Transcendence?

by Andur

  Finally our attack run ends and we leave the enemy fleet behind us. I still see fireballs rising from the lifting fogbank. But there is no way to tell on the effectiveness of our attack until the fog is completely gone.

  So I turn and walk back inside the command room. The officers are busy with getting information from our other ships while the captain is bent over his tactical map.

  “How was it.” I walk closer and take a look at his notes.

  “One of our ships reported that they flew directly into a group of those fireballs. Their barriers broke and they have a huge hole in their hull. Luckily it isn't something which is threatening their ability to fly. But their barrier was overloaded and fried all runes at the front of their ship. We can't take them on another run like this.” The captain grimaces as he ticks off one ship from his inventory of usable pieces.

  I nod and smile. This guy has a high position and a smart head, but he still needs to get used to real war. This shows that my military consists of people who are new to the business. Welcome to reality. “This sounds good. We flew just a hundred metres over their heads and got just one of our ships damaged. If you take into account that they have twice our numbers, we got out of this unbelievably well.”

  He thinks for a second and nods. “You are right. Mourning over a damaged ship isn't right if we don't know what we did to the enemy.”

  I smile ferociously and wait together with the others for my fog spell to lift completely. A few minutes later we are sure of the situation.

  One of our ships got heavily damaged, but in return eight enemy ships are completely gone. Three are drifting in the sea while lying on their side. They will probably sink in time.

  It can be seen as a good result, but I had hoped for much more. We are seriously short on mana bombs. Each of our ships carries just about ten to fifteen of them. We left our harbour with a hundred and fifty six bombs and invested forty six bombs in this attack.

  “If we do this two more times, we could defeat them at low risk.” I start talking to myself.

  “But then we would have used up most of our bombs. There would be nothing left for the army from Mislow.” One of the officers voices the downside to this course of action.

  “There is still another possibility of defeating them at low risk.” I look at the ceiling. “But it will take us some time. We could pound them with railguns from afar. Slowly and carefully. Just one shot every ten minutes. Day and night until their shields fail.”

  “You want to utilize the weakness of fuelling their barriers with their own powers instead of a core. If we don't let them sleep, we should get through at some point. They can't stay awake forever.” One of the technicians muses over the possibility.

  “Can't they rotate with staying awake to power their barrier?” The captain looks a little confused.

  “If they are using barriers which are similar to the ones from the Phenex ships, then they can't. Their barrier spell provides automatic protection in a perfect sphere. That's extremely power consuming and they have no cores. Most of them will have to be awake to fuel the barrier. And we have just proven that their barriers are even stronger than the ones from Phenex. They have higher magical abilities, I guess they weren't economical in using their power.” I explain the situation further. “I expected more damage, so that means that their barriers are even stronger.”

  “The question to me is … has Sarn enough time to wait for us?” I look around while everyone's eyes are focused on the tactical map.

  50 - Fortified.

  Norfolk, Sarn-Valley, Southern Col

  Sera

  “He said that he would be back by now!”

  My mother is running in circles, while carrying me with her. We are at the southern col to check on the state of our defences. Although when I look at our situation, there is nothing to do.

  The enemy will have to advance on a narrow mountain road with the mountain to their left and a steep cliff to their right. The road is about ten metres wide. It is not an easy task to get fifty thousand men through such a bottleneck.

  Father was right when he said that it will be almost impossible for them to pass the col. As long as we don't lose this position, there should be no problems.

  “And why am I taking my baby with me? I seem to be a little stressed recently.” Mother continues to talk to herself.

  “You took me with you because I said that I may be able to help.” I grumble while being held like a teddy bear.

  “You are a baby, what could you know.” Celestial takes another look down the mountain. A long line of people is advancing towards us. The train of wagons, men and animals is darkening the road at the foot of the mountain. Quite impressive if you think about it. We are looking down on them from a height difference of a little more than nine hundred metres.

  “I fought a long and cruel war in my previous life. Doesn't that count?” I look up and try to get a glimpse of her face. “Playing the baby is just a temporary job of mine.”

  Celestial sighs. “There are still so many of them! They must have gathered some reinforcements from somewhere else. Like Ascathon feared.”

  “That's another point I wanted to talk about. Daddy said that I was an ~accident~ and that you planned it.” Suddenly mom's grip gets a little tighter. It seems like she knows what I am talking about.

  “… That's a matter between the two of us!” She smiles with closed eyes at the sky.

  “We still need to talk about it! But for the moment let's think how to improve our defence.” I look down at the mountain road.

  “I don't see how they intend to attack us. They will either have to climb the mountain, or use the road. We have everything covered with our railguns and if they advance too far, we can blow up the road with a mana bomb.” Celestial muses over our possibilities while looking at the array of railguns which are pointing down at the road.

  There are also about one thousand and five hundred of our soldiers up here. They are almost everything we managed to mobilize. The rest is occupied with holding positions throughout the rest of our principality.

