V12: Chapter 6

…

I really wanted to take a week-long break, but after seeing Riegert resurrected and ensuring Khalai was watched, it was time to fly back out.

Since the front against the Wardens of the Caverns was on the way, I decided to drop on by.

I didn't expect to be swept up in a hug by Ilych once we were out of the public eye.

"Thank you for saving my father." It was a simple statement, but I could tell Ilych wanted to convey more than that. She let me go quickly while Ayah moved in to make sure that I was okay. If she wanted me dead, I'd be dead, you know? " The winds tell me that he should have been left to paradise after his sacrifice."

"Tell the winds that we don't have the luxury of allowing that." I told Ilych simply while Ayah patted the wrinkles away from my uniform. Still, I gave Ilych a nod to acknowledge her thanks. "I saved him to ensure we have enough Champions. There's no need to thank me. If we were better off strategically, I'd have wished to leave the decision to you."

That was pretty much a lie. If Riegert was less valuable as a general and a unit buffer, I wouldn't have popped Khalai out from his prison and brokered a deal with him. Even if Ilych had begged me to resurrect him, I wouldn't have. I'd probably have done my best to convince her that I was doing Riegert a favor by keeping him dead, then offered her use of the Shroud to bring him back as Undead instead. Since she was partnered up with Rita long enough, I was sure that she'd refuse that.

It would be a new being with her father's body.

Not Riegert.

"Now, how about we go over the status of the remainder of the Wardens?"

"Right here, your majesty." Morgan waved me over. She had a smile on her face and gave me a nod as I went over to the map table. Since we fought long enough at the location, the cartographers were able to work with Iterants to sketch the place out properly. Blue pieces representing our troops were based around the Academy Gate Fortress that linked Warden lands with Academy lands. Red pieces for Wardens units. While I planned on replacing our flying horses with planes, they just took too long to mature and train; they had their uses. Loitering for observational purposes was one. "We estimate over thirty thousand light infantry in opposition supported by an equal number of Guardians."

"How are they faring against the combination of mages and field cannons?" After seeing the dismal siege capability of our artillery, I rechristened them as field cannons. Their primary focus was going to be a general's main weapon for killing massed troops or armored targets. Smoke shells and incendiary rounds were going to take some time to develop and produce in large quantities, but they'll be useful once they are out on the field. "Are they being kept at bay?"

"They are. Unlike the Forgers and their new mortars, they have no siege weapons that we can't invalidate. Any mages that they have are killed by Conquerors." Conquerors armed with anti-material rifles were expensive to field compared to regular troops, but the concentration of force they offered was ridiculous. They were basically biological power-armored heavy infantry with all the supersoldier serums that the Ancients left behind. A thousand of them deployed in teams of twenty spread across a battlefield and instructed to shoot and scoot? Enemy mages didn't stand a chance. "I believe they're massing for a major offensive once they have enough Guardians. Their constant defeats here have forced them to be less… zealous in their crusade."

"I agree. This momentary lapse is entirely for them to mass their forces. They must also be giving their troops armor and weapons. Make sure that all troops are aware that they might encounter soldiers who will be equipped with explosives." Morgan's eyes widened a bit, but she nodded at my words. Citadel manufacturing didn't allow for easy production of synthetic explosives, but it could produce powerful chemical propellant for the rifles it produced. It was a waste to do it, since it would be better to just make a dedicated factory after figuring out the formula, but these were zealots without a proper industrial base. "Have our soldiers keep an eye out for sappers carrying barrels of propellant. With enough stimulants and healing, they may hit our lines in large enough numbers. Double our lines of barbed wire."

"As you will, your majesty." Morgan dipped her head with a nod, while I settled in as commander of the fortress.

The concentration of force I had available was nothing to scoff at.

Rita, Ilych, Conquest, Sirena, Morgan, and Morgan's two apprentices were all here. Seven Champions with an army of pike, bolt-action line infantry, artillery, mages, and a mobile command center/artillery platform through the sky bastion. Another army was on the way, which was another ten thousand of the same. You'd think that it'd be enough, but the Wardens had resurrection on their side, Citadel Guardians, and were in their element.

