Sun Li felt as though he were seeing the start of something great, something he couldn’t imagine where it was going to go.
He ducked as he passed from one bunker to the next.
“What is that?” one of the sentry teams said as they looked out from the bunker over their heavy repeater position.
“It’s moving—a group of people?” the other asked.
Sun Li went up to their position.
“Sarge,” one said in greeting.
“As you were,” Sun Li said. He used a new spell, enhancing his vision and making it easy to see through the dim dusk light.
He could see the group of tired travelers coming out of the forest from the west. “Looks like refugees from the west. Seems we’re going to have a few late-night arrivals. Send word to the reserve force. We’ll need their help to process everyone into the city. Must be a few thousand of them.”
One of them started to pass a message back through command via sound transmission.
Sun Li was about to head off and gather some soldiers up to help with processing them all. With fifty or so trained military personnel and over two hundred being trained, there was only twenty or so trained military personnel within Vuzgal.
They were spread thin. Thankfully, with the undead knights and mages, they had an extra five thousand.
The associations took off some of the stress with their presence and the guards who were there to defend the associations’ interests. They wandered the short wall instead of the bunker system.
Fat chance that they’ll help. Unless it is a threat to their associations, they won’t step out.
Sun Li didn’t hate them for it; he understood their position. They had their own orders and priorities. We need more damn soldiers. Wait, was that a flash?
He looked over to the group coming along the road. He saw more flashes as people started to run.
Instinctively, he knew that they were being attacked.
“Someone wants to start fighting outside our gates?” Private Lee said, his voice heated.
“Sound the alert.” Sun Li raised his sound transmission device to his lips. “Lieutenant Yui, this is Sergeant Sun Li. Message, over.”
“Listening. Go on,” Yui said back.
They still didn’t have radio procedure down completely.
“There is a group of people coming down the western road. They entered the open area in front of Vuzgal. It looks like they are being attacked from the rear. The group is now fleeing across the open fields and down the road. What are your orders?”
“Are they within our borders?” Yui asked.
“Yes, sir,” Sun Li said.
Sun Li found himself connected into a command channel.
“I am deploying flying undead to survey the area and give us updates on the battlefield and be ready to engage the enemy at long range. Sergeant Sun Li, you are to take a rifle squad and mount up with mounted undead knights to engage those who are fighting within our lands. Understood?”
“Understood, sir!”
“Sergeant Hall, you will coordinate with the front lines and provide mortar support. If they start running, I want you to chase them right off our road with your mortars. Sergeant Acosta, move to the front lines to take over the management of our line defenses. All other sergeants are to ready their forces to move if necessary. Understood?”
“Understood!” They chorused back.
“Get to work.” Lieutenant Yui closed the channel as Sun Li opened another to his squad.
“All right, ladies and gents, form up at the main gate. We have a mission.”
He ran through the bunkers. Skeletons that had been working across the city stopped what they were doing and gathered into formations. Those at the walls readied the ballistas they were manning, and scanned the area, looking for threats and acting as sentries that would cut down anything that moved.
Sun Li left the bunker system, running through a trench and up into the dusk.
He opened his beast storage device. His panther appeared and he jumped onto her. He hooked his feet into his stirrups and checked the repeater mounted on her back. He pulled back the dual cocking mechanism, loading the dual heavy repeaters.
He saw the rest of his squad streaming in from their positions, riding their panthers through the streets. People rushed to clear a path as they thundered past. Those who didn’t move fast enough, the panthers would jump over, or jump on the walls, leaving marks behind as they rushed forward with their grim-faced riders.
Sun Li looked up as aerial mages shot overhead, gathering mana as they cut across the skies and looked down at the fighting.
From the bunkers and in the city, beasts of all kinds made up of bones appeared, draped in armor. Atop, knights rode; they fell into columns, streaming together as they reached the gates, which were being opened by two massive death knights.
“Corporal Stenbock, is everyone here?” Sun Li asked.
“Just waiting on Webb and Shao. They were posted the farthest away,” Stenbock snapped off as her panther pawed the ground.
“Okay, everyone listen up! Make sure that Webb and Shao hear this too!” He raised his voice so that they could all hear him.
“There is a group of people coming from the west road—look like civilians, cannot confirm if they are or not. For some reason, it looks like they were attacked from behind. We do not know if either of these forces are friendly or if this is some kind of ruse. Do not trust anyone other than our people. We have mortar support if we require it. If something feels off, let me know. Stay with your fire team. Make sure you are partnered up! Our objective is to make the two forces disengage from one another. Objectives may change on the battlefield, so listen for new orders. Once we have separated the two forces, then it will be our job to contain and process them if need be, or engage them if they have hostile intent. Understood?”
“Understood!” they replied.
“Good!” Sun Li saw Webb and Shao rounding the corner. He gestured Corporal Stenbock at them. She moved over to them as they started to go through the gates, rows of the undead moving with them in formation.
***
Hiao Xen had invited the leaders and people of high standing and power from Vuzgal to meet and join him on the tenth level, allowing them to talk to one another easily.
