The Tiger and the Dragon: Act 13, Chapter 5

The Tiger and the Dragon: Act 13, Chapter 5

Chapter 5

“Report! The Undead have renewed their assault!”

“Show us.”

The Gao runner stepped forward at Rana Kizurra’s command, looking down at the map on the table. After a moment, he pointed a claw.

“Here,” he said. “They’re pouncing straight in. The Ranas on the front can’t make any sense out of it.”

“How have they responded?” Rana Kizurra asked.

“They’re using the spells that they were instructed to with great effect,” the runner answered. “Casualties have been limited. We’re targeting the Undead in the predetermined order.”

“Good. Hopefully, we’ll start seeing some results. Refresh yourself before you return to the front.”

With a nod, the runner left the parapet. The Undead had tightened their perimeter by four to five kilometres along the front, bringing them into view of Eastwatch’s battlements. Far to the northwest, the engagement that the runner described only appeared as a slight shift in their forces.

“The Undead will withdraw soon,” Saraca said, “if they haven’t already.”

“What if they keep pushing?” Rana Kizurra asked.

“They could,” Saraca answered, “but they won’t. Now that they’re operating in a manner closer to a conventional army with conventional problems, their valid options have become severely limited.”

“And if they revert to their old ways?” Someone asked.

“Then that huge mass of Undead standing behind the front lines will advance,” Saraca said. “They may seem like a substantial threat, but they’re nothing compared to the Undead on the front and relatively useless against us.”

“So they’ll continue using these ‘warbands’ as their main fighting force.”

“They’ll use their Elder Liches where they can, as well,” Saraca added. “And, just in case it hasn’t been made clear yet, each member of those ‘warbands’ is as strong as our side’s strongest champions.”

In all, Rol’en’gorek’s reconnaissance had identified a total of twenty-eight of those ‘warbands’. There was another force of undetermined strength in the river, but they were busy interdicting traffic.

The style of the interdiction had changed in the morning, switching from a complete blockade of the river to allowing inbound traffic to flow in. Since nothing was allowed out, they allowed the crews to moor their boats and shelter around Eastwatch instead of forcing them to sail to their doom. The macabre procession of derelict craft finally stopped drifting by close to noon.

Rol’en’gorek’s forces were relieved to have their supply lines re-established, but, to Saraca, it was as if the Undead had declared that Eastwatch’s defenders were being kept alive until they were ready to kill them. It would be in line with the way that they were already trying to extract as much negative energy as possible through the torment of the living.

A dozen more runners came and went, reporting developments from across the front. The Lords who were busy tabulating the results of the night’s fighting in the tower below finally came up to share their findings.

“As far as we can tell,” the Lup Lord at the front of the group said, “we lost sixty thousand last night, mostly from the two clans who were trapped by the first two enemy manoeuvres. The orders to withdraw to the new line kept an additional two hundred thousand from meeting the same fate.”

“I still find it strange that it would turn out that way,” Rana Saj said. “The Undead could have easily inflicted far more casualties on the withdrawing forces.”

“It only feels that way because Rol’en’gorek’s way of fighting is far more flexible,” Saraca said. “Never mind the Undead, many armies of the living adhere to orders, maintain formations, and limit unsanctioned, independent operations.”

“That’s true,” one of the Lords under Clan Torokgha said. “The Draconic Kingdom’s warriors were also as Saraca describes. They were curiously adamant about maintaining their formations and it was laughably simple to outmanoeuvre them. They did so until their defences broke down entirely and I don’t understand why to this very day.”

How should I explain this...

Both ‘set piece’ and asymmetrical warfare – amongst several other types – had their place in a conflict. Places like Rol’en’gorek heavily favoured asymmetrical warfare because there was little in the way of important infrastructure to defend, plus their operational areas were effectively unlimited. Furthermore, what was important to the Draconic Kingdom wasn’t important to Rol’en’gorek and what was important to Rol’en’gorek for most of its relationship with the Draconic Kingdom – namely food – was impossible for the Draconic Kingdom to fully protect.

Without powerful allies to aid them, most countries in the world in that situation would do the same as what the Draconic Kingdom had apparently done, which was to accept that losses were inevitable and continue to work toward a permanent solution. This usually involved some combination of diplomacy and internal development.

As far as Saraca could tell by the progress displayed in the Draconic Kingdom, that approach was working...at least until Rol’en’gorek suddenly decided to dump the excess population of a million square kilometre confederation onto their tiny country. There was absolutely no conventional solution for that – it was a problem that required beings on the level of Ancient Dragons to solve.

Ironically enough, the problems that Rol’en’gorek’s migrants were facing in the mountainous south against the remnants of the Draconic Kingdom’s population were pretty much the same problems that the Draconic Kingdom had for most of its long relationship with Rol’en’gorek.

