Chapter 83: Not One Step Back – Part 3

Chapter 83: Not One Step Back – Part 3

The elven Lonlanzas never had a chance to truly test their tactics against the imperial army, but they fought the Grim Giants, and the elves lost, repeatedly.

Before the Shore of Leaves was established, the elves had to deal with the Grim Giants that came from the Sea of Trees and invaded their High Forest. Hidden inside their ginormous trees, the elves won against the invaders, but once they decided to conquer the wetlands to the south, they had to adapt.

Grim Giants can't jump because their bones simply can't withstand the impact of their massive forms against the ground, and the elves exploited that. Antano, the elven wetlands, is full of wet, muddy marshes and loose ground, making it easy to trip the giants with the deep mud, then kill them while they're down.

"That's all well and good, but we don't have the tools to deal with them that way, do we?" I question Lina, and she lowers her head in sadness.

"No, we don't..." She admits.

I shake my head with a wry smile and mutter, "That was clearly intentional." And I pat her head. The way she offers her head to me is like a dog presenting its belly, you just can't not pat it when you see it.

Ciel clears her throat and sends us a jealous look, though I don't know which of us she's actually envious of. And yes, Ciel, I know you're jealous, and no, Ciel, I don't need [Bind] to know that.

Ciel turns away so that we don't see her blushing and says, "Anyway, we can't recreate the advantageous environment of Antano, but we can still exploit the weakness of the Grim Giants: tripping."

I intensify the patting as I think about it for a few seconds and say, "We won't be able to use the Engineers because there are even more mages coming along with them."

"We could make traps that we activate ourselves, like a covered pitfall," Yunia suggests, but then she frowns as she thinks it through. "Ah, no, that kind of trap would be very difficult to place where they can actually be used because we're constantly advancing, not just defending an area."

"I could explode their brains, but that would leave me completely exhausted very quickly," Roxanne nervously comments, preparing herself for the oncoming teasing.

"[Explosion] only as a last resort," I calmly tell her, and she nods, a little too emphatically.

Lazy demon.

The girls mentally tease her for a second before Hana suggests, "We could always aim for their knees. They aren't wearing armor, right?"

"Nope. Unfortunately, they're naked," I respond with a wry smile.

If they at least looked sexy, but no, even the female Grim Giants are ugly.

"Then we can use the burning oil," Roxanne suggests and adjusts her glasses as she grins evilly.

"Only if we can hit them before they reach our lines. We do not want a rampaging Grim Giant throwing itself at our soldiers," Yunia replies sternly.

Suddenly, a silly thought comes to mind, and I immediately suggest it, "Ah! An idea just occurred to me. It's something I've only seen in a movie, though, so I'm not sure how it'll work out in reality."

"'Movie'? Is that the 'moving picture' thing you mentioned?" Yunia asks.

I nod and snap my fingers. "Gify, you know what I'm talking about. Play the video."

"Gih!" She chirps happily, and the eyes of all of the girls lose focus as they see my memories.

"Is that... a giant turtle?" Yunia questions in disbelief.

"A monster of metal. Interesting," Lina says with wonder in her tone.

"Those things look like a Wasps," Alissa comments.

"They seem stronger than a Wasp, though," Roxanne replies.

Then they both flinch.

"I guess not..." Roxanne adds with a wry smile.

Ciel is as confused and awed as Yunia, then something catches her attention, and she asks, "Are those [Beam]s? Didn't you say that there wasn't magic in your world, Wolfy?"

"This movie isn't real. It's fiction," I reply, and she hums in understanding.

The girls all coo in sync when they see what I have in mind.

"Do we even have a rope strong enough for that?" Yunia asks with a frown of concern.

"We could ask the elven mages to create one through [Entangling Vines]," I answer.

"Most of the mages are full on mana right now, so it wouldn't be a waste to have them start working on the rope," Lina adds.

"[Ritualism] makes things so much easier..." Ciel comments with a sigh.

"Isn't [Weaverism] similar to that skill? Don't you have a way to link your mana like you did your emotions?" Alissa innocently asks Yunia.

"[Ritualism] has more in common with [Bind] than [Weaverism]," Yunia replies with a bit of stiffness in her voice, trying to not look offended by the girls' ignorance.

While they start discussing the differences between both types of magic schools, I observe the new wave approaching the Holly. I see Goblin Skirmishers, Orc Spearmen, Troll Clubbers, and a few Ogre Berserkers.

Trolls are rapidly regenerating furry monsters that are larger than orcs, but smaller than ogres. They have superhuman strength like ogres and orcs, but they can only use it in short bursts, giving them the ability to do something similar to a cavalry charge.

