“I don’t much like them covering our beautiful fields. Grass needs blood to grow and these fuckers are smart. Been testing us for weeks now. Last area is Scarecrow’s Hill. There was a going out of business sale with concertina wire phosphorus metal and some dangerously unstable explosives from the alchemy department, so we thought we’d make an art installation. Even if they destroy the spells, they won’t stop the alchemy.
“Wire runs through the entire area, added in pitfalls and trenches, layered with traps, explosives. We let the squads go wild with their imaginations and they did not disappoint. That is the situation beyond the wall. Inside…” Domonos tapped ahead of the castle complex.
“Association’s Circle hasn’t gone anywhere; they’re sitting up on their roofs and watching the show. We have limited their movements in the city and closed off the dungeons as we’re using them ourselves for power generation and management. Workshops, Battle Arena, fields in the valley, they have access. Everything else is us.”
“Bunkers?” Erik asked.
“We’ve added some new ones, but no real change in their placement. Machine gun nests are focused on the leading edge and dotted around the place. Mortars and cannons make up the second line and are the first line on the valley flanks. Heavy artillery cannons are in the rear. We’ve not been using spells, just weapon systems at this time, with the exception of the regular cannons. We are set to tier two weapons, use of mortars and explosives. The air force’s bombs, stack and interlocking formations are allowed. No rifles or machine guns.
“We have also been limiting the weapons we use,” Rugrat said.
“Yes, one hundred cannons and twenty mortars. We use the same ones so they don’t know what the other bunkers house. We haven’t been using the repeaters either. That used to be over half of our cannons and mortars. With the reserves, we have seven hundred manned cannons and two hundred mortars.”
“So, what do you need from us?” Erik asked.
“You and Rugrat are our nukes. The teams are our quick reaction force. Now we’ll have two teams always close to the frontline. We’ll put you in these towers, nineteen one-one and twenty-two eleven, just back from the front. CPD is an immediate quick reaction. Anything happens they can’t handle, it’s over to you. Also, you’ll have aerial mounts and undead support. Erik and Rugrat, one of you will be on the line and the other at the rear doing whatever you want with the two other special teams. Just be close to the castle compound if needed.”
“Got it.” Erik nodded, looking at Niemm and Storbon, who nodded as well.
“Our mission is to hold. Once the Second Division of reservists are trained, they will move to support us under the Tiger Regiment. The teleportation formations have lain dormant, and we intend to use them to our advantage. We will hit them from the rear, smash their camps and force them into the open. Then we’ll hammer them with all we’ve got and drive them off. We don’t need to defeat the Willful Institute here. We just need to break their alliance. Without it, they won’t have supply routes and they won’t have the extra bodies.”
Domonos looked at the men and women of the special teams. “You will all be part of that assault. This is no First Realm skirmish. These people are strong, and they have plenty of their own tricks. Do not underestimate them or they will give you a bloody nose. Expect them to be as strong as you, if not stronger. We’ve had a lot of cultivation training and gained a lot of levels. It does not make you gods. We’re only in the Fourth Realm. There are six more realms above us. Understood?”
“Sir.” Everyone responded.
“Good. All right, that is all I have for you. Lieutenant Colonel Zukal should have given you a rotation schedule?”
He looked around as Roska held up her hand with a list.
“Good, and welcome to Vuzgal, ladies and gentlemen.” He nodded to them and headed out of the room to the command center.
“Okay, listen up,” Roska said. “We’ll be operating in duos. Team one and team three will be working together, as well as two and four. Change up our dance partners. We will switch each rotation between the towers so we know the layout of everything. Don’t want to have to figure shit out in the middle of a fight. We’ve all been here before. Team leads on me. Rest of you, get your gear stowed. Teams One and Three, we will be heading out to the front towers tonight, so three hours to relieve Team Two, which is on watch right now.”
The teams dispersed as Erik and Rugrat waited with the other team leaders.
“I heard that both of the lords are here now!” Acosta heard one of her corporals saying to his friends as she passed him on the way to the leadership tables.
She nodded to a few leaders and sat down opposite Meehan, who was reading a book as he ate.
His eyes flicked up with a grunt as he kept eating. “You hear about the First Realm?”
“There anything else anyone is talking about?” Acosta said.
“Nope.”
“Yeah, I heard. Three hundred and seventy-five thousand massive fricking army steam-rolled. Lost twenty percent to the fighting or wounds, another fifteen percent lamed unless they get treated. Rest of them hit with poison to stop them.”
“Better they use the poisons than fight them on the roads.”
“A mercy to some.” Lieutenant Meehan shrugged, throwing more food back.
“You think it’s wrong?” Acosta asked.
“Do you?”
“Doesn’t sit well with me. I understand it, but...”
“But we’re stronger than them. We could’ve subdued them. Act like the adults and they’re the children?” Meehan snorted. “They came to kill our people and steal our shit. We used poison and a lot of them died. But shit, if we fought them straight up, we’d have killed a lot more. Saved more than we killed, and they’re the fucking enemy. They tried to go toe to toe. The Beast Mountain Army put them in their place.”
