Chapter 25

  The morning of the third day arrived, and Gotrut wasted no time demanding that we conquer the imps by nightfall.

  The one issue with Goblins was, unsurprisingly, their lack of patience. In ideal circumstances, I would wear down the opposition a little bit each night without over-committing. A semi-seige, if you would.

  After all, we have the entire forest and two tribes to work with. Food and water are a non-issue. However, Team 1 will only grow weaker over time.

  “Yes, chief, I promise you’ll be in charge by tomorrow.”

  I placated Gotrut, who stomped over to Fleur and demanded she spar with him.

  They couldn’t be said to be on good terms. But Fleur liked shooting him with arrows, and Gotrut took pleasure in breaking said arrows mid-flight. I suppose in that sense, they got along…

  I just had to figure out how to close out the trial quickly.

  “Axel, come here a second.”

  The bulky blonde was doing squats while several kobolds and goblins clung to his massive frame. He shook them off like a dog out of water and joined me at a hastily crafted table. Okay, it wasn’t a table. It was just a tree stump with two logs dragged nearby to act as chairs.

  Axel sat opposite me and looked at the map I had drawn. It was a layout of the ruined fort along with its immediate surroundings.

  “What do you think? We’ve got one day left to do this before the goblins go rogue. And they will surely be torn apart in a direct fight.”

  “So? We could back them up and win through sheer force.”

  Axel’s flippant words didn’t fool me. He wasn’t the dumb brute he appeared to be, and I knew it. His scores were significantly higher than mine in almost every subject, including military tactics. He should know a pyrrhic victory was as good as defeat in this situation. We had to minimise losses as best as we could.

  “Not buying it? Heh, alright, let’s be serious then.”

  Axel leaned forward and assessed the map.

  “This place was built with the intention of limiting assault options. One entry faces downhill. High walls for archers to pepper any attackers with arrows, and the other sides of the fort are too steep to get an attack force up there.”

  Axel looked like a seasoned general, his expression contemplative and his words straight to the point.

  “The bulk of our force makes for poor frontliners. Gotrut and his…”

  “Spider Biters.”

  “Yeah, them. They're tough bastards, and if we include me, you, and Guy, we still only have 13 people for our vanguard. The rest would crumble in no time.”

  “So?”

  “So, a direct attack is out of the question, but the terrain forces us into taking that option. Luckily, we have Oliver.”

  Axel took one of the pencils I laid out, courtesy of Oliver. He drew as he explained his thinking.

  “Using Longstride and Leap, we could get a fair number of our boys up there in no time. But they would still need to climb a little, which leaves them vulnerable. If our vanguard holds their attention, the rest could flank and filter in through the gaps in the crumbling walls.”

  “All the gaps are plugged with undead.”

  I realised I hadn’t marked the locations of the undead sentries, and quickly did so for Axel to reassess.

  “Ah, right. Damn Nekrotica woman…”

  He scowled and rolled his neck.

  “Kobolds would do well against them. Their scales are thick and they like bludgeoning weapons, but your green boys like poking and slicing too much, their weapons suck for this.”

  “So, kobolds should be leading the attack from the flanks. We can outfit the goblins who won’t be in the vanguard with bows to lay down covering fire to keep the Imps off the walls.”

  I went along with Axel’s strategy and looked at the layout once again with this plan in mind.

  “This accounts for the Imps and undead, but Team 1 is still an issue. Oliver told you how to use Bless and Signal to counter the spellcasters, right?”

  Axel nodded at me.

  “It’s a good countermeasure, but I doubt the fodder will be able to execute it.”

  “You might be right there. Lily’s definitely the biggest problem for us.”

  “Hmm… Bridgit will be an issue, too. I can handle her, but it will keep me from assisting elsewhere.”

  Axel admitted he wouldn’t be able to knock out Bridgit immediately. Whether this was because he was still heavily injured or legitimately respected her skill was unclear.

  “...What if we could attack from here?”

  I circled the rear of the fort.

  “The approach from there might as well be a cliff. You could do it with a small force, but they would need to go unnoticed. Maybe if they waited for the battle to reach max intensity, you could pull it off.”

  “No. They will strike immediately after the two flanks engage the enemy.”

  Axel raised a brow at me, not seeing how that could be pulled off.

  Everything clicked in my head.

  Undead guards lack intelligence. Imps would keep a distance and stay in the fort. Bridgit would try to prove herself. Lily would toy with us. Meztili remained an unknown, but judging from her skillset, she should stay within the fort as well.

  I smiled and relayed my thoughts to Axel.

  ***

  [Team 1 POV]

  The sun was descending once again. Lily and Meztili abandoned the bombardment plan after confirming that not a single one had hit its target. Scouting imps were then sent out, and they confirmed that both camps were empty.

