Valkyrie's Shadow

Chapter 5

“Captain, data collected by our high-altitude observers report a potential lull in the current weather conditions.”

“It’s not going to stop raining,” Ludmila replied absently as she examined the scenery below. “It won’t even lessen in intensity until after midnight.”

“Is that so?”

She glanced at the Elder Lich out of the corner of her eye.

“We need to add a weather forecasting office to the logistics department,” Ludmila muttered.

To an outsider, it may have seemed unthinkable for the Sorcerous Kingdom to be behind in anything. Its citizens, however, gradually grew aware of certain deficiencies as their shock and awe over the new nation’s sudden establishment and stupendous might wore off.

One of those things was predicting the weather. This was especially odd because it was common even in Re-Estize. Though Warden’s Vale never needed it, the Duchy of E-Rantel under House Vaiself’s administration had a team that collected information and delivered weather forecasts to the territories along the local highways.

This was, in fact, one of the first of many things that the duchy’s Nobles found lacking after E-Rantel was annexed. Many seasonal activities, especially in the spring and fall, had always relied on them. They got back to business and patiently awaited weather reports that never came.

It was such a simple thing, yet they didn’t have it. If anything, it was a bit backwards. Rangers could sense what the weather would be like in the immediate region around them, and most – including herself – could see things about a half-day ahead. Druids were much better at it, capable of sensing the weather in a wider area and anywhere between a few days to a few weeks in advance, depending on their proficiency.

That didn’t seem to apply to the Rangers and Druids that came with the Sorcerer King, however. A few weeks before their trip to Fassett County, Ludmila formally introduced Lord Mare to Clara. With the lack of forecasting still a problem, Clara asked him about the weather so she could plan her construction projects accordingly. In response, he said “Um…sunny?” and then he waved his big staff in front of them. It stayed sunny for the next two weeks.

Ludmila supposed that there was no need for weather forecasting if one could just control the weather, but campaigns abroad wouldn’t necessarily have that luxury. There was also only so much weather control could do, as it required periodic maintenance that effectively became more time and mana intensive the larger the area that had to be covered.

In the end, the situation – if one could call it that – didn’t improve until after the mystics of the various Demihuman tribes that came under the Sorcerer King’s rule entered the picture.

The hours passed and the rain continued unabated. Below, the Beastman forces gathered at Corrin-on-the-Lake continued to grow. Estimates placed the total number of Beastmen at one hundred fifty thousand, with two-thirds from the warrior clans. The area inside of the city’s walls filled within half a day of the first forces withdrawing from the Undead advance arriving. Now, more Beastmen were camped outside of the city than inside of it.

“The disposition of the enemy forces has strayed far from the general staff’s opening predictions.”

“It makes sense to me,” Ludmila said. “The leaders of the Beastman forces are making the correct decisions based on what they probably know. I can’t say that I would do the same thing as them, but their actions are in line with the natural tendencies of strong predatory Demihumans.”

“Which scenario is likely?” Saiko asked.

“Scenario C,” Ludmila answered, “or close enough to it.”

There were three broad scenarios laid out by the Royal Army’s general staff.

Scenario A proposed that the enemy should cower before the might of the Sorcerer King’s Royal Army for an appropriate length of time before breaking and fleeing through the corridor so graciously created to the southeast of the city. Or perhaps the Beastmen would be so awed by the Royal Army’s superior existence that they submitted themselves to be ruled by His Majesty the Sorcerer King. This scenario was concocted by the Grand Marshal’s Insectoid lieutenants, and they considered it the right and proper course of action.

No one else on the general staff believed that it would happen, but it was just a scenario so there was little point in trying to challenge it. Ludmila privately wondered whether Scenario A not manifesting would be considered a failure on her part.

Scenario B was very much ‘Human’, with the Beastmen assuming a defensive posture. They would take advantage of their superior position and conservatively strike at the Undead forces when low-risk opportunities presented themselves. The scenario was presented by the Goblin Strategist, which seemed strange unless one recognised that Goblins were very much like Humans in the sense that they were weak and tended to leverage numbers and various external advantages to fight on even terms with their much stronger competitors.

The scenario was criticised from multiple angles. Gunnar and the other Frost Giants considered it cowardly. Lord Cocytus’ lieutenants scoffed at the notion and – paraphrased – asserted that it was useless to resist and they may as well just kill themselves to save everyone’s time. Ludmila noted that it may have been a valid strategy against living armies, but it was common knowledge that the Undead did not have the same logistical limitations. They didn’t need to eat or rest, never got sick and wouldn’t die of old age. Thus, they would always win as a besieging army so long as their blockades were effective.

