Godfather's System

141. Development - 37

Watching the monsters spill down the hill was difficult with my instincts shouting at me to intervene. "Patience," I murmured as I watched the number of monsters spilling out, calmly counting them while I waited for the arrival to come to an end.

The total number of monsters would determine my strategy.

The battlefield was not a place for emotions. This was the time for cold calculation.

As I watched the monsters spill out, I analyzed some important details. For example, they were not as big as Lord Beasts, and looked similar to a more violent variant of the ordinary beasts. I truly hoped that was their origin and not the more grim alternative.

While I considered their origin, the tunnels finally stopped spewing them out — but not before their numbers passed the three-hundred mark.

Their numbers were impressive, but their combat capability was significantly lower than the monster I had fought against. I didn't wonder why they didn't use stronger monsters, as the reason was apparent in the way I learned their general combat capability.

One of the monsters shrugged off whatever the cultists were using to keep them under a semblance of control almost instantly. And, without external control, it attacked one of the cultists before the rest of them climbed down the hill, giving me a good idea of its combat capability.

Luckily, their combat capability matched what their size suggested. They were considerably stronger than ordinary large beasts, but they were nowhere near as strong as Lord Beasts. A rough guess, even a worker class with some combat skill could take them down as long as they were above level forty.

Three hundred against a thousand, it should have been an easy battle until the elite forces could join, especially since they didn't pop into existence easily.

Instead, the Baron's army shattered in fear, splitting into three different groups. The first one to react was the guild forces, their lack of leadership and the distrust between their groups within the army were apparent as not only did they start to escape, but they didn't even escape as a single group, dispersing immediately.

Which was worse than even my admittedly low expectations. Yes, they radiated something like a fear aura that worked similarly to Charisma, but it wasn't strong enough to explain their cowardice. Especially since only a fraction of the beasts, barely fifty, attacked them. They could have taken down those beasts easily. Instead, they raced to be the first ones to steal some horses.

Disgusting.

The second group was the hundred soldiers that were under the direct command of Baron Maell. They managed to maintain their discipline — though I expected that to be due to the Baron's Charisma and command skill rather than their inherent training — as they easily cut down the beasts that attacked them, continuing to move forward.

Then, there was the third group, the remaining four hundred soldiers of House Maell. Their performance was … spotty at best. Some of them bravely moved forward and tried to catch up with their Baron, and some tried to create a defensive position. But those two groups didn't even account for half of the remaining soldiers.

All one hundred and fifty archers pulled back decisively, their movement pattern suggesting that they were being controlled by a command skill, and about seventy of the melee soldiers and mages accompanied them, pulling back decisively.

Archers continued to attack, but I didn't miss the fact that their arrows were missing their target more than they hit … which shouldn't be possible with their skill-based combat approach.

Their approach to warfare had several problems, but one thing they didn't lack was the individual skill.

Certainly not to the point of missing a bunch of horse-sized monsters that rushed forward in a straight line.

Leaving a very simple explanation.

Betrayal.

Then, I noticed that not only were all four flying carts moving toward them at full speed, but also four others appeared from behind a hill.

Not just a betrayal, but a planned one.

"Fuck… As if the situation wasn't complicated enough," I growled as I prepared to move, realizing that keeping House Maell intact might be more difficult than I expected. "Activate the bulwark, then cast a spell to keep those monsters away from the group for a moment," I asked.

"Isn't it a bit early?" Zolast asked.

"We need to keep the guild members around if we want to have any hope of keeping them with us," I explained as I looked at the large crowd of guild members that was racing to arrive at the horses, monsters still chasing them.

"Do you want me to kill them? It wouldn't be much harder."

"No, their presence will help me make a point," I said as I looked for the best opportunity. A few with Speed had already arrived, but rather than bringing the horses to their fellow, they chose to ride away.

A good initial target.

The performance of the guild members made it clear that they were the dregs of their organization, and I suspected that some of them were just hired to be used in such cases. Not the ideal army to have, but with almost half of Baron's army going through what looked like a rebellion, every hand that could hold a weapon counted.

