Chapter 51: War

"war is a time of great sadness. There is needless death for the benefit of a few but if through death I can protect them, I will leave no enemy alive." Scitus was somber more so than ever before. Thoth could see a glint of his former self shine through, it was as if those years of misery had returned and had consumed his father once more.

“go Thoth and clear a path for us.”

"yes, father."

That was the final exchange between them before the war.

Merns kingdom was to the far west and resided very close to the oasis. His kingdom was filled with forests and wild animals, most of the land was comprised of towns for Mern had outlawed cities. In his kingdom existed only three cities, the capital Astrun, the slave city, Everon, and the military city, Kavor.

The capital was where all who obediently followed Mern resided, they were lavished with gifts to sate their greed and lust. Anything they wished for was only a hand gesture away.

Everon was where the guilty were sent, those who tried to uproot the system, those who disobeyed their masters and lords. There they would be stripped of their identity and humiliated. Newcomers would first be stripped naked and paraded around in the city and then forced to march through several nearby towns. Then they would be branded and sold with a curse mark placed on them to make sure they could never disobey again.

Kavor was where orphans and children kidnapped at birth resided with cruel teachers. They would be indoctrinated at birth and slowly molded into the perfect soldier, they were taught to never disobey orders and fall on their sword on command.

A month had passed and the high officials had been gathering the most superior force they could find. The entire army was comprised of 63,215 soldiers as of the previous year. of those soldiers, twenty thousand would be sent to enter the oasis and destroy the kingdom of Monsters as decreed by their god.

Two generals were to be sent, each commanding ten-thousand soldiers. Their names were Slayn, the devourer and Mephisto the righteous. The pair was odd for Slayn was the most loyal of all of Merns subordinates while Mephisto was the most disloyal, only following Mephisto because of a lost bet and the subsequent curse mark placed on him and his wife and children.

The two armies were comprised of six hundred fourth-ranked soldiers with levels above seventy and one eight thousand level fifty soldiers. The remainder of the force was comprised of level thirty soldiers.

Mephisto had ordered enough rations to last five weeks, this delayed his departure by a day, one week over the logistical estimates. Slayn had ordered three weeks’ worth of rations, one week below the logistical estimates.

No soldier in the army feared the Kingdom of monsters but rather feared its location.

They would have to pass the Feren desert a place where mostly large monstrous creatures resided, the most terrifying of which was the Wurm a large monstrous creature with a size that could block out the sun. Fortunately, only six had been known to reside in the Feren desert beyond that are the Trinity mountains where the Lamia, Harpies, Medusa, and Duergar resided. Just beyond them were the goblinoid territories passed that were the dead lands where the godless resided and finally beyond that was the kingdom monsters which bordered the forsaken lands and Minotaur territories.

Slayn was the first to leave, on the first of August ten thousand troops left the city Kavor, a day later Mephisto would leave.

With ten thousand strong, each soldier felt an exuberance unlike ever before, while they were accustomed to small wars, this is was the first time such as massive fleet had been sent and many were excited, some for blood, other for the opportunity to gain their freedom and others still out of patriotism.

The second day of their march they reached the vast Ferren desert. The desert was in fact still part of the oasis, the reason for desertification was because the nearby superpowers had made it a point to claim a piece of the oasis as their own. It was a show of power, to prove to the rest of the continent that they were indeed the mightiest of gods.

The desert that stood before them was owned by Soen, Mern's god. This was beneficial for their expedition for they would be provided several passive benefits by being on allied land. Without such an advantage, it would have been many times more difficult to cross the desert. This would reduce their time by a day, allowing them to cross the desert in only a single day while normally it would have taken two days.

Mephisto wanted his men In top shape before entering the oasis and so he had ordered his men to take periodic breaks to drink water and eat but Slayn had done opposite, he decided to march forth. while it had taken a small toll on his greater troops, the lesser troops had begun to feel some fatigue but they had managed to trek the entire desert in only half a day.

They had reached the Trinity mountains the forest air was refreshing but Slayn did not provide time to rest and continued the march. for sixteen hours, Slayn forced a march without a single rest, soldiers were forced to drink and eat as they marched. This angered and frustrated most of his army, but he paid them no mind. Slayn was confident that he alone could destroy the Kingdom of monsters, the overabundance of troops was a show of power to all the oasis and to deal with the red witch if need be.

Slayn's army was split into two five-thousand men groups, a man by the name of Albot led the frontal force, while a man name Alcon led the Rear force. These men would report to Slayn on their objective and their speed. Albot, when the day had ended, recommended that they rest for a day because the troops were becoming tired and would lose combat effectiveness. Slayn responded, "even if they are sleep deprived and their right arm bound, we will continue. we are facing an enemy with less than two hundred soldiers there is no need to fear." Alcon, who was at the meeting had also interjected. "we only have three weeks' worth of rations, if we don't move quickly then we'll go hungry on the way back." Albot had already understood their situation but even so, he thought it would be in their best interest that their army was in good condition. Slayn had been the only one to enter the enemy kingdom and it was possible that Scitus had cast some form of illusion to prevent the true size of his kingdom to be known. Albot wasn't so willing to believe that a god that had made the oasis their home would be so easily dealt with. Even by fluke, Scitus had formed a kingdom in the oasis and had maintained it for longer the three months, on what Slayn reported were various goblin tribes.

Albot was not the only one so cautious, Mephisto who was still traveling through the desert was of like mind. he had spread his army into four, each led by a different leader of different minds. There was Kiro, who was hot-headed but understood the battlefield on a fundamental level that surpassed most generals. Edrin, a man of great calm mind and greater wit, if all went wrong, Mephisto was sure that at least Edrin would save half his force before his army fell. After Edrin was Deon, who inspired such loyalty that even Mern had taken note of him, Mephisto had placed him in the front line for he knew Deon's men would never waver before their leader. Finally was Korin, a mage caster with such beauty that most men hesitated to even look at her for fear of disgracing her beauty, what she lacked in leadership, she made up in pure strength, of all those in the kingdom, Mephisto deemed Korin the closet to Slayn in terms of sheer power.

During the night, at the same time as Slayns meeting, Mephisto and his subordinates had joined together to talk about their plans. Each person present had a clear black mark tattooed across their neck, it was in the shape of a snake and it coiled all around their neck and up into their cheeks. These were the curse marks, they were put in place so that they could never escape Merns grasp.

"Sir." Korin entered and sat across the three men. "the scouts have returned." She said and then looked at Mephisto and shook her head.

"how far did they travel?" Mephisto appeared concerned as if a flaw had appeared on his plans. "they tell me they reached the border of the oasis." Mephisto frowned. "what was the moron doing, I told him to stay close." He was, of course, referring to Slayn who had moved too far for Mephisto's scouts to reach even on light-armored horseback. Edrin who at the time was sipping his tea interjected, "this was to be expected of him, he's always been hasty and has always loved to take all the glory for himself." Edrin maliciously smiled as if expecting Slayn to eventually fall. Deon smiled warmly, with an innocence unbefitting of a warrior. "he did say the kingdom of monsters is weak, perhaps he can easily deal with them?" Kiro raised a brow and laughed. "do you truly believe Mephisto would have brought me here or you for that matter for and easily defeated mook."

“enough, we must rest, tomorrow we will pick speed and try and catch up.” The four leaders nodded their heads and left on horseback back to their bases.