Chapter 87
"Ent trees. They're much stronger than regular trees but require constant care. It's said that the King of Seka at the time of the war hoped that he could use the ent trees to bolster his defenses." Annie always had strange knowledge about places. "He quickly found out that the trees couldn't live in the cold. This forest is the only place within his borders that they could grow in."
"Is it flammable?" Jasmine could breathe flames so it was obvious why she was asking.
"All wood is flammable. It just needs to be dry first. Those dead trees should light up but I hope you don't set the walls on fire. There are innocent women and children in there." Annie didn't want to be a part of another ma.s.sacre.
Gren noticed the roots along the hill leading up after he placed one of the steel shelters for the vampire to stay in. While those roots would normally be a problem for wheels, Gren could use earth magic to create a smooth path to the fort itself. The mobile wall should be able to defend against the arrows so the only problem that Gren could see was the leader with explosive arrows. As for the beast tamer's animals, which of the mercenaries weren't adept at killing wolves?
"We've got a problem." Annie suddenly spoke up. "Gren, bring out your defenses, we've been spotted." Gren could see that there were people running back and forth on the top of the wall.
The mobile wall was wide and moderately tall so it weighed a lot. Without any reinforcement to the ground, it would have sunken into the dirt. "Ahk, you're up. n.o.body else can push this thing up a hill." There were holes to look through but they were covered with sliding metal panels.
Opening the cover, Gren peeked out in time to see a sky full of arrows. "Incoming! Hug the wall!" Gren made sure to yell so that everybody heard him. The sound of arrowheads cras.h.i.+ng against the steel continued as they made their way up the hill.
"Archers on the sides!" Annie spotted some enemies in the trees that were flanking their position. Gallia and Buthi could cover the arrows from the left side of their position but there weren't enough large s.h.i.+elds to cover the right. The armor protected them from most hits but a couple of arrows managed to find the weak points to the armor; Troels managed to get hit in the back of a knee and Gren got shot in the side of his neck.
{f.u.c.k! Not again!} Gren quickly removed the arrow with his system before healing the wound. He only noticed that someone else got hit when Troels was falling behind. {Is there any way to stop the arrows?}
Was that the AI's solution to all problems? Gren decided to leave it up to the system and ran to help Troels. Nothing was deployed so Gren was worried until the arrows headed for him suddenly disappeared. The arrow in Troels's leg was removed when he got close to it and Gren hurried to heal him. "Do you think that you can help me get closer to the archers on that side?" Gren was pointing to the ones that managed to hit the two of them.
"Yeah, but we don't have much time." Troels wanted payback as well. "Hop on my back and let's get those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds."
Troels helped Gren onto his back and held one arm back so that Gren could hold on to it and keep balance. Gren had never ridden a horse or centaur before so he was holding on for dear life. The archers started aiming for the two of them but the front of Troels's armor was impenetrable by their arrowheads made of stone or wood and the system protected Gren from any arrows that came his way.
Gren launched his explosive flames towards the archers, causing them to fall from the trees. Some of them were unlucky enough to survive and had their chests and heads pierced by giant icicles. There were only seven archers on this side. None of them were the leader or the beast tamer but getting rid of so many enemies in a short amount of time was great. Gren rode back towards the others when a large blast caused Troels to fall, his momentum launching him and Gren forward and down the hill.
Gren's landing wasn't so graceful but it was a lot smoother than the way Troels landed. Troels's armor was damaged by the exploding arrow and he was injured badly. His parts were all there so Gren could heal him but there was no way that he could continue the fight. {Place the Troels-sized shelter down between us and the fort.} Gren healed Troels and helped him into the shelter. As long as Troels barred the door then he'd be fine when left alone.
After Gren left the shelter, he immediately ran towards the mobile wall; its wheels seemed to be stuck. The leader was determined to kill Gren, it seemed. Another explosive arrow landed nearby--just in front of him--so Gren used earth magic to cover it. The blast still launched Gren back but he was able to get up quickly and continue running.
———————————
"Their magician isn't going to go down with just that." Thalonys expected for someone to accept the bounty on him and his soldiers sooner or later, but he didn't expect a magician. "With magic like that, they'll be a threat."
Thalonys's wife, Cyntasila, was worried. "That building appeared out of nowhere." These enemies of theirs weren't normal.
