Chapter 316– Tier 3 Trial Part 12.

Chapter 316– Tier 3 Trial Part 12.

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‘The scale is different when you see it up close, I can’t imagine how this would look if the whole army from the kingdom went to battle...’

Roland was impressed by the sight of the wooden soldiers standing in formation. His side amounted to around twenty thousand while the opposition thirty. The enemy nation of the Woodlanders was slowly leaving a large forest area and gathering on a large plane where the final fight would be taking place.

Most of the soldiers were wearing full plate armor which hid their wooden parts from showing. The mounted units were the most armored and to the sides of the formation as he didn’t want to impede their mobility by sticking them into the middle of the formation. In the front was a regiment of archers that were behind a temporary barricade. This was assembled by a row of carriages that carried a lot of rubble and would protect them from being rushed by cavalry.

All the golems that he had created during this whole war were also here. This amounted to ten spider tanks and thirty smaller spider drones. While their numbers weren’t large, they could produce a lot of mayhem on an open field with so many enemy soldiers. Then besides these runic machines, some of the archers were equipped with portable cannons that were very similar to modern mortars.

‘How much time did I spend making the admonition for those?’

His eyes twitched a little bit as he saw his soldiers bringing out the mortars. They used proper ammunition that consisted of either regular cannonballs or mostly hollow runic variants. The latter were the ones that he forced himself to produce whenever he had the chance to. While both sides had mages to assist in ranged warfare his side was somewhat more advanced.

When looking at the numbers the enemies seemed superior in many ways. The composition was similar and the formations they took were not that much different. What would normally be the deciding factor was the equipment or the strategy if there were no other advantages. Considering that they were going to battle out on an open field the other side was more likely to be victorious.

‘There wasn’t much time to prepare but we did manage to set a few surprises for them, but will they just take the bait?’

If there was an option he would have liked to have several days to plant explosives all over the place and then just have the enemies rush into them. This tactic had worked for him even back in the real world where he could trap thieves and even a powerful Lich. However, without being able to use the bunkering up method he needed to think of something else. For this, he decided to use more modern ways and use the ranged advantage along with his ace in the hole, the runic batteries.

‘It won’t be long, I should start moving too.’

While he was the commanding officer of this whole army it didn’t mean that he would be passive. Roland was the most important part of this whole plan as his job was to keep the enemy leader busy. His large form was coming into view and was it something that gave him the shivers. Even though this was his first time really seeing the Woodlander Lord Commander, the large mace he was holding had left an impact.

It was the last thing he remembered of the confrontation during his first trial attempt. The Lord Commander was still a wooden person but the large black armor that he was wearing made him look like the end boss from a video game. He strutted out behind a large regiment of mounted units that he towered over. His steed looked a lot bigger than the rest and was also wearing armor over its black wooden figure.

‘He must be at least as big as the Guild Master...’

The distance between the two was too great to do an identification check of his level. But considering that this was his last enemy it wouldn’t be strange if his level was over a hundred fifty. His body was covered from head to toe by that menacing-looking armor and his weapon of choice was a huge mace that would normally be used in two hands. On his left side, he also had a large tower shield that seemed to be engraved with some magical symbols.

‘I guess he also has some form of magical armor, I should expect him to have some protective spells that might be able to reflect my own spells, this probably won’t be easy.’

There were several things that he had to think about when facing this enemy leader. One was that in his previous attempt, he was able to defeat Roland already. It was probably not a fair duel but this wasn’t one either. If it was possible then it would be best to isolate the black knight away from his aids to take him out. His armor was a swiss army knife of magical weapons that could adapt to most situations. Even if something had magical protection, it was possible to use outside means that went around such defenses.

When looking at the form of his enemy he glanced at his own steed. For some reason, he was able to level up his own riding skill. At first, he wondered if he should design his own golem that he could ride but due to time constrictions he decided against it. Something like a bike or armored vehicle sounded nice but designing it and making it with his current skills would take multiple months of work.

Instead, he decided to just upgrade his horse's armoring into a runic one. While the horse was not capable of casting any spells, this didn’t matter. Roland had the required skills to use runic devices from a distance. He could command his golems and also activate the small turrets on the horse armor he made. They were powered by runic battery packs that made his horse into a moving cannon. Some of his cavalry commanders were in possession of similar armoring which could aim at its own as a golem could.

