77 Chapter 74: An Evolving Conflict

Eli POV

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Heading back home, I traveled amongst the treetops with Salamede to my left and Cell to my right as I explained the new information I had gotten from the orcs. We came back up towards the little treetop platform I made as our little corner of the world.

"So, what's the plan?" Salamede quickly asked as she came to sit down beside me. I was leaning against the tree and was currently working on several wooden pads. I stuck to wearing a light white shirt and some cloth shorts as the sun was still in its early afternoon position shining over a clear blue sky.

Salamede was wearing her leather armor under her vine suit. While she didn't seem to be disturbed by the height of our little sanctuary, she still insisted on wearing her vine suit since I told her about the human army attacking the southern woods. Her mask was laying off to the side of the bark crafts which we used to cook our food. The fish bones of our quick lunch before leaving lay somewhere off in the distance near a river. As tempting as it was to just casually throw junk away, too many bones beneath our hidden campsite, especially the wrong kinds of bones, could draw too much interest.

"It all depends on what the commander wants. The best-case scenario is that we just kill a squad or two and she'll be more than happy to take the Viper base with us. We're an unmatched power, so far at least, that the Coalition doesn't have an answer for. She would most likely want us to take out the whole army and all the forts but I'm hoping the story of a foul ritual should be enough to make her hesitant to let the base go on without any interruption." I said as I went about getting some more wooden pieces shaped into shoulder pads and a frontal shield.

These would go around Salamede's front and her shoulders and would summon a shield of water around her. All of the equipment I made out here had the packet-switched technique used on them, so they wouldn't fail due to any spells from enemy mages. Hopefully, the mages would take that to mean it was a spell and make them more warry of attacking a magic user. Worst comes to worst, they'll have another mystery to solve but better they have a mysterious item to ponder over rather than a body.

I was going to make a few for Cell as well, but his body was a fair bit tougher than Salamede's so he could get by with just one for his back and maybe one or two for his shoulders.

Salamede nodded and put her hands to her knees to get up but I quickly set aside the pad I was working on and grabbed her shoulders. Pulling her to me, I shoved my tongue down her mouth to fully taste her sweetness.

After a few seconds, I pulled away to see Salamede looking at me with a mischievous grin on her face as her eyes gradually opened.

"So, was last night not a one-time event?" She asked cloyingly.

My response was to lean forward and steal her lips again. It wasn't the most productive use of my time, but I needed to relieve some tension, and her lips provided that in droves. We tussled for a bit as we hugged and kissed but eventually Cell was heard coming up from below. Pulling away from each other, I put the pad back in my lap to start working on it.

"Huh, so Cell, how are you feeling about the doll body? Any changes you want made?" I asked him casually as Salamede sat awkwardly to the side.

Cell sent a general sense of goodness as the noise finally drew near and his vine sculpted hands pulled the rest of his body onto the ledge. He looked at us both for a moment before putting the mask surrounded with a musculature of vines forward. The almost crystal sphere of his body was pushed ahead to rub against Salamede's mouth.

"Cell!" I growled, remarkably keeping myself from yelling.

Salamede just giggled as she pushed him away and chided the familiar in a lighthearted tone.

"Now, now Cell. You shouldn't do that without a woman's permission. Besides, my lips are for Eli to use." She said, as she wagged a finger in front of Cell. He nodded and moved off to the left, leaving us alone once again. I went back to work on my craft again even as Salamede sat beside me. It took a minute but eventually, she crossed her arms and pouted at me as she established a spirit connection.

"Eli? Do you have nothing to say?" She demanded.

"I own your lips," I said looking up as I reached around and gave her bum an appreciative squeeze, which caused her to bite her lower lip. "Believe me, I won't forget that little statement. But keeping you alive is more important than keeping my tongue in your mouth."

Seemingly satisfied, she nodded and got up to pick up her mask from beside our magical cooking crafts.

