Legend of the Arch Magus_The Upheaval

by Michael Sisa

  “What was that?” mumbled the General.

  By estimate, there was almost a thousand soldiers on the human’s side. They could have turned the tables around had they attacked them right now then retreated after a clash.

  Still baffled by what transpired, General Urkawi ordered his men to enter the forest. Now was not the time to think about these trivialities.

  “Spread out! Bring back the injured!”

  Upon his orders, the beastmen warriors started rescuing their comrades.

  ***

  An hour after the beastmen retreated, several dozens of soldiers stealthily went towards the southern gate of the town. They took a roundabout path in the forest until they arrived at the southern plains.

  The gates opened and the wooden bridge was pushed over the trench. The group of soldiers entered the town.

  “Welcome back, Young Master,” Gaston greeted Lark.

  Lark was carrying a bow with him, with an almost empty quiver on his back. Behind him were the hunters from Gahelpa and several archers from Lion City.

  “The beastmen have retreated,” reported Gaston. “And just like you’ve ordered, we did not clash with the enemy directly.”

  Lark already knew this. He nodded in satisfaction. “Good work.”

  According to the vision sphere, the Third Legion stayed overnight in the dead forest filled with miasma. An army as large as that would be hard-pressed to treat all of their soldiers. All they need to do right now was to wait for the effects of Magic Poisoning to kick in. Clashing with them right now would lead to innumerable casualties.

  “Where’s Commander Daltos?” said Lark.

  “Ah, he’s at the eastern gate. They started repairing the broken parts of the gates and the blocked trenches,” said Gaston. “Do you want me to summon him, My Lord?”

  “There’s no need for that. I’ll go see him myself.” Lark wanted to see the aftermath of the battle up close.

  Lark rode the carriage and went towards the eastern border. The gate was open, and several soldiers were busy moving about outside the wall. Some of them were carrying wooden planks, while some carried shovels and pickaxes.

  It was impossible to see from the outside through the gate, but a stone wall was being made right next to the wooden palisade. Thanks to the cement and the hundreds of helping hands from Lion City, constructing the stone wall went at a quick pace. At this rate, it would probably take less than a week before the eastern wall was completed. It did not have to be perfect right now, Lark knew.

  “Ah, Young Master!” one of the soldiers noticed the arrival of Lark.

  Immediately the soldiers stopped in their tracks. Some bowed, while some made their salutes.

  After driving away the Third Legion, Lark earned the respect of the majority of the soldiers. When they first saw the enemies numbering in the thousands, everyone froze in fear and shock. Just like what the Young Master said, the enemies did come.

  But thankfully, everyone had been briefed of their strategy beforehand. A small detachment of archers lied waiting inside the forest, while the rest of the soldiers cooped themselves inside the walls, all the while retaliating with clay boulders and arrows.

  Still, the wooden wall was not enough to deter the advance of the beastmen. Had it not been for the sudden forest fire which burned down the reserved soldiers of their enemies and their supplies, the town would have already fallen to the beastmen’s hands by now.

  Just like what Lark predicted, the Beastmen could not risk losing a third of their forces on the first day of the battle just to capture a small town. They immediately stopped in their attacks and prioritized the rescue of their comrades.

  Everything until that point had been according to the Young Master’s plan. Knowing this, the soldiers could not help but look at him in awe. A simple but effective tactic. They did not expect someone so young to be so well-versed in the art of war.

  “Young Lord.” Commander Daltos approached him upon receiving news of his arrival. He scrutinized Lark from head to foot. “Thank God. It seems you’re fine.”

  “Of course.” Aside from his sweaty forehead, Lark was unscathed. The moment the beastmen retreated into the forest, he immediately ordered his men to stealthily go back to the southern gate. “How’s the preparations?”

  Daltos looked at the soldiers behind him. All were busily moving about with their own tasks. “We’re ready to move out at any time. Like you’ve ordered, we made three small detachments. Forty soldiers each.”

  Lark looked at the sky. It would soon become dusk.

  “Gather the first detachment. We’ll move out half an hour from now.”

  “Understood!”

  ***

  The beastmen army busily moved about in the forest. With the help of the summoned rain, they found it possible to rescue their comrades. Still, the results were rather disappointing. More than half of the beastmen trapped in the forest fired were burned alive, while the remaining ones were crippled by the fire. The survivors were on the verge of death after being scorched by the flames and after breathing thick smoke.

  General Urkawi personally led the rescue operation.

  Sadness. Hatred. Frustration. All sorts of emotions ran through his mind as he pulled out the surviving beastmen from the forest fire.

  He had not expected his enemies to be this thoroughly prepared. As a war veteran, he expected the town to simply open its gates and let the Army pass through in exchange of preserving their lives. And even if there was some resistance, it would have been all for naught before his Legion. That was, after all, nothing but a desolated town in the middle of the wilderness.

  Was he too arrogant to assume easy victory over these humans?

  General Urkawi shook his head. Now was not the time to think of these trivialities. He needed to prioritize the rescue mission right now.

  If he lost a third of his army here, he would lose face before his entire Clan. After all, this was just the first step in their goal of conquering the Eastern Region. To reclaim the land originally theirs.

