Milc/C.J. Milnes
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Chapter 42 - War suited me
🕑 Added 2025-04-23 20:11:17 +0000 UTCWe left the wagons a few dozen miles north of the enemy fortifications. No point risking the noncombatants and the herds against the amalgams. We’d likely have to give ground while we whittled the monsters down enough to let the golems attack them from the inside.
Fodder for the animals was getting scarce. Thousands of Huskars and nomads consumed a substantial amount of food each day. We’d abused Rapid Growth as much as we could, but the lush grasslands of the north had given way to arid badlands, except along the river, and food was going to become an issue in the near future.
The Huskar hadn’t bothered setting up a fort this time. We were here to smash the enemy defences and destroy their army, rather than engage in protracted trench warfare. Not that we weren’t deploying siege engines. The enemy scouts had been swept aside by the nomads upon our arrival. Some of them had probably made it back to camp to report on us, but Glimpse hadn’t noticed any sudden rush to form up among Mortimer’s troops.
Setting up trebuchets was not a simple process, nor was it fast under normal circumstances. However, from a Huskar’s perspective, the massive beams were more like twigs and could be held in place by a couple of legionaries while bolts were hammered home and ropes were tightened.
It took the big bastards a couple of hours to go from parts on a wagon to rock-flinging nightmares able to smash city walls. Fortunately, the walls they were aiming for beyond the next hill were only made of wood. Unfortunately in the time it took to build them the Urkash army figured out what was happening and got their shit together. Somewhat.
The undead, a wild gaggle of corpses that stretched over a dozen miles from end to end, leapt into a frenzy and rushed towards our positions.
“Clear the chaff from the wheat!” Bon called out as I nodded to him. A series of horn blasts rang out, and the nomads poised just below the lip of the hill trotted smartly to the crest and unleashed arrows and javelins, enchanted with Firewall spells, down into the grey mass as the zombies struggled up the hill. Lines of fire ripped through the horde, reducing bandaged men and women to charred remnants that collapsed into ash as their bones cooked.
I nodded at Bon again, and the horns rang out. From Glimpse's eyes, I watched as three lines of dust tore up the hill we were sheltering behind. Three figures blurred across the slope, then flew into the air to slam down in the midst of the enemy's disposable troops. Blurs of violence spread out around them as my Fangs finally got to have some fun.
The nomads peeled away on their fast ponies, falling back to the sides of the three legions we’d planned to hold our centre, as the giants marched steadfastly up the hill. They reached the peak before the zombies could recover from the sudden and extremely violent arrival of my three friends. Shields slammed down, locked together, and a colossal roar went up from the Huskar. Short swords poked through between the wall of laminated wood as spears were levelled over the leading trooper's shoulders from their mates behind them.
Beams of power ripped out across the enemy as the three legions, barely three thousand in number, unleashed the magic of their artefacts. Elemental beams cut through the horde, but with enough bodies, you can soak any amount of damage, and the horde slowly drew closer to the thin line of giants holding the ridge of the hill.
Wilson padded over to me, and I hopped up onto his shoulders. I looked up at Bon and nodded again, receiving a similar gesture in response, and then Wilson took off to my appointed position for the next phase of the fight. My target location was easy to find; half a dozen bronze humanoid shapes gleamed in the sun.
“Raymond, we are ready,” said Bob in Aresk’s voice. I slipped off the wolf and walked to the top of the hill, my bare feet crushing the dry grass as I went.
To my right, the sea of zombies was smashing against Legio’s I, IV, and VII. What passed for short swords among the Huskar flashed out between their tall shields, and spears from the taller giants flickered forwards, turning zombies into clouds of rotten blood with each strike.
I checked with Glimpse, and sure enough, the coven and Kril were in position opposite the other amalgam, with their own coterie of golems. The human forces among Mortimer's army were responding very slowly. I shuddered at the thought of what their latrines must look like after a week of nightly raids from my assassins. Suffice it to say, they would be at less than peak performance today.
I slipped down the slope towards the amalgam, skirting around the western edge of the horde. Both of the massive lumps of dead flesh had stirred and begun oozing towards the three legions currently deployed in the centre. They rolled over the undead between them and their targets, moving slowly towards the centre of the formation of bandaged men.
