Saturday, February 21st, N.E. 807, 01:52

Royal Army Temporary Command Center, Berzin Hills, 5 miles south of Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

General Merrick Miller.

“General, I've got a few… reports…” One of General Merricks aids came up and said with a frown.

“What is it?” The General asked with concern, not having missed the atmosphere around the man.

“The two hundred riders that were carrying the mages from the garrison force have made it to us, they’re under command of Major Alarville and Major Korlean. They are healthy, but exhausted, the two hundred mages especially so.”

“So General Frederica managed to save the fort’s mages…” General Merrick sighed in appreciation. “She was a good commander.”

“Yes… However…” The aid hesitated.

“Something else?”

“Yes, Sir. The Druids of Wodof have reported that the rest of the garrison… they turned back and made a last stand. They were…”

“I see…”

General Merrick Miller was not a normal soldier or officer. He worked his way up through the ranks, starting as a clerk in the logistics department. In many ways, his success in the military, even if he lacked the fame and recognition he deserved, was a story that was almost a fairy tale. But, he was never a soldier, never a man who fought and bled. Unlike other generals who waged war alongside their men, who braved danger with the soldiers under them, General Merrick worked his way to his current rank while sitting behind a desk. Worse, the logistics department was never really held in high esteem by the rank and file in the first place, when things were going well, no one took note, but when things went poorly and deliveries of supplies were delayed, the logistics department would be cursed all the way from the lowest ranks to the highest. When things got really bad, the soldiers would view the logistics staff with the same hatred and animosity that they viewed their enemies with.

In many ways, he lacked the sense of comradery with the men and women who really laid their lives on the line to fight.

But, even he, who was so far removed from the struggles of the normal soldiers, he who had such an analytical mind who saw everything as if it were on a balance sheet, still mourned in his own way for the valiant lives that were lost.

“Then, is that all?” He asked as he pulled himself out of his morose thoughts.

“Unfortunately, no.” The aid shook his head sadly, “The last report from the snow owls indicated that Morristown has been destroyed, the Elementals were last seen turning northeast towards us. As for the host that destroyed Riversdale, we lost track of it when it entered the tip of the southern woods.”

“I understand…” But after a moment of thought, General Merrick’s face frowned slightly. “Why would they enter the forests? Is that not slightly out of the direct path towards us?”

“Umm,” The aid stopped and tried to think about it also. “I am not sure?”

The fact that both the supreme commander of the army and one of his aids could not recall the exact lay of the land would appear to be a pretty big failing, but in actuality, it was not. Detailed maps were a military secret, the manufacture and possession of them were highly regulated, even more so for the area around the capital. That being said, it was still the area around the capital, the area that saw the largest amount of traffic, most commoners could draw a rough map of the surroundings by memory, at least assuming they routinely traveled through those areas. Further, while the maps were regulated, General Merrick and his adjutants were all allowed to view the most detailed maps the kingdom had. Their problem wasn’t a lack of familiarity with the maps, but the maps themselves.

The maps focused on the major geographic features and the major man-made features. The towns were all accurately portrayed, the river, the Berzin Hills, and the roads. And that was the problem, the maps were based around the roads, those were the most accurate aspects. The main highway that leads north to the capital went right around the Berzin Hills, but it did not connect to Riversdale, a smaller side road branched out through the surrounding farmland and connected to the smaller town. If one wanted to go from Riversdale directly to the Hills, there would, of course, be smaller paths and roads, but they were not displayed on the maps, and even if they were, said roads would still follow the natural contours of the land, they would not be a direct, straight line.

And direct, straight lines, were how Elementals would travel.

General Merrick walked to one of the side tables and found a smaller map that covered the areas around the river, his frown deepening as it confirmed what he thought. The southern edge of the tree line was not in a direct path from Riversdale to the Berzin Hills.

“Hmm… You are right General,” The aid, who could now see the map for himself, said.

“High Priest Brent, a moment of your time please,” General Merrick asked the holy man from the Temple of Defense who was seating to the side in prayer.

“Hmm? General?” The high priest opened his eyes and placed the shield-shaped holy symbol of Avior, the God of Defense back around his neck and walked over. “What can I help you with?”