  General Urkawi carried two unconscious beastmen on his arms as he made his way towards the camp.

  “Ah, General,” Phantomim’s voice trailed off. “About the thing you asked us to do–”

  General Urkawi stopped in his tracks as he silently listened.

  “It seems the enemies purposely targeted our supplies during that attack.” Phantomim was grim. “I’ve checked the remaining rations. We only have enough to last a day or two at most.”

  General Urkawi suppressed a sigh. His head throbbed. “The medicines?”

  Phantomim shook his head. “They were all burned during the attack, including several of our shamans. Right now, we only have three shamans remaining. Even if we rescue everyone, it’ll be impossible to treat the entire army.”

  No one expected such an attack during this clash. Who would have known that the enemy would purposely light the forest on fire to burn down their supplies? It was a strategy impossible to pull through unless the humans have been given several days of preparation.

  Was there a spy among their ranks? General Urkawi had yet to find out.

  “Phantomim,” said the General.

  “Sir?”

  “For now… Keep this a secret for now. I’ll be bad for the morale if the warriors find out. Two days, huh? Then we’ll just have to conquer that damn town in two days.” General Urkawi tried his best to remain calm in front of his subordinate. “And I have a task for you.”

  General Urkawi lowered his voice. “Find the spy among our ranks.”

  Phantomim’s eyes widened for a moment. “A spy? I see… It makes sense.”

  General Urkawi nodded. “The humans knew the path we would take and even the formation of our army. They wouldn’t have been so bold in their strategy otherwise. There must be a spy among the warriors. Find him.”

  “As you wish.” Phantomim bowed his head.

  After his right-hand man left, General Urkawi laid the two unc
onscious beastmen on the ground and went inside his tent. Outside, he could hear the numerous footsteps of his men as they moved about.

  He opened the map on the table and analyzed the topography of the region.

  “General?” Fior entered the tent. After locking eyes with the General, the Rabbit bowed. “The enemy started moving, Sir.”

  General Urkawi frowned. “Report.”

  “According to our scouts, over a hundred infantry soldiers stood guard before the walls. The humans started burning the dead bodies of our warriors.” Fior chocked the words out. “They also started repairing the broken walls.”

  General Urkawi trembled in rage. Just like before, the humans were defiling the dead bodies of their comrades.

  Burning the dead bodies? How loathsome. He vowed within his heart that he would rip them to shreds once given the chance.

  “General,” said Fior. “After recovering the bodies in the forest, I suggest that we immediately resume our attack.”

  It seemed that the Rabbit was thinking the same thing as him. General Urkawi also planned on immediately launching an offensive once they secured the beastmen trapped in the forest fire. He knew that if he delayed their attack any longer, the humans would have fortified their defenses even further. And to make things worse, the entire Legion have been inflicted by that damnable Magic Poisoning.

  Right now, time was the ally of humans.

  General Urkawi was about to summon the officers to tell them about the plan when suddenly, commotion broke outside. The sound of metal clanked and shouts reverberated.

  “We’re under attack!”

  “Protect the injured! Go towards the back!”

  General Urkawi and Fior momentarily looked at each other. Immediately, they went out of the tent and was surprised by what they saw.

  The camp, which served as infirmary, was in chaos. From the sky, numerous arrows rained down.

  Numerous beastmen carried the injured with them towards a safer place, while the warriors raised their shields to block the attacks.

  “General!” Several warriors ran towards Urkawi. “Your orders, Sir!”

  General Urkawi’s eyes swiveled left and right. He quickly scanned his surroundings.

  “Two places,” said General Urkawi. “The enemies are over there.” He pointed at two parts of the forest. He was sure that that was the place where the enemies were hiding.

  “Gather the Black Scimitar. We’re moving out!”

  On his command, several beastmen with chain mails and black scimitars on their waist gathered. General Urkawi summoned their leader. “Jakal, take the left side.”

  “Understood!” Jakal saluted.

  The Black Scimitars separated into two groups. One was led by Jakal, while the other was personally led by the General himself. They did not waste any more time and immediately chased after the humans hiding in the forest.

  At the same time, Lark, who had been watching everything using the vision crystal, smirked. In this attack, they managed to kill less than a dozen beastmen, but that was more than enough.

  The real goal of this mission was to buy enough time for the Magic Poisoning to kick in. Lark knew that if he did not initiate these guerrilla attacks, the Legion would catch its breath and launch an all-out offensive against Blackstone Town.

  Even with poisoned bodies, the sheer number of enemies would be enough to topple the town’s defenses.

  What Lark needed right now was time. And once the time was right, he would retaliate with an offensive lethal strike.

  Just as planned, all of the soldiers separated into smaller groups and spread out into the forest, then gathered at a set coordinate. Lark purposely left fake trails for their pursuers. Although it may not be enough to completely fool the enemies, it would be enough to buy them time to escape and return to Blackstone Town.

  “We’re returning to the South Gate,” said Lark.

