this deficiency."
"That is why I made him those vampires!"
"Three of them...to cover an entire army? You are stingy."
"Be respectful! I am the Sovereign Swarm, and I won't have."
"A piece of your own soul lecturing you? I am literally a part of your internal infrastructure meant to help guide you to function as your baseline human-soul is not designed for this kind of existence."
Mar was about to reply when they felt the flare up before it appeared on the "screen." Her warped divine form grinned as they turned to look at it.
"I see they are going for the first strike."
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Argoush was one of the largest cities in the Kingdom of Chilvale even if it was relatively unimportant for it's size. It was not a border town like Hor or the other lesser settlements that the Swarm had swallowed like an incoming tide. While it might lack in exceptional adventurers, it still had a standing militia and city watch to supplement the myriad of adventuring teams operating in the city. And while they had not taken the mad ravings of the refugees...and the "refugees" fleeing from where the Swarm had advanced, the city was still somewhat prepared.
A town with an eccentric an isolated farming god as it's patron with two adventuring teams to their name it was not. So while the Workers and Spiderling Engineers shaped the siege barricades and the camp, several adventuring teams took to the walls along with the city watch.
It had only taken moments before fifty Adventurers jumped, rapelled, and floated down from the walls and rushed out to skirmish with the Antmite General. He was used to such tactics even if they were on a lesser scale. Fighting armies upon armies of ants, termites, bees, and wasps were the crucibles in which he had been forged. So he met the charge with consummate ease.
"They are organized into a wide formation, warriors at the front with missile launchers in the middle and a cadre of magic users forming a solid backtroop."
He noted as he began ordering about Units to get into position. Suicidal charges were not new to him, he had seen lone ants charge into massive spiders and stinkbugs, only to die in moments. Yet seeing sapient beings charge with fifty people to their name against a force of thousands, it almost gave Antmite General pause before he began ordering his Units.
Stolen novel; please report.
Soldiers lined up to form a solid defensive wall that would keep the siege camps safe, Workers and Spiderling Engineers retreated to the safety tunnels being dug in the back and Fungal Zombies came out in clusters, each surrounding a Swarm Champion. Antmite General was careful in making sure that none of his forces were within range of the bowmen on the walls.
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It was terrifying to behold, the seemingly disorganized horde of monsters moved practically of one mind to line up like an expert army in the face of the incoming attack. Horrific metallic bugs formed lines of heavy infantry, sickly looking animal thralls moved out to the sides to form the flanks...and then came the human puppets. Hundreds of twisted people walked, crawled, and dragged themselves along the ground out to meet the charge.
Like undead, but somehow worse as layers of mold and fungi grew out of the pallid flesh of the adventurers, thin lines of metal covered their veins and many had lost their hair and were tracing filth with them with each step. Clothes hang of them in putrid rags, and yet despite this they had none of the usual effects of the undead. No death energy or any of the other telltale signs. Children walked with adults, elders and even newborn babes were moving with the incoming horde.
"Morale Attack succcesful, use ranged attacks and order sprint."
Antmite General carefully observed the faces of the Adventurers using his spy-birds in the sky to gauge their reactions as the charge reached the endstage.
As one every single combat Unit within range of the Adventurers unleashed their innate range attacks as one. Chitin spikes and toxic slime was unleashed in a veritable torrent. First, came the golden shield, a circular barrier of faith covering the fifty warriors as they stopped to brace for the impact. Blasts of magic followed as the Adventurers used every trick in their arsenal to divert the barrage. Layers of iron shields spontaneously manifested in the air to form a wall, gouts of flame evaporated toxic slime, one warrior became like a magnet for several of the projectiles, and more came out to render the initial volley mostly ineffective.
The chokespores rained down from the sky as a reply as hundreds of thousands of bees and wasps let the spores out on the order of the General. Like a bizarre and yet deadly snowfall the spores hit the Adventurers from above just as they finished holding off the initial volley. Yet with each breath an accompanying silver light flared up around each Adventurer.
"Curious...they seem...prepared. Sprint"
Antmite General ordered the human puppets to race forwards and what they had been hiding stood up, as four gargantuan Swarm Champions appeared from where they had been covered by the mass of Fungal Zombies. The natural ability of Swarm Champions to boost the combat effectiveness and morale of Fungal Zombies, turned out to have been an innate aura-ability of some kind. Nothing overly strong by itself, but with the new Enhanced Aura trait their effectiveness had been boosted considerably.
With their gigantic leaders of muscle, metal, and fungi buffeting them. The Fungal Zombies that had been programmed to act like the idea of regular zombies, rushed into the frontline fighters like a ravenous pack of wild boars. Armor met naked flesh as the two sides fought, and to the surprise of Antmite General the three hundred Fungal Zombies were quickly dispatched.
It was not completely onesided, but the test attackers fell to the exotic fighting styles of the Adventurers who seemed far above the ones that the Swarm had encountered previously. Far above, but not to the degree that he considered failure.
After the human Fungal Zombies were dispatched, the impromptu battle became a series of prodding skirmishes as the General tested the capabilities of his foes rather than trying to crush them with sheer numbers. He canceled out artillery spells being slung at his troops and sent quick Soldiers and Fungal Zombies to press the attackers. They moved far more quickly than any human should have had the right to, they had charged at normal speeds but fought like darting cheetahs. Even the heavily armored ones were moving at unmatched speeds.
The Ant Termite General watched and learned what it meant to fight seasoned Adventurers. Knowledge was important, Mar had always made that clear and each battle was carefully catalogued for the experience they would give him. He suspected that his junior Collective Advent...Waverly would be more suited to organizing a strike against such a foe. But he was not without experience. And he had seen enough.
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"They are testing us."
Holgrim, the Jade Sword of Argoush remarked frustration radiating from his thoughts, through the telepathic link as they fought against the skirmishing monsters. The battle had been with frustratingly few casualties, the purpose of the charge had been to test and disrupt the monster horde before they could fully establish a siege. Then retreating after unleashing the devastation. What had instead happened was that the ten elite adventuring teams had been caught up in a running battle where all of their major attacks were countered and the monsters rudely did not bunch up to be slaughtered.
Some kind of mysterious force kept stopping magical attacks or as the various magic users had remarked. "Smashed through their spells like a sledgehammer crushing stone."
Only the former human abominations had been slain in any kind of number, and once that had happened the waiting army had switched tactics to constantly prod and test the Adventurers but without giving them a real chance for a good fight. Three humanoid shaped draped in dark cloaks stepped out from the siege camp, moving eerily like people the Adventurers saw them coming at them as the chitinous attackers retreated. With them came an enormous boar with skin like stone, a medium level monster known as a mountain-skin boar.
Then it charged with a speed matching the blessed adventurers and smashed into the center of the formation...and exploded sending them all flying as chunks of stone, bone, and flesh hit them along with the explosive force.