Thalonys thought about it and remembered tales of old earth magicians. "He must be able to control the metal in the ground. It was possible for our ancestors to do the same thing. Perhaps this magician is an elf as well."
"Sire, what should we do?" One of the soldiers decided to interrupt the married couple. "Our arrows aren't doing anything."
"Signal for the scouts to come back." Leaving troops outside of the walls wasn't going to help them out. Thalonys usually wouldn't care if the soldiers lived or died since they were mostly made up of the sc.u.m of society but their bloodlines were needed. Until the number of elves under his control reached the tens of thousands, Thalonys couldn't get rid of that sc.u.m. Even if almost none of the children being born were pure elves, they still had a place in his new society and they would replace the criminals in his army.
———————————
"We can't go any further." Gren noticed a major problem that he didn't think about when designing the mobile wall. "Any closer and they'll get a direct shot on us." Trying to leave the cover was suicide and the lip at the top wouldn't cover the people at the sides.
"Do you think that you can take us under with your magic?" Gren didn't think about it earlier but Annie's question made him wonder if it was possible. Gren set up his metal barriers to protect from the sides while he tried to dig through. Just in case there were any problems down below, Gren had the system release another shelter for people to stay in. Not everybody could fit inside at the same time but it was the Ahk-sized one so it'd fit half, at least.
It was easy to create a hole with earth magic and storing the loose soil with the system sped up the process. Gren created a path through the roots but, eventually, he hit a wall. It was odd to see stone bricks underground... well, not really, but it was odd for an Elven structure. After removing some of the bricks, Gren could see the room inside.
There were a few enemies inside but they weren't paying attention. Gren signalled for the others to be quiet before whispering, "Anybody with a bow, prepare to take down some enemies. Aim carefully, there are innocent people inside." Gren saw that Nin-the young archer girl that was with Rory--tried to move forward, so he stopped her. "It's best if you don't see this."
Annie, Erling, and Dhalra were quick and managed to take out the men without making a lot of noise. There were only five of them down here so Annie and Dhalra just had to take out two each. The enemies had their pants down so they didn't even have a chance to fight back. Annie ran up to the nearest dead body and started kicking it. "You f.u.c.king piece of s.h.i.+t!"
"Annie, quiet." Gren understood where she was coming from but they needed to think of their mission. Gren approached one of the women chained up against the wall and checked her condition. "Don't worry, we're here to help you." She didn't have much of a response to Gren's presence.
Gren removed the woman's shackles and wrapped her body up. When Gren picked her up, he could hear her whispering something. "Kill me... please kill me..."
After placing her next to the tunnel, Gren moved her hair from her eyes so that she could see him. "You're safe now. Nothing bad will happen to you anymore." Gren healed her body but wasn't able to heal her mind or undo what they did to her. "Annie, please talk with her while I free the others."
The other women were in a similar state so Gren needed to heal them. Several of them were at different states of pregnancy and one had even lost her child to the abuse that she suffered. There was only woman that had a different state of mind, and it was a muscular woman covered in scars. It was clear that she suffered the same fate as the others but Gren could see a look of defiance in her eyes.
The words that came out of her mouth when her gag was removed ended up surprising Gren, "You're some kind of soldier, right? Give me a weapon and I'll help you kill those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds."
"You're in no condition to fight. Even if I heal you, you'll just get in the way with that
"Those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds killed my husband and made me like this. I've got nothing left to go back to. Do you think that I care if I die?" Gren didn't want to see her get herself killed. "As long as I can kill one of them then it'll be worth it."
"I can't give someone a weapon after they tell me they're going to get themselves killed. Do you want me to hate myself for the rest of my life?" Gren was being a bit hyperbolic but he would definitely think less of himself if he let them die. "Just stay alive and you'll get a new place to go back to, I promise."
Gren couldn't continue trying to convince her not to die. They had a limited amount of time before the bandits figured out that something was wrong. The dungeon was too short for Ahk so Gren had her carry the women to the surface if they couldn't walk on their own. The shelter above should be able to hold them all.
The dungeon was a dead end so the only way to go was up. Dhalra was able to move the quietist with her gear so she scouted ahead. Annie and Shenzi followed closely behind her but still far enough that they wouldn't be heard. The dungeon led into the interior of the ent tree wall. Most of the bandits were either on top of the wall or were defending the holes in the wall so they weren't looking this way. "A total of sixteen men ahead. I think that I can take two or three out before they can call for help." Dhalra didn't want to overestimate her ability so she kept her guess conservative.
