City of Sin

Book 6, 108

A War Of Reality And Illusion(3)

On the other side of the battlefield, Tzu had already led her elven army forward to attack. She had over ten thousand elven warriors under her, but her rearrangements hadn’t been as large in scale as Richard’s. Landing on the ground while carrying the Skylance, she walked ahead of all of her soldiers and met the enemies head-on.

Watching her ponytail flying in the sky, Richard wanted to ask her to give him control of her troops. However, he quickly shook his head and let her fight her own way. Neither of them would win this battle; he was only here to accompany his aunt in her final hours before fleeing back to the Forest Plane. In the final moments of her existence, what she needed was a bloody and uninhibited battle, not a cold guerilla war with no glory.

Iskara’s first legion had only one type of troop, a strange creature with sturdy bodies and sharp horns and claws. Between level 8 and level 10, they were much weaker than the horned demons they resembled, but their numbers more than made up for it.

A wave of arrows whistled through the sky when the two sides were a few hundred metres apart, creating a small gap in the enormous formation. More volleys were fired to break the formation apart further, but the incoming legion just tightened up and filled them out. Every volley killed a hundred of these creatures, but that was only a drop in the ocean. Faint red lights suffused the bodies of these demons as they turned berserk, pouncing on the elves closest to them.

Tzu rushed forward and disappeared into the horde, holding the Skylance up high. The divine weapon that had survived the fall of the elven empire flashed with golden-green lightning as it shot out a cone of pure jade energy, wiping out all enemies up to a dozen metres ahead of her.

And yet, even more of these creatures surged in and trod over their comrades to leap towards her, not scared at all. Tzu snorted, thrusting the Skylance once more, and the spear sent out rays of energy that quickly separated the pouncing enemies into two halves. A bloody mist covered her immediate vicinity, and with over a thousand of them dead in only two strikes it took the horde some time to fill the gap. This was the power of a legendary being, capable of going up against an entire army on her own!

As the elves entered spear formation with Tzu at the tip, Richard turned to his own soldiers and started giving out orders, “Enter formation! Mage Troop 3 boost the shields of the left flank, Mage Troop 6 on the right flank...”

Richard’s mouth moved endlessly as he sent out order after order, splitting the two hundred mages into seventy groups with their own specific commands. His soldiers picked up speed as his entire troop flanked around to the rear of the enemy formation, planning to meet Tzu’s charge from the other direction.

Tzu herself continued at breakneck pace, the Skylance constantly clearing out a path ahead of her. Every time she stopped one of the captains or generals would find their body exploding. However, when she targeted the black sorcerer that was in command dozens of the strongest creatures jumped forward to block the attack. The commander was sent flying by the explosion but managed to survive. One reason was the three hundred metre distance, while another was its own level 18 might.

Just as the black sorcerer tumbled through the rear of the formation and got up to reorganise its troops, a strange whistle rang out as a distant fireball struck it right in the head. A strong explosion sent it flying once more, and Richard resumed commanding his army in the charge.

The horde was not prepared at all for this attack. Richard had used the hills and valleys over the past while to keep out of sight, so they had only assumed his army was integrated into Tzu’s. Now, he was a blade twisting around in their back that ripped their formation apart. Not slowing down in the slightest, his army just ground through the hundreds of horned demons in the rear. With the Skylance and Moonlight flashing constantly, the battle turned into a massacre.

Richard spurred his horse on, his once-nameless sword flashing right across the black sorcerer’s neck. There were still more than ten thousand horned demons alive, but with their commander gone all resemblance of forced order broke apart. Exterminating them would only be a matter of time.

Noticing that Iskara still hadn’t sent a second legion forward, he had the army slow down and fight a little more defensively, not hunting for kills. He took the time to recover as much of his mana as he could, and the three spring druids in his forces helped his mages do the same. This was only the first battle won, and he would need his army in top shape for the rest.

Once the final demon was killed, Iskara laughed loudly once more, “Not bad at all! A rather exciting performance, you’ve lost me... Oh, two months of my time. Your own losses are less than I had anticipated as well; this is truly a rare opportunity. Here is your reward, more pieces on the board. You will not win so easily this time!”

Two more legions moved out, slowly entering the battlefield. Richard watched the two new types of enemies like a hawk; even though their numbers were smaller in total at only 30,000, they were more powerful by a level and weren’t a single type. There were still horned creatures, but now there were also archers and four-armed javelineers in the fray. Multiple black sorcerers were floating in the air, each of whom was more powerful than the first commander.

This was a true army now, one with magic and range and a proper infantry to keep the enemies at bay. With over 60,000 troops in total, they outnumbered Richard and Tzu roughly six to one. This would be a tough battle.

...

The battle stretched on for quite some time. The elves were like a sturdy reef as they attracted all the attention and attacks, leaving Richard’s force free to choose the most advantageous battles. The enemies were whittled away over time, with Tzu and Richard stepping in to eliminate their powerhouses when needed.

Tzu’s troops suffered massive casualties even though she was still unstoppable, and Richard’s mind was stretched to the limit as the orders never stopped. He was going all out on this small army, constantly repositioning them in the best positions for support as he helped Tzu clear out the enemies bit by bit. He managed to keep his own losses low due to his mobility, and if not counting Tzu herself his army was actually doing much more damage to the enemies in total.

The two enormous legions were eventually cut apart, but Tzu was left with only five thousand elves. Such losses would have broken apart any army, but thankfully this world had no concept of morale. Soldiers would still tire, they would still make mistakes, but they would not desert. However, this had its own disadvantages. Morale was something a lot of commanders used to add explosive strength to their armies, and Tzu was one such commander. She was not used to this style of command at all.

On the other hand, Richard felt no different from normal. As the consummate tactician who always employed the broodmother’s drones, he was perfectly used to this kind of battle. Cold, calculating, and ruthless was where he thrived. His own army only lost a hundred men, but most of them were shieldbearers and that was a problem. Once all of his shields were exhausted, his knights would be exposed.

This time, Iskara didn’t give them any time to regroup. The moment the last soldier of the third legion was dead four more legions stepped out to battle. There were a hundred sorcerers floating above each one, and in total they outnumbered the combined forces twenty to one.

Richard finally stepped off his own warhorse, grasping Moonlight tightly. This would be a tedious battle.