Chapter 3: Warriors

 

“Captain Klauna! Battle up ahead! The Lord General is currently engaged with the enemy!” The female rogue, Poi, gave her report to Klauna.

“Have the enemy spotted us?” Klauna asked.

“I don’t think so.”

“You don’t think so?” The Elder Rogue berated Poi, his voice was stern.

Poi could feel her heart beating.

“What are their numbers? Who or what are they fighting? How is the situation unfolding? Is Lionel winning the fight?” Klauna asked more questions.

“I… didn’t exactly count. I think the general is losing?”

“Poi, once we are done here, you are going back to training once more.”

“...Yes, Senior Balestra.” Poi only looked down depressed.

“Balestra, get a team and scout it out. I need proper information,” Klauna gave her order to the rogue. 

“Yes, Captain Klauna,” Balestra replied and he and a few other sneaky Analysts disappeared from sight.

"What's the plan now Captain Klauna?" Harbin who was listening in asked Klauna.

"We move around. Find an advantageous position. Harbin, I need you to get the Analyst to prepare for plan B."

"Plan B?"

 

* * * * *

 

Warriors. One of the five main crests of the Ak'hims. A Warrior is often denoted by their horns, the scales on their skin and their sometimes fiery red skin. They hold stronger than average physical capability than other Ak'hims and have great prowess fighting in melee combat, though they aren't slouches in range combat either. Sometimes prideful of their strength, they refuse to see that their arrogance can oftentimes bring their downfall.

One very notable Warrior was the First Demon Lord himself. A man who has the strength of a Warrior but also has the brains and vast mana potential of an Analyst. The Warriors are especially proud of this fact. Though there hasn't been a single Warrior who became a demon lord after him. A feat only behind the Analyst who boasts zero demon lords of their crest.

"Doooryaaaahhh!!!" A large well-built Warrior wearing a cape made from lion's fur, Lord General Lionel, swung his mighty spear towards a group of humans.

The humans screamed as they were blasted away from the fierce strike. Following up on this, a Female Warrior with an elegant rapier swooped in and finished them off. The humans retreated, which then prompted the Female Warrior to signal her forces, a squad consisting of the elites from four crest to chase after the humans.

Their momentum was quickly stopped however when more humans came in to intercept them. Another squad as well came in from the flank to assault Lionel’s position.

“Tch, fall back! Protect the Lord General with your lives!” The Female Warrior said out loud. They tried to reach the general but soon found that they couldn’t advance as the humans stubbornly prevented them from doing so.

“Doooryaahhh!!!” Lionel once again swung his banner at the opposing forces which send them flying away. 

All except one human. 

An old veteran looking general wearing a gaudy golden armour, a crown on his head. He stood his ground well alongside several tough-looking human soldiers and charged towards Lionel. The two generals clashed with each other. Shockwaves were emitted from their clash and they both sent backwards from each other. 

Lionel was at a disadvantage as the human elites were now charging at his position. He gathered his breath and let out a loud roar towards the enemies— stunning them in position— before swinging his banner again. An attack that sent the humans flying yet again.

It was at this moment that the Female Warrior finally penetrated through the human blockade and attempted to strike the gaudy general. But her attacks were easily parried and she soon found herself to be outmatched. Lionel joined right before the gaudy general could attempt to lay down a blow towards the Female Warrior.

The humans redoubled their efforts and more joined into the battle. General Lionel and his men were now outnumbered five to one and surrounded from all fronts. His elites were holding out well but the enemies are not without elites of themselves as well. Through the treetops, several arrows were launched on Lionel and his men. Most of the Ak’hims managed to block and avoid the arrows but a few of them went down.

“There are too many of them, we need to pull back!” One of the Ak’him shouted.

“Cera! Create an opening! I’ll cover all of you!” Lionel shouted his orders as he made another great swing towards the enemies. His banner containing the logo of the seventh army fluttered with the winds.

