Rupegia - Chapter 83: Not One Step Back

Chapter 83: Not One Step Back – Part 2

Yunia is the only one of us that trained in how to manage an army, Alissa is the one who has the most experience with commanding troops, and Hana is the one who's the most used to being a grunt. Yunia has no confidence in herself, asking to be only an advisor and giving me command; Alissa absolutely hates being a commander, so she also wants a position like Yunia's; Hana accepts leading a small squad, but she'd be out of her depth with anything larger than that; Ciel's job is to keep the harem safe, so I don't want to add any more to her workload; Lina, Roxanne, and Aoi are complete newbies at this, so they wouldn't be reliable leaders.

"I could try to lead. They aren't alive, so it's no problem if they die, hm?" Aoi volunteers.

"The numbers of our troops are limited; I don't want to risk losing them unless necessary," I reply.

"Okay," she casually agrees with a nod. She wants to protect others, but she's still a bit too young for that responsibility.

"There are some elves here that seem like nobility, so they might be our best choice for leaders," Yunia suggests.

"We'll have to test their intelligence and their skills if we intend to give them positions of power," Alissa says.

Yunia nods and continues, "We'll have to understand if and what they eat, if they need rest, the limits of their stamina, their individual needs and wants, and anything else that might be relevant."

I turn towards Hana and say, "You'll need to spar with them."

Her eyebrows knit in concern. Even she is starting to become tired. "Every single one?" She asks, worriedly.

"Just a few, then we'll have them spar with the others to see how they do," I answer.

"Ah, exponential growth," Lina says and nods in understanding.

I smile at her, but I don't pat her head since she's wearing her helmet. "Exactly. We'll need to organize them, though."

She nods energetically, "Alright, I'll do it."

We begin inspecting the troops while Hana starts the sparring with them.

Ciel walks up to one of the commoners carrying the head of a dead soldier and asks, "Why are you carrying that?"Fôllôw new stories at novelhall.com

She snaps her head towards Ciel and answers in a monotone, "Failure."

Hana snorts loudly. Arreira is not subtle.

Ciel frowns and asks softly, "Where are you taking it?"

"Everywhere."

"Why?"

"This is a part of me."

"So... you won't drop it?"

"No."

"Never?"

"Never."

Ciel goes quiet, and the elven woman immediately snaps her head forward again.

It's like the glowing elves are in some low CPU-usage mode where their speech capabilities were limited to allow the dungeon to run all of them in parallel.

We question them some more and learn that they behave exactly like the elementals or the golems. They're completely obedient, except when we ask them to drop the pieces of their dead kin or to retreat. They can walk back a certain distance, but they have a limit of about one hundred meters.

As we make a tally of our army, I curiously watch a glowing elf carrying a long pike and an oval shield getting pummeled by Hana. I notice that he isn't carrying a sword comparable to ours, only a short, gladius-like one made for stabbing. Although he knows how to hide behind a shield and stab better than a commoner, he sucks at using his sword.

Yunia stands beside me and observes the sparring match. "Hm... elves excel at teamwork and coordination. I think that sparring with them individually isn't going to tell us much," she remarks.

"It's still a good idea to learn who are the veterans and who are the new guys," Hana points out through me.

She quickly realizes that aside from the Generals and some nobles trained in the sword, all of the elves here suck at individual combat. They weren't trained for it because they're all low level, so they barely have – or had, I don't know if they're "dead" – any melee skills.

They're all from the age when the God-Rulers existed, who enforced a near monopoly of Experience through Rings of the Servant. That allowed those Rulers to gain hundreds upon hundreds of levels and become demigods, but it also lowered the average level of everyone else.

Once the elves were incorporated into the empire, their army was reformed, so neither Yunia nor Lina knows all the details about their organization. We continue questioning them and learn that they have some technical knowledge, but no actual memories. Fortunately, this means that it's simple to reform their hierarchy because we just have to ask them about how they were trained to fight, then we assign them according to their respective roles.

The two main units of the elves are the pike and archer companies, composed of around eighty men in each company. As auxiliary units, there are the Skirmishers, who are harassment troops that use [Vine Weapon] to conjure either arrows or javelins, and the Gatun riders, but there aren't any riders or Gatuns in this army. The elven mages don't have imperial [Ritualism] to link their mana pools together, which would've allowed them to cast huge spells, so they're spread out across the army, filling a variety of support roles. The only dedicated mage squadrons are the Engineers, who specialize in manipulating terrain, and the Elementalists, who cast low-level system magic spells from range, but they aren't reliable damage dealers.

