Devourer

Chapter 78: Lambs to the Slaughter Part 1

Arias marched silently as they moved down the road towards Marina. Still no sign of anyone, no hide nor tail of the enemy. Were they really going to end up at the gates of a major city unopposed?

“What the hell is this?” Arias muttered.

“Beats me kid, I think my nerves are fraying. We are so deep inside Elysia and I haven’t seen a single soldier. Normally if an enemy army can penetrate this deeply into your territory something is very wrong.” Lars replied.

“Somehow I feel something is very wrong for us and not the Elysians.” Conte added from the side.

“At least we don’t have to worry about enemies in the forest next to us. Well at least not a lot of them. I heard the scouts have scanned the forests extensively. There might be a handful hiding here and there definitely aren’t thousands of soldiers there.” Lars said.

“Yeah you can’t exactly hide an army under a cloth sheet and expect no one to notice. Even if you used magic to hide something so large would give off an Ether signature so great the whole exercise would be pointless.” Conte replied with a small chuckle.

“Yup, unless they suddenly pop out of the ground or something…” Lars began but the group suddenly heard the battle horn being sounded.

ENEMY TO THE REAR!

Arias turned his head to see a large army to their rear, the banners of the new Empire flying proudly in the wind.

“What the hell? How?” Lars sputtered as he gazed at the tens of thousands of soldiers behind the formation.

“Didn’t we clear the territory behind us?” Arias stammered.

“We did, they must have a trick up their sleeves.” Conte replied curtly.

“Maybe they came by sea? They sat on ships and waited for us to pass?” Arias suggested.

“Still doesn’t explain how they got so close without us noticing…” Conte replied as he heard the horn sound and the entire formation began to rotate clockwise.

The forest was to their right so if they wanted to turn around they had to rotate clockwise. If the army rotated counterclockwise they would expose their vulnerable rear line troops to the forest. If the enemy could hide an army that size and slip it behind the Tralis army then hiding more soldiers in the forests was not out of the question. Even now Arias could see small bands of units being dispatched into the forest.

“Unlikely that they managed to hide out at sea. General Montis is too smart to make such a stupid mistake.” Conte replied gruffly as they shifted to a jogging pace to maintain formation.

“We can only pray they don’t fuck us in the ass as we shift formation.” Lars said as they slowed down again after hearing a horn blast in order to maintain formation.

Every soldier worth his salt knew that the rear of an army formation was nicknamed the soft underbelly. The reason for that was simple, in this world warfare was dominated by magic and large siege weapons. However mages and fixed weapons like ballistas were vulnerable as they could be overrun by infantry or cavalry. So line infantry was needed to protect them, but line infantry needed to be in close packed formations. That close packed formation left them vulnerable to magical bombardment. So the solution was to use barrier mages to protect the army. As a result armies tended to be arranged not as a long line but as a pudgy block. The General had ordered the army to march in battle formation, this meant a slower march but since they had no idea where the enemy was and they had no reason to rush, it was better to be safe than sorry.

Most battles opened with a magical barrage and a cavalry skirmish. It looks like the enemy army was still too far to begin magical bombardment and the Tralis army was almost done rotating. The fact that this could be done in under fifteen minutes was a testament to the coordination of the Tralis army.

Arias knew if the bombardment began while the formation was still moving they would be in a lot of trouble. The mage barriers require the mages to stop and form a ritual circle so if spells started flying at them now, they wouldn’t be able to get the barriers up in time.

Then Arias heard a loud warning horn and he turned his head to see a barrage of fire balls flying out of the forest. He watched mouth agape as the wave of spells smashed into their still disorganised positions. He saw a flash of light, then he felt heat and finally he heard the screams.

“Oh shit… there goes our left flank…” Conte said as they picked up the pace again and finally the formation finally halted.