“You hear that people think Erik is going to cook up some new poison here?”
“I doubt it. Down there, it might work. There are few people that know about poisons. Up here, people are poisoning one another all the time and alchemists make a lot of money from poisons. They know the lord is an alchemist; we have an academy full of them.”
“Yeah.” Acosta took a bite of her meal.
“Bets are going around about seeing the lords fight.” Meehan grinned.
“One another?”
“No, course not. Why’d they do that?”
“They need to spar sometimes. Not many others they can fight with safely.”
“Didn’t think of that. But no, the bet is if they’ll get a chance to fight against the pricks outside our walls.” Meehan tossed his head in its direction, grabbing more food.
Acosta finished what she was chewing on. “I don’t think they can get the lords to go full power. We’re not even using all of our weapons right now and we’re still at level two.”
A siren went off. People stood up and started running for the doors.
“Fuck, I just sat down!” Acosta shovelled a few more mouthfuls down. Meehan did the same, marking his page in his book and tucking it into a cargo pocket as they ran with their mouths full.
“Probably just another tester attack.”
People pulled on their combat gear as they used the teleportation formations to shoot off across Vuzgal to their stand-to positions.
“Maybe, never know which one will be real!”
Erik and Special Team Three were on watch when the attack started.
“They used to come in from all different directions. Now they group up and drive through the soup in one direction. Takes them longer, but they can clear an entire path. They think they’re out of the range of our guns,” Gong Jin informed them.
“What will they do once they reach Deadman’s fields?”
“Spread out along the trenches and start making their bridges. The more spread out they are, the harder it is for us to crack their individual barriers and get the people underneath.”
“Looks like they’re getting smarter,” Gong Jin muttered.
“How so?”
“See those people at the end wandering along the hardened earth?”
“Yeah?”
“They must be looking for new spell traps and maintaining their passage.”
“Give them a route to retreat or push supplies up through.” Erik held his chin watching the slow work of the two sects.
“If it turns into anything, let me know.” Gong Jin turned back and headed for the rest of the special teams who were sitting around finding something to do with their time.
51
Ripples
“Those idiots.” Mercy tossed the scroll to Niklaus.
Niklaus raised an eyebrow in question and read the scroll.
He shook his head, and read from the scroll.
“Idiots! Spineless idiots!” Mercy put one leg over the other in frustration. “The kingdoms were useless. They couldn’t even take an outpost! At least we found out how useless they were before any of them joined our ranks! Can you imagine what would have happened?”
“What do you want me to do?” Niklaus asked.
“Focus on the campaigns here. It looks like the Silaz family was close to Chonglu. They lived in his city. They could be the ones that protected his life, seeing as they were able to ascend and gain power. The secrets are hidden in Vuzgal. Once Marco can crack the city, we’ll find out just what they’re hiding. We need to take as many cities as possible before we are told to go to the First Realm again. When we do, I want to make sure that no damn sickness takes out our army.”
“Yes, Mercy.”
“Niklaus, capture this city quickly. The faster we move, the better.”
“Yes, My Lady.” Niklaus bowed. His eyes flickered to the two men behind Mercy that she had tamed.
He walked out of the tent.
Through the flap, Mercy saw siege weapons attacking the grand city’s walls, its barrier looking shaken and weak. Spells and cannon fire flew overhead into the defenses while they, in turn, fired back at the encroaching armies.
This is only our third city. There are still many more to capture.
Esther found her uncle sitting in his workshop, looking at the flintlock. This one didn’t have the formations and carvings. It was worn, tired, and old. The treated wood had been rubbed smooth over time.
Was that the one her uncle had entered the Ten Realms with?
“Come to sneak into my workshop again, Little One?” Edmond Dujardin didn’t miss a beat as he used oil to lubricate the weapon, working the action.
“I didn’t want to interrupt you, Uncle.”
Edmond turned around with a light smile on his lips. “What new information do you have for me?”
“You are invited to an auction of rare goods by the Blue Lotus. The Alchemist Association wants to talk about the ingredient order you put in, and one of the younger generations of the Raj family was dishonored in a match.”
“Which Raj?”
“Talem.”
“That boy needs to learn some manners. Are they doing anything about it?”
“They are preparing to offer a challenge to the family that beat him.”
“The opponent’s family?”
“The young man’s family is from the lower realms and do not have much. Their son has great ability.”
Edmond’s gaze tightened. “Tell the Raj family this will be a good lesson for their son, and I will not let them kill people just because they’re embarrassed.”
“Yes, Uncle.” Esther paused. “Vuzgal has held their position. We do not know what they are doing within the city, but powerful fighters from the Sixth Realm have attacked them repeatedly to test their defenses. They have been rebutted with heavy casualties every time.”
“Interesting. What do you think? You went to the city.”
“It was an interesting place. I did not think they would last long against a force so powerful.”
Edmond played with his thin, but well-maintained, moustache. “If we send aid, then we show our hand. We would need assurances from Vuzgal.” He paused. “Have the Associations started to mediate?”
