“AHHHHHH!”
A blood-curdling scream rang out of the duke’s office and even echoed throughout the outer courtroom of the castle causing the guards all to stiffen in shock for a few seconds before rushing to see what had happened.
As they ran to the office their minds were filled with nothing but worry and bad premonitions.
Zundar was the first to reach the office and burst in without knocking or bothering with the guards near the door.
“Akira?! What was that scream about?” shouted Zundar as he quickly scanned the office for hostiles.
“Yap…” said a yawning Fluffball who was lying on his side enjoying the warmth from the fire.
Akira, the person everyone was worried about, was hopping on his right foot while holding his left foot and he muttered curses at the desk that was next to him.
Zundar and Akira’s personal guards all let out sighs of relief seeing that nothing was wrong with him.
They spent a few comical minutes watching Akira hopping on one foot until he finally turned to them with a scowl.
“What are you guys doing here?” asked Akira as he limped around on a sore foot.
“We thought someone had attempted to assassinate you. You know how tense it is at the border with nothing changing for so many years,” said Zundar.
Akira who had only been half listening to Zundar’s explanation only caught part of it, but those words quickly made him forget about the pain in his stubbed toe and he asked, “What did you just say?”
“We thought someone had attacked you. If word got out…”
“This is perfect! Are our plans ready for operation ‘Hard Thrust’?” asked Akira.
“…they have been ready for some time, but the enemy won’t take any of the bait we have offered. Why did you have to name it that? Can’t you come up with something better?” asked Zundar.
“What’s wrong with the name? It’s simple and describes what we plan on doing. Thrusting deep and hard before they know what hit them!”
“….” Zundar, Dolph, and Vilkas all looked at each other with silent knowing looks.
“Call the Grand Elders! I have a new idea on how to end this stalemate!”
***
The next day a rumor spread like wildfire claiming that the Duke of Kodria had been seriously wounded and was now incapacitated and was now holed up in his castle to heal.
Several hidden spies started moving into action with many of them reporting the rumor to those at the border. Some of them were close enough to the castle to have actually heard the roar of pain and were totally convinced that the rumor was true.
With this news, the demigods who had long been in a volatile non-aggression pact with each other, started to silently move more of their members and their human army towards the border. For most of the demigod officers, this was a now or never moment and so they were all preparing for a quick breakthrough that would allow them to rush towards the headless Kodria capital while their leader was recovering from his wounds.
In Kodria, as well as the Tri-pact dukedom there were similar discreet troop movements arriving at the main defenses along with the normal supplies being doubled.
Sometime later in a meeting room of Kodria’s castle.
“How has the spy hunt been going?” asked Akira.
“Those on the list were all rounded up and are sitting in the underground jails waiting for trial after the operation is finished,” said Grand Elder Hegir.
“They won’t be able to interfere with any of our plans,” said Grand Elder Àaron.
Akira nodded before saying, “I’ll be heading out with the last units of the main army and cavalry today. Varbu will be joining me with a large force of Warriors from Bent-gii. While King (In-training) Gobbers stays to defend the city and the local area from any surprise attacks.”
“What about me?” asked Zundar.
“You will be helping the navy and its marines. I need someone I can fully trust to oversee this core part of operation ‘Hard Thrust’. How well you complete this task will be a major factor in determining if everything we are risking is a success or a failure.”
“…But you get to fight the big battle.”
“You will have plenty of battles to fight where you guys are going.”
“Where will the [Full Moon] guild be in all of this?” asked Grand Elder Seoc.
“They have already headed north towards their destination and should reach it before any trouble appears. The remaining soldiers and raw recruits will be stationed here along with the city guards. We can not take them as the coming battle is going to be bloody and many if not most of them would be wounded or killed.”
The Grand Elders and clan chiefs all had serious expressions on their faces as they knew that there were going to be many orphaned children in the coming battles.
There was no way around this fact. The Demigod’s power was strong in the past and had only grown stronger.