  The news startled Team 1, but it didn’t significantly alter their plans. All they had to do was locate their targets again and go from there. Luckily, imps were patient in their nefariousness, used to biding their time for years if need be, to find that perfect moment to cause the most mayhem.

  Lily had proudly told the others many times already that they held the advantage thanks to their unique ability to simply wait. The others would surely collapse from the inside eventually.

  The three girls from Team 1 had nothing to do but wait for the Imps they sent out to report back, so they gathered in the courtyard and around their campfire. They each packed heavily under Lily’s recommendation. She had assured them they could afford to camp in comfort so long as they made it to the fort quickly, and she was right.

  “Haaaa… I’m sooo BOOOOOREED!”

  Lily kicked her little legs and stared up at the orange sky.

  “Where could they even go? There are no other caves big enough to fit that lot around here!”

  She asked Meztili, who shrugged in response.

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  “It’s the goblins I’m concerned about. They can make their homes anywhere. How do we find them?”

  “Screw them. They’ll get bored and attack us themselves soon.”

  Lily dismissed her with a wave of the hand.

  “Why can’t they just hurry up?”

  She conjured a tangible ball of darkness and lightly tossed it to Bridgit.

  “You’re the one who told us to be patient.”

  Bridgit used her sword like a bat and knocked the ball out of the fort.

  “Yeah, but they’re not meant to be doing the same thing!”

  Lily whined. They continued their ball game as they spoke.

  “I don’t get it either. That idiot musclehead should have made a racket by now. But besides that spout of fire yesterday, there’s been nothing of note.”

  Another ball was sent flying, this time it shattered the skull of a skeletal guard, and they crumbled into ash.

  Meztili silently looked at them.

  “What? I’m just putting the poor soul to rest.”

  Bridgit smirked at her. She was strongly opposed to the presence of the Nekrotica girl and only tolerated her because they were assigned to the same team.

  “...I told you. They have no souls. Such necromancy is beyond mortals.”

  “Whatever. You’re still desecrating the dead.”

  “Ladies, please. Can we not do this again?”

  Lily cut them off, and right as Bridgit was about to snap back, something small and squishy slapped her in the face, leaving a warm, wet substance on her cheek.

  She touched her face and checked her fingers.

  “...Blood?”

  She then looked at the object. An imp’s body had been crushed and forced into the shape of a ball.

  “Haha, what happened to you, little guy?”

  Lily poked it with her finger and giggled.

  “Stop being creepy, you two. We’re under attack.”

  Bridgit grew serious and ran to the front of the fort. The gate had long since rotted and fallen from its hinges, but the stone around it still worked to funnel would-be attackers into a bottleneck.

  Bridgit stood in that opening and peered out to sight the attacker. She didn’t need to try hard, as her challenger stood out in the open for all to see.

  “Tch. Bastard.”

  Bridgit muttered under her breath. And as if he could hear her quiet cursing, the man yelled out in his recognisable voice, like thunder with an attitude problem.

  “Oi! What are you doing hiding away in there!? Are you royalty or a rodent?”

  Axel Lionheart stood alone, like the cocky fool she knew him to be.

  “It’s Axel! Team 2 is attacking!”

  Bridgit swallowed her pride and stayed in position. They had formed multiple plans for how to best deal with an assault from either of the teams. In this scenario, she had to stay on the defense and lock Axel down.

  Ironically, the worst-case scenario for them was if Axel chose to attack alone, since they couldn’t make him surrender by wiping out his allies. Luckily, the best-case scenario had revealed itself.

  Goblins stepped out and lined up alongside Axel. This could only mean that he had already dealt with the Druid and the elf.

  Meztili must have gotten into position herself, as her skeletons began to spread out so as not to be smashed in one go.

  Axel chuckled as he watched them shuffle around awkwardly, then ran forward, Lightning armour already in effect.

  But he ignored all the rusty spears and grabbing bone hands that came his way. He instead forced his way straight into Bridgit. Like a crack of lightning, his approach was terrible, swift, and direct.

  Bridgit kept her calm and held her ground. Her rapier sprang forth with practiced precision, imbued with holy power. True Strike allowed her attacks to auto-correct slightly, finding the weakest area of Axel’s armour.

  Clang!

  Her attack bounced off. There was no weak spot to take advantage of.

  Axel grabbed her wrist before she could withdraw it and yanked her out of the gateway, tossing her behind him.

  She hit the ground hard, but recovered fast. If Axel carried on and attacked the supporters, it would also allow Bridgit to run wild on the goblins. He knew this, and simply stood in place watching her with his arms outstretched.

  “Stare at me all you like, I’ve got all day.”