Scenario C was presented by the Frost Giants, and it was characteristic of their race’s aggressive nature. The average Beastman warrior was much stronger than the average Undead being fielded by the Royal Army, and spreading out the Royal Army’s forces to encircle the city presented a prime opportunity for the Beastmen to destroy it in a single decisive battle. Their entire campaign gave no indication that the combined might of the warrior clans in Corrin-on-the-Lake would even come close to losing, so it would be silly to not attack and put an end to the crisis south of the Oriculon.

Given that the Beastmen’s culture bore many similarities and fundamental values with those of the Frost Giants, she was sure that the general staff understood it to be the most likely case. That didn’t make the Grand Marshal’s lieutenants give up on Scenario A, however, and the Royal Army’s Elder Liches appeared to be in the same camp.

For Lord Cocytus’ part – and much to Ludmila’s relief – he didn’t openly lean in any direction, instead saying that what would happen was what would happen and it was their duty as His Majesty’s servants to respond appropriately in any situation.

Just under an hour past midnight, Beastmen started pouring out of the city, joining the forces outside. Ludmila nodded to herself as she watched them reorganise.

『Two large formations are gathering outside the southern and western walls. Continue with our current manoeuvres – don’t give anything away.』

“Is that prudent?” Saiko asked.

“Armies take time to move,” Ludmila answered. “They aren’t pieces that you can just push across a board. The Beastmen have impressive organisation, but it’ll be at least an hour until they get all of their warbands into position.”

“And what will their positions be?”

“I don’t know,” Ludmila shrugged. “They’re still positioning, after all. Chances are that they’ll focus on destroying our forces snaking around the city in the south as Gunnar suggested, but we don’t need to guess at how they plan on doing that. The deployment is already occurring. All we have to do is wait for that deployment to take shape.”

The way that the Elder Liches seemed to believe that everything that happened was somehow preordained was a problem she was still working on. A part of her wasn’t sure that she could. Summons and created servitors just seemed to see the world that way, carrying out their respective tasks with unquestioning confidence. If their task was to investigate things and question information, then they would question with unquestioning confidence, much as Nonna did.

It was only when their tasks were vague that they showed any willingness to learn or think for themselves, but it was evidently an unpleasant situation for them to be in.

“They’ve left about ten thousand on the walls,” Ludmila said a while later. “The formation in the west is slightly larger than the one in the south. It looks like the eastern wall and port are barely guarded.”

“Our southern forces are only half-deployed,” Saiko noted. “If they attack now, the results will be devastating to our dominated and zombified forces.”

“I believe that’s the whole point,” Ludmila replied wryly. “Doing what one’s enemy doesn’t want them to do is a basic tenet of conventional warfare.”

『Olga, start bringing your forces out of the river. The ones joining the encirclement; not those marked for the port.』

“Saiko, mark the time when Olga’s forces emerge from the Oriculon.”

“It will be done, Captain.”

Shouted orders rose to reach her ears through the pouring rain. Both the southern and western armies advanced within a minute of one another.

『Raul, you have three spearheads coming your way. Two look like they’re going to try and punch through your lines. The third is moving to head off the encirclement.』

Below them, the Beastmen’s western army advanced toward Ludmila’s regiment in good order. They started spreading out to match the width of her lines as they went.

“Captain,” Saiko said, “sub-commander Raul is asking whether the infantry squadrons should be actively deployed.”

『Raul, do your Beastmen show any sign that they’re aware of the Death-series servitors?』

“No,” Saiko said.

『Then you should use that to your advantage. I’ll let you figure that part out on your own.』

Since neither Olga nor Raul demonstrated a Commander’s ability to communicate over long distances yet, they had come up with an awkward sort of communication loop. She would speak to Raul directly, and then Raul’s reply would be relayed via his Elder Lich adjutant through Saiko. The ability was certainly one thing she would set as a requirement the next time she took apprentices to a theatre.

Far to the southeast, the first Beastman spearhead made contact with the still-in-transit Undead lines. It took less than a minute for them to punch through to the other side. The second formation did so just as quickly, while the third smashed straight into the head of the Undead column and stayed there.

Ludmila winced internally. Just from that clash alone, thousands of Undead had probably been destroyed. This far east up the Oriculon reach, dominated reinforcements from Katze would take upward to four days to reach them. Five, including the time it took for the freed-up Elder Lich controllers to fly back.