“There is a certain strength to the way that they fight,” Saraca said. “Many powerful countries fight the same way. Battlefields can be prearranged and limited, or other types of warfare are undesirable due to economic and political considerations. In the case of the Draconic Kingdom, one could say that it is simply a bad matchup. The average member of the humanoid race that dwelled here is incapable of fighting a Beastman warrior on even terms, so they strive to even the odds in whatever way that they can. Unfortunately for them, you were not obliged to fight in the way that they needed you to.”

“That aside,” Rana Kizurra said, “we’re fighting that way right now. It is foreign to us, but the benefits seem clear enough. Territorial control is well-defined and communication is swift. Threats can be identified and champions can respond to them in no time at all. Different forces can take turns, exchanging places long before exhaustion becomes an issue. This may be something that the Humans used, but nothing says we can’t as well.”

“If the situation calls for it,” Rana Saj said. “I know for a fact that trying to do this on the Jorgulan Front would just get us slaughtered by Dragons. Anyway, is this all there is to this? Repeat the same steps and patiently wait for results?”REaad updated stories at n/o/vel/bin(.)com

Their defensive scheme, while seemingly pedestrian, was an undeniably effective one. The downside of having a few, powerful combatants was that they were easier to account for and control than a large army. Furthermore, the mana of that small force was no match for the mana of a hundred thousand mystics.

So long as Rol’en’gorek’s combatants didn’t die instantly, they could be healed and refreshed indefinitely. Conversely, the damage inflicted by the many upon the few wasn’t something that the Undead could keep up with for long. The simple field effects employed by Rol’en’gorek’s mystics impeded the mobility of the few Undead in each ‘warband’ at every turn. Combined with the natural conditions of the fields around Eastwatch, the Undead couldn’t get very far very quickly.

Combined with the fact that Rol’en’gorek’s forces were accustomed to fluid, dynamic manoeuvres in battle, this created a highly adaptable and highly flexible defence that simply flowed around any attempted Undead offensive while endlessly harassing them with skirmishers. Normally, enemy casters and an army’s supporting magic item industry would act as a counter to that simple combination of things, but the Undead were not accustomed to war. Elder Liches were undeniably powerful magic casters, but they were arcane researchers first and the use of magic in battle was an afterthought. Anything that the Undead had that resembled a magic item industry was tiny and sluggish compared to those of living economies.

That being said, Rol’en’gorek was just getting started.

“Those are just standing orders for efficiently maintaining our lines,” Saraca said. “While the Undead are busy trying to figure out what to do about it, we need to make some moves of our own. Our offence needs to develop faster than their ability to keep up. What happened at the harbour this morning presents an interesting possibility.”

“Oh? What’s that?”

“Well, I’m used to it not being the case, but the Undead appear to have no countermeasures to taunt. With that being the case, we could just ‘fish’ for Undead. A champion on the front can just taunt a Death Knight to them and drag them deep into our forces to be disposed of the same way that Rana Saj got rid of the Death Knight on the wharf.”

The assembled Lords fell silent at his proposal, a furrow on each of their brows. He could empathise, as it was a silly idea that probably wouldn’t work against a regular living foe. A nearby Captain – or Lord, in their case – would simply break them out and nothing would come of the attempt.

“In any other situation,” Rana Kizurra said, “I would consider it a highly dishonourable tactic. But if it’s the Undead...”

Eh? That’s your first thought?

“I agree,” another Lord at the table said. “If what Saraca says is true, these things just appear out of thin air. There is nothing to respect; no effort, history, or cause to admire. They are merely enemies to be destroyed.”

It occurred to Saraca that they might have never thought of it if he hadn’t pointed it out. The ‘dishonourable’ thinking was literally unthinkable.

“Whom should we dispatch?”

Olga’s Elder Liches came out of the mist, taking advantage of the nearby Beastmen’s change in stance. The triangular section of the field that they were trying to cut off was partially obscured in a blanket of white. Roars of fury and unearthly howls rose from the mist shortly after.

“...are they getting anyone?” Raul asked.

“Yes,” his adjutant answered.

That should have been obvious. The Beastmen wouldn’t trip up their own retreat with crowd control spells, so the squads in the fog were now free to run around and wreak havoc. Raul peered at the Beastman lines, adjusting the lenses of his goggles as he tried to figure out how many had made it through their incomplete trap. The first thing he spotted, however, was a Death Knight.

“Wait, what’s that Death Knight doing?”

“A servitor in Squad Twenty-Nine has lost control. The behaviour is characteristic of a taunt effect.”

This again?

Raul watched as the Death Knight chased a Con through the throngs of Beastmen, which parted in advance to let them through.

