Chapter 188: Day 403 – Assault On Truth

Chapter 188: Day 403 – Assault On Truth

I sat in a chair at the command post in base camp in the very early dawn. The sun wasn’t even out yet. While we weren’t able to confirm the skill users were inside Truth, the Union teams had been contacted and were already scouting in force.

Our command post, was to the Southeast. It consisted of all our carts and our fall back position in the event one of the teams was overrun. Communication would go through here. I had watched the practice sessions the General had done every evening and it only took a bit of work to get the entire process set up.

They were probably doing something similar in Purgatory. The huge advantage of summons was being able to scout, with little risk. The golem tracked me through the summon and tether, but that was level 4. I wasn’t too worried about that kind of stuff in a large deployment like this.

Several wolf summons were lined up to one side of the table. General Gerald was standing at the other side of the table. One wolf laid down. That meant the team was in position. The General put a marker on the roughly drawn map in front of him.The initial instance of this chapter being available happened at N0v3l.Bin.

Another wolf lay down. Next team in position at a gate. Half an hour later the final wolf lay down. All three teams were in position, covering the South, West, East, and North gates of the city. The General turned towards me.

“Champion Michael, all teams are in position to start the blockade at the gates. We can enter the city at your leisure and purge the city,” the General said. I nodded and stood up. It was nice being the boss, so I had a chair to sit in while the maneuvers occurred.

“Commence the operation at your discretion,” I said. The General nodded and went over to each wolf. The summoners had a hard time understanding sound. It was amazing how far the Ritualist went, compared to how useless some of these other summoners were at their primary job.

The General covered up the right eye of each wolf one at a time and ordered each force to blockade the gates. He skipped the South wolf and went to the fast reaction force wolf. He covered up its right eye. “Deploy into the city, all clear. Deploy into the city, all clear,” he repeated himself twice like he had with the previous wolves.

He then stood back up and went around to his previous position at the table. He moved the wood markers at each gate and laid them across the city entrances. He put a fifth marker on path towards the plaza.

“Surprised you didn’t want me with them?” I asked.

“You are faster and more capable. They would just slow you down. Better to be here to intercept the skill users if they try to run South or East,” the General replied while keeping an eye on the wolves.

“Also surprised, you don’t have a summoner here,” I said.

“I do actually.” The General gestured at a man behind the wolves. “I am not an idiot. But it slows things down too much using pre-arranged orders both ways. I need to be able to deliver more complex communications. It will be rare for the other teams to.”

“Then why not have your summoner report on the team’s condition I asked?”

“He can, which is why he is monitoring what he is sensing to what is being reported. But it is a backup. We don’t know enough about summoning, that I want two lines of communication open. What if control of a summon is usurped? That would be disastrous without a second line monitoring things,” the General replied.

That was impressive. He was clearly using this as the test it was meant to be for the Ritualist. Being General in Purgatory meant actually commanding, not just raking in crystals. I am glad Gerold seemed to understand that.

The wolves began to get to their feet one by one. “The city is officially blockaded at all gates. No response yet. Status of the fast response team?” Gerold asked his summoner.

“No people and moving quickly towards the plaza. No signs of opposing tethers,” the nearby summoner replied. I sat back down. Things were back to waiting again. I was never in the military, but I knew the phrase hurry up and wait.

“Either North through the swamps. West along the void. There is a small gap between the swamp and the void at the Southwest. Finally, there is East towards Heaven,” I replied.

“Well North makes it not our problem. Same with Southwest. You think the Ritualist would team up with them?” General Gerold asked.

“It is a possibility. Maybe. Depends on how concerned he is about Purgatory and how much personal power he has accumulated. I suspect he will say yes, and then use them in some experiment. It isn’t a simple question. While both groups hate us, that doesn’t make them allies,” I said.

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend. They have no need to fight,” the General countered.

“Perhaps. It is complicated and the Ritualist is even more so,” I said with my thoughts going to Naran. I hoped he was okay. I was wondering if he was running for his life or sitting down with a werewolf to tea discussing trade deals.

Either way, there was nothing I could do right now. More messages came in, but no group of skill users. Enough time had passed I was curious when the General would make his next move.

“Champion Michael. I am thinking of only deploying the South gate into the city. We are the closest to them. Try and lure the enemy out in that direction,” General Gerold said.

“What is the problem?” I asked.

“Operational length. People will get tired if we stretch this battle out too long. But deploying all gates allows the enemy to escape any gate, which might let them get away.”

“That is fine. They can’t outpace me before the reset at midnight, and better to chase them when there is light out,” I said.

“Very well. I will issue orders to all teams guarding the gates to deploy into the city in force,” the General replied. He began issuing those orders. I was glad he was asking for my opinion. Well, I was his boss and his nuclear weapon.

Always good to get the opinion of your nuclear weapon before using it. I waited for the enemy skill users. This was incredibly boring. I shook my head. Here I was sitting in the command tent, and all the soldiers probably thought this was the most interesting place to be.

Instead, it was boring for me, just sitting around being ready to move at a moment’s notice. I let out a small sigh as I waited. At least in Real Time Strategy, RTS, games, there would be more of a map to look at.

Next time I would summon monsters of my own and use them to make my own judgements. Otherwise this was too boring just sitting around. Just when I was about to start trying to get the materials to do a summoning report came in from the North gate and the summoner spoke up as the wolf began to growl.

“High priority. Skill users North gate. Six count. Falling back to gate,” the summoner said. I stood up. Finally, some action.

“Champion Michael, if you could head to the North gate to assist?” The General couldn’t order me, but he could request and it was appropriate in this situation, so I didn’t mind.

“Very well,” I left the ring of carts and began running North. I soon reached the wall and followed the clear space next to it. This way I wouldn’t run into any level 1 monsters and quickly make time.

I had no doubt the General was ordering his forces to move North or at least the fast reaction force. The other teams would retreat to the gates they were guarding to prevent a breakout from another direction.