They could stop for a day or so to ‘digest’ the overrun city and its surroundings, but some improvisation would be required once they resumed their advance. Ideally, the Beastmen gathering at Eastwatch would be focused on the forces north of the Oriculon, which were still running at full strength.

The first two spearheads wheeled around in a counterclockwise direction, charging into the sections that had been cut from the main body. When they reached the Undead this time, however, they stopped.

“The Beastmen were halted on the return charge,” she said, “was that Raul’s doing?”

“Yes,” Saiko answered. “The sub-commander has chosen to keep the Beastmen on the outside of the encirclement.”

“…well, that must feel awkward, at least.”

“Has the sub-commander committed an error?”

“That’s difficult to say,” Ludmila said. “We’re supposed to be funnelling the Beastmen east, but, if they break right now, they’ll go in every direction. Rationally, they’ll retreat east anyway since they should believe that more Undead are coming from the west, but things can get confusing and irrational in war.”

『Raul, make sure you keep the most prominent Beastman Lords alive. You may take a beating in the process, but it’s better than having the Beastmen lose their morale effects and scatter to the winds.』

That would probably address the issue. Below, the Beastmen’s western army was closing with her forces.

“The western Beastmen have their warbands organised into a rough line,” Ludmila said, “so they should be trying to keep our army here in check while their southern forces destroy ours. This would already be a devastating defeat if our infantry squads weren’t so ridiculously strong.”

“If.”

She knew that the general staff had accounted for it, but losing on a conceptual level still bothered her. It proved that even the most primitive tribal societies had excellent Commanders. As a Captain who was supposed to pull victory from the jaws of defeat in those situations, she was prohibited from directly participating due to the overall strategy they had enacted in the Draconic Kingdom. All she could do was watch her troops get decimated by Beastman warbands who benefitted from their own Lords fighting at the fore.

The army below them stopped roughly a kilometre from her lines, confirming her suspicions. Then she frowned as the front ranks of her forces started falling apart.

“Our forces are under attack,” Saiko offered unhelpfully.

『Conceal our lines using Fog Cloud! They have skirmishers hidden in the grass. Elder Liches, summon Wraiths to flush them out.』

A thick white mist started to shroud the field. Here and there, she saw Beastmen engaged with the summons sent to find them. The Wraiths didn’t last long, however, and the Elder Liches were forced to summon multiple waves to keep them occupied while more clouds of fog were deployed.

“How many did we lose?” Ludmila asked.

“Approximately three thousand low-level Undead,” Saiko answered.

Ludmila sighed. In hindsight, she should have ordered screens summoned in advance to help prevent losses. Not having skirmishers of her own autonomously countering those of the enemy was creating headaches aplenty against the hunter-rich forces of the Beastman warrior clans.

『Let’s start ‘rolling’ that fog bank forward. I want those hunters away from our lines.』

“Shall our forces advance with the fog?” Saiko asked.

She looked to the southeast toward Raul’s forces, trying to make sense of what she saw. In a word, the battle had devolved into a brawl, forcefully arranged through the sheer mass of bodies rather than any attempts at maintaining formations.

『Raul, how are you doing out there?』

“Ninety per cent of our southern wing has been lost,” Saiko told her. “Any attempt at containment has been lost along with it, but the Beastmen appear to be staying to fight the infantry squads.”

『Are the infantry squads still intact?』

“They are holding. Sub-commander Raul is attempting to replenish his wing with zombified Beastmen, but they are being destroyed the moment that they are raised.”

Ludmila frowned at the report. How could that be happening?

“Are the Death Knights being ordered to use their area taunts?”

“Yes. The Skill appears to be ineffective against these Beastmen.”

Was it some berserk state that nullified taunt attempts? The Adventurer Guild had faced several such opponents during training, but she couldn’t recall anything like that happening on the field.

『Raul, try and figure out what’s interfering with the Death Knights’ taunts. That may be a big problem going forward. If the infantry squads look like they’re in trouble, don’t be greedy and eliminate the problem as quickly as possible.』

She looked back to her portion of the battlefield again.

『Advance at half step. Let’s see if we can’t catch any hunters lost in the mist.』

Ludmila watched as the Beastman lines matched the pace of the ‘advancing’ fog. As simple as it looked, doing so while maintaining their unified formation was an impressive feat.

Once again, she thought about how these Beastmen appeared to be little more than a primitive tribal society. If that were the case, how did the more advanced nations of the world conduct war? As benign as the Sorcerous Kingdom’s approach to the region was, it seemed inevitable that the universally strong cultural perceptions of the Undead would lead to at least a few arbitrary conflicts. She couldn’t even imagine what they would face.

