Chapter 88

Chapter 88

A/N: I'm back! I had a sudden bout of inspiration worth seven chapters after coming home, unfortunately not for this story. That's how inspiration works sometimes. I had to write all that down before I forgot all of it, hence the small delay. Don't worry, that inspiration has now been handled, and we can get back to the regularily scheduled programming. Speaking of, I hope you'll like the speech. I'm not much of a speechwriter, but eh. Enjoy!

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As Neleh was preparing a speech to address the Elven Empire, the first scouting reports started coming in. The content of those reports had both good news and bad news. She addressed Shiori, who was also reading the reports. We lucked out a bit on our front. The enemy on our continent is not among the strongest, instead they rely more on numbers. With the recent training, our soldiers are very effective at fighting hordes of weaker enemies.

Shiori glanced through another report. The downside being that we really are getting a horde coming through. All the reports are mentioning thousands and thousands of enemies, and it hasnt been that long since the portal opened. Were going to have to fight through a sea of enemies to get to the portal. Can you give me a small rundown on these enemies? They remind me a bit of the beastmen, but theyre not the same.

Sure, I should prepare a summary for the generals as well. These beings are actually a subset of beastmen, but not quite like the ones we have on this world. Theyre called Gor. Theyre a race of goatmen with a stature slightly larger than a typical human. Theyre tough and ferocious, but they arent exactly the smartest bunch and their morale might be an issue for them. If they can work themselves into a frenzy, then they can be hard to rout, but otherwise they arent exactly known for their bravery. Their equipment will be rather basic, and we probably dont have to worry about a large number of archers or heavy armor, but their weapons work just fine, and their tough hide is fairly equal to leather armor.

The most important part about them isnt the hordes though, but the fact that they have brought along several monstrous creatures. These reports mention minotaurs, trolls and swarms of little creatures. Those are something that can be dealt with, but Im worried about these dragotaurs and demons that a couple of the reports mentioned. Neleh said half lost in thought.

Shiori looked up from the report with slight confusion. I get demons, although these demons seem to be a little different from what were used to, but what are dragotaurs?

Neleh gave a small chuckle. You know what a centaur is, right? Shiori replied with a nod. Dragotaurs are a bit like that. Only their whole bodies are covered in tough scales and instead of an upper body of a human, they have an upper body of a dragonid, which is a race of lesser dragons in a humanoid body. The thing with dragotaurs is that unlike the Gors and the other monsters, theyre rather smart and are practically immortal when it comes to aging. They keep growing as they get older, and the oldest ones can fight weaker dragons on a fairly even footing. I dont expect to face too many of those, but we should be aware of the possibility, and focus on taking them down whenever possible. It would not surprise me if the demons and dragotaurs are the ones commanding this merry band of monstrosities.

Have we heard any details from the other continents yet? Shiori asked, picking up another report.

Well, you heard about the portal in the faerie lands. Thats going to be a problem. The one in the demon continent seems to have an army connected with ours, since it is also commanded by demons, but they instead have some heavily armored mortal warriors. Khali should be able to deal with them. Shes not much as a mage, but she can command an army. I dont have any concrete knowledge of things happening in the human continent. Their civil war makes things messy. I sent Alexis there to keep an eye on things, but so far the only thing he can say for certain is that they are facing undead of some sort. I havent heard anything about the beastmen yet and that worries me. Neleh had a small frown on her face as she finished. She had sent several of her elite students to the beastmen continent to scout, but so far they had not made contact with the enemy.

Well, we got our work cut out for us, thats for sure. Shiori commented with a sigh.

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Neleh was dressed in a grand fashion reminiscent of her coronation. The dress made of living flame was impressive, as she stood on the podium at the center of Nan Yanoi. Several magical artifacts were being used around the city and the empire to project an illusion, which would relay her speech to everyone. Everyone knew that the empress wouldnt use this method for something trite, so they had all gathered in the markets, streets, squares and parks to listen to her words. The speech was also being shown to all the remaining nobles, as well as the royal families of both the Sun and the Moon Elves. Everyone was waiting with baited breath for the words of their divine empress.

Ladies, gentlemen and others, people of our empire and those simply enjoying our hospitality, elves, faeries and many others, I come now before you on the day celebrating the tenth year of my reign to discuss a matter of great importance. The last ten years have been a time of great prosperity, innovation and change. I would like to think that the change has mostly been for the good. Before that, for thousands upon thousands of years the elven people have stood strong against those that would threaten us, and the lives that we have created. Today I am here to tell you that we stand on the precipice of another change, one that will affect us all.