All of their melee fighters seem to be wearing pristine metal armor, even the Ogres, making them a force that will definitely last for a while against our Lonlanza phalanx.

Behind the front line, the Holly spots a large number of Hobgoblin mages wielding large staves with gems on top. These are real mages who must have comparable power to ours, so we might have to endure ranged attacks if we can't deal with them fast enough.

I see a huge orc wearing gilded armor being conveyed on a palanquin by a group of muscular goblins, and he's surrounded by other orcs wearing armor painted red. This must be an Orc Lord with his Bloodkin.

A familiar coldness suddenly attacks the Holly, and its wings start to freeze, making it plummet towards the ground.

Fuck.

I immediately unsummon it and grit my teeth in anger. "We won't be able to scout as effectively anymore. There are Ice Wraiths protecting one of the waves ahead," I say to the girls.

"Your plan might be a bit risky if we don't know what they'll be throwing at us," Yunia says.

We turn to look at Ciel. She's the only one of us who can fly fast enough to safely carry out this plan.

"I'll do it, just be ready to summon me back if necessary," she agrees and smiles positively.

"Is there any kind of spell that blocks [Summoning Magic]?" I ask the girls.

Yunia shakes her head, making her long elven ears bounce, and answers assuredly, "The magic school, specifically? No. Only complete blocks like my [Disruption Field]."

"It's actually amazing that it even works while you have your [Gate] blocked," Roxanne remarks.

"I wonder if we could develop a countermeasure to the scrubber by studying [Bind]," I comment.

Yunia smiles smugly and points out, "The Scrubber has existed for thousands of years; even Emperors have failed at trying to overcome it."

"Remember that Kabar shopkeeper, the one who sold my magic book?" Alissa asks, and I hum in understanding. "She saw 'something' between us when we communicated through [Bind]. It's much more likely that someone will find a way to block [Bind] than us getting past a scrubber."

I frown and swallow heavily. "That's actually terrifying to me," I say.

"Same," Alissa agrees soberly.

The battles continue with total victories for us for the entire morning. Our Experience steadily increases since the soldiers don't have souls to share it, but there are diminishing returns, meaning that we get less and less from killing the same types of monsters again and again.

Lina and I leveled up to 37, though, so it's all good. I put all my new points in [Polearm Use] (now 4+1), and I put Lina's in [Axe Use] (now 5+9). When there's no need for actual combat, I'll put everyone's non-essential points in [Mana Recovery]. When I'm not in combat, but the girls are, I'll put my melee points in [Reduced Mana Cost] to improve [Bind]'s summoning efficiency.

We lose another Skirmisher that we couldn't save from a stray javelin and an Arquirando from a stray spell. The monsters are getting better at protecting their backline, so their mages are staying alive longer, allowing them to start peppering us with spells.

We manage to have a quiet lunch without getting interrupted, and our mental health improves a bit from a short cuddling session. Aoi uses that time to claim her reward for a good job, so I actually feel refreshed for what comes next: the first Grim Giant.

Aoi's rumbling doesn't even compare to that of the Giant making its way towards us. The sixteen-meter tall naked woman chuckles softly with a maniacal smile as she stares down at her prey. Unfortunately for her, we aren't porcupines; we're the hunters today.

The wind elemental carries a large bucket of burning oil up near the ceiling, completely undetected by the monsters. Once the Grim Giant is right under the elemental, it drops down towards her, then throws the bucket before any of the monsters even notice that something is happening.

The oil hits the Giant right on its head, completely covering her upper body in it.

"Fire," I calmly order, and the Arquirandos launch their flaming arrows. Grim Giants normally don't care about small arrows, but this time, I swear I can see fear in her eyes as she observes the flaming dots coming towards her with a blank expression on her face. A sixteen-meter tall pyre is lit

The Giant immediately starts thrashing and roaring, "UUOOOOOO! UAAAAAH!" Her roars of rage quickly turn to agony as the pain starts to register in her slow brain.

Monsters are crushed and squashed by the Giant's panicked flailing, becoming nothing more than mounds of bloody flesh and warped metal.

Their mages start to cast [Torrent] and [Water Wall] to put out the fire, but we won't let them succeed.

Without any organized ranged attacks to oppose them, Ciel, Hana, and Lina riding Aoi land unscathed in the middle of the mages, then they start butchering the distracted monsters.

The edges of the enemy line survive, and instead of trying to save their mages, they decide to continue on in formation towards our company of Lonlanzas as a Hail Mary.

We kill another line of warriors with enchanted arrows, and the enemy mages start casting wall-type spells to protect them.

"Continuous volley, staggered [Charge]," I order.