Kodria and its allies were lucky enough to stay afloat from their constant upgrades in armor, weapons, and constant skirmishes with the enemy that were trying to chip away at their defenses.
With this plan, they had decided to risk everything to wipe out the demigods. They did not want to even think of what would happen if their plan failed.
With the meeting over Akira walked through the castle hallways to reach his room so that he could say his goodbyes to Mileena and the twins.
“Do you really have to go?” asked Mileena. She was holding a crying Silvy close to her chest as she tried to calm her down.
“This battle is too important for me to not lead the defending army. Without me helping, I fear our chances of blocking their attack is little to none,” said Akira quietly. He reached out his hands and picked up Silvy who had stopped crying and was now sniffling.
“Why are you crying?” asked Akira as he hugged his daughter.
Silvy did not say anything and just hugged Akira harder.
Wyt, who had been hugging his mother’s leg, spoke up instead.
“Papa we heard that you’re going to fight a big battle… you’ll come back right?”
“Who’s been telling you about this? Is that why you are all worried?”
Wyt glanced at his mother but did not answer.
“The two were eavesdropping on a conversation I was having with Maya and Azura,” said Mileena.
Akira pulled Wyt closer to him and hugged the twins and he said, “Don’t worry your father will be fighting along with many brave soldiers from Kodria and our allies. When I come back we can all have a party and your mother can prepare your favorite snacks.”
***
A week passed as the tension at the border continued to rise along with the forces on each side.
Akira had only just arrived a short time ago after using a ship to quickly head north and marched the rest of the way to the likely target of the demigod’s attack.
It was not hard to tell where the demigods were going to attack.
It would be the northern fortress which was the middle link of the Tri-pact wall and Kodria’s border of the north… or that is what Akira had thought.
“Are they really going to attack here? It’s been a week and still nothing?” said Akira as he watched the enemy forces from the safety of the fortress walls.
He along with his bodyguards had all been watching for any signs of attack since they got here. They had been rushing as fast as they could fearing that they may arrive too late or arrive during the battle. Having to wait several days made everyone antsy and stressed as they all knew a major battle was imminent but the wait was a killer.
“… and the humans under their control?” asked Akira.
“There is no point in trying to have someone prod the humans into revolting against the demigods. They have refused all our secret offers over the several years of standoff,” said Hort, the commander of the fortress.
“And the traps?” asked Akira as he looked out at the land far below the tall fortress walls that separated the demigod’s camp from the fortress.
“We have been preparing for years for such a time as this. Everything has been upgraded several times. They should all be ready by the end of the day.”
Akira only nodded and left the wall to roam the large fortress so that he could view the hardy soldiers that would be the core of the fortress’s defense to block the demigod’s push south.
What he saw were grim faces with little to no smiles or laughter in their quiet conversations.
***
At the break of dawn the next day a howl rang out throughout the fortress!
The enemy was attacking!
Akira was one of the first to head out of the main walls and take up a position with a small contingent of daredevil soldiers at the outer defenses to hold the enemy back.
The rest of the soldiers inside of the fortress gathered on the tall walls and manned the ballista and catapults that had been built in the several towers that overlooked the entire battlefield.
Thud, Thunk!
Large rocks and bolts flew high over Akira’s head as the ballista and catapults were the first to respond to the wave of attackers. The flying rocks plowed through the snow banks and the human bodies as they tumbled through their formations causing large patches of red snow to appear. The large bolts were not as flashy but when they struck a target, there were several humans being pierced together with just one of the large bolts. It was a grim sight to see as they struggled to stay alive. One man tried to dislodge the bolt from his stomach only for another person to cry out in pain and pull the bolt another way.
From what Akira could see this first wave of attackers was made up of mostly human warriors who were being commanded by a few demigod officers. The demigods did not pay attention to the large boulders and flying ballista bolts as they stood their ground at the rear of the marching wave of humans along with the ranged fighters. With a shout, the demigod officers and the ranged fighters launched their own attacks at the outer trenches and defenses that were set up to block them.
