Growth (3)

[Island of Bones, Dwarven Mountains Underground Entrance, Crimson Clan Castle (building site)]

As weeks passed, the construction of the crimson castle was progressing fast.

The loss of Kerridian was truly a big blow, but the other golem masters picked the pace to avoid delays. After losing a huge part of their forces, the Blue Wolf Mercenaries went into hiding, the sightings of blue-caped acolytes being very rare. 

However, they were on the third level, as the number of disappearance in this level was the highest. Home to kobolds, iron-wing bats and desolate bears, the third floor was quite dangerous, yet still livable. Moonlight mushrooms grew in those conditions, providing a reliable source of food. There were also at least three sources of water, allowing human life to be sustained. The light gemstones also provided a natural source of light and would prevent the exhaustion of torches.

After months, the forces of the Blue Wolf Mercenary had dwindled along with their resources.

Their odds of victory getting smaller by the day from Janna Heartsteel's strategy of trapping them underground, devoid of supplies, the Blue Wolf Mercenary never initiated a treaty of surrender, despite the loss of Gale, one of their core members. It showed their strong will, but also a calculative mind that knew that Janna would never let an enemy go so easily.

Darius just could not surrender. He had staked everything in this ressource site war. If he surrendered now, the compensation fees would be such that the Blue Wolf Mercenary Group would be disbanded, decades of wealth accumulation vanishing overnight. It was not about not getting what he had eyed, it was about raw survival.

===

Inside the construction site, the dwarves were working hard. Foundations were completed, and walls had already been built. Beautiful archs and sculptures were spawning by the day, and though they provided an incredible touch of art to the ancient design of the magical castle, each one of those sculptures served a purpose, being a source of power within the complex runic formation. Each provided an increase in the elemental particle density within the castle, which raised the strength of spells cast from within, but also meditation and training in general.

The runic formation was perhaps one of the most valuable legacy that would be left behind this territorial war. Numerous resources were needed for its completion, including some magical cores that cost hundreds of magical crystals. However extravagant the demands were, the arcane faction backed the construction of the Crimson Castle without fault.

No matter how expensive those resources were, they paled in front of the debt of five thousand magic crytals owed to the Blue Wolf Mercenary Group. Just like the Crimson Clan and the Blue Wolf Mercenary Group were betting their lifeline on this faction war, the Arcane faction had taken a party, though the stakes were much lower.

If the Crimson Clan prevailed, their debt to the Blue Wolf Mercenary Group would be nullified and they would gain a powerful ally in the outskirts of the Island of Bones, which would be promoted and become the fifth medium-sized faction. Elder Kayle had seen the design of the Crimson Castle, and it definitely qualified as a resource site itself.

Faction rankings were fairly simple.

Factions with zero ressource sites were called "groups" or "organizations" and did not qualify as real factions. Usually, they held up to ten acolytes.

Factions with one ressource site or used to possess one like the Blue Wolf Mercenary Group and the Crimson Clan were called small-sized factions. They could hold anything between ten and a hundred acolytes.

Then, there were the medium-sized factions, which possessed two or more resource sites. One condition to reach this level was to be led by an intermediate rank acolyte.

Overseeing the politics of the magical court itself, having a hand in the shaping of History and usually having a legacy of more than a hundred years, there stood the seven major factions. Each one of them possessed a different specialty, but all of them were led by an advanced rank acolyte.

Looking at the scene of dwarves working unbelievably hard, while the rest of acolytes either studied or trained in the settlement, Janna nodded.

"Appreciating the view?", the old Tyrius questionned

Janna shook her head: "I can only appreciate it when the war ends"

Tyrius smiled, knowing better than underestimating the enemy: "The Blue Wolf Mercenaries have been awfully quiet, and it does not entail anything good from experience"

Janna asked Lord Ignis, who was quietly overseeing the map of the battlefield where the location of the Blue Wolf Mercenary group was pinpointed.

The latter answered: "The more time passes, the weaker the Blue Wolf Mercenary Group becomes. You know better than anyone how hard it is to survive in the underground, not to mention with such a large settlement. Even if they have a talented leader and adapted to the third level, they will keep on losing resources in accidents, or encounters with predators when huntng"

"They will lose patience eventually", Janna said, "The moment they attack us will be their last breath. Is the defensive runic formation ready?"

Lord Ignis chuckled: "It should be finished by today. I must say that I did not expect this level of support from you"

Janna squinted.

She knew that at the end of the day, even a victory would cost the crimson clan dearly. The debt accumulating from the inflow of resources necessary for the construction of the crimson castle was already in the thousands. Even if there was a tacit agreement, Janna knew Elder Kayle better than anyone else.

The old man would drain her soul if he could, regardless of their blood ties.

Perhaps the Blue Wolf Mercenaries were not the greatest enemies in this battlefield.