Chapter 40: War

Flashes of the past start making their appearance; the same background noise, a rhythmic tune drilling into my ears—an army advancing towards us. This time we are not alone, though. We have the military; we are not defenseless. We can win! No, we must win.

My friends and I have also split into different squads, joining the army in their efforts. Mike has decided to go just above the gate, where he can do more damage. Lillia and Rand are both up the walls. Dorian is in a watchtower, in charge of scouting the general situation. And me, well, I’m on the left side of the gates, on standby.

If I have to be honest, though, I don’t know what exactly I can do. Sure, I’ve got about six heals per rotation, which including my staff and the potions should be close to four, but… will it make a difference? In a battle of this scale, what six heals can change amounts close to none.

I’ve done my best at organizing them, which I don’t think is a minor feat, but that’s as far as I go on this end. I don’t have the authority to command this army. And, even if I had, the situation will probably be too chaotic, leaving no margin to micromanage them.

I can already see the black mass of little creatures approaching us. The sun is about to set; they will surely wait for it until charging forwards. At least it seems that their numbers haven’t increased, not drastically, that is.

The next hour, which we spend in total silence, is nothing short of tense. The shimmering of steel, sharpening of swords, nervous coughs, and the occasional training brawl resound all over the place.

I let my sight follow the last trace of the sun; the last rays hide beyond the horizon line. Now it’s minutes until we only have the light of the moon… the light of the… my head tilts slightly, only to be followed by a frantic realization.

Fuck! Five days! That’s why they waited! Today’s new moon! With no light from the sun and no shelter from the moon, it will become pitch black in no time. Our only source of light will be the candles, torches, and lamps in the city.

They will have the advantage with their enhanced vision, but that is far from the gravest problem. As they get close to the city, we will have no issues fighting, but… If they pool together all their Dark Mages and manage to extinguish all light… we are dead and without any option to retaliate.

Isha! Where is she? Can her Relic Shield protect us against that? My feet already moving at full speed towards the Governor’s house.

I reach there in no time and enter as if it was my own home. Most soldiers are dispatched, so the very few that remain, probably recognizing me, don’t bother to stop me at all.

“Isha!” I say the very moment I catch a glimpse of her. “Today, there’s new moon!”

“Today there is new moo-” as she is about to ask me back, she abruptly ends the phrase and opens her eyes wide. “Hah! Those little rats!”

“Will it protect us?” I ask, not bothering to mention what I’m referring to.

“Yes, do not worry. We are safe inside.”

“Thank god!” Ah! Not god! “I mean, not Jonas…”

“Care to fill me in?” The Governor, who I had ignored but was standing next to Isha the whole time, asks us.

“Isha, can you explain to him? And please, whatever the command chain is, make sure that everyone tries to lighten up the field. Burn the woods or anything it takes.”

As soon as I see her nodding, confirming she takes care of it, I run back to my place on the walls. Not only is the war about to start, but I want to try passing the message around.

A few rushed back interchanges with soldiers and adventurers alike, and I’m back to my place. And just in time, it would seem. Contrary to my expectations, the enemies have been moving silently, hidden by the darkness outside. Cries of alarm sound here and there; some of the rats are reaching the zone lightened by the city and becoming visible. They’ve purposely made all that noise before, so they could move concealed now.

This is going to be hard… the message I was trying to spread around is to hold any fire until we can pin down their position. And, to do so, we have to wait for them to light up their fire arrows. Which, of course, will mean letting them fire first.

Either the strategy hasn’t reached everywhere, or some groups are too eager for the battle to wait for the opportunity, as some arrows and even spells are flying already for the enemy’s advance parties.

Oh, at least they have quite the aim! Most of the rats are being impaled, pierced, burnt, shredded, or a combination of them. All good as long as we don’t burn all our resources too soon.

What are they waiting for? Aren’t they going to burn the city this time? That would be stu-

A sound akin to a muffled cymbal being stricken comes from above. The protective layer lightens up, turning more whitish and losing its transparency. One after the other, more sounds and lights start appearing at different locations of the shield. So they are using magic. They are rats, but surely their intelligence is at our level, if not beyond.

Bob, spirit. Position yourselves behind the enemy army. Take a detour and, no matter what, do not expose yourselves. I send the message to my ogres.

Let’s see how this plays out. As long as they don’t see or hear them, it will be fine. I bet they will soon realize their magic won’t be effective. I have to wait until they send their melee units to attack.

Almost like an immediate answer to my thoughts, arrows start whistling through the air. And unlike magic, some lodge in the walls or hit the less fortunate.

“Remember! If you see them lighting the arrows up, prioritize them!” I don’t know how many of the archers can hear me, but even if it’s a single squad, it’s still worth a try.

It doesn’t take much more than a few minutes until the first fires start showing up among the darkness. Luckily, it seems most of our units have received the instructions. The real battle begins now.

As the first barrage of flaming arrows falls upon the city, our own mantle of arrows travels towards their formation. As I guessed, fires start developing simultaneously at multiple locations near the gate. They have aimed way above our frontline, with the exact intention of burning up the city.

Then, the most spectacular sight develops. Rivers of water dash through the sky. Flowing water spirals and curves along the streets to put off fires. Waterfalls spawn out of nowhere to drop a gigantic buck of water on the biggest of them. Damn, these water mages know what they are doing.

As time passes, more arrows find their target onto our soldiers and adventurers alike. They’re growing accustomed to the distance and elevation. But I can’t heal them just yet. I have to save them up for melee units. They are our last line; if they fall, rats will rampage free on our walls. And that would be our end.

Without any rest in-between, the burst of arrows still going on, the first enemy scouts start arriving at the walls. Scouts, meatshields, or sacrifices. I don’t know what the best description would be. Our mages make hell descend upon them and obliterate them out of existence.

And sure, our strategy of ‘just drown them in spells’ works at first. But as their numbers increase, our magic can’t keep up. Either because of the cast times, the mana expenditure, or simply because of their numbers. Whatever the case, they are here!

If someone had asked me before, I would have said that they would bring ladders to reach the top. And I would have been entirely wrong. Their method is much simpler and effective; claw your way up! They are using their fucking claws to carve holes in the wall and climb them.

As crazy as that sounds, it is a massive problem for us. If it were ladders, we could push them off. They would only have a few choker points from which to enter, and we would easily defend them. But the reality couldn’t be further from it. They are coming from everywhere. And there is no way to stop them until they are in front of us.

This is about to get serious.