Chp.19: Complications in war

On a large plain north of the Baudonia City Alliance, two armies scrutinized each other. The size of both camps were so large that from the air someone could have mistaken them for huge turf. Between them was a piece of land at least a kilometer wide.

The two armies were obviously the ones of beastmen and that of humans. Or rather, a part of the human army, since it had split up in order to complete their plans for war. However, even though the human army was reduced in half, it was still larger than the entire beastmen army, which had lost over two-thirds of its strength in the previous battle.

In the sky, a small flock of wyverns hovered, observing the situation from above. The riders of these wyverns were all level adamantium warriors and mages, the only ones who could tame such beasts. At the head of the group, on a wyvern clearly larger and therefore probably older than the others, was a woman with close-cropped brown hair wearing red armor. She was quite tall and her body showed some musculature; her arms and legs and every inch of her chest were perfectly smooth. Over her shoulder she carried a huge silver scepter that ended in a large golden circle studded with spikes that made it look like a star. The woman guided her wyvern with extreme skill, never making a single mistake or even seeming upset, unlike all those who followed her; after all, wyverns were still fierce predators, and even after taming them, it was difficult to get them to constantly obey you. You had to stay focused and remind them of their dominant position by constantly yanking the reins to which the huge reptiles were tied. But the woman didn't: her flight was calm and placid, as if the twenty-five meters long wyvern below her had the same personality as a cute kitten.

This woman's name was Hara Razorsain. She wasn't a level adamantium; she was a legendary level.

Hara had been chosen by the goddess Heloisa when she was only fifteen; since then, his power had grown exponentially, and now that he was thirty he could take on even a hundred level adamantium warriors or mages without fatigue. However, she wasn't a hero, but a saint; this is because the goddess who had chosen her had given her the attribute 'life', while the heroes were instead entrusted with the attribute 'light'. Even so, however, it didn't mean that she wasn't capable of fighting: with a single word she could heal any disease that afflicted the entire human army, but in the same way she could also accelerate the aging of all beastmen soldiers, eliminating them instantly. The only reason why she couldn't do this was that the enemy army was defended by another legendary level: the beastmen hero Gorsh.

Legendary levels didn't have this name for nothing. They were the ones who determined how a war between two nations would end. As soon as the legendary level protecting an army dies, all soldiers die with him or her. Armies existed only to support these indomitable figthers.

Hara, at the moment, had no intention of seeking conflict with Gorsh. That would have been silly: facing him alone, she would have had a fifty-fifty chance of winning. But if she had help, then he would have won for sure. All she had to do was wait for the arrival of the other legendary level of the army, the second favorite of the goddess Heloisa, Carrion Guterbarg.

In the Jurao Kingdom, there were three favorites of the goddess. Hara was the youngest, and immediately before her was Carrion, the royal high general. Finally, in first place, there was the mythical Thornag Demianrat, a veteran of over sixty years whose power was defined by all as incredible.

When war broke out, Thornag and Carrion had gone to the front, while she had stayed behind to protect the king; after all, the ruler could not go without an escort, and it was not safe to entrust him to someone with strength below the legendary level. Only with a legendary level at his side would the king be sure of being able to counter any assassination attempt against him. Of course, no one had dared to attack the king as long as she had been with him, so Hara's presence had been almost useless. Thornag and Carrion, however, had faced the army of beastmen. The Baudonia City Alliance had two legendary tiers: Gorsh, a hero of the tigermen lineage, and Boran, a hero instead of the bearmen lineage. Thanks to Thornag's tactical prowess, he and Carrion had managed to slay Boran and eliminate two-thirds of the beastmen army.

However, that battle hadn't been without cost: Thornag had been badly wounded. Therefore, he had returned to the capital resuming his usual role of bodyguard and adviser to the king, while she, Hara, was sent to the battlefield. Since she and Carrion would face Gorsh together, victory was almost certain; however, the remaining beastmen army and Gorsh were soon disappeared, causing them to fear that perhaps he was preparing a dirty trick. So they had decided to take precautions: Carrion subdued all beastmen cities to prevent Gorsh from recruiting new soldiers, and spread his troops to cut off any possible contact with neighboring nations (especially their dreaded neighbor Foruth Empire), thus isolating completely Gorsh and his army and reducing their ability to move more and more; meanwhile, Hara had scoured all the beastmen territory in search of the fleeing army, and in the end she had found it. Now all she had to do was hunt it down and keep it busy until Carrion had received her message and had joined her with the rest of the human army. Against the two of them united, Gorsh would stand no chance.

However, it soon became apparent that something was wrong. Hara had expected wave after wave of attacks: after all, Gorsh surely had been aware of her presence, and certainly he would have wanted to try to eliminate her before Carrion arrived; after all, even if he risked being injured or even killed, it was still preferable to tackling two legendary levels alone. Instead, Gorsh hadn't made a single move. He'd only moved his army a few kilometers each day, as if he were still trying to escape, but it was clear he was only pretending to be afraid.