“You are the one with the most experience with Elementals here, and we have an issue,” the General said as he pointed to the smaller map, “The host that sacked Riversdale curved slightly to the north, eventually reaching the tree line where the druid’s snow owls lost sight of them. What is your take on this?”

“Hmm…” The old man hummed to himself in thought as he ran a calloused hand through his gray beard. “I am not an expert on these things in any way, but, if they diverted from the direct path, that would mean there was a group of living beings there. Or, I suppose a fire, being Ice Elementals, they would hate that as much as a group of the living, but I suspect the druids would have noticed a forest fire”

“Oh, I see.”

Elementals would charge endlessly towards the biggest concentration of living beings that they could sense. That much was common knowledge. If there was a group of five hundred and a group of one thousand, the Elementals would ignore the smaller group and go towards the larger, this too was common knowledge.

But, it wasn’t completely accurate. Yes, the Elementals will head to the largest group, but only if both groups are roughly an equal distance away. Few experiments were done considering the nature of Elemental Overflows, but it was generally assumed that if the number of living beings in the second group was half that of the first, but it was also half the distance, the Elementals would be just as inclined to head towards the smaller group.

While their army was forty thousand strong, it was still a decent distance from Riversdale, if there was a small group of people in the woods, the Elementals could have easily changed direction temporarily.

“However, why would people be within the forest now?” High Priest Brent mumbled to himself.

“Could it not be animals?” The General asked.

“Unlikely,” Was the response as the holy man shook his head, “Elementals do hate and seek to destroy all life, they won't leave a horse, cow, dog, or even a rat alive when they attack, but they focus much more intently on sapient beings. Unless there was a huge group of animals, or something particularly large, I do not think they would have gone north. And considering these woods are so close to the capital, I doubt a large beast would be walking around.”

“Perhaps a shepherd had left their flock there?” The adjutant who had almost been forgotten spoke up.

“Perhaps, but… Ah!” General Merrick looked surprised as he had a moment of insight.

“What is it?”

“The Spring Welcoming Festival is less than a month away.”

“The Festival? Why does that…”

“Oh, I see, that makes sense.”

The high priest did not understand, but the general’s aid did.

“This weather is unexpected, but normally there would be many caravans of goods heading to the capital in anticipation of the Festival. With the snow, they would have been trapped on the roads, and they would not only need to seek out wood for warmth, but the trees would provide some shelter too. There is… was… probably a caravan holed up in the woods there.”

“I see, those poor souls,” The high priest spoke with grief and anger.

“But, General…” The adjutant hesitated to speak.

“What is it?”

“If that is the case, there are probably several groups of travelers, including other caravans, taking shelter within the forest.”

“Yes, there are likely going to be heavy casualties there now,” the General said with a frown.

“No, that isn’t it General,” High Priest Brent interjected, “The Elementals will bounce from one group to another, they are all likely in close proximity, there is no telling how soon they will head our way. In fact, they might not even come our way.”

“...shit.”

This was a problem.

General Merrick was now at a loss as to how to proceed. The host that attacked Riversdale was around two to three thousand strong, just like the host that just finished off Morristown. Human forces would be hard pressed to fight Elementals on even footing unless they outnumbered them ten to one, or consisted of many high ranking combatants. Even then, they would suffer heavy casualties in the process. General Merrick could not break off a group of high ranking warriors to search for that host, and if he broke off a small section of a few thousand soldiers, those soldiers would end up annihilated if they actually encountered the Elementals without the benefits of the defenses they built at the Berzin Hills. To safely track them down and defeat them, he would need to split off nearly half of his army, which was not a real option, the remaining half of twenty thousand would need to face off against about ten thousand Elementals. With all of the high rankers supported by the defenses they built, they would probably win, but they could expect to lose at least half of their numbers. And that was assuming that once they started suffering heavy losses, the army didn’t just break and run. The people under him knew that that would lead to a disaster, but in the heat of the moment, no one really knew what would happen.

“Tell the druids to keep an eye out for that host, we can’t let them get lost in the forest. Luckily, we do not need to worry about them attacking the capital right away, with the evacuation of the southern zones, and with the magical barriers built into the walls, the Elementals should not be able to sense much from that area, so they probably won't head too far north. Still, send a message to the capital, tell them to tighten their guard.”

