Godfather's System

140. Development - 36

I ran back to Zolast after dropping the team at Town Maell, doing my best to ignore my worries about the potential danger they were about to face. I had trained them and empowered them … and, if necessary, they had a team of guards they could mobilize — to assist their escape if nothing else.

Hopefully, that would be enough.

It had to be.

Despite running as fast as I could, I was still quite a bit of distance away when a grand explosion filled the skies, one that was not inferior to the mana bomb the Greens tried to use against my outpost.

I ignored the temptation to dump some stat points to Speed to move even faster and kept moving at my original pace. Zolast didn't send me a message asking for help, which suggested that it was not an immediate threat against him.

Unlike the younglings, I trusted him to know exactly what kind of threat he could handle, and in which circumstances it was better to retreat.

It turned out to be the correct call, as when I arrived on the battlefield, I was met with a surprisingly calm view … just a small group of cultists being slaughtered by the advanced military force of Baron Maell.

And, a smoking hilltop filled with burnt corpses.

Rather than stopping to examine the view, I approached our hiding spot, still pulling the carriage with me. Zolast was just returning to the wards he had built, the satisfied smirk on his face suggesting he had played something more than a small role in that explosion.

"I see that you went for a walk," I said as I pulled the cart under the wards, and opened one of the crates, not bothering to hide my own smile.

Working with truly competent people was always a pleasure.

"Something like that. I noticed that whoever built those layered mana wards didn't pay much attention to one of the overlapping sections, so I decided to give them a hand."

"Good work," I said. Zolast said nothing about whether what we had done was enough, and started placing the mana stones I brought along the silver runes he had created as the center of the defensive ward. "Anything I can do to help?" I asked.

"It's better if you watch," he answered. "It's a touch complicated."

"Understandable," I said as I turned my attention to the fight against the cultists who had raced down the hill. However, the fact that the ones with hidden armor were still waiting at the hilltop was not a good sign.

It meant that Zolast's trick didn't ruin their plan, merely creating a setback.

While Zolast continued to work on the ward, I turned my attention to the hill. Particularly, towards the marks left by the explosion. It was mostly gathered around the edge, but spreading inward. I might not be an expert when it came to magic, but bombs and booby-traps, I was quite familiar with.

Reading the explosion pattern was easy.

"I'm guessing they had some kind of magical explosion that was designed to spread outside, and you fiddled until removing that directional aspect," I said.

Zolast frowned playfully. "No one likes a know-it-all, Mister Hero. But yeah, that's what I had done. A nasty plan they had."

"Any reason why you decided to trigger it early?" I asked.

"Our genius baron was getting restless, and decided to set up a charge. He looked determined to sweep all of them at once," Zolast explained.

I sighed. "Tell me he's one of the terrible nobles when it comes to strategy," I asked.

"Unfortunately, he's one of the better ones," Zolast sighed. "Most of the time, their problems are resolved through duels, with occasional assassination attempts sprinkled in. There are good commanders within the royal family…"

"But the army they could command is limited in number," I completed.

"Exactly," Zolast said and turned his attention back to the defensive bulwark he was creating … though it was still unpowered to avoid attention.

I continued watching the battle, ignoring the desperate, crazy screams of cultists as they threw themselves against the army that mowed them down easily. But, the more I watched the ease of the army taking down the cultists, the worse I frowned.

They were weak. Even weaker than the kidnappers I had to deal with who targeted the villagers constantly. They were sent in just enough numbers to bog down the army without breaking their confidence.

My guess: they were waiting for the rest of the army to appear. Whatever plan they had, they wanted the rest of the army to be there for it as well. I did my best to ignore the cries of the cultists being slaughtered, disgusted by the nature of the tragedy.

Thousands of people, dead for no reason. I wished that I had a way to stop it, but I was too weak for that. The only thing I could do was to surrender to the kingdom as the hero and hope they would fulfill my wish of protecting the citizens…

But I was too old and too cynical to trust any political entity … not to mention there were Zolast's suspicions about the Calamities, and how my lost status was the only thing that was preventing a planet-wide massacre.

I watched, helpless, knowing that no man could stop all the bloodshed. All we could do was to do our best and hope it left the world a slightly better place.

As Zolast continued to work on the wards, I continued watching the massacre, but when I saw the rest of the army on the horizon, all of them mounted — some of the horses carrying two, showing they weren't successful in catching all the horses — I started putting my golden armor on.

