The battles had stopped and know both me and my enemies forces had begun to build up. They seemed to be focusing on quantity. Small hordes of fifty to a hundred undead would enter in intervals.
Me and Anastasia agreed that not harassing or massacring the enemy reinforcements was the best idea. The reason, because of the three most important parts of winning a war and each one was roughly equal. First was logistics cause if you couldn't feed and arm your solider you weren't winning. Second was soldiers, without them it was a massacre, and third, third was Information. Having Superior logistics and information allowed an out numbered force to win, same with any two parings of the three. In our case we were winning in logistics and in information. We couldn't trade the Intel that we had forces outside of the caves for a few small frys.
Right now though we where building upwards, Anastasia and I agreed on a 10:1 ratio for normal puppets to elite puppets. The reason was that the elite puppets could easily kill several undead of the same level while the others made sure to keep the elite from being overrun. I had managed to design an easy bake spear, essentially I would take wood and awaken the still living wood into spear shapes. The normal puppets where several times stronger than an average human but stone spears proved to be too heavy or to fragile for extended combat.
I had made the spears for all the unarmed and new lesser puppets. In the meantime I focused on something new. That being armor and shields, my first attempt of the armour was abysmal. I had technically made a really strong armour but as it turns out armor was supposed to have a little give otherwise the fleshy human underneath the metal would turn into a nice soup bowl. I had learned this thanks a system blurb that was not flattering at all, it basically stated that the only value was it material components.
My shields on the other hand became my focus, mapping out how many puppets could form a shield wall into each corridor I numbered that we would need a hundred a seventeen. The idea was that we could reuse the shield should one of the the shield bearers fall. Ten new and improved elites became issued with bronze Roman shields or if you where a man of culture such as I, the scutum.
Them and the puppet bearing a copy of my skill could hold off a substantially larger and more powerful Force.
...
[Aluminum Bronze Scutum]
Rank Two Uncommon Item
This shield is designed after the shields of a defunct pre integration society called the Roman Empire that had lasted longer then a thousand years and its inheritor another thousand. This shield is made out of Aluminum Bronze bathed in Cosmic energies and forged by a minor divine of Protection.
Effects: [Legacy of Rome], [Superior Alloy], [Cosmic Resonance], and [Divine Shield]
-[Legacy of Rome]
This item is recognizable by all Sapients born on the planet of Terra, it also gains a minor durability boost from being wielded alongside a item with this Trait.
-[Cosmic Resonance]
Items imbued with cosmic energies from the same origin as this item gain a temporary enchantment boost.
-[Divine Shield]
This item is imbued with the divine and conceptual power of the Plain of Protection.
...
All in all pretty good shield the slightly curved rectangular sheet of bronze lacked any of the paint or other attachments besides the standard handle.
The forging of the hundred shields and the odd Gladius to outfit the forty new elite puppets took about two days. In that time our forces had swelled by four hundred and forty whereas theirs had grown by six thousand. From what are scouts saw however they where bottom of the barrel quality with rotting equipment and completely rusted weapons.
Their preparations would hopefully fall flat in comparison. It was after the last batch of the enemy reinforcements came that I could tell the final clash was being built up.
I began to reinforce the walls of the the caves to make them stronger and harder to break. I also rigged up some rock traps that would drop rocks onto them straight Kentucky Jones type rocks too, that earned me side eye form Anastasia after she heard me cackling. Gotta say getting side eye from a spider was unusual.
I also sparred with the Elite Puppet which me and Anastasia began calling Magnum shortened from Magnum Opus. He was pretty weak but substantially stronger then the standard puppets and a good deal stronger then a Draugur with the exception of the seer and the two raiders.
The second time we spared it was also with his retinue of Elite shield bearers. Together and with the weaker version of [Knight's Bulwark] which was substantially stronger when pared in shield wall formations allowed to give a pretty decent spar as long as I didn't use magical powers.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
...
Draugur Warcamp
...
"My liege all of the ancient battlefields have been raised although they are a far cry from their heyday" the Seer stated and if the Jarl did not know it he wouldn't have known that the Seer had been massively weakened by her teleportation power. He had studied the magics of those abilities, and had frankly considered not worth it in his case. Such abilities that could operate under duress of combat required a innate control over casualty. It allowed you to escape a fate that should have killed you, however everything had a price. The more likely an attack or battle would have to kill the user the higher the toll.
One the Seer was paying, good, she had gotten a little uppity. While it might put a bit of strain on his armies might he felt comfortable battling the enemy leader and winning. Not only would he become more powerful In the aftermath his second hand would regain some loyalty while she recovered. He almost felt like thanking the lowborn bastard that he about to kill an a days time.