“Yes, sir!” His aid saluted and then left to follow his orders.

“It should… be fine…” The old high priest said as he still pondered the situation.

“General!”

But before General Merrick could ask him for more insights, another of his adjutants ran gasping for air.

“Report.” The general ordered.

“Enemy vanguard has been spotted! Numbers unknown, five minutes out. They are following the projected course.” Was the out of breath response.

“Okay,” General Merrick too a deep breath himself, steadying the slight tremor in his hand as he reached for a mug of warm water that was on the table.

The water was tasteless and lukewarm, but it returned the moisture back to his suddenly dry mouth.

“Alert the army, have everyone prepare for combat.”

Saturday, February 21st, N.E. 807, 01:57

Royal Army Center, 14th command post, Berzin Hills, 5 miles south of Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

Guardian Knight Carla Redwood.

Carla Redwood was sitting on a stool a few feet outside of the tent that acted as the center army’s 14th command post. The family that she swore loyalty to, the family that she was a part of, had deployed just over sixty of their best men and women, and they were all congregated around this tent. Carla was among friends and family, but she was still alone, a solitary island amongst the seas.

Few spoke, few moved, few did anything. Carla suspected that like herself, many of them should be checking their equipment, making sure their armor was one firmly, their weapons were well maintained and sharp, that their scrolls and potions were easily grasped but not easily knocked loose, but few were doing that. Like Carla herself, they sat in silence.

The Pine Family had built up an impressive military force of a few Elites, Carla knew this. She also knew that her family had deployed a huge amount of might here tonight, more than practically any other house. But she also knew, that her friends and family sitting around the tent along with her were untested, untempered in battle. A few were mercenaries or knights who had fought before, but most of them were products of the strict training and laborious study regimens. Technically, they were strong, on paper, they were strong, but would it really turn out like that?

Carla’s left hand, surrounded by a shimmering steel gauntlet shook, she remembered the times in the past when she had fought. When she had killed goblins for training, the time when she had killed some orc raiders, the two times she had killed another man. She remembered the looks on their faces, the pain, the fear, the despair.

She understood that she had no reason to feel guilt, and she did not regret those actions. But she was always able to place her own face over the faces of those she had slain. Tonight, they would fight Elementals, beings that would show neither pain nor fear nor despair. They would relentlessly charge forth, to kill and take lives. Carla could not help but see herself and her fellows falling beneath their icy limbs, their own faces twisted into grimaces of pain, fear, and despair.

Carla’s right hand was covered by the same shimmering steel as her left. It connected to the same vambrace, which connected to the same couter, which connected the same rerebrace, which connected to the same pauldron, just as it did on the left. They had the same chain mail connecting the pieces, the same leather armor acting as a final line of defense, and as an insulator to keep her warm in this snow.

But her right hand did not shake, did not tremble, it was steady.

In her right hand, sitting upon her palm, was a small red crystal. Calling it red was incorrect, it was a deep, dark crimson, and it was set into a simple iron chain.

Carla did not know exactly what it was, she could sense a faint trace of mana from it, a familiar mana that she knew came from her Lady. She did not know what it does, but her Lady told her it would protect her, and that was enough.

Carla suddenly came to a conclusion.

Her Lady, Olivia Pine Fredirin, had told her that she was her Lady’s knight, her possession. That she would not allow anything to harm or take away her possessions. Then it was simple.

Carla placed the chain around her neck, the red crystal falling beneath her cuirass. She slipped the visor on her helmet shut, she strapped her heater shield to her left arm, and with her right, she drew her sword.

She would not die. She would return. She would not let her Lady suffer a loss.

Boooommm!!! Boooommm!!! Boooommm!!! Boooommm!!! Boooommm!!! Boooommm!!!

Suddenly, the deep boom of war drums rang out in the camp, a series of horns let loose adding to the sound. Several Sunburst Flares were shot into the sky, the snowy night was illuminated as if it were the brightest of days.

Boooommm!!! Boooommm!!! Boooommm!!! Boooommm!!! Boooommm!!! Boooommm!!!

The battle had begun.

Saturday, February 21st, N.E. 807, 02:02

Royal Army Temporary Command Center, Berzin Hills, 5 miles south of Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

General Merrick Miller.

