They tore spell scrolls apart as if they were confetti, dropping spell traps all over the place.
“We’re next. Get ready!” Bai Ping saw the holes along the wall. The golems were doing good work, but the Willful Institute was recovering quickly, and their mages were pulling out mana stones to increase the mana density around them and enhance their spells.
The supporting attacks from the rear increased as the first and second echelon provided covering fire.
“Third echelon, pull back!”
“We’re moving!” Bai Ping grabbed his spell-casting formation. “Move it, Melinda!” he barked, seeing she was still casting spells.
She dismissed it and started to run with the others.
“Spell traps!” Bai Ping yelled as he pulled out spell scrolls. He barely peeked at where they would go before ripping them apart and followed the steps of those ahead of him.
The Willful Institute, seeing them running, charged around the remaining golems toward the wall. They threw out mana barriers wildly to cover their advance and push forward.
The first groups started to make it over the wall when spell traps were activated.
Others were close behind them. They didn’t have time to learn from their mistakes as mana pooled together into attack spells and targeted the poor bastards who had activated them.
Bai Ping and his people followed mana barrier after mana barrier.
At the rear of it all, Bai Ping waved his hand and collected the barriers or threw out attack spells to break them so that the enemy couldn’t use them.
The others did the same.
Attacks rained down on the retreating groups.
Soldiers from the Grey Peak sect, Adventurer’s Guild, and their allied groups were cut down, dropping bonelessly to the ground, leaving a sparse field of tombstones.
There was no option but to keep running.
Medics used their beast-storing crates to grab the wounded.
Bai Ping felt energy building behind him. He cast a protective spell just before a spear crashed into his back. It launched him forward into the ground.
“Team leader!” one of his people called out.
“Keep going!” Bai Ping yelled. He pushed himself up, gritting his teeth against the pain. If he hadn’t been wearing his armor, it would have done more than break his damn shoulder.
Bai Ping felt more energy gathering. He turned and raised one hand, the other limp by his side. The snow around him turned into a shield as dirt rose, creating pillars to support the shield.
A fist as big as a human formed from the sky and shot forward, leaving streaks of white in the sky. It smashed into the shield, cracking through it and the pillars he had thrown up.
Bai Ping yelled as he drew power from his body and from his mana, igniting the power in his body, creating massive momentum and force. If Erik were there, he could have seen the similarities of Bai Ping’s modified combat technique: One Finger Beats Fist.
The power around Bai Ping condensed in his finger as he shook from the power focused within his body, compressing, tightening.
The ground under his feet and around him deepened, showing the impression of a fist, and Bai Ping’s cry grew deeper. He was forced back half a step before he surged forward, his finger reaching out to touch the immense fist.
Wind shot outward so fierce that it created a white wall that no one could see through. Dust, debris, and the ground Bai Ping stood on exploded outward. A rumbling noise was met with a powerful cracking noise. A tiny line pierced up to the heavens.
A second blast went off as the mage caster, a veteran over the level sixty, coughed blood and collapsed.
A wave of force exploded outward into the sky, throwing the falling snow away.
Bai Ping ran out of the dust and debris, his eyes filled with energy. “Who told you to stop moving?” His voice was thunder in the ears of his team. They turned and ran as if a demon were on their heels.
Bai Ping had a gloomy expression on his face as he released some of the suppression on his body. His arm healed at a visible speed as he held his arm up and used Bone Fuse before opening and closing his hand.
Shit, we’re not supposed to show our actual power. We don’t want to scare them off.
He kept throwing down traps and picking up the mana-barrier formations, running up the main road that led to another gatehouse. Weapons fired over the wall and into the enemy.
“You’re the last one,” a CPD member wearing the gear of a medic had to yell to be heard as Bai Ping passed the gate before the CPD member reached out a hand.
A team from the Grey Peak sect stepped forward, grunting as they closed the gate before slotting a massive bar across it.
Bai Ping tilted his head to the side as a healer pressed her fingers to his pulse, making him pause.
Other healers were checking pulses and using spells, while alchemists passed out concoctions freely.
“Healing well.” She pulled out a small spell scroll and tore it. Bai Ping felt refreshed as the aches and pains fell away.
Mages used spells on the stone underneath the gate and the walls; they spread over the wooden gate, turning it into another fused section of the wall.
“Stamina and natural healing booster.” She clapped him on the shoulder.
“True. Thanks.” Bai Ping nodded. He wished he could have saved more people. Even if he had his full Strength unlocked, he wouldn’t have been able to reach the people caught by the wall breaches.
“The outer wall and the outer defenses have all fallen. Most people are pulling back to the mid-wall locations now.”
“What about the second part?”
“The Institute have their third group of defenders coming out still.” She paused talking as a nearby siege weapon fired down at the Institute.
She grabbed onto his back so she could keep his ear close to her mouth to hear her. “They’ve established a supply line from Sierra and Echo. They’re building up their forces. Command thinks with the next group of reinforcements they’ll keep attacking to keep pushing us.”
“Can we hold the mid-walls?”
