Chapter 100: Battle At Flower Mountain Valley

What was it that had led the ordinary docile peasants to revolt? What was it that had led them to openly act against Mern? Gods were not anything a mere mortal peasant could ever hope to defeat, and as long as they were tied to the land, as long as they were gazed upon by the watchful gaze of a careful god, they would never be free: however, rushing into the wilds of the world was no solution either, they were not barbarians like those Godless folk who could rely on sheer strength to forsake the god lands. So what had they relied on to gain so much audacious courage that could make any god’s blood run cold. A revolt, the mere mention was an embarrassment and shameful matter to a god.

The answer was simple and Mern knew the solution to the conundrum, that others found mysterious and strange. It was simple reality, however it implementation was not so, and as such, no intellectual dared speak it aloud even if they knew the answer. "A foreign subversion." Were the quite words some advisors spoke quietly amongst themselves but dared not reveal this information to Mern. How could they, it was a black mark on a god's reputation.

“The only question is, how did he convince them?” one had asked, but the others had no answer, they assumed Scitus to be some grotesque monster, incapable of human speech, much less planning.

On April 16th, Aro returned from his scouting mission and after reporting to Mern, he then traveled the flower Territory City of Amaranthus, or rather, former city. The peasants there received favorable treatment over the others, as Mern still visited that place frequently. At the center of the small city was a castle called, Bright Moon Castle. Korin had refused to rest there though she would frequently visit and look at its exterior; often her eyes were glazed as if looking into something far more distant, something unrecoverable.

Aro had arrived during one of her visits, however, he did not disturb her deep contemplation. "Come." Her voice was icy, like a cold winter night. Aro was slightly startled but nodded his head, he did not bother to gain her focus as she seemingly ignored him and watched that castle.

"Scitus has worked quickly. A group of half-trained armbec mages has activated the mage shield formation. All of our paths are being blocked. Mephisto has informed me that the lake path formation hasn't been activated, however, a woman has been stationed there. Her origin is unknown, but the peasants there are calling her The Everon Princess. If she alone is guarding the lake path then…" Korin cut him off, "let Mephisto deal with that."

Aro went silent and looked at Korin for a moment, she had grown so much, and they had spoken so little. She had always been a cold girl, but never so distant as she had become. Aro turned to the castle and remembered his lady’s words, “my bright moon.” She used to call her. Aro remembered that Korin’s mother, his lady, his queen, would often try to force Korin into a dress, which would often lead to a butt naked Korin running about and bumping into servants. The servants would then be enlisted to chase after her, but she was a slippery snake in those days. However, a sharp glare from him was all that was necessary to stop her in her tracks.

"They mounted a single canon which has a direct line of sight into Flower Mountain Valley. The main path is being heavily guarded, while the secondary path is slightly less so. However, there is someone strange in the minor path. A woman fitting the Everon Princess's description is also there."

“how many mages do we have?”

“a little over 1000.”

“Alright, here’s the plan.

“We’ll have the mages’ cast [cloaking sphere], you’ll take 5 armies with you and push through the minor path, I’ll take 1 army and push past Flower mountain valley. I’ll cast [Mirror Mist] to increase the numbers on my side.” Aro nodded his head. “Yes, They’ll think we are pushing the main path and divert their strength that way.”

“But what about the red witch? Or that strange woman in the minor path?”

“I don’t know about that woman, but as for the Red witch, she isn’t known to ally herself with any gods, not since she was banished from Onias’s kingdom.”

………………………….

April 17th year 1

Korin, atop her black armored horse, led an army of 12,500 soldiers; however, 10,000 of these men were magical copies. They were powerful illusions that only people of her skill could possibly achieve. Her enemies were some 6,000 peasants and slaves. The two forces were in completely different leagues, but Korin did not let her guard down. She still remembered her venture into the oasis, in the end, they never managed to reach the city but, she was well aware that the harassment Slayn's army faced was because Scitus had partially orchestrated it.

Pointing her sword forward, "CHARGE!!!" she controlled her illusionary puppets to funnel through the small mountain valley path, only wide enough to hold a dozen of them on time. Korin had hoped to goad a cannon attack but the path remained eerily clear. Korin cast [detect] in unison with some of the other mages, allowing their spells to increase in effectiveness by ten-fold. The mana spread from their minds onto the world like thousands of tiny invisible threads, even the tiniest vibration of life would alert them to a hidden presence.

"Cloaking magic, up ahead." She telepathically communicated to her troops. The soldiers quickly changed into a turtle-like formation, a formation that defended them from all sides. The Puppets did the same with a finesse that was so real that even those who could see it was an illusion would momentarily believe it was real. Korin stood outside the formation and led it atop her horse. The soldiers were filled with arrogant courage and wondered why Korin was so cautious. Despite their arrogance, they were well-disciplined and followed her without reproach.

The mountain valley path was no small, but it was not large either, Korin's troops were forced to travel in groups of 100. Although the bottleneck massively damped their number strength, the soldiers at the front, back, and even the sides of her army were only illusionary puppets. She didn't even an overhead attack, nor did she fear and frontal or even rear attack. But she was anxious and traveled slowly across the valley.

The hidden soldiers waited at the valley's end and Korin predicted that they wanted to attack them with larger numbers while 100 soldiers were her army maximum in that valley path. The walls beside them were steep and rocky, however, walking over the valley would be very difficult as the barrier made the climb a nearly vertical venture. And so, although taking the path was dangerous, climbing over was even more so.

The walk was slow and steady as the army marched forward, small droplets of dew fell on their shields and heads as the morning moisture began to drip down the valley rocks.