Many of those standing alongside Akira were wounded by the constant stream of demigods’ attacks and arrows, but they stood their ground and continued to fire their own arrows at the approaching wave of humans.
When the wave of humans reached the outer range of the fortress’s archers, the demigods stopped moving and ordered the humans to continue forward while they launched skill attacks from the rear.
With Akira and the daredevil soldiers around him sending out constant long-range attacks targeting the humans, they became the target for the aimless human wave as they charged toward the trenches outside the fortress.
Akira silently watched as the humans ran through the thick snow. When they were only a few hundred yards away… “AWOOOOO!”
With a fierce howl, he gave the order that the small force of daredevil soldiers had been waiting for. Together as one, they began retreating out of the trenches and back to the main defenses of the fortress.
The humans all gave roars of delight seeing the enemy retreating in fear of their charge!
Their morale was sky-high as they picked up their pace. The demigod officers, seeing the small force that had been blocking them were now retreating, decided to change their attacks to target other more important areas on the walls.
With Akira and his royal guards leading the rearguard and bearing the brunt of the attacks, they were able to successfully retreat back into the fortress.
Their mission had been fulfilled. Now it was time to see if everything would work as planned.
The approaching wave of humans rushed into the snowy trenches hoping for a place to hide from the ranged attacks of the fort…. but the trenches were dug so that the archers on the walls had a clear line of sight of anyone in them.
Arrows continued to rain down on the humans and a loud clatter was heard as flaming tarred logs rolled down from the walls and into the pits crushing legs, arms, and pinning dozens of the humans under the flaming logs. Those trapped all died an agonizing death by being burnt alive in the middle of the cold winter months.
The demigod officers who were commanding the humans did not pay attention to the rising number of deaths and continued to launch skill after skill at those on the fortress walls.
The attacking human’s morale plummeted as they were being hailed with all kinds of attacks and tried to hug the dirt walls to no avail. Small groups of men tried to rush out of the trenches towards the fortress walls but were cut down by arrows. Those who wanted to retreat also faced the same withering ranged attacks.
In less than a half hour the entire first wave of humans were either dead or severely wounded.
“Ah!” “Mother!”
The dying moans of pain and cries for their family haunted the ears of those who were defending the fortress walls.
Of the first wave of attackers only a handful of humans had made it back to the demigods… only to be killed by skills launched by the officers. Failure was not tolerated.
Throughout the fortress, cheers erupted as they watched the demigods retreating back to their own encampment.
“Well done!” Shouted Akira, “Don’t celebrate yet. That was just their first wave of attacks. We have not defeated them yet, they probably have many tricks ready for us. We must be prepared for such things and not let our guard down!”
***
Far to the North of the large-scale battle that was happening at the border fortress.
Zundar and a force of naval marines silently disembarked off their ships and silently rushed toward the walls of the shore town that was held by the demigods.
Zundar lowered his shoulder and charged through the wooden gate of the town!
“Enemy attack!” shouted a panicked guard who had been half asleep and was not trying to sound the alarm.
The rest of the town’s guards were just as unprepared for an attack. They were all taking it easy as the main army was battling far to the south and it was only a matter of time before they crushed the demon races.
The marines led by Zundar incapacitated the human guards before rushing through the streets to the largest building in the town.
A drunk and half-dressed demigod officer stumbled out of the building.
“Was go’n un?” asked the demigod as he looked around.
Shunk! A sword pierced his exposed stomach and sliced him open causing him to disappear into hundreds of lights before he knew what was happening.
Zundar and the marines rushed into the house to search for any other demigods but found no one else.
With their search finished they walked to the town center square.
“Kodria claims this town for its own!” shouted Zundar. This was the sentence that Akira had told him to shout only after clearing the town of all demigods.
