C83- The Septen War (3)

Standing at the northern battlefield that was cold as if the land had forgot it was the start of summer, Emperor Terry ordered the soldiers to march. The thunder of the hundreds of feet rumbled as the soldiers walked in unison. Using his power to feel the shape of the land in front of the army while he watched the approaching enemy army from afar, he maneuvred the soldiers to an advantageous position.

The new soldiers of the army, two hundred men with the new weapons of the Empire, stationed themselves at a hill, aiming their guns at the enemy. Carrying a round shield to protect themselves, a rifle and as many bullets as they could carry, they waited for the enemy behind the spearmen.

As the enemy army came closer, their archers raised their bows and released their arrows. A loud whistling reached their ears as hundreds of arrows rained down on the Altus army. The Altus army raised their shields to protect themselves. The Septen archers were ordered to empty their quivers.

As the rain of arrows continued, the Altus army didn't stop it's advance. When the enemy's quivers started to deplete and the number of flying arrows got lower, the Altus army was already close enough for the rifles to reach the enemy.

The spearmen in front of the army retreated to the sides. While the enemy was confused about why the Altus left the center of their formation open, suddenly a roar came from the Altus army's side.

BOOOM!! BOOOM!! BOOOM!!

The two hundred riflemen started shooting their bullets. The Septen army raised their shields in vain. The thunder of bullets pierced right through their shields and reached the soldiers. Panicked shouts mixed with cries of agony. The soldiers, scared by the roar of explosions, didn't watch their friends get killed by the torrent of bullets. They started to flee, one by one, and a chase started.

Some of the Septen mages tried to block the bullets with their magic. Terry raised his hands and used his power. The land under the enemy mages disappeared and they fell into the holes. Before they could react, the holes got filled up with stone, engulfing the enemy mages to a suffocating and nightmarish death.

The spare guns in the stock were distributed to some of the soldiers, increasing the number of the riflemen to about four hundred.

The fleeing enemy army was chased into the lands of the Septen Kingdom. The first battle of the Septen war where rifles were used was a great success for the Altus Empire, and the army marched deeper into the enemy kingdom

*****

Sitting on the throne while holding a monster, the man's grey eyes were unfocused. A bit of moving red light could be seen coming out of the man's pupils. After a while, the man's eyes regained their focus as the monster, a golden butterfly as big as his head with claws at the end of it's wings, dispersed into red particles and entered his hands.

"Hmm... I see... They finally started to get serious, huh? We can't let this chance go to waste, and neither can we let the Altus control the other side of the northern strait..."

Inside a circular throneroom with four pillars holding up the dome shaped roof, sitting on his throne adorned with the shapes of animal heads, the man, Fhölle Eidzunge, scratched his dark red beard. Licking his mouth with his unusually long and thin tongue, a common trait of the Eidzunge family, he smiled.

"It is really tiring, sending a monster to check on the Altus. Well, I got used to it after the first week, but they sure did take their time to start that war, huh? Well, it doesn't matter. This is a golden opportunity to try something."

Pulling out a small paper and pen, he wrote something down and opened his palm. Red particles got out of his hand and formed the shape of the butterfly monster again. Placing the paper in the monster's claws, he shook it off his hand. The butterfly flew away and exited the throneroom.

"Even though it is so useful, this magic is making me lazy... I should train for a bit...", muttered the man as he got off from his throne.

Fhölle Eidzunge was the current ruler of the Kingdom of Eidzunge. One of the three Repit kingdoms, and the one that controlled almost all of the Sorept continent, the homeland of the Repit people, except a single city that belonged to one of the other Repit states that had migrated to other continents.

Fhölle could use the second type of biological magic. Instead of effecting the body of an organism, his magic could effect the mind and instincts of organisms. Usually called a "whisperer" among civilians.

This magic allowed the caster to be able to communicate with animals, not by using words but just by feeling the mood and what it wants to tell. It also worked on humans and monsters as well, but as human minds were many times more complicated than animals, it took a lot of training and mental power to control humans using this magic. And monsters were slightly harder than animals since they were different from normal organisms in many ways.

An animal tamed by magic would be loyal, depending on the caster and it's health, but the animal would die or rebel if it's needs weren't met.

A monster was different. Taming a monster using this magic took a lot of time and mental power depending on the strength of the monster, but at the end, most tamed monster's would obey everything no matter what. Since monsters didn't need anything to live, they didn't need to be fed. And since monsters appeared out of nothing, a tamed monster could also disperse itself into particles and enter the casters body to be stored somewhere.

No one knows where the monster is stored, but there are theories about it being stored in the soul of a person, but what a soul is was also a topic still discussed by many along with the effects of storing monsters.

Walking on the corridors of the palace, Fhölle thought about his future plans. In the end, he decided to take it slow. As his advisor came running towards him while he walked towards the training chambers, he opened his mouth.

"Your Highne-"

"Start gathering the army near the northern strait and get the navy ready as well. We will be fighting with the Altus in the near future, probably."

"Yes sir!", said the young man and ran off.