Chapter 153: Aftermath

Ordias walked into the teleportation array hall and he grimaced at what he saw. Rosa was right next to him and she let out an appreciative whistle at the carnage before them. The teleportation array hall was filled with special magical platforms that allowed troops and other heavy equipment to be teleported to and from the Ziggurat. This allowed Ordias to conduct lightning strikes on certain areas of the battlefield within a certain range of the Ziggurat. There were limitations of course, for instance, a magic barrier would prevent teleportation which was why Ordias didn’t teleport his soldiers directly into the fortress.

Yes the fortress didn’t have the barrier up at the start of the battle but with the Hive prowling about he didn’t want to risk his soldiers being cut off. The last thing he wanted was to send his elite soldiers on a one way suicide mission for no reasion. The barrier was never the problem, Ordias could just sit outside the fortress for half a year and by then the barrier would go down due to lack of power.

The main problem has always been the Hive, the Averlon Imperial Army was also an unknown quantity. The intelligence report indicates that the Imperial Army was effectively designed to fight alongside the Hive. This type of military organization has never been seen before so Ordias cannot reliably predict the strength of this army.

However, Ordias knew he couldn’t win and he was just trying to show he was a worthy servant. In his mind Ordias knew that all that came before him had fallen in opposition to the Great Beast. His plan was to be the top scorer on the Great Beast assessments.

The scene before him was unfortunately a rather clear mark deduction. His teleportation array was in ruins, they could be repaired but they won’t be operational for a few months at least. The siege towers that were teleported were carrying bombs. So he had just teleported bombs right into the heart of his command base. The Great Beast has in a single stroke disabled half his teleportation capabilities.

Ordias despite being dealt a rather humiliating blow, was rather impressed. An extremely simple tactic but undeniably effective. The blast had ignited all the munitions stored in this room. There wasn’t that much munitions in this place but there was enough to severely damage the teleportation arrays. Ordias could see a piece of the teleportation platform had blown clean off and beheaded one of his blood knights in the distance. 

“The Great Beast is cunning.” Rosa said as she marvelled at the destruction around her.

“He fights with humanoid cunning and he also has a sense of humor.” Ordias replied dryly as he surveyed his men trying their best to put out the fires.

“Yes he is mocking us. I can almost hear the words, stop wasting my time, in the crackling flames.” Rosa said.

“The scouts just reported in, the Imperial Army will be arriving soon. With the Great Beasts attack today’s assault has stalled. I will be ordering the retreat to prepare for the next clash.” Ordias said and Rosa nodded.

“Well the first test could have gone better but I think we still have a chance. Or at least I still do…” Rosa said as she turned to give Ordias a wicked smile.

“Challenging a Hive to a contest of who has the larger monster is not exactly what I would call wise.” Ordias countered with a raised brow.

“Oh it’s not who has the largest monster Ordias, it’s who has the most interesting one. I am sure my creativity in the arts of Necromancy would be sure to attract his attention.” Rosa replied.

“Of that I have no doubt, but you do understand that if that is all you have to offer he can just stuff you in some facility in the wilderness, yes? If you want real power you need to be able to wield it effectively. Afterall he could just ask you to make it and ask me to command it. I see no issue with that arrangement.” Ordias replied and Rosa narrowed her eyes in response.

“I would not be so sure of your tactical acumen. After all this is quite the sight to behold.” Rosa said as she turned to face the chaos in front of them.

Just as Ordias was about to reply he received a transmission and it simply stated that he should move to the observation deck. Ordias paused and he turned to look at Rosa who judging by the look on her face received the same message.

The two of them activated their teleportation rings that allowed them to move to any room in the Ziggurat. When Ordias arrived with Rosa he saw that he didn’t need to sound the retreat. The Hive had arrived and his first assault was now past tense. A sea of white was now standing in front of the walls and several behemoths were now facing off against his army. He could recognise many old designs, these were powerful but yet not the most powerful he has ever seen.