  All of them are equipped with hand-held versions of our railguns. Ascathon hurried their production and they look very crude compared to real guns. In addition they built fortifications at our positions and enhanced them with portable devices to create barriers.

  “I guess it would be smarter to think about what our enemies are able to do, instead of being satisfied about the things they can't do. For example, they could send small teams of special forces over the cliff to attack us from behind. They don't have to fight us up front.” I look up at Celestial again. “It would be smart to use our guards to keep an eye at the mountain around us.”

  “You mean because they are werewolfs? That's right. Their good senses make them perfect scouts. Having them fight with the regular troops could be a problem, as they would get in each others way.” Celestial looks at the eighty burly men and Den.

  The captain of our guard is actually a big help in commanding our regular troops. They regard him as their highest authority because he and his men trained them.

  Celestial walks up to the big guy and informs him about our concerns. After hearing us out, Den nods and strokes his beard.

  “You have a point. That's surely something they will try. I will send forty of my men to scout the area around us. Although I strongly believe that they will go with standard battle tactics first.” He looks down at the advancing army.

  “Hoh? You have military experience? How do these battle tactics look?” Celestial asks eagerly.

  Den gathers his thoughts for a second and answers. “First they will test our abilities by sending regular troops as cannon fodder at us. If that doesn't work, they will try to add in their mages with long range attacks. And finally an all out charge at us, but I have confidence that something like that won't become a problem.”

  “That doesn't sound like battle tactics at all!” Celestial calls out in shock.

  “~♥More like t
otal disregard of human life.♥~” I can't help it and add my gibberish to the conversation.

  “It's not like they need any tactics. They should be able to run over us by using their numbers alone. But I am confident that they will fail in doing so. When I was still in the military, I discovered something which I call casualty-shock. It doesn't matter to soldiers how many people are behind them. Once they have to climb over the bodies of their fallen comrades, everyone starts to think that the other direction may be the better choice.” Den folds his hands and smiles.

  I don't know what to think. Did Den end up in a situation like that? It sounds gruesome!

  “And you think that you will be able to drive them off by inflicting so many casualties?” Celestial looks at the railguns.

  Den nods with vigour. “Of course! I had those things tested against a herd of wild animals! The impact itself isn't a problem, but it creates enough shrapnel to shred everything around. Even if they don't break and run, at some point, they will start to trip over their fallen comrades. The road isn't very wide.”

  He looks back at our camp. “I am more concerned about their mind magic. They could defeat us without our knowledge if they pull a weird trick. That's why I asked your parents to keep an eye on this position and warn us. They are mind magicians too, so I hope that they can warn us, or interfere with an attempt to manipulate us. It's sad that Celestial lost her ability for mind magic.”

  “I see. Then I guess I will have to help in another way!” Celestial turns and walk away, while carrying me with her.

  She is heading towards the medical quarters of our troops. I guess she has something in mind? “Mom? What are you planning?”

  “Nothing my dear, I will just take a look at the substances which are at my disposal.” She has a strange expression in her face.

  After a short walk, we arrive at a big tent and step inside. An elderly doctor and a few assistants are taking note of different fluids in jars. Opposed to what someone may think, this world has medicine. There isn't always a highly skilled magician around to cast healing spells.

  And only the best healers are able to cast magic which is able to deal with illnesses which are caused by germs.

  “~I need the stuff here for a while. Please wait outside.~” Celestial shoos the personnel out of the tent. Her orders are followed immediately. The people of this world are fast to follow orders if they are given by a noble.

  Celestial takes a look around and places me on the worktable. Then she starts to rummage through the bottles while sniffing and occasionally taste testing the contents. I watch her with curiosity while she sets up a big bottle on a fire and starts to pour seemingly random bottles inside it.

  I approach to take a look at the bubbling mess inside it. “That doesn't look very tasty.” I already had the chance to watch Celestial making chocolate on several occasions.

  Since then I am certain that mother must have been one of those real witches I always heard about. The bottle starts to emit a fluorescent light and mother's expression becomes a little scary.

  Yes, I can perfectly imagine her with a long nose and some warts in her face while being bent with a buckled back over her pot. She surely was one of those beings in a previous life!

  ***

  Five syringes. That's all we got from Celestial's experiment. I doubt that this will be enough to stop an army of fifty thousand. Even if it's the best poison in the world. How does she intend to administer it?

  We join Den at the pass-road again. He is still occupied with organizing the building of barricades. Celestial is playing with the syringes skilfully in one hand. I marvel at her skill.

  On the other hand, she would never play with the dangerous looking green stuff if it would really pose a threat?

  Arriving beside Den, she places me on the ground and starts to massage her shoulder. Den turns around and looks at her. “What are you intending to do?”

  “~Just administering a medicine to the enemy.~”

  She flicks her hand into the direction of the enemy army and the first syringe is gone. Number two, three, four and five follow in short order.

  “~Hopefully that takes care of most of the vermin. You should have it much easier now.~” She smiles at Den and picks me up again.