"I'm going to practice shooting and movement a bit more before the day is out. I'll probably catch a deer while I'm out" She said as her face was covered in the dark oak wood again.

"Good." I said as I put in the squares for the flow redirection of mana. It took up the rest of the afternoon, but I managed to get the pads for Salamede and Cell done. My dinner passed in its typical motions and a long night's rest was my reward for the day's work.

Come morning, we all got ready and headed out towards the ruins of the Crypt base once our breakfast and preparations were completed. Of course, I didn't totally trust these new 'allies' so we all agreed that Salamede and Cell would remain in the treetops and I would do all the talking.

Gliding through the mid-day sun as the last vestiges of the morning fog finally disappeared between the tree trunks below, we came up towards the ruined shell and saw the group from yesterday standing in front of where the wall used to be. A quick perusing of the local area didn't reveal any other scouts hiding in the underbrush, so I made another simple jump from the treetops towards them. I landed a bit in front of the destroyed bunker further behind them and came up to the now surprised group of orcs.

"Ah, excellent," Atub said. "Mor has agreed to take you to a meeting spot to discuss our future cooperation." The guards all pulled back a little but didn't put their hands to their weapons this time.

I merely nodded as I stepped forward and they led me to this new spot.

As I walked beside Atub and her guards away from the dead base and up the road, I took in the mid-day sun as a flock of birds flitted over the road.

A cough to my left told me Atub wanted to talk.

"We heard that there were two others. May I know if they still count as among the living?" She asked tentatively over the heads of the three guards between me and her.

"Yes, we … keep eye on woods. Not worry. They near." I said in a light tone, but they all got a little pale just the same.

When we got along the road to a certain point, we turned left and went through the woods. Traveling through the thick underbrush with the scent of the greenery and it's tangy excess still playing across my sense as it always did whenever I found myself out of the treetops. I found the occasional hint of something offensive only to come across a corpse around different trees or laying amongst some bushes. They were all in various states of decay and served as an ever-present reminder that as pretty as this place was, it was still very much an active battlefield.

Finally coming up to a small grotto with a pond, I saw the group that we came to meet. The most prominent orc, with a face of hard ridges and red eyes, stood off to the side of the field and had two of the orcs with Gula from yesterday at her side along with a group of about 15 plus orcs to guard her, all of which stood between her and me.

"Ah hello, I'm Gusla, a go-between for general Mor." The large orc with a shield and sword across her back and long red hair said. She had black cloth pants and a leather vest that exposed the bulging muscles of her arms and toned legs.

"Hello, when kill humans?" I said in a polite tone.

She just laughed even as the two guards on both of her sides and the small squad of orcs looked on with apprehension.

"Soon. Far too soon. But I was led to believe there were more of you. Could we perhaps talk with them as well?" She asked casually even as her eyes showed a hint of danger.

I nodded and whistled with a dramatic hand wave. A loud whooshing sound was heard as all the orcs tensed. From the treetops, Salamede and Cell slammed into the ground. However, it was my turn to be surprised when I saw some burn marks along Cell's mask and Salamede seemed to have some stone daggers stuck in her vines.

"What happened?" I asked Salamede in a spirit connection.

"There was a group of three mages traveling through the trees who were coming across this little get together and the other band of orcs below that hill behind the red head. Don't worry, they are dealt with." She said smugly as the stone dagger faded into oblivion and the burns across Cells mask healed.

I felt a knot of worry in my stomach, but I suppressed it as I turned to the liaison.

"Human mages came up behind group that wait on hill. Don't worry, we take care." I said, like I was discussing the weather.

Gusla's red eyebrows furrowed as she snapped towards the two guards. They both gave a light head bow and promptly headed towards the downward slope a few yards behind them.

"Th-thank you," Gusla said with a strained smile but she still did her best to show she wasn't worried.

"Happy to. Now, about taking out human stone thing with spikes in pit around it." I said graciously.