“Captain,” Saiko said, “sub-commander Olga reports that the defenders within the city are repositioning in response to her forces’ appearance. They have also increased security in the port.”

This Commander really leaves no openings. At least none that his forces can discern…

“How long has it been since Olga’s forces surfaced?” Ludmila asked.

“Thirty-eight minutes, seventeen seconds,” Saiko answered.

It looked like the Beastmen were remaining calm despite also meeting unexpected issues in the south. At this rate, there wouldn’t be much of a flight from the city.

『Olga, commence your assault on the port. Remember: our objective is mass panic, not widespread slaughter.』

A drizzle replaced the rain as Ludmila awaited signs of Olga’s amphibious assault. Her gaze went to the western gatehouse as soon as a point of light appeared atop it. A torch was being waved from side to side by a solitary Beastman. She scanned the southern gatehouse, then the southern battlefield.

『Raul, have the Beastmen on your end attempted to withdraw yet?』

“No,” Saiko said.

“Then it looks like the Lord conducting the city’s defence is somewhere in the western army,” she said. “Dispatch Wraiths and try to locate them. Start raining Undead Beasts on their formation. Mark any Lords attempting to restore order in response.”

She resisted the temptation to fly lower and measure the strength of the Beastman Lords herself, as the Beastman headquarters had the highest chance of having a hunter capable of detecting her.

“Spread out and get moving!” A deep voice roared over the confusion, “Cover the mystics!”

Well, that was easier than expected…

Her gaze tracked a group of Beastmen that split off from the army and dashed toward the city gate. She followed them from high above, accompanied by Saiko. Cries of panic and the clash in the city streets grew clearer as they made their way closer to the walls. As she watched the Lord stop to question the panicked civilians running by, she recalled Raul’s odd report.

『Olga, I’m borrowing one of your port squads.』

Ludmila commanded one of the infantry squads rampaging through the port district to encircle the Nar Lord and his retinue. They spread out into the streets and alleys, butchering Beastmen as they went. One of the Death Knights’ Squire Zombies chased an Ocelo out of an alley and into the street right in front of the Nar Lord. His retinue instantly pounced upon it, and the Squire Zombie was dispatched without any difficulties. The sounds of battle spread out into the surroundings as the Lord’s retinue spread out to secure the area.

『Keep that Lord and his retinue contained.』

The infantry squad tightened the encirclement. A trickle of Beastmen escaped out of the rear, but her quarry remained where he was. Ludmila ordered a Death Knight and a Death Warrior forward to challenge the Lord and his retinue. She assigned a Death Priest to shadow them from a short distance, unsure how strong their opponents were.

“Saiko, wait here. I’m going to take a closer look.”

A Death Knight’s challenging shout reverberated off of the nearby buildings as Ludmila alighted on the rooftop of a three-storey apartment built out of white limestone. The Lord followed his retinue around the street corner, nearly running into the Death Knight and the Death Warrior behind it.

“That one first!” He called out, “Take it down, quick! Harden your defences!”

『Taunt that warband! Don’t let them get past you!』

The Death Knight employed its Skill and the entire warband spun in place to face it. Ludmila nodded to herself. As with the other warbands they had come across, the morale effects of the Lord were enough to keep them from breaking, but not from being shaken.

『Good job. Let’s see if–』

“Snap out of it!” The Nar Lord roared.

All at once, the entire warband turned their attention to the Death Warrior, lunging forward with teeth and claws bared. Her eyes ran over the dozens of Nar.

『This is trouble. Keep that Death Warrior alive! Try and get that warband taunted again.』

A roar drew Ludmila’s attention to the Nar Lord.

“Don’t think you’re the only one that can taunt!”

The Nar Lord dodged a shield slam from the Death Knight. Further up the street, a throwing axe buried itself in the forehead of the Beastman leading the charge. Black steel flashed, sending an arc of blood over the street as the Death Warrior’s greatsword bisected the next.

『Tank that Lord for a minute. We can’t let him empower his retinue with Command Skills.』

Bodies and pieces of bodies scattered over the street as the Death Warrior continued its bloody work. Despite its devastating display, the Beastmen were dauntless, intensifying their assault. The black glow of Inflict Wounds spells pulsed endlessly over the beleaguered servitor as the Death Priest desperately tried to keep up with the damage.