Some generals lead their troops from the front, cleaving through the enemy lines. Others sought out and dueled the enemy leaders. And still, others sat back in a command center and moved their troops as if they were pieces on a board game.

General Merrick did none of those.

His role in this fight has effectively been paused. His task was the work that lead up to the start of the battle. Maybe if things started to go wrong, he would act as the ultimate authority figure and make the final pick from his subordinate's differing ideas, but he would have little say in the formation of those ideas. When the battle ended, his work would resume, he would need to see to the wounded, wrap things up, and return the army back to the capital in an orderly manner. And, should the worst come to pass, should the army suffer catastrophic losses, he would then be the one who takes responsibility for the failure.

His only job right now was to watch and wait.

The Elemental vanguard, if a proper military term could be applied to the hoard of enemies, came directly from the south, exactly as planned. While they were still five hundred feet out, they were met with a withering barrage of incoming fire.

The heavy ballista were the first to fire, their massive projectiles little more than sharpened tree trunks, soared through the air and crashed into the advancing Elementals. Brigadier General Elise had been in charge of setting up the siege weapons, and she had deployed two each of the heavier weapons on the left and right hills, three at the center hills, and two more in each of the small gaps between the center and sides. Because the Elementals did not use formations, the effectiveness of the heavier weapons were reduced, but the spread of fire from different directions helped address that concern. Still, only a small amount of Elementals were damaged in the first attack.

The second to fire, were the catapults, both the heavy and the lighter ones had held their fire until this point. The catapults had ranges longer than the ballista, but only when using large solid projectiles. Like their ballista counterparts, only a few of the heavy catapults were able to be brought from the capital in time, and Brigadier General Elise had deployed all six of them at the center hill. Meanwhile, of the twenty-seven smaller ones, nineteen were at the center and the remaining eight were split evenly between the two small gaps on each side.

The heavy catapults fired clay pots filled with tar and oil, that were then ignited with a torch before being fired. They lacked the time and the supplies to clear the snow from the entire valley between the hills, and then set up pools of oil, but they had done their best, and the six clay projectiles had splashed liquid flames over the Elementals and ignited sections of the valley.

The smaller catapults fired bundles of smaller stones, each the size of a human head, which tore apart the icy figures in the lead.

With their front line destroyed, and with the middle scattered from the fire and ballista, the remaining Elementals were even more disorganized when they entered the range of the cheiroballistra. The army was equipped with several hundreds of these smaller weapons, and a rain of spears fell into the Elementals. Individually they did little damage, even direct hits mostly just bounced off while leaving behind some cracks, but the sheer amount of falling spears were enough to destroy many of the Elementals. Even for those that survived, the force of the attacks were able to knock the Elementals off balance, and sometimes even off of their feet, further blunting the momentum of their charge.

At one hundred and fifty feet out, the mages added their arcane might to the mix. Pellets of hardened earth, bursts of fire, arcs of lightning, icicles, rays of light, smoking balls of shadow, globs of acid, crackling masses of chaotic energy, bolts of force, pressurized spouts of water, even blades of wind, all crashed into the Elementals as arcanists, elementalists, and priests, all attacked at once. Some of those attacks, the shadow balls, the water spouts, the icicles, amongst others, would be less effective than normal considering the anatomy, or lack thereof, that Elemental's possessed. Shadow magic inflicted less damage, but it turn drained the strength and stamina of the target, an effect that would do little to the Elementals, likewise, water and wind attacks were designed to cut the enemy, and without easily cut skin and without blood to leak from wounds, they too, would do less harm than normal. Still, it was often better to let mages use their best spells, even when that type of magic was less than ideal, and with the sheer amount of magic being fired into an already weakened enemy, it simply didn’t matter.

At seventy-five feet out, that was when the mages would have opened fire again, using the already planned for system of alternating fire while allowing half of the enemy to meet their line, but no enemy reached that point.

The vanguard had been stopped entirely, two hundred Elementals were torn apart and shattered upon the valley.

A low cheer went up amongst the men, but it was muffled by the sound of the eleven heavy ballista firing again. The projectiles shot through the night sky, arcing over the heads of the cheering soldiers before crashing into the second wave of Elementals.

