Pushing the Balance

Third-Person PoV

Kingdom of Silvestria, Open Field

"Fire!" yelled the Officer. The musketeers in the formation let off a volley of rounds into the wooden targets.

Queen Albina smiled and clapped "Excellent, how many of these 'Muskets' have you managed to produce?" she asked the champion of Silvestria. Silvestria's champion was a 17-year-old female elf of royal blood named Tiarya. It was due to their similar age and same gender that Queen Albina took a quick liking to her. "About 3,000, your majesty. Thanks to the training by your mages, my magic has improved and I am earning more SP." she replied.

"Thanks to you, Silvestria will be able to stand up against Auveria. As long as we have you, the odds will be in our favour," said Albina. She was just about to ask her to join her for tea when a Silvestrian knight flew over on one of the summoned Wyverns.

"Such a marvellous creature... This is why we will win, Silvestria will not just control the skies over Auveria, but over the entire region!" she exclaimed. The knight ran over, breathless. "Yes, what is it? Get on with it, don't waste my time." she snapped.

"Your majesty, our spies in Auveria report that... Auveria has managed to summon a hero!" reported the knight. "WHAT?" yelled Queen Albina. "HOW?? Having a champion is the only thing which gives us an advantage over them! But now..."

"Your majesty, you mustn't be like this!" exclaimed Tiarva "Don't forget what you told me about avenging your father, how can you kill that disgusting human king like this?" Albina got back on her feet. "Y-You're right." said Albina, regaining her spirit. "Call upon my generals, we must plan carefully while the Auverian's champion is still undeveloped."

Later, in the Throne Room

Queen Albina sat upon her throne. The generals of Silvestria and the champion Tiavra stood before her. "Generals, what do we know of the Auverian movements?" she asked. "Our spies report that an estimated 75,000 troops have been moved to the border over the past few days, mostly being concentrated to our north. Their estimated total strength is about 135,000. This number could increase as the Champion summons his own troops. For now, we are outnumbered 3 to 1, even with Champion Tiavra summoned troops."

"Damn it." cursed Albina "Well what should our next course of action be?". "Well, thanks to Champion Tiavra's wyverns, our analysis of scout reports suggests that we should counter-attack from the south. The peninsula to the south is largely uninhabited, only dark creatures reside there. It would be possible for us to move through the area and enter Auverian territory without meeting any Auverian troops. We can also build a naval base for our ships. However, the peninsula needs to be cleared of the dark creatures there first."

"I will go." said Tiavra "I volunteer. With a combination of my magic and musketeers, I'll make quick work of the 'dark creatures. I can also use my summoning power to quickly construct a base there for our troops. I can even raise my level to summon more troops for our war against Auveria."

Albina pondered this for a second "Hmm... then I'll leave this matter in your hands Tiavra, I have faith in you."

Jackson's PoV

Newly established base

Over the past week, I had managed to create a base for myself and my summoned personnel. Right now there are about more than a hundred troops and non-combatants, such as scientists, doctors, and engineers. Efforts to exterminate what I heard the Grand Sorceress call 'Dark Creatures', have been greatly successful. Using Molotov cocktails, submachine guns, and light machine guns, I can safely say the peninsula is 'dark creature free'.

My troops managed to kill a few thousand dark creatures, which included a few minotaurs which were killed with grenades, I had managed to reach level 32. Supposedly, it gets harder and harder to raise your system level. Thus, I could gain more SP, but it was still too little. I had summoned some miners and geologists to help find 'mana crystals', but only a few mana crystals were discovered. I gained 300 SP from it. Goes to show how profitable mana crystals are.

Meanwhile, I had summoned a barracks that housed most of the troops. As for civilians, a dormitory had been erected away a distance away from the Headquarters. A small military hospital was summoned behind the barracks. Other summoned buildings include a garage, for summoned vehicles and for assembling and maintaining vehicles, and an airstrip.

I managed to summon a few trucks which can be used for transporting goods and men, and a few jeeps as well. These were the cheaper vehicles. The more expensive available vehicles were tanks and aircraft. I summoned a British Sopwith Camel F.1 for observation missions, it cost about 100 SP. However, my engineers are currently reverse engineering it so that we can produce it ourselves cheaper. As such, a small factory was set up, with the machines inside summoned, to produce mechanical parts and others.