  He mocked her. Even when an imp tried firing on him with lightning, and a shadowy fist collided with his back, he would not budge.

  “Come on, Bridgit! Were you all talk this whole time? Look! Look what Rex gave me before I drove him into the dirt!”

  Axel ripped his tattered shirt from his body and revealed a chest covered in burns.

  “Some woodland freak did more to me than the entire royal family combined! Hahaha!”

  His roaring laughter echoed out, and it continued even as he side-stepped the thin gout of golden flame that fired from the end of Bridgit’s rapier.

  Sol’s Breath. The Gift unique to the Royal Solean bloodline, had been activated by the young princess. Golden flames surrounded her body. Her hair and eyes became like molten lava, and her blade was shining like the sun.

  She followed up with a flurry of precise thrusts, each one releasing a precise burst of flame. Coupled with the effects of True Strike, it should be nigh-impossible to miss.

  But miss she did. As Axel had learnt his lesson when playing with fire. He shifted from mana to aura reinforcement and disengaged his armour. He was fighting as a normal close-quarters fighter would. Simply buffing his strength and speed.

  Boom!

  The earth shook as he pushed off the ground, and his already staggering speed was pushed even further. He ducked and weaved between every attack that came his way. He delivered light jabs and shoved Bridgit repeatedly. It took all she had to avoid a knockout.

  Even so, their duel had taken them into their own little world, and she was painfully unaware of what was happening around her.

  ***

  Fleur waited patiently in a tall tree. She was taking careful shots at the imps on the walls, interrupting them each time it looked like a spell was about to be launched at the Spider Biters.

  She looked at them with a mixture of fear and awe. Mere goblins led by a bloodthirsty maniac were leaping around at speeds she knew she couldn’t replicate herself. They were doing their job perfectly, drawing attention to the front but backing each other up when needed. So far, thanks to their boosted abilities from the visceranid venom, they had been able to avoid any casualties.

  But the sides of the fort were still well-defended. They needed an extra little something to pull the defenders away.

  Fleur loaded a certain enchanted arrow. Poorly made and with no tip, it didn’t serve to hit a target, but rather to send a message.

  She fired it high in the sky after infusing a little mana into it. Signal fired off, and Gotrut’s movements suddenly shifted.

  With Bridgit no longer aware of her surroundings, the Spider Biters rushed past the skeletons they were keeping at bay and leapt onto the walls. They were upon the imps in seconds, and wings were sent flying as the dirge of death descended on them.

  Gotrut in particular showed why he was the chief of the Blood Thunderers.

  He was like a whirlwind of iron and blood. His armour should have weighed him down, and yet he moved faster than any of his comrades. He would lunge and skewer two imps onto either arm, then fling them like projectiles into the next victim.

  This had the desired effect. The flanks opened up as skeletal minions shuffled away to reinforce the crumbling front lines.

  Fleur issued a mental command to Piki, who waited below with the kobolds. With a burst of water, the signal was sent to initiate the attack. She could only hope Guy was as quick to act on the other side.

  Kobolds flew through the air. Luckily, they were able to learn the words for Leap and Longstride before the attack.

  Next came the clubs enchanted with Bless. The enchantment would make these primitive clubs into single-use entities, but that was fine.

  They rushed the skeletons, who, while unsurprised due to their mindless nature, were still lacking in the numbers needed to counter this attack properly.

  A swing and a burst of light blew the first one to fragments. The other kobolds followed suit, and the resulting light show caused Fleur to squint her eyes. Once it ended, she saw similar lights coming from the opposite end. Guy didn’t fail to see the opening Gotrut had created.

  With this, Team 1 was cornered. But it was Guy who had warned them of what would happen at this point in the battle…

  A pulse of purple light washed over the battlefield.

  A kobold took an axe to the face and dropped to the ground, only to rise moments later and begin savagely clawing and biting at his comrades.

  The dead imps rose as if an invisible force were pulling them upward, and they resumed their spell-slinging with mechanical precision. Before, their attacks were spread out between targets, and even when they coordinated, there was always a delay.

  Now, however, they moved as one.

  B-b-b-boom!

  Four spherical balls of lightning collided with a single Spider-Biter, blowing him to pieces instantly.

  Fleur didn't wait to see any more, she fires a second Signal arrow, and Gotrut pulled his men off the walls. Two more died in the retreat and subsequently rose again.

  Thanks to the blessed strikes from the kobolds, the skeletons remaining were minimal. But those who still stood had turned black. Cracks of purple energy marred their bones as unholy energies empowered them, and they moved with the fluidity of a true soldier.

  Fleur moved her hand quickly to the secondary quiver she had made from Oliver’s leftover materials.

  All the frontliners backed off, allowing Team 1 to reclaim the fort fully. The final phase was about to begin.