Reivyn lifted the blindfold over his eyes and peered into the distance. He was able to keep his eyes open most of the time, now, but it still wasn't perfect. If nothing important was going on, Reivyn didn't bother covering his eyes until he got close to his limit, but there was a good reason he was doing it in an opposite manner at this time. They had continued to hit the occasional supply convoy as they traveled west, but they didn't take them all out. They didn't want to get bogged down too early, waiting for the convoys when they could be making better time to the rendezvous point, and they didn't want to draw an entire army force out to search them out until they were ready. There were also fewer supply convoys being sent out now that the teleporter had been destroyed. There was still apparently some sort of warehouse or other setups at the main base, though. The supply chain didn't just disappear. Reivyn didn't know how much they had stockpiled, and they would have to send out raiding parties eventually to secure more food and water, depending on how long their plan took. Hopefully, it would take that long. Reivyn felt a bit guilty toward the civilians that would suffer from the raiding parties in the future, but there was nothing he could do about that. The only way to avoid that bit of suffering would be to capitulate, and then the civilians that had already been abducted would have no hope of rescue. He had to weigh the pros and cons, and with the ability to ambush the raiding parties, the overall damage done had a good possibility of being less with their current strategy. Now that Reivyn was able to function at nearly 100% again, they had decided to up the intensity of their engagements. Reivyn watched as First Platoon fought against a patrol sent out by a nearby enemy base. They had hit them pretty close to the enemy encampment, and Reivyn expected that the First Platoon's activities would be spotted. Reivyn patiently waited for his platoon to achieve their objective and retreat toward him. The sound of horns in the distance reached his ears, and Reivyn knew that they had succeeded. First Platoon finished off the enemy patrol and quickly retreated toward Reivyn's position. Reivyn stayed in place as he allowed them to run past him, and he kept his eyes on the distant slope that had been near the skirmish. After waiting about another minute after First Platoon rushed by, a line of figures appeared on the ridgeline, and a horde of soldiers descended into view. Reivyn gathered his Mana in each of his hands and waited for the pursuers to enter his effective range. There were far more enemy soldiers than Reivyn had expected to come, but it was still within the range of what he thought they could handle. Hundreds of bloodthirsty men sprinted down the short hill onto the flat land, completely ignoring the bloody carcasses of their comrades that they trampled over. Reivyn counted down in his head, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. Reivyn flung his hands out, and 2,000 points worth of Mana shot out with the motion. The first Spell struck the ground beneath the feet of the charging enemy, right in the center of their numbers. The ground immediately cracked and heaved, giant pillars shooting up into the sky while other parts collapsed into the depths. Men were tossed into the air, fell into the giant holes, and were crushed by the earth slamming against each other. The radius of the Spell wasn't enough to encompass the entirety of the enemy, though. Many of them came to a sudden halt at the appearance of the mini-earthquake, but Reivyn's second Spell reached its zenith above their heads. It had been packed tight into as small of a ball of concentrated Mana as Reivyn could make it, and with the distraction of the earthquake, nobody had noticed it. Now, it exploded in blinding light, and a giant orb of Fire and Plasma formed a miniature sun in the sky. Just like the last time he cast this Spell, whips of Fire lashed out at the ground before lances of Fire and Plasma pierced the bodies of the soldiers below. Lightning chained between the fallen lances, and those that weren't killed by the fire were electrocuted by the lightning. Reivyn had deliberately aimed for a position left of center, not confident he could completely wipe out the horde of enemy combatants, and those that were outside of the area of the Spell were herded to the side. The final piece of the trap sprung at this moment, and Second Platoon shot up out of their hiding space, one constructed with Reivyn's Mana and their Camouflage Skills, and they descended on the panicked troops. The number of enemies was still far superior to Reivyn's Second Platoon, but they were panicked and disorganized and were completely unable to put up any resistance. The First Platoon, which had appeared to run away in their own panic, suddenly returned from just behind Reivyn, and they charged back into the fray, flanking the confused enemy. Even with all that had happened to them, none of the enemy soldiers broke or tried to flee. They didn't exactly try to rally, though, either. They just kept rushing headlong into Reivyn's ambush, and their scattered force was picked off one at a time. The battle only lasted another couple of minutes, and then silence descended on the field. The only sound was the crackling of fire and lightning from Reivyn's second Spell as it lingered on the ground. Reivyn surveilled the carnage as the platoons formed back up. Another couple of horns sounded in the distance once more. "Time to go," Reivyn said. The two platoons ran away in good order, Reivyn erasing evidence of their passing with his magic. Reivyn knew that the enemy didn't have just melee combatants. He