Undeterred from the attack was the gaudy general and several men moving in to strike on Lionel. Lionel having launched the great attack now wide open and with no one by his side to protect him

“Lord General!” The Female Warrior, Stardivacera shouted.

A small explosion occurred in between the two generals, causing the attack to stop. The explosion was then sucked into a small orb before blasting away to the skies. The orb then split into several small flares which lasted in the air. The flares were bright and slowly falling down, giving away their position.

A group of humans shouted in pain and was blasted away with a similar explosion. Several squads of Analysts suddenly approached the Ak’hims out of nowhere from the direction of the explosion. They arrived at Lionel’s location before holding hands in a large circle, attempting to cast something. The elites of the Seventh Army were confused about the matter but a quick shout from the Lord General came out: ”Protect the Analyst!"

The Ak’hims immediately surrounded the Analyst and protected the Analyst from the humans who rallied quickly and was attempting to finish the Ak’hims off.  The Ak’hims were also aided by a few Rogues who were now shooting arrows at the enemies from the treetops. The tree human archers from above the tree somehow replaced with Analysts Rogues some time ago.

A few short but intense minutes later, the Analysts finally finished the spell that they were casting. The trademark spell of an Analyst, the very first spell that most Analysts will learn to do first and the spell with their greatest affinity outside of their personal spell affinity— the barrier spell. A white and red translucent bubble quickly surrounded the Ak’hims, pushing any and every human away. The Analyst rogues from the treetops quickly fled the area as well.

Soon, screeching sounds could be heard from the air before culminating in several big large explosions on their location. It was the bombardment from Yuupiecca’s detachment.

Every single salvo landed in a tight group around the barrier. All except one ordinance which landed far away from the intended location. The Ak’hims within the barrier could only hold their breath as they witnessed the slaughter of a few hundred humans from the deadly bombardment. The Analysts struggled to hold the barrier intact under the intense bombardment but kept doing so regardless. 

Only when the explosions ended and the dust settled did they finally stop the barrier.  Most of the Analysts immediately fell to the ground. They were tired from mana exhaustion and were quickly trying to catch their breath.

What was left was the sight of large boggy ground with human remains all over the place. Nearby large trees that covered the area were also knocked down by the intense bombardment, landing on several humans as well. The Ak’hims was in the middle of it all but they were still outnumbered by the humans who somehow survived the attack.

The human general saw this and was about to rally the remaining of his men who survived the bombardment. Either through sheer will or through the last-minute casting of their own barrier spell. He knew that more of his men will be coming to reinforce them and that the enemy cannot afford another such bombardment again.

However, before the gaudy general could speak, a man next to his side was impaled by a spear. The spear looked to be made from magic. Several other magic spears then started to fly into their direction, killing more humans. The general looked for the source of the attack and saw a few Ak’hims on top of a large elevated tree branch. 

Their bodies looked human enough, but their glowing red eyes was proof enough that they were demons. Behind the small group were similar looking crimson eyes looking at them— hundreds, no, thousands of them. Thousands of crimson red eyes surrounded the humans. Sounds of chanting could be all over. Murmurs echoed across the forest.

“... to death, the reaper’s blade! CALAMITY SPEAR!” Harbin yelled out her spell as she threw a pure black spear made out of magic towards the Gaudy General.

The spear would have hit if another man didn’t jump into the way of the spear. Piercing his heart and killing him in an instant.

“Old friend!” The Gaudy General lost composure for a while before realising the situation that they were in, “Tch. RETREAT! The enemy outnumber us!”

The humans then quickly pick up whatever they could, their important equipments, their injured allies, and even the dead bodies of high profile humans before escaping into the woods.

Harbin let loose a few more spears towards the Gaudy General as they retreated but each spear was intercepted by enemy mages or humans soldiers actively body blocking the spear. Some spears went through but were easily parried by the old looking general.