I stood in the tactical planning room of the HQ before a newly finished map of the region. "So you see sir, the whole peninsula is just forest. This has been confirmed by our infantry scouting units. However, about 280 Kilometres up north from the southernmost tip of the peninsula, our pilot spotted signs of civilisation. There seems to be a border that stops just short of the forest, where a stone wall cuts it off from the rest of civilisation except for a small river." reported the recently promoted Major Elina Becker.

"Hmm... must be the Kingdom of Auveria and some other country." I mutter "How goes the extermination of dark creatures?" I ask. "Sir, our units have completed about 30% of the project with minimal casualties, with only a few injuries. The dense forest is our main enemy, our progress through the woods is slow and makes combat difficult. We will need some more flamethrowers so we can clear off all that annoying wood." stated the commanding officer, a captain, of Platoon-2. Our troop strength numbered 110, which we split into 2 platoons of 55, each led by a Captain. They were then further split into 5 squads of 11 each, individually led by a Corporal.

"Hmm... alright I will summon a few more flamethrowers for your men. On that topic, how goes the search for 'Mana Crystals'?" I ask. The lead of the research team searching for mana crystals cleared his throat "Sir, my teams have searched some caves but have only found a few minor clusters of these 'Mana Crystals'. The search is still ongoing, but I would like to report some of our findings."

I sighed, at this rate I was going to go broke. "Very well, what did you find?" I asked. "Well, some of our physicists and chemists found that it had some very interesting properties. It seemed to radiate a new form of radiation which we have previously never detected. The 'Mana Crystal' has a high melting point and is a strong material. Further tests indicate the presence of Carbon. Most importantly, however, we found that it reacts by glowing when in close proximity to other 'Mana Crystals' and below a certain temperature. We can use this to create a sort of detector to find other deposits."

"Well that's great news, I'll get some men from Platoon-A to help in your search," I was promptly thanked. "But sir, our search region is limited with a large part of the peninsula still under the control of the aforementioned dark creatures. We will need the military to hasten their efforts."

Elina looked at him "We are currently sending out every man we can. With just 3 platoons, we can't go any faster. You will need to give us time. We cannot spare any more SP to expand the military yet, we will need greater income."

I turned to one of the engineers "How is progress on that project I asked you about?" the engineer smiled and said "Yes sir. Development on the 10 cm Kanone 17 has been completed. You should be able to summon it now." I checked the interface, and he was right. In the 'Artillery' section there awaited the German World War 1 Field Gun designed by the Krupp company. "Gentlemen, this will be the solution to our problems. I have been trying to boost our firepower capabilities, and thus I had plans to acquire a dozen of these Field Guns. Now, we can simply deforest parts of the forest with HE rounds before sending our men in to flush out dark creatures. Now, if we meet any of those minotaurs again, our men won't have to risk getting close to throw a grenade."

I led everyone out of the room to the outside to the open area next to the HQ building. I opened the interface and selected the K 17 and summoned it along with the necessary crew and ordinance.

At once, 12 large Field Guns with their crews appeared 4 to each gun. The artillerymen gathered and saluted the officers and me. I smiled. It's going to be a bad day to be a 'dark creature'.

The following day, deep into the forest

Third-Person PoV

A group of 10 goblins eyed their prey; a herd of wild deer. The goblins gripped their weapons and prepared to strike. The youngest one, this being his first time being part of a hunting party, shuddered in fear and he held his club. The other goblins sneered at him as they approached the herd.

He decided to go home. He dropped his club and started to walk away from the hunting party. Once he was a few metres away, he suddenly heard faint explosions in the distance. He turned back to the hunting party, who didn't seem to have heard anything.

A whistling noise filled the air. Now, the goblins and the deer looked up in confusion, they had never heard this noise before. Then, chaos.

A few seconds ago

Third Person PoV

"Prepare ordinance for firing!" ordered the lieutenant in charge of the Artillery battery. The artillerymen loaded the shells into their K 17 field guns and awaited the order to fire.