The pikemen carry large oval shields which are almost as tall as themselves, and they fight in a phalanx-like formation. They're almost exclusively a defensive unit, forming a porcupine-like barrier reinforced by [Nature Magic] and nearly impossible to break through. They also use [Weaverism] to connect the minds of the soldiers together and allow them all to fight in perfect sync with each other.

The archers are the main damage dealers, wielding a variety of enchanted bows with different uses which they switch between depending on the situation. There aren't enough enchanted bows for every soldier to have one, so they rotate them among the archers to keep a steady stream of magic arrows falling on the enemy.

We have four companies of Lonlanzas, the pikemen; three of Arquirandos, the archers wielding enchanted bows; two hundred Skirmishers; twenty Engineers; fifty Elementalists; twenty healers; twenty archer nobles; forty pike-and-sword nobles; and thirty Generals who can use [Precognition] and wield greatswords.

There's still the option of using the hundreds of civilians as a levy, but they'd only be cannon-fodder since the enemies we're facing are actually organized and trained.

The nobles serve as elite troops, so we'll spread them among the companies and assign them the leadership of their squads. These nobles are all magic warriors like us, but they don't have any sort of enchanted equipment. Before Aremut started producing enough enchanting gems for the entirety of the empire, enchanted equipment was rare, so the archetype more commonly chosen by nobility was magic warriors instead of spellswords.

The Generals all have enchanted equipment along with being partial magic swordsmen. Their armor may have hundreds of little decorations, creating plenty of nooks and crannies for a spear to get caught on, but they all break apart when even just a little bit of force is applied, so they don't get in the way, and they also regrow after being removed. Quite nifty.

The troops don't need to eat, but they do need rest and sleep. Their stamina is also limited, so we set up a rotation of the active troops to conserve their energy. There are non-soldier nobles among the civilians, so we use them to form an administration hierarchy because they seem to be a bit smarter than the others.

Setting all of this up is tiring and boring work, requiring a lot of discussion among ourselves, but we mostly just follow Yunia's advice. At least there's no need for a complex line of communication since our army is small enough that we can personally respond to any problems.

We just watch as the enemy line approaches ours. The monsters don't have mages to interrupt our mages, so the Engineers disrupt the ground under the monsters, and their line instantly collapses.

The Arquirandos let loose their flaming arrows, and the Elementalists cast their own [Fire Arrow]s, together lighting a large number of the enemies on fire while they're so exposed.

The ogres enrage and charge forward, quickly getting stopped by the Lonlanzas. Their long pikes are anchored against the ground, and their shafts are reinforced with magic. Yunia says that there's a lot of debate about whether or not Ronti riders would win against the Lonlanzas, but now we have evidence that heavily-armored Ogres don't, so we can extrapolate on that.

The Skirmishers pour out from the flanks of the Lonlanzas and surround the collapsed line, then they quickly finish them off.

"Oh, level up," Hana comments.

The numbers of enemies are too small to pose a threat to us, so we end the day without any problems.

Hana's tired, but she also demands to be fucked, so we tie up her arms and legs, then I go ham on both of her holes. After I'm done, we let her hang over the edge of the bath, like a filthy, used rag.

With the dragon satisfied, I have all the time in the world to savor my cute fox slave.

The sudden death cries of goblins grate on my ears, tainting the experience of making love to my woman. I fuck her harder to make her moans even louder to drown out the wails of the dying monsters.

The other girls use [Bind] to open the floodgates of pleasure, savoring the Fucking of the Fox to escape the depressing atmosphere outside of our ship.

Yunia can't join in with that, so after Alissa and I recharge from our obsession with each other, Roxanne and I give Yunia some attention to cheer her up. She seems to have become more introspective today and isn't smiling as much, so she might really need some love right now.

Lina quickly recovered from her dark mood after talking with Yunia, so getting molested by Ciel is all she needs for tonight.