Arias could hear shouting as officers barked orders, then he saw a shimmering barrier appear facing the forest. Luckily for them the spells didn’t hit the mages. Then again those didn’t look like war spells, he had heard war spells were a lot bigger and they gave off significant Ether signatures during the channel. If Arias had to guess they didn’t use those spells because it would have tipped off the Tralis army.

Sure enough the next thing Arias heard was the loud warning horn of an income war spell barrage. Arias looked to the tree line and saw bright lights glowing from the tree line. He shifted his gaze and saw cavalry begin a charge into the forest,

“Where the hell did they come from? I know the scouts, they may pieces of shit sometimes but they aren’t this incompetent.” Lars said as he looked around at the scene around them. They could see flames and smoke on the far side of the formation and even from here they could still hear the screams.

“Maybe they really did come out of the ground…” Conte grunted in response.

Then Arias felt the earth shift beneath his feet. Was that his imagination? Was the stress and fear getting to him?

Arias looked down and his eyes widened as he saw the earth underneath his feet seeming to bowl upwards.

“SHIT! BENEATH US!” Arias screamed as he backed off just in time to see the earth erupt from beneath his feet.

Arias gapped as he saw a monster emerge from the ground. It had white domed head and it’s maw was filled with serrated teeth. It was about the size of a man, with a snake-like tail that had small legs on the side of the tail and arms tipped with scythe-like blades.

“MONSTERS!” Arias heard someone shout in the distance and soon he heard the entire army shout in alarm.

Arias couldn’t move, he froze as he watched the monster emerge from the ground and pounce at a nearby soldier. He watched as the soldier screamed as the monster toppled him over. The beast's blades flashed and the shield the soldier was using to protect himself had wide gaping gashes torn into the shield. He watched as another soldier rushed forward and slashed at the beast with his sword. The blade glanced off its white body like it was wearing plate armour.

“Idiot! It’s armoured!” Conte shouted as he rushed forward and grabbed the blade of his great sword with his left land. He thrust at the beast like a spear aiming for a spot under the arm and the blade sank in.

“KID! SNAP OUT OF IT!” Arias heard Lars shout as he felt Lars shake him.

Arias snapped back to his senses and noticed that more monsters were pouring out of holes in the ground. He looked around and saw the entire army was slowly devolving into 360 degree fighting with all semblance of an organised formation crumbling rapidly.

The Arias spotted one beast pounce at him, his body moving on its own. He raised his shield with his left hand and readied his sword with his right hand for a counter thrust. Time seemed to slow as he watched the snarling beast charge towards him. In the back of his mind he heard the voice of his old instructor during his training.

Train your body so you can do what needs to do on it’s own

Your reaction should be instinct, there is no need to think, only act!

Then Arias felt himself topple over backwards as the beast barreled into him. He screamed as he felt the weight of the beast press him into the dirt. He screamed as he thrust blindly with his sword, but with his body on the ground he couldn’t pull his arm far back enough. Arias saw through his tears that the beast opened its maw and bit down on the top of his shield. Instinctively he released his sword and grabbed the side of the shield to stop it from being pulled off him.

He watched as the beast tore a section of the shield off with its maw. The wood splintered as the metal plating gave way like paper. Then the beast thrust its maw downwards, its open jaws snapping at his face. Arias let out a blood curdling scream as he felt the beast’s putrid saliva splash against his face as it roared and snapped its jaws a few centimetres from his face. Arias screamed as he mustered whatever strength he had tried to push the shield upwards to drive those serrated fangs away from his face.

“HANG ON KID!” Arias heard Lars shout as he saw a sword thrust into the exposed neck of the beast. He saw the beast shudder for a moment before collapsing on top of Arias. Arais saw the blood dibble from the wound as it started dripping off the sides of the shield. He could smell the metallic scent filling his nostrils as he gazed at the crimson liquid spilling from the wound.

“Come on kid!” Lars said as he pushed the beast off and Arias struggled to his feet. He was terrified and at his wits end.