  Den arches an eyebrow and looks at the army which is coming up the pass-road. “That green stuff … was that poison!”

  “~Probably.~”

  “You can't do that! We didn't even have proper negotiations!” Den shouts outraged.

  “~I am not interested in negotiating with someone who shows up with such a big army without invitation.~”

  51 - Green Goo.

  Norfolk, Sarn-Valley, Southern Col

  Celestial

  It was already late at night when my weapon started to act. I am standing beside Den while watching the road on which the enemy is climbing up the mountain.

  Fires are lighting it and from time to time big explosions catch my eyes. We can hear cries of terror as the whole enemy army seems to be engaged in a fight for life and death.

  “They are so noisy. I don't want to imagine how loud it is down there.” I shake my head as another big explosion lights the road in the distance.

  “I originally anticipated that they would arrive in the evening. What the hell was that green poison?” Den looks at me with a doubtful expression.

  “A woman has her secrets! Wait until morning. I will go to sleep for now.” So I turn and walk back to my tent where Sera is sleeping.

  ***

  I yawn and open my eyes. It's early in the morning and there is already light outside. Probably I should check on my experiment.

  After taking a look at the sleeping Sera, I head out. Later she will meet up with my parents, so I instruct the guards in front of my tent to escort her there. I didn't bother to change into my sleeping clothes last night, because it was highly likely that we would be attacked.

  I find Den still standing at his observation spot. He has a nice view on the pass-road, so I join him and take a look at the battlefield at the foot of the mountain.

  There are craters from high class magic all over the place. The area is blackened from fire and the advancing row of enemies is pent-up. Two big green blobs are obstructing their path.

  “They already killed three blobs, but these things are though bastards. What the hell did you create!?” Den looks at me accusingly.

  “~Slimes.~”

  “Those are no slimes! They are at least thirty metres high and growing as they eat people!” Den points down at the two blobs, which are hunting the foot soldiers of our enemies. Rows of mages are casting attack magic on them.

  “Working as intended. They have high magical resistance and are almost immune to physical attacks. On top they don't know anything else but eating. So they can't be influenced by mind magic. It's the perfect weapon against Mislow! ~Hahahaha!~” I fold my arms in front of my chest and wait for praise.

  “They eat people!” Den shouts at me.

  I tilt my head. “Well, that's what they are intended to do? Once there isn't enough food in their reach, they will die. Their metabolism is very fast. So I guess the other three weren't really defeated, but didn't catch enough soldiers to eat. And why are you suddenly having moral issues with that? You werewolves tend to take a bite from assassins too.”

  Den shakes his head. “This is this and that is that! We can't do anything about our urges, but you let something like this loose!” He stabs his finger down at the two blobs.

  “It's better than poisoning the whole area. I don't want to do permanent damage to the environment. My solution is actually the most ecological one!” I smile at Den who seems to give up.

  “Whatever, you and your husband are both monsters. At least you bought us a lot of time … and reduced the enemy army.” He sighs.

  “Any idea how much damage we inflicted on them?” I look down as one of my blobs suddenly stops moving and starts to whither away. “Ah... I guess they found out that
running away does the trick.”

  “It's impossible to say. They were marching in a long column on the road. It could be anything from a few hundred to a few thousand.” Den says.

  “I could make a few more blobs. But I guess they would be seen too early during the day. The ones I threw at them yesterday had the cover of the dark to grow larger. They are very weak while they are still small.” I look at Den.

  He nods enthusiastically. “There is no need for more of those things. I am sure that we will manage to hold them off until the air fleet arrives.”

  I shrug and turn my back on the remaining blob to take a look after Sera.

  ***

  Five hours passed and the enemy is finally in range of our guns. Of course we could have shot at them earlier. But we have no explosive shells and shooting our precious ammunition without maximum effect is stupid according to Den.

  The pass-road is winding itself up the rocky mountain until it finally arrives at our plateau. We decided to start shooting at them when they reach a part of the road which is about five hundred metres under us. It's a good visible spot, so it's perfect to decide when to start shooting.

  I am just a silent watcher because I leave the management of our army to Den. But the effect of our railguns is devastating. The advancing column of enemy soldiers literally disappeared in a cloud of dust and splinters as our guns took their first shot.

  “They will bring some magicians forward to cast barriers. Otherwise it will be just target practice for us.” Den takes a look at the situation by using an orb.

  “Are you sure that we have enough ammunition for all of them? Somehow I doubt it.” I point at the big military camp which is growing at the foot of our mountain. There are so many enemies, they are using almost all available space.

  “I hope that the air fleet will arrive before we run out of ammunition. My people are trying to contact them, but they seem to be out of range of our devices. The communication equipment covers just a distance of one or two days on a horse.” Den grimaces at the inconvenience.

  I watch in silence while the advancing troops are bombarded by our railguns. After half an hour they finally get assistance by a few mages. Barriers are starting to deflect our projectiles.