The lieutenant stared down at his clock. The minute hand struck 12. "Fire!"

All 12 guns fired simultaneously toward the North. At the same time, infantry units prepared to move in to clean up the rest of the job.

The infantrymen of the 2nd and 3rd Squads of Platoon-A and 1st and 2nd Squad of Platoon-B did their equipment checks and prepared to dismount from the truck. They could see the artillery firing the shells toward their intended targets. A few more salvos and it was their turn.

"Fire!" the next round of shelling was delivered. Back in the forest, dark creatures and mundane animals ran all over the place panicking. The hunting party from before was caught in the shelling and had been wiped out, their remains trampled by the panicking deer they had tried to kill for food before their passing.

"Dismount and engage!" came the order, followed by a whistle. The infantrymen dismounted from the truck, weapons at the ready, and prepared to fire at any hostiles. They advanced into the woods, trees largely cleared thanks to the artillery. As the artillery fire drew to a close, the forest was silent. The silence was broken by a loud battle cry as goblins charged toward infantrymen, some riding on wolves.

The goblins had not been idle when humans were wiping out their kin. Various tribes had been plotting counter-attacks but were easily crushed when acting independently. So, they attempted to work with other tribes, which wasn't easy. Nevertheless, more than three thousand goblins were charging 44 infantrymen armed with early 20th-century weaponry.

"Holy shit it's a fucking Banzai charge!" exclaimed one of the men. The officer in charge of the 44 men, another Lieutenant, kept calm. "Shut up Bill! This is no time for history references! Bring up the 'Ma Deuce'! The rest of you, make every god damn shot count! Corporal McAllister, prepare a pigeon message to the arty boys, we're going to need more of that support. And while you're at it, see if you can get the 3rd Squad from Platoon-B to reinforce us!"

"Yes sir!" the corporal shouldered his weapon and complied with the orders. Meanwhile, 2 M2 Browning machineguns were being set up to handle the goblin charge. Each squad also had at least one BAR to provide additional firepower. The goblins were now about a kilometre away. The only cover they had was some rocks and fallen trees, as well as shell holes. Other than those, they were pretty much in the open.

"Open fire!" yelled the Lieutenant. And the troops did just that. At once, M1903s, M1 Brownings, and BARs opened up on the goblin horde.

The goblins, who were initially all drunk on the prospect of an easy victory seeing as there were so few humans, were shocked to see 10% of their numbers absolutely shredded within less than a minute of fighting. It was like the D-Day landings except the allied troops had brain damage, were high, and were using medieval weaponry.

In short, it was a massacre. Even with the artillery not firing yet. But I'm sure from what you've seen already, you know how bad it's going to be once the King of the battlefield gets to play again.

"Fire!"

A few hours later

Jackson's PoV

Elina and I sat in the lounge of the Headquarters servicing our sidearms. I had dismantled my Webley Revolver and was working on cleaning its parts and checking for any faults. I looked over to Elina, who was working on her M1911. Ever since 'That incident' occurred, she hasn't really spoken to me other than work-related matters. But god that was awkward.

I was about to make some small talk when suddenly a group of military and civilian personnel burst into the room. "Sir it's a miracle!" exclaimed the Captain in charge of Platoon-A "Apparently, a large number of Goblins attempted to group up and do a combined charge against the men of Platoon A and B, but were wiped out by automatic weapons fire and artillery!" this appears to be 70% of aggressive 'dark creatures' left."

I checked my interface. I had jumped by another 10 levels, and my SP capacity and gain had increased. "Excellent!"

The leader in charge of the team stepped forward "That's not all sir. We have also discovered a large deposit of Mana Crystals! There's a 2,500 Kilogram sample right outside loaded on the truck!" I quickly assembled my revolver and holstered it and rush out. Then I saw it; a majestic large pink and purple crystal which emitted an aura around it. I opened the interface and touched it with my hand, from 2,500 Kilograms of Mana Crystals, I had gained 250,000 SP.

I grinned as I stared at the number. I turned to the engineer in charge of technological advancements. "We're going to enter a golden age, how much more hands do you need for us to jump 20 years in advancement?"

Big things are coming.