This worried Hara, so he decided to take a risky move: send a spy into the enemy army. He had chosen an assassin known for his ability to sneak into even the most unlikely places. His job would be to find out what Gorsh was up to. It was a near-impossible feat: manage to not get caught by a legendary level required exceptional skill in itself, let alone breaking into his army and stealing his blueprints. Therefore, Hara had to be ready for any retaliation from Gorsh. That's why for some days she had periodically performed reconnaissance flights with her wyvern, ready to act at the first sign of danger.

In the late afternoon of that day, exactly what she'd feared happened: In one corner of the beastmen army, soldiers were clearly agitating. "Everyone, dive!" she commanded the soldiers behind her, who dived after her.

The small flock of wyverns flew at full speed towards the beastmen army. Their only hope was to reach and recover the spy before the enemy flak could organize. And even the spy would have had to make great efforts to stay alive: Hara could clearly hear the beastmen soldiers shouting 'Kill him!' continuously.

As she was still descending, she felt a strong pressure emerge from the beastmen army. A wyvern covered in black armor took off and on its back she could clearly see the proud and noble body of a lionman. He had an extremely muscular body and vaguely anthropomorphic posture and hands, but otherwise he had the appearance of a lion, including the muzzle and the mane. It was a beautiful mane, very thick and red-brown. Hara knew that that was Gorsh.

The two of them didn't even speak to each other: Hara took her scepter and pointed it at her opponent, and screamed a magic formula that was impossible to hear due to the wind caused by the wyvern's wings: a wave of power emerged from her weapon and magic charged Gorsh like a tsunami. However, the lionman wasn't intimidated and pulled out a huge sword which in an instant began to shine with light, with which he blocked the blow thrown by Hara. As their riders exchanged the first blows, their wyverns opened their jaws and erupted a strange substance similar to green and blue fire, which collided in mid-air giving off sparks and a strong smell of rotten eggs.

That deadly dance went on for a few minutes. Gorsh clearly wanted to close the distance between them, knowing it would give him the physical advantage, but Hara wasn't stupid and she wouldn't let him. Blinding flashes of multi-colored light, rumbles, explosions, spells of all kinds and strange fires filled the sky as their attacks and those of their wyverns collided continuously.

However, Hara soon noticed that her soldiers were retreating from the beastmen army. Which could only mean two things: either the spy was dead, and thus the mission had failed, or he had been recovered and was being brought back. In any case, she had no reason to continue that fight. Using all the mana at her disposal, she summoned several wards that prevented Gorsh from pursuing her, and increased the strength of her wyvern's wings. He could hear his opponent's furious roar behind him, but when he turned around, he was already far away. Shortly thereafter, Hara could see the lionman's wyvern return to land; evidently, Gorsh had given up on pursuing her.

Hara returned to the human army, and when she landed her soldiers were already waiting for her. Two of them were supporting a lanky bald man who, judging by his injuries, must have just had a bad time. "What news can you give me, Adal?" she asked him.

The man let out a cough, then replied: "I have successfully sneaked into the beastmen army, and from the earliest days I have become aware of strange occurrences. Gorsh has sent several patrols throughout the beastmen territory to search for the hydra"

Hara raised an eyebrow. She knew thanks to Carrion that the beastmen army during the first battle had three hydras in its ranks, and that one of them was currently on the loose. Still, she didn't understand why Gorsh was interested. As deadly as a hydra was, it was useless to a legendary level. "What would he want to do with a hydra?"

"That sounded suspicious to me too, so I investigated" Adal explained. "And I've come across some murmurs... not very reassuring. It seems that Gorsh wants to use the power given to him by his god to empower the hydra"

Hara's eyes widened. That was a crazy act. Empowering a monster with the power of the gods could lead to dire consequences, especially if that monster was already a living natural calamity like a hydra. "Has he gone crazy? If that happens, not even he might be able to control it!"

"Gorsh knows it. That's why he aims to release her against the human army" Adal said. "He wants this empowered monster to devastate our strength. When both we and the hydra will be injured and tired, that's when he will eliminate us both"

Hara's face wrinkled slightly. That strategy had a chance to work, after all. "Why is he looking for the hydra? Wouldn't it be more convenient for him to transform one of his wyverns?"

"It seeks the hydra for its power to convert its victims into slaves" Adal explained. "When the hydra will be released against the human army, it will practically create its own small army, which will be also empowered by the power of the gods. This will cause our forces to suffer huge losses. Also... and about this I can't be sure, as it's just a murmur... Gorsh thinks that once the hydra will be dead the reanimated corpses will remain under his control, as they would be fueled by his power, allowing him to increase the size of his army and completely overthrow the fate of war"

Hara grit her teeth in frustration, then quickly turned to her men: "If so, we can't waste time! Anyone with a winged mount search all over the beastmen territory for the hydra, and eliminate it as soon as you find it!" she ordered. All the level adamantium warriors and mages around her immediately leapt onto their wyverns and took flight, while Hara ran to write a message to Carrion to inform him of what she had discovered and to tell him to proceed carefully but quickly.