The lights in the auction house dimmed. Hiao Xen looked down on the stage. Everyone moved to their seats as the auctioneer, an older man with a refined bearing, stepped onto the stage.
“Hello, everyone, and welcome to the first auction hosted by the Blue Lotus in Vuzgal. Today we have brought out some of the finest items I have laid eyes on to commemorate the event!”
People clapped, their eyes glowing as the older man smiled calmly.
“We shall start with the first item!”
A cart was rolled out onto the stage as Hiao Xen got a sound transmission.
Who is sending me a—
“Lieutenant Yui?” Hiao Xen asked, his brows locking together.
“There is a group of refugees headed for Vuzgal. They were attacked as they entered the area outside of Vuzgal. Sergeant Sun Li is leading his rifle squad and supporting mounted undead to sort out the situation and if needed, render support,” Yui reported.
Hiao Xen wanted to say something to dissuade him. After all, they were the guarding force of Vuzgal; if they got into a fight to look after some refugees, then people might look on them badly. Though he also knew that although Yui was technically under his command, on something like this, Erik and Rugrat would back him fully.
“Let me know if I can be of any help,” Hiao Xen said.
“Will do. Yui out.”
We can spin it to show our strength and show that no one is allowed to fight on our land without our say-so. That way, people won’t think we’re soft. I will have to look into the refugees. We can’t take in people who aren’t willing to do any work when there are people trying to enter Vuzgal paying tens of Earth mana stones. Though it could help with the re
cruiting work if people who are looked down on by other groups come to Vuzgal to do our tests. I should think about putting up testing centers in other cities—maybe talk to the associations about it?
The Fourth Realm was a violent place. Even knowing that there was a fight going on outside of the city, Hiao Xen had confidence in the Alva Army to protect the city, so he dismissed it from his mind. That was Yui’s area of expertise; his was completing the tasks he had been given by Erik and Rugrat.
***
Bai Ping let out a yell, sidestepping a fellow guard to land a hit on the rider’s beast.
The beast let out a pained cry and tilted away from the attack. Its rider swung their spear, striking the other guard and sending them flying to the side as their mount plowed into another guard, who let out a scream as they rushed on by.
Bai Ping didn’t have time to look as he hacked at another mounted rider and hit them. The power from their charge turned his sword, making him grunt in pain as his shoulder informed him it was no longer located in his socket.
“You have entered the territory of Vuzgal. Place down your weapons or you will be fired upon. You have ten seconds to comply!” A man’s voice cracked through the air.
Bai Ping turned and looked where it had come from. He saw an army from hell. Undead riders with their glowing eyes rushed down the road and came out across the plains to encircle the civilians who had fled, as well as the attackers.
Do they think that we are trying to attack them? Bai Ping thought in fear.
The commander of the attacking mounted forces altered their direction, moving to clash with the undead.
“Anyone who dares to interfere will be destroyed!” the commander yelled back. As his people formed up and charged forward, Bai Ping’s heart dropped.
He knew just how strong that army was. They had gone through the shield and spear guards that made the rear guard without pausing, killing guards with a flash of a blade or the jab of a spear.
Bai Ping and his guards had maybe killed ten of the mounted attackers; they had killed nearly fifty guards, killing civilians as if they were annoying flies.
They don’t see us as a threat. If they can finish off the Vuzgal force, then they can kill us without issue.
“Time’s up.” The Vuzgal commander’s voice was emotionless and there was a noise from above.
Bai Ping looked up to see undead mounts coming from the sky. Mages, who had prepared spells already, released them upon the charging attackers. The road was turned into a hell.
Meteors formed and shot into the attackers, exploding into flames and rocks. Shards of ice rained down. Lightning moved like a snake through the clouds above, causing the road to explode. In seconds, the organized group of attackers was in chaos.
Smoke covered the battlefield as the spells reaped lives. The attackers diverted, trying to spread into the woods to the north and the open ground to the south to get off the road.
The formation of undead had opened up at some point and a force on panthers was revealed. Bai Ping could see it as he was on the side of the road, but those on the road couldn’t see the force.
Bai Ping’s stomach dropped at the smooth flow of movements and organization as weapons on top of the panthers fired again and again. Large bolts shot into the clearing smoke, cutting down mounted attackers.
The smoke cleared as the Vuzgal mounted forces, human and undead, cut through the mounted attackers. As the smoke cleared and they were being torn apart by the Vuzgal guards, the attackers had lost all of their morale and now turned and ran as fast as they could, looking to escape.
They rushed down the road, avoiding everyone. Bai Ping saw the fear in their eyes, a complete change from the disdain and confidence they had when cutting through his group.
“Put your weapons on the ground and wait to be seen to. Emergency medical aid will be provided. Again, put down your weapons or we’ll take off the limb holding it,” the man said.
Bai Ping looked to the other guards, all of them silently asking him what to do.
He tossed his blade on the ground.
They gritted their teeth and did the same.
