Book 3, Chapter 52

Revolt(2)

Even as Agamemnon’s words changed Nyris’ expression, Lina was standing shocked by the side. She had no idea what Richard was doing, but his meticulousness still astonished her. Nobody wanted an enemy like him, not even the Dragon Mage.

The only one unaffected was Flowsand. The cleric had headed to a tent the moment Richard began, falling deep asleep. Planar teleportation was a draining affair, and she needed to recover well.

The rest might not have known Richard’s intentions, but she did. It was nothing too amazing; he was just using the excuse of the roll call to get some understanding of the abilities of every soldier. He frequently did the same back on Faelor as well, which was why he had a precise grasp on how best to use his people in battle. A fight that could be won by ten soldiers would at most be allocated to eleven.

When it finally ended, everyone outside of Richard heaved a sigh of relief.

“Officers, forward!” Richard’s command caused a hundred officers of varying ranks to stand out. He then put the register away, coldly scanning through these fierce soldiers; their eyes had been full of an untamed savagery when the Dragon Mage had handed over command. He spoke up after a moment, “All of you are being reorganised. Company 1, Squad 1…”

Richard spoke quickly but the well-trained officers and soldiers that were called on promptly gathered to form the new teams. At some point during the process, many of the soldiers’ expressions changed. His voice never paused, and he hadn’t taken a single look at the register from the start. It was as though he had memorised all of their names during the roll call, but… how was that even possible?

And yet, once the reorganisation was done, everyone was shocked to find that Richard really had remembered everyone. Not one of the soldiers had been left behind! He placed his hands behind his back and shouted, “Everyone is to remember their squads. My commands will only go to the company captains… All of you are to distinctly remember your numbers and follow orders without fail. Anyone who disobeys will be beheaded.

“We’re setting out at eight in the morning, we attack at nine. All of you, get some rest!”

The two thousand plus soldiers returned to their tents in order, leaving a few dozens in the training grounds. These were the captains Richard had picked out; they were all required to memorise the code names for his orders before they could sleep.

Nyris and Agamemnon were still standing at the side of the field. The prince had his hand on his chin, “Richard seems to be adept at war.”

“Seems to be? If you two were using the same military forces with over a thousand troops, he can annihilate you thrice over.” Agamemnon did not hold back.

Nyris hummed reluctantly, “We’ll only know if we fight. Besides, why should I use an army like he does? Can’t I just rush into his command centre and kill him directly? He’s just a level 12 mage.”

Agamemnon pretended not to have heard anything, causing the prince to shrug helplessly, “Alright, alright! I’m inferior to Richard, okay? Wait, something’s not right… Richard’s going to his quarters? All the troops were organised, why aren’t we included? He isn’t even considering the two of us in his plans, is he? We’re definitely at the top tier here!”

“The top tier of neglection, it seems like.” The taciturn Agamemnon made a rare joke.

Nyris’ pretty little face was already turning red. Feeling like there was no point in standing alone in the field, he resentfully entered his tent and fell deep asleep.

……

Richard stayed awake inside the command tent, studying the terrain of Emerald City from the map table.

The key to this battle would be the enemy’s three magic towers. They were all the most elementary of towers, primarily serving to weaken any spells cast within their domain greatly. All three combined, they suppressed Lina’s magic until it wasn’t too much of a threat. Another function came in the form of a mana attack that was comparable to a grade 6 spell. Even grand mages had to be careful with them.

The original point of these three towers was to fight the forest elves. Because the damage they could do to a single target didn’t matter all that much, they had been designed for long-ranged area offensives. Given how primitive the magic of the elves was, the mana suppression functions were extremely basic. However, if every tower was used in harmony the defensive ability was still great, especially with a saint coordinating their tactics. It was these three towers that had allowed the rebel army to fight off two attacks led by Lina despite a disadvantage in numbers.

The abilities of a magic tower depended entirely on the support of its mana pool. There were mechanisms to draw atmospheric mana into it, but there were limits to that ability. One of the best ways to remove the threat of a magic tower was to charge straight in and kill the controlling mages. Another was to empty its mana pool, rendering it useless. Of course, one could also attack the tower itself. If the defences were destroyed, the magic formations would be damaged and lose their effects.

In their current circumstances, the towers were not an offensive threat. The rebel army was relying on them to suppress Lina’s magic, and every spell they weakened consumed a lot of energy from the pool. Looking at their positions on the map, new plans constantly flowed through Richard’s mind. It took him a while to decide on a few that would attack the towers, the saint, as well as the regular soldiers of the enemy army.

……

Eight in the morning the next day, 2,300 soldiers entered formation before marching towards Emerald City. Without any roles or orders, Nyris and Agamemnon just followed behind.

The two were covered in armour from head to toe, even their faces covered in helmets. The armour was obviously custom made, and the faint ripples of magic coming off them were an indication that they weren’t cheap. A close look would reveal excellent lines that made it obvious how expensive the materials were, but despite that there were no decorative motifs or any other sign of extravagance on these sets. It was all an unremarkable grey, dull to the point that it was slightly unpresentable. A few obvious cracks could be seen at the seams.

To the untrained eye, both of them looked like pitiful knights that didn’t have the money to even eat properly.

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