Chapter 8: Succours

Fort Kron is just a standard fort surrounded by tall and thick walls that protect the area. It's more of a castle rather than a Fort, but that's probably because the place has evolved over the years to be something different. This fort is all that stands in between the Ak'hims and the Capital City of Serrora, the Human Nation that the Ak'hims were invading.

Their journey to Fort Kron didn’t take very long. It was only about a week’s distance from the trenches. The troops of the Seventh Army built their base of operations just outside the range of the fort’s range defences and had made themselves present to the humans who were guarding said fort.

Once the camp had been properly set up and the defence mounted, the Ak’hims proceeded to construct siege weapons to assault the fort— mainly trebuchets and siege towers. Klauna herself had offered her battalion to construct them. She wanted her men to be as far away from the fort as possible and volunteered her battalion mainly for long-range bombardment support and siege constructions.

The other demons had no problem with the arrangement. They didn’t need to deal with the mundane work of construction and could conserve their energy for the upcoming battle. But more importantly, they now have less competition for the honourable frontlines. The demons all seemed eager to fight— to throw themselves into battle.

Klauna thought them to be either fools or naive. 

The Analysts had all been informed prior to setting up the camp that the demons will lose and about their roles in the upcoming battles. To assault an enemy fort without superior numbers was truly suicide. The demon’s superior physical advantage over humans was not something that can overcome these odds. 

At first, they didn’t really believe her. Sure the battle may be tough, but it cannot be unwinnable and suicidal as she claimed it to be. They have fought superiorly numbered opponents before and had claim victories against them with ease, especially during the first few months of the war. 

However, Klauna’s succeeding actions leading up to the battle had made the Analysts rather cautious. They know better than to doubt her. She may be a drunkard, but she’s a person who meant what she says. The worst part was that she wasn’t drunk at all. Keeping their guard up, the Analysts moved around the encampment with an unnatural seriousness. Very different from the other demons who were moving around rather relaxed and not worried at all.

A certain Analyst was on a certain ground, creating magic circles following the formulas listed in her Grimoire. Around Harbin was a few other mage Analysts who were carefully constructing the formula according to her instructions. They were hard at work when Poi arrived at the area.

“Hey Harbin, hard at work I see, ” Poi called out to Harbin.

“...” However, Harbin didn’t reply. She was too engrossed in constructing the magic circle.

“Don’t disturb her. When Harbin’s like this, she won’t stop. She’ll probably continue till it’s time for dinner,” Yuupiecca, who was taking a break, called out to Poi.

“Hey Yuupie,” Poi greeted Yuupiecca.  She then bent her body sideways to face the triplets behind him. “You three as well. Yuuko, Yuuki, Yuuka.” 

“I’m Yuuko dammit! We don’t even look remotely the same, stop messing us up!” Yuuko said to Poi who has gotten the triplets naming wrong.

Poi let out a small chuckle at the scene. The group then looked towards Harbin who was hard at work. “It’s rare to see her go all out like this.” Yuuki, the eldest of the triplets, said.

“Yeah… you think… Captain Klauna is right? That we will lose this battle badly? I still can’t believe it,” Yuuka, the youngest triplet said.

“Better believe it guys. You guys weren’t there, but the way she acted in the meeting the other day… I don’t think she’s playing around. She outright just called the other demons idiots and even argued with the Lord General," Yuupiecca said.

“Yeah, I heard the rumours. The captain is totally serious. Senior Balestra had this super serious face as well. As if he wasn’t already serious enough,” Poi let out a sigh. Not too happy about her increased workload.

The small group of demons continued to observe Harbin. She was completely uncaring about the things happening around her, fully into the task that Klauna had given to her.

Despite her young age, the Analysts had grown to somewhat respect Harbin. Her hard-working attitude and willingness to do what must be done left quite an impression on the others. The young Analyst had risen up the ranks rather fast all things considering. The fact that she wields the relic of the Analyst must have meant that she hails from nobility, but she never really told the others about her Familia. Only that she inherited the book from her mother.

"By the way… Why are you here again? I thought you rogues are supposed to be out there scouting?" Yuupiecca faced Poi.

Poi scratched her cheeks and let out a wry smile, "I'm supposed to deliver a message, the findings from our scouting, to Captain Klauna, but I can't find her anywhere. I thought maybe Harbin might know where she is… I didn't expect her to fully ignore me like that."