Spoiler'Wolf Ryder Skill Report''Physical'Skill NameLevelSkill NameLevelSkill NameLevelSword Use16+11Spear Use0+1Polearm Use0+1Dodge8+7Parry5+5Block2+8Shield Bash0+1Battlefield Perception5+2Muscle Explosion4+1Acrobatics8+2Ekrano Style (creator)3 'Magical'Skill NameLevelSkill NameLevelSkill NameLevelSense Mana0+6Mana Control3+17Mana Recovery10+0Mana Efficiency3+7Reduced Mana Cost3+7Mana Overuse Resistance0+4Blackout Resistance0+1Fire Magic1+4Earth Magic2+3Water Magic4+1Wind Magic1+4Electric Magic6+14Light Magic2+13Space Magic3+23Summoning Magic13+27Blessing Magic8+22Nature Magic3+18Conjuring Magic0+1Spirit Magic0+3Illusion Magic0+2Golemancy0+10Redirect Mana (creator)6Sense Soul (creator)6Soul Manipulation (creator)7Godly Language30+2 'Miscellaneous'Skill NameLevelSkill NameLevelSkill NameLevelDancing0+1Cooking0+4Andraste Language4+6Dismantling0+4Piloting0+3Massage0+1Oral Technique0+1Mana Genitals (innate)3 'Info'NameWolf RyderAge16RaceHumanHP100MP1735Magic Power725Level36 'Stats'Strength13Endurance16Dexterity12Speed14Intelligence21Wisdom16Willpower18Charisma13Piety16Perception16Sanity12+4 'Other'Status EffectsNONETitles'Nickname "Good Luck", Blessed by the Goddess of Knowledge, Golemancer, Scholar of Rabanara'AffiliationsHelios (Fellowship), Alissa (Blood Slave, Fiancée), Hanafuria (Blood Slave, Fiancée), Roxanne Succubus (Fiancée), Lina (Slave, Fiancée), Ciel (Fiancée), Yulania (Blood Slave)Companions'Alissa, Hanafuria, Roxanne Succubus, Ciel, Lina, Yulania'Crimes'NONE''Alissa Skill Report''Physical'Skill NameLevelSkill NameLevelSkill NameLevelSword Use9Bow Use33Parry4Dodge3Sense Presence8Hide Presence4Enhanced Olfact5Enhanced Hearing3Hawk Eyes5Muscle Explosion2Quiet Steps4Quiet Action2Enhanced Stamina1Enhanced Reflexes3+4Tracking2 'Magical'Skill NameLevelSkill NameLevelSkill NameLevelSense Mana1Mana Control7Reduced Mana Cost5+0Fire Magic1Earth Magic5+0Water Magic1Wind Magic1Light Magic1Space Magic1Conjuring Magic1Illusion Magic2+9Fox Transformation (innate)5 'Miscellaneous'Skill NameLevelSkill NameLevelSkill NameLevelHousework3Cooking4Cleaning2Washing5Riding2Oral Technique4Pain Resistance2Hand Technique2 'Info'NameAlissaAge17RaceFox-type WereanimalHP100MP1060Magic Power520Level39 'Stats'Strength12Endurance18Dexterity23Speed20Intelligence13Wisdom14Willpower17Charisma14Piety15Perception17Sanity15 'Other'Status EffectsNONETitles'Blessed by the Goddess of Love'Affiliations'Wolf Ryder (Master, Fiance), Helios (Fellowship)'Companions'Wolf Ryder, Hanafuria, Roxanne Succubus, Ciel, Lina, Yulania'Crimes'NONE''Roxanne Succubus Skill Report''Physical'Skill NameLevel Dagger Use2 'Magical'Skill NameLevelSkill NameLevelSkill NameLevelSense Mana3Mana Control30Reduced Mana Cost7+4Mana Efficiency9Mana Overuse Resistance1Fire Magic3+27Water Magic30Light Magic1Space Magic2+8Conjuring Magic5Alchemy5Potion Brewing11Poison Brewing2Redirect Mana1 'Miscellaneous'Skill NameLevelSkill NameLevelSkill NameLevelHousework1Cooking1Cleaning1Washing1Riding1 'Info'NameRoxanne SuccubusAge21RaceSuccubus-Type Demon RaceHP100MP2770Magic Power1160Level39 'Stats'Strength9Endurance11Dexterity12Speed9Intelligence18Wisdom18Willpower15Charisma15Piety10Perception11Sanity12 'Other'Status Effects'NONE'Titles'NONE'Affiliations'Wolf Ryder (Fiance), Helios (Fellowship)'Companions'Wolf Ryder, Alissa, Hanafuria, Ciel, Lina, Yulania'Crimes'NONE''Hanafuria Skill Report''Physical'Skill NameLevelSkill NameLevelSkill NameLevelSword Use24Spear Use14Bow Use9Two-Handed Sword Use9Polearm Use6Dagger Use4Shield Bash7Block10Parry8Dodge5Tatesomu Style6Muscle Explosion4Battlefield Perception2Taunt3Intimidate2Enhanced Reflexes2Enhanced Stamina4Enhanced Strength2Enhanced Endurance4 'Magical'Skill