"I have been given authority to dictate terms on Mor's behalf. We would love to take out the Viper base, but the humans are throwing their weight around now. A big army of about ten thousand properly trained foot soldiers and well-equipped mages is now burning everything between all the forts. It's far costlier than what they were doing before but they're still making headway and now have battle-hardened soldiers buffering the bandit ranks.

Suffice it to say, they won't allow you to take another fort for free again. The only positive is that your… aid has caught them all off guard and it'll be a few good weeks before they bury this place proper, but when they do we're probably looking at an additional fifty to seventy thousand troops swarming over this land" She said, sounding impressed despite her best efforts to sound otherwise.

Sadly, I was playing the part of a nature demon, and all the obligations within. I ultimately didn't care about them burning the forest, as much as it ached my cultural norms, but a nature spirit thing not caring would be out of character and I was bound to that character.

"Hmmmm. Hit supplies, poison humans. No army fight needed. But stopping fires is important" I said like it was obvious.

She just raised an eyebrow as she objected.

"Poisoning a few pots won't be enough. As for the fires, they are keeping the supplies to fuel them in a fort, but we don't know which one yet." She said irritably.

I thought about it for a moment until I hit upon a solution.

"Do humans have detection in dirt?" I asked, frustrated by the grammar I had decided to use.

She merely looked confused at me as did several of the surrounding orcs.

"If small thing dug underground and into their forts, would they detect it?" I asked again.

"That isn't something I am familiar with." She said with an honest shrug of her shoulders.

"From where humans come?" I asked.

"The three forts leading from the main road to the Bulwark. About the only place they can come from since you destroyed those two forts" She said.

Well, at least the orcs higher-ups were a bit more professional with their naming decisions.

The general lay out from what I knew was a straight line. Knowing that the road that led along those forts was going to be under constant attack, the military leaders started burning down the forest to make it harder to ambush the incoming army and the supply caravans. Unfortunately for them, that also meant they couldn't easily hide from bullets if they were still in range.

"Where is humans army now?" I asked.

"At the fort close to the main road." She said.

"We attack caravans along roads, you and us. You prepare poison, lot of poison. Not kill immediately or even kill at all. Causes pain and need attention from healer for days, weeks better. We deliver poison while you help harangue at night. Draw mages forward then hit caravans in back. But while poison is being prepared, we take care of burning water stuff. When humans stretched, we take out Viper base." I offered.

Gusla scrunched her eyebrows but didn't say anything for a bit.

"That could work. I'll go over it with the boss, but I don't know if she will go for an attack while the two forts closest to Viper base are still standing." Gusla said. At that point the two guards came back looking kind of pale. The black haired one with sharp features ran up and whispered into Gusla's ear, who lost a little color herself before giving me a light bow.

"It appears the rumors of your abilities are not exaggerated." She said in a humble tone.

I nodded in return before asking a more pertinent question.

"We need go between for orcs when we away to fight. My friends travel together. They want Gula for company." I said. We needed someone who knew the area intimately, the Coalitions tactics, and could talk with the other orcs. Having anyone beside Gula accompanying Salamede and Cell was just asking to get our secrets exposed. Gusla raised an eyebrow at the suggestion.

"Are you sure? We have many other-"

I raised a hand to silence her.

"Pandego slow to difference. Having orc we started out with better." I said emphatically.

Gusla didn't argue and merely bowed her head in agreement.

"As you wish. But the details matter and I'll need to go over this plan with Mor before we commit to any course of action." She said.

"Meet here. Tomorrow morning." I responded.

She nodded in agreement and I turned to leave. Jumping up into the treetops, I headed out towards the area where the three forts were stationed. The soft crack of leaves and whooshing of air behind me said Cell and Salamede were following my lead. Going along the roads I noticed few patrols until I went past the Viper base. From there smoke was everywhere as bodies, both impatiently moving elsewhere and dead, clogged the roads.