So it seems the Great Beast offers him another challenge. What he did see contained a few concerning Hive creatures or Bioforms as their old name goes. The standout ones were the Haligast Horror, the Terrorgon and what looked to be a variant of the Maleficence Fiend. 

The Haligast Horror was a large creature the size of a villa, it was a quadruped with tentacles protruding from its back. The body was fat, elongated and covered with thick layers or armor. Each tentacle was tipped either with grasper claws or long stingers. It was designed to charge into the thick of the enemy formation and attack everything in its vicinity. 

The Terrorgon was of simple but effective design. It was bipedal standing at four meters tall but it possessed six arms connected to a vaguely humanoid torso. Each arm was tipped with curved serrated blades. Its head sported an armoured crown with six reptilian eyes on the sides. Its mouth was a gaping hole filled with hooked teeth designed to grab onto a target and to never let go until its blades have done their bloody work. Its jaws also had mandibles to assist in this grasping manoeuvre. It was a design that focused on dueling other larger opponents and at that task they were historically very effective.

The final design was a variant of the Maleficence Fiend. The Fiend class of Bioforms were terror weapons, it would be a strange choice to use here considering the dead do not know fear. But in truth the idea of these being a terror weapon was only an unintentional side effect. Fiends were extremely effective and destructive in combat. Thus their very presence caused fear in the ranks of sentient creatures. To say that the Fiends have a terrifying reputation would be a gross understatement.

This variant mostly followed the standard design of it vaguely resembling a centaur. It is described as vaguely because it does have a quadrupedal lower half and humanoid torso. The difference comes as the lower half was not like a horse. It was this strange design that resembled closer to a manticore’s body. The body seemed anatomically similar to a feline body but its legs were far more muscular. Its front feet also had three toes that were tipped with three large claws. Its torso was vaguely humanoid and its arms ended with crab-like claws that had sharp serrated tips allowing it to gore, slash, stab and crush. It also had a tail that was as long as its body that was tipped with a long stinger. This was a departure from the usual design. Usually the tail wasn’t that long, being only long enough as a counter balance to the body and there was no stinger at the end. Also the crab claw arms were larger than usual, which no doubt necessitated the longer tail. Finally the head looked different, the original design just used a generic hive head design but this one looked almost avian with a sharp pointed beak. It’s head resembled this strange armored cone and Ordias could see this ominous blue glow from within its mouth.

“Looks like the Great Beast would like to test your creativity. I wonder if your creations will be up to the challenge.” Ordias said and he turned to see Rosa scowling as she gazed at the Maleficence Fiend variant. 

Yes we shall see…

 ◦◦,`°.✽✦✽.♚.✽✦✽.°`,◦◦

Arias walked past the great gates of the fortress and he couldn’t help but feel the nausea wash over him. The army arrived in the night after the first battle was over. The vampires had pulled back but not before inflicting a decent amount of casualties the zombies had actually managed to get over the wall at a few areas but the mages managed to get the tide under control after a time.

Arias had received a short brief before they entered and he knew the rough situation within the walls. This decisive battle would take place in three stages, the first stage was the initial clash that had just ended. The next stage would be the advanced reinforcements that would arrive which was him and the rest of the three regiments amounting to about 15 000 men.

The rest of the army would arrive in about two days since they had to drag the artillery all the way here. Chances are the final battle which is the final stage would take place when the two armies clashed. Arias had arrived thanks to special war wagons that allowed some troops to be transported quickly. Those sent were the veterans, but if that was the requirement then Arias would be an odd choice to send. Although he did survive the previous war he didn’t do much fighting. 

