Chapter 92: Confrontation At the Third Desert Ring

On the Northern Ring of the oasis desert, a massive force of 11,000 soldiers was converging on one of the many dessert hills. The men there bared the Insignia of a white Crown, Miar's symbol. These men were far from home, on the opposite side of oasis. The travel didn't take more than 2 days, they used a massive teleportation circle set up beforehand by an elite force of mages. Such a show of force wasn't normally displayed, even for Miar who tended to lean on intimidation and charisma rather than conquering outright.

Some 2000 soldiers there were from Miar's 3rd army, a force consisting ordinarily of 5,000 strong, another 3,000 belonged to her 20th army. The two forces were not on friendly terms but they were on the same side and so they withheld some of the nastier words they wanted to say. The 3rd army was superior in overall strength but they were also further from the destination and the cost to send and bring back the entire 3rd army would have hurt Miar's economy for some time. the other 6,000 soldiers were not from Inatia; they were a force sent out by her strongest ally and subordinate god, Gin. He had sent out 3 armies to help Miar, each one consisted of roughly 2000 soldiers. Each army was lead by a general.

Miar's force was led only by a single general but he was the best general Miar could ask for; He was the king of the Teral kingdom, Minvaral, one of the 12 kingdoms that made up Inatia. He owed Miar a favor for hurting her reputation and he wasn't going to fail her a second time. He had personally set out for that mission.

Minvaral’s status proceeded him, the two butting armies calmed when he commanded them to do so. Gin’s three generals also showed deference and politely listened to Minvaral’s strategy.

"We have two enemies. Siion's armies, and Onias's armies. Siion has sent out a force of 5000 men, our scouts report that their average level is 103 with the highest officer being Mek-dih. He is ruthless and powerful but lacks the ability to lead an army. I will personally deal with him when the time comes.

" Our focus won't be on Siion's armies. If we must retreat and give them room to enter the Oasis, we will do so. Our primary target for this mission is to stop Onias's advance. His force is yet unknown but its number shouldn't be any lower than 4,000 and its leader will likely be Berdek. She is Onias's lance, her armies aren't meant to conquer, they are meant to destroy. She will stop at nothing, even sacrifice her entire army if it means she can destroy her objective.

I want Gin's armies to meet Onias's armies first, your numbers are superior, and your nation is known for their incredible defensive armies. I'll leave the decision of retreat to the three of you. As for my armies, we are facing Siion: the 3rd army will come with me, another 2,000 soldiers from the 20th will do the same. The last 1000, I will station here. Your mission will be simple, if you see a part of Onias's army entering the oasis, I want you to contact me. As soon as we receive word, we will retreat from Siion's force and head to face the Onias army. You will not engage the army. In the meantime, I want you to set up barriers all across the fourth ring to slow them down."

Minvaral laid out an intricate plan to the 4 armies. For a long time, Minvaral had acted as a mortal king under Miar; his feats had been told in stories but seeing his strategic planning in person was another matter altogether. His plans appeared full proof. The second regiment in the twentieth army specialized in scouting, they would be assisted by the 5th regiment from the twentieth, which consisted mostly of mages and their guards These two regiments would be the backbone of their plan, their success would be integral but if they succeeded in their mission, protecting the Oasis from Onias's and Siion's advance wasn't a dream. 3 other primarily mage regiments would assist the fifth and second regiment but their mage skills were not nearly as impressive as the fifth regiment Their objective was simple, to impede the armies rushing the oasis, and to warn Minvaral of their advancement.

The third army soldiers felt a surge of confidence as they were led by Minvaral. The third army had once been fortunate enough to be led by Miar into battle, her war prowess was something to behold. And although she wasn't permitted to directly help them during battle, even in their dying breath, the confidence they felt when she led them felt similar to Minvaral's leadership. They felt that even if they died, their deaths would not be in vain, they would win the coming battle.

The four armies separated and set forth towards their targets which would make their appearance in the next few days.