Lars took one look at the sobbing blubbering Arias and slapped him across the helm.

“GET IT TOGETHER!” Lars roared.

“I didn’t sign up for this…” Arias blubbered through his tears.

“HEY!” Lars said as he slapped him again.

“You want to die?” Lars hissed.

“No…” Arias whimpered.

“You want to go home to see your girl right?” Lars asked.

“Yeah…” Arias sobbed.

“Then get it together!” Lars shouted.

“LARS!” Conte shouted and Lars turned just in time to see another beast charging him.

Arias watched as Lars nimbly dodged to the side as the beast’s slashes hit air. Lars back pedalled a few steps and Conte charged forward before bringing his greatsword down in a slash. The blade sunk into the back of the beast but the beast didn’t even flinch; instead it turned to strike at Conte. Lars, seeing the opening move forward, drove the sword into the bottom of the beast’s unarmoured neck.

“Where’s the captain?” Lars shouted at Conte.

“His head is lying over there somewhere!” Conte shouted in response as he pointed off into the crowd of screaming men and beasts. The situation was absolute chaos, every minute more and more beast burst from the ground and all semblance of battlefield cohesion was gone. Now it was just forty thousand soldiers fighting a desperate brawl against monsters that were coming out of the ground.

“Who’s in command?” Lars asked.

“No one! We need to send a runner to the general, the horn bearer's dead too, if we don’t get orders we are…” Conte shouted but he faltered as his eyes shifted to open space behind Arias.

They were at the extreme edge of the formation so they had a clear view of what was happening beyond the formation.

Arias turned around to see a new hole had erupted in the open plain, this one was much larger and from it streamed hundreds of dog like beasts with this scorpion like tail. Arias watched as the cavalry on the flanks charged towards the group of beasts. However, the tails of the beasts all pointed at the cavalry and fired off a barrage of spines. Arias watched as the entire cavalry group was cut down by the spines. Horses fell, the spines went easily through the barding and the riders were thrown from their saddles, crashing hard into the ground. A handful of the knights stood up but another shower of spines later they had all been knocked to the ground.

Then Arias heard a loud explosion from behind me, then he felt a shockwave rattle his bones and he turned to see large fireballs appearing amongst the formation.

“They’re still hitting us with spells?” Arias sputtered. It seems the enemy had no regard for friendly fire, then again the ones attacking them were beasts… beasts… they were similar, fighting in perfect cohesion… a hive…

“It’s a hive…” Arias muttered as he felt his blood turn to ice. The stories told of the horrors of hives. Legions of beasts that knew no fear or pain and lived only to serve the wishes of their queen.

“A what?” Lars asked as he continued to scan the surroundings. Thanks to their position on the edge of the formation they were not in the heat of the fight. If they were in the middle of that brawl they would not have the luxury to even talk. That mini breakdown that Arias had would have been a death sentence if he was smack in the middle of the formation.

“A hive… the great beast must be a hive queen… an ancient hive queen…” Arias replied.

“You can’t be serious.” Conte said as he cut down another charging beast. Arias could see particularly large beasts the size of a carriage rampaging through the formation, with each swing of its large arms it sent several men flying, sometimes the bodies were sent flying in various pieces.

“I heard the old Hives had giant…” Lars began but as if on cue they felt the ground beneath their feet tremble.

Arias looked up to see a large 6 metre tall beast covered in golden feathers emerge from the ground. Behind it emerged a pair of large heavily armoured quadrupeds, with a wide armoured head and crown that looked like a shield. The quadrupeds had large scythe-like blades attached to the sides of their fat necks.

“Monsters…” Lars finished shakily as the three of them looked at the three giant beasts that had emerged from the ground. Each the size of a house and the one with the gold feathers raised it’s head to the sky and let out a booming bestial laugh.