Now we just see what the people of Vuzgal are like.
They were separated into groups. There were people among the army who used different healing spells and items they had to put the wounded together and patch them up.
The smaller cities wouldn’t be willing to try to heal them, only move them to the side of the road so they didn’t clog it up.
Skeletons acted as guards, each of them standing like statues. But when given orders by the Alva Army, they moved to obey.
They cleared the battlefield and started to work on the road. Some dug dirt; others packed it down.
The army moved systematically, dealing with the wounded first as another group interviewed the refugees according to what they wanted to do. They were given different passes accordingly.
The wounded were all stabilized, with even those who were on death’s door recovering. Still, there were nearly a thousand people who had been killed by the riders.
“Bai Ping?” a woman asked, looking at the group of people that Bai Ping was part of.
Bai Ping’s stomach tightened but he stood up, the guards looking over as the woman checked the sheet of information that she had.
“Follow me,” she said.
He did so, reaching a man who sat on a chair. A large panther lay down lazily behind him.
He petted the panther, which cracked an eyelid to look at Bai Ping before closing it again, looking at something more interesting in the forest.
The man pulled out a chair and put it on the ground. “Thanks, Corporal,” the man said.
“Sir,” the corporal said and left.
The man waved to the chair.
That voice—is he the leader of this group? The one who was yelling at the riders?
“Bai Ping.” The man looked him over.
Bai Ping didn’t feel as though there was much of an age difference between them, but something about the movements of the other man, something in his eyes added years to him and made Bai Ping think that he was a dangerous man to cross.
“Your city destroyed, family broken, you took three days to collect people from the city, gathering fourteen thousand people and struck out for Vuzgal. Nearly two weeks of hard marching, with everyone a low level and the weakest of those in the Fourth Realm, many of which who aren’t even level thirty, but were stuck in this realm because of their birth.” The commander let out a mirthless laugh.
“You know, in the lower realms, everyone thinks that being born in a higher realm gives everyone an unfair advantage. They forget the part where everyone is born at level one. That, yes, in the higher realms it is easier to get more resources and that the higher mana will make one’s body a bit stronger. It also means that more children die who are not from the groups that have the resources, the mana and the environment so harsh that they can’t survive for more than a few years. First Realm or the Fourth, you need resources in order to get stronger. Few of the people in your city had enough money to get enough Stamina concoctions or ingredients. Even if they wanted to, how could they descend to the lower realms to live a comfortable life?” The man let out a sigh and sat forward, shifting his armor around without conscious thought.
“My name is Sergeant Sun Li. I would like to offer you a job.”
Bai Ping choked up as he nodded, unable to speak. He had seen the might of the man on the battlefield.
“Join the Vuzgal army. Training will take three months, but you’ll be well cared for, with food and shelter. We’re looking for more recruits right now,” Sun Li said.
“Why?” Bai Ping choked out.
“Why? Good question. Mostly because it takes balls to do what you did. You could have left everyone behind but you didn’t. I don’t care about your strength or your ability. That can be learned or increased with time. What matters is character. You seem like the kind of person who has the right stuff. Vuzga
l might be the chance that you all need. We are recruiting people to be taught all of the crafting professions, the military, administration, and countless other jobs needed to run the city.”
“Wouldn’t we bring shame with how weak we are?” Bai Ping asked.
Sun Li smiled and then started to laugh before he snorted and fell into a sigh.
Bai Ping didn’t know how to react and just sat there, his anxiety growing, thinking he had pissed off Sergeant Sun Li.
“There was a time that I was weaker, much weaker than you are now. Levels, cultivation—they take work, but with the army, you at least have a guide and information on how to increase both.”
Bai Ping sunk into thought as Sun Li pulled out a piece of paper, a contract.
On it were terms listed for joining the Vuzgal army.
“Think it over,” Sun Li said.
Bai Ping took this as his dismissal. He bowed to Sergeant Sun Li and then headed back to the group of people he was with.
He shared what he knew as group by group went to the border officers, a strange group of people who asked what they were doing, where they were staying and so on. There were also recruiters. These people worked to find them a job suitable for those who were interested.
Bai Ping stood in front of one of the recruiters and passed them the contract Sergeant Sun Li had passed him, with his sign on it.
“You’ll report to Barracks E for testing. Here is a tag for the apartment you will be allowed to use. While you are training, your family can use this. If you fail out of training, then the premises are to be cleared out in forty-eight hours.” The recruiter pulled out pieces of paper and information.
“Understood,” Bai Ping said.
“Good luck,” the recruiter said with meaning, passing him the papers. “Next!”
Chapter: Adjusting to New Roles
Lord Aditya looked over Vermire. It had never been more prosperous. I’ve never been so at ease. Even if someone was to challenge us, I find it hard to understand how we would lose. We used to accept all the people who came to our outpost; now we can pick them and are removing the cancers in the outpost. The people are stronger than ever. With the best of the new people being sent to Alva, then the power backing us only grows.
The Fifth Realm Page 11
