Alexander The Great Mage

Chapter 26 - Jackpot

Alexander sat on his giant Demon Horse and stared at the regiment of trolls that had made camp a little distance away from the village entrance.

It was a well made camp. Sentries equipped with what looked like horns stood guard in trios a respectable distance away from the main camp. Wooden palisades from God knows where had even been erected around it. Sure, it didn't look very sturdy, but it was enough to stop any cavalry from charging and sweeping through the camp like a death scythe.

Not like that's likely either, as Rin-Turah had no cavalry to speak of, much less the kind of heavy cavalry needed to storm and obliterate an enemy camp.

He sent his horse trotting forward toward it. Behind him, his 10 personal guards quietly followed.

A day earlier, upon studying the map, Alexander had a strong feeling that the enemy would definitely split his army into 3. One would hug the coastline to get to the rear of the City of Rin and launch a pincer attack, and another would ravage the country side while the main army would try to bulldoze its way from the main gate.

He had sent a battalion to meet the pincer attack, and he had led his personal guards to "take a stroll around the countryside."

Apparently he was right.

10 Red Robes against 20,000 trolls. Interesting. As he trotted along the pathway toward the camp in full view of their sentries, Alexander began to ponder and make comparisons.

Gaugamela was worse, Alexander finally decided. Not by much. But definitely worse.

Outnumbered 10 to 1, Alexander had turned the tide of battle at Gaugamela for his victory by going after the head of the snake with his most elite Companion Cavalry. 7000 heavy cavalry in wedge formation with him at the lead had smashed and obliterated the Persian left, sending King Darius and the rest of his army fleeing in terror.

Had King Darius reinforced his left flank in time to resist him, Alexander would have been surrounded and killed. The rest of his army would be massacred. But King Darius didn't do that and instead he turned tail and fled. And so Alexander had done what any respectable general would have done. He chased after the fleeing Persians, cut thousands down and cemented his name as one of the greatest generals the world had ever seen. Just another day's work.

20,000 trolls were a much more powerful army compared to King Darius's 300,000 men, Alexander was sure of it.

A troll sitting on a borg was a fearsome 3 meters tall and probably 300 kilograms. Add to the equation many sharp blades, tusks, claws, teeth and a pair of poisoned scimitars and then multiply that by 20,000, no human army would even think of standing their ground. One look and they would break, scatter and flee in every conceivable direction. Hell, if they could dig a hole and hide, they probably would.

"Who could fight these monsters?" The soldiers would think. "Achilles, maybe? Well then, let him do it. Us common soldiers? We're not having any of THAT, thank you very much."

Alexander chuckled. If there was such an army back on earth, what a sight that would be. He glanced back at his extremely silent body guards.

But then again, 10 Red Robes could easily smash his 30,000 Greek Army as easily as 20,000 trolls could eat King Darius's 300,000 soldiers for lunch.. So it was quite even in that sense. The only difference between Gaugamela and the current situation he was facing was a simple yet extremely crucial item. A sack.

He looked at the sack that was dangling by his side. It was quite large, maybe around twice the size of a human head. King Dirz'On 's head was quite large, Alexander mused. He must have had quite the brain. Too bad it wasn't large enough to save him from making the fatal mistake of attacking Rin-Turah.

This time, unlike the desperate battle he had to undergo back in Gaugamela, he had cut the head of the snake in advance.

"Dubaza. Do something incredibly and impressively unfriendly." Alexander ordered as they approached within 100 paces of the sentries. "But don't kill any trolls, please. I don't want to fight if possible."

"Yes Your Majesty." Dubaza bowed formally. He pointed at the ground in front of the three troll sentries and immediately a lightning bolt struck at the place he was pointing at and created a sizeable hole.

BAM! The thunder followed almost immediately.

Alexander frowned. Although it made a very satisfying boom, the hole it made was rather small by Alexander's standards. He turned to look at Dubaza suspiciously.

"Ehm." Dubaza coughed slightly in apology. He pointed once more at another spot in front of the three now-terrified sentries. This time, the sky rumbled as lightning energy gathered and gained strength at Dubaza's command.

And then an extremely fat and horrifying lightning bolt smashed down upon the ground with devastating power.

CRACCKKKK!!! BOOM!!

Huge clumps of earth flew all over the place as a deep crater around 20 meters in diameter appeared in front of them. Alexander turned and gave Dubaza a satisfied smile. Dubaza bowed in response.

Within seconds, a squad of Borg Riders appeared. Leading them was an extra large troll atop an extra large borg wearing extra spiky armor. Their leader, Alexander presumed. They stopped at the other end of the crater.

Seeing Alexander and a mere 10 mages behind him, all of the borg riders relaxed visibly. All, except for their leader who stiffened and sat ramrod straight on his borg.

He studied the crater carefully for a few seconds, noticing its impressive depth and even more impressive width, before studying Alexander and his body guards with an intensity that would have impressed the world's most intense person. More accurately, he studied Dubaza and his men. Alexander, he merely gave a glance, much out of obligation rather than need.

Check out the King first, oh he's a black robe okay. Next, his chief body guard. Holy crap what a vicious looking old fellow. And he's a red robe?! ALL the other body guards are red robes?! Damn.

"Erhm." Alexander cleared his throat after a few silent minutes had passed.

The troll leader finally tore his eyes off Alexander's guards and placed his intense stare on Alexander.

Seeing that he had the leader's full attention, Alexander tossed the sack across the crater. It landed accurately around two meters away from the troll leader.

The troll leader motioned at the sack, and instantly a troll dismounted and picked it up for him. The troll leader looked into the sack and took a sharp breath.

"You have three choices. One, stay, fight and join your king. Two, go back to your country and await my revenge. Three, join me." Alexander gave a troll a friendly smile. Behind him, his mages shifted uncomfortably. Dubaza even gave a slight cough.

Cough? That old fart probably hadn't gotten sick since ever since he.. Scratch that. That old fart probably had never gotten sick before in his entire life! Alexander's smile grew wider.

He had only planned to give them the first two options. But looking at the neat camp and the leader's seemingly more intelligent behavior, he had decided to give the third and final offer. It was pure instinct on his part. Somehow he felt like he could use this troll leader and his regiment.

"I am Regimental Commander Biruz." The leader finally said.

"If you do not fear death, come and join me in my command tent." He turned around and went back to his camp.

Jackpot!