The townspeople along with the guards that had been knocked over all looked at him cursorily but did not say anything or even cheer.
They were all tired and worn out from the constant changing overlords and the long work hours they had been enduring to produce war material for the demigods.
Zundar did not pay them any attention as he looked to the marines who had followed him. They all managed to complete the fight without receiving even a scratch.
“One down, a crap ton more to go! Let’s go!” roared Zundar.
And just like that, they left as quickly as they had arrived and escaped using their boats to sail up the river.
***
Near the dwarf’s territory in the northeast well behind the demigod’s main line of defenses, a similar situation was happening as the dwarves along with an allied force of mixed demon races marched through underground tunnels and launched attacks on the towns nearest to them.
One by one the demon race’s combined army, navy, and marines conquered the lightly defended towns and villages that had sent most of their fighting force south.
The territory and places where the demigods could reappear were being pushed farther and farther north.
***
The attacks in the north behind the major demigod army in the south were not going unnoticed by the major guilds who had all gathered to break through the Tri-Pact wall. They were in the middle of a heated discussion on what to do about the troubling news.
“What the hell is going on? In the last day, we lost nearly half of our territory!”
“We must call off this attack! If we continue our guild will have nothing left!”
“No! We have already prepared and sacrificed so much for this attack! We just need one good push and we can break through! When we capture Kodria it won’t matter if they capture a few towns in the north. We can just turn around and smack them down!”
“That’s easy for you to say since you are not the one who has lost any territory yet!”
“That fort looks small, but those inside just keep being replaced one at a time! We won’t be able to take it out quick enough!”
Bang! The door to the makeshift command post opened letting in the cold winter air.
“I have good news! The Demon Hunter guild has just sent word they will be sending out the reserve forces to deal with the raids! We are to focus on breaking through and taking Kodria!” said a young demigod who was breathing heavily from running all the way to the command post.
“Great! That solves our problems!”
***
“The enemy forces have left the city. Do you want us to act now big sis?” ask Crowbahr.
“Wait. If a call for help goes out right now they can still return while we are attacking. Just to be sure we will attack later tonight.”
***
The fighting at the border fortress was growing more deadly as the demigods started to actually participate in the attacks on the fortress. This caused the death count to quickly rise in number as the defenders fought back the constant waves of attacks.
It was already midnight but the demigods had decided to go all out and launched a full-scale attack only using the moonlight to see. But with their poor eyesight, the demigods and humans were always receiving presents left by the defenders outside the fort.
Booom!
Several large explosions rocked the ground and minced the human soldiers and demigods that were the first to enter the area that held the present. The blinding light of the explosions caused havoc with their night vision.
Their charge faltered for a moment as the survivors tried to figure out what happened while they hid from the fortress’s ranged attacks.
“Forward!” roared all the demigods as they tried to kick and smack the humans into action.
With the massive attack once again moving the defenders were under constant bombardment of various skills from the demigods as fireballs, ice shards, wind blades, and all kinds of other attacks slammed into the walls and defenders.
Tens of hundreds of humans rushed to the wall with ladders and ropes with hooks placing them against the wall were cut down. The ladders were held in place by the pile of bodies at their base as more and more humans were pushed forward and up the ladder.
The defenders fought with all they had to knock down the ladders and cut the ropes off the wall while also engaging in melee combat with those who managed to climb onto the wall.
At the climax of the battle… for some reason, the demigods suddenly stopped attacking and retreated. This caused confusion in the defenders who had been fighting all day and were on the verge of collapsing.
“Sound the war horns to form up at the gates! Send out the order to enact the plan!” growled Akira.
Burru! Burru bururrur! Awwoooooo!
Two different orders were sent out.
The soldiers in the fort had no idea what was going on and only followed orders defaulting to the training that had been hammered into them.
Akira hopped onto Grarr joining the other cavalrymen that had been waiting for him. Without a word, they all charged through the tight streets of the fortress and headed to the fortress gates which had been heavily battered and were slowly opening up.