"I think I last saw Captain Klauna in the meeting room. That was this morning though," Yuuka replied.

"I've already checked the meeting room. I didn't see her there."

"Hmm, well that's troubling. I wonder where she would have gone then. Could it be that she's  drinking again?" Yuuko the middle triplet, said.

The group was discussing about Klauna's whereabouts when a whole group of Succours arrived at their location. It was Captain Lina and her elites. Captain Lina was the leader of the Succours(most of them) within the army, the Seventh’s army top flight combatant. A haughty and arrogant person who likes to show off her beautiful alluring figure and her strength, she wore a heavily edited officer’s uniform and could be said to be practically half-naked.

"My my, the dogs are working hard today, aren't they? Ho ho ho," Captain Lina let out a haughty laugh. Her voice was loud enough that everyone around could hear her.

Her subordinates laughed together with her and gave mocking looks towards the Analysts. The Analyst only kept quiet and stared back in contempt.

Lina struts forward to face their highest-ranking officer. Yuupiecca. "Oh my? Unable to talk back? It seemed that their owner keeps a tight leash on them," the other demons let out a small snicker.

Yuupiecca just kept quiet. He knows that they were doing this to get a reaction out of them. It would be best if they just ignore them. He faced away from the skimpily clad captain and continued his discussion on Klauna's whereabouts.

"Poi, have you tried looking at her private tent?" He asked.

"I did that as well, but it was empty," Poi replied.

"Don't ignore me you maggot!" Lina yelled out.

Yuupieca let out a sigh and gave Lina a scowl. "We are very busy here, could you not get in our way, Captain Lina?" 

"Wh-what?! What did you say to me?!!" Lina flared up and let out a burst of aura around her.

Seeing that Lina released her aura, Yuupiecca replied with the same— by releasing his own aura towards the Succour.

Even though both sides looked to be equal in terms of aura strength, Yuupieca realised that this was a bad situation to be in. Yuupiecca is an inventor; an engineer, not a fighter. There was no way he could win in a fight against Captain Lina who was more combat-oriented, especially in a direct confrontation. But nonetheless, Yuupiecca held strong, scowling back at her without fear. 

The Analyst all over the area had started to gather up behind him and they all let out their own aura. Lina's men followed the same and gave out their own aura behind her. A fight was about to break out. Every single one of the Analyst gave off a glare that could bore a hole through a person towards the Succours.

Succours are one of the five main crests of the Ak'him race. They are known for their beautiful alluring figure and for being the only Ak'hims to have wings. Having wings meant that Succours are able to take flight— something that the other Ak’hims can’t do unless they learn flight magic. Succours flight tails allow them to glide and move in the air with ease. 

They are oftentime proud of themselves and their strength. Their ranks have to boast many generals and demon lords. The current Demon Lord— the Sixth Demon Lord, was a Succour herself.

Most of them are often fools who think beauty and power can solve everything. The Analysts and the Succours have a long history of feuds against each other. The first Demon Lord's first wife is often debated to be either a Succour or an Analyst. There was also the fact that the Analysts still retained their relic. This is often a source of jealousy for the Succours who lost theirs during the reign of the Third Demon Lord.

"Back off mutt," Captain Lina threatened Yuupiecca.

However, before Yuupiecca could respond, a voice came in from the sides. It was Klauna's.

"How about you back off slut," Klauna said as she appeared out of nowhere and walk right into the middle of the two groups before giving a cold disinterested stare at the Succour.

Lina gritted her teeth in response and her aura flared harder. "You are overstepping your bounds street rat."

Klauna didn't shrink back. Rather, she moved nearer to Succour and looked at her right in the eyes. "Do it then."

"Wh-what?"

"If you are so confident that you are above me, then do it. Let us fight right now and settle everything, Sccutellinaria. Just be warned that I will not hold back," Klauna taunted Captain Lina.

Lina was infuriated at the challenge of course. Lina thought of Klauna as just an Analyst that Lionel picked up from the streets. She was unarmed as well and Lina was confident that she could best her. If she wanted a fight then she would be glad to give her one.

However, she didn't. 

Unlike Lina, whose aura flared like an uncontrollable fire, Klauna was just standing still. Not a single aura to be seen. Yet, Klauna's presence looms over her; some sort of intense pressure was being asserted on Lina. Her heart just screams that she will not win against Klauna, as impossible of a thought that was to Lina.