NameLevelSkill NameLevelSkill NameLevelSense Mana1Mana Control2Reduced Mana Cost4+0Fire Magic1Earth Magic1Water Magic1+0Wind Magic1+0Light Magic1Space Magic1Conjuring Magic1Illusion Magic5 'Miscellaneous'Skill NameLevelSkill NameLevelSkill NameLevelHousework2Cooking1Cleaning1Washing1Riding3Massage1Pain Conversion1Dismantling4Oral Technique1Fire Breath (innate)5Summon Wings (innate)4 'Info'NameHanafuriaAge24RaceFire-Type DragonkinHP150MP910Magic Power430Level42 'Stats'Strength19Endurance24Dexterity11Speed13Intelligence12Wisdom14Willpower 19Charisma16Piety11 Perception10Sanity17 'Other'Status Effects'NONE'Titles'One Thousand Strikes'Affiliations'Wolf Ryder (Master, Fiance), 'Helios (Fellowship)''Companions'Wolf Ryder, Alissa, Roxanne Succubus, Ciel, Lina, Yulania'Crimes'NONE''Ciel Skill Report''Physical'Skill NameLevelSkill NameLevelSkill NameLevelGlaive Use21Sword Use5Parry8Dodge7Block6Imperial Hasterrum Style3Muscle Explosion2Battlefield Perception1 'Magical'Skill NameLevelSkill NameLevelSkill NameLevelSense Mana2Mana Control6Reduced Mana Cost5+2Mana Efficiency2+4Wind Magic10+20Fire Magic1Light Magic27Space Magic3Conjuring Magic1Diagnosis7Redirect Mana1 'Miscellaneous'Skill NameLevelSkill NameLevelSkill NameLevelFirst-Aid3Housework3Cooking2Cleaning2Washing1Riding1'Info'NameCielAge22RaceHumanHP100MP1280Magic Power780Level39 'Stats'Strength14Endurance14Dexterity17Speed18Intelligence15Wisdom20Willpower14CharismaPiety2222Perception13Sanity19 'Other'Status Effects'NONE'Titles'NONE'Affiliations'Wolf Ryder (Fiance), Helios (Fellowship), Templar Knights (Honorary Member), Temple Priestess (Former Member)'Companions'Wolf Ryder, Alissa, Hanafuria, Roxanne Succubus, Lina, Yulania'Crimes'NONE''Lina Skill Report''Physical'Skill NameLevelSkill NameLevelSkill NameLevelHammer Use17Axe Use1+9Throw5Parry1+9Dodge2+6Block10Muscle Explosion2Shield Bash1Battlefield Perception2Dwarven Pride Style3Enhanced Speed4+1 'Magical'Skill NameLevelSkill NameLevelSkill NameLevelSense Mana1Mana Control7Mana Efficiency1Fire Magic1Earth Magic1+9Water Magic1Wind Magic1+0Light Magic1Cursing Magic8+7Space Magic1Conjuring Magic1General Enchanting9Magic Tool Carving1 'Miscellaneous'Skill NameLevelSkill NameLevelSkill NameLevelGeneral Blacksmithing4Sewing4Housework1Cleaning2Washing1Math4Riding1Stonebody (innate)5 'Info'NameLinaAge15RaceDwarfHP100MP1205Magic Power530Level36 'Stats'Strength8Endurance8Dexterity13Speed12Intelligence16Wisdom13Willpower17Charisma11Piety12Perception14Sanity14 'Other'Status Effects'NONE'Titles'NONE'Affiliations'Wolf Ryder (Master, Fiance), 'Helios (Fellowship)'Companions'Wolf Ryder, Alissa, Hanafuria, Roxanne Succubus, Ciel, Yulania'Crimes'NONE''Yulania Skill Report''Physical'Skill NameLevelSkill NameLevelSkill NameLevelSword Use8Two-Handed Sword Use10Parry8Dodge9Silent Shadow Style4Battlefield Perception5Enhanced Reflexes5Sense Presence1Hide Presence4Muscle Explosion2Quiet Steps2Quiet Action6 'Magical'Skill NameLevelSkill NameLevelSkill NameLevelSense Mana5Mana Control4Mana Recovery2Mana Efficiency8Reduced Mana Cost4Fire Magic1Earth Magic1Light Magic5Spirit Magic16Illusion Magic10Space Magic6Nature Magic10Conjuring Magic1Weaverism24Redirect Mana1+0 'Miscellaneous'Skill NameLevelSkill NameLevelSkill NameLevelRiding5Acting3Dancing2'Info'NameYulaniaAge18RaceGolden ElfHP100MP1250Magic Power520Level44 'Stats'Strength12Endurance14Dexterity19Speed16Intelligence16Wisdom16Willpower15Charisma20Piety12Perception20Sanity16 'Other'Status Effects'NONE'Titles'NONE'Affiliations'Wolf Ryder (Master), 'Helios (Fellowship)'Companions'Wolf Ryder, Alissa, Hanafuria, Roxanne Succubus, Ciel, Lina'Crimes'NONE'Soul InfoName:AoiHP:200MP1,165MP205Strength17Endurance20[collapse]