"My bow skills are rusty. I might be able to take down one but I'm not sure." Annie hadn't held a bow since her injury and it wasn't her weapon of choice even before then. She only took out two downstairs because they were making a lot of noise.
"Yeah, I don't even use a bow. I think we should return to the stairs and see if the rat slayer has something to help the situation." Shenzi didn't care that Gren didn't like that nickname.
———————————
Gren felt defenseless with the wooden armor on. He didn't even know how to use a bow properly so he wouldn't be able to fight back if you ignored the system and his magic. Gren approached the group of bandits while munching on some boar meat that he had on a stick. The bucket in his other arm was full of similar-looking sticks with meat on them.
One of the bandits by the hole in the wall spotted and called out to him so he raised the bucket slightly and said something with his mouth full. Gren didn't know what the man said and he didn't speak Elvish so this was the only way to fool them. One of the bandits grabbed the bucket from Gren and was going to eat when the leader stopped him. The voice that the leader used towards Gren made him think that he was being questioned so Gren quickly chewed and swallowed his food before dropping the icicles he had formed onto their heads.
Gren quickly stored the bodies--some of which needed to be finished off--and quickly left the area. The ice falling made more noise than he had planned so he ducked into a nearby building. It seemed to be their mess hall since there was a large table with leftover food on it.
There was the sound of boots pounding against the wood floors outside of the door. It was only obvious that they'd check this room after noticing that everybody was missing. This was the closest building to the place where they disappeared. Gren needed to find some way to fool them and he didn't think that the food trick would work this time.
———————————
{Gone. This is the biggest hole in our defenses and they left it undefended.} Tyro didn't like how the new blood was quick to abandon their posts. "You three, go check to see if they're messing with the women. The rest of you stay here to defend this hole." He'd go from door to door making sure that they hadn't done anything stupid.
The dining room was closest to their post so Tyro figured that there were probably a couple of them in there. Inside was a sole soldier making himself something in the large pot in the kitchen. It smelled good but now was not the time to be having a meal. "Soldier, return to your post."
The soldier took a mouthful of what was in the pot before screaming in pain. {The idiot drank boiling hot soup! s.h.i.+t! Cold water? The well! No, that might make it worse. The doctor will know what to do.} Tyro pulled the soldier outside and yelled for someone to help him.
After getting the soldier to their hospital and leaving him with their doctor, Tyro and the soldier that a.s.sisted him ran back to check the other buildings. Other than a soldier that was f.u.c.king their own wife, no other soldiers were inside the buildings by this part of the wall. The three of them made their way back to the hole in the wall.
"Still not back? You guys wait here. I'll go see what's holding them." Tyro didn't know that the other soldiers were already killed and that he was headed to his own death.
———————————
"That makes four more dead. Do we wait for Gren?" Letta managed to kill the last bandit that came down the stairs with her crossbow. The other three were killed by Dhalra and Shenzi. Since Gren wasn't there, they hid the bodies in the hole.
"We don't have time to wait. They could have him in their custody right now." Jasmine was visibly upset but managed to keep her cool and not rush ahead to find her husband.
"We're waiting. Gren might be an idiot at times but there's no way to capture him unless he wants to be captured." Annie had confidence in his abilities. "He'd be making a lot of noise if he was under attack so I don't think we have to worry."
"Remember, there are around one hundred enemies remaining. We can't afford to be caught yet." Zell remembered the numbers that Mimi estimated earlier and had been keeping track of their kills. "We're doing good but if we make one wrong move then we're all dead."
"Zell's right. We should pick off the ones that come down to 'ttack us." Krieger hoped that they could get rid of another dozen bandits before the real fight begins. "If they keep comin' here we might not need to take the fight to them." With two veteran mercenaries and the leader all in agreement, it seemed like the argument was settled.
"How much time do you think it'll take before they realize that we're not behind that wall?" Suze was surprisingly against Krieger on whether or not they should wait. "Their weapons are much weaker than our own, with the exception of Kuroa and Tokala, of course. Even if we get into a fight with them now, we can win. However, that's only if they haven't finished laying a trap for us."