There's been a rumour in the army as of late. That Klauna had once bested Lionel in a fair fight. Lina began to entertain that thought. That maybe it might be true. Doubt started to cloud her mind.

"Hmphh," Lina backed away and left the place. Her subordinates soon followed behind her.

A soft quiet pause happened as they walked away to the distance.

'A fool, a dishonourable wench and a coward,' Klauna thought to herself. She was glad she didn't need to waste energy fighting her. Behind Klauna were her own subordinates letting out sighs of relief. They honestly thought that they would have to tussle with the Succours.

"Just ignore them. Better mutts with jaws and claws than birds with no beaks. Let's get to resuming our work, we are on a tight schedule here," Klauna said to her men. 

The Analysts gave a salute before getting back to work. Leaving Yuupiecca, the triplets and Poi with Klauna.

"Poi, the report," Klauna ordered the report from Poi.

One may ask the question of how Klauna knew Poi had a report for her. But then, they realised, why else would Poi be there if there was nothing to report? She would be out there with Balestra.

Poi was a little bit startled at her sudden request but quickly composed herself. She gave Klauna a salute. "It is as you suspected Captain Klauna. The enemy outnumbers us. Their estimated forces are about twelve thousand soldiers. About four times our own."

"Twelve thousand. What kind of composition do they have? Who is leading them? Any weak points around the wall? What are their equipment like?" Klauna asked a barrage of questions towards Poi.

Poi could be seen slightly flustered when she suddenly gave out a smile and took out a piece of paper from her chest pocket. The paper was crumpled due to having to fit in between the other things in her pocket and Poi's unnaturally large chest.

Poi took a moment to fiddle around with the piece of paper. "The enemies are noted to have a few mage corp. There is a wall that is shorter than the others on the west side, accompanied by an open field and the large west gate. The armies are led by a commander wearing golden armour— the one that we met in the forest a few weeks back. We are unable to gain information on the quality of the human's equipments."

"I see you have mastered the art of taking notes Poi," Yuupiecca teased the rogue. Poi only gave him a pout.

"Any odds on a successful assassination attempt on the enemy general?" Klauna asked another question.

"It's hard to say. The enemy's own scout group had proved a big problem for us and Captain Kazakiel's men. We had clashed several times already in the forest. I don't think we could sneak into the fort so easily," 

"I see," Klauna closed her eyes and stood still for a while. She then opened them again after a minute or so. 

"Yuuko. I need you and whoever under you to move to siege construction duty. We will need a battering ram. Yuupiecca and you two will remain on bombardment duty, but I will need you to transfer half the men to Harbin's group. Focus on accuracy rather than effect. I need precise bombardments with this one. However, be ready to transfer all manpower to Harbin's effort at a moment's notice." Klauna ordered.

"Ehh?! Why single me out?" Yuuko yelled out in response.

Everyone ignored her and Yuupiecca posed a question to Klauna, "Are you sure? We won't have nearly enough men to do the bombardments."

Klauna shook her head. "We will not concentrate on bombardments. There is something else more important we need to focus on."

"Roger," Yuupiecca said.

"Poi, send a message to Balestra. Order all rogues to cease scouting operations immediately. We need more manpower here," Klauna gave another order to Poi.

"No more scouting?" Poi asked.

"I've got all that I needed. Let Kazakiel do his thing. We need the manpower here." Klauna replied.

Poi then gave a salute. "Roger!" Poi then started to run off in a certain direction.

Klauna then took a look towards Harbin who has been completely ignoring every event up to this point. She was fully engrossed in making the circle.

"Harbin!" Klauna called out to her.

But Harbin didn't respond. 

Letting out a sigh, Klauna went over to the magic circle before disrupting one of the patterns that Harbin was working on— kicking it into a puff of dust.

"Ngahh!" Harbin yelled out before looking around with angry eyes. "What are you doing Captain Klauna! That took me the whole day to build!"

"We won't need this one anymore. I need you to quickly construct interception spells. I've assigned half of the battalion to help you. I need it done before tomorrow's assault," Klauna ordered Harbin.

"Eh?!" Harbin yelped in surprise. 

Kotohood

That's all for Rapid releases guys. Thanks for reading up to this point. Let me know what are your thoughts on the story so far! Next chapter will be on 21st Jan.