  With that single command, the small group stealthily moved through the forest, circumventing the beastmen camp.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  After retreating back into the town, Lark rested for an hour then gathered the second group to launch another guerrilla attack. They hid carefully in the forest as they watched the enemy camp. The last attack proved effective. Numerous beastmen scouted the perimeter of their camp, forming a tight barrier which seemed impossible to break through. A single misstep would give out their location.

  “Young Master, what should we do?” one of the soldiers worriedly asked. “There’s a lot of them patrolling the area. We won’t be able to attack their camp at this rate.”

  Lark calmly replied, “It’s fine. We’re not here to slaughter them anyways. At least, not now.”

  Lark could clearly see the fear within the eyes of the beastmen scouts. The fear of the unknown. The fear that in this dark forest, the humans would attack them once again.

  Like a beast awaiting its prey, Lark and his men silently lurked in the shadows of the forest. None of them made a sound. They simply waited for the signal from the Young Lord.

  “Hey, over there!” one of the scouts shouted.

  At first, they thought that they have been spotted. The next words of the beastmen made them sigh in relief.

  “It’s a boar! A young boar!”

  The five scouts began to murmur to themselves.

  “Hey, if we follow it, we can still catch it.”

  “Are you out of your mind? We can’t leave our post for that damn thing!”

  “But the humans burned down our rations! I’m sure everyone’ll be glad once we take back the meat with us!”

  Eventually, they came to a consensus. It was decided that three of them would hunt the boar, while the remaining two would remain in their positions.

  Lark nodded at his men, and everyone immediately understood what he meant. Their patience finally paid off. Now, it was time to hunt.

  Lark watched as the three scouts entered deeper into the forest. Once they were a good distance away, he gave the signal for massacre. On cue, arrows whizzed through the cold air and struck the beastmen. Two of them were hit right at the neck and immediately kicked the bucket, while the remaining one was struck at the calf.

  “E-Enemi—”

  Before he could shout, Lark’s sword pierced through his chest. Blood splattered out and the beastman fell limp on the ground.

  The shrubberies to their left moved. Everyone pointed their bows at it.

  “The boar,” mumbled one of the soldiers.

  The boar stared at the humans for a moment, before it scurried away in fright.

  Lark flicked his sword, removing the blood that clung to it, then sheathed it into the scabbard.

  “Should we hunt the remaining two?” said one of the soldiers.

  “There’s no need for that.” Lark shook his head. “Like I’ve said before, we’re not here to slaughter the enemies. It’s too early for that. If we fight them head-on right now, we’ll suffer numerous casualties.”

  He stared at the corpses on the ground. “Cut their heads and hang them on the trees.”

  The soldiers bit their lips. Once again, the order given out by the Young Master was morbid. Still, as veteran soldiers from the Lion City, they easily agreed.

  Lark approached a nearby tree. He touched its trunk and using magic, carved a message for the beastmen.

  Go back.

  You do not belong here.

  You have been warned.

  We’ll come and slaughter you as you sleep.

  “Good,” whispered Lark. He grinned.

  This should be enough to instill fear within those bastards. And even if it proved ineffective, it should still deter them from initiating an all-out attack against Blackstone Town. Right at the very start, that was the true goal of this mission. Given enough time, these beastmen would have their strengths sapped away by the curse called Magic Poisoning. Once that time came, Lark decided to slaughter all of them.

  Kill or be killed.

  He wo
uld not let them touch his people.

  After stealthily killing another group of scouts and hanging their severed heads on the trees, Lark and his group went back to Blackstone Town.

  ***

  Morning came.

  All of the officers of the Third Legion gathered inside a tent.

  General Urkawi suppressed a yawn. He had not slept at all. During the night, he received several reports of attacks from the humans. To make matters worse, the way his warriors were killed was outright brutal. Their heads were severed from their bodies and hanged on the branches of trees.

  General Urkawi remembered the words written on the tree trunk. He trembled in rage.

  “Go back?” he growled. “After defiling the corpses of our kin, these humans expect us to simply go back?!”

  General Urkawi gnashed his teeth. The silver-black hair covering his entire body stood on their edges. “I swear on the name of my Clan that I’ll rip these humans to shred and feed them to the burrcats!”

  Silence befell the officers inside the tent. No one dared to make a sound. The vehement rage within the eyes of the General made everyone freeze in fright.

  “Fior.” The General turned his attention to the Rabbit sitting at the farthest part of the table.

  The Rabbit fixed his glasses. He pulled out a thin stack of documents. “These are the data we’ve gathered so far.”

  He handed the documents to the General and began reciting its contents by heart. “After analyzing the defenses of the town, we came to a conclusion. The wooden walls were something built by the humans not too long ago. The cut down trees in a nearby forest was more than enough proof of that.”

  “Then you’re trying to say…” Phantomim’s voice trailed off.

  Fior nodded. “That’s right. The humans built these walls in anticipation of an incoming attack.”

  The entire room buzzed into commotion. They did not expect the intelligence network of the humans to be this advance. They could not help but think that there was a spy among their ranks. It did not make sense otherwise.

  “And the soldiers?” said the General.

  Fior frowned. “Just like what the shamans expected, Sir. Right now, several dozen beastmen are showing symptoms of Magic Poisoning. We believe that the disease was aggravated by the events that transpired these past few days.”