“Awoooo!!!” Akira pointed his sword forward and the cavalrymen followed him as they squeezed through opening gates while a flood of infantry rushed out to follow them.
Only the bare minimum of the most exhausted were left inside the fortress to hold it in case of a surprise attack.
The demigods and the humans under their command had had a head start and only needed to quicken their pace as they retreated back to their strong defenses. Only a few hundred humans were captured or killed before escaping back behind the defensive walls of their encampment.
“Ha! These stupid demons are asking for their death following us here! They fell into our trap! This helps us greatly! We can just wipe them out now!” shouted a gleeful female demigod as she watched the approaching demon race army from the safety of the fortified walls.
“We don’t have time to waste here! Froit the main city in the north has fallen to the enemy! We need to leave now! If we don’t every town will fall leaving us with nothing!” shouted another demigod as he was packing his belongings from his nearby tent.
“For Kodria! For the demon race! For the Tri-pact alliance! We must not allow any of the enemies to escape!” growled Akira as they charged into the gates that were slowly closing.
“What idiot left the gates open!” shouted an angry demigod as he rushed towards the gate to try and help block the attackers.
Many allied soldiers and cavalrymen were cut down by the attacks of the demigods, but they knew that they must press the attack for the safety of the entire demon race and allied human cities.
As the guild leaders argued over what to do with Akira and those attacking them at the front gates as well as the news about the fall of Froit…
…attacks started to rain down on the demigod’s fortified encampment from the rear, cutting down many unprepared demigods as well as those who were part of the reserves and were resting up from the battles earlier in the day.
Two large forces of infantry had appeared out of nowhere right behind them! If one were to really look closer when the sun was out they could see hidden tunnels in the ground.
The demigods were now the ones surrounded on all sides and were being hammered hard. Since the majority of fighters were near the front gates, the rear defense of the encampment was too weak to withstand the surprise attack and buckled allowing the attackers to quickly push into the encampment causing mayhem.
Akira continued to fight with one demigod after the other, cutting them down in his now bloody black armor causing several of the demigods to be afraid of him as he walked towards them.
With the collapse of the rear, the battle at the front gates intensified as more escaped towards the gate’s main fighters.
“Awwwoooo!” Akira used his skill [Intimidation] causing those in the area to twitch and falter in their attacks or defending attacks aimed at them causing a large number of bright particle lights to light up the dark night.
The demigods were all cut down and none were offered quarters.
***
Zundar, the Dwarven led army, the [Full Moon] guild, and the dozens of other allied forces that popped out of nowhere continued their raids and battles all through the night and into the next day with little to no rest.
With each town and village that fell the large army of demigods that had been defeated had one less place to reappear at.
The allied forces that had been waiting for years and had prepared for a time just like this went wild as they tried to wipe out the scourge of demigods that plagued the land.
Not all of the attacks were successful leaving some of the attacking forces to be wiped out by the defending demigods. But most of them were able to complete their tasks without many losses.
At the main shoreline towns controlled by the demigod’s naval forces, Zundar and the marines engaged in ship-to-ship combat as they fought to capture the ships and deny the demigods a chance to escape or interfere with other forces on the continent.
With each of the guilds losing most if not all of their captured territory many of them were unable to reappear on the Foradverold continent. There were still a few small groups of demigods that were scattered throughout Foradverold that had to be dealt with. That was not a problem anymore.
With such fast land acquisitions, Kodria’s dukedom grew to the point of bursting!
Ding!
-
Requirements for Creating a Kingdom have been met!
The Kingdom of Kodria has been founded.
Kodria has been upgraded to a Rank 3 Kingdom!
-
Title received!
First KING: Kodria is the first modern King!
-
With the founding of the Kodria’s Kingdom, you have completed the Main quest Foradverold Kingdom Maker!
A notification will be sent out to the remaining participants along with the rewards based on your ranks!