Thirty thousand enemy light infantry and ten thousand heavy infantry could be destroyed tomorrow, and in a month, they'll have it all ready to go again.

I could reach in and take their Citadel in a handful of weeks at grievous cost.

Probably fifty percent of the frontline was killed, since Warden light infantry was just that lethal and our own Guardians couldn't go in.

Maybe, if I could save and reload while micromanaging all my troops, I'd be able to halve that number.

But I couldn't.

No, as fun as the challenge would be, the best way forward was to treat this as an EXP farm.

"We will make this an opportunity to learn how to deal with relentless, nigh-numberless enemy forces from defensive positions. Once the second army arrives, Morgan, I want you to operate a light cavalry force with Conquest and your apprentices. Harry, the enemy formations, and lead them into guns." Morgan nodded immediately at my words, and I turned to Ilych, Rita, and Sirena. "Rotate every two weeks with Morgan. The three of you will do the same while they man the fortifications. Those who fight here and now will be the backbone of our future force. The elite and the most blooded who'll become leaders and officers of our new armies, or the strongest garrison troops at the frontline."

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

I gestured towards the table and motioned for all of them to be seated.

"I will consult. I want to hear plans that will strike fast, limit casualties, and ensure troops will have time to rest. This is an opportunity for us to learn how to fight against endless foes. Let us make the most of it."

Let's level these Champions up as much as possible, so in the future I could give them orders and have some faith that they'll accomplish what I ask of them.

…

Interlude: Rita

…

Jack's offer to hear out our plans to overcome the challenges presented by the Wardens swiftly informed us all that his mind for strategy and tactics remained exceptional. Coupled with the thoroughness with which he composed them, it was a stark reminder that many of those who faced him were strong, capable, and mighty, but they fell due to his efforts. Not because they were weak or threats that could easily be surmounted, but because he was the King of Wisdom.

Morgan's brow was furrowed as a patch of forest on the map abruptly turned into a place of murder for her simulated troops.

Her proposal had divested her forces of any Descendant troops and instead took all the Conquerors. With her role as commander of the theater, it was within her right to requisition all the troops in such a manner, even if it took the command experience from the rest of us. Jack had pointed this fact out himself and heavily discouraged the path, primarily because Conquerors had a weakness.

Hidden knives in the dark.

Conquest had arrived and grimaced once she weighed in on our king's trap for Morgan's forces.

"In direct battle, my people will neither fail nor falter, but in a shadowy forest filled with hidden knives in the brush, in the mud, and in holes dug into the ground, I can imagine no force that will not be destroyed." Morgan's theoretical force had run rampant the first two days. Iterants ran numbers and compared past statistics of battles and gave likelihoods of casualties, enemies killed, supplies expended, and more. She moved the potent force of two thousand Conquerors like a sweeping sword across the theater, expending munitions like water, returning to the castle for resupply, before going forth again. As the enemy withdrew, they offered her forces disadvantageous terrain, and Morgan chose to pursue. Jack showed his hand, and devastation followed. "And, I know in my bones that the Wardens can be pushed to do this. To set the forest aflame around my force, to scream of paradise while throwing themselves at my warriors, and to die in droves killing my people? That is their nature."

All the champions in Morgan's plan would've survived, but over half of her force would've died, and the remainder would've been cut in half again due to casualties. Casualties that would have needed to return to Citadels to be healed and made whole. A whole season would pass before they returned from their round trip, leaving two armies with only a quarter of their fastest, most individually potent force of elite soldiery.

Which would have left our whole front vulnerable to enemy mages, compromising our range advantage, and forcing our infantry to soldier forth and leave our entrenchment as to not be bombarded. The composition of our forces was never questioned, but once the Conquerors were removed as an asset, Morgan likened their loss to that of a limb being lost. They provided us with a means to remove threats from the board and pursue the enemy, and when in place, they even lent firepower to our garrison.

