§
Colonel Tieg’s regiment moved up to become our columns rearguard facing the orcs when Captain Macias’s cavalry company swept around to block the mortal main force attempting to circle our north end and outflank us. Neither had air support, because any flyer on our side was busy dealing with the wave of demonic flying beasts, and the Hamagaaran aerial forces couldn’t fly with the demonic wave present.
Portions of the orc force still milled in confusion from my initial attack, but the remainder were pressuring one half of Tieg’s regiment while Fenrisuelfr gave the other half a serious headache. They could only defend themselves, unable to advance against his [Wolf’s Howl] Wind mana attack and his poisonous spittle, but the adventurer corps supporting them were peppering the beast with harrying attacks, doing their best to distract it until the regiment could organize a counterattack. Typical for a melange of adventuring parties, they wielded mixed and uncoordinated attacks, but they vexed the wolf sufficiently to give the regular ranks breathing room.
To accomplish it, the soldiers needed sufficient time for the mage company supporting them to prepare their attacks, and that was proving difficult. Every time they had to fall back, the mages were sent back to square one. They would barely launch a single volley each time before having to retreat and reset.
A mage company isn’t the size of an infantry company. As infantry, it would be more of a platoon. But three to four dozen mages are a serious threat. Even though most Army combat mages are second level at best, they can pool their strengths, pulling off attacks that few individual mages can accomplish, using the large-scale multi-person castings that the individual mages among the adventurers could not provide. Being grouped into teams that drill together, perfecting a range of spells, they provide the military with Huade’s equivalent to Earth’s artillery batteries.
But to do so, they needed sufficient space to build their magic geometries, and they needed the time to chant and charge mana. For group spells, this takes a lot longer than for an individual high-level mage doing the equivalent. They weren’t getting that time, which was why I wanted Aenëe to change the balance of power for them.
I had another goal for her as well. As we left Ged’s command group, I cloaked and followed her, waiting for Trisiagga to confront her, after which I would ambush Trisiagga. I wanted the asura to waste blood and energy on a blood insect attack or some other spell that I could then wipe out at the source.
For that purpose, I was already gathering Holy mana and held my combat fan in my left hand. Naturally, I had Durandal gripped in my right.
I would rather just go attack Trisiagga directly, but I was still not convinced that an out-of-control Fenrisuelfr was better than an attacking Fenrisuelfr. Instead, I made room for Sirth and Kwelabi inside my head and revived them in order to resume their roles, while I plotted to harass her from stealth.
Sirth’s job was to organize her spirits to escort Aenëe. Kwelabi’s role would be the same as before. The [Blood Sigil] records what it hears, so I didn’t lose anything when Eurybia forced Kwelabi into dormancy, but I needed him to review what I had missed. Trisiagga was staying on the ground, and strangely, she was moving away from Aenëe, whom she surely could see. Instead, she was moving into the backfield of the skeleton force which our main force was preparing to charge.
I needed to know what sort of commands she was issuing. Hopefully, I could guess her plans. But the moment Kwelabi went to work, I received a surprise.
– That Lord Durash has made contact with her again, Your Highness.
I reviewed recent memories and found the words that Kwelabi had just heard. Naturally, neither of us could understand it. We would need to turn everything over to Fan Li in order to do that, but she knew nothing about flying with wings or using an Elder’s body to fight.
I responded, – Squeeze out what information you can from it.
But naturally, Kwelabi had my recent thoughts in his memory as well, and he responded to them.
– Have you not noticed, Your Highness? The one who called me ‘junior husband’ left us a gift.
In that instant, as his memory showed me the gift he had discovered, my strategy changed.
Also seeing it, Sirth mused, – Aye, we should hand our roles over to that one.
Kwelabi added, – Although I think one of us could stay aware now, in addition to Her Highness. Sirth would be the best choice.
Not only had my pneuma been fully restored by Eurybia’s presence, the goddess had forcibly expanded my spiritual vessel and filled it with additional spiritual energy.
That gift had been quite expensive. From Senhion’s knowledge of immortal matters, I knew that Eurybia had burnt up a lavish quantity of her own spiritual energy in order to occupy my body for those few seconds. To have left an additional portion behind like this, she must have decided to increase the value received from the cost she bore.
Even though it was only a small fraction of her personal total, it had been an amount that even an immortal of her realm would not have spent lightly. I owed her considerable gratitude for this gift. I could only make wild guesses how many years or even centuries of cultivation I had just leapfrogged over.
Although it would take a heavy toll on my pneuma, because I needed to make full use of all my spiritual energy again, this gift meant I could now do what I could not previously manage. Kwelabi exited and I assigned to Sirth the work of monitoring the [Blood Sigil]s and my [Blood Tracker] watching the demons. Then, I yielded the lion’s share of my mental capacity to Fan Li.
I could imagine her polite bow as she responded, – This small one shall endeavor to translate as quickly as possible.
Aenëe flew in a straight line toward Fenrisuelfr, not hiding her intentions in the least, and not even making an effort to avoid friendly fire as she flew over our troops at it. She simply let one of her defensive treasures protect her as she blazed over their heads with her sword drawn back to deliver her first strike.
I don’t know her reason for coming in so recklessly, but I suspect she was trying to draw his attention away from the mortal troops as soon as possible. It succeeded. His snarling maw took a snap in her direction, looking for all the world like a dog trying to catch an insect in his mouth.