didn't know how many Mages each enemy camp had, but they were sure to have more than he could handle on his own. The next group of soldiers to charge after them were sure to have their Mage Corps accompanying them, and that was not a scenario he was prepared to fight off in this situation. The two platoons charged off to the southeast, backtracking a bit from their progress. They would slowly shift their direction, though, to veer to the west and circle around this enemy camp. Reivyn suspected they would be able to hit them one more time before they adapted enough to be a danger. "What's the situation?" Reivyn asked the scout that ran up to him. Reivyn had been right that they could hit the enemy camp once more. He had set up an identical situation as the last skirmish from a different angle, but instead of ambushing the pursuers, Reivyn had led Second Platoon into the enemy camp after they had used most of their troops to charge after First Platoon. Reivyn had rained fire down on the fortifications and tents, torching their living quarters as well as a good portion of their supplies. There was a contingent of soldiers left behind, and Reivyn had noticed that they were guarding a large number of civilian prisoners. Reivyn had avoided attacking that area of the camp with his larger Spells, but he launched Bolts and Blasts at the guards as Second Platoon attacked. The soldiers left to guard the prisoners were slightly better than the raving horde of soldiers that they usually encountered, but only in the fact that they formed up in an organized manner before charging at Reivyn and his men. Reivyn led the first four squads of the platoon to play cat and mouse with the enemy. He launched Spells at the soldiers or torched more infrastructure of the base any time it seemed like they slowed down their pursuit, keeping their attention on him. They had apparently practiced their shared shield Skill, though, and he wasn't able to devastate them nearly as much as the soldiers with "1's" branded on their heads. Reivyn suspected that this unit was at least "2," possibly led by several "3's." There were still far too many of them for Reivyn to be comfortable in a stand-up fight against them. While Reivyn and the fourth squad led them on a chase around the camp, the fifth squad circled around and freed the captives. There were several thousand civilians, but they didn't seem to be in too rough shape, all things considered. The members of fifth squad gave them spatial pouches containing some of the supplies they had raided over the weeks and instructed them to run into the desert before attempting to find their way to safety. Reivyn didn't have the manpower or time to look after the captives properly, so he simply gave them enough food and water that they wouldn't be in danger for a week or two and left them to their own devices. There hadn't been enough time to interrogate any of them to find out what they had been through, and none of them wanted to stick around with Reivyn's soldiers. A sense of accomplishment had filled the hearts of the men, though, after they had disengaged and escaped once more. Part of their initial objective had finally been completed, though it was unknown if any of the captives had actually even been from Kirlon. "There's a force of enemy soldiers in the distance, but they're acting in a way we haven't seen before," the scout reported, snapping Reivyn back to the present. "There's a long line of people - probably a group of captives - doing something in the ground, a wagon train, and the bulk of the enemy soldiers are set up in a position a distance away, just watching." "Hmm... show me," Reivyn Commanded. "Yes, sir!" The scout saluted before turning on his heels and leading Reivyn away. Reivyn motioned for the other officers to stay where they were and halt the troops, and he followed the scout as he retraced his steps. They moved through gulleys and ravines for several minutes before ascending a hill, getting on their bellies as they reached the top. Reivyn crawled forward and spied the situation the scout had described. He used his high Perception Stat to view the activity below, and he saw that it was indeed a group of captives doing some manual labor. He watched as they retrieved what looked like spools of wire from the wagons, and they laid the wires down in the dirt, making sure there were no gaps in their connection. The line of activity sprawled for several miles as they worked, and overseers with whips supervised. There were three separate contingents of soldiers camped to the side of the work. They appeared to just be resting in a hastily fortified position, and each group of soldiers was approximately a thousand men strong. Each encampment had a section separated from the whole, and Reivyn saw what he could only assume to be Casters in robes milling about. Reivyn motioned for the scout to follow him back to where they had come from after he got his fill of gauging the situation. They returned back to the two platoons where Jekle and Laris were waiting nearby. Reivyn dismissed the scout and approached the two platoon commanders. "This nut is a bit too tough to crack," Reivyn said. "Approximately 3500 enemy soldiers separated into three distinct groups with a group of about a thousand prisoners lying some wires or something. There was a group of Casters with each group, so I'm not confident I could do enough damage to make it safe to engage. We'll go around and find another opportunity to strike and rescue more prisoners." "Should we wait and investigate what they're making the prisoners do? We could sabotage their work," Laris said. "No," Reivyn shook his head. "I didn't Sense any Mana coursing through the wires, so even if it is the