Morgan postulated that with such a loss, to keep the momentum, a massive show of force would be required.

I thought it was an arrogant move, but his majesty nodded in agreement.

"If you end up losing that many troops, a reprisal is necessary. Give the Wardens any small victory, and it can turn into an inferno. An overwhelming strike with all the armies you currently have, sweeping, burning, and leveling the whole region, is the only way to ensure your command over the theater. But… it will come at a cost." He spoke, and the Iterants provided the numbers. A combined full assault as Morgan planned would clear the board of any Warden troops and their Guardians. At the cost of immense casualties for our force of pikes, as even withering bombardment from our aerial bastions and cannons, a melee clash would be inevitable. As well-armored and trained as our frontline was, they were not invincible. "That cost would be our four thousand veteran pikemen. Soldiers who've been with us for multiple years who cannot be replaced. The factories that once made their equipment have been downsized to maintain them, their instructors are retired or teach other subjects, and there is no next generation of their kind, as withering, overwhelming fire is planned to replace them."

Morgan had listened, argued, and moved her troops and achieved all objectives, but in the end, she declared her simulated campaign a failure.

"I've wiped them out three times over, but it's a failure. They'll just replace their casualties and come back again, and we'll be pushed back to conserve our strength. In the end, we would've killed more and died less by just staying on the defensive." It was a sobering proclamation. My plan with Ilych had been cautious. Mixed groups of troops going forward to do battle, withdraw, and fight on underprepared grounds. It was safe, but the Wardens would've been given the initiative to simply ignore us or leave upon seeing us, perhaps even just engaging us with Guardians. There was nothing here that they needed to hold and defend, after all. Our plan would've bloodied our troops a fair amount, but it would not have cleared the region of the Wardens. "So, what's the right plan, your majesty? Care to tell us how you would run this campaign?"

Jack considered her words, assented, assigned the Warden forces to us, and took control.

Then, he showcased in detail what he would've done.

The first thing he ordered was prioritization of shipping towards his location, which was within all our rights to do. In preparation for a planned assault, he desired quadruple the amount of artillery shells, ammunition, and incendiary bomblets. The remains of the aerial cavalry were tasked to provide constant 'vision' of our forces while erasing forests through incendiary munitions. Every day a square of forest cover disappeared as she shaped the land to his desire. Teams of Conquerors were given what they could no longer lift and deliver, and they were given a cruel task.

Resurrection was easy and painless for the Wardens.

But they were limited in their number of healers.

Rather than increasing how fast Wardens could be killed, he increased the number of casualties that they had to care for and struck before they realized that they should force themselves to kill their own wounded. Artillery was rolled forward, extra pikemen trained to help load and care for them, and in teams of ten they leapfrogged forward. One group covered the other, and entrenchments and defenses were made around them. The bastions were placed overhead to provide cover.

We all watched as our defenses grew and grew, as he increased supply requests gradually and had roads expanded. Merchants operating mere wagons were hired. Food shipments from Citadel stopped as we sourced them from the former Academy lands we held instead. Anything that could be sourced from our holdings closest to us was sent our way, increasing the capacity for what we could not locally obtain. As our hold expanded, as lines started to stretch, he called upon towns nearby to provide workers for a road to be built.

A road that the Wardens could see, that they would need to engage us for, and that our soldiers defended behind barbed wire, trenches, and cannon emplacements.

By the time the Guardians completed their taking of Forger lands and arrived, a vast corridor and path had been carved out.

Where there was once no road, he created one for them to tread, and while preparing munitions, food, and more in stockpiles to fuel a relentless advance.

Morgan wielded our military like a master swordswoman.

Everyone else adequately followed orders and progressed slowly.

Our king?

He leveraged the whole nation so that he could call upon everything to give us every advantage. Advantages that we never considered. All the while forcing our enemies to play into the palm of his hand.

We led soldiers who trusted us.

Morgan led armies.

His majesty led the nation.

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