It wasn't long before the two armies clashed, the first army to but heads was Minarval's army and Siions army. The numbers they received from their spies were more or less accurate; Siion's force was only 4,000 strong but Minvaral wasn't dull, the men in that army were veterans. While Siion's elite force wasn't known for their military prowess, Siion was. Even without participating in a battle, simply by choosing the correct soldiers to enter a battle, he had turned tides and won wars. Siion likely expected opposition from Miar and formed a force accordingly. Even Mik-dih was carefully chosen for that purpose. Mik-dih was a powerhouse in his own right but he wasn't known for his war strength, he wasn't known for his detestable tactics. In one war, Minvaral recalled that Mik-dih had kidnapped the wives and children of some of the soldiers in the opposing army and mounted their corpses on his soldiers' tower shields. The catastrophic drop in morale had won him that battle.

Despite the vast distance between Minvaral and Mek-dih, nearly a mile, the two still made eye contact as if trying to penetrate through the other's mind.

Mek-dih was an intelligent man and he knew his enemies well. Minvaral, a bitter expression formed on his face. "what is that bastard doing here." The two had on more then one occasion faced off. Especially in the early days of Siion's rise. Miar at that time was rising to prominence herself and she loathed Siion's existence. The two were at constant war, hurting many gods at the center of their two territories. The wars only ended when Ansil stepped in and moved his territory between the two.

Mek-dih remembered every battle he had with Minvaral, some of those victories were sweeter than the purest honey, but some of those defeats were so astonishingly humiliating that people from other nations still ridiculed him. "The Goats' bane" they called him. Remembering that terrible day infuriated him. Minvaral had ordered his mages to morph several 1000 goats into the form of armed soldiers, Mek-dih was none the wiser and initiated a massive onslaught on what he thought were unsuspecting Miar soldiers. However as he was fighting those goatmen, Minvaral marched around that hill valley, separating his armies in two, and pincered him from behind. That single defeat was the most humiliating loss he had ever experienced, even his compatriots occasionally mock him about that day.

The two men halted their armies a great distance from the other. Their archers could fire a distance of nearly 2000 feet, a feat that Scitus would find startling. At closer ranges, these archers would be nearly undisguisable from snipers of the older era in his history. An archers lethal range was around 500 Feet, at this distance, hardened warriors would be annihilated if they were not properly defending their vitals. While an archer's effective range was impressive, the common infantry and foot soldiers also had a much longer range than in wars of his world. An ordinary trained solider in Orana could attack at a range of nearly 20 feet, these attacks were commonly infused with mana which would burst forward and cut anything within a swordmen's range.

Armor was made to protect Soldiers from archers and enemy infantry.

The most deadly soldiers in war, however, were the mages. There were many kinds of mages but nearly all of them had devasting effects on the battle-field. On Mek-dih's side, his mages consisted primarily of battery Mages. These soldiers powered and carried heavy artillery weapons. These mages were some of the most devastating soldiers on any battlefield but their fire rate was incredibly slow, even slower than ordinary mages.

Minvaral's mages were Omni mages, or so he made it appear. These mages could use an assortment of magic spells, primarily elemental, and provide mild support to nearby regiments; they were a jack-of-all-trades kind of mages. Omni-mages weren't often used in large numbers, as they didn't pack the punch necessary to change the tides in battle, but Minvaral was an exception. He was well known for leading Omni-mages into battle.

Although omni-mages didn't affect the battle in immediate ways, Minarval was clever and used them to adapt to nearly any situation. One time, a hero ranked enemy summoned a massive flood, Minvaral was tricked into entering a bowl-like hillside. He had quickly ordered his mage troops to cast gill magic on every solider. He lost that battle in the end but he managed to retreat with nearly half his force intact.

The two Generals knew that the other wasn't so simple to deal with and so they both chose to set up camp on their dessert hills, both planning their next move.

That battle wouldn't occur for some time yet. Minvaral wasn't as concerned about Mek-dih as he was about Berdeck, she wasn't a tricky woman, but her means were often a sight to behold. She couldn't be allowed to enter the Oasis.

“How’s the situation” Minvaral sent a message to his secret confidant in Gin’s army, “all clear so far, no sign of an opposing army.” Minvaral was growing anxious, Onias’s army should have met the three generals before Minvaral met Mek-dih. “Quietly leave Gin’s ranks, I have another mission for you.”

“I want you to…”