However, the definition of Veteran had a key requirement, the acclimation towards horror. The greatest danger that the forces of the dead posed to the average army was the fear. Terror can rout armies in an instant. So those sent to fight were those familiar with bloodshed and the terror of war. Afterall, the dead didn’t have much combat skill; they relied on numbers and the sheer weight of their bodies. The average soldier stood no chance against the stronger members of the Vampire army anyway. Nothing short of elite ex-adventurers or veteran knights like the Wardens would stand any chance against the likes of the Blood Knights or the larger necromantic beasts.

But naturally they couldn’t send all their elite soldiers to a besieged fortress. That would be extremely stupid so instead Grand General Montis created three rapid response regiments which were each a mini army. Each regiment had their own medical corps, mage battalion and cavalry units. There were also elite troops sprinkled inside each regiment to serve as officers and what the general had dubbed “Big Game Hunters” to tackle the larger threats.

In Arias’s opinion Grand General Montis has adapted well to the new ways of war. War has grown past the squabbling of lesser states. Now they were fighting empires and forgotten horrors of ages past. 

As Arias walked through the corpse strewn main courtyard he felt this fact more acutely. The courtyard was strewn with rows upon rows of corpses. Up on the walls he could see soldiers simply dumping the corpses of the dead off the wall. No doubt they will burn those bodies eventually, you don’t want to give the dead any additional help scaling the walls. Even in the courtyard they were dumping the remains of the undead in great piles with barrels of Alchemical Fire at the ready to burn it all. 

Many soldiers stand guard over the mounts of festering flesh since the residual necromantic energies have a tendency to spontaneously reanimate random corpses. Arias could see the archers were all nervously scanning the pile of corpses. If there weren’t so many bodies then no one would actually pile the bodies like this. However, with tens of thousands of corpses here, there was no real alternative other than piling them together and burning them.

Arias continued to follow his soldiers and he noticed the hollow eyed looks of most of the surrounding Zariman soldiers. Most of them were frantically removing the bodies of their own dead since they didn’t want their comrades bodies to accidentally reanimate. 

Eventually they spotted a haggard looking Lizardkin who was dressed like a general. Arias’s commander is a Knight Enchanter Captain named Alexia. She was a rather stern woman but she was known for her flexible mind, which was probably why she was put in command of a unit such as the one he was in.

“You must be Count Uxtual, I see you did good work here today.” Captain Alexia said as she offered the Count her hand. He gratefully took her hand with a nod.

“Thank you for coming so quickly, we expect there could possibly be a night attack. Thanks to the hive we repelled the first wave but I have no doubt that the Vampires will attack us when we are spent and exhausted.” Count Uxtual replied wearily.

“How are your losses?” Captain Alexia asked.

“Worse than I had hoped, better than it could have been. About fifteen thousand casualties, six thousand dead.” Count Uxtual replied with a sigh.

“I see, then I assume your healers are spent?” Captain Alexia asked and Count Uxtual replied with a grim nod.

“Those siege towers caused a lot of damage all along the wall. The Blood Knight Signifiers managed to get a few spells off on the walls, took out entire platoons at a time with those spells. Luckily for us your riders managed to stem the tide. However, when the zombies got over the wall it was absolute chaos, we lost a lot of our conscripts in that mad melee.” Count Uxtual said.

“Very well, my healers will assist yours, show them to the infirmary. I will have my mages set up defensive wards in the event of a night attack. Also my men will take tonight's watch, I think all of you have earned some rest.” Captain Alexia said and Count Uxtual nodded gratefully.

“I will still post some of my men on watch tonight. They know this fortress better, we all must make sacrifices for victory.” Count Uxtual said with another sigh.

“Very well… night has just fallen so I suggest we get the wards and sentries in place…” Captain Alexa began but then Arias heard this great horn being blown on the wall. He turned to see magic lights being shined up into the clear sky and he saw the tell tale shadows of flyers rapidly approaching.

“FLYERS INCOMING!” Arias heard one of the Zariman soldiers shout in panic.

With that Arias saw Captain Alexa’s gaze harden.

So much for the night watch

All troops prepare for combat!