Another roar rose into the air as the Death Knight attempted to relieve its partner, but it didn’t appear to have any effect. Neither did its furious attacks against the Nar Lord, who deflected some, dodged others and let others still ineffectually bounce off of his hide. In return, the Beastman started to chip away at the Death Knight’s equipment.

He’s just under the strength of the Death Knight, but…

As the exchange continued, something Ludmila suspected for a long time grew evident. That suspicion was planted in her since watching the Hobgoblins that invaded the Upper Reaches combine their efforts to resist her Death Knights’ attacks, and continued to grow through watching them fight various opponents over the past year.

A Death Knight was offensively rated as a Level 25 warrior without Martial Arts or especially great equipment. Defensively, they were rated as a Level 40 warrior. Against weak and vulnerable opponents, such as rank-and-file Human soldiers or Beastman civilians, they were effectively unstoppable juggernauts that could generate a swarm of Zombies to overrun the land with. Any country without the appropriate countermeasures could easily be ruined by a single one.

That seeming invincibility, however, rapidly diminished the closer their opponents came to their level. Since they had the offence of an average Level 25 warrior without Martial Arts, the average Level 25 warrior with Martial Arts could easily keep them occupied. Against the experienced Beastman Lord before her, the attacks of the Death Knight must have seemed trivial.

In short, one didn’t need to be as strong as a Death Knight to beat it in a duel. One only needed to outlast it. If she was a bit stronger and was allowed to heal herself, a prodigious combatant like Alessia could probably beat one after an admittedly long battle. Needless to say, the Beastman country bordering the Draconic Kingdom was so large that it could probably produce dozens of comparable or stronger individuals. That they even numbered amongst the migrant population was proof of that.

It was a strange situation where Death Knights were overwhelming right up until the point that they weren’t. There wasn’t an in-between. After that point, Death Warriors were more dangerous because they at least had a chance of killing the same calibre of opponent before they themselves were destroyed. There was also the fact that damage was cumulative, allowing Death Warriors to combine their offence to present a serious threat against stronger opponents. The same number of Death Knights could only take a brief beating in the same situation while not achieving much else.

『What shall we do with this Beastman Lord?』

Saiko’s Message sounded in her head. On the street below, the Nar Lord’s retinue was dealt with, and the Lord was surrounded by Death Knights. Ludmila raised a hand to her ear.

『Is capture possible?』

『The sergeants would like to make the attempt.』

『Alright, go ahead.』

Ludmila smiled to herself. They were probably still bitter over failing to capture the strong Nar warrior during the opening battle of their campaign.

The drizzle picked up into a steady rain again. She activated her hairpin and flew up to rejoin her adjutant. The potential issues with Death Knights being proven aside, the night’s battle had turned up a number of other useful bits of information.

First and foremost was the Beastman Lord’s ability to render his followers immune to taunts. This was a problem for the Death Knights but useful for Ludmila, as even the relatively weak Hobgoblins that had invaded the Upper Reaches could juggle Death Knights between them with taunts. If she could figure out how to do the same thing, it would spell an end to that problem.

Related to that was an annoying idea that she had been harbouring about the arbitrary nature of taunts. She postulated that, at some point, battles between professional armies simply devolved into warriors taunting one another and then smashing their faces together until one side fell over. After seeing the Nar Lord nullify the effects of the Death Knight’s taunt skill, that notion quickly – and thankfully – fell apart.

Secondly was an issue for Captains in particular, which was that they themselves could be taunted. Whatever it was they did that broke their subordinates out of the effect did not work on themselves. As such, they were compelled to only show direct aggression toward their taunter, which meant that they couldn’t issue commands unless they were directed against that individual. The Nar Lord probably wasn’t even aware that his retinue had been destroyed until it was too late.

Perhaps a Commander could come over and break their Captains free, but exposing a Commander by bringing them to the front felt like a risky move. As usual, more knowledge brought more questions and, of course, more problems. This one was a double bind, and she would have to figure out a solution before it became commonplace.

The Nar Lord was subdued and dragged into a nearby building, where he was whisked away via Gate. Once that happened, the savage ferocity of the warrior clans faltered and they prudently decided to flee through the Royal Army’s sort-of-intact encirclement. By morning, the Beastmen were gone from the city and its surroundings. Olga returned to her side of the river, and a grouchy Raul resumed his sweep of the southern Oriculon Reach, hoping to replenish the bulk of his forces.

As the grey of the dawn crept out of the mountains in the east, Ludmila turned to Saiko atop Corrin-on-the-Lake’s central keep.

“Contact Countess Corelyn,” she said. “This city is ours.”

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