Korin quietly charged a few auxiliary spells alongside a powerful attack spell. Just as they reached the mouth of the valley, the peasant soldiers appeared with sharp swords and spears.

The spears, Korin noted, were of remarkable quality, with a sharpness that could easily pierce through their armor. "Mithril swords!!!" Korin quietly muttered to herself as the illusionary fought back and quickly died. Korin continued to march forward as her illusions were destroyed one after the other. She had hoped to tire them with the copies but it was apparent someone was instructing them as she noticed that the peasants were changing places every so often. It was to reduce their stamina loss an keep them fresh for longer.

"Ripple," Korin whispered and suddenly a strange wave flowed from out her fingertips and towards the enemy army. The moment it struck them, their minds fell in a daze, they lost their balance, and the illusions in front of them become more solid, more real. An illusion struck a solider, the illusions blade passed through the peasant's armor and slashed him, his armor split in two, and he fell to his knees as blood fell from his lips. The other peasants saw this and instantly panicked. Their attacks became more frantic and less organized. They managed to kill many more illusions but the illusions also managed to hurt many of the peasants. Of course, from Korin's perspective, these peasants were simply fainting from fright. Her illusions could not harm people, but people who believed they were harmed, could have the most frightening of reactions. Although the blood on their chests was not real, the blood that trickled down their lips was.

The two forces fought fiercely but Korin's force was quickly gaining the upper hand and spreading out, increasing their effective width. 100 soldiers became 200, and 200 became 500, and finally, a line of 1000 soldiers marched forward to attack the well-armed peasants.

Now there were only 2000 peasants left, against a force of 5000 strong, half of which were illusions. From beginning to end, only Korin had attacked. The 2000 peasants never felt a terror as strongly as they did then, they had some hope that they would win but it had become clear to them that it was impossible to beat a trained army. Even so, the peasants did not flee, they remembered Thoth’s words, his purpose. They had to fight, they had to lose, their loss was inevitable, but it was also necessary.

"FOR OUR GOD!!!" one peasant shouted and suddenly a surge of courage, capable of defeating weaker willed armies, blew Korin away. She had sensed their fear but suddenly they shouted a courageous, they acted as if they were willing to fight to the last man.

"Attack, but don't kill. Remember, that they are our citizens." Her soldiers wanted to grumble but they obeyed in the end. Working in conjunction with Korin's illusions. The two forces fought, The Peasants fervor allowed them to destroy another 1000 illusions and even lightly injure some of the real soldiers.

But in the end, despite their brave front, they lost. Every single peasant fell unconscious.

“For our god…” Korin held those words and pondered what they meant, and why it allowed them to fight so courageously. “have they abandoned Mern?”

"What an interesting fight. You showed more restraint than I thought you would. Guess I lost the bet." The voice chilled Korin to her core. "The leader!!!" Korin thought as she ordered her army to turn around to face the threat who had hidden herself in the valley they had passed through.

Her body was seemingly attached to the valley stone and she walked out of the stone as if she were passing through water, revealing a charming woman who wore a leather bodice and pants. Her hair was a charcoal black and her eyes flickered with an indescribable fire which caused all who gazed upon them to fall into a momentary daze. Staring into her eyes was as if she would burn them to ashes.

"guess I don't have to wear this anymore." She said, tilting her head slightly, exposing her neck, charming the men, as she pointed her arm. But it wasn't her arm she was pointing to. Very quickly horns began to sprout from her head, her skin turned a shade pinker, and then red, and then a scarlet red, until finally, it became a deep powerful color. The men choked on their saliva and gulped, and the men who had fancied her earlier suddenly felt the urge to spit on the ground as if they had sinned as if they were disgusted that they ever thought she was beautiful.

It was the Red Witch, the terror of the Onias country. Facing her was the same as facing an army, facing her almost certainly spelled defeat. The soldiers trembled but they held their resolve.

"why…" Korin whispered. "Why are you working with the new god!!!, what is he paying you!!!" Korin quickly became desperate, the Red Witch was not something she could deal with, but she was already relaying the information to her father, who she had a direct line to. He quickly responded that he was going to evacuate her but she refused because she couldn't abandon her soldiers.

"Do humans believe all the lies they hear? Or Just the convenient ones. " Her sharp eyes stared into Korin's soul, her head tilted up to look down on Korin.

Sia pointed her hands to the stone wall beside her, and with her finger, she formed a door. Korin's eyes widened. "ATTACK!!" She shouted but Sia did not move. Korin's men charged forward but were quickly met with a barrier, the territory's barrier. "did you forget about this?" Korin had noticed but she had simply thought that they didn't activate to lead them into a false sense of security after all the barrier wouldn't hold them for long, not at low power. However, it would long enough for Sia to cast her spell.

Wall glowed a blinding white and suddenly a portal opened, and one by one, goblins, minotaurs, lizardmen, lamia, medusa. Monster after monster came from the door, forming line after line. The very sight of so many monsters passing through their external barrier was terrifying, even just a few hundred of the monsters they saw in the line up could wreak havoc in their nation.

Korin finally managed to dispel as small part of the barrier and cast an illusion spear towards Sia’s heart. The sharp spear pierced her heart, the monsters were startled for a moment but when the Saw Sia’s almost smug smile they relaxed. “You need at least 1000 more years of practice if you want to hurt me with an illusion” Korin was stupefied, Sia hadn’t even flinched, hadn’t even taken a second to assess what she had thrown.

"Sleep." She whispered, however, her words hit Korin and her army like a meteor, their eyes felt hazy, and even the few who stabbed their hands to stay awake only lasted a moment more.

“onto the flower Territory.”

“RAH!!!” the monster shouted as they marched to conquer the second territory.