...
Back to Kien
...
Once again I stood at a cave exit that overlooked the battle field. I had over the past hour used copious amount of mana to cut off all of those caves accept for this one which was protected by a powerful Force Field. I had also received a prayer. Prayers had been rather quite ever since the sewers of the rats I hadn't known why, but hadn't been worried because I could still feel a connection to them. As it turns out the most common challenges for the lower ranked tutorials were blocking out the divine forcing those who relied on them to find self reliance. Now that part was over for them I once again received direct prayers.
Thankfully most where just using me to talk with someone they where familiar with, meanwhile those of worshipers that weren't from earth which had grown especially those that Mr. Smith and I had saved. They acted a bit weird as they actually treated me like a Divine doing the whole art thou thingy which made kinda uncomfortable.
Shaking off the random thoughts I refocused on the task at hand looking over the arrayed forces that where mustered against me. Once again their fodder was in front and yet I saw none of the six thousand new or rather really old undead. However what worried me where the Wraiths as only the [Cosmic Flare] of the gladius had the ability to kill them granted it was a one shot but still not great.
The problem with me interfering was a bit of the cold war nuke situation. Me fighting one force the Jarl and the Seer into fighting and vice versa. Luckily my ace up my sleeve was Anastasia. They had little to no idea about her and considering she once only a level or two below me she was my hidden second elite that would help even the odds. She would also be thinning the numbers with the massive stores of venom which when actively controlled using her skill [Toxicokinesis] it could easily kill the Wraiths and as long as they didn't know the source it would hopefully induce the hard counter that Wraiths where against the Puppets who where primarily all martial focus.
A long war horn blared out as the undead charged the caves. I focused on the battle using the impression that the puppets and the undead had on the earth in order to tell roughly what was happening while I watched the army pour in. Anastasia had departed to play her part.
I had also received a new insight Into cursed energy, thanks to my new skincare routine of Necrotic Fire which occasionally would blare pain. I felt it I was at the cusp of unlocking the power.
...
The battle was a drag unless I was participating actively. I watched for the first time, the Jarl. Let me tell you this guy was old as dirt.
However even though he was older than his contemparies he possessed an air of authority and power. He was covered completely in a mix of plate and chainmail armour made of bronze, which made more sense as I had learned how hard it was to melt iron and considering Bronze could be just as strong as Iron. The other parts of his appearance that differed was the gaudy crown on his head and the sword at his hip a rarity amgost the undead.
I could tell two things from his appearance, one is age told of either a powerful warrior or a cunning politician in order to survive to an advanced age in a world where men died young, second he was prideful, I could tell this based solely on his crown as no self respecting person assured In their power would willingly wear that.
The old Jarl's eyes snapped up to the cave where I was looking down at him. He did a weird twisting motion on his temple with the flat of thumb. I had no idea what the gesture meant but I could feel the intent of it. A birdie responded to him as I lifted my middle finger before he looked at me turned around and marched off back to the treeline. Before he departed however his cloak billowed and two figures crawled from the shadow. Taking the shape of hounds but made out of patchy smoke.
While their master departed they ran with abandon towards the caves. I had distinct feeling that they were going to cause problems for Anastasia so I relayed the information down to her.
'Hey, Anastasia you are going to have problems coming your way, two shadowy hounds' I stated before sending a mental image of the two.
'Alright boss I'll deal with them unless they're too powerful In which case I will let you know' Anastasia responded.
...
Anastasia's P.O.V
...
I assured Boss, before I sent a blast of venom at a wraith that began harassing and pushing back a front. It took a few more blasts of venom to neutralize it and by then another made itself an issue.
I was moderately worried about the hounds but I knew if the puppets could harm it I would be fine otherwise I had Kien. After dispatching two other Wraiths the hounds made themselves known. They slipped right past our ranks and began to rip our back fodder to shreds.
The attacks of the puppets caused no harm to the creatures making it my problem officially. They seemed to made of living shadows and their bite seemed to turn the silk made flesh into a brittle and fragile material as frost spread outwards
...
[Necrotic Makhai] Lvl: 25
Rank Two Summoned Specter
...
Sending out a web I tried to wrangle then up, unfortunately it fell through them. Panicking slightly I sent a blast of venom at and this time a small chunk of the Makhai's face melted away before reforming. At least it worked, sending in another splash. I began to distract them for a moment to check the fronts before jumping form my web as a animal looking like a stunted bear in the closet description I could come up with, it seemed to fit the appearance of something called a dog, an animal from Bosses homeworld.
