Chapter Twenty-Six - Analyzing Armies

“They didn’t listen.”

I stood upon one of the towers lining the walls of the fortress. It was a wonderful vantage from which to see the countryside, as well as the army gathering up before us.

Seventeen had moved the fortress to the top of a cliff, keeping the drop behind us. Essentially, we stood upon a plateau that made reaching our position quite tricky except for one direction. That, of course, was where the army gathered.

There were still four or so necrokilometers between us and the army. Plenty of time to deploy our own troops. Or I could cast a little something to wipe the field clean, but that would feel... pointless?

Certainly, I didn’t mind using magic to rid myself of things which I found inconvenient, but I also firmly believed that taking action could also teach you. Merely using a spell to fix every problem was a great way to develop bad habits. Then, when you were caught without an easy fix, you wouldn’t know how to react.

The limpet rammed a closed fist on the parapet. “They didn’t listen,” she repeated, this time with more venom.

It wasn’t actual anger, I supposed. More frustration tinged over disappointment. The feeling one had when an experiment failed so poorly that you couldn’t even get any data from its failure.

“Oh, I don’t doubt many of them would want to be elsewhere,” I said. “Soldiers in the field rarely want to be where they are. But they have little choice in the matter.”

The limpet glared ahead. “Cultivators,” she said. It sounded like a curse. “So, we’re going to fight?”

“Perhaps. I could use a few necromantic spells to destroy the army as a whole,” I said.

She looked up to me, worked her jaw, then shook her head. “Master, can... can I ask that you not?”

“Oh hoh?”

“I want to give them a chance to run.”

“Haven’t you already?” I asked.

“It didn’t work. But many of those soldiers can’t run. If we change their circumstances though, I’m sure that could change. We just need to... ah, give them another chance.”

“And how do you propose to do that?”

The limpet crossed one arm and started to rub at her chin. “Well, we have an army too. I guess... we would need to eliminate their leaders first, then let the army break. This won’t be like that fight on the beach.”

“There are significantly more moving parts,” I said.

The limpet considered that. “Is... the number of parts that important? I mean, yes, but, it’s all the same in that respect. I meant more... it’s different because it’s daytime and we can see them just as well as they can see us. No element of surprise, no need to scout.”

“Ah, but the actual act of warfare is the same?” I asked.

She nodded slowly. “I think so? I mean, the numbers are bigger, but that’s it, right? The same tactics hold up no matter the scale?”

I nodded, quite pleased at the conclusion. “Indeed. Well observed. For the record, you will find that often magic works in the same way. A Control Flame spell bears a striking resemblance to a Fireball when you examine them, and both are similar in construction to something like Meteor Swarm. Complexity increases, but the fundamental parts remain the same.”

The limpet considered that for a moment. “I think I see it. Is that why you’re making me learn so many small, weak spells?”

“No. You’re learning those because you are both small and weak.”

She pouted.

I gave her a skeletal grin, then patted her on the head. “Go tell Seventeen to begin deploying the army. We should have some time yet.”

She grinned. “Thanks Master!” she said before wrapping her arms around my ribs and squeezing. Then she was off.

I paused for a moment, then straightened my jacket to remove any wrinkles.

I would freely admit that I hadn’t embraced the idea that I would be hugged. But I could endure one or two. It wasn’t a hug-e hassle. “Oh hohoho!”

The fortress shifted, and between one moment and the next, it became a hive of activity.

The huge crab legs moved, ramming themselves into the ground one after the other with thunderous crashes, then the entire fortress began to lower itself.

The front ramp lowered with a clatter of chains and a dull boom as it hit the ground, and then, with the sort of mechanically-precise timing that only a well-honed necromancer’s skill could provide, the army of the undead within the fortress began to deploy itself.

Rows of skeletal warriors stomped out and onto the field before the F.O.S.S.I.L Head. Skeletons with great shields at the fore, with bone swords by their side. Then rows of spear-wielding skeletons, devoid of any armour but still deadly in their boxy phalanxes.

I looked over to the bridge of the fortress and noted the limpet and Seventeen, both of them looking over the troops, with the limpet pointing this way and that.

Next came the zombies, shambling along and no doubt filling the air with their putrid scents.

The limpet seemed to hesitate, then she waved her arms this way and that, and the army before us broke apart.

The skeletons formed three groups, each with some fifty bodies within. Shield walls at the fore, spear-wielders behind them, and armoured sword-using skeletons at the very back.

The three groups moved to form three walls, one at the fore, one on either side. The gap between them was little more than fifty necrometers wide, but that was enough for quite a few enemies to move through, so she plugged those with zombies.

Abominations came down, perhaps fifty in all, and these were divided once more, filling the gaps between the skeletal formations and the sides, with zombies to support them.

Then came the more specialized undead.

Skeletal archers moved out of the fortress in neat rows and set themselves up a few necrometers behind the main skeletal formations.