As the orcs said, the forest surrounding the roads was a burnt husk in the places where it wasn't currently burning as the sting of smoke filled the air, some even reaching up to our lofty heights. The perimeter of destruction was far enough from the road that any orc who wanted to plink arrows at the soldiers would have to come out of the forest and into line of sight of the army patrols that now swarmed over the roads.

Of the patrols comprising a good dozen plus soldiers, they would also have a member who was a bandit to act as a scout or guide for the patrol. Grimy men in ragged leather armor were now mostly concentrated in the Viper base as men with shining steel breastplates, shin guards, and well-maintained swords, spears, and maces now took up their patrols along the roads.

Salamede and Cell came up beside me on the trees to my right and left.

"Think you can hit a carriage all the way out there?" I asked Salamede as I looked out over the charred landscape.

"Easily" She said confidently in a spirit connection.

"Good. Just make sure to move after each shot. I may not be with you through all of this, so get used to working with Cell and Gula." I said idly as I tried to look for some mages, but it appears the new ones don't travel along with the soldiers.

We looked around a bit more to make sure the area they were burning maintained a similar dimension to what we had seen so far. Thankfully, the Coalition wasn't going crazy with it and the roads, even where they burned the most forest, were still within range to be hit.

Of course, it sure as hell wasn't cheap to do this at the scale they were. This area may not have been proper swamp land, but it was still wetter than the northern woods and the army was having to use chemicals and fire starters to properly crisp the trees and underbrush. But their entire civilization depended on it, so still worth it.

Along the way we saw an orc band try to ambush one of the patrols by moving archers behind some of the burned tree husks. They weren't terribly effective, only injuring one of the dozen plus soldiers in the shoulder before they turned their cross bows on them. A few orcs were pin cushioned, but the rest got away when the soldiers moved off the road with loud curses to pursue them.

Despite that poor initial showing, the other battles showed the orcs doing far more damage than what I had first seen. A few carriage husks filled with burned goods, the orcs ambushing the soldiers when they tried to burn the forest and killing quite a lot of the men. It all looked like they were winning a lot of the individual engagements, but sadly for the orcs they were winning by skillfully moving dirt with a shovel as the avalanche fell on them. The orcs were being driven further and further back as the tide of metal strapped men swamped forward through what had previously been contested territory.

We didn't see any mages on our journey, but the grey cloaks seemed to be performing as well as they always had if the after math of a few battles with trees blow apart from boulders and shredded bodies were anything to go by.

Coming up to the fort closest to the main road, I saw the giant stone box laying in a huge field where even the stumps had been removed. The field was packed with tents, men moving supplies and troops who were too injured to fight or troops that were fresh and looking for a fight. Amid the small sea of leather tent tops and people, I saw more than a few men go to shake hands and jovially pat some friend on the back while some had this dazed, almost empty gaze that told of raw fear and anxiety. Here the Coalition also had the largest ring of burnt forestry as carriages moved between the lines of tents.

"H-How are we going to stop this?" Salamede asked nervously on a branch to my left as Cell hung back to my right. The field of tents when on for a good mile as thousands of troops milled about with their armor glistening in the sun. A few of the carriages moved along the roads, burdened with every trapping of civilization.

But then I noticed something odd.

The banners by the forts front entrance. They were a spiral of green and orange. It occurred to me then that I hadn't seen any flags or regalia or any other national symbols during my time at the academy or any of the surrounding towns. Not that the poorer villages I've spent most of my time at would be inclined to spend money on such displays.

"Salamede. Why is this the first time I'm seeing the Coalitions flag?" I asked her.

"Mages are a tricky lot to deal with for the government from what I've been told. Some of the traders who visit from the central continent say it's the same there too. Sorry, I don't really know." She said with an apologetic shrug.

"Eh, it's fine. All right I think I know what we need to do. I need to get some stuff ready for our meeting tomorrow, so let's head home." I said, but as I turned to go, I noticed one group moving down the road towards the fort.