They fire a few lines of normal arrows, then suddenly switch to [Charge]d arrows. The enemy mages dismiss the defensive spells once they see the normal arrows flying at them, but then they scramble to recast them when a surprise volley of enchanted arrows is unleashed.

"Ciel," I call for her attention. She turns towards me and nods stoically.

She readies her shield and casts [Fly], then she darts towards the first Grim Giant with a wind elemental following behind her. The enemy mages are too preoccupied with the arrows to stop her, so this is the perfect opportunity to carry out our plan.

She activates her [Wind Shield], which deflects a few stray arrows and spells. The Giant notices her and tries to bat her away like one would to a flea.

She casts [Beam] at his hand and he winces, stopping his attack, then she flies past him, and the wind elemental throws the bucket of oil at his face.

Ciel turns around and throws an instant [Fireball] at the Giant, lighting him on fire.

"NOOOOOOOOOO...!" The Giant lets out a deafening roar and thrashes with frightening speed, loudly stomping the ground and making the entire battlefield tremble.

Ciel grits her teeth in pain, then [Battlefield Perception] triggers. Her [Fly] isn't fast enough, and the Giant's hand strikes her at the same time that I summon her back to me.

She appears on the deck feeling a little dizzy, then the pain hits her, and she falls to her knees. I immediately kneel beside her and cast the strongest [Heal] I can without charging. She gasps and groans, even dizzier than before, but her HP goes back up to 100, so she'll be fine.

I sigh and carefully help her sit down. I notice that her helmet and chest piece both have long cracks from the impact.

That was close. A broken neck could've meant instant death.

"Wolf..." Yunia calls my attention sternly.

I grit my teeth and look up towards the bridge. "Ram the burning Giant! PREPARE TO ATTACK!" I order the golems.

The Elementalists charge their spells, and all three companies of Arquirandos fire their salvos to give us cover.

The second Giant protects its face from the arrows, and the enemy advance stops.

The thrashing Giant blindly dashes towards us, driven insane from the pain. Our ship collides with his face, then he crashes onto the ground, creating a small cloud of dust that blinds the mages around it.

The General on our deck clears away the dust for us, allowing the Elementalists to let loose.

"MAAAAAA!" The second Giant bellows as it rushes towards us. He has decided to ignore the enchanted arrows to save his friend.

"F-fu... LINA!" I scream, nearly losing my composure at the frightening sight of the angry Grim Giant charging at us. "Calm down," I tell myself with [Godly Language].

We prepared for this, we'll be fine.

Lina throws a few large glass flasks, and Roxanne blows them up, creating a cloud of Rox's Sneeze-'n-Wheeze a second before the Giant reaches us.

Two gigantic hands try to crush our ship, but they're blocked by the [Wind Shield]s. After a moment of fear, the Giant suddenly sneezes, creating a spray of spit and snot that fortunately also gets blocked by the ship's enchantment.

The hands stop trying to crush us, and our ship is allowed to safely fly away. Lina throws a few more flasks, these ones with oil inside them, and we light the second Giant on fire.

Aoi and Hana break through the broken line of warriors and fly straight at the mages before they can extinguish the flames. Fox-Alissa flanks the line with the Generals, and they strike the monsters from rear, easily cutting their way through the thin line of enemy warriors protecting their backs. Ciel recovers and casts [Beam], picking off the more dangerous enemies from above alongside Roxanne. The Lonlanza nobles burst out of the phalanx and quickly butcher the survivors.

The cleanup has begun.

After another overwhelming victory, I lower the ship in front of the Lonlanzas and make my way up onto the prow.

"VICTORY!" I yell, infusing my voice with just a bit of [Godly Language].

"VICTORY!" The men repeat, making me grin. The booming cheer of hundreds of men and women is a beautiful thing, and it makes the dragon inside me sway its tail in satisfaction.

The euphoria quickly fades as the Holly fails to find the next wave.

Something's wrong.

There's nothing for us to do but wait on our ship and continue moving forward. This gives us some time to rest, but it also makes us feel tense since we don't know what's coming.

Then the Holly is attacked by an Ice Wraith well before it can find anything.

I send it out to scout again and again along with other summons, but they all get found out and eliminated. This continues well into the night, though it's always dark here, so we wouldn't know that if I didn't have a watch.

Getting impatient and paranoid, I decide to send Hana and Ciel to scout ahead with two Ice Wraiths, a Holly, and an assortment of elementals to assist them. They quickly encounter over a dozen enemy Wraiths, so their scouting gets delayed, but they eventually pierce through the scout killers and find the Orc Lord.

Their army has increased, by a lot, and the Grim Giants are now wearing armor.

They launch spells towards the girls, so I summon them back, and we prepare for the next battle.

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