I see. They're actually somewhat intelligent.

We let the Lonlanzas break out of their formation to surround the broken enemies, and they slaughter them to the last monster.

I raise my bloodied weapons in triumph, and the soldiers mirror my gesture.

We discover that we can wield the glowing weapons of the elves, and Hana has enough skill to enter the Phalanx, so she acts like one of the nobles and gets a squad for herself. There are a few female elves in the Lonlanzas, so she makes her own women-only squad because why not.

Hana doesn't know [Grow], so she can't reinforce these weapons or the phalanx with her spells, but she's a fair bit stronger than most of the elves around her, allowing her to compensate with pure "Strength" and "Endurance."

An elven mage approaches her and holds out a bowl while lowering his head in subservience. She draws a dagger and opens a wound on her wrist, then lets a few drops of her blood fall into the bowl.

The other elves do the same, and glowing blood mixes with her own. Once the entire company has added their share to it, the elven mage starts whispering a spell. A completely new "flavor" of mana leaves the mage, and it reminds me of Eia. The mage finishes the spell and throws the glowing mixture up into the air, then a sparkly rain of blood falls upon the entire company.

Hana immediately feels the effect of the spell as the emotions of the soldiers around her start affecting her. She feels their will to fight in her very skin as if she were exposed to the heat of a large bonfire. Her nearly uncontrollable dragon rage is chained to her heart as the spell helps her control herself. This spell is surprisingly similar to [Mask].

"GROUP!" The company commander gives the order, and Hana's women surround her instinctively.

"LINE!" Another order comes, and the squads orderly form up into a line without even bumping against each other.

Even before the commander yells, the squads instinctively huddle up together. "BRACE!" The order comes a second later.

"PIKE!" They lower their weapons, anchoring them against the floor and the sides of their feet.

"LOCK!" The large oval shields are turned horizontal, overlapping their tops and bottoms together to make up a solid line of shields. Two lines of shields like this are positioned on top of it, forming a curved shield wall. Vines burst out of the ground and wrap around both the shields and the pikes, locking them in place.

The orcs charge forward, only to impale themselves on the pikes. Some of the monsters manage to break a few of the needles of the porcupine formation, but Hana yells an order, and new pikes are brought up from the rear, which are promptly used to skewer the surviving monsters.

"ATTENTION!" Another order comes. The men breathe in and brace themselves. Hana receives her enchanted elven spear from an elf behind her.

"RELEASE!" The oval shields are turned vertical again.

"BREEEEAK!"

The elves roar in a monotone chorus, but Hana's roar drowns them all out, "RAAAAAAAAAGH!" She dashes through her women, then the oval shields are turned sideways, and she bursts out of the line.

As Aoi retreats from the broken enemy line, Hana and other elves descend upon them, starting a massacre.

"BACK!" The order comes just as the orcs start to recover, so Hana retreats into the phalanx.

An orc dashes after her, but a vine wraps around its ankle, making it trip, then multiple pikes stab into its exposed back.

"URAAAAAAA!" She yells to her women, and they brace around her again.

"URAAAAA!" They copy her in a monotone yell.

"Alright, they're learning," Hana comments through [Bind].

Things are going well, but I know that'll end soon... the enemy has Grim Giants.

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