They were easy to spot as the surrounding men gave the women on horseback or in carriages a wide berth. Clad in fine pants, leather jerkins, or all-encompassing robes, an assortment of every kind of weapon helped show off the finery of such exquisite clothing. The caravan of a dozen different groups of women moved along the road with grace less like a beautiful bird and more like a predator on the prowl. On their shoulders, chests, and carriage roofs were varying symbols showing what I assumed was the mark of magical associations, with various mountains, dragons breathing fire, water droplets, and hurricane symbols stitched and painted wherever they could go on the horse drawn boxes.

"Well, at least we know who the mages are when we see them." I said dryly as I finished turning and launched myself into the treetops.

When we got back home, I started collecting vines and attaching them to wooden balls by drilling them into the center. Using them as a sort of wire, I put down a line that connected to a wood button at the other end of the vine. Once pressed, it would send mana down the line and cause water blades to shoot out the end. I quickly dismissed the thought of using my packet-switched technique since it that wasn't the sort of thing I wanted to be handing over to the orcs.

Even if the orcs couldn't use magic, they would probably know enough to guess what a game changer crafts that don't fail due to spells hitting them would be. To say nothing of the Frojan.

The vibrant undergrowth provided more than enough vines for me to work on and the wooden balls weren't too hard to form since I didn't need to grow them or make them move since I was just moving the woods fibers around once. By the time late afternoon came, I had a good dozen of these long cables with wooden balls on the end of them. With a length of several dozen yards each, they would allow ambushing patrols far enough away to be safe.

But the point of these weapons wasn't to kill, at least not their main point.

Crafts like these would be disabled by a mage if they used enough force. But if we made enough of these and deployed them along the front lines, the army would be forced to put all of its water, earth, and air mages on the patrols to disable them. These crafts would actually be easy enough for the water element Frojan to make, but none of them had the earth element which is what the weapon needed to make it work. Putting another enchantment on the back of the ball and a special smaller button below the main trigger button, this put a thin shell of compacted dirt around the ball that would easily crack from the water blades.

It would take a bit to set up, but since crafts have lower mana demands than spells, we could keep doing this for a lot longer and easier than the mages could. I was hoping that I could get the Frojan to help make the water portions of these crafts and I'll make the earth section. This shell of hard dirt meant that the mages would have to summon large gusts of wind or waves of water far beyond what they would have to otherwise to get rid of the traps. Maybe they would even have to deploy earth mages but that was far more expensive mana wise.

I thought about another application and then grinned. Making another long vine craft with a single piece of wood at the end in a U shape, I got it down to where it would summon a shell identical to the real crafts protective shell. Putting up a lot of these, it would leave a trail of almost mushroom like bumps along the roads that would force the mages to constantly stop and break all of them from a distance with spells. Sure, they could use more mundane weapons but that took a lot of time that would let the orcs set up ambushes or attack their supply lines, which was the tactic I generally favored.

Putting this craft out there meant the Coalition would know the orcs had someone that had the earth element, but that time of secrecy was quickly passing. If we didn't want to have to kill all ten thousand plus of these soldiers, we needed to cut off the supplies to starve them out and make it too dangerous for them to send more mages before the army entrenched at the Viper base. I thought briefly on the craft I made to knock down the Viper base. Looking down, I saw the mana in the air being drawn into the patch of bushes that hid the item in question as Cell practiced using it in the small cave I made for him to try it out in.

Nah, better to save that for the main show.

As I set up a few more, Salamede informed me that dinner was ready. After another meal of seared deer, I spent the rest of the remaining daylight exuding mana into crystals. After I put out a few more good-sized crystals, Salamede and I settled in for the night as Cell seemed content to sit off to the left side of the fire as he stared at the stars. This time we were not as vigorous towards each other, settling for a mere kiss before sleeping in each other's arms.