Will-o-wisps spread out into the air, a shimmering curtain of twinkling lights that flickered and sparkled in the sky above the army. Then the wraiths joined them, initially in clumps and with some semblance of formation, but they continued to spread out and break apart, and I could almost pin-point the moment the limpet gave up and allowed them free reign of the sky.

Ghasts and ghouls moved up and mingled with the zombies. I supposed they were similar enough that the limpet didn’t see the need to keep them apart.

Then the heavier equipment was rolled out. Whales, with sinew cords and muscle-fibre bracing, lifted up by teams of skeletons. They had bone-woven baskets at the end of their tails, and once their ribs were properly planted, the undead manning them began to deploy them, spines acting as the lone arm of a trebuchet.

Balls of spiky bone, some still able to move, were stacked next to these.

The fortress itself was armed. Ballistea moved to the walls and mounted atop the tower. Additional archers climbed the battlements and held themselves at the ready as only an undead could. The additional height from being above the wall would likely allow them to fire arrows well beyond the tops of the current formations.

Finally, the skeletal birds were deployed, entire flocks of flying creatures taking to the air and scaring off the vultures and other scavengers that had come, following the scent of decaying meat. Their talons gripped onto necrotic bombs and old potions and, on occasion, simple rocks. Physics is wonderfully destructive at times, and a stone dropped from on high could do just as much to kill someone as a complex spell.

Our undead army stood upon the field, quiet, except for the occasional moan from a zombie.

Drums started to rumble across the open field. The army of men across from us beating spears on shields. I watched as banners were raised. Colourful flags with complex symbols upon them. The names of sects and the city behind them, proudly on display.

“Papa?”

I glanced to the side to see Alex walking over.

“Hello,” I said. “Are you alone?”

My maid nodded. “Yes. Rem is practicing tea making, and Mem is walking Fang Fang. She’s over there.” He pointed off to the side and I glanced that way.

As he had said, Mem was on the field, a little ways behind the right-most phalanx of skeletal soldiers. The dog was urinating on a skeleton’s leg while Mem cheered it on.

“I see,” I said.

“That’s a big army over there,” Alex noted idly.

I nodded. The army of the Hungering Inferno Sect was some two thousand strong.

Most of those were normal men, from what I could tell, but many seemed terribly young to be out doing war, and others seemed too old.

I did a little bit of mental math. The city of Yu Xiang, from what I’d seen, had room for perhaps some six or seven thousand people. We had seen some little hamlets and villages along the main roads. Most likely had fewer than a hundred inhabitants, but there had to be a good two dozen of those little villages dotted around the countryside, providing food and cattle for the bigger city.

I estimated a regional population of about ten thousand. Maybe a little more.

Were they taking one person in five to join their forces?

No women that I could see, which meant that only the very young, the exceptionally infirm, or those lucky few that were deemed too important to go to war had been left behind.

Perhaps the limpet was correct. Ridding the local population of so many of its citizens could spell the end for the entire city.

By contrast, the undead army set onto the field had about four hundred undead of different sorts. Another couple of hundred remained within the fortress, guarding it and working the innards of the warfort.

Our forces were outnumbered, if one ignored the smallest of the undead.

“We’re going to win,” Alex said.

I was tempted to nod. “It’s likely that were both armies clash directly, we would come out on top. They’re mostly peasants with some new weapons, minimal training, and I don’t imagine their leaders are all that well versed in this type of warfare. Interestingly enough, total elimination isn’t the goal of our army’s commander.”

“The limpet?” Alex asked.

“Indeed. She wants to force them to surrender with minimal losses,” I said.

“Can she do that?” Alex asked.

I shrugged a shoulder. “It’s possible. Routs are common enough. They’re likely being bolstered by their greater numbers and the presence of some high-levelled cultivators. Kill enough of them and the army will likely retreat on its own.”

“But that’s still some loss of life,” Alex said.

“It is,” I agreed. “I am genuinely curious about what she’s going to come up with.”

Alex smiled at me, his tail flicking from side to side. “It’s nice to see that you’re making friends, Papa.”

“Friends?” I asked.

“Well, maybe not friends,” Alex recanted. “Most like a surrogate daughter.”

“I don’t think that’s how I would classify my relationship with the limpet,” I said.

Alex nodded. “That’s okay. I don’t think you need to think of it that way for it to work.”

I very much have the impression that we are not on the same wavelength here about my relationship with the limpet. She’s my apprentice at best, affections don’t truly factor into that.”

“If you say so, Daddy,” Alex agreed.

I decided not to pursue the matter.

The undead started to shift, then the skeletons began to hammer their forearms against their sternums or the edges of their shields or bows. A ‘clack clack clack’ that grew louder with every beat, and that very noticeably didn’t match the timing of the human soldiers drum-beat.

It seemed as if the games had already begun.