“Don’t bother Harbin. The old man is not going to die. Not on this day and not so easy,” Klauna said as she walked over to the group of Ak’hims surrounding General Lionel. Harbin heeded her advice and stopped, letting the enemy run away safely.

“Captain Klauna! I knew it. Only you can come out with something as crazy as bombarding your own men,” Lionel said to Klauna, a smile on his face. 

“I’m glad to see safe as well, Lionel.” Klauna gave her greetings before moving towards the Analysts that were resting on the ground, catching their breath. 

“Lord Lionel, should we give chase to the enemies?” Stardivacera asked the general. “We have the number advantage.”

“No, we won’t Vice-general Cera. Let’s get back to camp and re-group.”

“What? But!"

“Idiot. Do you think Captain Klauna here can get a thousand soldiers to come to our aid? It must be one of her silly tricks.” Lionel explained to Cera.

“It was an Illusion spell to be exact. It took us a while to set it up. We needed to make sure we have the right amount so the enemies would retreat. That and also plan B,” Harbin who came down from the tree said to the group.

“Plan B?”
“An… illusion?”
“No way, I really thought we had reinforcements there.”

The elites under Lionel discussed among themselves.

“All of you stop talking. Get ready to move. We are moving back to the camp!” Lionel gave out his orders and the Ak’hims went into picking their own dead men and started to leave the area.

All the Ak’him left the place, except one. Klauna who walked and stood in front of a certain human, the human who had sacrificed his life to protect the Gaudy General. A person who took the Calamity Spear spell from Harbin. His face was all distorted in pain and his eyes were bulging out wide open.

“Captain Klauna?” Harbin said as she walked towards Klauna. She clutched the Grimoire in her hands tightly when she saw the man that she killed lying on the ground in such a state. 

Harbin was young, but she knew that she had to do such a thing when she joined the army. She was used to it by now, but it still made her shudder. She didn’t want to be a murderer, but she knew that she would only endanger the lives of everyone around her if she wasn’t able to do such a thing. As the current wielder of the Grimoire, she has a duty to set an example to the other Analyst.

“Such a pointless war,” Harbin spoke, sadness in her voice.

Klauna closed the eyes of the human and spoke: “I’m just glad don’t have to do plan B.”

“Um, me too,” Harbin replied.

“Come on, let’s go. Get Balestra to cover our tracks. I have a feeling that the enemy may notice that we don’t have as many people as we think.”

“Yes, Ma’am!” Harbin saluted before running off to find Balestra and Poi.

Klauna took one more look at the man. His face was now a smile. For some reason, it irritated her to see the man smile like that. She tried to think of the reasons why he would spot such a smile but soon stopped. It was too troublesome to think. She then moved away from the position.

 

* * * * *

 

The Ak’hims arrived at the encampment safely. However, what greeted their eyes was not their comrades but rather the sight of hundreds of dead human bodies. There were some dead Ak’hims among them but not as much as what the humans lost. The sight stunned even some of the more experienced Ak’hims within the group. 

The Ak’hims soldiers within the encampment saw the return of their General and went to open the gates for them to enter. Though the soldiers outside just stood there in shock as they saw the carnage. In a way, it wasn’t as bad as seeing humans blowing up right in front of them. It was just surprising to them that there was another battle going on while they were scouting.

It was a slaughter. The enemy tried to attack their encampment without proper preparations and paid for it. Looking over to the enemy’s side, one could see just bogs of mud, clogging the long stretches of the trench. 

*Boom *Boom *Boom *Boom…

The bombardment was still ongoing.

“Poilautenula, tell the others to stop the bombardment. We’ve done what we needed to do," Klauna gave her orders.

“On the way, Captain Klauna!” Poi saluted and started running to the nearby forest.

Klauna then moved forward towards the camp entrance, in her hands was a bottle of liquor that she soon took a sip from. Klauna was not one bit disturbed by the sight of the dead humans and walked right over them. Harbin saw the bottle and quickly ran over to her to confiscate it.