foundation for the Runic Spellcraft like I suspect, there's no Spell to interfere with, yet. The amount of wires they're laying down, and the speed they're doing so, is far too much for us to meaningfully interfere with at this point. "A better use of our time would be to keep what we're doing. We need to weaken their ability to wage war before the Wispan military arrives, and maybe we can rescue more civilians. Even if we rescue all of the civilians, they could just have their own soldiers do the work, so there's no stopping the construction of the Rune. We just have to race against time as we try to slow them down in a more effective way." "That makes sense," Laris said. "Alright, let's get the men moving. There are still more major camps to attack." Another couple of weeks passed as Reivyn led the two platoons further and further west. There were six major enemy bases, including the first one they had assaulted and freed the civilians from. They encountered more and more instances of prisoners being led out to build the framework of the Runic Spell, but each time they were guarded by far too many soldiers for Reivyn to issue an order of attack. They still encountered patrols and supply convoys, but gone were the easy skirmishes where Reivyn could always decimate the enemy single-handedly. Word had apparently spread, and each group of enemies now had a squad of Mages escorting them. Reivyn could still overpower the Mages, but it greatly hampered the scale and speed that he could affect the battles. They had raced ahead of the news of their tactics to the next base, though, and a repeat of what they had accomplished at the first base they had struck occurred. They set up two ambushes, and they managed to save a group of civilians. The group they saved was considerably smaller than the first, though, and Reivyn suspected it was most likely due to the work parties being out and about, laying the wires down. The addition of enemy Mages meant that the soldiers in the platoon had to shoulder more of the heavy lifting in the battles, and they finally started to suffer casualties. Nobody had died, aside from the few unlucky ones in the first battle, but the injuries decreased the platoon's fighting strength enough that Reivyn had to slow their activities down. Morale was still high, even among the injured, but war weariness was also beginning to set in. Reivyn heard more and more grumbles from the troops wishing to spend some time in a nice tavern or relaxing at home with their families. The war had only been going on for about two months at this point, but there had been almost zero significant rest for the troops from the very beginning. They had constantly been on the move and fighting against the enemy. Mental fatigue would become a problem if they had to operate at the same pace for much longer. "Sir, another enemy force up ahead," a scout ran up and offered a salute. Reivyn had tried to explain to the men that saluting in the field was inappropriate, but if there were no enemies around, they continued to do so. Reivyn wasn't too worried about it, so he let it slide. "What's the situation?" Reivyn asked. "It appears to be a group escorting some prisoners, but they're not nearly as large as the ones we've seen before." "Explain." "It's just one group of about a hundred soldiers and overseers escorting a wagon train of civilians. There are six wagons, and each one seems to contain about ten captives. Also, I didn't see any obvious Casters with this patrol." Reivyn shared a look with Jekle and Laris. "Let's go check it out," Reivyn nodded his head. "Have the men prepare for action, but keep them out of sight for now." "Yes, sir!" All three of the men responded. Reivyn followed the scout toward the location of the enemy patrol, and Jekle and Laris Commanded their platoons to follow behind. He once more ascended a small hill with Jekle and Laris in tow, and they crawled forward to spy on the enemy troops. The situation was as the scout had described. There was a wagon trail following behind a group of about a hundred enemy soldiers. Reivyn could see the heads of the civilians as they sat in the back of the wagons, but not much else. There were no older people or children among the captives, but that made sense to Reivyn. He hadn't seen anyone but those able to work out laying the wires, but there had been elderly and children among the captives freed from the camps. Reivyn frowned as he watched the procession move along. Something seems off, but I can't quite put my finger on it... Reivyn thought. "Should we order the men to prepare?" Jekle whispered. Reivyn shook his head. "Wait a moment. Let me look a bit longer." Reivyn scanned the men as they walked in front of the wagons. They were in their typical disorganized group with no neatly dressed lines, but there was something strange about the way they moved. Reivyn's Danger Sense wasn't going off, and none of his other Skills were tugging at him, but there was something... "They're in step," Reivyn whispered, finally noticing the oddity. "They may not be in a formation, but they're definitely Marching. None of the other groups we've encountered have done so." "What does that mean?" Laris asked, puzzled. "It means this is a trap," Reivyn answered. "Those with '1's' and '2's' on their heads haven't acted in such a way before. If we go down there, I would bet everything I have that they're all '3's' or higher. If they're concealing their strength in this way, they might also be hiding Casters among the soldiers, as well. "We're retreating." The four men, the three officers plus the scout, descended back down the hill and met back up with the platoons. Reivyn ordered them to quietly move back the way they had