Through the smoke and snow, the second wave of Elementals were already advancing, as was the third, and fourth, and behind them, more silhouettes making up the fifth could just barely be seen.

The catapults fired, stones smashed into ice, six more patches of fire spread onto the ground, and yet still the Elementals advanced under fire. Again the smaller cheiroballistra fired, and again the mages fired, but this time, six injured and half-destroyed elementals crossed the seventy-five-foot line where they were easily blown apart under more mage fire.

They died instantly. Still, while they arrived in small numbers and weakened, they had still reached that point.

Thirty seconds later, eleven Elementals broke through the seventy-five-foot line, and soon after that, nineteen from the fourth wave were likewise destroyed at the same point. The fifth wave saw twenty-seven reaching it, and the sixth wave saw thirty-nine.

Nearly five minutes into the battle, the seventh wave managed to survive long enough for eight ragged Elementals to reach the army’s front line and engage in melee combat with the defenders.

From the command post, General Merrick and his fellows were able to see that the battle had finally started in earnest.

Saturday, February 21st, N.E. 807, 02:11

Royal Army eastern line, Berzin Hills, 5 miles south of Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

Dan, son Reil.

HOOOOT!!! HOOOOT!!! HOOOOT!!!

“Switching targets in ten seconds!” The lieutenant yelled.

No one responded to his yell, the five mages and five men holding the largest crossbows he had ever seen before continued firing directly into the front.

HOOOOT!!! HOOOOT!!!

“Five seconds. Hold fire.”

The crossbowmen continued to reload, but the two that were already ready held back. The mages too, stopped casting as they mustered their strength.

HOOOOT!!!

“Here they come! Stand ready you fools!”

As the lieutenant spoke, the rain of stones, magic, and spears that had been falling directly in front of their platoon came to a stop as it shifted thirty feet to their right. The Elementals that were charging there were suddenly torn apart, their bodies shattering into smaller shards.

But, Dan, son of Reil had no time to watch, with the ranged fire having shifted, they only had a few seconds until Elementals currently charging would reach their platoon.

“BRACE!!!” The lieutenant’s loud yell was heard by the entire platoon.

Without thinking, Dan grabbed both handles of his massive tower shield, he placed his shoulder against the interior, and he even double checked that the wooden post that had been driven into the muddy ground was still sturdy and flush against his shield.

Even as he did this, from the corner of his eye he saw the five mages and three of the crossbowmen firing forward.

CLANG!!!

“Uhgg…”

The sound of something heavy smashing into metal echoed out as their shield wall shook.

Before Dan could do anything, not that he was able to do anything even if her were able, more bangs were heard and the shield wall buckled with each one. Something hit the surface of his shield, but it was a light hit and the shield barely shifted.

The seconds passed, the clangs and pained groans of his fellows would ring out, occasionally his own shield would suffer additional light hits, the mages would cast, the crossbows would reload and fire, but Dan hardly noticed any of it, his attention, his very being, was focused on holding his shield up.

But suddenly, a heavy mass smashed into the small gap where his shield and his neighbor’s met. The two heavy steel plates shifted just enough that a gap was formed, and before he or the other man could do anything, a crystal clear hand of ice reached through the opening. The hand had eight fingers, each ending in a hooked talon, and it began groping around blindly.

Luckily for Dan, the clawed hand went towards the other man, who like Dan, had his right shoulder pressed upon the shield. The man did not even see the hand approach, he made no effort to dodge as the claws were raked across his back, the leather armor he wore, leather armor identical to Dan’s own, was torn like paper as the talons sliced right through it.

Dan thought he heard the man cry out in pain as the eight bloody lines were drawn on his back, but the crackle of lightning drowned out the sound. A bolt of electricity was fired by one of the mages, the attack hitting the arm in the elbow, blowing it apart and showering Dan and the injured man with shards of ice.

The leather armor that did nothing to stop the claw, did provide protection against the small splinters, but since the arm was only inches away from Dan’s head, he still felt the skin on his face being sliced open. His skin, numb from the cold, suddenly felt warm as something dripped down his chin.

Before he could do anything, even check his own injured face, something heavy hit his shield, and the top started tilting back. He could do nothing to stop it, even the wooden post was being forced deeper into the ground. He looked up at the top of his tiling shield, and almost lost himself in fear.