"As you wish," Zolast said as he waved his hand, and glowing walls made of pure mana appeared.

A fascinating sight. Pity I couldn't enjoy it. I put on my helmet, as I asked for another thing. "Can you get rid of the dust cloud as well," I asked.

"All of it?" he asked.

"No, just enough that the guild members could see me perfectly well. The less attention the Baron's side pays to us, the better."

Zolast nodded again and I started running.

First, I used Concealment to rush behind a small rock that was on the path the first group used to escape, then I suppressed my Concealment, and activated my mana to make my armor glow — not just blue, but a mixture of blue and gold thanks to a little light spell Zolast embedded to the structure.

A little gaudy, maybe.

But certainly attention-grabbing.

As I suddenly appeared in their path, the runners slowed down in shock before I even used my Charisma. "Kneel down and repent, you cowardly, dogs," I shouted as I spread my Charisma across the field, trying to push a sense of awe and fear.

Spreading it enough to cover half a thousand people that dispersed into a large area was a challenge, and under more ordinary circumstances, it would have been barely a tickle. But they were already lost and panicking, making them particularly susceptible to the impact of Charisma.

Though, I suspected that my sudden, glowing appearance did the most of the impact.josei

As they reflexively knelt down, I rushed forward to close in the distance, using some Speed. Not my full capability, but enough to be useful on the battlefield.

I didn't even slow down as I passed half a dozen people with speed, just grabbing the first one on his neck and raising, dragging him with me. "Follow me, dogs," I ordered the rest. A bit harsh, maybe, but I didn't have much mercy for cowards like them.

Self-preservation, I understood. But the blind cowardice they had displayed was something else.

We moved, easily covering the distance with our speed, and soon, I was right in the middle of the group. "Are you ready to repent, dogs!" I shouted, hitting them with another blast of Charisma, confusing them even more.

Even as I shouted like an evangelical preacher, I carefully examined their faces, trying to see which one would be the first one to realize it was absurd for them to listen to a madman who suddenly appeared regardless of Charisma.

And, I moved closer to the best candidate, ready to intervene the moment he spoke. At the same time, I started shouting every single word enhanced by Charisma. "You cowards. How dare you turn back when you're facing the slaves of an evil god, turning your back on the blessings of the divine that chose to empower you with his greatness…" I shouted, like I was about to give a long speech.

At the same time, I hit the one that looked like he was nearest to rebellion with a magical dose of courage, which, unlike the others, received the full, undiluted force of my Charisma. Under the circumstances, it hit him like a jolt of adrenaline.

"Who are you to—" he started, ready to argue against me, but I used my Speed to run toward him, and delivered a punch … well, what looked like a punch, but in actuality, it was more of a push that had delivered with a considerable portion of my Strength.

I wanted to create an impressive sight, not to kill him.

His words cut short as he found himself flying up, rising almost twenty feet into the air, and a hundred feet laterally before he hit the ground once more, rolling violently. He wasn't injured other than cuts and bruises … but it looked incredible.

A nice display of my physical abilities to further drive in my authority.

I could see that their expression immediately changed, and not just because of fear. I had already displayed Speed, I wore very fancy armor, and I was using Charisma very obviously — well, partially, as I slipped quite a few subtle tricks that they had missed.

The display of Strength added another layer. Adding in Vitality, that made four different stats at a minimum, and my other displays were convincing enough for them to conclude I was certainly above level eighty.

One good thing about spineless cowards: They could be very easily injected with an artificial burst of courage. "Anyone else that dares to reject the call of the Divine!" I shouted.

None spoke.

"Good. Now, go to the bulwark that our divine emissary has created, and wait for my orders," I said, assisted by another subtle Charisma push that made them think the sudden burst of courage they experienced belonged to them.

"Shouldn't we stay to help you, sir knight?" one of them, who was particularly weak to Charisma, asked.

And, just like that, in less than a minute, their retreat was prevented, and they started running toward the glowing blue walls. I wasn't afraid of them running away once again.

A magic castle was a much better option than a desperate escape through the wilderness.

With that, the easy part was over.

Now, the hard part.