I sent a command to Glimpse, and he stooped like the falcon he definitely wasn’t. His blazing flight took him directly over Bon, and the bird let out three sharp caws before wheeling back into the sky to resume his overwatch. Horns rang out. A more complex pattern this time, long and short notes interspersed with each other to create a staccato pattern of noise that issued a specific set of orders.
As the crow resumed his station, he sent me a message.
The nomads are moving to encircle them, Ray. You heard the order. Make me some snacks!
Your desire for eyeballs is duly noted, bird. I’ll try to only nuke their bodies! I sent back and got an amused sense of hope and appreciation in reply.
I stopped skulking and started sprinting towards the amalgam. The nearest wall of flesh suddenly grew eyes pointed my way, and the bulk pivoted in my direction. It sped up, rushing at me like a mobile building,g then froze and skidded to a stop, throwing up a shower of dirt. Dozens of eyes formed and dissolved, some the size of my body, others as small as peas.
A thousand voices screamed in the distance. Discordant, male and female united in a wail of agony. The coven had begun their task, raining elemental damage down on the other amalgam. The one barely two hundred metres from me twitched, peristaltic movements echoing up its blob-like body.
“Yeah, bloke. You know you fucked up,” I called happily as the clouds above me thickened and turned blood red. This was the first time I’d used my upgraded spell and I was impressed with the changes.
The area was massively increased. Fifty by fifty had seemed massive, especially as it could be shaped as I wanted. Now it covered a vast area. The Fireballs barely even registered to my senses. They simply appeared at ground level without seeming to cross the intervening space. They weren’t white anymore either. They were almost colourless, balls of energy that evaporated everything within an area the size of a house.
Ashrot would have been easy if I’d had this power level before. No chance to swat the Fireballs from the sky with disposable pseudopods, just a rolling line of incineration.
One cast was all it took. The Amalgam started running, well, it was more like sliding, away from me as fast as whatever it used for feet could move it. I had a nightmarish vision of tens of thousands of human legs flexing in unison behind the skirt of dead flesh that made up its exterior.
Bronze blurs shot past me, flowing down the slope like liquid-metal-death to hurl themselves into the thing, burrowing in to seek out the shard of the God of Death's power that animated the monster.
Glimpse confirmed the other amalgam was falling back, having also received multiple bronze enemas. The coven was withdrawing back to the legions, as we had planned.
Oh shit! Glimpse sent as he suddenly strove for altitude. Huge rocks, a couple of hundred kilograms apiece, were sailing through the air to smash into the crude fortifications protecting the human element of the enemy.
Release the titans. Let them have a little fun! I sent.
Glimpse swerved to the west to get out of the line of fire from the trebuchets and dove down to caw at Bon as he passed. Brilliant light erupted from the ballistic masonry as it smashed into the wooden walls. They had enchanted them with the projectile version of the Light Affinity. It turned the already terrifying impacts into eyeball-melting explosions that blinded anyone nearby permanently, and even those further away would be partially blind and disoriented.
The next two rocks smashed against a vast shield of ice thrown up by the soulbound and wizards among the enemy. Good. They were wasting their mana before we even closed to engagement range.
Mulius and Marbo stomped through the undead, pausing occasionally to kick apart any of the lesser amalgams that might pose a threat to the legion behind them. The Fangs fell in around them, cutting lines through the grey horde until they formed a trio, fighting back to back, covering each other's flanks and letting the zombies wash against them like waves against a cliff.
I glanced at the badly mauled amalgam running away from me and briefly wondered what name the nightmare had taken for itself. Corpsegrind? Decayblob? I shrugged. Who cared, the fucker was toast. I drew my sword and glanced down at the silvery blade, and smiled faintly. It needed a name as well. All the best swords had names, I was sure I’d heard that before, back on Earth.
Stabby McStabface? I could do better than that. The ground blurred beneath me, and I sliced a path through the Fangs. Horns rang out again. My commitment to the main assault was the start of phase two. On the hill behind us, the legions stamped forwards, shields bashed forwards, and turned zombies to mist; any parts that were left were ground to paste beneath their heels. The first, fourth, and seventh legions began their advance.
“Having fun, lads?” I asked as I dodged a whirling spear. “Easy Jandak! Friendly coming through!”