“...they’re doing it on purpose!”

“You dishonourable animals!” Olga screeched as she shook both fists in the air.

The Death Knight only continued to recede into the distance. How far were they taking it?

“Squad Twenty-Nine has lost a Death Knight,” his adjutant informed them.

A distant roar of triumph confirmed the statement. Raul clicked his tongue. What could they even do against that?

Before it had happened early in the morning, the idea hadn’t even crossed his mind. Never mind that, in both Re-Estize and the Empire, even basic flanking manoeuvres were considered dishonourable. Against other Humans, at least. The only reason why he didn’t feel terrible doing that sort of thing against the Beastmen was because they did it too.

“We need to move our squads,” Olga said.

Raul looked up at the sky again. Patches of clear blue sky appeared from behind the mountains to the east and the wind was starting to change direction.

“Pull back and get our squads back into the river,” he told his adjutant. “Their taunts won’t hit through the water, right?”

“Now, all of my soldiers are going to be taunted away,” Olga huffed.

“We can’t stay like this,” Raul agreed. “We need to attack or we’ll just be picked apart.”

The sun broke through the clearing weather, and a gust of wind blew their conjured fog up the slope. The Beastmen’s skirmishers immediately started pelting the Undead with bullets. Their squads took shelter behind whatever cover they could find. Raul bit his lip as he tried to think of what else they could do.

“A Death Knight from Squad Four has lost control,” Olga’s adjutant intoned.

“A Death Knight from Squad Twenty-Nine has lost control,” Raul’s adjutant added.

“Death Knights from Squads Seven and Nine have lost control,” Olga’s adjutant spoke again.

“No!” Olga cried, “Nonononono...Raul!”

“What do you want me to do?!”

『All forces, general advance! This experiment is over! Rip open those seams in the Beastman ranks!』

Or they could do that.

The mass of Undead behind their main line came alive as they advanced in unison. Far ahead of them, the infantry squads seemed to chase after their taunted comrades, spilling into the openings created by their passing and tearing into the shocked Beastmen.

“We-we’re in range?” Olga blinked, “Elder Liches, get your spells in! Target any mystics you can find!”

Fireballs started to blossom across the front, punctuated by the occasional bolt of Lightning arcing through the Beastman ranks. The first of the reserve forces – the Wraiths and other spectral Undead that were unimpeded by the difficult terrain – swept into the reeling defenders, adding to the chaos. The lines of the Beastman army started to buckle and disintegrate.

“Squad Thirty has entered the Oriculon and awaits your orders,” Raul’s adjutant informed him.

His gaze went to the glittering Oriculon, not ten kilometres to the south.

“What about the squads on the other side?”

“They should arrive shortly.”

“Wait until everyone’s gathered,” Raul said. “We need to make this as messy as possible. Olga, I’m going.”

Olga only continued to point her fingers everywhere while issuing orders, so she probably didn’t hear him. Raul tightened his grip as his Skeletal Dragon banked south to join the infantry squads in the south. He gaped as he crossed over Captain Zahradnik’s part of the encirclement, where the Beastmen were being utterly destroyed.

There was no better way to put it. A black wave of Death-series Servitors scythed into the Beastman ranks, seemingly uncaring of any retaliation. Occasionally, a Death Priest raised its smoking censer and dozens of Beastmen howled as they crumpled to the ground. The damage that the Undead had taken restored itself, but the Death Knights and Death Warriors took no note as their dark blades scythed endlessly to reap the fields of the living.

Closing in behind them was the Undead horde, a tide of rotting flesh, bleached bones and ghostly spectral forms. The Elder Liches were nowhere to be seen, but in their place was a new type of Undead he had never seen before. Two metres tall, they were covered in disintegrating rags that revealed emaciated bodies covered in weeping sores. Those sores oozed a black ichor that sizzled upon dripping into the mud. That same ichor flowed from their empty eye sockets, and their toothless maws wailed in gurgling sorrow as they shambled forward on lurching steps. Raul suppressed a shudder at the sound.

“What are those?” He asked.

“They are known as Weeps,” his adjutant said. “One of the selections available to Summon Undead V. They are potent melee combatants with high regeneration and poison attacks, but this one believes that they were selected for their aura, which inflicts the Shaken status.”

Just looking at them was creepy. He didn’t want to know what the Beastmen that they were approaching felt.

Raul didn’t see Captain Zahradnik anywhere along the way to the river, so he figured she had concealed herself above the battlefield somewhere. He turned his attention to his own forces, eyeing the Beastman forces as they surged forward to shore up their faltering lines.

“Is everyone ready?”

“All squads are in position and await your orders.”

“Alright,” Raul said. “Let’s make this hurt.”