"Shiny," Zolast said as he stood next to me, the bulwark complete. His attempt to tease me fell flat, his voice thick with fury and frustration, showing that I was not the only one affected by the massacre. I said nothing, and he continued a moment later. "I hate that we can't reverse the cultist transformation," Zolast sighed.

"We'll either find a way, or make sure that the monster can't keep his claws hooked on this world," I said, my voice determined. God or not, I had no intention of allowing such a monster to continue targeting people.

Zolast just nodded, and we watched the approach of the bulk of the army. It was an impressive view with their armor shining under the sun. "Any idea what they planned for them?" I asked.

"Nothing good," Zolast said. "The traps are gone, but before they could rebuild the isolation spell, I managed to get a glimpse of what was underneath the base."

"Let me guess, a tunnel," I said.

"Tunnels, lots of them," Zolast corrected. "And, quite a bit of them had some kind of movement that was not human."

"Any hope that we could go and explain to the Baron about the trap and he listens to us," I suggested, not able to hide the derision in my tone.

"Trying to lecture a noble in his own territory about tactics… Maybe if we were the king, we would have a fifty-fifty chance."

"Amateurs," I growled in annoyance. Ultimately, that was what those nobles were when it came to the concept of warfare despite all their fancy classes, skills, and abilities. Amateurs.

I was not exactly an expert myself, but I had been a part of a few wars in my youth — some as a mercenary, some at a more entrepreneurial capacity — to know their approach was the absolute worst.

"Do you think you can trigger some kind of spell to push those monsters out?" I asked.

"Not now. They have too many wards to keep those monsters under control, and their mages would be focusing on keeping them under control. The trap ward was easy to sabotage because it was inherently unstable. However, the ones that are keeping the tunnels hidden are much more stable. But, once the army starts to move…"

"Their mages will start attacking as well, giving you the opportunity to intervene," I completed, earning another nod.

I tightened my hand on the bulky two-handed sword — the weapon I picked from the vault to give the impression of a mighty and brave knight, while also maintaining my reach advantage.

We said nothing else as we watched the army approach in a simple formation, the soldiers under Baron's command at the right, with their archers behind the main force, and the guild members on the left, split into several groups and far less organized.

A true invitation to a disaster. Horrible situation, one that could be solved if they could listen to one word from me.

At least, after my Charisma trick that destroyed their cohesion completely, they had actually bothered to dismount, which counted as a win in my book.

Unfortunately, one of the annoying aspects of getting old was to watch the people around me commit some horrendous blunders, confident in their ignorance. Those mistakes could be easily avoided if they would just listen to my advice…

But, they would not.

Even if I didn't know the nature of the trap that had been created for them, I would still see their defeat. Because, even before they engaged their first enemy, the army lost its cohesion. The forces under the Baron's command, still excited about their earlier victory, rushed forward.josei

The rest of the soldiers followed, but with a delay, and their cohesion immediately shattered, showing that the Baron's command skill was limited enough to not cover more than a hundred soldiers.

The irregulars from the guild were even worse. They didn't even try to follow the Baron's army closely, happy to be left behind.

Amateur didn't even begin to describe their tactical awareness.

Overly impressed by their ability to cut down another group of cultists, to reach the edge of the hill, our dear Baron didn't care about the tactical mistakes he had been committing, and continued to move until they were at the bottom of the hill.

Soon, their mages caught up with them, and started attacking the hilltop with their spells, blue bolts of mana raining down.

"It's time. Be ready to intervene. We don't know just how many creatures there will be." Zolast said as he closed his eyes, and a thin string of mana appeared, one that was easily ignored among all those blue bolts raining even as it stretched for a great distance.

As I waited, I decided to make some last-minute preparations. I was going to be a brave knight … and I needed the Strength to back it up.

[+25 Strength]

[-25 Stat Points]

Just like that, I was strong enough to match a lot of people that managed to reach level hundred.

[Class: Hero

Level: 46

Experience (0/118,117,440)]

[Health (540/800)

Mana (60/200)]

[Experience: 0]

[Authority: 17]

[STATS

Resilience: 50

Vitality: 40

Strength: 60

Agility: 35

Speed: 30

Perception: 50

Memory: 10

Charisma: 50

Attunement: 10

Concealment: 25

LOCKED…]

[Stat Points: 100]

[SKILLS: Archery of Destruction (0X)]

[ABILITIES: Elevated Life - Intermediate - Human

Heroic Party (2) ]

[Alignment: Unaligned]

As I finished the assignment, a red flare filled the hilltop as the containment wards broke.

And monsters started to spew out of the tunnels.