“Don’t know. Might lose some of them. Command moved out army squads to the weaker sections of the wall and have more ready as a quick reaction force with the Grey Peak sect.”
Bai Ping shot a glance at the mana barrier covering the inner wall as it lit up with power, showing where a spell had impacted.
“Thanks for the update. I’ve got to check on my team.”
“No worries. I’ll be here if you need patching up.” She hurried off toward the medical station while he jogged over to where the rest of his team was waiting for him.
They all had contrasting looks on their faces.
Bai Ping ignored them all and pulled out a sound-canceling device. The world turned quiet, even as siege weapons just tens of meters away fired, their crews rushing around to bring the weapons back to readiness.
“Everyone good?” He looked around to see a nodding of heads. “All right, we will be assisting the mid-wall here with defense. Wait here. I need to talk to the local commander and find out where they need us.”
Noise returned, and Bai Ping jogged through the war camp behind the wall, checking his map to see where the local commander was set up.
He reached a covered tent. The sides were open; sound-canceling formations cut off the outside world. Bai Ping went over to a master sergeant.
“Sitrep?”
“Thirteen people left including me, just back from the outer wall.”
“All right, you’re Fighting Group Bravo. You move up to the wall in thirty minutes. You’ll be under the command of Captain Choi. You are squad fifteen.”
Bai Ping pulled out a pad and pencil. “Squad fifteen, command Captain Choi, Fighting Group Bravo, prep to move thirty minutes.”
“Good!”
Bai Ping moved to the side and then out of the tent, checking the notes and putting away the pad and pencil. He headed for where he had left his team.
“Send the mounted reinforcements forward. The breaches have been secured!” Elder Xiao’s orders rang in Mendes’s ears. “Now we push into Reynir!” Those in his command center rushed about to carry out his orders.
“Thanks to the covering fire of the attack camps, our people were able to get to the wall with half their number and breach several outer walls. We have the momentum. It is a matter of time until we push them to the mid-wall. We need to push everyone up to capitalize. Hold nothing back.”
“Yes, Elder Xiao,” Mendes said. His anger was dying down, giving way to a deep sense of anticipation at the thrill of winning this battle and pushing everything at Reynir.
At the rear camps, several gates opened, and mounted forces and troops rushed out, heading for the forward camps. They were like a black stream as the forward camps sent out reinforcements across the churned-up ground to support the vanguard that had pierced into Reynir.
Now they had a foothold inside the walls, they could use the full strength of the higher realm fighters and take Reynir.
Jasper was in the command center as he watched the Willful Institute’s attacks hit several outer walls and then breach them.
“The retreat is going as planned,” Storgaard said. “We have to pull out units located at the lower walls, so they won’t be hit in the rear. We’ll lose the outer defenses unless we take some drastic measures.”
“Are you not confident in our plan?”
“I wouldn’t have listened to it if I didn’t get a message from the higher realms saying to not piss you off. Though looking at things, it is shaping up nicely. The Institute is sending their reinforcements. The first group was hesitant, but they’re piling in now. The anticipation is killing me.”
“Once the fourth group of reinforcements are sent forward, we’ll strike.”
“I thought you were an administrator?”
“I am.”
“You are handling this whole war-fighting business rather well.”
“It is not the first time I have been in a fight, and luckily I have a lot of good support and allies.”
“Sir, are you sure about this?” Lieutenant Colonel Zukal broke the rules as he walked over to Domonos, who was checking the riding gear on his mount, a grizzled-looking panther wearing full armor that had been roughly painted over, making it look unlike the armor and panthers of the Alvan army.
“You will remain here and coordinate supplies and support. I need to be up there to lead our forces.”
“I knew you would say that, but I have one amendment.” Zukal waved two people forward.
“Two more babysitters?”
“Ah, come on. Still sour about me beating you that one time?” Niemm laughed.
Domonos rolled his eyes and glanced at Zukal. “Happy now?”
“Just doing my job, boss.”
“We won’t let him out of our sight,” Niemm promised. “Trust us, we trained with Erik and Rugrat.”
Domonos chuckled and checked his map. “They committed their ground troops finally.”
“Our people have just pulled back to the mid-wall,” Zukal said, half-turning.
“I won’t keep you. When I see you next, we’ll be taking Meokar!”
“Yes, sir!” Zukal turned and ran off toward their own command center with his guards in tow.
Domonos looked over the northern area of the city. He saw people peering out from within their homes and other buildings. They’d come here to escape the fighting and the attacks smashing against the mana barrier day and night.
Hidden in the squares, men and women of the Alva military and the Adventurer’s Guild waited, checking their gear, their mounts. All of them were elites from the Fourth Realm.
Domonos checked his map again, like a fortune-teller trying to read the mysteries of the world and a telepath trying to interpret just what his opponent was thinking.
At the same time, he was listening to the sound transmission channels, keeping him in the loop.
“We have pulled back all of our people to the mid-wall in sector South Five!”
“Looks like they’re going all in now,” Niemm said.
Domonos checked on the walls. The Institute worked quickly to secure their breach and pressure the mid-wall so they wouldn’t get any surprises.