come. After Marching for a couple of minutes, another scout came sprinting toward Reivyn from the direction they were heading. A sense of dread filled Reivyn as he watched the scout approach. "Sir, an enemy patrol of about a hundred men is heading this way, straight ahead," the scout panted. Reivyn turned to get the attention of Jekle and Laris, but another scout running toward the platoons from a different direction caught his eye. He paused and waited for the man to run up to him. "Sir, about a hundred enemies are approaching us from that direction," the scout pointed back the way he had come. "Sir," Reivyn turned to face the third scout he had perceived run up to him with his Divine Sense Skill. "A force of a hundred men coming at us from that direction?" Reivyn cut him off. The scout nodded. What are the chances that there are three patrols zeroing in on our position right after we spotted a convoy transporting prisoners? Reivyn thought. "We've been surrounded," Reivyn said, looking at Jekle and Laris. "No time to be stealthy. Get the men running. We have to punch through one of these groups before they can meet up and flank us. Go!" Laris and Jekle ran back to their positions and started sprinting forward, angling for a direction that would lead them between two of the incoming groups. The soldiers increased their pace to match their commanders, and Reivyn ran alongside the two platoons. They needed to run in a direction that they wouldn't run straight into the enemy, but they also needed to avoid positioning themselves in a way that they could get caught in a pincer. The two platoons ran through a gulley, and then they were out in the open as the hills to one side fell away. Reivyn saw one of the incoming enemy patrols in the distance, and they saw Reivyn's platoons at the same time. Reivyn could hear the sound of orders being barked, and the patrol started sprinting toward Reivyn's men. There were still some hills on the right-hand side of the advancing platoons, so there was only one group of enemies in sight of the platoons at the moment, but Reivyn knew that it was only a matter of time before another group appeared from the other side. Reivyn had been running on the right side of his platoons, and he sprinted to the other side to get between them and the enemy. He gathered his Mana in his hands, and he launched a Spell at the enemy, trying to stall for time. His suspicions were confirmed, though, when he sensed Mana flare around three of the individuals in the enemy force. A Mana Shield sprang up and intercepted his first Spell. It didn't last long against the power of Reivyn's Spell, though, and it shattered after draining some of Mana away. A second shield sprang up after the first, and Reivyn's first Spell disintegrated on impact. His second Spell, though, punched through the Shield, and blinding light followed by a loud explosion detonated above the heads of the incoming soldiers. They were momentarily disoriented from the flash bang, but they were much more resilient than the previous soldiers Reivyn had used the trick on. They only stumbled about for a couple of seconds before they recovered and continued their charge. The third Caster didn't create a shield to protect the rest of the men, and an offensive Spell of their own counterattacked Reivyn. Reivyn reached out with his will and wrestled with the Caster for supremacy over the Spell while simultaneously launching another barrage of Spells from his hands. Multiple, less powerful Bolts flew out of Reivyn's right hand, screaming toward the incoming enemy. Reivyn gained control of the enemy Caster's own Spell, a giant fireball, and he brought it down on toward the heads of the advancing troops. Another series of Mana Shields sprung up, stopping the Spell from doing any damage. Reivyn's bolts slammed into the Shields right after, bringing them down, and Reivyn took the opportunity to release the Mana he had accumulated in his left hand. A separate Beam of Plasma was launched at light speed from each of his individual fingers, and he strafed his hand across the line of soldiers coming at them. Once more, Shields sprung up to protect the troops, but this time, it was the group-shield Skill of the individual soldiers. The Plasma Beams ate through their shields, though, and several men along the front line collapsed to the ground. Some of them caught fire, and others had serious burns on their bodies, but they all got trampled by those rushing forward from behind them. "Keep running!" Reivyn Commanded. "I'll hold them off as much as I can and try to take their Casters out!" Reivyn continued to run alongside the platoon, casting Spells and occasionally throwing up Mana Shields of his own when he was unable to steal an enemy Spell. His efforts did manage to slow the advance of the enemy soldiers enough that his platoons squeezed through the trap, and he managed to knock one of the Casters out of commission. Reivyn's heart was pounding, but a sense of hope filled him even as the next group of one hundred soldiers appeared on the hill to their right. They had gotten past them, though, and if they didn't get slowed down by the enemy Mages, they had a good chance to get away unscathed. The two platoons ran up a hill, and Reivyn was about to order them to really push it on the down slope, when he and his men came to a crashing halt. In front of them, on the other side of the hill, was another group of enemy soldiers, about two hundred strong. They were outfitted completely differently than any they had seen so far. They were all extremely heavily armored, and all of their gear was shiny and deadly looking. An armored figure with a pink plume on their head stood in front of the patiently waiting soldiers.