The real fun was only just about to begin though. Neleh had noted that since the front ranks of their army could freely change their weapons into crossbows, their performance was actually rather similar to armies using muskets. Therefore, she had trained them to use firing drills usually utilized by musket wielding armies such as firing by ranks and cadenced firing. The front rank would fire, and kneel to reload, while the second rank fired and then kneeled to let the third rank fire. By this time the first rank had reloaded and would fire again. This kept waves of bolts made from their internal power slamming into the tightly packed mass of enemies. Once the enemys ranks thinned some, they switched to cadenced firing, where instead of moving from front to back, the unit shot from left to right, so that they kept a constant stream of fire going with increased accuracy, always picking off the closest targets, instead of massed volleys.

All this time, the rest of the army kept firing their bows from the back. The ditch slowed the advance of the enemy by cutting off their momentum, so that they would not be slamming into the elves with great speed. As the goatmen managed to reliably cross the ditch and start threatening melee, Estelar gave the next command. First line, form up!

The first line formed into diamond formations around their banner, with the edges and the sharp tip of the formation using heavy shields and focusing on simply staying alive. This created huge gaps between the regiments, and as the path of least resistance dictated, the press of bodies from the enemies pushed the goatmen into the gaps between the formations, instead of engaging in proper melee against the elves inside the diamond. Normally the purpose of trying to push through the battle line of your enemy was to flank and attack your enemy from the rear, so the goatmen were all too happy to push through as that was usually a sign of victory. However, the diamond formation made it so the first line had no real flanks or rear. Instead they ran straight into the focused fire from the second battle line, which now took the role of causing most of the enemy casualties, while the first line would focus on survival.

Id say thats a successful test. Estelar said quietly as the goatmen milled about accomplishing nothing except catching arrow with their faces.

True, however that only applies as long as the enemy is unable to break the formations. If the big beasties managed to make contact with the formations, wed be the ones being massacred instead. Room for improvement. Neleh said only half satisfied.

Part of the reason they had such an easy time in this battle was because the enemy was also just testing the waters, and had kept most of their big hitters like demons and dragotaurs back. Even when it came obvious that the goatmen were just dying in vain and sent in harpies and swarms of small flying creatures, the elves had an easy time shooting them down, as their last line wasnt even pressured properly.

As they watched the last dregs of the enemy forces fleeing into the forest, Neleh gave a small sigh. They had gained an easy victory. That would be good for morale, but it could also be dangerous. Victories like this could lull you into a false sense of security, and their enemy was not as simple as this battle let everyone assume. They had not seen the true power of what was arrayed against them, and if they let this get to their heads, then it would come back to haunt them in the future. Still, a victory was a victory. Theyd just have to take it slow and steady in the future.

As she was about to leave, her thoughts turned out to be a little prophetic. One of the goatmen thought to be dead suddenly expanded, and turned into a large demon that plunged straight into the formation right next to it. A large amount of elves were thrown away, but they were not professionals for nothing. She had made sure the soldiers understood that the mortal troops of the enemy that were marked by their so called god could suddenly be possessed by powerful demons. Luckily the elves had not started celebrating too early, so the suicidal attack of the demon was put down before it could cause major damage. Most likely the heavily armored front liners that had gotten attacked were only injured and would live, but this was a good lesson to them. Never let your guard down. This too was most likely a simple test by their enemy, taking a gauge of their ability to react. Both sides were testing things.

As she entered the Nexus, she found Khali already waiting, with her boots lifted on a table and eating something that looked like ice cream. You got here fast. Neleh commented.

So did you. I suspect we both encountered something similar. They were simply testing the waters for now. Khali replied.

Makes sense. Judging by the forces we faced, we are both fighting against the three brothers. Of course theyll coordinate to some extent. Neleh speculated.

I already know my opponent. Im fighting the Changer of Ways. Of course I would be facing the great sorcerer himself. Who did you get? Khali asked grumpily.

Judging by the demon I saw at the end of the battle, Im facing Lord of Pleasure. While it could be a trick, I dont think so. The enemy didnt have the frenzy usually found in the followers of the Blood God. Neleh guessed.

I wonder where the Blood God is then? The Blades and Trow dont seem like the type. Too little passion and too much malice. Khali wondered.

Neleh could only reply with. That is a good question. The answer to that question might become very important.