A horse made of ice was climbing over his shield. Two hooves were already over the tip as the being flailed about silently, trying to push the shield down. Then, as if sensing it was being looked at, the horse plunged its head down, it’s entire muzzle, it’s entire face, was dominated by a single, large, mouth covered in fangs. But unlike a normal horse, this one’s mouth ran vertically, from the chin to above where the ears were. The entire thing split open like a flower blooming, and then snapped shut with a loud crack, just inches from Dan’s own head.

“Look out!” Someone yelled.

A heavy mallet on a staff, a lucerne hammer, Dan recalled it was called, swung and smashed into the side of the horse’s head. It did little, if any, damage, but it did succeed in knocking the thing off of his shield.

“Get up! Back to your shield!” The person, the woman, with the hammer said as she pulled Dan up from the ground.

“Y-yes!” He stammered, wiping mud, snow, and blood, from his face as he repositioned his shoulder back to the shield.

“Good. Sixty more seconds.” She reassured him as she patted him on the shoulder and then turned to Dan’s neighbor, “Harry, you okay?”

“Swell. Just a scratch on my back though.”

“Good, keep stea-”

One second Dan had his body pressed against the shield, and the next he was on his back, his shield instead pressed onto his chest as he gasped for breath.

Something heavy and large had smashed into the shield wall, and the wall gave without any real resistance. Dan was knocked back along with his shield, his shoulder was numb and every breath he took sent pangs of pain through his ribs.

But, he was better off than some of the others.

The woman with the hammer had been sent flying, smacking into one of the crossbowmen as he was reloading for another shot. His weapon snapped, and the string which had already been pulled tight, had lashed his face, almost peeling off his skin to the bone. The woman herself was lying motionlessly in the snow, her neck bent at an odd angle. Dan's neighbor to his left, the one with the wound on his back, was also blown away, partially covered by his own shield. And to Dan's right was another of his fellow soldiers, his shield was still somewhat up, but the man behind it had been knocked into the wooden post that helped hold the shield. The post had splintered, and the man had fallen into it, a sharp shard of wood was sticking through his thigh, but the man ignored it as he tried crawling backward.

Dan noticed all of this, but paid it little heed as his attention was wholly focused on the source of the damage. An ape-like Elemental, it’s front arms twice as big as Dan’s torso, and its back covered in jagged shards of ice, stood just where the opening in the shield line had appeared.

Worse yet still, two other Elementals were standing right next to it, one of which was the horse from before.

HOOOOT!!! HOOOOT!!! HOOOOT!!!

A horn sounded at the same time that a gray ball of energy smashed into the ape, blowing off a chunk of its shoulder and knocking it off balance. A ray of light then reached into its center, blasting a crater into its chest. The lieutenant then dove into the Elemental as it was reeling, his smaller shield smacking into its side and knocking it prone. As he rolled away, a halberd came crashing down from the side into the ape’s flank, and then one of the crossbowmen had discarded his weapon and picked up the dead woman’s hammer and brought it down along with the halberd.

As the two continued beating and hacking upon the ape, there was a sudden gust of wind, and then the horse fell to the ground, all four of its legs severed at the knees. Dan saw one of the mages, a man in his fifties with a salt and pepper beard, fall back into the mud, his eyes, ears, and nose were all leaking blood as he fell.

HOOOOT!!! HOOOOT!!!

From outside of their little circle of shields, two men, heavily armored and armed, rushed in. The third Elemental that had done nothing so far was quickly dispatched as one of the men cleaved it nearly in half with a greataxe, the other used his short spear to skewer the flailing horse even as he stomped down and shattered the head of the ape.

HOOOOT!!!

“Everyone, fall back!” the lieutenant called out, tension still filling his voice.

At the man’s command, their battered and nearly broken shield wall collapse inward in an orderly manner. Someone helped Dan to his feet, and shoved his shield back into his hands, and then moved to help his neighbor up. The man with the gash on his back was woozy, but able to stand by himself. However, Dan’s other neighbor needed help to walk. As another man helped the injured crossbowman who was still holding his face in shock, and two others lifted up the body of the woman, a barrage of spears and magic tore apart the ground that was only ten feet in front of their collapsing shield wall.