“You’re a bit gory to be able to identify easily, Mond! Maybe put your armour on? Fay will get cross if you don’t!” said Mune happily as he lunged and dodged, a steel dagger in each hand. I glanced down and realised I’d painted myself red in the mad dash across the battlefield.
I pulled my armour from storage, and it appeared over me, midnight metal coating me from head to toe.
“Good point. MULIUS, MARBO! DON’T PISS ON THEM, PUT THE FUCKING BOOT IN! I WANT THOSE WALLS TAKEN IN TEN MINUTES!” I yelled at the titans who glanced back, then lurched into motion, ignoring the lesser zombies they’d been picking at like fat men at an all-you-can-eat buffet.
We moved forward in their wake, like dolphins chasing a pair of ocean liners. None of the grey hordes could hurt us. The only elements of my army that were at risk of anything but dying from exhaustion while fighting these angry undead were mounted on sturdy ponies and circling around the enemy positions to chase them down when the bastards broke. Which they should be doing in about twenty minutes, give or take.
Bolts of fire lashed out from the crude ramparts, but the titans had learned from previous mistakes: they wore oversized rings loaded with defensive spells. Marbo opened spatial tears, sending the attacks flying back at the defenders as the cat-like titan moved gracefully closer to the terrified defenders. Mulius loped along, his broken tusk catching the light, discs of ice appearing in front of him to take the worst of the damage in his place. One blast of ice slipped in low, and his left foot became caught in a three-metre-wide ball of ice, making him stumble and slip.
A cry of joy went up from the battlements that quickly fell silent as the oversized giant snarled and punched the ice until it broke free from his foot, and he charged on. Before they reached the flimsy wooden walls, I turned the sky dark once more and shaped the spell to match my wishes. A line of invisible Fireballs landed along almost the entire length of the defenses, I’d made it one metre wide and long enough to run the gamut of the primitive fortifications.
Wood dissolved to ash, humans were vaporised, and in one cast I’d cleared away their defences and killed most of their troops who weren’t busy shitting themselves to death due to the poisons Janko and Herpatik had slipped into the food and water supplies.
As the first three legions advanced behind us, the rest of my main force emerged, another four legions, and began tramping forward. Two legions marched on each flank of the leading three, who had fallen into a slight V-formation as they pushed deeper into the horde.
Marbo sailed gracefully over the jagged remains of the walls and threw up a huge cloud of dust as he landed in the midst of the little fort. Something so huge should not be able to arc through the air like an Olympic pole vaulter. The sight was disturbing to me, and the big bastard was moving away from me. To be on the receiving end must have been terrifying.
Mulius just kicked his way in and started stomping and punching at the relatively tiny beings. Spells flashed against his thick, metallic fur, but he just bellowed and moved faster.
We arrived on their heels, but the titans were already crushing the humans ahead of them. Jandak shot ahead, spear a singing-blur as he began cutting apart men who’d been lucky enough to avoid the passing titans. I skidded to a stop and took a deep breath. The armour wasn’t heavy for me, but I could notice the difference in my endurance while wearing it.
“Find the commanders. I marked their tents on the maps. Take them alive if possible,” I ordered.
“What about him?” Kos waved a hand at Jandak’s retreating form.
“Let him blow off some steam. Bring the commanders here if they survive.” I sat down on a stump that had once been part of the wall and pulled off my helmet.
They sped off in the right direction. The briefings had been very thorough. I watched through Glimpse as the horde was crushed by the legions. Out of the flanks, the feral Huskar under Nuk’s command were hitting the human forces while the nomads swept around to pincer in from both sides behind the lines.
The amalgam the coven had attacked was the first to collapse and dissolve, but its brother wasn't far behind. Dented bronze machines emerged from the grey gloop that was left when the animating shard was destroyed. We’d lost some, and broken humanoid forms emerged alongside relatively whole ones. I’d need to send another member of the coven north to make more.
Reanimated Humanos x8430 slain.
One hundred and twenty-six thousand, four hundred and fifty Souls harvested.
Normalis Humano (soulbound servant) x279 slain
Five thousand, five hundred and eighty Souls Harvested.
Normalis Humano x931 slain.
Nine thousand, three hundred and ten Souls harvested.
Just shy of a hundred and seventy thousand Souls in the bank again. War suited me.
