Chapter 29

Three days passed and it was about to be time to go out and attack. It was still daytime, but we were going to attack at nighttime. Not much happened in the past three days in terms of advancing the village. Most of the focus was spent on training as much as possible for the fight. Not that it would make much of a difference, but if it improves their morale and self-confidence then I'm all for it. A better mindset can make a valuable difference at certain times.

After I told Shuna about me being a divine spirit, she started practicing her faith magic, and while I could "feel" the faith from her, it wasn't much at the moment, since she just started, but with time she'll only get better.

Right now, I am sparring a little with Rimuru. He's a quick learner this little slime. His Great Sage must be putting in the work to help him learn 'cause there's no way someone like Rimuru can learn this fast just by himself. No disrespect.

I was still using a wooden sword and while Rimuru, was trying his best to land a hit on me, I was just dodging here and there and knocking his sword out of the way. He was moving less sloppily than before and while it's not anything that "wows", I would consider it a grasp of the basics. It may not be much, but compared to how he was before, where I would have to spend more time stopping him and teaching him proper stances and movement, right now, he's a lot better.

We were clashing our swords and if this was a real fight I wouldn't do that and instead go in for a lethal attack, but he needs to learn so I'm giving him this chance. Of course, if there are any grave mistakes I'll make sure he feels it.

While Rimuru was trying to land a hit on me, he did a spin attack to try to hit me.

'Big mistake.' I thought to myself seeing his attempt at an attack like that for the level he is at. 

Using the window of opportunity where he had his back to me, I went in and swung my sword at his back. I wasn't using all my strength, but I used enough to send him flying across the training field. 

He flew through the air, hit a tree, and fell down on the ground. I went up to him to tell him what he did wrong. "Rimuru, don't show your back to an enemy. If you're good enough you could pull it off against a less-skilled opponent, but against someone of your level or better, that's just asking for trouble and allowing a free hit to land on you. Try to always have your sword in front of you."

Rimuru adjusted himself to look at me. "Duly noted, Artoria."

"Well Rimuru, We'll cut the training short for now, since we're going on the offensive today. I have to say you're a fast learner and what do you think of Hakurou as a teacher?" I told him.

Rimuru got back up and patted himself down before responding to me, "Well, I have a skill that's helping me learn faster. It's called Great Sage and it's been helping me a lot. And about Hakurou, he's…tough is what I'll say. He works me to the bone all the time. Oh, about that, he's been teaching me about arts, battle will, and some sword techniques. I want to ask you, do you have any techniques or stuff like that you can teach me?"

I looked at Rimuru with a little grin. "Well Rimuru, I may know a little something and it should be easier to learn since you won't be trying to manipulate your aura, but your magicules which means your Great Sage should help you out a lot."

Rimuru looked at me almost excited. "What is it? Is it super strong?"

"Calm down a little Rimuru. If you want to know, I'll show you." I went up to a tree and tore off a branch. I swung it around a little to make sure it was good enough for me. I'm going to show him a classic example.

Rimuru was a little skeptical about what I was doing and questioned me about it. "A stick? I don't wanna question your skill, but a stick? Aren't you exaggerating a little here?"

I had a calm and knowing grin on my face. "Rimuru, just let me do my thing."

I picked a tree as my target. I held the branch and acted like it was a sword. I activated Torrent of Light and a large amount of magicules were gathered on the branch and my body. With a swing of the branch, the tree was instantly cut down, but that was not the only damage done. A wave of magic continued on and destroyed more trees and turned the grass into upturned dirt.

I nodded in satisfaction at the results. I threw the branch away and looked at Rimuru who was standing there with his mouth open in complete shock. "Well, that's just a little example and showcase of what the technique can do."

He ran up to me and clasped both his hands together. "Please teach me." He asked me in an almost begging-like fashion. 

"It's not that hard. Well, the concept and idea of the skill isn't hard. You simply use magical energy and infuse it into your weapon or body or both to increase performance. And as you can see from my demonstration it's kinda strong. There's some more to it, but that's basically the gist of it. I can go further into it, but it a little hard to understand and know what it exactly means. You have to practice it on your own, but with your Great Sage, it should be easy peasy, and dare I say, lemon squeezy."

"So I just have to use my own magicules. I should be careful since I might use too many magicules at once with an attack like that. It might be better used for one instant attack instead of prolonged use." Rimuru was mumbling to himself and he was nailing most of the applications. That or it's Great Sage. I'm betting on Great Sage. He should have it down in a few hours. 

"Well, I recommend starting slow, but while you figure that out let's go get ready for our upcoming fight."

'Huh? Oh yeah right. I have to ask you, why did you ask Kurobe and Kaijin to make a weapon for Gobta? He's…well he's Gobta."

"Rimuru, you would be surprised, but he's actually kind of a good fighter. That and his luck is something else at times. Also, he deserves compensation after you so cruelly made him eat Shion's food." I told him.