Explosion after explosion blew the mud apart, the Elementals caught within were likewise torn asunder. Without the barrier made by the shield wall, the shockwaves almost sent Dan and a few others tumbling back to the ground, but they held strong and began retreating.

Two minutes they stood there with their shields up, two minutes they weathered the Elementals. There were thirty one of them, five mages, five crossbowmen, fifteen shieldbearers, and five men with polearms plus the lieutenant. Two crossbowmen were injured, one seriously, two mages were down, one with injuries and the other with mana exhaustion, two shield bearers were dead and the rest had some degree of injury, and of the remaining five, one was dead and three were injured.

Just a minute longer, no, maybe even thirty seconds longer, and they would have been wiped out. Even then, in just two minutes, they were effectively forced to retire from the fight, few if any of the people in his platoon would fight again tonight.

And Dan, son of Reil, knew, with his shoulder dislocated and some of his ribs cracked, he was one of those that would be forced to sit the rest of the fight out.

Saturday, February 21st, N.E. 807, 02:13

Royal Army Temporary Command Center, Berzin Hills, 5 miles south of Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

General Merrick Miller.

“Things seem to be going well,” The dwarven officer, Brigadier General Tac, said.

“Yes, just ten minutes in and we’ve destroyed a tenth of the enemy.” High Priest Brent responded.

“Still, we’ll need to keep this up for close to two hours,” General Merrick said with a frown, “What are our casualties looking like?”

“Sir!” One of his adjutants ran up with a report, “Fatalities are low, beating projections. Injuries are as expected, but we are seeing a lot more minor injuries than we expected. We are healing most of them to the point where they can reenter the fight, but they are being held back for now to rest.”

“I see,” The general replied.

“If this humble one may be so bold, but is that not bad?” A voice belonging to a foreigner spoke up.

“Feel free to speak, ambassador.”

“Then this humble one shall speak his mind,” Ambassador Zhou An spoke as he walked to the front of the room. “This humble one is but a simple official, not a general, but, this humble one thinks that having a large portion of the soldiers being wounded, would be a bad turn of events.”

“Yes well, not having wounded would always be better,” General Merrick responded, “But, most of the ill effects due to having wounded within the army fall on the supply train and the logistical department, problems we will not need to deal with.”

“This humble one see…” The man from the Empire looked at General Merrick for a moment before continuing. “This Humble one forgot that the General’s expertise does not lay in traditional combat, but in clerical work.”

The temperature of the tent, already cold due to the weather, dropped even lower.

“My apologies General Merrick Miller, this humble one’s words were not meant as an insult, after all, this humble one also shares an expertise with the illustrious general,” The ambassador’s words did little to turn the tent’s opinion around, but it was an apology, if in name only, and it wasn’t the time to cause internal discord.

“What is it you want to say?” The general asked.

“Only that, an army with a large amount of wounded would be… in my tongue, it would be Sho ti li san yunsho, fan yi odo, but in your language, perhaps it is.. Brittle? Empty, no... hollow, yes, Hollow, that is the word.”

“Hollow?” The General asked.

“Oh, I see,” Brigadier General Tac suddenly spoke up, “with many injured, it is hard for us to tell how strong the army actually is, since we would normally just use the pure numbers to determine that. Injuries sap morale, they breed fatigue too, an injured army could collapse upon itself rather easy, hence, it is hollow.”

“Then, Brigadier General, how do you suggest we address this?” General Merrick asked.

“There’s no real solution, we can only take small baby steps,” The brigadier general said with a shrug, “We keep an eye on it as best we can, if we have the leeway, we keep the injured resting as possible, and those with the heavier injuries, even if they are healed fully, we try to avoid sending them back in. But right now, we do not have the ability to sit on our haunches and play it safe.”

General Merrick sank into thought, but before he could even marshal his thoughts, there was a ruckus as a harried men rushed into the tent.

“G-General, U-urgent news,” He panted, sweat beading his forehead.

“What is it?” General Merrick asked louder than normal in an effort to silence the others who started murmuring.

“T-the Capital, it has fallen under attack. E-elementals.”

The tent was thrown into an uproar at the man’s words, but again, the General silenced the others.

“Details!” He yelled over the din in the tent.

