The natural frontier between the Empire and the fallen Great Plains was the Gorgons Mountains Range. To guard the northern frontier, the Empire had built 3 fortresses. The Alban was the western fortress, the Viroe was the one in the center, and eastern one was called the Beson fortress. It's terrain was less harsh then the other two as it was situated between the border of the Mountain Range and the Eastern Ocean, it was closer to hills then mountains. To compensate, the Beson fortress and it's smaller forts were in charge of defending a smaller area, which meant an higher concentration of fortifications.

The northern most of those small fortifications would often send scouting parties in the vast northern plains. They couldn't cover all of this ground, but an army large enough to be a threat to the fortress wasn't exactly stealthy, so sending a dozen scouts a few times a week would be enough.

A small scout party of three was currently watching a river flowing from the top of a hill.

Lazily slumped on his saddle, the leader of the party was a middle-aged man. He took out a clipboard and wrote a few observation on it.

He had been patrolling the border for 8 years and boredom had set in a long time ago. He had no reason to think that today would be different.

He wanted to go right back as it wouldn't be the first time he would be late because of the early night of winter. The dark often delayed the return trip of the scouting parties.

As the man straightened his back and started to turn his horse around, an arrow flew through his throat from behind them.

He let out one last gurgling sound before falling of the horse, his eyes still opened in shock.

Panicking, the 2 younger scout started galloping down the hill toward the river to try and escape from the invisible opponent. When they reached the river, they started going upstream.

Hearing a faint vibration, one of them turn around expecting to find a group of monster rushing after them. His eyes widened.

The young scout didn't get much time to think about before a arrow flew thought his head.

The last scout was a young girl. No more then 17 years old, she had common features for a northerner of the Empire : a slightly tanned skin and dark eyes. She was a refugee and after loosing her family, she had decided to fight the invader. The Kelenian empire allowed women in the armies as physiological differences between men and women weren't affecting the use of mana, and she managed to join the "Northern Guard".

It was a good name, but the reality was that it was just the name given to the garrisons of the northern fortresses mainly for propaganda reasons.

She didn't dare to turn her head around like her friend, she just made herself as small as possible. Hearing noise at her left, she looked out by reflex.

Half-man, half-horse, next to her was a handsome Centaur. She was relieved for a second as Centaur weren't invaders, they were native of the plane and should be on the side of the Empire. That's why she was shocked when the Centaur threw his spear at her horse killing him on the spot.

As the horse fell down under her, she was thrown on the ground hard and kept rolling down before stopping when her body collided with a boulder, breaking her shoulder on the spot.

She raised her head toward the Centaur that stopped behind her.

She couldn't see any monsters, only a small group of Centaur armed with spears and bows.

She now got a better look at the handsome Centaur that killed her horse as he ignored her and got closer to the corpse of the poor animal.

He was blond, in both his hair and his fur, which she knew was rare for Centaurs, and had slightly elongated ears like an elf.

He tore his spear from the dead mount with disgust on his face.

Centaur were extremely egocentric creature and they were really prideful. That was why they viewed domesticated horses as a terribly humiliating for them.

"Why did you ..." The young girl tried to speak but without missing a beat, the blond Centaur got closer and stabbed his spear through her throat.

 

---

 

"Sir Equit !"

Lovingly cleaning the tip of his spear with a piece of cloth, the blond Centaur turned his head toward the top of the hill where one of his retainers had called him. He trotted toward the scouts' old observation spot.

Once his men and him reached the calling Centaur, they looked toward the horizon. A cloud of dust was approaching.

"They are finally here. Are all the scouts party taken care of ?"

"Just in time, Sir." answered another Centaur.

"Then let's get going."

At his command, one of his retainer shot an arrow with a red flag tied to the tip in the airs, as high as possible.

On his order, the various Centaurs packs started running away from the newcomers.

Looking at gigantic army coming their way, Equit smiled one last time before turning around and galloping away with his followers.

"That should give them a bit of time..."

 

---

 

This wasn't his first guard, but Armant still loved wearing his armor and carrying his spear and shield around. It made the young man feel strong. Like no matter what would come his way, he would be safe with it.

He was ignoring the mockery that his senior where sending his way. They were twice his age, yet still guarded the fortress door before dawn. When he will be their age, he would be a decorated officer, having already basked in glory.

Seeing a faint light in the distance, he squinted his eyes.

It was a injured rider carrying a dying torch in his left hand.

 

---

 

Taken out bed by an hasty messenger, Captain Maron was in a poor mood but according to the soldier, it was an emergency and he had to come in the commander room.

He entered the room where his unsettled superiors were watching over the massive and highly detailed map of the region that was carved into the wooden table.

Dropping the locket around his neck, Eric Laris, second son of Grand Duke Laris and commander of the fortress was panicking.

"There is interference on the Gate network. According to my father, the reinforcement will have to come by land and won't be able to teleport."

"Who can interfere with the Gate Network ? Is their God acting in person this time ?!" Screamed a terrified noble.

The young man was one of the highest ranking officer of the fortress but like most of the people in the room, he got the position because of his status and he wasn't even 20 year old. The Grand Duke Laris had been giving high position to other friendly noble family in the hope that it could help increase his influence back at the capital. It wasn't really efficient as only unimportant and incompetent sons and daughter would be sent this far from the Capital. But at this point, everything counted for the failing Laris Family.

The result was the Beson fortress had the worst commanders out of all of the northern fortresses.

"No. A god won't be able to come down or anything he can probably only interfere this much."

Answered one of the only veteran commander and one of the few last cool-headed officer in the room.

"There is an army of more then 12 000 soldier back in Palinen. They will be able to reach us in less then 2 days. Other armies might take a bit more time, but we can probably gather more then 80 000 soldier in a week. It's more then the fortress was designed to house, but we could hold a siege for months if not years."

Captain Maron got closer to the table, next to one of his friend and discreetly asked about what was happening.

They realized communication and teleportation were disrupted a few hours, but they had managed to call for help using a powerful emergency talisman. They didn't know how bad the situation until a rider arrived a few minutes ago with bad news. A monster army had arrived late at night and had razed the outpost in less then an hour.

They lacked information but the enemies where at least 250 000 monsters, probably canon fodder for most, but a few Rank 7 Orc had been seen during the assault, so they could guess they might even be a few Rank 9 leading the tribe.

The rider had killed his expensive horse by rushing back as fast as he could, but the enemy army would probably arrive in between 3 days to one week.

Quickly calculating in his head, Captain Maron added.

"Not counting if they have to assault the other forts. The advanced outpost are only made in wood to protect a couple hundreds soldier and aren't designed for sieges, but the closer they get, the stronger the fortification. A day from us should be Fort Kast. A true fort made to hold the enemy. They might be able to give us a few days."

"Maybe we should sent reinforcement there to give us a few more day." Added a noble.

In the Capital, they were considered useless to their family, but they were all educated and they wisely choosed to rely on theirs experienced subordinates.

"Yes, the Beson Fortress is only made to host 50 000 soldier, we can maybe cram 100 000 soldier if we tried, but we wouldn't survive a long siege. We could send soldier in Fort Kast, to weaken and delay the incoming disaster."

"What if it doesn't slow them down enough ?"

"We have to take the bet. With the reinforcement of Palinen, we will be more then 30 000 here. 2 000 men could be more efficient at Fort Kast then here."

Now that they all agreed, they needed someone to lead the suicide mission and they all knew it wouldn't be one of the noble for 2 reasons.

Incompetence and political value.

There was now an awkward silence in the room.