Although Aenëe is slow by my standards, she was too fast for him to catch this way, and she landed a whip of Fire mana from her blade on his face, nearly striking his eye.
As the fairborn knight danced away from him, Fan Li began feeding me a transcript of the intercepted conversation.
“The primary attack is underway, Underling! Have you herded the mortals into position yet?”
I felt immediate alarm. The ‘primary attack’ had to be the one on King Owen.
“My Lord, we have trouble! The strange attacker from yesterday is indeed the half-vampire freak! She has somehow overcome your [Demon’s Mist]! And she is wielding Holy mana!”
“You have no need for panic. The God Wolf that I released for you should be more than enough to give you the edge!”
Aenëe was battering said wolf with rapid-fire attacks. It didn’t appear to be taking a major toll on the thing, but it was distracted by her, taking the pressure off Tieg’s people. His companies facing the orcs were also no longer losing ground.
Trisiagga remained unconvinced. “That Jurmat I captured before was surely a stregione. If this bitch is truly a strega who survived …”
“Cease your cowardly chatter, Underling! If that so-called strega was a threat to you with the tools you carry now, she could have killed you on the spot back then!”
My partner was doing fine and Trisiagga still hadn’t moved either against her or against Ged. I began wondering if I should forget about the demoness and join in against the beast instead.
Behind me, Ged’s main force had begun their charge. The other three regiments were now marching in ranks with shields and lowered spears. The drums beat their cadence as the archers and mages began their bombardment. In the enemy ranks to the south, their counterparts were shooting in response, but the difference in strength was made sharply clear through the thin wave of projectiles incoming.
“Lord Durash, the mortals are marching south now! Please release the underground force!”
“Excellent! Is the God Wolf rampaging yet?”
“Not yet, My Lord. The half-fairy and the mortals are holding it back!”
“Then go do something about her, fool!”
“But the strega…”
“Use the tools I have given you!”
Sirth’s thoughts came at the same time. – That witch is moving, Princess
I sensed the [Blood Sigil] taking to the air. I turned that direction and spotted Trisiagga in her ‘fairy knight’ cosplay.
I had a full charge of Holy mana circulating as I dashed toward her, but as I flew, I suddenly felt myself flying through a vapor-thin mana presence and realized I was surrounded by a [Blood Mist].
[Fortress of Gaia] blossomed into existence around me as a demonic mana javelin flew at me, shattering against it and crumbling into miasma and dispersing mana. A grinning Trisiagga shifted her course to fly my way, gripping an ugly black spear that she had leveled at me. It seemed that [Blood Mist] could defeat my [Vampire Cloak]. I shrugged and dropped the stealth.
The blare of bugle calls sang out from below. In the distance, the line of soldiers who were advancing southward broke into a run. The front line had their spears leveled, while the following ranks ran with spear points raised, ready to join the shield wall, replacing the casualties in front of them as their turns came.
Their turn wasn’t likely to come, though. The forces facing them were too thin. A shield wall depends upon shoulder to shoulder cooperation, defending your neighbor as well as yourself. The Hamagaarans would soon be overwhelmed.
As Durandal blew off a second and third mana javelin from the demoness, Trisiagga looked determined to continue running straight at me, so I halted mid-air and silently chanted, [Purification]. While gritting my teeth against the fire of purification ripping through my body, I waved my fan and sent a spread of Holy mana flying at the demoness. It splashed against a demonic mana shield that appeared in front of her, but she braked to a stop in reaction.
“So the little strega girl returned!” she sneered. “I’ve been hoping for another chance to get a piece of you!”
I answered with a smirk, “You should have kept running when you had the chance last time, little girl. It would have been smarter not to stop until you reached the demonic plains.”
“Hah! As if! I’ll get my…”
She chopped off, then her eyes grew wide. “Where’s my fan?! Why are you carrying that cheap imitation?!”
I laughed. “You’re hardly a sufficient threat for me to use a holy relic like the Fan of Rephale, little girl. My lovely fan is more than enough to take care of the likes of you!”
“I’ll show you who’s a little girl, vampire bitch!” she snarled and dashed at me.
Ordinarily, a spear is not a good weapon for dueling against a sword and shield. Yes, in infantry combat, it’s superior, where groups of spearmen totally destroy swords. In one-on-one fights, a spear against a swordsman without a shield is also superior. But a shield kills the spear’s advantage of reach. Yes, a true spear master can overcome this problem, as long as he’s not up against a true master of sword and buckler fighting, and yes, I wasn’t carrying a literal shield, but I did have my fan, and a copious supply of Earth mana. These worked even better than a shield.
Magic changes these equations a lot.
Of course, Trisiagga also had magic, and the spear was clearly her weapon of preference. We exchanged several blows in short order without gaining any advantage on our opponent. I could probably have killed her at any moment with Durandal’s abilities or a solid blast of [Purification], but I was still worried about setting that damned wolf free. For that reason, I was trying to wound her instead, which was harder.
Then, a bird-like thing came swooping in near Trisiagga’s shoulder, and the deep voice of Lord Durash spoke Regaritan from it. An evil smile spread across the asura’s face in reaction.
Fan Li provided me with the translation. “The command is given. I have released the underground forces.”