Just like with all of his creations, they were limited by his time here. Luckily in the ending stages of this trial, everything had become somewhat automated and he could focus on bolstering his runic war machines. If there was more time or some help from other runesmiths, he could see each and every soldier wearing armor with a runic battery and a shoulder-mounted cannon as a side weapon.

There were many ways of integrating his magical weapons into an army and if he reached tier 3 and was capable of miniaturizing the batteries, then he could see it as a change in magical warfare. As it stood now there was no true renewable energy source and using mana fluid out in the field wasn’t that safe. Just like he once tried with his golem the fluid or its crystallized form could get overloaded and explode. His batteries could be created in metallic form and depended more on the quality of the runes with no danger of an explosion happening even if they were struck during combat.

Roland did his best at handling the intelligence unit of his army but even it wasn’t perfect. It was possible for his enemy to have gained this special armor before this battle or that the trial decided to throw a monkey wrench before the test ended. Nevertheless, he had to win it at all costs and the shield was still beatable just like all the other spells, it would run out of mana to sustain it.

‘If there is something I’m good at, then it's not running out of mana easily...’

First of all, came a bunch of marbles. One of his oldest classes, the Runic Mana Scribe, came to the forefront. In each of the round orbs, there was a small parchment with an exploding rune in it. While it might have seemed cowardly from the outside, he didn’t see himself winning an upfront fight with the monster he was fighting. As he examined his level he made sure to toss a handful of these exploding marbles at him while also barely evading the large mace he was swinging around.

Name:

Wooden Lord Commander L 200

Classes

Wooden Warrior L 25

Wooden Soldier L 25

Wooden Soldier Captain L50

Wooden Lord Commander L 100

At first it looked like some kind of bug. The Lord commander from the Woodlanders had a hundred levels in a tier 2 class which allowed him to reach a level that was above Rolands. Something like that would not have been possible in the real world or not even sought after. Yet his opponent was just created to be the last stepping stone for his trial. His stats were above Rolands and a direct approach was not possible but with the help of his various weapons, he would be victorious.

Thus the cat-and-mouse game between the two lord commanders had started. Which one was the cat and which one was the mouse was unclear but no one from the soldiers could really be of much help. Wherever the two ran to, magical explosions and destruction followed suit. Roland’s magic created small craters while the giant mace from the Woodlander Commander tore into anyone that was stupid enough to get in his way. Soon enough the two had pushed through their forces to the side where there was no ongoing carnage.

“Shit...”

Roland had exhausted his explosives and even had to abandon his mount. The moment he broke through the active battlefield to one side a large mace came flying. It connected with the wooden horse and created a massive dent in the metallic armor it was wearing. The wooden creature was dead on the spot as various wooden parts of it just fell down to the ground along with its now motionless body.

Luckily his enemy wasn’t doing much better. The dark knight's own mount was not protected by the same mana-dispersing shield. It had also drawn its last breath and collapsed right as its master had thrown the mace forward. To Roland’s surprise, this weapon wasn’t a simple battle implement. The moment the enemy commander raised his hand it was drawn to it. As if a big magnet was sucking it in, the mace flew back into his hand.

With a stomp of his feet, he produced a spike of earth that shot toward his approaching enemy. Yet with one swing of that giant mace, he was able to crush the hard magical rock that he produced. Various other spells were activated but the brute continued to take all of them without even flinching, the magical shield seemed to be still working which gave Roland quite the scare.

‘Hm?’

Suddenly when the distance between them was less than ten meters he noticed something. His mana sense picked up on it the moment he saw some of the magical flames connecting with the dark metal the wooden soldier was encased in.

“Took long enough.”

He shouted out while seeing that his chance had finally come. The game around the battlefield was in place to slowly whittle down those magical defenses. Even the best magical gear had some type of limiting factor. Even his own runic equipment would burn through the metal or not work if his mana reserves ran out. His keen eye of the runesmith identified the material it was made of and by his calculations, the charges for the defensive shields were now at critical levels.

“I’m glad that you aren’t the smart type, otherwise luring you over here would have been impossible.”

After shouting out those words he pointed out with his hand towards the large armored enemy who was already charging at his location. The mace was close to turning his head into meat paste just like before. Yet before it could reach it once more a plethora of metallic cables shot out from the ground to entangle each and every limb along with the one holding on to the weapon that once killed him...