In the end, Suze managed to convince the others that it would be best to end it sooner so that Ahk, their powerhouse, was able to rejoin the battle. Kuroa was sent to inform Ahk of their plan and to defend the women in the shelter. Kuroa's armor didn't cover her entire body and her air support relied on Gren being there since she had only one javelin on her.
There were a total of six more bandits near where Gren killed the previous group. They weren't difficult to take down but one of them got a shout out before having Shenzi tear his throat out. "Remember the leader's explosive arrows. Hit the enemy fast. Try not to die." Their group moved at different speeds so Annie figured that they'd end up separating.
———————————
Shenzi sped off with Midna and Luna towards the stairs leading up to the next level. There were only three levels to the wall if you counted the top of it. The two levels below the top of the wall had tall ceilings so the Elven fort's wall was still taller than the wall that Fort Togo had. There were a few archers on the second floor; they were likely using the smaller holes to shoot out of before the man below had alerted them.
"You two pick off the ones that I miss. Don't get hit since the rat slayer isn't here right now." Luna and Midna couldn't dodge things as easily as Shenzi could since they were larger types of beastmen.
"Try to miss a bunch of them then. I really want to sink my teeth into these people." Luna's obsession with biting things was weird but Shenzi appreciated her enthusiasm.
"Gren will be angry if you eat the elves." Midna knew how much that Luna liked to eat meat but humans and demihumans were off the menu.
———————————
While Shenzi's group dealt with the soldiers on the second floor, Annie led the rest to the top of the wall. That's where the bulk of the bandits were located. Everybody that had a s.h.i.+eld was currently lifting it up to protect the rest from arrows. The stairs leading to the top were exposed and so was their position. After reaching the top, the s.h.i.+elds were aimed forward to block the arrows
A glowing arrow landed in front of Letta so she raised Gren's s.h.i.+eld and covered it, recognizing what that arrow was about to do. The blast was mostly contained underneath the s.h.i.+eld but Letta was launched backwards and flew off the wall. With the leader exposing his position, Dhalra took the opportunity to shoot him with an arrow. She couldn't get the killing blow but it'd be difficult for him to launch any other arrows with an arrow in his shoulder.
A howling could be heard from the forest in the direction that Letta fell. "Wolves. Letta might still be alive, I'm going down." Cammie jumped from the top of the wall, using her axes against the side of the wall to slow her descent. Cammie had gotten to know Letta during their time as night watchmen and didn't want to see her die.
Gallia and Buthi charged forward towards the enemy with their large tower s.h.i.+elds. The bandits weren't that good with melee weapons; the ones that managed to slow the insectoid duo's charge didn't last long against their dual wielded weapons. Suze used her magic to release a gust of wind, pus.h.i.+ng some of the bandits off the wall towards the inside of the fort. Another explosive arrow came flying, headed straight for the ground in front of Suze.
Dill jumped on the arrow--much like Letta did--and prevented Suze from being hit by the blast. He didn't go flying back but the blast escaped from the s.h.i.+eld, blowing off his right arm and engulfing him in flames. Sachi, the cyclops, had the medical bag on her back so she pulled Dill behind the front line and applied a healing potion to his mangled upper arm. She was afraid of the fighting but if she didn't help him then he'd die.
Several of the bandits realized that they couldn't win the fight and started to run down the other set of stairs, only to run into an even scarier enemy; an angry minotaur with the biggest s.h.i.+eld and axe that they had ever seen. Ahk crushed the first few enemies with her s.h.i.+eld and sliced most of the rest of them with her axe. There were a few that managed to slip by but the beastman trio had already cleared the enemies on the second floor. The bandits ended up becoming their playthings. The few bandits that were watching the other sides of the wall were able to get away but five or six bandits escaping would still be acceptable.
Ahk and the three beastmen women blocked the path of escape for the remaining bandits, including the leader and a pregnant elf woman by his side. "It's over. Surrender or die." Annie wanted to avoid killing the woman but didn't care about the rest of them.
The bandits all knew that surrendering meant death so they decided to have a futile last stand. Zell swung his ma.s.sive greathammer, killing the man that decided to charge his way. One guy decided to take his chances and jumped off the wall, breaking his legs on the ground below. Chase dodged an arrow that was headed his way and returned fire, hitting the man in the middle of his forehead. The bandits' numbers were dwindling as the mercenaries closed in. Eventually, it was just the leader and the pregnant elf that were left.