Minutes crawled by as the fighting on the walls continued, and the Institute’s troops continued their onward march.
Domonos opened a sound transmission channel. “Mount up!” He jumped onto his mount, observing the courtyard he was in. Men and women with all kinds of mounts finished their preparations and got onto their beasts.
“Looks like a damn fine army,” Niemm said as they moved forward and out into the market square filled with members of the Alva army. In every road, every open space, grim-faced men and women with the Adventurer’s Guild emblem sat upon their mounts.
“Nine thousand battle-hardened adventurers who came to right a wrong and a thousand supporting members of the Alva military. The Willful Institute won’t know what hit them.”
The Institute’s troops were quickly closing the distance to the outer wall. They passed through the breaching units and moved to the front. They operated in groups, hurling out mana-barrier formations to protect their advance.
“It’s time we moved.” Domonos assessed it all. He wouldn’t get better timing. “Lieutenant Acosta, clear out those eyes for me.”
“Yes, sir.”
He used his command channel. “Zukal, we’re heading out. Be ready with support as we need it.”
“Yes, sir.”
Domonos changed channels to the mounted force. “Move out!”
Elder Xiao stood at the peak of his command center, using a spyglass to watch the advance into Reynir. The siege fire spewed out from Reynir, tearing apart the plateau and striking the Willful Institute’s barriers.
“With their walls all over the place, it makes it easier to see the battle,” an elder snorted nearby.
“It makes for a good show.” Xiao watched the black snake that pushed into the outer walls, passing through the breaches and spreading out again, reinforcing those at the front.
He could see the faces of the people on the middle walls. They activated their weapons, cast their spells, and shot their arrows, draining the power of the mana barriers ahead of them.
They had strong defensive equipment. But once their power was used up, they would collapse. In the fighting, watching the power levels of so many formations were nearly impossible. Once the locations were set up inside their defenses, they could coordinate their mana barriers for better protection.
“Anything from the spies to the north?”
“There hasn’t been any movement.”
“Good. What about from the leadership?” Xiao watched advancing groups move forward across the ground. Trap spells went off, killing and wounding Willful Institute warriors as they advanced. Mana barriers that had used up all their power collapsed, and attacks were focused on the unguarded members hiding underneath.
“Alter our targets, aim for the inner walls. I want to see how many mana stones they’re willing to burn!”
Lieutenant Acosta let the body drop as she stood up, the stealth sheet attached to her armor, and she pulled up her silenced rifle.
The rocks around her moved as other people stood up with their sheets.
“Fr—” The scout went silent as she put two rounds into the man. The Silence spell on the rounds made sure his body didn’t make a noise as it hit the ground.
She switched targets, climbing over the rocks and boulders to fire again.
Flashes appeared around her, but there was no sound, from the weapons or from their targets.
Acosta half-lowered her rifle, forcing her breath out as she checked the surroundings. She saw a member of her team take a knee and shoot one scout who tried to run for it.
“Observation post one is cleared.”
“Observation post three is cleared.”
“Observation post two
is cleared.”
“Understood. Good work,” Domonos replied.
Acosta took a knee and raised her scope, using it to look at the northern gate.
The guards on the walls moved, opening the three gates.
Mounted beasts appeared in the streets, coming out of courtyards and market squares that were hidden from the outside.
They filled the streets, rushing out of the gate in groups. They spread out and lined up. Commanders took charge to create two lines that extended out from the gate. As dozens turned into hundreds and then thousands, the lines got thicker. There were bumps in them: one close to the wall, one farthest away from the gate, and a smaller bump in the middle.
In a handful of minutes, they were all lined up.
The lines started moved at a slow canter for those close to the wall and a quick gallop for those on the outside edge.
The two lines separated, headed in opposite directions.
Heidi Storgaard watched from the command center at the peak of Reynir.
Drums started to play across Reynir, sounding out low, rolling beats.
Guards along the walls moved crates and pulled tarps from hidden siege weapons behind the walls. Crew leaders yelled out orders as weapons were pulled back and loaded. Cannons were rolled forward into position. Reynir was filled with activity as the Adventurer’s Guild and Grey Peak sect members who had remained under the walls now rushed to carry out their duties.
“Prepare to fire!” Her order passed through all of Reynir. It bristled with weaponry and pent-up action.
“Fire!”
Reynir seemed to erupt as catapults and trebuchets creaked and groaned, releasing their payloads. Mana cannons roared, releasing pillars of mana that cut across Reynir and slammed into the forward camps.
All of Reynir was in motion now as they reloaded, rearmed, and fired as fast as they could. The fresh crews were nearly twice protected from the wind that those at the top of the wall suffered from.
“I wonder what they’ll think of that,” Storgaard spat, staring out at the Institute’s camps. She sneered as the latter ranks of Meokar troops marching to her outer walls stumbled as a mana barrier broke. Destruction rained down on the road, and siege weaponry payloads went off like artillery rounds, killing dozens.
Sixth Realm Part 2: A litRPG Fantasy series (The Ten Realms Book 7) Page 51