“They have, but it fell apart almost immediately. The lord of Vuzgal sent a message to the attacking commander that upset him.”
“Idiots and their pride.” Edmond sighed.
52
Feint
“Here they come,” Gong Jin announced.
A flash of a half-formed spell appeared in front of the enemy formation.
He and Erik were in their defensive tower, back from the front lines. Erik used binos to study the enemy. Flags depicted different factions in each sect as Fighters from different camps formed up beyond the gates, on their march toward Vuzgal.
Rain and lightning covered their path. The enemy mana barriers flared when lightning struck. The rain couldn’t be stopped. Fighters hunkered down against the constant deluge, soaked to the bone in minutes. Mages hardened the ground and searched for spell traps.
The flash had been them destroying a spell trap.
“They look pleased.” Erik chuckled.
“Their barriers will probably hold up, but it’ll take some time for them to get across.” Gong Jin slumped into a chair and yawned.
Erik watched, studying them wandering around. It took nearly three hours before the enemy showed any signs of speeding up.
They reached Deadman’s fields and spread out as fast as possible.
Cannons fired.
Fuck, that’s a lot of firepower.
They lit up the main mana barrier and new ones popped up as groups activated their own.
Bridges extended over the trenches as mortars landed. They struck the leading edge of the barriers like rain on an umbrella.
The approaching sects worked quickly, extending their bridges and testing them before they pushed up. Remaining under their barriers, their bridges quickly progressed.
“I think they’ll make it to Scarecrow,” Erik said.
“They must be using those strong barriers again. Shit burns through mana stones like water in the desert. Thank you for your mana stones!”
Erik snorted and shook his head, watching the fighting.
“Why don’t they use magic on Deadman’s? Long range?”
“The mana gathering formations would literally eat the spell apart.” Gong Jin shrugged.
Erik let out a low whistle, watching the enemy’s advance over the bridges. A barrier went out, the attacks landing among the bridges, sending dozens down into the sharpened stone lining the walls and bottom of the pit.
They crossed their bridges, using a patchwork of different methods.
The barrier reached the edge of Deadman’s as a group of fighters reached the barbed wire extravaganza.
Mortars struck among the barbed wire. The leading fighters were cut down in a hail of shrapnel. The barrier pulled back, no longer touching Scarecrow Hill’s boundary.
“What the hell?
“Barbed wire fucks with the barrier, leaves gaps in it. Can’t get full coverage. You need somewhat flat ground and no obstacles for a barrier to work correctly. Great for defense, but shitty for offense.”
“And the barbed wire is still there. Shit, I can’t even imagine how much hell that must’ve been in World War One.”
“The one with trenches, right?” Gong Jin asked.
“Yeah, sorry. Earth references.”
“No worries, man. I’ve already pulled some info out of you Earthers. World War One was where people were fighting one another from trenches. They had artillery, rifles, the first machine guns. Barbed wire was used all over the place.”
“Yeah, and tens of thousands died in a day because, to take the other guy’s trench, you had to run across the open ground, then jump into the opposite trench and kill them.”
“Not too different here, but we’ve got barriers,” Gong Jin said.
“Yeah, and they keep on throwing the people at us.”
“And we keep
sending bodies back.”
People at the edge of Deadman’s used spells against the barbed wire. Explosions tore through the area. Sometimes, entire sections of barbed wire went up. Sections were inert so the whole area wouldn’t go up in one shot.
Sometimes they’d advance only to have the remnants of the obstacles explode. It was impossible to destroy it completely.
“They’re not using their spells on the stone and metal anymore,” Erik said.
Erik held out his binos as Gong Jin turned around. “Thank you.” He looked at the fields.
“Well, they’re not as stupid as they look. Shit. They can stay protected under their barrier, pushing forward slowly, and have mages and spell scrolls cut into our defenses. Be slow work and costs a lot,” Gong Jin spat and passed Erik the binos again.
Erik watched the mages working together to figure out the best system to overcome the defenses. Runners grabbed sliced concertina wire using their storage rings.
A trap went off inside the barrier under a group of mages, taking out the bridge they were on. The others behind them yelled as they dropped to the spikes below.
“What was that about spell traps on the bits of ground that remain in Deadman’s?” Erik asked.
“The Colonel has a plan for that. He wants to put traps up that will only activate if a person goes over them. That way, if someone runs over on a bridge, suddenly the bridge and the people on it aren’t our problem anymore. He’s holding it as a trump card.”
“I’m hoping we can use them sometime, but shit is seriously fucked up if we have to,” Erik said.
“Like if they let you fight?” Gong Jin smiled.
Erik shrugged. “Not like you aren’t eager to get in on the action. Now we’re all a quick reaction force. Not even in the rotation on the cannons.”
“I’m working on my euchre game.”
The two of them snorted.
“You any good?”
“Nah, absolute shit.”
Seventh Realm Part 1: A LitRPG Fantasy series (The Ten Realms Book 8) Page 59