“The o-outer wall has been o-overrun. Elementals are within the 7th and 6th circles. Major General Warren has f-fallen in battle, and Brigadier G-general Abe is m-missing in action. A-and… and we have c-confirmed the presence of a G-greater E-elemental along with a h-host of at least o-one thousand.”

The uproar from before had changed to shocked silence as the tent digested this news.

“The host that hit Riversdale…” Someone mumbled.

“What… What do we do?”

Slowly, all eyes turned to General Merrick, but the General barely noticed, lost in thought as he was.

They could not disengage the army, not without leaving a sizeable rearguard to die, and then whatever was left would need to rush to the capital, engage the Elementals there, and then prepared to fight the main host, with fewer numbers and without the benefit of their defensive plans. No… that would only lead to the annihilation of the entire army, it wasn’t an option.

Then, do they stay here and finish with the main host before turning back? But that would take at least an hour, closer to two, what state would the capital be in after two hours? If only the messenger brought information about the current defenses of the capital, but without that, they could only assume the worse, that the defenders were in disarray and were being overwhelmed.

Which left only one remaining option.

“Brigadier General Tac, take ten thousand men from our reserve forces and head back to reinforce the capital. High Priest Brent, if it isn’t too much, but I would like you to go with him.” General Merrick spoke as if exhausted.

“That… Well… Yes, Sir!” The dwarven general said.

“Do not worry, General, we will protect the capital.” The holy man added.

The two then swiftly turned and left to follow their orders.

“At the very least, we now know that we do not need to deal with that Greater Elemental,” One of the many adjutants in the tent spoke up.

HHHWWWAAAaaaaaaaaaaaAAARMMMM!!!!

But as his words ended, a horn blared throughout the entire army.

A horn that signified the presence of a Greater Elemental.

Saturday, February 21st, N.E. 807, 02:16

Royal Army Center, 14th command post, Berzin Hills, 5 miles south of Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

Guardian Knight Carla Redwood.

For a quarter of an hour, the battle had been raging. Stationed on the side of one of the northern hills, the Pine Family forces were able to overlook only a portion of the battle, only a small section of the valley. But what a brutal battle it was.

The ranged attacks ripped the Elementals apart, along with the ground, but many still got through. The brawl taking place on the slopes was messy and brutal, ice smashed into steel, men and women were tossed about as if they were simply dolls. But they were winning, the Elementals were being killed, the defenders were being cycled out smoothly, the injured and tired falling back while the fresh were coming in to take their place.

But just a moment ago, the situation changed.

An Elemental, larger than the others, charged through the hail of stone, spear, and magic. Its body was a snake, over twenty feet long, it had no head, but its body was that of a woman, a woman whose arms themselves were snakes.

It smashed into one of the shield platoons, it simply overran them, it’s massive serpentine body crushing the platoon into a paste of red that mixed into the snow and mud. The two adjacent platoons directed their ranged attacks, a few crossbow bolts and spells rained down upon its body, but they were shrugged off. The nearest high ranking warriors that made up the kill-zones between the platoons rushed up to engage, but within seconds, the Elemental whipped its arms around, and the ten soldiers who were rushing forward were torn apart. Before anyone could act, the tail was swung, sending the second platoon flying as their shield wall did absolutely nothing to protect the men behind it. And at the same time, one of its arms were pointed at the other platoon, a burst of razor-sharp ice shards exploded out of the mouth, they punched through shields and armor with ease, leaving behind a small area of dead soldiers.

“Warriors of the Pines,” Commander Tale’s voice suddenly echoed over the hill, “That there, is a Greater Elemental.”

The sixty of them stopped watching the massacre being played out by the snake-like Elemental, and instead turned to see their commander.

“Some of you have the name of the Pines, some of you, do not. Some of you have sworn your loyalty to the Pine Family, some of you instead have a contract. None of that matters right now. That,” The commander then pointed towards the Elemental with his sword, “needs to die. Fortune is with us, however, because if there is one thing the warriors of the Pine Family know how to do, it is to hunt. This is not a fight. This is but a simple hunt. We will hunt down our target, take its head, and be done with it. Simple. So let us go.”

And without another word, Commander Tale began walking down the hill towards the Greater Elemental. Behind him, were the sixty warriors, mages, knights, archers, and priests of the Pine Family.