"Hiding behind your men. You're a coward." The leader of the bandits had himself a crown so it was clear what his role was. "Now you're going to use a woman as a s.h.i.+eld?"
The bandit leader pushed the pregnant woman towards Annie and jumped off of the fort wall. A blindingly bright light surrounded him and vines appeared around his body, forming a new set of armor and wings. Dhalra tried to shoot him down but he was flying too fast away from them. There was nothing that they could do to catch him with Kuroa down below.
The pregnant woman had been abandoned and was reaching out towards the man, crying out in another language. It seemed like she might jump off the wall to follow him so Annie brought her down carefully and tied her up. The way the battle ended left a sour taste in her mouth. It was fine if the weaklings ran away but the leader escaping in such a way wasn't acceptable. Even though the request was technically completed, that guy would probably continue his twisted campaign.
———————————
Back when Cammie went to help Letta...
The s.h.i.+eld that Letta was carrying had been heavily damaged and the sword wasn't in its sheath. Letta couldn't be seen near the equipment so she must have landed in the forest. Cammie needed to find Letta before the wolves arrived. Cammie had lost two of her throwing axes in the fighting earlier so she was down to three now; she'd need to be careful not to lose any more of them.
Looking through the bushes, Cammie finally found Letta. "Letta, are you alright? Can you hear me?" She seemed conscious but dazed; her eyes were moving around but she didn't seem to acknowledge Cammie's existence. Her helmet was off, exposing the chainmail on her head. Cammie spotted the helmet a little bit down the hill, against one of the trees.
Cammie grabbed the helmet and put it on Letta's head before dragging her in the direction of the shelter that Gren placed by the hole. She could hear the fighting intensify up on the wall but she was more focused on the noises coming from the forest. The wolves were closing in; she wasn't going to make it to the shelter.
Cammie pulled Letta to the wall and stepped in front of her, raising her s.h.i.+eld to prepare for the wolves. There was a decent amount of room between her and the forest so she'd see when they attacked. A loud whistling sound came from the forest just before the five wolves leapt out and charged.
Cammie didn't expect them to attack with such coordination but what was even more surprising was the person in fur that rid on the back of one of the wolves. {The beast tamer?} Cammie slammed her s.h.i.+eld into the first wolf that got close enough and tried to hack at it with her axe but another wolf went for her axe arm, gripping on to her armor.
Cammie jumped up and slammed the wolf that was gripping her into the ground before pounding its head in with her s.h.i.+eld. One of the other wolves started pulling on her leg so she threw her axe at it with her now-free arm, killing it. The other two wolves that she hit were still alive so she was still outnumbered. There wasn't time to retrieve the axe from the wolf's skull so she pulled out one of the two axes she still had on the back of her hip.
The beast tamer was angered by the death of their wolf and started shooting arrows at Cammie. Their bow arm was weak so the arrows didn't do anything to her armor but that was to be expected from someone the size of a kid. Cammie was a.s.saulted by another one of the wolves so she kicked it down and threw her axe at the wolf that the beast tamer was riding. It hit the wolf in the neck; the wolf wasn't dead, but it was only a matter of time before it died.
One axe remaining. One wolf went after Letta and started pulling her away while the other two went for Cammie. Cammie's left leg was held between one wolf's teeth while the wolf that she kicked lunged at her upper body. It obviously didn't learn its lesson as Cammie just knocked it down with her s.h.i.+eld. Her arm was clear so there was nothing stopping her from killing the wolf that had a grip on her leg.
The wolf that she had kicked and now bashed was struggling to get up so Cammie finished it off. There was only one more wolf and the kid to deal with now. Looking back at Letta, the kid was climbing onto the back of the wolf that had been trying to pull Letta. The kid tugged on its fur and the two went running.
Letta threw her last axe, taking out the wolf's back right leg. After the kid checked on the wolf, they looked up and saw Cammie running at them. Scared by her, the kid bolted towards the forest. She had no more axes but Cammie had one last projectile on her.
The kid was..h.i.t and fell down, their groaning could be heard from where Cammie was standing. After running up to the kid, Cammie tied them up. Her helmet rolled a bit after bouncing off the kid's back so she went to pick it back up. It took a while to retrieve her equipment and drag the kid and Letta back to the wall but Cammie finally got a chance to rest.