The three of them gaped at the three monsters as the army screamed in terror around them. The two quadrupeds let out booming ear splitting roars as they lowered their heads before charging and ploughing through the formation. Arias could hear the grinding of metal and squelching of flesh as the soldiers were pulped under the charge. Then the house sized beasts raised their heads at the end of their charge like a bull would after a charge. Arias watched as the beast scooped bodies and earth into the air. Bathing those caught in a shower of pulped flesh and red mud.

Arias’s ears began to ring as terror overtook him, time seemed to slow as he gazed at the horror around him.

He shifted his gaze to the left and he saw a flaming beast, pouncing on another soldier when his back was turned. It looked like the beast was ignited by spell fire but if it cared about the flames or even felt it, it showed no indication. It toppled the man and its claws flashed its blades cut right into the chest plate. Arias could see his mouth open in screams as the beast tore into his body. The man’s body soon caught fire as well and the pair soon became a tangle of flailing limbs and sprays of blood as the beast incessantly tore into his body. It was clear the beast would not stop until either one of them were dead.

Another soldier stabbed the beast in the side with a halberd. The beast opened its mouth to howl but Arias couldn’t hear it over the ringing in his ears. The beast collapsed and the other soldier hurriedly shoved the beast off his fellow’s burning corpse. The man with the halberd paused for a moment as he looked down to see the flaming soldier had become a flaming corpse. The soldier took a shaky step back as he gazed down at the corpse and he was tackled to the ground by another beast. Soon he was screaming as well as the beast closed its jaws around his head. Arias stumbled back as well as he saw the soldier's helm cave like a can and a red sludge erupted from gaps of the helm.

Then his vision filled with Conte’s helm, he could see his dark eyes staring at him intensely. He could see his mouth moving as if he was shouting at him. But he still couldn’t hear anything…

He felt his vision shake and jerk to one side but he had no idea what was causing it. Then he saw a flash of light, then he heard a loud blast as the force threw him off his feet onto his back. When Arias got shakily to his feet his ears were still ringing but the ringing slowly receded. He slowly felt his lucidity return as he realised the blast had knocked some sense into him.

Arias struggled to his feet and he saw Conte and Lars take down another beast that had attacked them. It was a lucky thing most of the beasts were in the middle of the formation and not on the edges. He turned his head and saw some of the soldiers were running only to be cut down by those dogs that could shoot spines. Although the dogs were not firing into the formation, were they trying to stop any fleeing soldiers?

“KID! KID!” Conte roared as he turned around and Arias took a shaky step back as he felt his roars hit him.

“I’m fine… I’m fine…” Arias mumbled in response.

“Shit… we need to send a runner. Kid, I need you to get to the general in the rear. Tell him the right flank is gone. Stay close to the edge of the formation, those dogs don’t look like they are targeting the main formation…” Conte began but then they were interrupted by another blast.

Arias looked away to see the golden feathered beast had been hit by a barrage of spells. He could see its body covered in shallow wounds but the wounds quickly healed shut. The beast opened its mouth and shot a jet of white crackling flame at the rear line. Arias saw a barrier appear blocking the flames, the flames spread around the barrier and he heard screams as the flames torched the surrounding soldiers.

Then the barrier started to flicker and crack. Then the barrier gave way and the white flames flooded in. Then the screams, this time he could hear women screaming, some of the mages were women… That means their mages were gone too…

The beast then let out another laugh as it opened its maw again. This time a white beam shot out of its maw and it used it to rake the formation. Arias watched as the beam slashed towards the right flank and he saw it reduce a group of soldiers in front of him to ash. He could see a line of empty space and the ground had turned to lava and glass. Some of the soldiers that were too close ended up catching fire from the heat. Arias could feel the heat as the beam went past him, he blinked as he noticed the heat had dried out his eyes.

Then he heard the beast speak, it’s bestial voice echoing out across the army, inciting terror and desperation.

Feast my children!

Feast on the delights of this world!

Slaves of Tralis I am the Great Beast!

Hold on to your souls, for I will take the rest…

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