Rimuru, trying to reason with me made his case. "Look, it was either me or him, and I chose myself. I was being a leader and made the tough choice that was required of me at the time. If I went back in time to that moment, I would make the same choice again." 

"Well, at least you stand by your decisions. Come on, let's get ready for the orcs."

Gabiru should have rebelled by now and while I would have done something, Gabiru is unfortunately someone who must learn the hard way. It's just the way it is. There are those who can only learn by touching a hot stove.

/\\//\\//\

It was nighttime. We are ready to head out. Me and Rimuru were going to travel together some of the way before we split off while I led a group of ogres, goblin riders, and the Kijin to attack the orcs.

The plan was simple. Me, leading our troops would clear out all the orcs and Rimuru would confront the Orc Lord. It was going to be complete overkill. This would be more unfair than the US basketball Dream Team in the Olympics.

I was in my armor and Dun Stallion was excited to go into battle. We would be moving fast and striking quickly. I wanted this fight to go as quickly as possible, which shouldn't be too much of a problem since we have some people who can eliminate a few hundred orcs at a time. 

Rimuru, who was on Ranga, looked at me and then at Dun Stallion. "I still can't over that horse armor. It looks so cool."

"I know. Kaijin is a different type of beast when it comes to making stuff and with the addition of Kurobe, things will only get better." 

With a couple of final checks and making sure everyone was ready. We set off to battle.

/\\//\\//\ 

Artoria and Rimuru were running through the forest on their mounts. Behind them were goblins riders, ogres, and most of the Kijin. They were moving as fast as they could to remain as one unit until the moment to split up came up. From there, Artoria would lead a full charge with her troops. 

Normally this would be a stupid idea, but when she has a massive amount of firepower available to her, it didn't really matter, especially against such big and easy-to-hit targets. 

Rimuru who was riding on Ranga got a thought communication from Souei telling him about a lizardman in battle with a high-ranking orc. "Artoria, I'm getting a message from Souei. It's ab-"

Artoria interrupted him in the middle of his sentence. "Lizardman fighting a high-ranking orc, right? Tell him to save her, she should be the village chief's daughter. No time to explain, just get the message across."

Rimuru was wondering about how she got such knowledge, but just chalked it up to her senses. "Alright, I'll tell him." Rimuru sent out the message to Souei to save the lizardman.

A few minutes later both Rimuru and Arotria arrived where Souei and the lizardman were. The bodies of multiple orcs were around laying on the ground dead. It wasn't a pretty sight, but that is something everyone would have to come to terms with. 

Artoria, not wanting to waste time addressed Rimuru. "Rimuru, I'll move on ahead of you. Stay here and hear what she has to say." 

Rimuru simply nodded his head and Artoria signaled for everyone to follow her. They resumed their run through the forest ready to approach the battlefield. As they got closer they could hear the sound of some fighting and the heavy footsteps of the thousands of orcs. 

'Here we go.' Arotoria thought to herself before giving orders to the ones behind her. "Everyone! Don't go off on your own unless you want to die! Work as a team and have each other's back! Ask for help if you need it! Benimaru, Hakurou, Shion, I want you three to form a small group of ogres and some goblin riders each. Go wild, but make sure to keep yourself in check."

""Yes, Lady Pendragon!"" They all said in unison.

In almost practiced fashion, they all separated themselves smoothly and got with someone whether it be Benimaru, Hakurou, or Shion. They said no words to each other as they got into their little groups. They had a tacit understanding, almost like someone was influencing their decision to make it as easy as possible. 

Artoria looked back and nodded in satisfaction. They were about to confront the orcs, but Artoria had one last thing to say to them. "Everyone get ready 'cause you're about to feel a nice little boost." 

Benimaru, Hakurou, Shion, the goblin riders, and the ogres suddenly felt themselves get stronger. They looked at Artoria, who was wearing her full armor, in complete reverence. 

Arotira, who noticed the looks could only shake her head. "Don't let that distract you now. You still need to fight. I don't want to see anyone slacking off just cause of this."

Hearing Artoria's words, they quickly composed themselves and focused on the coming battle.

As they got closer, Artoria took out her sword. It would be better for taking out multiple enemies that were clustered together. 

The orcs were getting closer and closer with each step they took. Their environment switched from dirt ground to the marshes of the lizardman. Even with the terrain change, they continued strong not even acknowledging it. 

The orcs, noticing the small group coming to them got their weapons ready and started charging at them.

Artoria gave one final order before the confrontation. "Benimaru, Hakurou, and Shion, split up and start attacking. Hit them hard and fast. Leave them no room to react or regroup."

The three of them split up, leading their own small gathering of ogre and goblin riders. This caused the orcs to start chasing each of them breaking up the semi-united front they had at first.

"Ready to raise some hell, Dun Stallion?" Artoria told him.

"Of course master, do you even need to ask?" Dun Stallion told her in an obvious tone. 

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(A/N)

A beef wellington is just a fancy corndog.